It’s Boss DeLay’s worst nightmare: the Feds might be close to flipping Abramoff. “Abramoff would provide testimony about numerous members of Congress and their staffs if he and the Justice Department reach an agreement, the sources said.” Great…my only concern is that Casino Jack might try to pull a Wee-Bay (from The Wire), and take the fall for the higher-ups in his organization. Then again, with Abramoff, Adam Kidan, Michael Scanlon, and David Safavian all on the hook, one of the rats should likely squeal.
Judge of Conscience.
“What I’ve heard some of the judges say is they feel they’ve participated in a Potemkin court.” Allegedly in protest over Dubya’s illegal use of wiretaps, US District Judge James Robertson resigns from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (or FISA court.) Meanwhile, the NYT reports that, despite what the administration is saying, some purely domestic calls were overheard via Dubya’s warrantless wiretaps.
ANWR’s Nine Lives.
“The legislation would allow states to impose new fees on Medicaid recipients, cut federal child support enforcement funds, impose new work requirements on state welfare programs and squeeze student lenders.” Although a tie-breaking vote by Cheney got the deficit bill passed — meaning people on Medicaid, welfare recipients, and students with loans will soon be paying for Dubya’s millionaire tax breaks — the Dems do succeed in beating back ANWR drilling, much to the chagrin of Ted Stevens, who gambled that the Senate wouldn’t vote down a defense bill.
Apocalypto Now.
“Every time I think I’m going to wake up back in the jungle…” The strange teaser for Mel Gibson’s Mayan epic Apocalypto is now online. Looks intriguing, although to be honest — with the Will Durant quote, Chichen Itza, rainforest scouting, and the panther attack — I had a hard time watching this and not thinking of Civ 4. Update: Look for the subliminal Mel…bizarre.
The Flaming Lips.
Want to see Nicholas Cage as Ghost Rider? Are you sure? From over here, he’s looking pretty straight-to-video. (Then again, Ghost Rider is a pretty straight-to-video character.)
No Transit.
The MTA strike has begun. As I’m ensconced uptown and have completed most of my christmas shopping, the strike doesn’t much affect me yet, although picking up my rental car for the drive home in the HOV-restricted zone of Manhattan might turn out to be a pain…we’ll see.
Al PETA?
Is the FBI searching for Al Qaeda…or the Army of the 12 Monkeys? In yet another example of scary overreaching by intelligence organizations of late, the ACLU disclosed today that the FBI has been spying on several innocuous activist organizations since 9/11, including PETA, Greenpeace, and the Catholic Workers’ Group.
And the Pastafari wept.
A month after the school board was swept of intelligent designers (to Pat Robertson’s chagrin), a judge in Dover, PA dismisses ID as a classroom alternative to evolution. Good to see both science and common sense win one for a change.
Ice Station Dubya.
Off again, on again: Along with a smattering of Operation Offset-type cuts (particularly with regard to student loans), “Bridge to Nowhere” Ted Stevens and the GOP attach ANWR drilling to a fiscal defense bill, in effect daring the Dems to vote against supporting the troops. Is this ANWR’s last stand? Update: Senate Dems ready for a fight.
Dubya Unchecked.
Team Dubya spent the weekend on the offensive regarding the recent disclosure of illegal NSA wiretaps, with Bush saying over and over again that disclosing the wiretaps was “a shameful act” that “damage[d] our national security.” Sheah. That Dubya and his cronies would try to pass off these egregious violations of civil liberties and due process with more dissent is disloyalty garbage (and a frisson of 9/11, 9/11, 9/11) speaks once again to how corrupt and out-of-control this administration has become. Let the investigations commence. Update: Newsweek‘s Jonathan Alter weighs in: “Bush was desperate to keep the Times from running this important story — which the paper had already inexplicably held for a year — because he knew that it would reveal him as a law-breaker…If the Democrats regain control of Congress, there may even be articles of impeachment introduced.”