Ok, this is a riot!  Hat tip to my brother-in-law:
   

As the courts reject the DOJ’s bid to dismiss the NSA lawsuits, Specter is doing everything he can to roll over to his alpha dog master. 

Specter’s outright legalization compromise on the make Bush a King NSA spying bill is heading to committee.  If your Senator is on this list and you haven’t already called, please please please take a moment to oppose this bill.  If you make only one phone call in your life, well … call your mother.  But if you make two, then make this the second! 

• ·       Arlen Specter, Chairman - Pennsylvania - Fax (202) 228-1229
• ·       Orrin G. Hatch - Utah - Fax (202) 224-6331
• ·       Patrick J. Leahy - Vermont - Fax (202) 224-3479
• ·       Charles E. Grassley - Iowa - Fax (515) 288-5097
• ·       Edward M. Kennedy - Massachusetts - Fax (202) 224-2417
• ·       Jon Kyl - Arizona - Fax (202) 224-2207
• ·       Joseph R. Biden, Jr. - Delaware - Fax (202) 224-0139
• ·       Mike DeWine - Ohio - Fax (202) 224-6519
• ·       Herbert Kohl - Wisconsin - Fax (202) 224-9787
• ·       Jeff Sessions - Alabama - Fax (202) 224-3149
• ·       Dianne Feinstein - California - Fax (202) 228-3954
• ·       Lindsey Graham - South Carolina - Fax (864) 250-4322
• ·       Russell D. Feingold - Wisconsin - Fax (202) 224-2725
• ·       John Cornyn - Texas - Fax (972) 239-2110
• ·       Charles E. Schumer - New York - Fax (202) 228-3027
• ·       Sam Brownback - Kansas - Fax (202) 228-1265
• ·       Richard J. Durbin - Illinois - Fax (202) 228-0400

Bush has done quite a lot of maturing over the last five years.  Not only has he learned that China and Russia are both “big,” but also knows that racism still “lingers”.  And he has a plan for victory in the war against racism (insert fake drawl here) – repeal the estate tax.  Oh, and get rid of the Voting Rights Act. 

On a side note, apparently those unruly coloreds are single-handedly responsible for the Katrina disaster. 

My Left Wing has a nicely researched piece on the five major flaws of the Bush economy (or lack thereof). 

When everything you stood for goes up in flames, just bury your head in the sand and lie.  Sean Hannity runs an online poll asking viewers what they think about WMDs being found in Iraq. 

From uber-conservative William F. Buckley, Jr., Bush is not a true conservative and "If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we've experienced it would be expected that he would retire or resign," 

Enjoy this interactive map from Slate on who hates who in the Middle East. 

Over the past five years, the Neocons have gone from the house “crazies” to the puppet masters of U.S. foreign policy.  Refusing to learn from their past mistakes, they see the crisis in Lebanon as just another golden opportunity to drag us into yet another ill-advised and dangerous war.  Go Team America! 

As reported by the Baton Rouge Advocate: “Residents of trailer parks set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house hurricane victims in Louisiana aren't allowed to talk to the press without an official escort.”  Nice. 

Now just hold on a sec … everyone knows that Bush is above the law.  I mean, we’re fighting a war on terror.  Freedom is on the march.  9-11.  Bin Laden is a bad dude.  Terrorism.  September the 11^th.  Freedom isn’t free.

A couple of captions proposed so far:

Oh Georgie, you never touch me anymore. Where is MY neck rub??
No...No-one has ever said I look like Zera from Planet of the Apes 

Check out this site of baby pics from various world leaders. Here's a sample (see if you can guess who they are):

Awww, wook at the widdle dictator, he's soooo cute!

Via Political Wire: 

A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows Ned Lamont (D) beating Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) in the primary, 51% to 41%. Here’s the stunning finding: In the general election, Lieberman and Lamont are tied with 40% with Alan Schlesinger (R) trailing behind with 13%.

I would love nothing more than to see Lieberman's swollen independant hubris turn into one giant flaccid flop in the general election.

Is there anything this guy touches that doesn't turn into a steaming turd?

From 2002 until this year, NASA’s mission statement, prominently featured in its budget and planning documents, read: “To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers ... as only NASA can.”

In early February, the statement was quietly altered, with the phrase “to understand and protect our home planet” deleted. In this year’s budget and planning documents, the agency’s mission is “to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.”

David E. Steitz, a spokesman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said the aim was to square the statement with President Bush’s goal of pursuing human spaceflight to the Moon and Mars.

But the change comes as an unwelcome surprise to many NASA scientists, who say the “understand and protect” phrase was not merely window dressing but actively influenced the shaping and execution of research priorities. Without it, these scientists say, there will be far less incentive to pursue projects to improve understanding of terrestrial problems like climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

Full article here.

You’ve probably noticed a goodly lack of posting over the last few days. Been traveling around quite a bit with family visits and all. The site should be back to normal before the weekend is through, so fear not intrepid readers! Er, intrepid reader. Ok. Me. Just me, damn it. Are you happy??

In other news: oh my the spamming on this site has gotten out of control! I’ve instituted a new spamblocker which I hope will take care of the problem. If this doesn’t work, my next step is to start banning.

In the meantime, enjoy this pretty picture from DoubleSpeak: