You simply can't make this stuff up

A few Italian lawmakers are upset that gelato is not being served in their Senate cafeteria. Priorities, priorities. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Oncidium sphacelatum

This is an enormous oncidium at a local orchid greenhouse in Virgnia - Al's Orchid Exchange. Al is great, and we really like his stuff. I cropped the pic of my friend, since I didn't get his permission to post his pic, but you can get a sense of how huge the plant is - Al started this thing only a few years ago with a few bulbs. If you look carefully, you'll see the plant is actually the very long leaves to the right - those are smaller other plants in front of it. Pretty amazing. And pretty insane. But also pretty damn cool, if you've got the space for it. And if you don't, you just cut the damn thing in half every time you repot and give half away. Read More......

On Monday, the Senate will take a vote of no confidence in Alberto Gonzales

Senator Schumer sent this out earlier today:

Today, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) announced that a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will be held this Monday.

“If all senators who have actually lost confidence in Attorney General Gonzales voted their conscience, this vote would be unanimous,” said Schumer. “However, the President will certainly exert pressure to support the Attorney General, his longtime friend. We will soon see where people’s loyalties lie.”

Let's see how many of those GOP Senators actually vote their conscience. My bet is they vote with George Bush like they always do. Read More......

Going on Signorile's Sirius radio show in a few minutes to talk about Hillary and Bill. It's over now

About the charge that Bill Clinton told John Kerry to support the Federal Marriage Amendment during the 2004 campaign. Read More......

Paris Hilton sent back to jail, screaming

I'm sorry, I had to read it, and then I had to post it. I just had to. She may be a perfectly wonderful woman, but I just don't think so. Okay, just found another story on her, I really hadn't been reading what this was all about (and the AP story doesn't bother telling you) - what a jerk, DUI, license suspended, keeps driving, gets pulled over, still keeps driving, gets pulled over. Sympathy gone. Buh bye.

Okay, apparently you, like me, will be forever non grata at parties if you don't know the background, so here it is:

On Sept. 7, 2006 police arrested celebrity socialite Paris Hilton in Hollywood on suspicion of driving under the influence after she was spotted "driving erratically" while out to pick up a late-night burger.

Hilton was charged Sept. 26 with misdemeanor driving under the influence and on Jan. 9, 2007, her lawyers entered not guilty pleas on her behalf to a single count each of driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or above.

Less than a week later, Hilton was pulled over again, this time by the California Highway Patrol. She was informed that her license was suspended in connection with the September DUI charge and she'd signed a document acknowledging she was not supposed to drive.

Hilton pleaded no contest Jan. 22 to a reduced charge of alcohol-related reckless driving. The pleas earned her three years of probation and a $1,500 fine. Hilton also was required by the courts to enroll in an alcohol education program.

A month later, Feb. 27, Hilton — still with a suspended license — was stopped by Los Angeles sheriff's deputies for driving "a new Bentley" at 70 mph in a 35 mph zone "in darkness without her headlights on." In her glove compartment was the document she'd signed Jan. 15, acknowledging she was not allowed to drive while her license was suspended.

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Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 6/8/07

Another week. More preposterousness to report.

Republican debates turn up so many interesting factoids. For example did you know that God created the Heavens and Earth? Amazing. The first 25 times they say that, it is still hard to digest, but by the 26th time, I felt I understood where they were coming from. I was still left pondering a few small items, however...

For example, did Rudy find God between his first and second wife, between his second and third wife, or did he find God while he was ignoring requests to make police and fire personnel radios compatible pre-9/11? You know, just to have an accurate chronology of ecclesiastical events. I'm sure, however, that God respects Senator McCain for the fact that he wants us to "win" in Iraq, because using the terminology sixth graders do to resolve a kickball game seems like the kind of thing God would be more interested in than, say, American soldiers and civilians in Iraq living to see their next birthday.

And it's also good to know that the same God who created us would want to torture our fellow human beings with no proof that they've done a thing wrong, and he'd especially want us to preemptively nuke Iran (though perhaps not on a Friday or Sunday, since we all know that Wednesdays are the traditional scripture day for nuking millions of innocents). Finally, it is always good to have God's wisdom available, as God is surely the only being who can figure out what side Mitt Romney might come down on any particular issue on any given day (though WHICH God Romney is speaking for on a given day is hardly a given).

So what does being a Republican mean? Well once again here's what I have learned, give or take:

1) It means you believe in the rule of law. Illegal immigrants cannot just come here illegally! They have to wait their turn in line like everyone else, or get the hell out since they're all lawbreakers anyway. We are a nation of laws, after all, and the law must be respected! Oh yeah, and pardon Scooter Libby.

2) For FOXNews bossman Roger Ailes it means his organization is comparable to Al Qaeda. Maybe bin Laden will be on FOXNews Sunday soon. He could join the FOX All Stars. I mean let's face it, he really couldn't be any dumber than Brit Hume, and he and Brit could have a contest to see who's the bigger advocate of US troops remaining in Iraq (me, no ME!).

3) It means that because of certain "behaviors," like let's say getting the deep... deep.... deep tissue massage from hookers, shooting the front nine at St. Andews with Jack Abramoff and taking bribes from defense contractors, you're left to hope for one thing to regain power: Another 9/11.

They're just so cute when they wish for Americans to die for political gain, aren't they?

4) It means that when a woman is arrested for making faces at a dog, you need to ask yourself, why hasn't Rick Santorum been arrested yet? And what happens if your spouse is a dog? Just in case, better double-bolt the door, Secretary Chao.

5) Finally, it means if you're running the new Creationist museum and you need an actor to play Adam in a film on Eden... you might not want to pick a guy who enjoys abominating more than Ron Jeremy on E, Mark Foley on a page, or Gary Bauer on a female campaign aide with whom he did nothing wrong and that's why we've never heard from him again (come on, does anyone really think Bauer was fooling around with a woman?). Or almost as much as Fred Thompson.

For more of this mindless banter, go to the usual spot, cliffschecter.com Read More......

Pace is being replaced

Peter Pace is retiring according to Reuters:

The top U.S. military officer, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, will retire at the end of his term later this year and be replaced as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

Think Progress has more on Pace's departure -- and his replacement:

Pace is the first Joint Chiefs Chairman not to be renominated for a second term since the military was centralized under the joint chiefs position 21 years ago. The selection of Mullen also marks the first time in 21 years when both the head of the Joint Chiefs and the CentCom Commander, Adm. William Fallon, have been Navy officers.

Some insight on Mullen can be gained from a speech he gave to sailors in Pearl Harbor in Feb. 2007:

In his opening remarks, Mullen, a Vietnam War veteran, told Pearl Harbor sailors: “I honestly believe this is the most dangerous time in my life.

“The enemy now is basically evil and fundamentally hates everything we are — the democratic principles for which we stand … This war is going to go on for a long time. It’s a generational war.”

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Is Bush drinking again?

UPDATE: It does appear to be a near beer. But as there is some controversy over whether near beers should be drunk at all by alcoholics - they can still contain 1/6 the alcohol of a "real" American beer - I'm not sure why our commander in chief shouldn't be erring on the side of caution. Reportedly, Alocholics Anonymous recommends against alcoholics drinking near beers. I'd like to confirm this.





Bush is an alcoholic. We have the right to know if he's fallen off the wagon, as this would be incredibly serious in any job, let alone the leader of the free world, and the commander in chief during war time. It is irrelevant whether you love Bush or hate him, whether you think this is a private matter or not. If Bush were running a major corporation and were an alcoholic who had fallen off the wagon, he'd likely be removed from his job by the board. If he were a general, he'd be fired. He clearly drank from either a beer or a near beer in Germany. Which one was it? And in any case, near beer contains alcohol (0.5% or less), something is verbotten to alcoholics. And keep in mind that American beer is between 2.8% and 3.8% (or so) alcohol content, so 0.5% is actually larger than it seems. That's potentially 1/6 of a beer, or, rather, if you drink 3 of them, that's half a beer - something that, in my lightweight case, still gives me a small buzz. For an alcoholic, that small buzz is everything. And in any case, what would an alcoholic be doing touching alcohol at all? I thought even a sip was off limits?

Come on media, this is serious this time. What was he drinking? Andy Towle, over at TowleRoad, tells me he thinks this might be a Buckler brand beer. Anyone know? Read More......

Fired gay Arabic-linguist service member pens op ed in New York Times

We're at war, we don't have enough men and women in uniform, we definitely can't keep up with translating all the terrorist chatter, so we're kicking out the very people who can translate them. Did you know that we intercepted a key conversation in Arabic the day before September 11 saying that the attack was imminent? We didn't get it translated in time. It's a very simple calculation. What matters more to you - keeping gays out of the military or stopping the next September 11?

From Stephen Benjamin's op ed in today's NYT:

The lack of qualified translators has been a pressing issue for some time — the Army had filled only half its authorized positions for Arabic translators in 2001. Cables went untranslated on Sept. 10 that might have prevented the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Today, the American Embassy in Baghdad has nearly 1,000 personnel, but only a handful of fluent Arabic speakers.

I was an Arabic translator. After joining the Navy in 2003, I attended the Defense Language Institute, graduated in the top 10 percent of my class and then spent two years giving our troops the critical translation services they desperately needed. I was ready to serve in Iraq.

But I never got to. In March, I was ousted from the Navy under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which mandates dismissal if a service member is found to be gay....

Consider: more than 58 Arabic linguists have been kicked out since “don’t ask, don’t tell” was instituted. How much valuable intelligence could those men and women be providing today to troops in harm’s way?

In addition to those translators, 11,000 other service members have been ousted since the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was passed by Congress in 1993. Many held critical jobs in intelligence, medicine and counterterrorism....

In response to difficult recruiting prospects, the Army has already taken a number of steps, lengthening soldiers’ deployments to 15 months from 12, enlisting felons and extending the age limit to 42. Why then won’t Congress pass a bill like the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell”? The bipartisan bill, by some analysts’ estimates, could add more than 41,000 soldiers — all gay, of course.

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Get Rove on the record, under oath. Now.

As David Iglesias,, the fired U.S. Attorney from New Mexico, said, "All roads lead to Rove." The NY Times is right -- it's time to hear from Karl -- under oath, with a transcript:

Congress has now heard from everyone in the Justice Department who appears to have played a significant role in the firings of the prosecutors. They have all insisted that the actual decisions about whom to fire came from somewhere else. It is increasingly clear that the somewhere else was the White House. If Congress is going to get to the bottom of the scandal, it has to get the testimony of Mr. Rove, his aides Scott Jennings and Sara Taylor, Ms. Miers and her deputy, William Kelley.

The White House has offered to make them available only if they do not take an oath and there is no transcript. Those conditions are a formula for condoning perjury, and they are unacceptable. As for documents, the White House has released piles of useless e-mail messages. But it has reported that key e-mails to and from Mr. Rove were inexplicably destroyed. At the same time, it has argued that e-mails of Mr. Rove’s that were kept on a Republican Party computer system, which may contain critical information, should not be released.

This noncooperation has gone on long enough. Mr. Leahy should deliver the subpoenas for the five White House officials and make clear that if the administration resists, Congress will use all available means to get the information it needs.

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Friday Morning Open Thread

Okay, I never thought we'd ever talk about Paris Hilton on AMERICAblog, but the Today Show just devoted its first story to Paris Hilton's jail sentence. Not like there's anything else going on. Matt Lauer interviewed MSNBC's Dan Abrams about every development... then Lauer had the audacity to mock Abrams, asking if MSNBC would be covering the story at all today. 'Cause only MSNBC would obsess about this ridiculousness -- after Lauer made it the TOP story. There is just so much wrong with this story.

Hey, Today Show, by the way, the surging death toll in Iraq surpassed 3,500 yesterday. But, that's not real news.

Grrrrr. Read More......

Did he eat the melamine chicken?

Someone called in sick today. There was really no need for him to give details though. Read More......

G-8 news flash - $60 billion to combat AIDS in Africa

Considering the bold headline regarding climate change, caution is necessary but let's see if the details are as positive sounding as the headline, but this could be a very good step forward. Read More......

Council of Europe confirms CIA torture prisons in Eastern Europe

The rumors have now been confirmed. Unfortunately, many more beyond the countries named - Romania and Poland - probably knew about this but failed to act, possibly due to the shock of 9/11 and wanting to help a traditional ally. How the eastern countries could actively participate in this disgusting program after all they went through under Soviet occupation makes this all the more disappointing. This was a real low point of democracy. Read More......

G8 leaders agree to agree on nothing

Merkel is doing her best to make the most out of the situation, but the truth is that nothing was agreed upon today. No deadlines. No numbers. Nothing concrete. Contrary to media reports of an agreement, there was no agreement, unless we've all decided to accept smiling faces as the new benchmark for success. The only agreement was to pursue "substantial" cuts, whatever that's supposed to mean and in Bush terms, that could really mean anything. And to think Blair was so sure Bush would help out his old chum as he prepares to leave office.

At least someone in the British press paid attention, delivering the headline: Deal or raw deal? Bush refuses to commit to climate change target - Blair hails 'major' agreement on climate change - yet still Bush refuses to commit. Read More......

Sex scandal hits Creationism Museum

See, God does have a sense of humor. Read More......