Hopefully, this one isn’t too obscure. I guess it helps if you remember there’s a man-sized safe in Cheney’s office
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
I watched a fascinating episode of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS last night. It featured Bruce Fein & John Nichols as they made their case for impeaching both George W. Bush & Dick Cheney. I highly recommend watching the entire video. Here’s the website, as well.
Of course, after the Democrats completely caved on the Surveillance Legislature (See cartoon below) I really don’t think this is going to happen. In a properly functioning Democracy, with actual opposition parties, Bush & Co. would have been impeached long ago…
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
This is just another reason why I can’t be a Democrat, let alone vote for Democrats. They don’t want to appear weak on terror, so they give the Bush Administration everything they asked for in the new surveillance law. Great.
“The new law gives them authority to do far more than simply surveil foreign communications abroad,” he said. “It expands the surveillance program beyond terrorism to encompass foreign intelligence. It permits the monitoring of communications of a U.S. person as long as he or she is not the primary target. And it effectively removes judicial supervision of the surveillance process.”
Here’s the whole story. Read it & weep, as they say.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Let’s just add this to the “Is there anything these guys won’t try” list. It seems the GOP wants to divvy up California’s 55 Electoral Votes based on Congressional districts, rather than the present winner-take-all system. I can’t believe they said this with a straight face:
“The pitch is pretty straightforward,” Eckery said. “We’re unlocking 55 electoral votes, and making it so candidates have to compete for them…. Candidates are not going to be able to ignore California. That would benefit all Californians.”
I guess Republicans are tired of seeing our 55 votes go entirely to Dems & want to take a few bites out of the biggest blue state. Now, I’m no fan of the Electoral College, but unless you do this in every state - red & blue, alike - singling out California seems like a Rovean ploy.
“This is all about rigging the system, fixing the system, to tilt the electoral college to the Republicans, all under the pretense of being a reform,” Lehane said.
As the story states, the measure is still in its infancy, but as Election ‘08 nears, don’t be surprised to see this on the ballot.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
In today’s L.A. Times there’s more bad news regarding Electronic voting machines: according to a review by the California Secretary of State, it seems those used in recent elections are all easily hacked. This doesn’t really come as much of a surprise, especially if you’ve seen the demonstration video, based on the Princeton University study of DieBold’s voting machines’ security (or lack thereof). In the video, they show just how easy it is to infect a machine with malicious software which alters the vote counts, & then erases itself, leaving no evidence. In a demo election, Benedict Arnold was able to defeat George Washington, even thought George received more votes.
Here’s a related cartoon I did several months before the last elections:
Friday, July 27, 2007
If you’re the Bush Administration & things aren’t going as well as you’d like them to in Iraq, do you change strategies? Admit the “surge” might not be working? Confess that the outcome has been disappointing? No, you just stop reporting the bad news, of course!
“As the Bush administration struggles to convince lawmakers that its Iraq war strategy is working, it has stopped reporting to Congress a key quality-of-life indicator in Baghdad: how long the power stays on.
Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that Baghdad residents could count on only “an hour or two a day” of electricity. That’s down from an average of five to six hours a day earlier this year.”
That’s right after how many years, how many billions in reconstruction, now many no-bid contracts, Baghdad residents get just one or two hours of electricity a day! With summer temperatures well over 110 degrees it’s tough to win over the “hearts & minds” if those “hearts & minds” can’t use their air conditioners.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
Caricatures have never been my strong point, but I’m pretty happy with how these turned out. Except, of course, for Fred Thompson–there was just something about his eyes I couldn’t quite capture. I also debated whether or not to place a question mark after 2008 under him, but at this point his candidacy is practically inevitable. If/when he does run, I sure hope he doesn’t win–for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that he’s tough to draw.
