jeek's shared items
Devo sues McDonald's (Stuff.co.nz, thanks Tara McGinley!)"We are in the midst of suing them," (Devo's Jerry) Casale told AAP.
"This New Wave Nigel doll that they've created is just a complete Devo rip-off and the red hat is exactly the red hat that I designed, and it's copyrighted and trademarked.
"They didn't ask us anything. Plus, we don't like McDonald's, and we don't like American Idol, so we're doubly offended."
Sen. John McCain can complain all he wants about whether his comments have been taken out of context but when it comes to the importance of U.S. service members coming home it's McCain who's missing the larger context. The context the Senator cannot or will not grasp is that the war in Iraq is not the success he's deluded himself into thinking it is and it's a far cry from the success he promised it would be when he and the president he supports conned the nation into war in the first place.
It's a temporary reprieve, not a victory, but Senators Dodd and Feingold have worked with Durbin and Reid to delay the FISA vote until July 8.
Feingold's statement (via e-mail):
"I'm pleased we were able to delay a vote on FISA until after the July 4th holiday instead of having it jammed through. I hope that over the July 4th holiday, Senators will take a closer look at this deeply flawed legislation and understand how it threatens the civil liberties of the American people.
"It is possible to defend this country from terrorists while also protecting the rights and freedoms that define our nation."
Dodd's statement (via e-mail:)
"I’m pleased that consideration of the FISA Amendments Act has been delayed until after the 4th of July recess. I urge my colleagues to take this time to listen to their constituents and consider the dangerous precedent that would be set by granting retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies that may have engaged in President Bush’s illegal wiretapping program.
"When and if FISA does come back to the Senate floor, I will offer my amendment to strip the retroactive immunity provision out of the bill. I implore my colleagues to support the rule of law and join me in voting against retroactive immunity."
The Feingold/Dodd amendment to strip immunity from the bill will be voted on, as will a couple of other amendments. As of now, I don't have complete information on them.
So here's a fantastic opportunity to talk to your Senators, when they're home for the most patriotic of all holidays, about what this bill means to you as a constitutent. If they're having town meetings, please attend and bring up the bill, or try to schedule individual meetings with them.
And, if you have the time and the ink and the paper available, print a copy of the bill (114 pages, pdf), highlight the salient parts (like the WMD section) and ask them to please read the bill, and then decide if it's really something they want to have on their permanent record as having supported.
It's a longshot, but it's the only one we've got.
"Crossword Tommy" Coburn, scourge of bathroom lesbians everywhere, is notorious among his colleagues for being a serial abuser of the Senatorial "hold," used to block legislation from coming to the floor for a vote.
Lots of people have wondered how it is that Coburn is able to hold up so many bills, many of them extremely popular on both sides of the aisle. Well, the truth is that a hold by itself doesn't actually stop legislation. A lot of other factors have to come together to make it work, but that's a subject for another day.
Today, let's just enjoy the anticipation of seeing what happens when those other factors begin to unravel:
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is planning a "Coburn Omnibus" for July that would wrap most if not all of the bills held by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) into one large measure to be voted on by the Senate, according to a Coburn aide and two Democratic leadership staffers.
Coburn is blocking roughly a hundred bills that are generally non-controversial or have broad support. By placing a hold, Coburn prevents the bills from passing quickly through the Senate under a unanimous consent request. With floor time at such a premium, Reid would have trouble bringing up each bill for an individual debate and vote.
But in a stroke of legislative creativity that may have no precedent, Reid could lump all of the bills into one package and bring up the Coburn Omnibus for a single vote. Coburn can still object, but the broad popularity of the bills means that there would likely be more than enough support for veto-proof passage.
Ha-ha!
This would really be a terrific play by Reid. Individually, these bills -- though they enjoy popular, bipartisan support -- aren't by themselves a high enough priority for the use of Senate floor time to justify jumping through the hoops of Coburn's objections, motions to proceed, cloture votes, etc. But lumped together, they can all be moved at once, and lean on one another for the support of a large majority of Senators, many of whom have had e-friggin'-nuff of Coburn's shenanigans.
Kudos to Reid for the idea, and a backhanded thanks to Crossword Tommy for illustrating for us why, once upon a time at least, Senators didn't just put holds on everything under the sun.
David Addington today offered a preposterous reason for refusing to answer a question about whether or not he was party to talks about torture with his superiors — al-Qaeda may be watching CSPAN and he can’t give away any information that may benefit them. Really.
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DELAHUNT: Oh I can understand why [the President] doesn’t talk about it.
ADDINGTON: Because you gotta communicate with al Qaeda. If you do — I can’t talk to you, al Qaeda may watch C-SPAN.
DELAHUNT: Right. Well, I’m sure they are watching, and I’m glad they finally have a chance to see you, Mr. Addington.
ADDINGTON: Yeah, I’m sure you’re pleased.
UPDATE: Digby has much more on Addington:
Addington ought to be held in contempt of Congress for just plain contemptuousness. As Scott Horton noted on Pacifica’s coverage, he clearly believes himself to be smarter than all the Representatives in the room, and he has no problem bullying them around the way he reportedly bullies everyone in the executive branch. He also doesn’t mind lying about his role in designing torture tactics after a personal trip to Guantanamo…read on