So there is justice.

From CNN.com: Lay and Skilling's day of reckoning

Enron former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling and founder Kenneth Lay were both found guilty Thursday of conspiracy and fraud in the granddaddy of all corporate fraud cases.

On the sixth day of deliberations, a jury of eight women and four men convicted the former executives of misleading the public about the true financial health of Enron, whose collapse in late 2001 symbolized the wave of corporate fraud that swept the United States early this decade.

Skilling was found guilty on 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud, false statements and insider trading. He was found not guilty on nine counts of insider trading.

Lay was found guilty on all six counts of conspiracy and fraud. In a separate bench trial, Judge Sim Lake ruled Lay was guilty of four counts of fraud and false statements.

I guess there is some small measure of justice in this world. Bunnypants will probably pardon them in his last days in office, if he gets the chance (read: doesn't get thrown out on his ass), but for now, I'd say this at least shown that there's accountability for being a greedy bastard.

DeLay Misses the Point

From Think Progress: Desperate for Supporters, DeLay Turns to Stephen Colbert

A good sign that Tom DeLay doesn’t have the facts on his side: the top source for his latest defense against his critics is Stephen Colbert.

This morning, DeLay’s legal defense fund sent out a mass email criticizing the movie “The Big Buy: Tom DeLay’s Stolen Congress,” by “Outfoxed” creator Robert Greenwald.

The email features a “one-pager on the truth behind Liberal Hollywood’s the Big Buy,” and the lead item is Colbert’s interview with Greenwald on Comedy Central (where Colbert plays a faux-conservative, O’Reilly-esque character). The headline of the “fact sheet”:

Hollywood Pulls Michael Moore Antics on Tom DeLay
Colbert Cracks the Story on Real Motivations Behind the Movie

DeLay thinks Colbert is so persuasive, he’s now featuring the full video of the interview at the top of the legal fund’s website. And why not? According to the email, Greenwald “crashed and burned” under the pressure of Colbert’s hard-hitting questions, like “Who hates America more, you or Michael Moore?”

Apparently the people at DeLay’s legal fund think that Colbert is actually a conservative. Or maybe they’re just that desperate for supporters.

Okay, I'll admit I thought being a corrupt, shameless, lying, cheating, scheming, duplicitous, hypocritical, heartless right-wing bastard was stupid, but I'd say that we've found a new low point to which the Bugman has sunk. That, or they're just so lacking in senses of humor that they though Colbert is serious. Either way, it's still pretty damn stupid.

Is this how desperate the right is for support, that they'll say they're supported by someone who's obviously acting like he supports them? I'm not really surprised, though - the right has plenty of scumbags who, when called on their insane, stupid, or just plain evil statements, say, "But I'm just playing a character!" The difference here is, Colbert isn't trying to be taken seriously. Anyone with two brain cells to fire a synapse between can realize he's just having fun.

No matter what, though, this one's going into the record books as one of the stupidest things I've ever heard outside of the video game community.

Life makes fools of us.

I'm sad to say it's too late. My brother has gone.

I do wish I had been there, but... well, one cannot do much when one has no time.

Poisoning the well, so to speak.

From Bush v. Choice: Conference on STDs gets bullied into abstinence-only hell

Because politics are clearly more important than people’s health.
The 2006 National STD Prevention Conference, which is government-sponsored, has been changed up (screwed up) after an abstinence-only-loving congressman made a stink.

An aide to Rep. Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind.), sent an e-mail
April 26 to the Department of Health and Human Services raising questions about a panel titled "Are Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs a Threat to Public Health?"

"Just the title alone was enough to cause us concern," said Martin Green, Souder's spokesman. But the congressman also was alarmed because one of the speakers was focusing on a report produced by the office of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) that was critical of abstinence programs, and because no one would be speaking in support of such programs.

Right. Because no one who cares about public health would support these programs.

In response to Souder’s objections the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the main conference organizer, changed the name of the panel to “Public Health Strategies of Abstinence Programs for Youth” and removed the panelist set to discuss the Waxman report. Take a wild guess who replaced the original speaker. Not one, but two abstinence-only panelists: Eric Walsh of Loma Linda University in California and Patricia Sulak of Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Texas, founder Worth the Wait.

Why am I not surprised by this? Quite frankly, Souder is a moron. He's a Christofascist piece of human filth who tries to inject his sick brand of self-hatred into everything that crosses his line of sight. I'm ashamed to say he's supposed to represent the state of Indiana.

You know, the plain facts are that abstinence-only programs just don't work. And the stupid "virginity pledges" that many of these programs (which are based almost solely on "GAWD SAYS DON'T FUCK" mentalities) tout don't work, and actually result in more sex that's less safe. And if you don't believe that, ask Rep. Waxman.

Instead of beating teens with a Bible and screaming that sex is evil, why not teach that there's something called a condom? And how to use it? Believe it or not, it doesn't make them want to have sex - no, being a teen does that all on its own.

Every time something goes right, life bites me in the ass.

Well, gang, this isn't good. My brother, the one who's usually in the hospital, is back in.

This time, they don't think he's making it back out. I'm hopefully going home to see him before anything else goes wrong.

This is just not good.

Bush plunges further into black hole.

From USA Today: Bush approval rating hits new low

WASHINGTON — President Bush's approval rating has slumped to 31% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a warning sign for Republicans in the November elections.

The survey of 1,013 adults, taken Friday through Sunday, shows Bush's standing down by 3 percentage points in a single week. His disapproval rating also reached a record: 65%. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

31%?! It's a sad day when the President is doing worse with the country than I do playing Yu-Gi-Oh. But I'm not surprised. Bunnypants just can't stop dropping the ball.

"It is a challenging political environment," acknowledges Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, "but we are confident that ultimately voters in November will recognize that a Democrat Congress would simply not be equipped to ensure either economic or national security for our nation."

Oh, you mean like how you ensured our security by trying to sell our ports to foreign interests, or trying to prevent inspections of incoming material, or sending our National Guard to a foreign country to die, or outing a covert CIA agent who was investigating a country that hates us? And economic interests? Don't make me laugh - there has NEVER been a president until now who actually cut taxes (much less cut taxes for the rich only) during a war. Not until now. Nobody else was that short-sighted. The fact that anyone could keep a straight face while saying that garbage is nothing short of spectacular. Give that woman a freakin' Oscar, she deserves it for that kind of acting!

I know this is getting bad, because I've seen fairly staunch Bush supporters turning on their heels and saying they think he's a terrible president. They're even doing it in the media. They're revolting in Congress against what he wants. This is the American equivalent of the "vote of no confidence" in parliamentary governments.

This November, the people are going to show these liars and thieves just how they really feel - they're going to turn the rascals out, like they did in the good old days.

Moussaoui to rot in prison, not in grave

From CNN: Moussaoui gets life in prison.

I know people, especially the Freepers, are bitching about this. I know they're saying he's an evil person and he should die, but revenge has no place in justice. Further to that, he can't be considered a martyr this way. He'll spend his life in solitary in a Supermax prison, most likely, wasting away devoid of contact and the attention he craved.

Would those of you wanting him dead rather he die quickly and with a minimum of pain, or would you rather he be forced to live out his miserable life in prison? In all honesty, which sounds worse? And don't try to keep the blood from your hands by saying he'll be killed by other inmates - as I said, it will be more than likely he'll be left in solitary confinement. If you honestly believe that killing a man is justice, then be expeditious about expressing your feelings. Own up to it, grow a pair, get some hair on your chest. Tell me you think he should have been a martyr, tell me you think he should have gotten exactly what he wanted - a "glorious death" at the hands of "The Great Satan".

Security Breach in Sector One.

From Raw Story: MSNBC confirms: Outed CIA agent was working on Iran

On Chris Matthews' Hardball Monday evening, just moments ago, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster confirmed what RAW STORY first reported in February: that outed CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was working on Iran at the time she was outed.

RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna broke the story earlier this year, which went unnoticed by the mainstream media.

According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran.

Congrats, you filthy criminal bastards in Washington, you may very well have compromised the security you've been looking for. I hope every single one of you gets tried for treason.

But I know the right-wing's talking heads will be playing this down or trying to distract us. Once they exhaust their excuses (which will come up first - "she wasn't undercover" or "everyone knew"?), they'll try to run more distractions - new Osama videos, coverage of Missing Pretty White Women, or another payoff.

I know one thing: the criminal scum who perpetrated this travesty of security will never see any punishment. That's why we need to vote in Democrats in this election - a Democrat Congress will be able to make the liars and scumbags accountable for their innumerable crimes.