Just watched the video clip of the MSNBC Countdown with Keith Olbermann editorial smackdown of our government – at all levels – for its handling of the Katrina disaster. I’ve never watched the show before, and imagine it’s highly sensationalized, but he makes several excellent points, such as:

• “this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection — or at least amelioration — against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological. It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water.”
• “Anybody seen the Vice President lately? The man whose message this time last year was, ‘I’ll Protect You, The Other Guy Will Let You Die’?”

I just signed up to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request to force the adminstration to release the records of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.

Roberts worked for the Justice Department on 16 key Supreme Court cases — the records will give the best perspective of his view on crucial issues.

What are they hiding? Let’s find out — join me and file a Freedom of Information Act request.

No matter what your socioeconomic status or religious affiliation, there’s a Bush site for you!

Are you a billionaire? Try Billionaires for Bush!
Are you a devout Bushite? Then Bush is Lord is for you!
Awaiting the return of your dark master? He’s already here according to Bush is the Anti-christ!
Tired of prissy, pink-panty politics? Then join Team Bush, celebrating “The Manliest Man in America, Man Style”!

P.S. Rush Limbaugh fans, fear not. Your leader is now on the Internets too!

Holy Santorum, I just found out that I missed Justice Sunday II – God Save the United States and This Honorable Court! In case you’re not up on your hate-breeding Religious Right insanity, “Justice Sunday II is a follow-up broadcast to Justice Sunday – Stopping the Filibuster Against People of Faith”, or in other words, a meritless spin campaign against the last resort for preventing a massive unilateral Republican assault on our federal judiciary.

JSII was conducted by our theocratic betters at the Family Research Council, who have generously provided us with Marriage: One Man, One Woman (protectmarriage.org) (aka We Hate Gays and We Will Take Your Rights Away One By One) and The Center for Human Life and Bioethics (aka The Center for Overturning Roe v. Wade and Stopping Embryonic Stem Cell Research). protectmarriage.org supports protectmarriage.com, “the official website for the California Constitutional Marriage Amendment”, which judging from the phat rock on the woman’s finger on their home page, must also be supported by De Beers.

If you’re fed up with constant cable rate hikes, poor service and a lack of local and independent programming, the FCC needs to hear from you — right now.

The FCC may allow the three largest cable companies to control up to 90 percent of the cable TV and broadband market in the United States.

I just sent a message to the FCC. It only takes a few minutes. I hope you’ll do the same.

I’m not one to be a fan of very many things, but I am pleased to learn that the Rude Pundit will be performing The Rude Pundit in The Year of Living Rudely at the New York International Fringe Festival, which runs from Friday, August 12th through Sunday, August 28th. From the FringeNYC blurb:

Based on the cult blog with thousands of fans worldwide, the Rude Pundit attacks assholes and pisses on the powerful. In this (very rude) one-man comedy, he gives a scatological skewering and a pornographic wedgie to preachers, politicians, and presidents.

No new strategies. No timetable for exit. No response to evidence of ignored or fabricated intelligence. But the deaths of over 1,740 U.S. military personnel and 12,000 Iraqi civilians, and counting, are “worth it”. What an asshole.

I can’t wait to read what the Rude Pundit has to say tomorrow.

No, not Smokey’s toe, but Karl Rove’s speech:

“[P]erhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.”

Firing would be too good for this guy, but you should sign John Kerry’s open letter anyway. Then treat yourself to The Rude Pundit’s gentle words on the subject.

Today’s entry from the Presidential (Mis)speak 2005 Calendar: The Very Curious Language of George W. Bush:

“Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the road map to peace.”
- George W. Bush, July 25, 2003

It makes me laugh, it makes me cry.

The Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee is finally proposing a bill to improve our broken patent system. There’s a hearing today on H.R. 2795, the “Patent Act of 2005,” though there does not yet appear to be a public draft online. Maybe Lamar Smith is not entirely evil. Anyway, though the bill is roughly equivalent to sticking a few band-aids on a gushing head wound, it’s better than nothing.