32. Defendant slashdot.org is an far-right wing Internet news website that posts libelous and defamatory content and is used by Open Source Community members to anonymously post hate speech, death threats, threats to murder and promotes and advocates acts of domestic terrorism within the United States. The address and location of defendants is believed to be within the State of California, but is unknown at the present time.

Slashdot is worse that FOX NEWS according to Jeff Merkey.

Merkey Law: Complaint Filed in US District Court

Demand an Independent Counsel for Tom DeLay!

It's time for Tom DeLay to come clean with the American people, especially his constituents in Texas. Tom DeLay says he wants to get his ethics problems behind him. Well if that's true, then it's time for him to act. It's time for Tom DeLay and the House Republican leadership to break the logjam in the House Ethics Committee.

It's time to appoint an independent counsel.

If Tom DeLay is truly innocent of these ethics allegations, then for the good of the people of the 22nd District and for the good of the Congress, it's time for him to get the investigation underway.

Send an email to Tom DeLay, Speaker Hastert, and House Ethics Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, and urge them to appoint an independent counsel today!

Nick Lampson (who is running against Tom Delay in houston) is pushing out this petition to demand that the House appoint an indiependant council to investigate if Tom Delay broke the Houses rules and ethics.

Go ahead and send in your thoughts. Make these goverment fat cats accountable.

Take Action: Demand an Independent Counsel for Tom DeLay!

I TAKE IT ALL BACK! FELT WAS DEEP THROAT!

Woodward & Bernstein Confirm: Felt Was 'DeepThroat'

This is a great article about Line Sitters. Line Sitting is a unique-to-DC phenonimon/occupation where someone actually pays someone else to sit in line. Typically this job involves waiting for seats in committee hearings in either the House or Senate. Who might pay for seats? Who might pay $10-$15/hr for this sort of access? Well Lobbyists of course!

DC Power brokering is about access. Who. What. When. Where. If lobbyists are the pinnacle of the special interests then the line sitters are the frontline grunts. They are placeholders for power. They are placeholders for access. They stand vigil for any and all special interest. If you want to talk about an existential crisis look no farther than here. Infact get in line, cause much like all things DC, this industry is competitive as hell.

What facinates me about this is the fact that the only qualification you need for this position is the ability to show up at the capitol and wait. Out infront of my building, the Hart Senate Office, I typically see this loose crew of people in their canvas lawn chairs reading books, talking or just generally waiting around. I kept wondering "What the hell these people waiting around for?"

Keynes was right! Even when dealing with politics, power, and access, it's all about supply and demand.

washingtonpost.com: The Line Starts Here

Sorry I didn't do this earlier but the articles haven't been good. Waren, Salazaar, McCain, Lieberman, Byrd turned what could have been the brink of disaster into a victory for the US Senate as a whole. The nuclear option would have tested the limits of our democracy.

The Senate now will get back to the business of the American people.

--timball

Senators Reach Deal on Filibuster

We, the american people, are doomed.

Howard Kurtz gives the best write up about the crap on the Hill. Here in washington it's all about these three issue: The WH thinks it's all about tort reform and SS reform and all other sorts of reform (``REE-four-m'' pronounced like the KKK politician from O'Brother); Congress stuck and mired in congressional rules and procedure, with overtones of -shock- political corruption -awe-; And terri schaivo, the human political football, abused worse than Micheal Dukakis in '88.

But the reality is, now that the election is long over, most americans are back dealing with their own crap. The economy has sorta picked up but everyone still has record credit card debt. Gas prices are on their way up and the population at large is starting to understand that they're never going down. It doesn't take a job on the _Apprentice_ to see how that affects living costs, shipping costs, business costs, effectively a ``tax'' on everything americans hold dear.

So you, me, everyone. Live it up! Live life for the right now. Enjoy it while we still have it. Take a flight to some part of the world you've never been too. Take a road trip across the country. Shoot a buffalo. Take your friends and enjoy the cheap thrills now. We're still americans damnit and, by god, ketchup will still be on the table.

--timball

Media Notes Extra

] After surviving one of the roughest presidential
] elections in modern times, President George W. Bush
] singled out one member of his team in particular, calling
] Karl Rove the campaign's "architect." But Rove, a
] longtime Bush adviser and confidant, is much more than a
] political guru, he is also the single most powerful --
] and ambitious -- policy adviser in the White House.
] (more) »

Yeah... watch it. The webbroadcast is slightly different from the version tivo got me. But if you don't mind here are some SPOILERS:

1) Karl is passionate about a perminent republican majority.
2) His major tactic is that he targets an opponent's strength rather than chipping away at his weaknesses.
3) He tries to frame issues around so called "Anger Points".
4) When all other tactics aren't working he hangs the word "gay" around his opponent.

The piece is great... probably the best post-election thing I've seen/read/talked about/blah blah blah. I don't think anyone can admire him for his methods, but I sure do envy the results.

--timball

frontline: karl rove -- the architect: watch the full program online | PBS

] "We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon
] international law, not the Constitution of the United
] States. That's just outrageous, and not only that, he
] said in session that he does his own research on the
] Internet. That is just incredibly outrageous," DeLay said
] in the interview.

Tom Delay death spiral watch. This is Fox news. Fox news closed with a quote from a Democrat saying that they need to get Delay out of the public sphere for a little while and let him cool off. Fox news.

How dare judges attempt to research questions that are presented to them! Delay's position is that judges shouldn't be interested in the truth, per say. They shouldn't seek out objective perspectives on matters they need to consider. Rather they should be beholden to the power and money that drives the "democratic" government.

Delay wants to use the "good behavior" text in Article III Section I to bring all federal judges under fine grained political control.

He seems to be operating under the perception that the American people don't realize that the legislature is corrupt, or that politicians are bought and sold, or that people think that judges ought to live in a bubble. He is wrong on all counts, and he is starting to sound like a fool.

FOXNews.com - Politics - DeLay Calls Justice Kennedy 'Outrageous'

] Ad Targeting Voinovich
]
] [dinner sound effects/cutlery]
]
] Wife: Honey, were you watching C-SPAN today? Did you
] hear how disloyal Senator Voinovich was to Republicans
] and President Bush? Voinovich stood with the Democrats
] and refused to vote for John Bolton, the man President
] Bush has chosen to fight for the United States at the UN
]
] Husband: No, I was streaming it on the Internet at the
] office, but from what I could tell, Senator Voinovich
] played hookey from the hearings?
]
] Wife: Yeah that's right. He's missed most of
] the Bolton confirmation hearings, but then shows up at
] the last minute and stabs the President and Republicans
] right in the back.
]
] ...
]

The transcript for a political ad. You have to read the rest of it... it's not long. They sure are jackasses.

Move America Forward: Ad Targeting Voinovich

"I'm not here to discuss the Democrats' agenda."

That's my favorite.

Okay so here's what's going on. Unlike most committees the ethics committee has equal representation by both parties. Under the previous (108th congress) rules a tie vote in the ethics committee would mean the committee would act on whatever it was they're voting on. But under the new rules (109th) a tie means "status quo". Aka they've gutted the entire point of the ethics committee.

DeLay's (Broken) Record