Outlanders of the Day ~ Senators Southern Company

Mooncat gives us the details on their votes back on the 13th. Alabama Senators Richard Shelby and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III surely delivered on the Energy Bill for the Southern Company. A "watered down" bill, as described by Forbes' Brian Wingfield, might have included stronger CAFE standards yet with renewable credits out and subsidies still in Big Energy did rather well. Of course in 'Bama, Southern's Alabama Power has been doing rather well. Peace ... or War!

Judge Kennedy asked to trust DOJ on CIA tapes

After telling Congress that DOJ doesn't need their "help" in getting to the bottom of the destruction of the CIA "torture tapes" they tell District Judge Henry Kennedy that the investigations of DOJ and Congress would be interfered with if he gets too involved. Huh? Additionally, they claim that Judge Kennedy's Order on preservation of evidence didn't apply to these tapes because by the time the two got to Cuba the tapes had already been destroyed. The ACLU surely doesn't concur with this line of "reasoning" as they've asked the Court to hold the CIA in contempt. My guess is Bu$hCo is simply stalling on the other two branches but with this administration's track record, plus their radical view of Executive power, one never knows. Peace ... or War!

DOJ to not share with Congress in CIA Tape Inquiry

I'm shocked, shocked that Attorney General Michael Mukasey will neither share information his DOJ learns regarding the CIA's destruction of those torture tapes with our Congress nor appoint a special prosecutor. Perhaps in due course he'll do the right thing if the facts then warrant but given the Bu$hCo record I'll not hold my breath. Who needs three branches after all? Peace ... or War!

Italia Federici Sentenced in Abramoff Scandal

I'd posted on former Interior Department official John Griles, pictured with Dolly to the left, previously. He got ten months back over the summer for helping out Black Jack. His "Gal Pal" Italia Federici scored two months in a halfway house and four years probation today. For the record she's an "environental advocate" NOT! Finally, here's hoping Abramoff and the whole K-Street mess will not be forgotten come the 2008 cycle. Peace ... or War!

Some Sanity in the Fed's "War on Drugs"?

NPR provides a good summary of this week's developments. The Federal Sentencing Commission allowing these changes to operate retroactively is rather stunning to me as I'm seldom expecting anything reasonable from the current administration. In Bu$hland not much may change but here's hoping this is a start. Peace ... or War!

Ed Rollins Saddles Up with Mike Huckabee

I'd forgotten the story of Ed Rollins suppressing the African-American vote in the 1993 Christina Todd Whitman Gubernatorial campaign in NJ. DHinMI reminded me with Huckabee: Building a Bridge to the 19th Century and also pointed out that the reason Ed has been hardly involved in GOP campaigns since was not due to outrage of his using "walking around" money to buy off these "pastors". "Dammit Ed you're not supposed to tell!"

Huck has him a real scrapper in Ed. Finally, that there's no booze or donuts on the Huckabee campaign makes it certain this man ought not to be President. I've usually enjoyed seeing and hearing Ed interviewed. He seems like a smart and capable operative. Until the GOP has their horse in the gate I'm wishing him happy hunting. Peace ... or War!

Outlander of the Day ~ Peggy Noonan

Peggy Noonan is a classic in today's GOP. She first rose to fame providing the script to The Gipper. She later helped Bu$h the Elder package his "kinder, gentler nation" of a "thousand points of light" to soothe conservatism's lack of compassion. She set Daddy Bu$h up for failure however when he told the faithful to "read my lips" on his no taxes pledge. She actively campaigned for Shrub in 2004 yet turned on him somewhat later.

These days, between wailing over Hillary and ... she's also weeping and gnashing her teeth over the GOP now being held hostage by the fundamentalists. She laments:

The Republican race looks--at the moment--to be determined primarily by one thing, the question of religious faith. In my lifetime faith has been a significant issue in presidential politics, but not the sole determinative one. Is that changing? If it is, it is not progress.

Blue Texan is right to point out that you loved this reality when it was working. Perhaps a bit of jealousy yet she writes for The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal and a wide variety of others in the GOP's arsenal. Her husband is involved with the Cato Institute and ... Miss Peggy is on the board of The Manhattan Institute and I'm sure plenty of other organization. She's talented (If only she'd use her gifts for good!) enough so that this isn't exactly Wingnut Welfare but talk about some tangled webs. Peggy is producing product. She's writing. She's doing her part. Contrary to what Blue Texan wrote she's not whining. Peace .. or War!

Highlander of the Day ~ Broadway Joe Namath

Back in the day (August of 1970) Sports Illustrated tells Joe Namath to get back to work. Knowing Joe's reputation he was surely living the sweet life after the guarantee. Even now at age 64, Joe got back to work. Here's a tip of the tam to Joe for heading back to Tuskerlooser to finally get his degree some 42 years after helping The Bear to secure both their legends. Peace .. or War!

Bush League Justice for Alabama's Don Siegelman

I can't help but recall the Christmas Cards I'd get from the Siegleman family back in the day. The Don truly ought to be at home pending his appeal. However, District Judge Mark Fuller is ever the Loyal Bu$hie. I'm so glad to see this matter getting some national attention. Peace ... or War!

Bush League Justice from Dan Abrams of MSNBC

Bush League Justice: Political prosecutions is a series that is ongoing. I'm thinking (hoping?) Dan Abrams is going to examine the prosecution of The Don at some point in this effort. This is another reason to watch MSNBC besides Keith Olbermann and perhaps even makes up for that damn Tweety. Peace ... or War!

Highlander of the Day ~ Alabama's Ron Sparks

While I'm not yet supporting Hillary Clinton, I'm still pleased that Alabama's Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks is willing to serve as a co-chair of her Rural Americans for Hillary effort. I know Phillip Rawls is writing of the conventional wisdom of Sparks being bold with his move yet I've long though being labeled "liberal" is an opportunity rather than a problem for Alabama Democratic Party candidates. Flipping the liberal label back at the GOP by pointing out the radicalism of much of those on the right is my preferred tactic. I look forward to helping Ron Sparks in his own efforts in serving Alabama even more in the future. Finally, Hillary's ideas on small farms/rural issues are also worth a look. Well played Commissioner. Peace ... or War!

Outlander of the Day ~ Iowa Rep. Steve King

Steve's efforts got him some attention from Faux News. Bill O'Reilly was surely pleased with your/his efforts. I agree with John Bresnahan's post on The Politico's The Crypt that the idea of passing a resolution affirming that Christmas is important does sound like a headline from The Onion. Of course King's whole career may be rather Onionesque given his greatest hists such as King's claiming his wife was in more danger in DC than the average civilian in Iraq yet there's also his electric fence for our southern border. Peace ... or War!

George Will's Right is Wrongerest

I posted an initial lamentation over George Will’s recent writing on No Child Left Behind with the label of the post as George Will's Right and Wrong on NCLB and later realized that title was both generous and also multi-faceted. I'll try one in the style of a Bushism this time. And I'll also go at the actual writing of Will, in italics below, in a stream of consciousness approach with parentheses and the like as the method. Here goes ...

No Child Left Behind, supposedly an antidote to the "soft bigotry of low expectations," has instead spawned lowered standards. The law will eventually be reauthorized because doubling down on losing bets (like Rove and Bu$hCo did with getting the American public to put Dubyah back in in 2004?) is what Washington does. But because NCLB contains incentives for perverse (I'm thinking of Senator Larry Craig for some reason) behavior, reauthorization should include legislation empowering states to ignore it (As in Bu$hCo's signing statements?).

NCLB was passed in 2001 as an extension (Perhaps an extension yet I'd argue it really began in 1983 under Reagan when Chester Fnn, Diane Ravitch and .... brought us the Nation at Risk report. Several claim it to be a "manufactured crisis" and I'd not doubt them although I can also accept we've got plenty to do better as educators in our nation.) of the original mistake, President Lyndon Johnson's Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which became law in the year of liberals (Like MLK, Jr. and others in the Civil Rights Movement?) living exuberantly — 1965, when Great Society excesses (And you can't get any more excessive for right wingers like George than a government actually working toward ending poverty, promoting equality, improving education - via programs like Head Start for instance, rejuvenating cities, and protecting the environment?) sowed the seeds of conservatism's subsequent ascendancy. (Are we forgetting the Southern Strategy and the white backlash against busing that your party exploited so adroitly?) ESEA was the first large Washington intrusion into education K through 12. (What about Brown vs. Board Mr. Will?)

NCLB was supported by Republicans reluctant to vastly expand that intrusion but even more reluctant to oppose a new (Even Republicans knew Gore won!) president's signature (Fraudulent as to his Texas Miracle but signature I suppose?) issue. This expansion of Washington's role in the quintessential state and local responsibility was problematic, for three reasons.

First, most new ideas are dubious (At least for conservatives they are!), so federalization increases the probability of continentwide (George, the continent includes Canada and Mexico dude!) mistakes. Second, education is susceptible to pedagogic fads (OK, I'll give him this one. It's because something like 83% of the factors involved in learning are outside of the control of the education system but I'm offering excuses here I 'll confess.) )and social engineering fantasies (Like the neo-cons as to Iraq?), so it is prone to producing continental regrets. Third, America always is more likely to have a few wise state governments than a wise federal government.

With mandated data collections — particularly tests of "adequate yearly progress" in reading and math — NCLB was supposed to generate information that would enable schools to be held accountable for cognitive outputs commensurate with federal financial inputs. (Here's the problem George and Right Wingers ... You are using a business model as to learning.) Bad data would make schools reform.

Fourteen months ago, the president said, "The gap is closing. ... How do we know? Because we're measuring." But about those measurements ... (Amen. The measurements are of learning one damn fact or discreet skill usually. You truly can't measure if a teacher helped a kid learn to think, question, marshall evidence, entertain new perspectives, etc.)

NCLB requires states to identify, by criteria they devise, "persistently dangerous schools." But what state wants that embarrassment? The Washington Post recently reported that last year, of America's approximately 94,000 public schools, the "persistently dangerous" numbered 46. There were none among the 9,000 schools in amazingly tranquil California.

NCLB's crucial provisions concern testing to measure yearly progress toward the goal of "universal proficiency" in math and reading by 2014. This goal is America's version of Soviet grain quotas, solemnly avowed (Like Dubyah did with New Orleans after Katrina? Or how he's handled finding Osama? Or ... )but not seriously constraining. Most states retain the low standards they had before; some have defined proficiency down.

So says "The Proficiency Illusion," a report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which studies education reform (like vouchers!). Its findings include:
The rationale for reform was that expectations would become more rigorous and uniform, but states' proficiency tests vary "wildly" in difficulty, "with 'passing scores' ranging from the 6th percentile to the 77th." Indeed, "half of the reported improvement in reading, and 70 percent of the reported improvement in mathematics, appear idiosyncratic to the state test." In some states, tests have become more demanding; but in twice as many states, the tests in at least two grades have become easier. (Try the NAEP George.)

(Here's where George Will gets a C+ for summarizing an article from Human Events, Ronald Reagan's favorite publication allegedly and obviously a fair and accurate source of information if you're a right wing nut job.)

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Republican who represents western Michigan's culturally cohesive Dutch Calvinist (Reckon if educational progress is predestined for Peter?) communities, opposed NCLB from the start because he thought it would "tear apart the bond between the schools and the local communities." He believes the reauthorized version of NCLB will "gut" accountability. He is gloomily sanguine about that because he thinks accountability belongs at the local level anyway, and because removing meaningful accountability removes NCLB's raison d'etre. (Real conservatives don't write in French George.) He proposes giving states the option of submitting to Washington a "Declaration of Intent" to reclaim full responsibility for K-12 education. Such states would receive their portion of K-12 funds as block grants. (George neglects to mention that Bu$hCo pulled the funds they'd promised the Left's supporters of NCLB.)

But Rep. Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican, warns that Washington, with its unsleeping hunger for control, steadily attaches multiple strings to block grants. He proposes to allow states to opt out from under NCLB's mandates and regulations and to give residents of those states tax credits equal to the portion of their taxes their state would have received back in federal funds for K-12 education. (Garrett's program surely seems like it opens the way to school vouchers. Plus, it would seem to be a bear in administration.)

NCLB intensified what Paul Posner of George Mason University (Notorious Libertarian school!) calls "coercive federalism." Kenneth Wong and Gail Sunderman of Brown University and the Harvard Civil Rights Project, respectively, say NCLB "signaled the end of 'layer cake' federalism and strengthened the notion of 'marble cake' federalism, where the national and subnational governments share responsibilities in the domestic arena." Hoekstra's and Garrett's proposals would enable states to push Washington toward where it once was and where it belongs regarding K through 12 education: Out.

George can surely do better that this. Peace ... or War!

An Easy Death Penalty Decision for Alabama's Governor Bob Riley

There's too much truth to the toon from Brian Fairrington above. Governor Bob Riley is seemingly going beyond simply being difficult in Tommy Lee Arthur's case. The B'ham News scolds him here offering:

Hair, semen and other evidence in the case certainly would be tested if Arthur were being tried today. But the scientific testing wasn't available when Arthur was tried and convicted (wrongfully, he says) for the 1982 murder of Troy Wicker. Gov. Bob Riley has refused repeated requests to test the evidence now, even though at least one of those requests has come from Wicker's family.

On Thursday, the celebrated Innocence Project, which has been involved in the DNA exonerations of more than 200 inmates across the country, again called on Riley to order the tests. The Innocence Project is right: "Now is the time to act."

Testing the DNA isn't going to hold up the execution any longer than it is already being held up. A test that confirms Arthur's guilt will merely remove one less concern when states get a green light to resume executions. A test that raises questions about Arthur's guilt will indeed open a whole new can of worms - but it's a can that should be opened before Arthur is put to death for a crime he insists he did not commit.

Riley is called on to make many difficult decisions as governor. But this isn't a difficult one. Riley should order DNA testing for any Death Row inmate who disputes his guilt and whose case involved evidence that could be screened.

The U.S. Supreme Court has given him yet another window of opportunity to do the right thing.

If you'd like to send Governor Riley word that he ought to order the DNA test the Innocence Project has made it easy enough via this tool. For additional background on Mr. Arthur's case they've also provided the same here. There appears to be no logical reason to not do the DNA testing in Tommy Arthur's case I'd at least like Governor Riley to offer some reasoning behind his decision under these new circumstances. Peace ... or War!

Bu$hCo's New Image Maker to the World

After Karen Hughes, it's rather hard to imagine the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy position becoming any more surreal. It has with James K. Glassman's appointment. Apparently to serve under Dubyah you have to be wrong enough enough so as to not intimidate the boss. Then again, the connection to the American Enterprise Institute is a huge help. Heck of a job Bu$hie. Peace ... or War!

Will They Hose Jose for CIA Torture Tape Trashing?

Who "they" might be is a good place to start. An image of Jose Rodriguez, the man getting at least some of the attention presently, appears to the left. If he alone did the destroying, Bu$hCo will hardly hose him. Hell, Dubyah will hang the Presidential Medal of Freedom (think Franks, Bremer, and Tenet) on him! Asiz Huq is I think correct to blame pretty much everyone that was in a position to provide some oversight. Bu$hCo is the best start in pointing fingers. As an aside, Josh Marshall's TPM Muckraker provides a sweet timeline on the destruction of these tapes. Finally, count on folks like Faux News' John Gibson to provide an alternative view. Peace .. or War!

Huckabee's Fundamentalist Submission Position

Mike Huckabee was one of many signatories to a full page ad way back in 1998 in USA Today affirming the Southern Baptist Convention's position that a wife's should graciously submit to the servant leadership of her husband. Tip of the tam to Jeff Larson for the image. Peace .. or War!

Outlander of the Day ~ Bu$hCo's Dana Perino

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino provides a grand return to naming an Outlander of the Day. She's apparently dumber than a bucket of spit, lacking an understanding of even the foundations of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Perhaps not enough high stakes testing on history back in the day? Given her grasp of the world we'll be lucky if Dubyah doesn't bump her up to a Cabinet position. Today Dana worked her/their magic on climate change plus also managed to claim that waterboarding was (is?) legal. Peace ... or War!
UPDATE - Can't wait to see how she handles this one. If you recall the White House kept dodging questions on an "ongoing" legal matter.

Cursed 8th Graders!

A tip of the tam is due Dan at Daily Dixie for the following link providing me with the button below. It would seem those years with the 8th graders has scarred me for life. Peace ... or War!

George Will's Right and Wrong on NCLB

Mike Keefe of the Denver Post says much with the above image. George Will, even when he's wrong about much, says plenty as well regarding No Child Left Behind. His "conservatism" remains as consistent as any on the right, and they are all struggling these days. His contempt is classical Will so I'll not even bother being offended. He's right that NCLB is a disaster yet misses on the "why". I've not the time to tackle where all he's wrong ... yet. Peace ... or War!