The Bush Legacy, cont'd

MANIFESTO

I can't help but juxtapose these two items.

First, Kevin Drum points out that

the American business community [is] in an absolute frenzy of combined rage (over what [BO] was doing to them) and fear (over what he might say about them if they dared to criticize him publicly).

Meanwhile,

Halliburton officials knew weeks before the fatal explosion of the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico that the cement mixture they planned to use to seal the bottom of the well was unstable but still went ahead with the job, the presidential commission investigating the accident said on Thursday.

In the first official finding of responsibility for the blowout, which killed 11 workers and led to the biggest offshore oil spill in American history, the commission staff determined that Halliburton had conducted three laboratory tests that indicated that the cement mixture did not meet industry standards.

Clearly, the cavalier attitude regarding safety that Haliburton (And I'm sure it surprises no one that Haliburton was the culprit.) evinced is a leftover from the Bush years when any corporate overseeing was verboten and safety regulations were essentially disregarded.

Thus we have another episode where a corporation puts its profits before the lives of its workers.

And in the midst of all this, corporate leaders are upset with the the current administration because it is "refusing to coddle the business community endlessly." Who knows how many explosions, mine disasters and the like the US will have to suffer before the hoi polloi understands the perversity of a system that allows these things to occur.

The upcoming catastrophe

MANIFESTO

The Nevada situation is but one example of what the nation has to look forward to on and after November 2.

UPDATE — Paul Krugman has more.

Quote of the Day

MANIFESTO

Democracy is the worship of jackals by jackasses.
— H.L. Mencken
Rachel Maddow successfully proves the Sage of Baltimore's point.

The T-shirt of death

MANIFESTO

It was obvious from the get-go that any campaign the hideous McMahons were involved in would ultimately devolve to the level of the soap opera they operate. Indeed, such is the case.

Within hours of the filing of a federal lawsuit by World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Vince McMahon, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz on Tuesday clarified her office's position on whether WWE-themed apparel would be considered political and thus forbidden at polling places.

"Over the past few days, there have been several media reports suggesting that this office issued a directive to local election officials that voters who wear ... WWE T-shirts, hats or other apparel to the polls should be turned away from the polls," Bysiewicz wrote in a letter registrars of voters and town clerks. "These reports misstate the law and misconstrue the statements from this office."

So here we have the odious Vince McMahon suing on behalf of his wife absolutely justifying the point that the WWE and Vince's better half's candidacy are one and the same. And what does Bysewicz do? Cave.

Meanwhile, we've got another pusillanimous Republican trying to steal an election via lawsuit. What a ridiculous set of circumstances.

We've only got six days left of this nonsense, and November 2 can't come soon enough.

UPDATE — For an excellent elucidation on how the Democrats got to this point, take a look here.

The latest polls

MANIFESTO

I can only hope these leads hold.

Overall, I don't think the campaigns have been too heinous. (That is to say, they certainly haven't reached these proportions!) McMahon seems to be running for governor (I mean, after all, how much clout can a US Senator have in creating private sector jobs in Connecticut?), and she's an idiot, but the other candidates haven't exactly distinguished themselves. Blumenthal will never really recover from his inane statements that he served in Vietnam. Malloy has run a good portion of his campaign on what seems to be an untruth, and Foley is just another slash and burn Republican.

While the candidates are nothing to be particularly proud of—since this quartet seems to be the current cream of the political crop in the Constitution State—at least Chris Benoit's father lent a little excitement to the state yesterday.

What Atrios Said

MANIFESTO

I assume he's referring to this.

The Yankees

SPORTING GOODS

Someone with a more obsessive hatred of the Bronx Bombers than I might want to point out that, of the last six outs recorded by the Yanks last night, five came via strikeouts.

Did the Yanks pack it in once they got down by five runs?

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends ..." (cont'd)

MANIFESTO

I keep ruminating on a point I made a few months ago. Viz., what is the difference between me—who hoped for an overthrow of the Bush administration during the first eight years of the decade—and various Tea Partiers who sanction the same thing these days?

Atrios points out the ravings of

Republican congressional candidate Stephen Broden [who] stunned his party Thursday, saying he would not rule out violent overthrow of the government if elections did not produce a change in leadership.

The comments at the site are pretty harsh, but how am I any different from this idiot?

As much as I'd like to think that my perseverations were legitimate because I was right, it seems to me that that opinion is much too facile (if not naíve).

I'm in serious need of a political philosopher to set me straight.

First Phil Spector

UNIVERSAL REMOTE

... and now Angela Dorian. Who knew she was a black widow?

Is this how I'll experience my waning years? With too many of the icons of my youth exposing their feet of clay?

Cody Endres

SPORTING GOODS

In what is looking more and more like a forgettable season, the UConn football team has suffered yet another setback.

[Quarterback] Cody Endres ... was suspended for the rest of the academic year on Wednesday for violating school policies ...

UConn said it will have no further comment on the matter. Coach Randy Edsall is expected to address the quarterback situation Thursday as the Huskies head for a key Big East game Saturday at Louisville.

Sources said Endres flunked a third drug test.

Endres was clearly the best quarterback among UConn's lackluster bunch. When he returned from his first suspension earlier this season, he led the Huskies to very satisfying 40-21 over Vanderbilt, and all looked to be good for the team's season.

Now, unfortunately, UConn will have to start redshirt freshman Michael Box—who has thrown all of five passes thus far this season—at Louisville on Saturday. To say the Huskies look overmatched is an understatement.

Two more comments: First, I hope to God Endres gets some help, as it doesn't look as if he was taking steroids, but methamphetamines of all things.

Second, there's been some talk lately that it might be time for coach Randy Edsall to move on—that he has no more worlds to conquer at UConn and that he may be ready for a bigger school. Certainly, situations like this one can't strengthen his resolve to stay.

Leave the WWE Alone!!!!

MANIFESTO

Item:

In a video posted Tuesday on World Wrestling Entertainment’s website, (WWE CEO Vince) McMahon announced a campaign called “Stand Up for WWE,” asking the “WWE universe” to defend the company against “negative and inaccurate attacks.”

The comment(s) already posted to the site are spot on, but it's not as if the McMahons couldn't have known their lowest common denominator form of entertainment wouldn't get a certain amount of scrutiny once the crotchkicker entered the Senatorial race.

Unhinged

MANIFESTO

Both Salon.com and TPM pick up today on the ravings of "punk conservative" Todd Seavey, who publicly emasculated himself on C-SPAN when he

unloaded years worth of simmering resentment on his co-panelist and ex-girlfriend Helen Rittelmeyer.

Seavey's effete apologia can be found here.

This is truly one of the most hilariously embarrassing things I've ever seen.

And then there were ten

SPORTING GOODS

With Nebraska's and Ohio State's losses yesterday, the number of undefeated BCS teams has dwindled to ten, causing one sports wag to assert that the

crazy ’07 campaign ended with a two-loss national champion. Maybe this national title chase is headed for a wild finish, too.

The first official BCS poll will be announced tonight in a program that shows just how desperate cable sports networks are for content—any content.

Be that as it may, it seems to me that—at this point in the season—the top ten teams should be the undefeated ones. That would be (in alphabetical order) Auburn, Boise State, LSU, Michigan State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Texas Christian, and Utah. The NCAA computers will align them, but it seems to me a ready-made top ten is apparent.

UPDATE — Too bad, Missouri and Oklahoma State.

Weekly wrap-up

OLIO

These are the stories that have caught my attention this week.

The state has returned to a kind of sanity as both Richard Blumenthal and Dan Malloy have regained decent leads over their opponents in their respective upcoming elections.

UConn is making itself look fairly ridiculous as it tries to defend itself against the NCAA.

Coach Jim Calhoun and other University of Connecticut officials spent Friday behind closed doors with NCAA investigators, hoping to convince them that the school has done enough to punish itself for recruiting violations in the men's basketball program ...

The school last week acknowledged violations stemming from the recruitment of former player Nate Miles, but denied an allegation that Calhoun failed to foster an atmosphere of compliance in the program.

Needless to say, the university is willing to throw itself under the bus, but when it comes to St. Jim, he remains sacrosanct. This is a pretty telling position and goes to show, when it comes to the University of Connecticut and its men's basketball coach, there's little question as to which is more important.

Finally, I was saddened to hear of Solomon' Burke's death last weekend. Number 89 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest singers of all time died doing what he did best: performing.

Burke died on a plane [in Amsterdam] after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles, airport police said. Burke's family said on his Web site the singer died of natural causes, but did not elaborate. He had been scheduled to perform a show Tuesday in an Amsterdam church converted into a concert hall.

The seventy-year-old Burke had trouble walking in his last years due to his excess weight, but even while sitting down, he could deliver his version of "rock and soul" with the best of them.


Requiescat in pace.

I knew it was just a matter of time

ESOTERICA

... before our absoluitely hideous network would break down (again) and allow me to post.

Of course, I have nothing to say, but Steve Benen points out an amusing incident.