The horserace may be over. Barack Obama is now leading in Texas.
Survey USA puts the race at Obama-49, Clinton-45.
The Siegelman scandal: Karl Rove denies asking Dana Jill Simpson to do anything.
And I frankly thought it was really unusual, you know, there was CBS – this woman says she met with me in 2001 – I’m at the White House, where did we meet? You know, she was an opposition researcher, ah, who paid her? When did I start making these requests? I mean, I, I, the woman lied. I don’t think I’ve ever met the woman. I know I’ve never taken a meeting with her.
And yet the CBS – look, I’m a myth I’m not a human being. I may appear to be flesh and blood but I’m a myth.
Unfortunately, if Rove did meet Simpson, the only people who could confirm her testimony would be Republicans.
Left eye open; right eye blind. By the way, I urge you to read
this fine piece by McCamy Taylor. As you know, Siegelman was convicted of "bribery" because he
re-appointed a businessman to a state board after he had contributed to a lottery intended to help education. Taylor compares that "offense" to the strange dance between George W. Bush -- then the governor of Texas -- and Ben Barnes, the Texas Dem who once helped young Bush evade the draft.
Barnes himself -- quite late in the game -- admitted to Dan Rather that W had received "preferential treatment."
Guess what Ben got in return...? He was illegally hired by G-Tech, which ran the Texas state lottery. His lifetime contract gave him a percentage of the revenues. When people started asking too many questions about how W got into the National Guard, G-Tech bought out Barnes' contract -- for $23 million.
What Siegelman is accused of doing is nothing compared to the crimes of Governor George W. Bush, who allowed a firm to overcharge the state for its lottery work so that Ben Barnes would keep quiet about a secret that would jeopardize his political career and who, when the conspiracy was uncovered, participated in a cover up with the assistance of Harriet Miers.
Was the congressman a spy? Rick Renzi, the disgraced and indicted House member from Arizona (and former member of the intel committee) has long been rumored to have a background in intelligence. The indicators include a fancy residence in Virginia, "missing" years in his resume, vague references to doing overseas work for the DOD, and a dad who is a Major General.
Reader starroute found
this intriguing story from 2003:
Rick Renzi is a long-time spook with a top-secret clearance from the Pentagon who researched Libya for the Pentagon during the 1980s, and whose dad is a retired general and executive V.P. of ManTech International in Virginia which supplies information technology to the Pentagon and CIA
This statement appears on the Not In Our Name website. I've asked those folks if they could supply any sourcing for this data. So far, I've received no reply.
Libya? Fascinating. The Renzi case now brings to mind the Wilson/Terpil affair, which also revolved around Libya. Like Rick Renzi, Ed Wilson purchased impressive digs in Virginia -- indeed, his lavish lifestyle was one clue that he had gone "off the reservation."
Prozac doesn't work. A
new study finds that a placebo is just as effective in curing depression.
Perhaps doc elsewhere will offer her expert commentary on this development. Personally, I've long felt chary of America's willingness to medicate the melancholy.
As the economy slides toward
economic depression, lots of people will head into a
psychological depression. Our nation's head-shrinkers will not easily admit their inability to deal with the phenomenon. Psychologists and psychiatrists mean well, but they also (usually)
live well, and the affluent cannot easily comprehend the pressures felt by the suddenly impoverished. If you feel down because you are losing your house, talking about your parents won't alleviate the misery.
Apparently, Prozac won't help either.
