Tim Russert Dead at 58
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Friday June 13, 2008
The Maestro of the Political Interview is dead. Long live the Maestro! This is a total and complete shock. This Leftwing Nutjob would like to extend his condolences to Mr. Russert’s family and to all political junkies everywhere. Little Russ, you will be missed.
Newsman Tim Russert dies at 58
Departures
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Sunday September 9, 2007
A fortnight of departures in the nation’s capital has shaken the halls of power in Washington, D.C. and may do more to reshape the nation’s political landscape than anything else in the last 50 years.
A little over two weeks ago, White House resident Svengali Karl Rove got the ball rolling by announcing that he would be taking an early exit and heading home to Texas, leaving his boss holding the bag in the West Wing. Then, in an announcement whose timing still has many inside the beltway scratching their heads, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales threw in the towel after months of thumbing his nose at his critics.
But the departure that really seemed to accentuate the fact that the Bush Administration is really in it’s finally throes, official mouth piece Tony Snow announced that he was resigning last week, stating that the pressures that his job placed on his family’s financial situation were more difficult that his resurgent cancer, the new Democratic majority, and Helen Thomas, combined.
But this mass exodus of administration lackeys was soon joined by a few career Republican lawmakers from up on the hill, beginning with the toe-tapping senator from Idaho, Mr. Larry Craig. Next came the announcement from John Warner would retire, bring to an end 5 terms in the Senate and perhaps further weakening support for the Iraq War in Congress.
Then yesterday came the announcement that two-term Senator Chuck Hagel, who has been linked to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a possible independent dream-team ’08 presidential ticket, made it official that he will not seek a third term as Nebraska’s senior senator.
So what does this all mean for the Dems? A first blush, a chance to gain even more seats in the Senate deadlocked along party lines. And with the White House hobbling along without it’s spiritual leader and chief obfuscator, there may be a chance to further isolate the Hawks in the Administration and provide for a means with which the more pragmatic members of the West Wing to join forces with an increasingly more conciliatory Democratic leadership and put an end to the quagmire that is the Iraq war.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Sunday May 13, 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy was certified the victor of France’s presidential election this past Sunday. The 52-year old Sarkozy, whose Right-Wing, neo-conservative views on many issues have led the more liberal citizens of France to lament that they may have just elected their own version of our own Smirking POTUS.
But with Prime Minister Tony Blair announcing his resignation as Prime Minister of Britain this past Thursday, the election of Sarkzoy must be a welcome relief for President Bush, who, with Russia’s Vladimir Putin turning his back to the West, was quickly finding himself without peer on the world stage with regards to his halcyon-tinged view of the world.
But no matter how many world leaders abandon the Smirking POTUS, the president will always have Poland — whose President, Lech Kaczynski, agrees with him on many social issues, including his opposition to gay rights. But with Poland being over 96% Catholic, that view could be somewhat expected as a direct result of religious indoctrination. When it comes to Mr. Bush, however, for all his born again Christian ideology, this Leftwing Nutjob chalks it up to just plain old homophobic bigotry with just a dash of political pandering.
Polish leader phones French president-elect — People’s Daily Online
Polish leader: More gays not good for society — The Chicago Tribune
Sarkozy gets mandate for change — The Times of Malta
Blair steps down June 27 — The Namibian
Do-Nothing Congress
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Sunday February 11, 2007
This past week’s announcement that our US Senators were unable to come to an agreement to debate what is perhaps the most pressing issue of our day, namely the War in Iraq, is, to this Leftwing Nutjob, indicative of the isolated and laissez faire attitude that our national representatives continue to embrace.
Over the past several years, Congress has become quite adept at avoiding their Constitutional mandate of governmental oversight and have instead embraced the role of bickering spectators, alternately criticizing or cheering their adopted role as emasculated power-brokers. In addition, their abdication of power to other branches of government — namely the Justice Department and the Executive Branch — due to their almost constant partisan squabbling, is not only dangerous to the future of our Republic, but it is also directly responsible, in my opinion, for continued involvement in Iraqi’s sectarian civil war.
I believe it says a lot when the more senior members of the Congress, men like Arlen Specter, who has arguably borne witness to power grabs by the White House over the year, are sounding the alarm to their junior colleagues about what exactly their role is in government is — and what perils will befall their chamber and the country if they fail to do their job.
The problem is that nobody appears to be listening.
The results of 2006 election may be notable in that it returned control of the legislative body back to Democratic Party, but I would also like to hope that it may be viewed some decades hence as the end of the perennial “do-nothing” Congress and the beginning of a return to Washington of brave men and woman yearning to do the people’s business.
I’d like to hope that 2006 was just a precursor of what’s to come. For if our representatives in Washington continue their antics — and I see no reason why things should change with this bunch of overpaid buffoons — then 2008 may just see another round of voter anger send even more of these lazy incumbent bums back home and make room for people who want to make the tough decisions.
And that, my dear readers, would make this Leftwing Nutjob very happy.
Source:
GOP Stalls Debate On Troop Increase — Washington Post
US Foreign Legion?
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Thursday December 28, 2006
Facing sagging recruitment levels and two wars that are taking a serious toll on our combat ready forces, the Pentagon is reportedly considering the idea of actively recruiting young men overseas for service in our Armed Forces, offering the incentive of full American citizenship for those who complete their enlistment.
The program, which is still in the planning stages, calls for military recruitment centers to be opened overseas and is being seriously considered on the basis that it could help with issue of immigration reform, as the nearly one million immigrants that legally enter the country each year could be fully accommodated by the measure.
Initiatives by the Pentagon in the past to target resident aliens for military service have already been successful, with both the Army and the Department of Homeland Security working together to expedite the process of attaining citizenship for green card holders who enlist, but recent legislation has given the Pentagon the explicit authority to specifically recruit immigrants and other foreign nationals if it is deemed necessary in the interests of national security.
But this Leftwing Nutjob sees this proposal as yet another form of outsourcing and yet a further indication that our leaders in Washington are still looking for the easy way out when it comes to making the tough decisions. And just like cheap overseas labor ending up costing this country millions of good paying jobs, augmenting our military ranks with non-citizens threatens to cost us something even more precious — our national identity.
Has it really come to this?
Source:
Military considers recruiting foreigners — Boston.com
Podcast #117
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Tuesday April 15, 2008
Leftwing Nutjob Podcast, Episode 117, for Sunday, April 13, 2008
Penn hits the bricks, Iran in the spotlight again, the Obama money machine, al Qaeda’s rising star and more!