Der Parson's rant

More on the favorite Senator of the week.

Officer accuses Craig of lying - Politics - MSNBC.com

"WASHINGTON - The officer who arrested Sen. Larry Craig in a police undercover operation at an airport men’s room accused the senator of lying to him during an interrogation afterward, according to an audiotape of the arrest. On the tape, released Thursday by the Minneapolis Airport Police, the Idaho Republican senator, in turn, accuses the officer of soliciting him for sex. “I’m not gay. I don’t do these kinds of things,” Craig told Sgt. Dave Karsnia minutes after the two men met in a men’s room at the airport on June 11."

Another video here Huffington Post MSNBC video

I wonder, why doesn't this guy just resign, he's old enough and probably got plenty of money to retire and live comfortably. Resigning now and live out the rest of your days in obscurity. His own party wants him to resign. Wouldn't it be best to resign? In a week Leno, Letterman, and everyone else will have forgot you. Your boy Mitt has gone through a lot of trouble to erase any trace of you from his website. Maybe you should take the hint.

Bill Maher: That Tingle Means it's Working - Politics on The Huffington Post

As usual Bill hits the nail on the head.

The whole idea of the surge was to establish some semblance of security and provide "breathing space" so that the Iraqi leaders could make political progress. And while the military has done a better job creating pockets of security, even while overall violence is up from last summer, the political side of the equation has gone backwards. The Sunnis have left the government entirely, and an emergency summit designed at bringing them back in has failed. Half of the 36 ministries have withdrawn support for the government and don't even attend meetings. Which raises another question: how do you tell who is showing up when they're all on vacation?

So what do we do now? Try to install the Allawi government back in. That way, when General Petraeus testifies before Congress that the surge has not created an environment where political reconciliation could take place -- i.e. the surge has failed -- we'll then pretend that was because we had the wrong team in charge. But now we have the right team in charge! And you can't pull the plug now that we have the right team in charge! Just you wait and see! It's all going to turn out great! Just give us a couple more months!

And by months, I mean years.

Doonesbury@Slate-35th Anniversary--: "SAY WHAT? 'I was able to see Craig's blue eyes as he looked into my stall.' -- Sgt. Dave Karsnia, in his report describing the arrest of Sen. Larry Craig.

'I am not gay.' -- Sen. Larry Craig"

Not that there is anything wrong with that, right Larry?

GOP Senator Pleaded Guilty After Restroom Arrest - washingtonpost.com

GOP Senator Pleaded Guilty After Restroom Arrest
Idaho's Craig Denies 'Inappropriate Conduct,' Says He Regrets Entering Plea

By Paul Kane and Shailagh Murray
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer and Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 28, 2007; Page A01

Sen. Larry E. Craig pleaded guilty earlier this month to misdemeanor disorderly-conduct charges stemming from his June arrest by an undercover police officer in a men's restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, a court spokeswoman and the senator's office said yesterday.

"At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct," Craig said. "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

That is the sillyest thing I've read lately (that didn't come out of Bush's mouth). Why would you plead guilty if you were innocent? It's not like he couldn't afford a lawyer. I might not be a legal genius (but I play one on the internets) but even if you planned to plead guilty wouldn't you get a lawyer? No matter what, this was still going to be in the news. I think Ol' Senator Denies got caught with his pants down and it typical GOP manner he's trying to back peddle, flip-flop, and downplay his perversion because he has to try to hold his marriage together to maintain that "family value" image. If he is working on the Romney campaign, he has experience flip-flopping and back peddling.

In 2006, a gay activist said he had spoken with men who had sexual encounters with Craig, including in the restrooms at Union Station. Craig's office told the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., that the allegations were "completely ridiculous."

Seems the Senator that is so against gay marriage and gays in the military has some skeletons in his closet. I wonder if he ever got any text messages from Foley? of course he is probably too old for Foley.

More on the Senator Craig news, and some opinion that I like.

Senator Craig Withdraws From Role in Romney Campaign, Conservative Calls for Resignation

I've been nominated in a Blog award poll at Left of Centerist

Poll: Name your choice for the Synapses Building Blog Award

Get over there and vote for Der Parson!! Together we can break up the staus quo that Left in Aboite has maintained in the blogosphere. Everyone knows were Der Parson rant stands on the issues, but what about Left in Aboite? Where does he stand?

(Disclaimer) The $150,000.00 was a loan not a contribution and does not need to be disclosed. oops, maybe I shouldn't have disclosed that.

This thing looks pretty cool, I'm not sure it's worth $40.00 though.

Video: USB Missile Launcher

Another rat leaves the sinking ship.

Attorney General Gonzales resigns: official - Yahoo! News:
"By Jackie Frank and David Morgan 8 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has resigned, an official said on Monday, ending a controversial tenure as chief law enforcement officer that blemished the administration of President George W. Bush. "

Goodbye and Good Riddance to bad trash. To say this is long overdue is the understatement of the year. Talk about your poster child for incompetence. Which is pretty bad considering his boss. Now when is Dick Chaney going to follow his lead and do the right thing?

I guess the big question is now who is Bush going to put in that job? Is he going to find someone even more incompetent? (which would be par for the course considering Bush) I know it will be hard to find someone worse, but I belive Bush can do it.

Shine dissolves local GOP's executive committee | The Journal Gazette

"Shine said he decided to eliminate the group because its members were using it as a forum to get publicity for party infighting."

A fine example of a great leader, if you can't bring your team together and get them through a rough spot, just eliminate the team. Good thing the Chicago Cubs don't follow republican strategy. This kind of reminds me of my job. When the road gets bumpy just drop the load on one guy, instead of spreading the load out.

I guess the last part is a personal issue, things aren't going well at work. I love fixing problems left by outside contractors. Especially when the work they did is critical to timing new product launches. The one time you need things go go smooth they get so screwed up you can't even see a light at the end of the tunnel. I guess I know were I will be Saturday and Sunday.

Spy Chief Reveals Classified Details - The Huffington Post: "WASHINGTON — National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell pulled the curtain back on previously classified details of government surveillance and of a secretive court whose recent rulings created new hurdles for the Bush administration as it tries to prevent terrorism."

It's nice to know we pay to use phone services and we are actually paying these companies to spy on us.

Doonesbury@Slate-35th Anniversary--:

"SAY WHAT? 'I'm Moby Dick and we've got three or four members of Congress who are trying to cast themselves in the part of Captain Ahab.' -- Karl Rove, 8/13/07

'They'll keep after me. Let's face it. I mean, I'm a myth, and they're -- you know, I'm Beowulf. You know, I'm Grendel. I don't know who I am, but they're after me.' -- Karl Rove, 8/19/07"

Dude, what are you smoking? Those Washington guys can really get the best stuff.

Doonesbury@Slate-35th Anniversary--:

Here are some interesting quotes for the day.

'I missspoke.' -- Mitt Romney, on his earlier suggestion that his sons' work on his presidential campaign was comparable to serving in the military in Iraq

'I misspoke.' -- Rudy Guiliani, on his earlier claim to have spent as much time at Ground Zero as most of the workers

So I guess it won't be much of a change from Bush if one of these asshats get elected.

On a local note, I wonder how long it will be before we hear about how Mayor candidate Matt Kelty has missspoke when he testified to the grand jury and ended up with those perjury charges.

FortWayne.com : Fort Wayne news

Kelty indicted on nine counts Republican candidate for mayor charged with perjury, fraudulent election filing By Dionne Waugh The Journal Gazette

An Allen County grand jury indicted Republican mayoral candidate Matt Kelty on Tuesday, charging him with seven felonies and two misdemeanors.
Kelty, 42, is charged with two counts of perjury, five felony counts of fraudulent election filing and two misdemeanor counts of commingling campaign and personal funds, special prosecutor Dan Sigler said.

Kelty was taken in handcuffs to the Allen County Lockup,

I shouldn't laugh at another person's misfortune, but when I read that I giggle like schoolgirl. I am kind of surprised they actually handed down a indictment.

Seriously, even though I think he's guilty, I have would guess a jury trial will find him innocent at least partially. Maybe we should start a betting pool. I don't really think Kelty is as evil as Bush and actually plotted this out. He made a big mistake that is for sure. I could care less about him serving prison time. Just keep him out of that Mayor's office.

Karl Rove, Top Strategist, Is Leaving the White House - New York Times

By JIM RUTENBERG and STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: August 13, 2007

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 — Karl Rove, the political adviser who masterminded President George W. Bush’s two winning presidential campaigns and secured his own place in history as a political strategist with extraordinary influence within the White House, announced on Monday that he would resign at the end of the month.

Does this mean Dick Chaney will do ALL the thinking for Bush now?

Mitutoyo_ban.pdf (it's a pretty long document, the first page gives what I think is the important info.)

A lot of American companies use Mitutoyo productions for quality assurance. This is going to hurt manufactures that can not get new gages and testing equipment or even parts to fix equipment that may get broken. There are alternatives for some equipment, but other things are large almost permanent parts of a building, not something that can be thrown out and replaced. (this a small example, some of these machines are big enough to measure parts of the space shuttle)


If a machine like this is down, you can be loosing millions of dollars a day. It could be interesting, especially for places that have older model machines that could break down more.

Simpsonize Me
Simpsonized Matt Kelty?

I never looked better...

And the #1 reason NOT to vote for Matt Kelty is....
Kelty's religious nut job memo

(Link from Taking Down Words)

Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing - washingtonpost.com:

"The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq."

Were do the terrorist in Iraq get all those guns? It's not from Syria or Iran! Nope, it's from the good ol' American taxpayer.

"Although controls have been tightened since 2005, the inability of the United States to track weapons with tools such as serial numbers makes it nearly impossible for the U.S. military to know whether it is battling an enemy equipped by American taxpayers."

I just want to know were is my AK-47? If I'm paying for them I want one! Every household in Iraq is allowed to have 1 AK-47 for protection. I need some protection.

House Approves Changes in Eavesdropping - New York Times:

"WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 — Under pressure from President Bush, the House gave final approval Saturday to changes in a terrorism surveillance program, despite serious objections from many Democrats about the scope of the executive branch’s new eavesdropping power."

The Democrats give in to Bush because he made them work on Saturday?

"If it had stalled, that would have left Democratic lawmakers, long anxious about appearing weak on national security issues, facing an August spent fending off charges from Republicans that they had left Americans exposed to threats."

It's better to throw the Constitution out the window then to look weak in front of the Republicans?

The House Democratic leadership had severe reservations about the proposal and an overwhelming majority of Democrats opposed it. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the measure “does violence to the Constitution of the United States.”

Pelosi, you just a tool for Bush to get what he wants. If you were so concerned about doing violence to the Constitution you would be impeaching Bush right now.