Once Around - Without Using the Brakes

The whole sordid question of Bush's (not really) litmus test for Harriett Miers has been all over the blogosphere, but I think that the Carpetbagger Report handled it as well as anybody.

"...Bush is still trying to explain why Harriet Miers is his choice to sit on the Supreme Court, and today he admitted that Miers' faith played a role in that selection.

I suspect the president didn't intend to admit this, but now that he has, it gives the right a chance to spin 180 degrees.

After all, when Dick Durbin suggested that he believed questions about a nominee's faith and the impact it might have on his or her judicial work are fair game, an indignant Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said, "We have no religious tests for public office in this country. And I think anyone would find that sort of inquiry, if it were actually made, offensive. And so I hope we don't go down that road."

Of course, that was the GOP message in August. Now it's October — and Bush is going down that road with no brakes."

Sticking with the Miers mess, Jo Fish at Democratic Veteran proves that I will always link to a post that has a Monty Python theme.

"Everytime that Preznit Barely Literate or his Lump talks about Miers, they make sure to point out that she was a "pioneer woman and a trailblazer" in legal circles. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Attorneys who know her and her work seem to think that she's a third-rate hack, who has argued persuasivley on behalf of clients, and even won a few cases (well, that's what clients pay for, right?). But as for judicial credentials, there's not much there. And her attendance at the church of her choice should hardly be the most compelling reason for appointing her to the court."

OK....The last word on Miers for the day goes to The Impolitic. Cutting to the core reason for Bush's elevation of his secretary to the Supreme Court.

"It's clear to me the only reason she was nominated was to keep Bush's butt out of the firestorm that the Plame investigation is about to unleash. George doesn't give a shit about anything but absolute loyalty to himself and judging from the cutesy hearts and flowers correspondence they've exchanged, he couldn't find a better suck-up than Harriet. She'll be George's Monica without the messy dress."

Republican sex.

I know, I said the above was the last word on Miers, but Jesus' General has managed to forage up some of Harriett's documents. They are very revealing:


In the East Bay, Kid Oakland has the bit between his teeth and is running away with Traitorgate. To many great post to pick just one. Read them all, but here is some vintage Kid:

"This is a crunch moment for the GOP. They have the Presidency, the Senate, the House and they are loading in at the Supreme Court. This is the political party that brought us the impeachment of Bill Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Hypocrisy has always come easy to them; that may no longer be so blithely true. There are no easy choices for anyone caught up in this mess, especially those 'true believers' who put the screws into Bill Clinton. Truth is, impeachment was an abuse of power whose reverberations are still being felt in the body politic. It's hard not to think back to those times now, as our nation faces a legitimate crisis of leadership."

Or a crisis of illegitimate leadership.

Pacific Views offers a breathtaking view and a reminder that we might have been placed in this universe for a totally different reason than the petty shit on which we are spending all of our time.

"This view of the surface of Saturn's moon Tethys, taken during Cassini's close approach to the moon on Sept. 24, 2005, reveals an icy land of steep cliffs. The view is of the southernmost extent of Ithaca Chasma, in a region not seen by NASA's Voyager spacecraft.

The ridges around Ithaca Chasma have been thoroughly hammered by impacts. This appearance suggests that Ithaca Chasma as a whole is very old.

There is brighter material in the floors of many craters on Tethys. That's the opposite situation from Saturn's oddly tumbling moon Hyperion, where dark material is concentrated in the bottoms of many craters."

Maybe God has a better plan for us than George Bush and his cronies can envision. There is a whole universe to explore. So much to do and only eternity to do it all.