What a maroon!

Zachary Roth has the gory details:

Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois' U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife.

Of course, corruption is suddenly bad again now that the Dems are in charge. Funny how that works, huh? And again, it's Fitzgerald going after the corrupt. Doesn't Obama have something for him in his admin?

Update: Rahm Brought Down Blago! Really, they're going to have to flat out lie if they want to pin Blago on Obama.

The governor, accused of seeking cash for the political appointment of Obama's Senate replacement, is not a close associate of the President-elect. Indeed, in the affidavit, Blagojevich called Obama a "motherfucker" for wanting him to appoint an official that the governor either did not like or wouldn't receive money from. Local news reports, meanwhile, suggest that it was Obama chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel who blew the whistle on the governor.

Update #2: Rahm Story Bogus!

Read more!

Open Thread

What to talk about today. Obama citizenship case will not be heard by SCOTUS. People are still dying in Iraq. Little bu$h is still pResident for another 40 some odd 42 days. And I'm still pissed at paradox for not explaining what P-Dip did wrong. Here's an open thread.And here is the rest of it.

Read more!

RIP

Farewell to our home base, The Left Coaster. Paradox has decided that he'll delete anyone who hurts his feelings, even long time supporters. Let us bow our heads, and mourn the passing of a once-great blog. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, even on the blogs. Goodbye, TLC - you'll be missed.

Update from Id: Principal writers, check your email. I've started an email discussion on what, if anything, we should do. If you have posting privileges, want to be part of the discussion, and did not get this email, let us know. Specifically - I can't find Milo's email address.

Read more!

David Fucking Gregory?

Are you gawddamned kidding me?!

Look, I get it, Brokaw was killing MTP. I know that in his "attempt" to be fair he overdid the whole Right-Wing friggin' stance on everything; and that this was the last thing that the American people wanted, but you do not fix that by going even further to the Right.

Jeebus, NBC. What.Are.You.Thinking!!??

David friggin' Gregory has killed your 6 pm programming with his "Race to the Whitehouse" show, AKA "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." Now, you really want to put the last nail in the coffin of MTP?! You really want MTP to die with Tim?!

Admittedly, I loved Tim Russert. I really did. I cried for 3 days when he died.

I just think that the talent to choose from was a much greater pool than the likes of gawddamned David Gregory. Any friggin' body would have been better.

My vote was for Phil Donahue or Bill Moyers. At this point though - anyone but Gregory would do.

Jeebus. It feels like the end of an era.

Read more!

Honesty to Return to the Veterans Administration?

General (Ret.) Eric Shinseki is named to lead the Veterans Administration. Anyone who disagreed with and was fired because of Rumsfield and Wolfowitz earns my respect. That means he is a straight shooter, no bullshit. He also happens to be a 2 tour Veteran of Vietnam who lost part of his foot stepping on a land mine. The first Asian-American 4 star General and leader of the Joints Chief of Staff.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America has this to say about Shinseki:

"IAVA applauds President-elect Obama and the transition team for making this historic selection. General Shinseki has a record of courage and honesty, and is a bold choice to lead the VA into the future. The President-elect has demonstrated an understanding of the urgency of the issues facing America's veterans by making this announcement early. General Shinseki is widely-respected, honest and experienced. He is a man that has always put patriotism ahead of politics, and is held in high regard by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. IAVA looks forward to supporting him to implement the historic change that is needed at the VA.

As a wounded, decorated, combat veteran, and the first Asian American in US History to be a four-star general, General Shinseki, has the potential to be an effective and dedicated advocate for veterans of all generations.

This is a critical time for veterans. One in five veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing serious mental health injuries like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or depression. Wounded veterans are waiting months, sometimes years, to receive disability benefits. The struggling U.S. economy is hitting new veterans especially hard. And the new GI Bill, which will make college affordable to every veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, must be implemented by August 2009.

General Shinseki has a monumental task before him. To address these issues will require real leadership that encourages active VA outreach and transparency. We encourage General Shinseki to move quickly to add Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans to key positions in his senior staff.

President-elect Obama made veterans' issues a priority in his campaign, and Michelle Obama has called military families one of the issues she cares most about. We look forward to working closely with General Shinseki and the new Administration to ensure every veteran in this country gets the care and support they have earned."

And here is the rest of it.

Read more!

Car Czar?

Can we please lose the word Czar? Nixon named the first Government Czar in 1973. Since then we have had an Energy Czar, Health Care Czar, War Czar, Drug Czar, Aids Czar, Security Czar and even a Border Czar. The power and authority of this Country is turning America into a Czardom.

First of all, the connotations aren’t good. Czars were Russian despots, often decadent and often shot for their sins. Czar describes a job that’s not easily done. Few czars have been successful at their czarist tasks, probably through no fault of their own. It’s an ill-defined position that either falls of its own weight or, worse, leads to the creation of a huge bureaucracy (like the Energy Department) where none is needed.

So, please President Elect Obama, do not name a 'Car Czar,' as rumored.

Read more!

We Shall See

“I strongly believe there should be a single, clear standard for interrogation across the federal government, and that this standard should comply with the Geneva Convention, the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and U.S. law. I plan to introduce legislation in January that would close Guantanamo, make the Army Field Manual the single standard for interrogations, prohibit contractors from being used to carry out interrogations and provide the International Committee of the Red Cross with access to detainees. If the incoming administration decides to propose an alternative to this legislation, I am willing to hear its views. But I believe we must put an end to coercive interrogations by the C.I.A.” Diane Feinstein on Thursday.

Read more!