Gerald Goddamned Ford by Paul Constant – Seattle News – The Stranger, Seattle’s Only Newspaper

Just ran into this critique/obituary of the Ford presidency today.

Cannot say I have much I can say wrong about it. If Nixon went to prison, the man who followed him – and his cronies – would have been pariahs in the GOP. Plus, any president who overstepped his authority would have seen he could do time for it.

Hell, probably any Nixon appointees would have been sullied whether they deserved it or not.

Let me take the article a step further. Reinquist probably never becomes Chief Justice. Reagan would NEVER have deigned to try the Iran-Contra disaster. No Cheney, no Rumsfeld.

Bush the Lesser couldn’t have been president as Bush v. Gore would never have made it to the Supreme Court. Even so, even he wasn’t dumb enough to invade Iraq with the specter of prison for lying to the nation. Plus, his cast of puppet masters, from Cheney on down, would be off shooting their friends in the face on a ranch as they’d have been cast out of government.

Sheesh.

Yeah, thanks for nothing Jerry.

We still ignore basic tensions in immigration policy | Jay Bookman

Jay Bookman has been pretty astute in trying to figure out all the nuances in our immigration system, such as it is. Particularly since Georgia has been front and center in the debate since passing their draconian law last year. Here is a slightly old article on how even those Republicans trying to be level-headed are faced with trying to address and explain some very complicated ideas to their very simple- and single-minded constituents.

Pol’s cat killed; “Liberal” scrawled on body – CBS News

Why do conservatives hate animals so much?

Or, maybe they just like to kill things that can’t fight back.

Who knows? Either way, how you treat animals tells me a lot about how you treat those you don’t agree with. Side with the animal killers and you increasingly have very little solid ground to make a reasoned argument on.

Time to speak up again this kind of thing.

Report: Tea Party’s Favorite Snake Needs Government Aid | Mother Jones

This is funny in the ironic symbology kind of way. Tea Bagging Traitors across America have taken to flying the Gadsden flag as a symbol of protest.

Primarily because they are unoriginal bastards and, more to the point, snakes themselves.

Turns out, however, that the snake on the flag – the Eastern diamondback – is endangered and in need of government protection if any are to remain.

Irony. Tastes delicious!