micah holmquist's irregular thoughts and links

Between the breakup of Jon and Kate and the deaths of Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett, this has to be the worst week for America since 9-11.

And now Michael Jackson's passing makes it the worst week for comedians ever.

Just a thought that has been in my head for a few weeks now

If I ever have to wear one of those masks to prevent against a communicable disease, I am going to add a trunk to mine, so I look like an elephant.

Alberto Gonzales should be the next Supreme Court Justice

Barack Obama should nominate former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court.

First of all, Obama seems intent on mimicking many of the policies of the Bush Administration so getting one of Bush’s attorney generals fits with the pattern and would give Obama someone he is comfortable with.

At the same time, nominating Gonzales is a wonderful opportunity for Obama to show he is his own man, intent on taking the country in a bold new direction. George W. Bush didn’t think Gonzales was worthy of being anything more than head of the U.S. Department of Justice whereas Obama would be saying that this man of Latino extraction is good enough to be on the highest court of the land. Plus, I hear the number of Latinos in this country is growing so there might be some political benefits.

Gonzales on the high court would also provide a great argument against any sort of criminal charges against the members of the Bush Administration for war crimes. We can’t have a justice on the Supreme Court being held responsible for his actions if it would make America look bad, after all.

And for those who are worried that Democrats might rebel against Gonzales’ nomination, the Wikipedia entry on Gonzales indicates that some people do not consider him to be pro-life, so there is no chance of that.

Some might see a downside because he is not a woman. However, the Supreme Court already has one skirt and one more would just provide an unnecessary distraction for the men we trust to interpret our laws. It would be like adding gays to the military.

America might not truly need Gonzales to be the nominee, but Barack Obama does.

Dear Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball teams and Major League Baseball Player’s Association,

Do any of you have a program in place to make sure that the players who choose to use steroids have access to clean needles? It would be a real shame if a hero to millions of children were to catch a disease through the use of a dirty needle.

All congressional Republicans should join the Democratic Party (an actual blog post, in more ways than one)

Liberals got very excited yesterday when Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced that he was leaving the GOP to join their side. Daily Kos and The Nation both ran excited pieces about how this great victory for Barack Obama and the Democrats.

But perhaps no one went as far as Jacob Heilbrunn who yesterday wrote in The Huffington Post:

Pundits have been feverishly speculating about what Barack Obama's most important accomplishment is in the past 100 days. I say it came today. Senator Arlen Specter is switching from the Republican to the Democratic party. The specter of Specter as a Democrat will enrage Republicans and should come as big relief to Democrats.

The big victory isn't something worthwhile like ending the occupations of Afghanistan and/or Iraq, warrantless wiretapping or the illegality of marijuana, which now that I think about it, Obama didn't do. It is getting somebody new to join the party.

Heilbrunn does go on to say this move brings the party of LBJ and Clinton closer to a filibuster proof majority in the Senate but mentions nothing about policy except for this curious bit about how Specter is concerned that the executive branch has too much power:

Specter's move was prefigured by his opposition to the Bush administration's aggrandizement of power. In the latest issue of the New York Review of Books, Specter has a lengthy and perspicuous essay titled "The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs." In it, Specter notes that he worries that Obama will rely on signing statements and on a "state secrets" privilege to stymie lawsuits "challenging controversial policies like warrantless wiretapping." But as a Democrat, he will likely have more influence in pushing legislation that would, in his words, allow "Congress and the courts to reassert themselves in the system of checks and balances."

So Obama has scored a major accomplishment because now someone who opposes him on some not exactly unimportant matters will be in a stronger position. Makes sense.

And where will the other Democrats stand on the matter if Specter tries take power away from Obama and the Oval Office and give it to the other branches of government? Heilbrunn says nothing on this matter, not that you should look to him for wisdom. If the last year or so is any indication, Democrats don't look too kindly on those who oppose any aspect of Obama's agenda, so maybe they will eventually kick him out of their party.

(For the record, I have not read "The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs" (May 14) and I am doubtful that Specter will press the issue.)

This incident brings up a very intriguing possibility for the Republicans, or at least the Republicans who have a sense of humor. If all of the congressional elephants were to declare that in unison that they are joining the donkeys, it would be hillarious to see the netroots respond with glee. The defectors wouldn't even have to say they are changing their stance on any issue -Specter apparently hasn't. And when the Republicans rejoin their old party the following day, it will probably be just as funny to watch the coalition for change, or whatever they call themselves, react in disbelief.

Yes, but how much would it cost to bomb all the equipment and say we don’t know what happened to it?

"The removal of about 140,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011," Karen DeYoung writes in today's Washington Post, "will be a 'massive and expensive effort' that is likely to increase rather than lower Iraq-related expenditures during the withdrawal and for several years after its completion, government investigators said in a report released yesterday"

Prosecution of Cheney just around the corner

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be indicting former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney for war crimes before the end of March, a source inside the White House tells micah holmquist’s irregular thoughts and links.

“[U.S. President] Barack Obama and friends had forgotten about prosecuting Cheney,” the source says. “I mean, it isn’t as if he has been in the news or anything.” A column published today on the website of The Progressive magazine where Matthew Rothschild called for a prosecution caused the change. “Obama saw that,” the source says, “and just knew that there had to be prosecution.

Another source insider the White House, who, like the first, wishes to remain anonymous, could not confirm this sequence of events but did say that Obama did all of a sudden start saying, “there must be accountability. What faith can the people of this great nation have in our system of criminal justice if it is clear that the most powerful citizens are not subject to it?”

The poor will have to make do with poor role models

"Kellogg Co," writes the AP (March 11), "has recently donated thousands of boxes of cereal with Michael Phelps' picture on them to the San Francisco Food Bank."

Bill Hicks passed away 15 years ago today

Watch for Falling Planes