Hot Potato Mash

JIMMY KIMMEL ON MEL GIBSON, DANICA & JEWS

This is about half of Jimmy Kimmel's monologue from tonight focusing on Mel Gibson.  There are a couple of very funny parts including a montage of reporters in the MSM trying to report the story.

PRESIDENT BILL MOYERS

How good does that sound?  Molly Ivins makes a convincing case for a Bill Moyers Presidential run in 2008 in a column earlier this week.  John Nichols  seconds Ivins nomination but, unlike Ivins, he believes Moyers could actually win.

While we have come to worship Ivins over the years, whom we think a modern day Voltaire or Swift, we hope Nichols is right on this one.  That we even have to ask the question of whether Moyers is electable speaks volumes about the current state of our democracy.  That we would almost elect George W. Bush to two terms (he lost both) despite his lack of credentials and simultaneously reject one of the most accomplished American's ever boggles the mind.

While Moyers is best known for journalism where he has won more than 30 Emmy Awards, few remember the influential role he played in the LBJ administration where he eventually became the White House Chief of Staff at 29!  He also served as LBJ's chief speech writer and as press secretary.  And many credit Moyers as the driving force behind LBJ's Great Society legislation.  During the JFK administration, Moyers was the architect of the Peace Corps which he also headed.  Finally, Moyers is also an ordained minister.

One can only hope that these two columns serve to inspire the rest of the country like they did my friends Brandon and Karen, who wrote Moyers a letter (reprinted below) also encouraging a presidential run.  We love the idea and encourage everyone to follow suit.  Get active and give hope to our dying democracy by writing to Bill Moyers, P.O. Box 309, Bernardsville, NJ 07924

Dear Mr. Moyers,

We would like to wholeheartedly encourage you to run for President of the United States in the 2008 election.  We are proud parents of a thirteen-month-old boy, and we are desperately worried about his future.  We strongly believe that you are the best hope for changing the conversations and focus of the career politicians that are the likely candidates in the upcoming presidential election, and we know that you would raise the level of dialogue by addressing real issues with honest and thoughtful perspectives that are nonexistent in today’s politics.

BUSH & THE LITTLE CONTEMPTIBLE COWBOYS

An Iranian produced video poem about George Bush and company from Memritv.org.

What's particularly strange about the clip is that while it is clearly intended as a propaganda piece, it's message is not that far off and certainly closer to reality than Fox News on a good day. Not to mention, far more entertaining.

GIVE BUNNY BACK HER JOB! GIVE BUNNY BACK HER JOB!

Whistleblower Bunnatine Greenhouse, who was demoted from her job as the top civilian procurement officer for the Army Corps of Engineers for complaining about a no-bid government contract awarded to Halliburton, was justifiably feeling good in this interview with NOW's David Broncaccio.

Her jubilation was the result of the decision this week not to renew the Halliburton contract which has been mired with accusations of fraud and mismanagement from the start.

Here are 10 things we know for sure:

1. DICK Cheney was CEO of Halliburton until he joined the Bush ticket in 2000

2. Before taking office, Cheney had outgoing Defense Secretary William Cohen brief Bush on our different Iraq options.

3. Bunny demoted for contesting huge no-bid contract

4. Despite denials of any involvement by DICK, an email from the Army Corps of Engineers (obtained through FOIA) stated, "We anticipate no issue [with the Halliburton deal] since the action has been coordinated w VP's office"

5. The biggest advocate for the war in Iraq was VP DICK who Bob Woodward described as a "powerful, steamrolling force" for war.

6. Halliburton's Iraq revenues have skyrocketed from nothing to about $17 billion since beginning of war.

7. Halliburton's stock price gained about 400% over same period.

8. DICK, despite claiming to have sold his entire interest in company, still has options worth close to $4 million and receives a yearly deferred salary over $150,000.

9. DICK also got a $20 million retirement package from Halliburton before becoming VP after only five years of employment.

10. American soldiers killed in Iraq to date: 2547

Of course, the Republican Senate voted to kill any investigation into the Halliburton contracts at the end of last year.  And Bunny remains demoted for trying to save us taxpayers billions of dollars.

GIVE BUNNY BACK HER JOB! GIVE BUNNY BACK HER JOB!

OMG! - JOE LIEBERMAN IS A DIRTY FILTHY WHORE

It's a sad day when Pat Robertson is one of your strongest supporters.

STEPHEN COLBERT ON TEACHING SUNDAY SCHOOL

On last night's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Stephen Colbert explained, rather, showed his unique way of teaching Sunday School to 6 year olds.

ANN COULTER IS NOT A SERIOUS JOURNALIST

Or check out the Josh Faure-Brac created cartoon series on Currentv. The money quote from this clip courtesy of the Devil: “You are not a serious journalist. All anyone has to do is check the sloppy misleading footnotes in your hate filled books and they will see that you are a bald faced liar who doesn't have an ounce of respect for your readers or the truth.”

SENATE ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE HATES THE ENVIRONMENT

When Exxon or some scientist backed by business attempt to confuse the global warming issue it is somewhat more palatable because their bottom line is the bottom line.  However, when our government, those elected to represent our best interests does it, it is simply reprehensible and inexcusable. 

Yesterday, the Republican U.S. Senate Committee On Environment & Public Works did just that by issuing a press release condemning the Tom Brokaw hosted Discovery Channel documentary, "Global Warming: What you Need to Know" which airs Sunday.  The press release reads, in part:

Brokaw’s partisan past and his reliance on scientists who openly endorsed Democrat Presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004 and who are financially affiliated with left wing environmental groups, has resulted in a documentary that is devoid of balance and objectivity.

Read the rest of the shameful press release here.  More importantly, watch the documentary on Sunday at 9 p.m. on the Discovery Channel.

MOVING MOVEON.ORG COMMERCIAL ON DEFICIT

Hope everyone with kids are enjoying their tax cuts.

STEPHEN COLBERT & AMY SEDARIS TUMBLING

Amy Sedaris was on the Colbert Report pimping her new movie Strangers With Candy, co-written and co-starring Stephen Colbert, when they broke out in a hilarious "tumbling" skit.

BILLY RAY CYRUS: ACHY BREAKY JESUS

                              Watch the Video

Appearing on the 700Club on Monday, Billy Ray Cyrus sang that Jesus is the only one that understands his  "Achy Breaky Heart".  Of course, Billy Ray does not find the son of god before ripping Hollywood which was like dealing with the devil.  So Billy Ray says, "God, tell me what to do, I'm lost."  And it turns out that god wanted him to hawk his newest CD, "The Other Side", on CBN.

BROKAW & LETTERMAN DISCUSS GLOBAL WARMING

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Tom Brokaw and David Lettman discuss global warming on Friday, June 30, 2006.

Brokaw who is hosting a global warming special on the Discovery Channel this month: "The evidence all arrives at the same place...this is happening and its happening at an alarming rate."

 

 

CATHERINE CRIER DEFENDING OUR DEMOCRACY

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CRIER: "The national character of this scandal (voter fraud) is unprecedented and threatens to turn us into little more than a banana republic"

This is a hard hitting piece that every American should watch. 

 

DAILY SHOW - i can't describe it, just sitting here dumbfounded

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There are no words.  You can try amazing, unreal, astonished -- heck add them all up and they don't begin to tell this story.  Your jaw will hit the ground, your feet are likely to fail you, you will never ever think of Janet Jackson's nipple again.  We have never been more shocked by regular t.v. -  at least in this millenium.  Below, is the contact information for Representative Pitts should this clip move you to give him your thoughts.

Washington Office
221 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(1st Street and Independence Avenue)
202 225-2411
202 225-2013 (fax)

 Or you can fill out a form at http://www.house.gov/pitts/service/correspond.htm

THE DAILY SHOW - HITS ANOTHER HOME RUN

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Once again The Daily Show hits one out of the ballpark with this piece on the congressional softball league which I remember fondly from a summer internship on the Hill. But like all things in D.C. these days, power and partisanship led the republicans to break from tradition and form their own softball league.


But sticking with recent tradition, republicans refused to speak on camera when confronted about their shenanigans and hid behind their lawyers (reminding me of a recent altercation I had with a republican lawyer who chose to hide behind his wife rather than speak to me directly). Or, as Daily Show correspondent Dan Bakkedahl poetically put it, they acted like "pussies".


Unfortunately, like most things republicans do these days, there are serious consequences to their actions. And it's hard to know whether to laugh or cry when Bakkedahl asks a republican operative at the end of the segment if he "would say that [his] decision to storm out in the middle of an interview reflect the general dickishness amongst republicans that's probably responsible for the fact that New Orleans is under water".