Simple questions for strange moments

Another case of simple questions with what I imagine are complex answers... Why is Dick Cheney so forcefully and publicly attacking the Obama administration? What is he afraid of?

Just asking...

Environmental "Standards" or not...

So, a week ago, the administration--er, excuse me, the EPA told told 17 states that they couldn't set their own air quality standards. Or at least, they told the states that they couldn't set requirements that were more stringent than federal standards. I mean, god forbid states look out for their interests when they don't feel the federal government is doing a good enough job. And it's not like states' rights and republicanism were ever the foundation of the Republican party or anything like that. Nope. At least not when such alternative regulations might conflict with bizness interests.

Anyway, that's what makes it extra-fascinating to find out that the EPA might have been tainted by contacts from Cheney's office. And that they might have to fess up to what really is behind their efforts to stop states and citizens from actually taking the initiative on making a change in our approach to the environment.

Stay tuned for the report that significant portions of the documentation has been redacted for "National Security Purposes" or that some low-level official "inadvertently" deleted the records.

cheney's a robot

Dick Cheney had the battery in his built-in defibrillator replaced this weekend. This means his heart will continue to operate. This almost seems comic. Almost.

Scuttling Scooter

I raised the question the other day, "How much more damage can these guys do in the next eighteen months?" The answer came back, "A lot."

Of course, it is semantically better that Bush commuted Libby's sentence rather than just pardoning him outright. A nice little rhetorical trick, actually. Doing so, however, is just another maddening reminder of how ethically bankrupt the administration really is. The U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously rejected his request for an appeal, but Bush certainly found his way around those "activist judges," didn't he?

Then again, since Cheney is really the one who is running things, why should I even be surprised. Kagro X on Daily Kos takes us back to where all of the ills of this administration seem to start: the end of the Nixon administration. Hell, just keep reading the rest of Daily Kos for coverage. It's good. And sad.