alternative hippopotamus

Another hat is as one of the co-conspirators behind DCDL, the DC chapter of Drinking Liberally. Recently, we hosted Patrick Gavin of the delightful Fishbowl DC blog. Today he discusses his remarks at DCDL at the Huffington Post.

I put in my own $.02 here.

But, I’m stumped, as far as a better name is concerned. It’s one of those things that takes a paragraph to explain, and as we all know, paragraphs make sucky sound bites.

Instead, what I’m going to do is lay out the whole sordid business in mp3 format. Of course, the fact that we’re all a lot more comfortable with the algorithm for compressing sound files than we are the balance of powers under our government says something about us, I think. It says, we are a nation of thinkers, as long as Radiohead is part of what we need to think about. Otherwise, we’ll let the Judicial branch sort it out. And by the way, about the Judicial branch… oh, yeah. I forgot you’re here for the mp3. My bad.

Snoopgate files part 1 here.

ReddHedd notes Malkin’s false equivalence between the Plame leak and the NYT NSA wiretap story, quoting from the decision denying Matt Cooper’s and Judith Miller’s request to quash their Plamegate subpoena:

“The leak of Plame’s apparent employment, moreover, had marginal news value. To be sure, insofar as Plame’s CIA relationship may have helped explain her husband’s selection for the Niger trip, that information could bear on her husband’s credibility, and thus contribute to public debate over the president’s “sixteen words.” Compared to the damage of undermining covert intelligence-gathering, however, this slight news value cannot, in my view, justify privileging the leaker’s identity.”

We look forward to Malkin’s new book: Unhinged II: the Left’s obsession with looking things up. Look, I like bluster as next as the next hippopotamus, but the woman should look into this thing we call… what is it… fact checking.

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At the Drinking Liberally blog, Stealthbadger walks through the various arguments that the Bush administration is using to defend NSA eavesdropping on citizens, juxtaposing the responsibilities of the 3 branches of government.

Stealthbadger’s conclusion: “In short, the Shrub’s argument rests on the proposition that the law means what the President decides to interpret it to mean. “

Put another way, Bush is maintaining that in a time of crisis the Executive branch trumps the other two branches of government, even if the timeline of that crisis stretches to the ends of western civilization. Which under the Bush doctrine could be any day now. I can’t help but reflect back on that saying from the 1960’s: What if they gave a war and nobody came? I’m pretty sure Bush is saying: “Then it’s all mine.”

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Meanwhile, in Opposite Land, the planet’s doughiest neocon, that would be Jonah Goldberg, writes that it’s really the blue states that are making this country dumber:

“Much of the truly successful anti-intellectualism in this country comes from blue areas. The low culture typified by the worst products of television and music come from the coasts, from rap music to trashy movies and sitcoms. Moreover there is a self-styled “sophisticated” strain of anti-intellectualism which runs through our premiere institutions of culture as well. The Vagina Monologues may sound brilliant to those inclined to think talking genitalia and bullwhip infused rectums is highbrow stuff, but you’re stealing a base or two if you’re going to call such fare ‘high culture.’ “

Now, it’s not often that someone can use the phrase “talking genitalia” and at the same time come off as pendantic. Wait. Did I say pedantic? No, that’s not the right word, that would imply a level of cognitive effort that doesn’t really come into play here. What I meant to say was “doughy”.

But really, Jonah, “anti-intellectualism in this country comes from blue areas?” No, anti-intellectualism comes from folks like you who get high-paying pundit jobs because their mother cajoled Linda Tripp into wire-tapping Monica Lewinsky.

Often, when the nuttier books come out, and by definition Malkin’s books define the word “nutty”, you can find some amusing reviews on Amazon.

Apparently, one Noel Hurley has been writing a string of infotaining reviews, that you can find here. I recommend it highly. If you don’t laugh outright at least once, I promise you a hogshead of cheezy poofs, a weekend vacation in Coventry, and your own personal Toad Elevating Moment.

It’s in the best tradition of post-modernism, using the medium to satirize the foundation of that same medium, in this case, the business of selling things on Amazon.

Now go enjoy.

This is honestly just dumb. The story we’re all talking about isn’t a story about how, in September and October 2001, the president authorized some kind of illegal program on a temporary emergency basis before getting things sorted out. That would arguably be forgivable, depending on the details of the hypothetical. The story we’re talking about is that today, on December 27, 2005, more than four years after 9/11, the president is still authorizing some sort of illegal, secret surveillance program.

As does Ezra Klein:

Put another way, although the administration could’ve followed the law, it chose not to because the law is cumbersome and dusty. So, of course, is the Constitution (which was fully ratified in 1790, when they didn’t even have e-mail!) and any number of largely uncontroversial statutes. The question here is whether the Bush administration is really prepared to brandish a theory of law that renders legislation optional when it requires procedural steps and was enacted 30 or more years prior.

In my opinion, Matt and Ezra are being astute observers, if perhaps erring on the side of the polite. Which means that folks like you and me, honeybee, may need to err on the side of the impolite, or at least tread a little less delicately.

So, here’s a bit of impolite treading. Despite all his talk about spreading democracy, Bush, Cheney, et al revere a highly structured class-based society, of which they are the principals. They, the apparent aristocracy are the decision makers. They can do no wrong; even when their excesses become so blatant as in the current Snoopgate case, the system is gamed such that the aristocracy will be preserved. Vocal pundits, most if not all in debt to the current administration will come to their defense. Even the media entity we call “public television” will make this out to be a he-said/she-said case. ( Though, in all fairness, I’ve seen good stuff from PBS recently, and that should be acknowledged. For instance, reviewing Jim Lehr’s interview of Bush ten days ago, I thought he was, as they say “fair and balanced.”)

Let’s follow this line of impolite reasoning to its logical conclusion. If the state is run by the aristocracy, the role of the middle/working class becomes that of keeping the aristocracy in place. Which means that the worker bees need to be managed. If the middle/working class ever seriously objected to their place, then society could become unstable. There would be labor strikes, civil unrest, even rioting in the streets. The artistocratic class must ensure that never takes place.

That means that the middle class needs to be monitored. They must understand, that for their own protection, they can’t become critics of the state. And, if one does become a critic of the state, they need to be made a public example.

Extra credit: have you ever written a post, but then edited it down or deleted it for political reasons? If so, was that because you were afraid of the terrorists, or were you afraid of your own government?

It’s been a long standing tradition of this hippopotamus to spend Christmas Eve dinner with my family at a Mexican restaurant. Tonight, the hippopotami converged on On the Border, a popular chain restaurant on Rockville Pike.

A merry time was had by all. Ordinarily, I’d just add “and to all a good night” and that would be the end of the post.

In this case, I happened to read this. I don’t often see Rockville in the news, but this little tibit got my attention:

ROCKVILLE, Md. - In the brisk Washington real estate market, the white colonial was an easy sale — three bedrooms, easy access to a major commuting route and an acre of land, a rarity in the tightly packed suburbs. However, the 18th-century house had one thing the McMansions could never claim — the original Uncle Tom’s cabin.

Attached to the side is a small, one-room building, its walls made of graying split oak beams. A massive stone chimney rises at the back, above the large hearth where slaves once tended meals for a plantation owner.

Among the farm’s slaves was Josiah Henson, the man whom Harriet Beecher Stowe used as a model for the Uncle Tom character in her 1852 novel on slavery, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

I did not know that. Rockville, MD was the basis for Uncle Tom’s Cabin?

Rockville is best known for Tori Amos and F. Scott Fitzgerald, in that order according to popular demand. But Uncle Tom’s Cabin? My mind is boggled.

Watch him wiggle in his conclusion (emphasis mine):

Contrary to the administration, I also believe that as a matter of political prudence and comity with Congress, Bush should have tried to get the law changed rather than circumvent it. This was an error of political judgment. But that does not make it a crime. And only the most brazen and reckless partisan could pretend it is anything approaching a high crime and misdemeanor.

As far as how Krauthammer distinguishes committing a crime from circumventing a law, your guess is as good as mine.

There are, of course, liberal law professors who would like the law to be different from what it is. They are free to develop theories according to which the Supreme Court, should it someday address this issue directly, would rule as they wish. But the administration is entitled to rely on the law as it currently exists. And there is simply no question about the fact that under the Constitution and all controlling precedents, the NSA intercept program is legal.

One may ask how Hinderacker could possibly have got to this conclusion. Long story short, you don’t want to know. Basically, it includes a Constitutional view that sez that the Executive branch isn’t bound by laws made by the Legislative branch. ‘Cause they’re like, co-equal and stuff.

Yes, Powerwhig’s a lawyer, but not a Constitutional lawyer- he makes that abundantly clear from his scribblings. More importantly, he puts his role as a right-wing activist above resepect for the practise of law. That’s how he gets to a conclusion like this.

Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, facing trial on fraud charges Jan. 9 in Florida, is negotiating a possible deal with the Justice Department, in which he would agree to plead guilty and cooperate in the wide-ranging political corruption investigation focused on his dealings with members of Congress and executive branch officials, people familiar with the talks said last night.

Abramoff would provide testimony about numerous members of Congress and their staffs if he and the Justice Department reach an agreement, the sources said. Negotiations have been ongoing for several months, people knowledgeable about the discussions said, but pressure is mounting because of the pending trial.

Now, I know that some want to tar Democrats with the same brush. As this account from Bloomberg points out, Democrats received bubkis from Abramoff directly between 2001-2004, while Republicans received $127K. If you include Abramoff associates and clients (and this is where things get fuzzy) Republicans are far in the lead.

The big money involves Abramoff’s tribal clients. As the Bloomberg article points out, emphasis mine:

Abramoff’s tribal clients continued to give money to Democrats even after he began representing them, although in smaller percentages than in the past.

The Saginaw Chippewas gave $500,500 to Republicans between 2001 and 2004 and $277,210 to Democrats, according to a review of data compiled by Dwight L. Morris & Associates, a Bristow, Virginia-based company that tracks campaign-finance reports. Between 1997 and 2000, the tribe gave just $158,000 to Republicans and $279,000 to Democrats.