Since I NAILED the Senate Judiciary Committee vote concerning Elana Kagan :D, let's put on my Carnac hat & see how well I do with predicting what Countdown will think will be the news stories we'll be talking about tomorrow.
The USDA is reconsidering pressuring Shirley Sherrod to resign, but she will not be asked back to her job. And, even if she IS asked to return, I'm not sure she should since the NAACP, the White House, and so many other "news organizations" continued and will continue to be lead by the "if it bleeds, it leads" shtick by the end of their noses.
The relief well drilling at the Deepwater Horizon site could be done by the end of the weekend. Of course, only 1000 gallons of oil were gushing out in the beginning of this crisis, the impact on the environment would be marginal, and St. Sarah from Wasilla friended me on Facebook today, too!
President Obama will sign the financial reform bill into law today. There will be much wailing & gnashing of teeth among the GOBP, but Wall Street execs will still be able to go out & buy their solid gold terlets.
And, finally, the tabloid portion of tonight's show that I may have to ditch out of protest, my newest Facebook friend ain't jumping through hoops at her daughter's re - engagement to Mr. Levi Johnston. Well, even though Grandma ExGov TurkeyLover IS my new BFF on Facebook, I must remind us all of this fact.
My usual source of "this day in history" items was all sparked up today, so I'll just list some notable birthdays. Ernest Hemingway was born on this date in 1899; Hart Crane was also born on this date in 1899. Something wicked must've been in the air that day because both these authors chose to take their own lives. But, to end on a happy birthday, Marshall McLuhan was born on this date in 1911. If you've seen Annie Hall, wouldn't you give at least a few shiny new dimes for a moment like this in your life?
Let's Countdown!
#5 "Vilsacked" AKA "Breitbart of Noise" AKA "The Whites of His Lies" - I like how Lawrence introduced this segment; this White House AGAIN was caught with their head up their hind quarters because of dog whistle "journalism" from "an old friend." Now, I’d say they look like idiots, but that would be an insult to idiots. President Obama & the people he surrounded himself with are supposed to be smart; the fact they haven’t learned their lesson after SO MANY instances of this kind of "journalism" is frightening & shameful.
Secretary Tom Vilsack both apologized – huh...didn’t think she’d get even that – to Ms. Sherrod & asked her to come back to the Ag Department in a newly – created position. If she has the vengeance streak that I do, she’d tell them to keep their heads up their hind quarters & go work somewhere where people would be THRILLED to have her. Andrew Breitbart had a sudden flash of memory about Ms. Sherrod’s speech back in March & wanted "relevant clips" of her speech. Yea, why bother being through when you know the usual suspects & the media (FAUX News & otherwise) will spew out whatever’s thrown at them?
NOW, Ms. Sherrod’s audience is racist & so is the NAACP, and he’s got the video to prove it! David Frum’s in the house. Why didn’t he go to Rachel’s show to talk about this story? ;D Mr. Frum said the conservatives need to provide ideas & solutions to what they see wrong in the Obama Administration. Dear, THEY HAVE NONE! Well, they want to go back to the good ‘ol GWB days when they could run rough – shod over Congress, anyone else in government, and the American people. Oh, and according to Mr. Breitbart & "the usual suspects," this is all President Obama’s fault for believing them to begin with! Well, I can agree with the "spirit" of that criticism because of the reasons I stated above. Here’s Professor Melissa Harris – Lacewell! Long time no see! Wow, she gave a devastating history of what she called "the vilification of the African – American female" across party lines. Y’all remember what people tried & still try to say about Michelle Obama, yes? This shameful situation makes that history all the more poignant because we have an African – American man as POTUS. Professor Harris – Lacewell had some rather scathing words for the NAACP. I can sort of go along with those comments, but at least they were fairly quick to apologize & admit they sparked up in believing Mr. Breitbart.
#4 "Vilsacked Part Deux" AKA "Firing Firestorm" - Has anyone credible from the Administration come out to refute Ms. Sherrod’s claim that she was badgered repeatedly while driving somewhere & was literally told to pull off the road to tender her resignation? That part of the story is pretty damn scary, too. There is an investigative process in place for these kinds of situations, and this process wasn’t put in place for Ms. Sherrod. Robert Gibbs offered Ms. Sherrod an apology on behalf of the Administration. Good gawd, Secretary Vilsack DID confirm that Ms. Sherrod WAS repeatedly called. Wow... Secretary Vilsack was also quick to absolve the White House from any of this mess – that it was all on him.
Here’s David Corn to throw in his way – more – than 2 cents’ worth. David had scathing words for the Ag Department because they essentially let Lonesome Rhodes dictate their actions concerning Ms. Sherrod. Lawrence clearly thinks the whole notion of no pressure from the White House during the past couple of days is bull pucky; I’d tend to agree with him. Secretary Vilsack was still ready to throw Ms. Sherrod to the wolves even when compelling evidence that the whole memo behind Ms. Sherrod’s speech was clearly ABSOLUTELY wrong. Yea, that ain’t good. David thinks the response/effort to clean up this mess has been pretty OK; Secretary Vilsack & Robert Gibbs have shown appropriate amounts of contrition. And, in another brief history lesson, for years, our Agriculture Department sacrificed aid & services to African – American farmers to favor Caucasian farmers; no one – NO ONE – in that department was fired over YEARS of this horribly institutionalized racist behavior.
#3 "Congressional Tea" - Well, I predicted a story about one bat$hit GOBPer, but I get a story about an actually – "serving" member of Congress bat$hit GOBPer. Does my prediction still count? ;D We now have an official tea bagger caucus in the House of Representatives thanks to Rep. Michele Bachmann (Bat$hit – MN). And, I really REALLY don’t ever want to see what goes behind closed doors at THOSE caucus luncheons!!
6 members of Congress actually did show their sorry faces at today’s "festivities." Uh, if they were showing their faces at a tea bagger affair, weren’t they doing it wrong? Wow! Bat$hit Bachman managed to find a token African – American to stick up for & vouch for the non – racist creds of tea baggers! No other GOBPers in Congress even knew she was planning to form this caucus?! HA! 3 dozen House GOBPers are now listed as actual tea baggers in the tea bagger caucus. Y’all want to see if your local "favorite" is on the list?! Again, what I won’t subject myself to for this diary series. ;D Rep. Mike Pence is on the list as well as Rep. Dan Burton – 2 "Hoosiers"! Damn, again, I’m so proud (?!?) to live in this state. Well, at least neither one of these tea baggers is my representative; Dan Burton USED to be {insert retching noise here}. Small Price to Pay Goldilocks is just saying "no" to this point as well as Rep. Eric Cantor. Chris Hayes gets to talk tea bagging in Congress tonight! ;D Now, let’s remember, as Chris reminded us, that the House GOBP caucus wasn’t exactly dirty stinkin’ librul hippies to begin with. This new tea bagger caucus could be a new "test" to make sure anyone wanting to join Congress is appropriately bat$hit & is willing to defend his/her fellow tea baggers at a moment’s notice. Bat$hit Bachman invited Dems to join the tea bagger caucus? Huh, she’s tired of GOBP tea bagging & wants a little extra special & fresh tea bagging from a new source?! Better watch your back; someone else in your band of "merry pranksters" might call you UnAmerican!
#2 "Day 93" AKA "Gathering Storm" - I predicted a BP/BS story! The cap is still holding, but Mother Nature might be getting ready to "bless" that part of the country again with weather that’s the LAST thing that people in that part of the country need these days. If crews have to abandon efforts because of any storms that have a 50 – 50 shot of reaching the Deepwater Horizon site, the cap would have to be removed before they left. YEA! *&^%$#@! I even got my relief well part of the story, too!
#1 "Special Comment" - Keith! Honey! You have a damn weird idea of what vacation means! Granted we’re not exactly in the same line of work, but you wanna know how many times I’ve visited my workplace & plan to visit my workplace before I have to go back to work on Monday? Zero! Zip!! NADA!!! Hell, I haven’t even checked emails or voice mails. MY vacation has been sleeping in, reading, watching movies (including On the Waterfront today!), catching up on the Mad Men marathon to get ready for Sunday, and hitting the beach (aka my back yard) for some fun in the sun! ;D Keith gave us a brief history lesson/review about the Dreyfus case in France. YIKES! Keith had scathing comments for ALL KINDS of people – everyone from FAUX News to Andrew Breitbart to the Ag Department to President Obama! HELLO?! OK, I think I have a new "special comment" in my top 5 list; I was literally breathless during most of the thing.