Dennis Kucinich (D(ingbat) – Ohio) will introduce a privileged resolution onto the floor of the House of Representatives calling for the impeachment of Dick Cheney.
“The momentum is building for impeachment,” Kucinich said. “Millions of citizens across the nation are demanding Congress rein in the Vice President’s abuse of power.
“Despite this groundswell of opposition to the unconstitutional conduct of office, Vice President Cheney continues to violate the U.S. Constitution by insisting the power of the executive branch is supreme.
Of course, Kucinich is recently famous because of his friend Shirley MacLaine revealed his close encounter with a UFO. According to MacLaine, Kucinich received "direction" from the UFO. We haven't the heart to tell him who was sending the transmission……
UPDATE: Others: Michelle Malkin: "Strike up the nutroots band!"
The Influence Peddler: "Reasonable people might ask themselves 'gee, if it was this easy to force a vote on impeachment, how come it's never happened before?'" (Then he goes on to explain some of the arcane rules of the House n play here – good primer.)
Say Anything: "Dennis “I See UFO’s” Kucinich To Introduce Resolution To Impeach Cheney Next Week"
Jules Crittenden: "Yes, hold him accountable! But where’s Pelosi, Murtha? This is a job for the leadership. Seeing as they have been unable to accomplish anything else, it’s only right that they should be the ones to unaccomplish this."
O two left feet, two left feet How can you dance with two left feet Two left feet, two left feet How can you dance with two left feet
I love you honey, you're so sweet Just get rid of them two left feet You got no style, you got no beat All you've got is them two left feet (Richard Thompson, Two Left Feet)
Shannon Whisnant has been ordered to get rid of his second left foot. He has to give it back to John Wood, it's original owner. You'll remember that Whisnant bought a barbecue smoker at an auction. When he got it home, he found a human leg – from the foot to above the knee – in it. The story was a bit of an oddity – but it has had, unfortunately, real legs. (Earlier posts here, here, here and here.) Here's what we really hope is the last installment:
Even though a North Carolina man found an amputated human leg inside a smoker he bought at auction, he can't keep it, Judge Greg Mathis ruled on his television show in an episode that aired Thursday.
Shannon Whisnant had refused to return the leg to its owner, telling the judge he wanted to build a museum and charge people $10 to look at the limb, which had been cut off 2 to 3 inches above the knee.
"You're not getting that leg. I'm not giving you the man's leg," Mathis told Whisnant.
John Wood, whose left leg was amputated after a 2004 plane crash, joked to the judge about losing his leg twice. He had kept the leg and the cooker inside a rented storage space. When the South Carolina man couldn't pay the bill, the items were auctioned.
You know, it's a shame Frank Zappa is dead. I think this story would have inspired a great song.
I see the bad moon arising. I see trouble on the way. I see earthquakes and lightnin. I see bad times today. (John Fogerty, Bad Moon Rising)
(T)Hugo Chavez had his rubber stamp legislature approve changes to the constitution of Venezuela today. He is now almost ready to seize the presidency for life. The package that his trained lapdogs approved are sweeping consolidations of power directly into his hands. There is a very bad moon rising over Venezuela.
CARACAS (Reuters) – Congress passed President Hugo Chavez's proposal to scrap presidential term limits on Friday in a package of constitutional changes that Venezuelans are likely to approve in a referendum next month.
Pro-Chavez lawmakers, who dominate the legislature, shouted "yes, yes," and chanted the president's political slogan "Fatherland, socialism or death" in approving the measures.
Polls show many Venezuelans oppose centralizing presidential power but favor sweeteners the socialist leader has included in the package, such as reducing the workday to six hours and giving social security benefits to unregistered taxi drivers.
The opposition, the Roman Catholic Church, university students and rights groups have denounced the scores of proposed changes to the constitution as an authoritarian power grab by a man who has vowed to rule for decades.
Protests against the proposal have turned violent.
How bad is is about to get in Venezuela? This bad:
The package also would strip the central bank of its autonomy, give Chavez control over international reserves, empower authorities to detain citizens without charge and open the way to censoring the media in so-called political emergencies……
……The referendum package introduces new legal concepts such as "social property" and "collective property," promoting them above individual interests as part of a constitutional goal of creating a socialist economy.
Chavez will be able to jail opponents without due process – in fact without any charge whatsoever. "Social property" will include whatever Chavez deems to be his. There is a very bad moon rising, indeed.
There are only about 48 hours left to avert a strike by Hollywood writers after the governing board of the Writers Guild of America called a strike for Monday. Both sides in this dispute stand to sustain permanent damage if the strike occurs. But the guild is going directly for a scorched earth policy – and they admit it.
The strike deadline was issued on Friday, a day after a three-year contract covering the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America expired, and it follows months of talks that deadlocked over the union's demands for a greater share of DVD and Internet revenues.
Both sides have accused the other of stonewalling and refusing to budge from unreasonable proposals.
The union's negotiating panel unanimously urged a walkout during a boisterous membership meeting Thursday night, and the Writers Guild's governing board voted to ratify that recommendation.
No further contract talks were immediately scheduled, but union leaders said at a news conference there was still time to avoid a confrontation that, if prolonged, could cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues and wages.
"We have 48 hours, and what we really want to do is negotiate," said John Bowman, chairman of the union's negotiating committee. He said that while reluctant to go on strike, the Writers Guild felt it had to act decisively.
"We have to inflict as much damage as quickly as possible in order to get this thing over," Bowman said.
The last time this happened, both sides lost. It probably won't be any better this time and the effects may be even more devastating. Both sides should be struggling mightily to avoid this. But it really does not look like they will.
Tired of bullies sneaking up on you and giving you a wedgie? Imagine the look of surprise on that bully's face when instead of pulling you underwear into a places it was never intended to go he simply gets your underwear! Meet the Rip Away 1000.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Wedgie-proof underwear earned 8-year-old twin boys a spot Friday on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
Using rigged boxers and fabric fasteners to hold together some seams, Jared and Justin Serovich came up with the "Rip Away 1000."
"When the person tries to grab you — like the bully or the person tries to give you a wedgie — they just rip away," Justin explained Thursday by phone from Los Angeles, where the TV segment was taped Wednesday.
The day of the dreaded crown wedgie may finally be over! Of course, sometimes the rip away happens spontaneously…. albeit more painfully.
A new study by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard shows, rather conclusively, that there is an enormous bias in the press. Two separate ones in fact. The media is heavily biased for Democrats and extremely biased against Republicans.
Just like so many reports before it, a joint survey by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy — hardly a bastion of conservative orthodoxy — found that in covering the current presidential race, the media are sympathetic to Democrats and hostile to Republicans.
Democrats are not only favored in the tone of the coverage. They get more coverage period. This is particularly evident on morning news shows, which "produced almost twice as many stories (51% to 27%) focused on Democratic candidates than on Republicans."
The most flagrant bias, however, was found in newspapers. In reviewing front-page coverage in 11 newspapers, the study found the tone positive in nearly six times as many stories about Democrats as it was negative.
Breaking it down by candidates, the survey found that Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the favorites. "Obama's front page coverage was 70% positive and 9% negative, and Clinton's was similarly 61% positive and 13% negative."
In stories about Republicans, on the other hand, the tone was positive in only a quarter of the stories; in four in 10 it was negative.
A lot of people have been pointing this out for a long time, of course. But these numbers indicate that things are actually getting worse. The press is also heavily focused on politics rather than policy, a sort of "inside baseball" mindset that shortchanges the public on useful information. And they wonder why people are increasingly turning their backs on traditional media.
The recreational anglers were hauling their boat up a ramp at the Nhulunbuy Yacht Club late on Thursday afternoon when the crocodile "had a go at them", the national AAP news agency reported.
They alerted police in the small mining town on the Gove Peninsular east of Darwin and warnings were broadcast on local radio until the reptile was captured by Parks and Wildlife officers.
It was put in a cell in the Nhulunbuy police station for the night and was due to be released later Friday and moved to a nearby crocodile farm, police said.
The croc made bail? I didn't think crocs had pockets.
Voting has begun for the 2007 Weblog Awards. There are 49 categories and you cast your votes once per day in each category. A lot of really great blogs are finalists so head over and cast a vote. The master poll index where you can pick which categories you want to cast a vote in can be found right here. And please consider voting for Agam's Gecko in the Best Asian Blog category.
In September I posted about reports of a "chupacabra" or "goat sucker" that was discovered in Texas. Phylis Canion of Cuero and her neighbors discovered three of the creatures – quite dead – over the summer. She recovered one of the heads, popped it in her freezer and called for scientific help. Well, the results are in. It is not a chupacabra she has on ice. It is just one really ugly, bald (and bluish) coyote.
Biologists at Texas State University announced Thursday night they had identified the hairless doglike creature.
KENS-TV of San Antonio provided a tissue sample from the animal for testing.
"The DNA sequence is a virtually identical match to DNA from the coyote," biologist Mike Forstner said in a statement. "This is probably the answer a lot of folks thought might be the outcome. I, myself, really thought it was a domestic dog, but the Cuero Chupacabra is a Texas Coyote."
Additional tests are underway to see if they can determine why the coyote was hairless. They grow some really ugly coyotes in Texas, though. So, it's back to the proverbial drawing board for goat sucker enthusiasts. Keep hunting kids, they're probably hanging out with Bigfoot. (Someone will start a rumor that the DNA tests were rigged to cover the real truth. Oops, I just did!)
Sir Bedevere: What makes you think she's a witch? Peasant 3: Well, she turned me into a newt! Sir Bedevere: A newt? Peasant 3: [meekly after a long pause] … I got better. Crowd: [shouts] Burn her anyway! (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
Scientists may one day turn people into newts to make them get better – sort of. Researchers have isolated a key protein that allows newts to regenerate lost appendages. They hope it will provide clues that might someday allow humans to regenerate lost limbs.
Biologists have long been intrigued by the ability of newts and salamanders to renew damaged body parts. But how they do it has been unclear.
Now new research by a British team published on Thursday shows that a protein called nAG, secreted by nerve and skin cells, plays a central role in producing a clump of immature cells, known as a blastema, which regrows the missing part.
The importance of nAG was demonstrated by the fact that even when a nerve was severed below the stump tip, which would normally prevent regrowth, the scientists were able to coax regeneration by artificially making cells produce the protein.
Anoop Kumar and colleagues from University College London (UCL), writing in the journal Science, said the finding "may hold promise for future efforts to promote limb regeneration in mammals."
David Stocum of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis said it could help explain why mammals have limited regrowth abilities and thus help direct the field of regenerative medicine.
A clear understanding of the molecular signals involved in blastema formation and limb regeneration could eventually allow medics to program similar patterns into cells of non-regenerating body parts.
It is a clever trick — but understanding how they do it does not mean humans will necessarily be able to copy them and regrow lost arms or legs, according to Jeremy Brockes of UCL.
There is no guarantee that this will ever come to anything, of course. But it is a fascinating research path.
Ruth Marcus, who is apparently rather fond of Hillary Clinton in general, is not at all pleased with Hillary's damsel in distress posturing after the last debate. She calls it disappointing.
McEntee's remarks echoed the "piling on" theme the Clinton campaign adopted after Tuesday's debate in Philadelphia in which Clinton was pummeled by her competitors. The campaign was careful not to say so directly, at least not on the record, but the not-so-subtle implication was that a gang of mean, mean men was beating up on the only woman in the race.
"She is one strong woman. She came through it well. But Hillary's going to need your help," the Clinton campaign told supporters in a fundraising e-mail.
The Hill newspaper, listening in on a conference call with Clinton fundraisers, quoted chief strategist Mark Penn being even more explicit about the "backlash" he was detecting among female voters: "Those female voters are saying, 'Sen. Clinton needs our support now more than ever if we're going to see this six-on-one to try to bring her down.' "
Please. The Philadelphia debate was not exactly a mob moment to trigger the Violence Against Women Act; if anything, this has been an overly (pardon the phrase) gentlemanly campaign to date. Those other guys were beating up on Clinton, if you can call that beating up, because she is the strong front-runner, not because she is a weak woman.
And a candidate as strong as Clinton doesn't need to play the woman-as-victim card, not even in "the all-boys club of presidential politics," as Clinton called it in a speech yesterday at her all-women alma mater, Wellesley College. I have a pretty good nose for sexism, and what I detected in the air from Philadelphia was not sexism but the desperation of candidates confronting a front-runner who happens to be a woman.
Gerard Baker, linked in my last post, also pointed out the same things. I actually think this is a bad strategy for Clinton. If she projects an image of being too delicate to handle verbal barbs in a debate, how would she do as president when a real enemy of the US acts up? Marcus says this whole act is unnecessary, I'd agree with that and add that it may also work against Clinton in the long run.
Gerard Baker points to a rather nasty dilemma Hillary Clinton's rivals for the presidential nomination have. If they treat her as a politician – trading verbal blows in a figurative political barroom brawl – they are open to a singularly disingenuous attack from Hillary. Which she is already using: she portrays herself as a delicate feminine flower who has been beat up on by nasty bullies. This leaves her free to then open up a can of "whoop-ass" on her victims while they cringe from being called a bully. It is a game Hillary has played over and over again.
There stood Mrs Clinton, the little woman, caught like a frightened doe between her two principal rivals. The shameless John Edwards pounded her repeatedly over her tough foreign policy stance and her dishonesty. Barack Obama, the more reluctant pugilist, landed softer jabs, still designed to tenderise her. From the wings, the also-rans – all male – threw a few lusty punches.
Needless to say, the Clinton campaign seized on the opportunity that the spectacle presented. They issued a video after the debate that emphasised the narrative – Little Woman Waylaid by Big Bullies.
It was pure Clinton. Having spent a lifetime insisting that women should be treated exactly the same as men, Mrs Clinton has been quite brilliant at exploiting her femininity.
She campaigned for years for the rights of women to stand up to abusive men, and then defended her husband as he treated vulnerable female employees as playthings for his own sexual gratification. Better still, she exploited her own status as the helpless, wronged wife of a multiple philanderer to launch her campaign for the Senate from the humiliating ashes of the Monica Lewinsky affair.
In that campaign, the most telling moment came in a debate with her Republican rival, Rick Lazio. The witless Mr Lazio had happened upon a brilliant wheeze to challenge Mrs Clinton directly over some issue by striding towards her podium and insisting that she sign some piece of paper. As Mrs Clinton visibly flinched, the election was clinched. Who wants to vote for a man who would treat a woman like that?
Now she's under attack from a whole gang of men, and tactically speaking it's a no-lose situation for her. If her opponents play tough, she can shrink and look like the intimidated woman beset by brutal men. If they treat her with kid gloves – all gallant forbearance and courtly deference – she can open up a can of whoop-ass on them as eagerly as a dockside bully.
Many people in this country already have a negative opinion of Hillary Clinton, believing that she would literally say or do anything to gain the presidency. This sort of thing confirms their opinions. There are others weighing in on this today – I'll be posting more a little later.
John Fund has a troubling column up about the ease with which people who are in this country illegally will be able to vote if Eliot Spitzer's licenses for lawbreakers scheme goes through. Some other moves by the Spitzer administration already appear to be paving the way for widespread voter fraud already. Giving driver's licenses to people who have no right to be in this country in the first place is just the icing on the cake.
The background here is the National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as "Motor Voter," that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1993. It required all states to offer voter registration to anyone getting a driver's license. One simply fills out a form and checks a box stating he is a citizen; he is then registered and in most states does not have to show any ID to vote.
But no one checks if the person registering to vote is indeed a citizen. That greatly concerns New York election officials, who processed 245,000 voter registrations at DMV offices last year. "It would be [tough to catch] if someone wanted to . . . get a number of people registered who aren't citizens and went ahead and got them drivers' licenses," says Lee Daghlian, spokesman for New York's Board of Elections. Assemblywoman Ginny Fields, a Long Island Democrat, warns that the state's "Board of Elections has no voter police" and that the state probably has upwards of 500,000 illegal immigrants old enough to drive……….
…………Gov. Spitzer is treading perilously close to that. Despite a tactical retreat this week–he says he will only give illegal immigrants a license that isn't valid for airplane travel and entering federal buildings–Mr. Spitzer has taken active steps to obliterate any distinctions between licenses given to citizens and non-citizens.
In a memo last Sept. 24, he ordered county clerks to remove the visa expiration date and "temporary visitor" stamp on licenses issued to non-citizens who are legally in the country. A Spitzer spokeswoman explained the change was made because the "temporary" label was "pejorative," given that some visitors might eventually stay in the U.S. Under fire, Mr. Spitzer backed down this week, delaying the cancellation of the "temporary visitor" stamps through the end of next year.
But he has not retreated from another new bizarre policy. It used to be that county clerks who process driver's licenses were banned from giving out voter registration forms to anyone without a Social Security number. No longer. Lou Dobbs of CNN reported that an Oct. 19 memo from the state DMV informed the clerks they don't "have any statutory discretion to withhold a motor voter form." What's more, the computer block preventing a DMV clerk from transmitting a motor voter registration without a Social Security number was removed.
Gov. Spitzer's office told me the courts have upheld their position on Social Security numbers. Sandy DePerno, the Democratic clerk of Oneida County, says that makes no sense. "This makes voter fraud easier," she told me.
Fund points out – as I have in the past – that none other than Jimmy Carter has strongly endorsed a requirement that voters be required to show proper identification before voting. This is common sense. In the society we live in it is virtually impossible to function with no identification. My 15-year old daughter has legal identification, for heaven's sake. It is not unreasonable to ask that every person voting in an election be legally entitled to vote. It is not unreasonable to keep people who are not citizens from voting. But Eliot Spitzer appears to be determined to secure the illegal vote.
Foto Phun | Gaius November 2, 2007 | 
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