Out Of Kilter

Following the death of U.S. Senator Craig Thomas, the Equality State is holding an open casting call to fill one of the 100 most important seats in the country. Asking residents “who wants to be a millionaire Senator,” Wyoming Republican Party Chairman Fred Parady says, “Our goal is simple – to put forward the three very best possible candidates for the office of Senator.”

“The process will be open.  I want to invite every citizen of Wyoming… we are going to see many of our best and brightest seek this chance to serve.”

So, if you live in Wyoming, and are a member of the Republican party (and who living in Wyoming isn’t?) then feel free to fill out the online application. Seriously.

Most people who know me, know I talk incessantly about how I think that communist China remains a threat to the U.S., both economically and militarily. So, as the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and some big buy-out of an American company are rapidly approaching, I’d like to point out a few links to remind folks of the 18th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Protesting China, 18 Years On

Chinese Commemorate 18th Anniversary of Tiananmen Crackdown

Slate has been kind enough to setup a little stock ticker for the future options people are placing on the Presidential candidates at the top three political market websites.

Democratic Presidential nomination
Republican Presidential nomination

Thanks to the Great Firewall of China we’ve learned that your favorite college football blog has been banned in the People’s Republic.

Congress wants to subpoenas e-mails, but now the White House says “they all seem to be gone.” This is a classic move a-la Nixon, and honestly I don’t know if I’m outraged at the blatant disregard the President shows for Congress and the rule of law, or am I upset at a Legislative branch that, at this point, deserves everything they get for not having the common sense to use their constitutionally-given powers to restrict the Chief Executive.

According to the New York Times;

Some Bush administration officials “may have improperly used their Republican National Committee e-mail accounts to conduct official government business, and some communications that are required to be preserved under federal law may be lost as a result.”

The Woodward and Bernstein Watergate Papers, which were sold to the University of Texas at Austin for $5 million in 2003, have been made available in the online exhibit; Deep Throat Exposed.

The former Republican Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, who is also a Baptist minister and is running for President in 2008 tells the Wall Street Journal,

“If Republicans in this election vote in such a way as to say a candidate’s personal life and personal conduct in office doesn’t matter, then a lot of Christian evangelical leaders owe Bill Clinton a public apology.”

I want to send a big thanks out to James Alexander Tanford, a professor at the Indiana University School of Law, who has taken the time to post transcripts of the court proceedings of trials from over a dozen movies.