Noble Nobel Prize

Dubya will be known as a great president. Great in the sense that:

• his butchering of the English language was complete and pronounced
• he consistently marred the global perception of American democracy and liberty
• his drinking and drug habits rivaled those of coca lords portrayed in Miami Vice
• he probably did more to widen the chasm between the rich and poor, a more than any other president since Reagan
• he ushered in a new wave of privacy violations (I'm looking at you Patriot Act and illegal wiretapping)
• he exuded the general complacency and smug attitude that afflicts Americans, thereby maintaining the status quo, and (it could be argued) accelerated the process of dumbening that we've witnessed in recent years
• he unswerving demonstrated his lack of interest and responsibility in global warming (remember the 1997 Kyoto Protocol?) and essentially whored himself out to corporate sponsorship and 'market-based' solutions.
  

I could go on...okay, let's at least honor the wonderful contributions he made to the state of Texas in his 1994 term as governor when he made it legal to carry concealed weapons and supported laws against sodomy. I think this was also the same term in which he so famously mocked the soon-to-be executed Karla Faye Tucker. Classy G-Dub! You da man!

Yes, folks, he was the 'compassionate conservative'.

But you know who was the greatest un/almost-President of recent years? Al Gore. You know the guy who won the popular vote but lost the electoral college votes back in the 2000 election? Yeah that guy. It might've been the best thing that ever happened to him, and to the issue of global warming (eff that politically correct 'climate change' nonsense).

Today Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2006, he won an Academy Award for his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Here he is from Barbara Boxer's fundraising event this Thursday in San Francisco. You can see what he has to say about his nomination, which was ratified today.

It's like the rest of the world is saying, we know, America. We know 2008 and the future years will be better. These past 8 years have been hard on us all, but we know that we're going to be able to get on with our plan to make this place better for everyone, and it's people like this who are going to be instrumental in making this happen.

Will Rove be the fish that got away?

The House Judiciary sub-committee approved subpoenas for White House chief political adviser Karl Rove, Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, and other aides. This means that they will need to, under oath and on the record, answer for their roles in the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys (USA) within the Justice Department.

Initially, an offer was made of having Rove "testify" behind closed doors without having to be sworn in, nor having the dialog taken as record. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (Dem-VT) called b-s on that.

The issue at hand behind this is a tiny provision in the Patriot Act that gives the President the authority to fill empty capacities with attorneys of his choice, without requiring Senate approval. This suggests that Dubya was attempting to circumvent Congress, which happens to now be under Democrat control, in order to push his agenda. Rove and Miers were both directly and/or indirectly involved making use of this loophole, most likely at the behest of Dubya. This latter comment is just my non-fact based, anti-strategry, coming-from-the-gut take on the whole matter.

O, the hypocrisy of it all. Some Republicans are saying that the subpoenas are politically motivated.

“The only purpose of the subpoenas is to the fan the flames and photo ops of partisan controversy,” said Representative Chris Cannon of Utah, the senior Republican on the subcommittee.

Um...what do you call terminating USAs with false pretense, then going behind Congress's back to fill the ranks with those loyal to the administration and its agenda? This may all be within the bounds of approved legislation, but there's also the spirit of the law to consider here.

Will Rove actually testify? Will he flounder and sing like a birdie about how he was just following orders? It's too early to say at this point. At this point, I'm just hoping that these officials show some integrity and take some accountability for their actions. Am I hoping for too much? Perhaps, but once you stop expecting elected officials to represent your interests in a truly legal manner is the day that we forsake our wonderful democratic country and the lifestyle it supports.

I will say that I feel better about using my tax dollars in pursuing this matter, as opposed to those used to investigate and potentially impeach another President, who happened to lie about getting a blowjob. Somehow, when I compare the two, I just don't think these are apples to apples.

Want to check out what sfgate.com visitors have to say about it? Go ahead and vote on their poll on their landing page. Check it out soon, as it'll most likely change by tomorrow.