Cheney Gets a Raise

“President Bush signed an executive order Thursday to raise the pay of federal workers, members of Congress and Vice President Dick Cheney in the new year.” (The federal minimum wage — $5.15 an hour — hasn’t been raised since 1996.)

UPDATE: “Congress opted to put off its pay increases until Feb. 16, not Jan. 1, on the urging of the incoming Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. They say no pay raise should kick in until Congress approves an increase in the federal minimum wage.”

LSB: Cheney's 2005 IRS Tax Return shows the VP earned just over $8.8 MILLION on his investments (mostly Halliburton?), so he needed the raise; burger-flippers at McDonald's, meanwhile, can try to raise their families on the current federal minimum wage. Remind anyone of Marie Antoinette (or Leona Helmsley)?

Lynne Cheney: Putting Scooter Libby On Trial ‘Does Not Reflect Well On Our Judicial System’

Scooter Libby, the former Chief of Staff for Vice President Cheney, has been charged with “obstruction of justice, lying to the FBI and committing perjury before a grand jury.” His trial is scheduled to start in January. Libby’s lawyers plan “to call Cheney as a witness.”

Today on Fox News, Lynne Cheney, the wife of the Vice President, described Libby as “a man who spent a great deal of his life as a dedicated public servant who’s done an awful lot of good.” Ms. Cheney said putting Libby on trial “does not reflect well on our judicial system.”

LSB: Huh? Putting public officials that lie to FBI investigators shouldn’t be put on trial? Did she hold those same beliefs about Clinton during the Paula Jones affair, where the lie was about a blow job and not outing a CIA agent? Lynne Cheney is a hypocritical bitch! (And that’s about the nicest thing I can think to say about her.)

Rosie Beats Trump, By Numbers

Now that Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump are in a feud and war of words, it’s time to look at what they really do in the public forum.

Trump called Rosie “an animal” has hurled other epithets at her in the last day since O’Donnell baited him on “The View.” Trump’s sympathy level has since fallen.

But between these two prominent New Yorkers, I wondered: now that it’s Christmas time, who’s more charitable? Donald the self-proclaimed billionaire, or Rosie the talk show host and comic?

The answer: Rosie, as it turns out. Her For All the Kids Foundation gave away $1.9 million in 2004-2005 to children’s charities all over the United States. This is pretty remarkable, and something I didn’t know about it until I looked it up. The foundation benefits groups that help at risk kids, and even put a big chunk of change toward rebuilding a Head Start center in New York.

And a related Trump news item: Ex-Miss Nevada USA apologizes for photos

The former Miss Nevada USA, dethroned over raunchy photos posted online, apologized Saturday as her attorney pleaded for the pageant queen to be given a second chance.

Katie Rees, who appeared in photos revealing a breast, exposing her thong underwear and kissing other young women at a party in Tampa, said her behavior was an "isolated incident."

"I am so sorry this happened," she said at a news conference in Clearwater, reading a prepared statement. "So many of us don't realize how our actions, even one night of poor judgment, can affect the rest of our lives."

Her attorney, Mario Torres of Tampa, asked that Miss Universe Organization co-owner Donald Trump grant Rees the same opportunity he gave Miss USA Tara Conner, who was allowed to keep her tiara after she tearfully admitted drinking as a minor at New York nightclubs. The Miss Universe Organization owns the Miss USA pageant and others.

"He always believes in second chances," Torres said of Trump. "We are asking for that and plead that he answer our call, allow us to meet with him and allow us to defend ourselves."

(The pics that dethroned her are here.)

Allstate Insurance: No More Policies for Coastal Areas

Chris in Paris, AmericaBlog: With the seas warming, it's no wonder they want nothing to do with insuring properties in the danger zone. The storms are getting worse and moving up the coast, but the GOP doesn't believe global warming is an issue. When a Fortune 500 company makes a move like this, you would think some might take notice.

I also think back to the brilliant ideas that the Reagan administration started when they thought selling off wetlands made sense. Building on critical wetlands, whether in the Gulf in Mississippi or Louisiana or up along the Chesapeake Bay was a bad idea twenty five years ago and looks only worse today.

Allstate also decided recently to let thousands of homeowner policies lapse in the Carolinas, New York and Texas, and to no longer write new policies in parts of Virginia and all of Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey. (Full story is here.)

And in a related story, Inhabited Tropical Island Disappears:

Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true.

As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities. (Read the rest of the story - the one you won't read in the American mainstream press.)

U.N. places sanctions on Iran over nuke issue while U.S. is increasing forces in the region

Joe in DC, AmericaBlog: See, the U.S. is trying the diplomatic route against Iran. Really:

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose sanctions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and ballistic missiles, a move aimed at getting Tehran to halt uranium enrichment work.

"Today we are placing Iran in the small category of states under Security Council sanctions," acting U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff told the council before the 15-0 vote.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who was successful in watering down parts of the resolution, emphasized that the resolution did not permit any use of force.

Diplomacy. But, then there was that report earlier this week of military build-up in the Gulf . Hmmm:

The United States and Britain will begin moving additional warships and aircraft into the Gulf region in a display of military resolve toward Iran that would come as the United Nations debates possible sanctions against it, according to military officials.

The officials said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to approve a request by commanders for a second aircraft carrier and its supporting ships to be stationed within quick sailing distance of Iran by early next year.

Just because the U.N. said no use of force doesn't mean that Bush sees it that way. We've been down this path before. And, it's not a good path.

Republican gutting of clean air gets knocked down by courts

Chris in Paris, AmericaBlog: Big surprise, the GOP EPA didn't give a damn about Americans breathing bad air. How about thinking of the majority of Americans instead of the select few? Just imagine having some balance in politics next year...what a concept.

EPA's proposal to set an eight-hour standard for ozone emissions violates the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia court said in a 40-page ruling.

The ruling came in response to a suit filed by environmental groups, a local California air regulator and several states who wanted more stringent limits on smog.

At issue was the EPA's April 2004 ruling that 474 of the nation's 2,700 counties in 31 states have unacceptable levels of ground-level ozone, a major ingredient in unhealthy smog.

About 159 million Americans live in counties that violate the new standards, the agency said when it issued the rule.

"We vacate the 2004 Rule and remand the matter to EPA," the court said. "EPA has failed to heed the restrictions on its discretion set forth" in the Clean Air Act.

Nicole Belle, Crooks and Liars: We watched "Who Killed The Electric Car" last night, and all my frustration at the insanity of taking the electric car off the market bubbled back up to the top. As someone who grew up in Southern California with severe asthma and surviving smog alerts so bad they wouldn't let kids play outdoors, the electric car was not only a miraculous answer, it was smart. No dependency on foreign oil. No combustion engine to maintain. No CO2. Just a clean, quiet, efficient ride. Luckily, the EPA has recently approved amendments to regulations similar to those enacted by CARB in 1990 that mandated alternative fuel vehicles.

Contra Costa Times: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cleared the way for automakers to produce hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars to meet zero-emission vehicle requirements in California and 10 other states, officials said Friday. (Read the rest of this story…)

FLASHBACK: One Year Ago, Gen. Casey Told Bush ‘Less Is Better,’ Pushed Reducing Troops In Iraq

Today, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that top American commanders — including Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. — have “decided to recommend a ’surge’ of fresh American combat forces” in Iraq.

But exactly one year ago, Casey rejected a troop increase in Iraq and recommended to President Bush that the number of U.S. forces should actually drop:

As I’ve said before this is not a conventional war, and in this type of war that we’re fighting, more is not necessarily better. In fact, in Iraq, less coalition at this point in time, is better. Less is better because it doesn’t feed the notion of occupation, it doesn’t work the culture of dependency, it doesn’t lengthen the time for Iraqi forces to be self-reliant, and it doesn’t expose coalition forces to risk when there are Iraqi forces who are capable of standing up and doing it.

Casey has not explained the reason for his sudden turnaround and how an increase in troops in 2007 won’t now “feed the notion of occupation” or increase “the culture of dependency.” The Joint Chiefs of Staff are unanimously opposed to Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq and many military officials believe that Bush has tried to bribe them into supporting his escalation plan by offering a tradeoff of increasing the size of the military.

John in DC, AmericaBlog: I remember a day when our generals actually had balls. Now they're simply pathetic. They objected to sending more troops to Iraq, but because Bush wants it, now they're in favor. They're condemning our men and women to death for a policy they know is a failure. Why? Because they're not man enough to stand up for their own. So Bush will continue to say that he will make policy in Iraq based on what the generals want, and the generals will keep on genuflecting to Bush even when they oppose his policies. That spells disaster. It also spells a lot of unnecessary death and injuries for our troops. Too bad our generals don't seem to care about that fact.

Funny, but when Clinton was considering lifting the ban on gays in the military, all the military was up in arms, and all the top generals - starting at the top with Colin Powell - practically mutinied. But when Bush decides to continue a criminally negligent war that is a disaster, all because he's too arrogant and stupid to change course, our generals sit back and shut up. I guess the deaths of 3,000 of our soldiers aren't nearly as big a deal to the generals as a couple of gay guys wanting to enlist.

Pathetic.

All I Don't Want for Christmas

Dear Santa,

Here's what I don't want:

No more presidents snickering like gormless fools when cornered or sitting slack-jawed like an inbred carny upon hearing calamitous news.

No more Fristing ("She certainly seems to respond to visual stimuli." ). After the first 20 minutes it can hurt.

No more nicknames ("Brownie meet Turd Blossom. Turd Blossom, meet Altoid Boy. Altoid Boy meet Balloon Foot. Balloon Foot meet Pooty-poot. Pooty-poot meet Dubya. Dubya meet...Oh, hell. That's me, right Poppy? Heh heh heh!"). Familiarity breeds contempt.

No more paperless trails. I mean, come on!

No more texting from the House floor. Even if you're really horny.

No more high-ranking, cranky, cagey, old bastards ("Go fuck yourself!").

No more known knowns, known unknowns or unknown unknowns.

No more "missions" accomplished.

No more national debt in trillions. That's paltry. Let's go for zillions!

No more secret prisons. Torture 'em on Pay-Per-View.

No more secret energy task forces. Burn clubbed seals on Pay-Per-View!

No more poppies from Afghanistan. The seed glut is negatively impacting the price of bagels.

No more Intelligent Design. Unless it applies to a cool wall paper pattern.

I could go on but that wouldn't be in the spirit of the season. See what you can do.

'Night.

- Steven Weber (formerly of family-friendly Wings, late of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip)

Naughty And Nice 2006

Thinkprogress.org has made their list and checked it twice…

NAUGHTY: Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), for attacking incoming Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim elected to Congress... NICE: Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), for still wanting to be friends with Rep. Virgil Goode.

NAUGHTY: The 109th Congress, for doing nothing... NICE: The 110th Congress, for promising to work five days a week.

NICE: Nancy Pelosi, for becoming the first female Speaker of the House... NAUGHTY: The Capitol, for having no women’s restroom in the Speaker’s office.

NAUGHTY: Maf54... NICE: NetNanny.

NAUGHTY: President Bush, for refusing to see Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth... NICE: Participate.net, for giving teachers 50,000 free copies of An Inconvenient Truth that “were rejected by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) after apparent pressure from Exxon and oil industry advocates.”

NAUGHTY: The 109th Congress, for failing to raise the minimum wage and allowing it to fall to its lowest level since 1955... NICE: Voters in Ohio, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado, for raising the minimum wage.

NICE: Fox owner Rupert Murdoch, for not subjecting America to two hours of O.J. Simpson... NAUGHTY: Fox owner Rupert Murdoch, for subjecting America to a three-hour Bill O’Reilly Christmas marathon.

NAUGHTY: Right-wing preacher Ted Haggard, for buying meth... NICE: Right-wing preacher Ted Haggard, for throwing out the meth before he used it.

NAUGHTY: Rush Limbaugh, for falsely accusing Michael J. Fox of exaggerating symptoms of Parkisnon’s disease — and then refusing to apologize... NICE: Michael J. Fox, for speaking out about the need for embryonic stem cell research and not giving “a damn” about Rush Limbaugh.

NICE: Tom DeLay, for engaging Americans by starting a blog... NAUGHTY: Tom DeLay, for having someone else ghostwrite his blog.

NICE: William Cullen, for inventing the refrigerator... NAUGHTY: Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), for using his refrigerator to store $90,000 in cash.

NAUGHTY: The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), for causing cervical cancer... NICE: The Food and Drug Administration, for approving Gardasil, the first HPV vaccine.

NAUGHTY: “Experts” at the Exxon-funded Competitive Enterprise Insitutute, who say that “the best policy regarding global warming is to neglect it.”... NICE: The state of California , for doing something about it.

NAUGHTY: Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), for blaming everyone but himself for his legal problems.... NICE: The federal district court, for blaming Bob Ney.

NAUGHTY: Larry King, for never using the Internet.... NICE: You.

[Some] Christian bullies manufactured this 'War on Christmas'

I remember a time when people of faith bemoaned the over-commercialization of Christmas.

Now some are shouting persecution because sales clerks at some stores are wishing customers "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" or because the tree behind the City Market building was called a holiday tree in press releases instead of a Christmas tree last year.

When it comes to persecution, Christians have come a long way from being fed to the lions, my friends.

All this "War on Christmas" nonsense was manufactured in 2004 by that sanctimonious hypocrite Bill O'Reilly to bump up ratings -- and maybe distract attention from that whole unfortunate sexual harassment/phone sex episode.

He and Sean Hannity teamed up to try to browbeat Macy's, Target, Wal-Mart and other retailers into shouting, "Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!" at their customers until everyone feels the love of Jesus deep in their eardrums.

More recently, they've been singling out retailers who trumpet "Holiday sales" rather than "Christmas sales" in advertisements.

Amusingly enough, last year O'Reilly and friends got busted red-handed selling "holiday" ornaments on the Fox News Web store. The blurb for one ornament even said, "Put your holiday tree in the 'No Spin Zone' with this silver glass 'O'Reilly Factor' ornament."

Whose side are you on, Bill?

I'll admit that I find it silly to refer to "holiday trees." However, those who pride themselves on being good Christians might realize that the Christmas tree is pagan in origin, and that the Bible criticizes the practice:

"For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not" -- Jeremiah 10:3-4.

But what's so wrong with "Happy Holidays" as a season greeting? The word holiday, after all, is derived from holy day.

More to the point, what is un-Christian about taking a little extra care not to make a non-Christian feel excluded this time of year? You don't love your neighbors by rubbing their faces in beliefs they do not share.

But the biggest reason many Christians like me can't get agitated about the so-called "War on Christmas" is that there is so little evidence that such a war is happening.

Christmas decorations started going up in the malls before Halloween, for heaven's sake.
Last I looked, Christmas retained its status as a federal holiday. Christmas specials still fill the airwaves

And in a nation where, as O'Reilly likes to point out, something like 90 percent of the population celebrates Christmas in one fashion or another, I don't believe a war on Christmas is even possible.

Other than a pathetic attempt to boost O'Reilly's ratings, I think the whole brouhaha is little more than an excuse for the Christian majority to excuse holiday excesses that only recently were cause for guilt.

There's an unattractive undercurrent of intimidation in all of this.

As Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus wrote last year during a similar outbreak of Yuletide battle fever, "There is an ugly, bullying aspect to this dispute, in which the pro-Christmas forces are not only asking, reasonably, that their religion be treated with equal status and respect but in which they are attacking legitimate efforts at inclusivity."

O'Reilly is not the first to allege a war on Christmas. An article last year on the anti-Fox News Web site News Hounds recalled that Henry Ford made the same allegation in his anti-Semitic tract, "The International Jew."

It was also a favorite refrain of the John Birch Society in the late 1950s.

What happened to the days when the main concern of Christians at Christmas was that the true meaning of the season would be lost amidst all the hoopla over Santa Claus, Rudolph and the unrelenting pressure to spend, spend, spend?

Here's a hint, Mr. O'Reilly: The true meaning has nothing to do with whether the Wal-Mart greeter says, "Merry Christmas" to you when you walk in the door.

If there is a war on Christmas, I think people like Bill O'Reilly are on the wrong side.

Dan Radmacher, The Roanoke Times

Help the Troops Phone Home for the Holidays

For the past 60+ years, the United Service Organizations (USO) has provided invaluable support for our brave men and women fighting overseas. This holiday season, spare a few bucks if you can so that our troops can call home and talk to their loved ones. Being deployed overseas must be the toughest thing a family has to endure and I'm sure they'll appreciate whatever we can do for them.

Go here to donate $$ for the desperately needed phone cards.

It boggles my mind that despite appropriations exceeding $300,000,000,000 for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003, the troops have to rely on donations just to talk to their families back home. What a disgrace.

- SilentPatriot

My Break is Over

I have missed updating this blog. But my break is over and it's time to get back to highlighting the news and opinions that catch my eye. Have I missed anything in the past month? ;-)

Just a few "in the spirit" posts before heading out to celebrate with the family. More beginning tomorrow!