Pride, vanity and outright stupidity. Though it seems to work for W, it’s killing McCain. 

Rivalries Split McCain’s Team - washingtonpost.com
excerpt:
This week McCain finally took a dramatic step, as his aides had urged him. But instead of moving Davis aside, he put him in clear control of the campaign. Nelson quit, Weaver resigned, and a dozen senior staff members went with them. With their departure, virtually no money in the bank, and the layoffs of dozens of other staff members, a campaign that once seemed on an inevitable march to the nomination has been left struggling for survival.

Interviews with more than two dozen current and former McCain campaign staffers, many speaking on the condition of anonymity so they could talk candidly about internal deliberations, describe an organization with confused lines of authority and riven with petty jealousies.

The Framers Got It Right: Congress is the Decider — Rockridge Institute
excerpt:

Critics of Congress’s passage this week of the Iraq supplemental spending bill lament a lack of political courage. But Congress would find it easier to act courageously if the public understood the constitutional stakes. And that public understanding requires correct and persistent framing by Congress itself. What needs to have been framed — indeed what still needs to be framed — is Congress’s constitutional responsibility and power to set the course on military missions like Iraq.

Here is what two of the country’s most distinguished scholars on Constitutional powers testified to Congress on January 30, 2007:

“Congress possesses substantial constitutional authority to regulate ongoing military operations and even to bring them to an end.”

— David J. Barron, Harvard Law School

“The legislative judgment to take the country to war carries with it a duty throughout the conflict to decide that military force remains in the national interest. … Congress is responsible for monitoring what it has set in motion. In the midst of war, there are no grounds for believing that the President’s authority is superior to the collective judgment of its elected representatives. Congress has both the constitutional authority and the responsibility to retain control and recalibrate national policy whenever necessary.”

— Louis Fisher, Constitutional Specialist, Library of Congress (PDF)

Here’s what this means:

The Framers of the Constitution framed the current debate over Iraq: Congress sets the overall strategy, and retains control over troop levels, redeployment dates, etc. The president’s job is to carry out the strategic mission set by Congress.

The United States Constitution designates Congress as The Decider: they decide on overall military strategy. That is their constitutional duty. The president is the commander in chief of the military — and only the military. He is not commander over Congress, nor is he commander over the people of the United States. As such, the president’s duty is to carry out the strategic mission given to him by Congress.

But Congress has abdicated its duty.

Assessing Sen. David Vitter’s Political Future - The Fix
Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La.) acknowledgment late Monday that his phone number was among the scores listed in the so-called D.C. Madam’s phone records has set off wild speculation about whether the revelation will cripple his political career.

That speculation grew with a report in yesterday’s New Orleans Times-Picayune that quoted a former former brothel owner as saying Vitter had frequented her Big Easy establishment. Later in the day, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt said he had uncovered evidence of Vitter’s ties to five New Orleans prostitutes.

Pity….she needs to go. 

CBS News chief: Couric isn’t going anywhere - CNN.com
CBS News President Sean McManus dismissed talk that Katie Couric may leave as “CBS Evening News” anchor by saying Thursday that he expected her to be doing the job through her full five-year contract.

He’s cratering… 

Another McCain Staffer Departs - The Fix

Michael Moore: Exclusive HuffPost Live Chat - Media on The Huffington Post

I’m with this guy…

rediff.com: Captain Sting and the Planeteers

Ever since the reunion kicked off in May, the legendary three-man trio might be internally struggling to reach their own impossible benchmarks, but audiences and critics are enthralled to see vocalist/bassist Sting, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers getting it on — it was a dream fans had virtually given up on.

The setpieces are classic, the energy is spectacular and it’s three fantabulous, insanely talented artists jamming bluesily with some of the catchiest songs ever. And they’re aiming high. With reunions all over the air, when Copeland was asked if the Police picked a crowded year to hit the road again — with Genesis, Crowded House and Smashing Pumpkins all returning — his answer was immediate. ‘No, we picked a less crowded year. We’re not thinking in terms of reunions. We’re competing with the biggest acts in the world. Last year, it was the Rolling Stones and Madonna. We get to be the dinosaur for this year.’

No kidding, Stu. I’d give my right arm to be in the audience for you three. Welcome back, and may ya tour forever.

Trudie Styler: Justice in Oil Well Hell - Politics on The Huffington Post
excerpt:

But few are aware that we face another serious environmental challenge: how to hold oil companies accountable for creating hellish conditions in their quest for oil.

Since the dawn of the industrial age, accidental oil spills and intentional dumping have posed major environmental threats. But the height of reckless disregard may have been reached in the Amazon, where oil damage is still as visible as it was three decades ago, when oil was pumped there with no apparent concern for the environment.

The damage probably won’t affect global weather patterns. But to Ecuadorans, the toxic soup oozing from the earth beneath their feet is even more palpable. And the company accused of inflicting the damage — Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001 — is trying to walk away.

The world’s oil behemoths are focused on a grimy frontier town in the Ecuador outback. In a makeshift jungle courthouse, what could be the biggest environmental case in history is being tried: a lawsuit filed on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadorans seeking damages for contamination caused by Texaco over the 25 years it operated wells in the country.

The Police were better in St. Louis last week, but all in all, a great event.

Stars rock the globe for climate change

excerpt:

The New Jersey show had political moments. Roger Waters, running through hits from his Pink Floyd days including “Money” and “Another Brick in the Wall,” displayed an image of U.S. President George W. Bush aboard an aircraft carrier in 2003 under a “Mission Accomplished” banner to signal the end of major combat in Iraq, drawing loud boos from the crowd.

And as The Police played “Message in a Bottle,” rapper Kanye West joined the band on stage and rapped the lyrics “We need some new leaders to follow … Al Gore’s got my vote.”

We were down for about a week, where we were exploring some upgrades and changes to the site, (and had hoped to come back with some new features,) but we just could not seem to find the right people to do it. Hence, we return.

Thanks to all who wrote, some politely inquiring, some demanding we return. Sorry to leave you unexpectedly!

However, we still want to revamp a bit. So, if you can recommend a good person or company to revamp the site a bit, please drop us a line at soonerthought(at)gmail(dot)com.

Check the links on this site to the letters to Cheney and the Fact Sheet on the Veep’s actions.

The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information.

The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.” As described in a letter from Chairman Waxman to the Vice President, the National Archives protested the Vice President’s position in letters written in June 2006 and August 2006. When these letters were ignored, the National Archives wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January 2007 to seek a resolution of the impasse. The Vice President’s staff responded by seeking to abolish the agency within the Archives that is responsible for implementing the President’s executive order.

In his letter to the Vice President, Chairman Waxman writes: “I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions. … [I]t would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials.”

A fact sheet prepared by Chairman Waxman describes other instances in which the Vice President’s office has sought to avoid oversight and accountability.

Canon tops list of climate-friendly companies - Reuters - National Business News - Portfolio.com
anon, athletic gear leader Nike Inc. and food and consumer goods giant Unilever Plc topped a list rating climate-friendly companies released on Tuesday.

There was a cluster at the bottom of the list of 56 companies. Six tied for last, with a score of zero on a 100-point scale — Jones Apparel Group Inc., CBS Corp., Burger King Holdings Inc., Darden Restaurants Inc., Wendy’s International Inc. and Amazon.com.

Even for those at the top, there was room for improvement on the Climate Counts scorecard, put together by a nonprofit group organized by the New England-based environmental entity Clean Air-Cool Planet and Stonyfield Farm, a U.S. organic yogurt maker that placed sixth on the list, with 63.

“It’s not enough to recycle paper and change lightbulbs,” said Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield Farm’s chief and chair of Climate Counts. “We need to significantly reduce our carbon footprint … Nobody deserves, or for that matter is getting, an A.”