-- What was up with Abramoff's black hat? The word is Jack was trying to garner support from the conservative and orthodox Jewish community by wearing the black fedora. Best laid plans: Instead, it merely made him look like the devious crook he is;
Boris Badenov rather than Rabbi Hillel. Hint to Abramoff: Next time, wear the hat with a full fake beard. (Sure, that'll work.) Maybe you would have been better off sporting crutches, ala GOP playmate Scooter Libby. ("Oh, how could they cruelly prosecute that poor man -- he can barely walk!")The Gripe: Why didn't the MSM suspect this? Why did they keep asking each other what he was thinking by wearing that hat?
-- This is just a Gripe: Why did the MSM, before any vote had taken place -- indeed, on the first day of questioning of Samuel Alito -- already have this guy confirmed? Okay, we know they're corporately owned and operated and Bush friendly, but, just for the sake of form, you'd think they'd wait until the hearings were over to proclaim him the next Supreme Court Associate Justice.
According to the punditry, unless it's discovered he dated chickens or smoked man-gland in the boy's locker room, he's going to be kicked up to the high court, no problem. If he was involved in some sleazy courtroom deals where he should have recused himself, thinks women should be perpetually barefoot and pregnant, blacks should shine his shoes on command, or lied (or didn't lie) to get a job in 1985, no big thing -- he'll fit right in over at the S.C. And if doesn't know much about Constitutional law -- well, who cares about that these days? The guy who nominated him doesn't either.
-- Pat Robertson did an amusing about-face the other day. You might remember that the Certifiably Insane 700 Club blabber took the opportunity of Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon's stroke and coma to show his Christian compassion by claiming it was a judgment from God on Sharon for giving up the Gaza Strip, thereby tampering with all of Pat's precious Endtimes scenarios. (Note: According to the Book of Revelation, Israel must return to the borders of its ancient homeland as delineated in the Old Testament before Pat's imaginary Rapture can occur, although why this old swindler thinks he's heading to heaven is prima facie evidence of his psychotic delusions.)
In response, the Israeli government, in a snit over Pat's rabid droolings, promptly aced him out of the $50 million Christian theme park to be erected on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, allegedly one of Jesus' old stomping grounds.
The Rev, checking his balance sheet, quickly hied to the CBN studios to apologize all over himself, as well as sending Sharon's son a gushy love letter. Hey, nothing comes between Pious Pat and the Almighty Dollar, capeche?
The Gripe: After his history of crazed pronouncements and apologies, why does the Mass Media even pay any attention to this nutcase anymore?
-- Watch for BushCo to unveil a new budget accounting scheme to make the deficit appear to have been reduced. According to a Washington Post story on Dec. 29, 2005, Bush officials are studying "changes to how government puts together its budget." It's all part of the White House retooling its 'plan for recovery.' What that really means in plain English is that they're going to find a sneaky way to make the numbers look better before the 2006 elections, while not reducing the deficit by a dime.
The Gripe: Haven't heard one MSM 'expert' talk about what a steaming chunk of bull excrement this is, being extruded right in the middle of the Oval Office.
-- Finishing on an upbeat note, two women, Susan Ralston and Emily Miller, will become very important witnesses in the Abramoff/DeLay/Scanlon prosecutions.
Ralston worked in senior staff positions for both Abramoff and Karl Rove in the White House, neatly linking up those two scoundrels.Emily Miller once had a job in Tom DeLay's Congressional rat house, when Michael Scanlon was chief of staff.
After Mike and Em were caught in flagrante delicto on a desk in the office, they each went their separarte ways, Scanlon going into the lobbying business with Jack Abramoff.
Howsomever, and this is an important point, Mike had earnestly promised to marry Ms. Miller. Keeping in character, he had also committed to getting hitched to his manicurist and who knows who else.
Eventually, Scanlon ungallantly dumped Em, which may turn out to be the stupidest move of his corrupt life: Miller has the goods on not only the DeLay/Scanlon crookedness, but all the underhanded sleaze of the Abramoff/Scanlon lobbying partnership that came later.
Here's the Tattlesnake's Prediction: With the 'Perfect Storm' link-up of DeLay and Rove to Abramoff and Scanlon (Emily allegedly kept copies of computer records and Ralston was at many of the key meetings), along with Abramoff and Scanlon's testimony, Rove will resign from the White House this year, no matter what happens with Plamegate. DeLay's already in the diaper pail up to his eyeballs, and Jack and Mike are being fitted for orange jumpsuits, so all the Republican high command can do is try to limit the damage before the November elections.
Will the GOP succeed with this strategy? Taint likely, since there are Bush-appointed 'Brownies' littering the Republican Party like mosquitoes after a levee break. These people are dumb and inept, which is not the emergency crew you want on the other end of the rope when you're trying to pull yourself out of a hole of your own making.
A key sign will be how many national and state Republican incumbents decide not to seek re-election in 2006. Tattlesnake would bet it's in the same range as the cost of a bottle of Dom Pérignon Rosé at Abramoff's pricey Signatures bar.
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Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie
The 'Wal-Martinizing' of America Enters its Final Phase
Economically, this is the beginning of the end for the U.S. economy; if China dumps our money, other foreign lenders will follow suit, thereby devaluing the battered dollar even further.
If you think gas and heating prices are high now, just wait until this runaway inflation hits; we'll be like the Weimar Republic in Germany in the 1920s, but with more credit debt. The low-priced Chinese-made goods in Wal-Mart will be a thing of the past.
The saddest part is that I don't think the incompetents and ideologues in the Bush Admistration fully comprehend the intricacies of the global economy; you can be assured their multi-national corporate campaign contributors do, and will skim a bundle from our financial miseries.
Note: The housing boom has already gone bust with a solid month of record-level drops in mortgage applications.
This from The Progress Report:
ECONOMY -- CHINA WARNS IT MAY STOP PROPPING UP U.S. DEFICITS: A high-level Chinese state economist told the Washington Post this week that "China has resolved to shift some of its foreign exchange reserves -- now in excess of $800 billion -- away from the U.S. dollar and into other world currencies in a move likely to push down the value of the greenback." "The new policy reflects China's fears that too much of its savings is tied up in the dollar, a currency widely expected to drop in value as the U.S. trade and fiscal deficits climb." Economists warn that if China and other countries refuse to fund American deficits, "the dollar would fall, interest rates would rise and the housing boom could burst, sending real estate prices lower." The statement from China comes on the heels of the news that China's trade surplus tripled from $31.9 billion in 2004 to $102 billion in 2005. "We still have the edge," former Secretary of State Colin Powell said. "But I am worried we are willing to make the right investment to make sure that we don't fall behind."
-- The Progress Report, Jan. 11, 2006.
-----------------------------------------------Today's Quote
"If you think Bush is spying on you, just use big words."
-- Randi Rhodes, Air America Radio.
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