“Anything They Want To Know”

Brian Ross at ABC News says that guilty-pleaders Rep. “Duke” Cunningham and Jack Abramoff have been singing like Lemmy about the corruption of other Republican friends of theirs – including the number one recipient of Abramoff money, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert.

“Whether they like it or not, members of Congress, including Hastert, are under investigation,” one federal official said tonight.

Hastert, bribed? No Way! I’m shocked!

No wonder Ol’ Denny has all-of-a-sudden remembered there’s such a thing as checks and balances and separations of power.

The DoJ denies Hastert is under investigation. The DoJ says lots of things.

Could it possibly be that some rogue US Attorney inside this “unitary” executive would actually attempt to hold accountable a high-level Republican politician like Hastert? Is there a chance that the rule of law could actually bind the power of these men?

Nah.

Discuss over at Stress.

A Warbot Lets the Truth Slip

Also commenting on the Iranian missile test is The Strata-Sphere (cute, huh?):

    I seriously doubt Iran is so crazy they would launch missiles at US or Israeli targets (though I would not bet $1 on that premise), but the missiles do represent a very tough defense against military action by the West, whether it is pre-emptive or reactive.  This is the problem with a nuclear armed Iran.  If one of their bombs makes it to a target on the back of a suicide bomber, then attempting to deliver a response becomes a more complex problem.

And there you have it: Iran is bad, and bad countries are not entitled to self-defense. It’s not about Iran actually posing a threat to the U.S. or even Israel – unless, as he ludicrously suggests, they’re going to take us down one backpack bomber at a time, while we fume and curse those darn medium-range missiles that prevent any counterattack.

Whatever the moral merits of the “bad people have no right to self-defense” argument may be, it’s a geopolitical fantasy. No government in the world is going to say, “Yes, you’re right, we do suck. Feel free to bomb us without fear of retaliation.” To think that they would, or that a constant stream of threats will enhance our own security, is to see the world through the eyes of a spoiled child.

They Never Miss Their Cue

The disinformation army, from the officers to the grunts, is already blasting away with the latest anti-Iran propaganda. Jihad Watch unironically introduces a passage from the Jerusalem Post article I parsed last night, “1938 Alert from the Jerusalem Post…”

This walking, talking cerebrum cites the same article, adding thoughtfully,

    Boomers are the US Navy’s secret weapon. Now I haven’t changed teams, I’m still true Air Force Blue but hear me out. Boomer is the nick name for a super secret class of nuclear missile subs. They have a few torpedoes just in case but their main purpose in life is to end all life on the planet. …
    Now park one of them off the coast of Iran, launch a deactivated missile into the bathtub of that howling Muslim monkey Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and he’ll get the hint. He talks allot of crap but he doesn’t know what he’s getting into.

Aww, dude, grow a pair. Why limit ourselves to the Muslim monkeys when we can end all life on the planet? It’s appeasement, I tell you! Goddamn bleeding-heart liberal appeasement!