Once again, this is the man who Rudy Giuliani appointed to secure and protect the people of New York - the largest city in the country - and who he recommended to be in charge of Homeland Security for the entire country.
Federal prosecutors have told Bernard B. Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, that he is likely to be charged with several felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping.
Kerik’s indictment could set the stage for a courtroom battle that would draw attention to Kerik’s extensive business and political dealings with former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who personally recommended him to President Bush for the Cabinet. Giuliani, the front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination according to most polls, later called the recommendation a mistake.
Republicans and the religious right will say that this proves that they’re in the majority, except that contrary to the drumbeat of the MSM not everyone who believes in God (or something like it) is a Republican voter. In fact, the very broad category of people who believe in God constitutes a majority in both parties. Let’s just say that I, Oliver Willis, would probably be on the majority side of this survey but it isn’t likely that I’m voting Republican in this life or the next.
Then the evolution denialists will say that the popularity of creationism means that there is a controversy to be taught. But like I said here it doesn’t matter how many surveys one takes - even if 100% of people believed the earth was only 6,000 years old - that assertion is not supported by the evidence that counts. Its not a valid claim.
Looks like someone’s getting cut off of the Christmas card list.
A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush’s political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president’s chief campaign strategist.
Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced.
In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership.
He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a “my way or the highway” mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides.
“I really like him, which is probably why I’m so disappointed in things,” he said. He added, “I think he’s become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in.”
As the Republicans have lost their grip on power, instead of moderation, Fox News has become increasingly shrill — to the point of somehow blaming the Democratic Party and the conspiracy theories of Rosie O’Donnell for hostages being taken by Iran.
Video shows Rudy Giuliani announcing his support for lawsuits against gun manufacturers. This was, of course, before he was running for president and had to pander to the gun lobby. Now, he’s against gun control.
Is this font (Trebuchet) harder or easier to read than the one I’ve been using (Georgia)? I’m not redesigning - I promise - I’m just trying to get the site easier to skim through.
When he was recommending someone for oversight of American security, Kerik’s shady ties weren’t a question. But now Giualini is running for president and things have changed. It’s intriguing that Rudy Giualini demonstrates absolutely no scruples when it comes to the security of the rest of us, but when it comes to his personal aspiration to the presidency he doesn’t hesitate to throw Kerik under the bus.
Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani acknowledged again Friday that he made a mistake when he recommended Bernard Kerik to be the nation’s homeland security chief.
The acknowledgment followed a report in The New York Times that the former New York City mayor was warned about Kerik’s relationship with a company with suspected ties to organized crime even before Giuliani appointed Kerik as New York City police commissioner.
The latest con fembot, Fox News pundit Rachel Marsden, is a special kind of nutty. I will note, however, unlike the false reports that Ann Coulter is attractive - God, no - Marsden is a looker. But apparently a stalker who’s fond of false accusations of rape. Has she been hanging out with Phyllis Schafly?
And it’s coming back to bite Monica Goodling in the butt.
Part of a generation of young religious conservatives who swept into the federal government after the election of President Bush in 2000, Goodling displayed unblinking devotion to the administration and expected others to do the same. When she started at Justice, “no job was too small for her,” and as she moved rapidly up the ranks, none “was too large,” Corallo said.
“She was the embodiment of a hardworking young conservative who believed strongly in the president and his mission,” said David Ayres, former chief of staff to Bush’s first attorney general, John D. Ashcroft.
This week, Goodling, 33, became the most prominent federal official to invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying before Congress since Lt. Col. Oliver L. North refused to answer questions — until he received immunity — during the 1986 Iran-contra hearings.
The allegiance of these people infecting our government is not to the stars and stripes but to the elephant of the Republican party. They claim to be the one true Christians but practice false idolatry.
The Democrats have played it safe for a generation. Both as the insider party and as the outcast party, through the 2004 election the Democrats played it safe with their presidential candidates. The last succesful Democratic candidate, Bill Clinton, was notable mostly for the fact that he governed from the center and while his legacy was good for America he did not bring his party any national success. Both Gore and Kerry were good guys (I have a significant amount of affection for Al Gore, but I have been a Gore fanboy since 1988 - I’m weird that way) but neither was the sort of game-changing pol like Kennedy, Reagan or Bush II. Of course, in the case of Reagan and Bush II, it’s clear that being a game-changer is not always for the best.
In 2008 Democrats see a very vulnerable post-Bush Republican party as well as a nation primed to vote in a new Democratic president. As E.J. Dionne points out, this has presented something of a predicament especially for Sen. Clinton. If we’re going to have a Democratic president, shouldn’t it be someone that won’t play safe like the ball-control offense of Marty Schottenheimer (Martyball) but instead someone who will air it out like Air Coryell or the Rams of ‘99-01?
We played it safe for a long time, and sometimes it got the most votes (Clinton, Gore) and sometimes it didn’t (Kerry, Dukakis, Mondale). It’s almost like we’ve gotten the ball to the 1yd line, and sure we could kick the field goal on fourth down for a safe three points… but why not hand the ball to our ace running back and bust right through to the end zone?
ALSO: OMG, six months until football? Are you kidding me?
John Boehner, the top Republican in the House minority, can’t properly pronounce “Tuskegee” at a ceremony honoring the Tuskegee Airmen for their service in WWII. It’s almost like Boehner had never heard of them.
Monkey Girl is a detailed and lively chronicle of the Dover, PA case that decided whether or not Intelligent Design (Creationism) should be taught in science class in a public school. Edward Humes, who is a Pulitzer winner, distills complex scientific data into language that the average person can understand. The two most startling elements of the book are just how slick yet bankrupt the forces pushing ID are (the Discovery Institute and the Thomas More Law Center - both bankrolled by the same people running the GOP). They preach the idea of “teaching the controversy” when any scientist will tell you there is none, and the ideas espoused by ID do not even remotely qualify as science. Yet, they were able to convince a school board to implement their ideology and provoke more than one federal case (the book also discusses the Kansas School Board case).
In the epilogue, the judge at the center of the case John E. Jones III (a conservative, Christian, Republican, Bush appointee), laments the atmosphere in his own Republican party that is creating an atmosphere of hatred towards judges (and in some instances encouraging violence to the point of murder against them). Judge Jones also shares this about Ann Coulter, who lamely tried to attack evolution in her book Godless: “Ann Coulter foments a kind of civic stupidity, in my opinion”.
It looks like Rudy Giuliani knew about possible mob ties to Bernard Kerik before he appointed him commisioner of the NYPD.
Rudolph W. Giuliani told a grand jury that his former chief investigator remembered having briefed him on some aspects of Bernard B. Kerik’s relationship with a company suspected of ties to organized crime before Mr. Kerik’s appointment as New York City police commissioner, according to court records.
Mr. Giuliani, testifying last year under oath before a Bronx grand jury investigating Mr. Kerik, said he had no memory of the briefing, but he did not dispute that it had taken place, according to a transcript of his testimony.
Kerik, who is likely to be imprisoned for tax fraud, is forever to be tied to Giuliani who vouched for and recommended him for the position of Homeland Security Secretary. For Rudy Giuliani, when it comes to Bernard Kerik, he seems to value friendship over the safety of New York City and the United States. And he’s the Republican frontrunner.
As he did yesterday with the ludicrous claims of John McCain, CNN’s Iraq reporter Michael Ware who - this must be reiterated - is actually in Iraq, takes on Iraq War supporter Joe Lieberman (I) and his continued twisting of the issue.
For daring to question Iraq The Model, the “Iraqi blog” cited by President Bush as proof of success, the supposedly sane Glenn Reynolds asks:
Is there any enemy of America that the left won’t side with? Or any friend that the left won’t oppose? No.
This is supposed to be the guy lecturing the left about civility and not being crazy. Furthermore, Iraq The Model’s validity has been up for question before. From 2005:
A pro-US weblog by three Iraqi brothers has become the unlikely setting for a huge web spat after conspiracy theorists alleged it was a fake.
Iraq the Model, a weblog detailing the more positive aspects of the US-led occupation of the country, is one of the most popular Iraq sites on the web.
But some anti-war activists said it was a CIA-sponsored propaganda tool.
The brothers strongly denied the claims, but the row has led to severe ructions in the online Iraq community.
But you see, by questioning the fact that this one freaking blog is always the rightie source for how great stuff is going in Iraq is - in the eyes of the venerated Instapundit - grounds for treason.
Yes, she actually said that. Once again, not a marginal figure, not an obscure person, but one of the leading voices of the conservative movement - a founding member of the Goldwater “revolution”.
Tyrannosaurus rex was a strict vegetarian, and lived with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
There were dinosaurs of every kind aboard Noah’s ark. Some dinosaurs managed to hang around until just a few hundred years ago. The legend of St. George slaying the dragon? That probably was a dinosaur.
Exhibits showing all this and more will be at the Creation Museum, a $27 million religious showcase nearing completion in Northern Kentucky.
The museum, in Boone County, is being built by a non-profit group called Answers in Genesis. It is scheduled to open on Memorial Day. Museum and Northern Kentucky tourism officials expect it to be a boon to the region, bringing in at least 250,000 visitors in its first year.
It already is getting media attention. Newspapers and television stations from Europe, Asia and Australia have visited, and CNN was there last week.
But mainstream scientists, who have dubbed it The Fred and Wilma Flintstone Museum, say the museum’s message is just plain wrong.
Wrong is putting it nicely. Idiotic is about right.
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