As Washington waits for the Plamegate endgame and the administration prepares for a possible White House without Rove and Libby, the Post offers brief primer on the major figures in the scandal. Meanwhile, fresh off his felon photo-op, the Hammer tries to get a new judge in his Texas money-laundering case, and seems to be trying every trick in the book to turn his trial into a partisan sideshow. But remember, Boss DeLay, the Abramoff case is closing in fast…
Month: October 2005
And the rich get richer.
New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg hits an $850,000 payday in Wednesday’s Powerball lottery. Hey, wait a second…did Harriet Miers have anything to do with this?
Or is it Bucky?
Two Fresno climbers discover a frozen WWII pilot on a Sierra Nevada glacier. As a friend of mine pointed out, this could be terrible news for the Red Skull…
Vera Draconian.
Imelda Staunton announces she’ll play Dolores Umbridge in Order of the Phoenix, while Ralph Fiennes talks more about Voldemort.
(Ice) Maidens & Minotaurs.
Coming Soon acquires a slew of new images from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The White Witch seems fearsome enough (although I can’t say much for her battle dress.) And it looks like WETA has turned in more stunning work (although I’m a mite concerned about CGI Aslan.) Update: The full trailer is now online, and an impressive one it is.
At Boss DeLay’s Ney.
The Washington Post introduces yet another GOP mercenary that’s heavily implicated in the DeLay-Abramoff ring: Congressman Robert Ney of Ohio. “A six-term congressman from rural eastern Ohio, Ney, 51, does not have a national profile…But to members of Congress, Ney is known as the mayor of Capitol Hill. Ney is Administration Committee chairman, a powerful position that doles out budgets, equipment, offices and parking spaces to House members. These perks are used by House Republican leaders to keep their rank and file in line. Ney became chairman of the committee thanks to his political patron, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).”
Dubya in the loop?
“Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that they handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way.” (Then again, pretty much everything about this administration is bush-league.) A new report indicates that, contrary to previous White House statements and leaks, Dubya knew about Rove’s role in Plamegate from the start. Strange this information is being leaked on the eve of indictments…
Let the Gravitas Begin.
“No, this program is dedicated to you, the heroes!…And who are the heroes? The people who watch this show — average, hardworking Americans. You’re not the elites, you’re not the country club crowd. I know for a fact that my country club would never let you in. But you get it! And you come from a long line of it-getters!” Reviews come in grippy for the first installment of The Colbert Report, Comedy Central’s answer to The O’Reilly Factor. His opening monologue (at the official site) is well-worth watching.
Decommissioned.
Houston, we still have the same old problem. And thus, longtime Knickerbocker guard Allan Houston retired from basketball today, as a result of his lingering injuries (and as a condition of his not being Allan Houstoned this past summer.) Good luck to ya…and thanks for the memories.
In My Secret Life.
By the way, since people often ask me about it, and since I’ve been working on grant writing of late anyway, I’ve written up and html’ized a brief executive summary of my dissertation project. As always, subject to change…particularly the title. (Left-of-the-Colon probably isn’t the best place for a The The pun.)