The Workday Liberal

Here are my quick hits on the major news of today.

George Bush is upping the ante in his request to Congress for funding his Iraq disaster. By all appearances some in the mainstream media are intent on helping the President by playing a shell game with the real figures. This headline from MSNBC is misleading: "Bush seeks nearly $50 billion more for wars". In fact Bush is seeking $190 billion, which is $50 billion more than he originally signalled. If Congress were to adamantly refuse any further funding the savings to the taxpayer would be $190 billion, not $50 billion.

Senator Larry Craig (R, Id) is making noises about not resigning from the Senate until the Judge rules in the appeal to remove his guilty plea. Honestly, I'm not certain that if Craig had fought the charges that he would have been convicted, but once he cops the plea that should be that. Can you imagine the absolute chaos that would befall the justice system if people were able to withdraw their pleas after they started regretting their decisions? In fact I would love to have the judge make an example of Craig. The charge for which he pled guilty remains as adjudicated, but the charge that was waived in return for the guilty plea (lewd conduct) should be brought back and tried before a jury. Craig is the one trying to renege on the plea bargain, so make an example of him or face the wave of chaos from everyone else trying to pull a Larry Craig with the legal system. He may escape conviction on the charge of lewdness, but that trial would be positively riveting!

The House has overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning the Moveon Betrayus ad. So when are we going to get a resolution condemning politicians who solicit gay sex in public restrooms? It is just ridiculous that our soldiers are stuck in a middle eastern quagmire, supposedly fighting to give them freedom and democracy, but our politicians are passing meaningless resolutions condemning a political advertisement. Just why are we fighting to give people half the world away the very freedoms which we routinely denounce when it is politically convenient to do so. A substantial majority of Democratic House members supported the resolution which leads me to wonder, the next time some slimy Republican outfit drags the reputation of a Democratic Veteran through the mud, just how many Congressional Republican members will support a resolution condemning that? Of course the answer is maybe a couple (McCain did condemn the swiftboating of Kerry and smear of Max Cleland by Saxby Chambliss) but certainly not anything approaching a majority.

Here is the latest butchery of the English language by our idiot President: "As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured," Which actually is what we should expect as an answer to the Presidents much ballyhooed query from early in his term "is our children learning?" I wonder... is our childrens best served by having this Presidents talking at them? I thinks not.