Out, Damn Spot, Out: Giving the boot to the feisty GOP, those pesky Dem’s took control of the Senate in a move to get to determine the extent to which the Whitehouse went to manufacture reasons for the war in Iraq.
Questions of the Week
1. Is FOK (Friend of Karl as in Rove) ousted Public Broadcasting Board member and Ex-Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson (the Y stands for Young) guilty of promoting more conservative programming? (Hint: FOK)
2. Will conservative (thank God he’s at least got credentials even if he isn’t female, Jewish, and black) Supreme Court appointee Samuel Antonin Alito Jr survive the public caning?
3. Do you believe the CIA has secret Al Quaeda torture prisons in Romania and Poland?
4. Do we really want the federal government to be the supply source for vaccine in the case of bird or any other flu epidemic? (Interesting Aside: In a Cambodian village where scrawny chickens a truly free range, a woman, a newcomer, was assassinated because it was believed she was the cause of bird flu.)
5. Where have decency and honesty gone?
6. Is Cheney a Libby co-conspirator?
Weekly Citizens’ Award To Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, for her inspiring speech at Rosa Park’s funeral. http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168--129614--,00.html
Uncle Saddam Wants You The Iraqi government is calling Saddam’s old army for recruits, hoping to lure them away from insurgency forces. Former senior officers need not apply. So, this means the Saddam’s old army, the Sunnis, who killed the Shiites under Saddam, will now work for the Shiites to kill the Sunni insurgents. Excuse me, is that plane leaving for the U.S.?
Can’t Nobody Here Run A Prison? Omar al-Faruq, one of Osama’s pals, escaped from an American prison in Afghanistan in July, though he might be a CIA operative, so the question is: did he escape or did we let him go. How much you wanna bet we’ll never know the truth.
A+, A- Rising star Anderson Cooper, whom you may not recognize unless he’s standing in a hurricane, takes over ousted Aaron Brown’s slot at CNN. It seems laid-back Aaron should, like peppy Anderson, have braved the winds.
Corporate Crook Update
1. Hallelujah! Richard Scrushy, former HealthSouth CEO acquitted four months ago by a bunch of bible-punching bigots of federal accounting fraud, now faces federal bribery and mail fraud charges. After pleading not guilty (what else), he prayed outside the courtroom with his wife and three ministers he’d brought along. Is this guy scary or what? But wait, there’s more: he interrupted his lawyers, who declined to comment on specifics, to declare his innocence and say, “I take my hat off to sing the ‘Star Spangled Banner,’ I was a Boy Scout, but I am broken right now, because I am seeing things that are wrong.” I do hope he was looking in a mirror.
2. It seems Mercury Interactive (NASDAQ $27, down about $9 bucks Wednesday) CEO, Ammon Landon, and a couple of his henchmen (actually, one is a henchwoman) got the boot for dicking around with options pricing dates that gave them more pocket money and not being forthcoming about a $1 million loan to the CEO.
3. Jamie Olis of Dynegy may have his 24 year term for accounting fraud reduced to something more in keeping with that of other white-collar crooks. Maybe it would be more equitable if the others were extended.
War-Mart? The news that Wal-Mart has a war room staffed by high-powered political advisers and wannabees inside its corporate headquarters is scary. Will Wal-Mart’s CEO one day split his time between 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Bentonville, Ark?
Our Friends in Washington Update
1. I. (Irve, Irv, Irving, or just an initial; depends on who you ask, the latter being Libby’s choice) Lewis (Scooter) Libby Jr. pleaded not guilty to lying to a lot of people. This could be a long trial since no one in Washington really knows what lying is. Libby attributes ‘Scooter’ to a childhood comparison to Phil Rizzuto, former Yankee great, or from his father commenting on how quickly he scooted across his crib. There may be other attributions in the making.
2. Tom DeLay’s trial de-Lay-ed. Seems judges in Texas are elected so this may never get to trial in the Lone Star State. New York anyone?
3. Rove continues to tread water, wondering if the anchor tied to his ankle will drop.
A Case For AOL? Steve Case, the most hated man on the Board of Time Warner, finally resigned to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. Pardon? Dummying up AOL’s financials and almost destroying Time Warner wasn’t a conflict? That aside, since Time Warner says it isn’t shopping AOL around, which means it is, can Steve be thinking of buying it back?
Fill In The Blank “It is the strangest thing that __________ introduces figures who are totally unknown.” No, not George W. Bush on his selection of Supreme Court nominees, but Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (yes, the same asshole who called for Israel to “be wiped off the map”) on his selection of Oil Minister nominees. The comment was made by a member of Iran’s Energy Commission.
Not Seeing Is Believing If astronomers succeed in taking a picture of a black hole, and invisible darkness surrounded by light, how will we know? Will it look like D.C. or Ottawa?
Greedy Bastards Update A NY state judge said he would deny a motion by former NYSE head Richard A. Grasso to limit a lawsuit that seeks return of $100 million (+). To think this guy still believes he deserved the money he paid himself, maybe he should revert to an insanity plea.
The Hindenburg Complex? A California couple (who else?) is testing a hydrogen-cell SUV by Honda (who else?). But, will what happened in Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937 be a mental obstacle to hydrogen fuel cell advancement? I shouldn’t think so, but it’s being mentioned. Interesting that no mention is made of the hundreds of millions of lives endangered by harmful emissions from carbon fuels powered vehicles, let alone the human and dollar cost of oil wars like Iraq.
Drug Cartel Update Frederick Humeston, an ex-postal worker with weight problems and repeated clashes with his supervisors, lost his case against Merck’s Vioxx. Good for Merck, bad for Humeston’s ex-postal supervisors who are doubtless seeking 24/7 protection.
