Speaking of the Exterminator, his successor as Majority Whip – Roy Blunt – has recently illustrated De Lay-levels of corruption with his attempt to protect Phillip Morris from terrorism in the Homeland Security Act. “Blunt’s attempt became known only to a small circle of House and White House officials. They kept it quiet, preferring no publicity on a matter involving favors for the nation’s biggest tobacco company and possible claims of conflicts of interest.” Strange how the GOP always seems to promote its sketchiest members to the whip.
Author: KcM
Preemptive Looting.
Thanks to some clever and courageous antiquarians on staff (and no thanks to the Pentagon), it turns out the Baghdad museum was not as irretrievably looted as earlier feared (although keep an eye out on Ebay for the Warka face and vase.) That’s great news for ancient historians and archivists the world over. (By way of A Small Victory.)
Junior Jedis and Morose Marsupials.
Two fun links stolen from Quiddity today: Star Wars celebrity yearbooks and Skippy the Goth Kangaroo. “What’s that, Skip? Lord Oberon, Darkness of the Night, has fallen down the well?“
Know thy enemy.
The Boston Globe sheds a little light into the dark corridors of oppo research. Of course we already know Dubya was a alcoholic cokehead who went AWOL for a year to escape a drug test and had so little sense that he’d drive around drunk…and we still elected him for four years. So skeletons in the closet just ain’t what they used to be.
Small Man in a Big State.
Word on the street is Jeff Van Gundy has decided on the Rockets over the Wizards. To my mind, Houston just became a dangerous team to meet in the first round. Rudy T may be the nicest guy in the world, but Houston’s offense this past year was embarrassingly bad…basically Steve Francis, Moochie Norris, or Cuttino Mobley would speed to the hole and try to score 1-on-5 while Yao stood around looking confused. With a disciplined O and Van Gundy’s trademark tenacious D, the Rockets could turn a few heads next year.
Elves and Agents.
Still no word on when the trailer arrives (I had assumed New Line would’ve used it to prop up Dumb and Dumberer‘s opening weekend, and the next high-profile studio project isn’t until Freddy Vs. Jason on August 15), but some minor RotK news has leaked out recently involving Agent Smith at the Pelennor Fields. Very minor spoilers for non-trilogy readers. Update: Speaking of agents, Dark Horizons is reporting that the Wachowskis will write a V for Vendetta screenplay. Interesting…although I think I’d rather see their King Conan project with John Milius go through first.
When you give a banquet, invite the poor (Luke 14:13)
“I have to ask though, why do Republicans hate the word of God?,” queries Mega of Triptych Cryptic as he points the way to some biblical passages apparently not included in Dubya’s daily bible study. Not on this list but equally valid in appraising the Bushies’ selective Christianity: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25) Now there’s one you don’t hear very often from the likes of The 700 Club.
Checks and Balances.
While battle lines get drawn over possible Supreme Court vacancies at the end of the month, Timothy Noah makes the case for eliminating the filibuster using Robert Caro’s Masters of the Senate. His logic seems sound, but perhaps it’d be best to wait until at least the fall…
Diamond in the Rough.
Bleah…so much for ABC’s “Old School” advertising strategy. Game 3 was some of the worst NBA basketball I’ve ever seen, and this is coming from a guy who really enjoys watching Knicks-Heat series. Just plain ugly…Kinda sad when the most memorable part of the game is the halftime show. Speaking of which, I’m more out of it than I thought. From what alternate universe did this Lil’ Kim version of Jewel come from? I remember her as an adorable snaggletoothed and deadly earnest folk chanteuse. She’s the last person I ever expected to drop the acoustic guitar and start hip-hopping to a Britney bounce. Well, I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan, but with its infectious hurdy-gurdy backbeat, “Intuition” seems like it might just be this summer’s “Get this Party Started” – the bubble-gum pop song you can’t get out of your head. And from Jewel too…Who knew?
“Lockbox” is still up for grabs…
Ryan Lizza looks at the charges of plagiarism and kleptomania resounding across the Democratic field at the moment, singling out the Dean campaign as the most “protective–some might say paranoid.” It seems to me that, while there’s clearly a lot of protective camouflage going on, one would have to expect some degree of overlap in a field of nine candidates, particularly when the allowable range of leftiness is so frustratingly small.