Month: January 2007

In case anyone’s interested, below is a link to a podcast I did on a show called “Play or Die” (a title that reminds me of the Eddie Izzard routine “Cake or Death”: “Cake or death?!” “Uhm…cake.” “You! Cake or death!” “Cake.” “Cake or death!” “Death!” “Really? Hmm…no one’s ever chosen death before. Are you sure you wouldn’t like some cake?”)

http://podcast.fearlessradio.com/podcast/playordie/012607.mp3

Bush has described himself as “the Decider” and now “the Decision Maker.” Kathleen folded that into “the Decisioner,” but Ariel then came up with one I like even better: The Decisionator.

But here’s my question: Is he really?

From my admittedly layman’s understanding of these things, the President serves as the instrument of Congress. Congress has the power to declare war (or, as was the case with Iraq, the power to abrogate that power, apparently) and the President, as the Commander-in-Chief or, if you will the Decisionator, then wages the war on Congress’s behalf.

What I’m a little unclear on is: Does Congress has the power to *un*declare war?

The Decisionator is determined to send in more troops, and Congress seems determined to voice its objections via a nonbinding resolution, which is kind of like parents setting a curfew and then enforcing it by announcing that they’re going to snore really loudly in protest when the kid breaks it. What I want to know is whether Congress has the power to say, “We’re done. We were told the United States was going to war for these reasons. These reasons no longer exist. The war is over. We’re pulling out,” and then inform the President that he no longer has Congressional authority to wage war, and that if he continues to do so, he will be impeached. In which case, does the Decisionator obey their will or does he tell them to go screw themselves, in which case we have a full blown constitutional crisis.

I’m no con law scholar. I honestly don’t have any idea. But it would be interesting in that it would be the second time in the last seven years that matters relating to George Bush suddenly send everyone scrambling to the constitution to see what should happen next.

PAD

From Paris to New York to Bete Noire…whad’ja think?

PAD

Ask the New York Times:

Stephen King’s Midnight Madness

Every week comic book fans look forward to Wednesdays, the day new issues go on sale. On Feb. 7, one of those comics will be the first issue of a new seven-part series based on the Stephen King novel “The Dark Tower,” above, from Marvel Entertainment. To commemorate the event, almost 150 comic book retailers across the country will begin selling the issue at the stroke of midnight. A list of participating stores can be found at www.marvel.com/news/comicstories. Fans who flock to Midtown Comics in Manhattan will see a couple of special guests: Peter David, who writes the dialogue for the series, and Jae Lee, the book’s artist. The store will open for one hour.

GEORGE GENE GUSTINES

The unblinking Ðìçk Cheney (as we saw in last night’s “Colbert Report”), along with various stalking horses, keeps saying we must stay in Iraq “until the job is done.”

Now I know it was a long time ago–four years–but as I recall, the job was to get Saddam out of power and to find the WMDs.

Saddam is dead and there’s no WMDs.

Mission accomplished. The job, as delineated by the Bush administration, is done. Saying that departing now is “cutting and running” is like saying that punching out the time clock at 5 PM is “bailing out.”

PAD

She says she got it from someone in Israel:

President Bush calls in the head of the CIA and asks, “How come the Jews know everything before we do?”

The CIA chief says, “The Jews have this expression, ‘Vus titzuch?'”

The President says, “Hëll, what’s that mean?”

“Well, Mr. President”, replies the CIA chief, “It’s a Yiddish expression which roughly translates to ‘what’s happening’. They just ask each other and they know everything.”

The President decides to go undercover to determine if this is true. He gets dressed up as an Orthodox Jew (black hat, beard, long black coat), and is secretly flown in an unmarked plane to New York, picked up in an unmarked
car and dropped off in Brooklyn’s most Jewish neighborhood.

Soon a little old man comes shuffling along. The President stops him and whispers, “Vus titzuch?

The old guy whispers back: “Bush is in Brooklyn.”

PAD