VOTE Tuesday for DC Attorney General !!

Washington, DC does not have an elected Attorney General. Right now, the Attorney General is appointed by the Mayor. The problem with that is conflict of interest. If the Attorney General owes his political job to the Mayor, how likely is the AG to prosecute corruption in the District government? Not very.

On Tuesday, the citizens of the District of Columbia will vote on whether or not they want to elect their Attorney General. Please, go out and vote on this important issue.

There is an important balance between branches of government. And the kind of cockiness that leads a mayor to appoint his frat buddies to important positions depends on a reasonable confidence that there will never be a criminal investigation.

I know people in the non-profit world who have worked with Washington, DC's incoming mayor when he ran a non-profit here. They told me he was one of the sleaziest people they have ever met. Time will tell if that is true.

All I know is that the city would be a whole lot better off if the person deciding to prosecute corrupt officials was not beholden to any of them.

DC Cab Drivers as Political Force

Vincent C. Gray, winner of DC's Democratic primary, had significant help from DC cab drivers. It seems that many prospective cab drivers drove voters to the polls for Tuesday's primary.

Cab drivers have long been kicked around in DC. For years there was a zone system that favored anyone traveling from a Congressional office to a Federal building. As in, it only cost three dollars. Talking to those cab drivers was great. The powerful riders spoke as if the cab drivers weren't there at all, much less that they could understand what was being said. Think: what elitism! What information! What fun!

So no surprise that Congressional pressure resulted in DC cab drivers getting stiffed on fair rates for years. After all, they were the help.

So now cabdrivers have found their teeth. Good for them. And let future candidates take heed.

F*ck You, MSNBC Execs! Go Hardball !!!!

What kind of boneheaded dipshits run MSNBC? The best political program on the air, Hardball, is only finally available in video and then it is hidden and hard-to-find on their web page.

Chris Matthews is the best political reporter in the United States. His interview of that erratic Congresswoman likely changed the outcome of her re-election. He knows his history and has a great understanding of American politics.

Besides, how can you not love the feeling of being a part of an insider conversation about politics? It is the rolling style of an ongoing conversation that is so appealing.

Chris Matthews and Hardball have been sidelined and under-promoted by the MSNBC execs for years, and I'm really mad about it.

"The Nation" of Lies

"The Nation," a liberal magazine around since the 1860's, has an article accusing John McCain of covering up the truth about American POWs being left behind in Vietnam.

I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. How could any person believe such tripe? Whatever your opinion may be about John McCain's fitness to lead our nation, he has demonstrated a resolve and loyalty towards his fellow prisoners of war that those yapping writers would never be able to do.

John McCain refused opportunities to leave ahead of others who had been captured before him. That's character. He has a history of standing up for causes he believes in. There is no reasonable person on Earth who could believe that he suddenly would abandon his fellow servicemen in the prisons of Vietnam. And shame on "The Nation" for saying so.

Click on the title to be linked to the article in question. Judge for yourself.

Let's Hunt Them Down ...

Who are these losers who are handing the United States and its allies these financial disasters? Who invented these new types of securities?

Let's hunt them down and take every penny they have. And all their houses, even if they don't know how many of them there are.

With the rescue of our allies in this affair, the political cover enjoyed by these nameless financial elites will be ripped apart. Europe and Japan will want blood.

And they will get it.

Rise of the Know-Nothings

Have you noticed young women starting to wear their hair in Sarah Palinesque hair buns? I have.

Fashion is a language. Women are speaking with their hair. But what are they saying? "I can see Russia from my back yard"?

A national leader should be aware of a few things. Just a few. Among them are the current foreign policy they are supporting. Even if they are not supporting it, they should at least know what it is. Or that when Russia sent troops into Georgia, it was in response to something Georgia did. And that would be called "provoked" rather than "unprovoked." After all, she can see Russia from her back yard. Didn't she notice something amiss?

It is the rise of the Know-Nothings all over again.

The American electorate has chosen the deliberately and delightfully ignorant to lead our nation in the past. Why not again? What is the appeal of a person who doesn't know and doesn't care that she doesn't know?

The President doesn't know all the answers. People don't expect him to. In fact, they don't expect any knowledge at all.

Maybe because most Americans don't know these answers, they don't expect our Vice President to know them. Or maybe a candidate that is too well informed makes them feel stupid.

It could be the appeal of the "just nuke 'em" camp of political beliefs, which spares us all the grief of looking at America's role in some of these world conflicts. Remember when the only criteria for U.S. support was anti-Communism? The United States was one of the last countries on Earth to support apartheid South Africa. Even the Queen of England tossed South Africa out of the Commonwealth of Nations decades before the United States reluctantly acceded that apartheid was wrong.

So what does the bun mean? Possibly - "We voted a Know-Nothing into office twice before, let's do it again!"

The Politics of Ronald McDonald Land - by Justin Benedict

I have been having trouble getting to sleep thinking of the world of McDonaldland. Do you ever think that the Hamburglar may have begun his crime spree because of his apparent cleft palate, or whatever it is that causes him to babble unintelligbly as he runs about in that freaky Spy Vs. Spy knockoff with the bumblebee shirt?

My vague memory of the Hamburglar was that he was unstoppable from stealing hamburgers because the head cop in town was this freak-show with a Big Mac for a head and a constable's outfit. The constable got his job, apparently through a relative, the burger-headed Mayor McCheese which, though giving great credit for employment for the obviously disabled, creates great questions about gubernatorial corruption in McDonaldland.

Why wasn't RONALD elected mayor of McDonaldland? Perhaps he was like the, um, ruling feudal lord or something. Or, maybe it's because he liked spending so much time singing and dancing.

It was distressing in McDonaldland that although hamburgers were bought and sold (and stolen by the Hamburglar) they were initially grown in fields, and were actually alive little burgers, that perhaps screamed "Don't pick me! Don't slaughter me! I want to grow up to get a nepotism job in government!"

The Grimace's role in McDonaldland was also confusing, though I imagine he was what the Elephant Man would have been like on speed.

And what about those little dancing mop head things?

I don't understand the horror of children's television. It is just too much for me. Little dancing mop heads, screaming little fields of hamburgers, and these were just the commercials.

McDonaldland was debatably some sort of nuclear reactor thingie gone bad, but what about wherever it was that H.R. Pufinstuf lived? Do you remember the horrible ordeal that the English kid that played the Artful Dodger on "Oliver" went through, dude?

He wound up on the Island with a talking flute in his pocket...(Though I can imagine the flute being helpful when he was on a date "Kiss her now, Jimmy")

Witchie-Poo was always chasing Jimmy and the talking Flute and then Jimmy was assisted by good old H.R., who had a big yellow head that made one think of a Six Million Dollar Lemon.

Then of course, there was Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and the teenage airheaded version of Jody Davis from "Family Affair." Guess his living situation with Uncle Bill and his jocker Mister French just wasn't gory enough...remember, Buffy O.D'd and Cissie ended up making horrible furniture commercials!

During periods of unemployment, I occasionally check out kids TV today...so much of it is milder, and there's always a message of some sort. I was watching "SpongeBob Squarepants" and he had a paper due, perhaps from Davy Jones's Locker University, and of course, Spongebob was stalling.

Do I know why an underwater cleaning utensil was taking academic courses? No, and it didn't matter. There was a wonderful message about getting your homework done on time. "Dexter's Laboratory" for some reason makes me wonder about the childhood of Karl Rove, and "Bob the Builder" builds on, with or without funding from Fannie Mae.

"My Little Pony" has NOTHING to do with gay S&M rituals, and yeah, modern TV's great.

But did our generation ever outgrow the horrible schlock handed to us from Seals & Crofts & Hanna-Barbera? The prehistoric suburbia of "The Flintstones",for instance, ruined me for any interest in natural history.

Even now, I wonder sometimes if there was a sympathetic (or nearsighted) mouse doing a quick sketch inside of a camera as it was in Fred's shooter, perhaps I wouldn't look as fat as I do when I'm photographed with one of those little disposable jobs from CVS.

"The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" are hard evidence that our generation just couldn't make the healthy transition to adult shows like "Inside Washington." Yes, a mumbling Charles Krauthammer just isn't any competition for Peter whatshisname's talking dog.

Cindy McCain Lies About Her Sisters

How can you lie about having sisters? When you don't split an inheritance equitably.

Infidelity and the President

The point of a Presidential candidate's infidelity is that such behavior shows a lack of self-control and a penchant for stupid, dangerous risks.

Sure, the guy's under pressure. Sure, he loves to be adored. But as our nation's leader, he is supposed to put the greater good first. That's what is so problematic about Senator Edward's infidelity. He had an affair during a time when it was most likely to be discovered and would hurt his career and family the most. And he did it anyway.

I'm sure that as President, Senator Edwards would also have heard the siren song of invincibility. Would that be the time to open himself up to blackmail because of an ill-advised dalliance? I hope not. The President of the United States represents us and negotiates on our behalf. This country needs someone they can trust to do that.

Obama the Statesman

Senator Barak Obama is appearing to be a better diplomat and representative of the United States than the current President. He looks Presidential, other foreign leaders obviously like him, he draws huge crowds.

George Bush is put to shame by the comparison with Barak Obama on international junkets. No one would ever dream that Barak Obama would wink at the Queen of England. Nor would we imagine the Senator telling the Pope his speech was "awesome."

In short, Senator Barak Obama has shown the United States what it means to be proud of the deportment of a President. Or potential President. Until this trip I didn't really take the fervid enthusiasm for Senator Obama too seriously. Now he has shown he really could do the job, and almost looks like he's starting doing it already.

Food Crisis: One Billion Hungry Asians

The prospect is frightening. The political instability that a food crisis on a continent-wide scale could cause is really beyond our comprehension. As a species, we've never faced it before.

Expensive food is one thing when there are cheaper alternatives. When the cheap food is your only nutrient staple and you can't even afford to eat that, the situation becomes dangerous. Widespread violence is going to be the result.

Remember, that's one billion people. If even a fraction decide that they're going to gate-crash another part of the globe, we'll be severely overwhelmed and looking back with fondness when it was only the Mexicans we had to worry about.

Castro Steps Down

And it's about time. Castro is quoted as saying that he wanted to take time to prepare the Cuban people for the shock of his resignation.

Maybe Castro himself is the one who needed the preparation to leave office. That seems more likely. With rumors of his death and the counting of days since last seeing him in public, I don't think anyone would be so shocked at his leaving the political scene except Castro.

Poor guy. No more parades or waving throngs of admirers. He must be missing it.

Gingrich Won't Run !!

And he's put on a few pounds, too. I thought I'd mention that since if Hillary put on that much weight it would be a source of commentary:

What does it mean?
Has he lost his personal discipline?
Has he lost his focus?
Would he have a heart attack in office?
Will his wife throw him out for letting himself go?
Maybe he doesn't really want the White House?
Won't we look bad with a fat guy representing us at international negotiating tables?
Where will we get all the pictures of Our Fearless Leader chopping wood or jogging?
Does he dye his hair?
Was that the same suit he wore yesterday?

Food for thought.

Republican Space Aliens

Many will recall that on July 8, 1947, witnesses claimed that an unidentified object with five aliens aboard, crashed onto a sheep ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico. This is a well-known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Government.

However, what you may not have noticed is that during the month of March, 1948--exactly nine months AFTER that historic date--George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Condoleeza Rice and Dan Quayle were all born.

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep?

This piece of information may help to clear up a lot of things.

Our National Discourse on Terrorism

Here's a great YouTube clip. Sad but funny.