Fitzmas!

I had posted my Christmas in October wishlist earlier this week, but georgia has a better name for the national celebration that will accompany Patrick Fitzgerald's indictments announcement, to occur sometime in the next ten days (before his grand jury is dismissed on October 28).

Fitzmas! And here's a few suggestions on how to cope with the anticipation:

10. Put down the caffeine: For the next 48 hours, cleanse your body of java, aspartame, splenda, and whatever other shit you've been putting in your system. Your body will be producing more adrenaline during Fitzmas than it did when you were a hormone-crazed teenager, so don't fuel the fire.

9. "Refresh" is the AntiChrist: Resist the urge to press "refresh" every TWO SECONDS. Checking into Drudge every minute won't make any indictments come any faster..it'll just give him hits and make Drudge's head swell even more. Eww. I put "Drudge" and "swell" and "head" in the same sentence. I just grossed myself out.

8. Gossip Folks: Don't believe anything in the next 24-48 hours. Guess what!! I can report on my blog that Condi will be VP when Dick resigns...and because it's on a blog, it must be true! And my scoop will fly through the internets at twice the speed of sound and I'll be so convincing, Condi herself will hear my scoop and think "Shit. I need new shoes!" and next thing you know New York Daily News will be reporting that Condi was in NY shopping for Jimmy Choo shoes that look "Vice-Presidential" and Teresa Heinz passed her by and called her a "bitch." Get my point?

7. Turn off the TV: Why submit yourself to the torture of watching The Situation Room and listening to Wolf's "I'm-reading-a-script-but-I'm-trying-to-make-it-sound-live" voice in the hopes that some pundit will throw out something like "Rove will be indicted"? You all KNOW that the talking heads don't know shit, and that their dirty little secret is that they really get their info from the, gasp!, blogs, so why waste your time? So, Kristol says Rove and Libby will be indicted. Um...99% of the pajamajadeen have said the same thing for the last couple months. Give your blood pressure a break and turn off the TV.

=======================

Personally, I'm going to wait for Cheneykkah.

Or maybe Fitztivus. Yeah, that's it. I'm ready for the airing of grievances. Who's got the pole?

Cheney aide flips, and Dick thinks about leaving

Raw Story has this:

A senior aide to Vice President Dick Cheney is cooperating with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, sources close to the investigation say.

Individuals familiar with Fitzgerald’s case tell RAW STORY that John Hannah, a senior national security aide on loan to Vice President Dick Cheney from the offices of then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, John Bolton, was named as a target of Fitzgerald’s probe. They say he was told in recent weeks that he could face imminent indictment for his role in leaking Plame-Wilson’s name to reporters unless he cooperated with the investigation.

Others close to the probe say that if Hannah is cooperating with the special prosecutor then he was likely going to be charged as a co-conspirator and may have cut a deal.

And U.S. News has this:

Sparked by today's Washington Post story that suggests Vice President Cheney's office is involved in the Plame-CIA spy link investigation, government officials and advisers passed around rumors that the vice president might step aside and that President Bush would elevate Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"It's certainly an interesting but I still think highly doubtful scenario," said a Bush insider. "And if that should happen," added the official, "there will undoubtedly be those who believe the whole thing was orchestrated – another brilliant Machiavellian move by the VP."

Said another Bush associate of the rumor, "Yes. This is not good." The rumor spread so fast that some Republicans by late morning were already drawing up reasons why Rice couldn't get the job or run for president in 2008.

"Isn't she pro-choice?" asked a key Senate Republican aide. Many White House insiders, however, said the Post story and reports that the investigation was coming to a close had officials instead more focused on who would be dragged into the affair and if top aides would be indicted and forced to resign.

My, oh my.

There have been rumors on the Internets for quite some time that Big Time Dick would pull the plug on himself and that the 2008 GOP heir apparent would assume the vice-presidency. Even with Dubya's loyalty to fealty, and the amount of sense this actually makes for Republican prospects of holding the White House for twelve years, I don't think Dr. James Dobson would allow a pro-choice African-American female to be promoted.

Now... Rick Santorum? More like that.

Jack Cafferty torments Wolf Blitzer

CNN's resident curmudgeon has really turned harsh on the GOP, in his role as foil to Wolfie's straight man in "The Situation Room". A few weeks ago, in a wrapup to whatever the most recent legal troubles -- at the time -- of Tom DeLay were being reported, Cafferty asked "Has he been indicted yet?"

He actually said this before the Bug Man had gotten one.

And Cafferty did it again today, seemingly predicting the future once more:

Jack: He might want to get measured for one of those orange jump suits Wolf, because looking at old Karl, I'm not sure that he- they'd be able to zip him into the regular size...

Wolf: Well he's actually lost some weight...

How do you suppose Blitzer would know that?

Neocondom

Who's getting indicted?

Libby? Certainly:

From here on in, we can expect Libby to be charged. The only question is what evidence Fitzgerald may or may not have that leaking this information was part of a multiperson conspiracy to distribute it.

Based on Rove's conversation with Time reporter Cooper, he may have a very, very strong case for that as well.

Rove? Very likely:

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald appears to be seriously weighing a perjury charge for Rove's failure to tell grand jurors that he talked to TIME correspondent Matthew Cooper about Plame, according to a person close to Rove.

Cheney? Could happen:

A federal prosecutor questioned New York Times reporter Judith Miller about whether Vice President Dick Cheney himself was aware or authorized her discussions with his chief of staff, Lewis Libby, about a covert CIA operative, Miller said on Saturday.

Frank Rich says it's not about Libby and Rove any more, but Bush and Cheney (article behind paid registration):

This modus operandi was foolproof, shielding the president as well as Mr. Rove from culpability, as long as it was about winning an election. The attack on Mr. Wilson, by contrast, has left them and the Cheney-Libby tag team vulnerable because it's about something far bigger: protecting the lies that took the country into what the Reagan administration National Security Agency director, Lt. Gen. William Odom, recently called "the greatest strategic disaster in United States history."

And the worst could actually be yet to come. The GOP appears to be even more worried about what the outcome of the investigation into the affairs of Jack Abramoff might reveal:

And while the CIA leak investigation by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, now in its second year, has yet to yield indictments, the investigations of Abramoff have resulted, so far, in bank fraud charges against him; obstruction charges against David Safavian, the Bush administration's former chief procurement official; and the withdrawal of President Bush's nomination of Timothy Flanigan, a onetime associate of Abramoff, to be the No. 2 official at the Justice Department.

Abramoff has had close connections with leading Republicans, including Bush; U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land, the former House majority leader; Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania; party strategist Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform; and strategist Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition executive director and Bush campaign official who is now running for lieutenant governor of Georgia.

This is going to be the worst month for the GOP since 1974.

(Corrupt) business as usual

Yesterday Rep. Mike Conaway, of the 11th Congressional district of Texas, hosted a fundraiser for Tom DeLay at the Petroleum Club in Midland, Texas.

I don't have any report on how it went, but I do know a little about the Petroleum Club, as I went there a few times when I lived in Midland and in Beaumont as well. As you might imagine, it's the dining room for the captains of industry, and not just oil barons but cattle barons too, and also bank presidents and newspaper publishers and corporate executives and independent businessmen. Emphasis on 'men'. Extra emphasis on 'white'. The waiters in both cities where I attended functions were all black, but that was it. Don't know if any of that has changed; this was in the mid-'80's to early '90's.

The Houston Business Journal describes the Petroleum Club as one of the "most prestigious and influential organizations," with "a roster of members who are on the forefront of the Texas and global oil and gas industry." (A history on the club's website says the original conception was for "an exclusive, handsome club of and for men of the oil industry.")

"This is a very secure, comfortable place where our members can do their business without having anyone in their business," said Anna Schmidt, the Houston club's director of membership development.

DeLay certainly feels comfortable there. In fact, according to the Washington Post, it was at the Petroleum Club that DeLay received the corporate contributions at the center of his (alleged) money-laundering scheme:

Some corporations were careful to specify that their contributions were solely meant to defray legally permissible administrative expenses. TRMPAC solicitations being investigated did not mention the restrictions. For example, DeLay was the featured “special guest” at a fundraising luncheon for TRMPAC at the Houston Petroleum Club, where donors were asked to contribute $15,000 to be considered a co-chair and $25,000 to be listed as an underwriter.

“Corporate checks are acceptable,” the invitation stated, according to a copy obtained by The Post.

That event took place on August 19, 2002. A few weeks later, TRMPAC official John Colyandro wrote this check, (allegedly) funneling corporate cash to the Republican National Committee, which is now at the heart of the indictment against DeLay.

Is there anyone who would like to hold accountable the Republicans who represent them in the US Congress for this in-your-face corruption?

Karl Rove before the grand jury this morning

Do you think he's still keeping this promise to the President?

A couple of memories of New Orleans

Borrowed and brought over:

Cafe au lait and Beignets at two in the morning; a great way to top off an evening in the French Quarter. Powdery sugar all over your face while the pigeons peck for scraps on Decatur Street; chicory-laced coffee piping hot slurped down while viewing an other worldy scene of Jackson Square and Saint Louis Cathedral. Another day of trolling the Big Easy just hours away.

Goodnight my friends; I will never let you forget New Orleans.

And in response to that, this was written:

I hate cafe au lait.

My memories of New Orleans aren't so typical. I remember standing in line with my first girlfriend to see the King Tut exhibit at City Park. I remember being terrified of watching my grandfather placed in his tomb, and wandering around the graveyard instead. My sister and I found a section of the graveyard that was being repaired, and there were a couple of tombs broken open, and some bones scattered around.

A cousin of mine had a neighbor that had a black bear as a pet. Somewhere there was an old corner store with a wooden floor that echoed like a warehouse where my parents took us to eat po-boys. I remember my Aunt Valerie's house, and circling the block because her old house smelled of cigarettes too much for me to bear.

I remember my great-great aunts Maddie and Evelyn, and their old shotgun duplex, and the little brick courtyard that was always dank and in shadows. I remember when Evelyn died, and my father searched their house and found a sock full of Kennedy silver dollars on top of a newspaper from the Sunday after Kennedy was shot. I still have that newspaper, I think. There is an article about Oswald, and it gives his address on Magazine Street, about two blocks from where my mother grew up. That surprised my mother. The article ended with a sentence that Oswald was going to be moved from the Dallas courthouse that morning.

I remember my father's shock when he found a picture of Aunt Maddie with an old boyfriend who was black. We all thought it was cool, but my father was surprised. Aunt Maddie always looked more Creole than Cajun anyway.

I remember riding to New Orleans on Highway 90 as a little kid, lying on the back dash of the car and watching the city lights flick by over my head. I remember when the I-10 bridge from Slidell was built, and I was so scared to cross it that I hid on the floorboard and prayed that the bridge wouldn't collapse.

I remember meeting a cousin at a funeral parlor and never seeing her again. Weddings, funerals, suburban streets, canals, antebellum mansions under oak trees, memorials to the War of 1812, soccer fields along the levy, the river roads out of the city...

There is so much more to New Orleans than the French Quarter, and there is no way it won't all come back. Too many people have too many memories.

I'll drink to all that.

Christmas in October this year?

From of all sources, the Wall Street Journal (page 3A today, and temporarily free online):

Mr. Fitzgerald's pursuit now suggests he might be investigating not a narrow case on the leaking of the agent's name, but perhaps a broader conspiracy.

* * *
Lawyers familiar with the investigation believe that at least part of the outcome likely hangs on the inner workings of what has been dubbed the White House Iraq Group. Formed in August 2002, the group, which included Messrs. Rove and Libby, worked on setting strategy for selling the war in Iraq to the public in the months leading up to the March 2003 invasion. The group likely would have played a significant role in responding to Mr. Wilson's claims.

Given that the grand jury is set to expire on Oct. 28, it is possible charges in this case could come as early as next week. Former federal prosecutors say it is traditional not to wait for the last minute and run the risk of not having enough jurors to reach a quorum. There are 23 members of a grand jury, and 16 are needed for a quorum before any indictments could be voted on. This grand jury has traditionally met on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Dear Santa:

For Christmas, could I please have a Johnny Jump-o-Leen and some Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots and a Red Ryder BB Gun and Karl Rove and Scooter Libby in handcuffs and leg irons, with Dick Cheney (at least) as unindicted co-conspirator?

Please?

Your friend, PDiddie

Hurry up and RIP, Tom...

Go here for a clearer image.

DeGuerin subpoenas Earle

Yeah, right.

Kuff, Josh Marshall, and Talk Left elaborate. ITPT gives good snark.

This will be a non-starter, but as Kuffner quotes from the subscription-only Roll Call piece:

"Everything will be in play," said one high-ranking House Republican (cockroach, from safely behind the baseboard). "We will throw everything we can at Ronnie Earle."

You know what this reminds me of?

Sometimes even when you spray, and stomp, and stomp again, that nasty little bastard's antenna keeps twitching.

But he will die soon enough (as the cartoon above demonstrates).

Kevin Brady's having a really bad week

The Republican Congressman representing many of the eastern Texas counties devastated by Hurricane Rita is in a world of hurt lately. Let's summarize his woes; first from the Houston Chronicle (all emphasis mine):

Rural East Texans cried and vented frustration today over the lack of relief aid they've received and their belief that federal and Red Cross aid is being unfairly concentrated on urban areas where the suffering is not as great.

Dozens of residents gathered under tight security at First Baptist Church in Deweyville, which sits on the Texas-Louisiana border, to talk with Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives. Many said their homes are uninhabitable and the only power they have comes from generators.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who wore a bulletproof vest under his dress shirt, attended meetings in Jasper, Newton, Deweyville and Buna today with plans to visit Orange, Vidor, Kountze and Woodville on Tuesday.

Brady spokeswoman Sarah Stephens said she couldn't offer specifics about the extra security, but said, "It's certainly not a fashion accessory and something we don't normally do when we're in the district."

As Brady stepped up to the church altar, four Texas Department of Public Safety troopers lined up in front of the lectern, separating the congressman and other federal officials from the rural residents who say their needs have been neglected.

East Texas is where I grew up, and where my parents still call home. In fact, my 79-year-old mother just made it back to her home in Orange County last Friday after evacuating ahead of the hurricane; she still doesn't have electricity after two weeks.

But back to Brady. He was jailed just last Friday night when he returned for his university's homecoming festivities:

U.S. Rep Kevin Brady was arrested and charged with driving under the influence while in South Dakota, according to a published report.

The Texas Republican was pulled over by a state trooper Friday night for a problem with the tail lights of his vehicle, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Authorities were waiting for results of a blood test to determine Brady's blood-alcohol level at the time of the arrest. The legal limit in South Dakota is 0.08. If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, Brady faces up to $1,000 fine and a year in jail, Clay County Sheriff Andy Howe said. Brady was in East Texas on Monday and could not be reached for comment, spokeswoman Sarah Stephens told the newspaper.

Poor Ms. Stephens is really having to earn her salary, isn't she? At least she didn't have to front for the Congressman regarding the dirty DeLay money he refuses to return:

While U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, did not receive money from TRMPAC, he did receive $10,000 from ARMPAC in 2003.

"I'm certainly not going to return it," Brady said Thursday. "Tom DeLay has been fighting for everything important: less taxes, stronger national security and to protect our families. He has helped us restore sales tax deductions to Texans, and he played a key role in getting federal road dollars."

You really think highly of Mr. DeLay, don't you sir?

"As for me, the Tom DeLay I know is principled and respects the law. I just don't believe he would break the law, and this (the matter of his indictments) is going to give us a chance to see all the facts."

I expect that the good people of Southeast Texas are about ready for a new Congressman. And there's lots of good Democrats over there who should delight in taking on this challenge.

Expect to see announcements about this race here frequently in the coming election season.