Mike Kuykendall

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Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Russia Resumes Cold War Sorties
2007-08-09 17:25:00
As previously noted here, the Bush administration's horrid foreign policy has yielded a lovely little present; military confrontations reminiscent of the Cold War . The newest incident from the AP; A Russia n bomber flew over a U.S. military base on the Pacific island of Guam on Wednesday and "exchanged smiles" with U.S. pilots who had scrambled to track it, said Major-General Pavel Androsov,
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Note to Regular Readers
2007-08-07 20:30:00
I have been neglecting the blog lately due to our project over at the DC Madam website. Go check it out, if you haven't already. Dividing my time between this, my day job, and Ms. Palfrey's concerns doesn't leave a lot of time to spare, so thanks for bearing with me! Here's a shameless plug- my partner Sam Demaree and I were written up in the Politico today. It's pretty amazing! Our
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Dissecting Bush Media Hacks
2007-08-04 16:26:00
Many of us on the so-called "left" (which polls suggest is really the center) have known for years the travesties caused by the Bush administration were aided and abetted by a system of political shills evenly distributed throughout the print, TV, and online media establishments. Their cheerleading helped America stumble blindly into an intractable, immoral, internecine conflict in Iraq, and
More About: Media , Hacks , Diss

Climate Change Displaces Millions in India
2007-08-04 15:28:00
Unusual monsoon rains in India have killed dozens and caused widespread havoc. From the AP (emph. mine); Havoc from monsoon rains killed another 12 people in India, including two children swept away by floods and a man attacked by a rhinoceros forced out of its inundated habitat, officials said Saturday. Helicopters dropped food to hundreds of thousands of frightened villagers perched on
More About: Climate Change , Climate , Change , Millions

Child Drawings Evidence of Darfur War Crimes
2007-08-02 14:50:00
The American public has been mostly silent on the horrible genocide occurring in Darfur . That could come to an end soon; Anna Schmidt, a researcher for Waging Peace, a group trying to end the violence, is submitting hundreds of children's drawings like the one above to the International Criminal Court as evidence of war crimes in Darfur; Anna Schmidt, a researcher for Waging Peace, which
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Dick Cheney is Out of Touch (Or a Sociopath)
2007-08-01 19:10:00
The interview with Preside.. er- I meant Vice-President Dick Chen ey on Larry King Live yesterday yielded a lot of ammo for those of us who think he is the worst thing to happen to America since the Teapot Dome scandal under Harding. To start let's all peer back to the halcyon days of 2005 (emphasis, and utter disgust, mine);KING: When do we leave? D. CHENEY: We'll leave as soon as the task is
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Chief Justice Hospitalized
2007-07-30 21:18:00
MSNBC is reporting around an hour ago U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts "fell" and was taken from his summer home in Maine to a nearby hospital. Apparently he was conscious, and was taken to the hospital as a precaution. More updates to come... UPDATE: I finally scrounged up more;Roberts, 52, fell at his summer home in Port Clyde and the court said he was taken to a hospital as a
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Sneaky Member Taunts Colleagues in the House
2007-07-27 18:34:00
I caught this blurb via the Capitolist today- simply hilarious! Here's the original piece;Which member of Congress was scaring the bejesus out of colleagues late Tuesday night by putting in fake reporter requests to speak to lawmakers about Deborah Jeane Palfrey, aka the D.C. Madam? Reporters long have filled out cards in the Speaker’s Gallery to request face-time with members. An aide brings
More About: House , Ouse , The House , Leagues , Coll

Judiciary Approves Contempt Citations
2007-07-25 19:28:00
Just in from the AP;House Democrats drove toward a contempt citation Wednesday against a pair of President Bush's aides who refused to answer subpoenas as a key Republican said the wiser move might be for Congress to sue over executive privilege. Rep. James Sensenbrenner argued that a civil lawsuit in federal court would be less perilous for the balance of power between the executive and
More About: Judiciary , Citations , Rove , Contempt , Citation

Senators to Investigate Possible Gonzales Perjury
2007-07-25 02:25:00
During testimony before the Senat e Judiciary Committee embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have perjured himself while answering questions regarding the infamous visit in 2004 to the sick bed of then-AG John Ashcroft; During Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) round of questioning, Gonzales appeared to revert back to his earlier acknowledgement that the standoff with Ashcroft had
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Upgrading the D.C. Madam
2007-07-23 23:45:00
An exciting challenge has been presented to your favorite A-hole- I will be redesigning Deborah Jeane Palfrey's website. I have offered my service gratis to revamp her current website, adding additional functionality such as video of her many interviews with the mainstream media, and perhaps even a blog. This is an exciting opportunity, and some of you may be wondering how a small-time blogger
More About: Madam , The D

Yep, It's Me
2007-07-23 22:08:00
Just as a note to regular readers- I'm continuing to shed the nom de plume "Indigent A-hole" as this blog has started to gain some traction. So as of today I'll have to be known by my real name. Hello everybody- my name is Mike Kuykendall. How's it going? I started this blog six months ago to express my continuing frustration with government and the forces that drive it. I had the idea that

Conservatives Are Paranoid
2007-07-22 15:28:00
I think this table clearly defines American political thought today- substitute "Cons ervative" for "paranoid" and "everyone else" for "rational thinker." The rational thinker versus the paranoid Presented with the same evidence for a mystery, the rational thinker and the paranoid respond very differently. The rational thinker The paranoid 1. Checks the evidence
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Parsing Ron Paul
2007-07-21 20:40:00
I have been reluctant to criticize presidential aspirant Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) on this blog due to his refreshing anti-war stance and overall views on individual liberty. Indeed, it seems the blogosphere is abuzz about this plain-spoken, anti-establishment candidate. Instead of allowing my personal partisan leanings to automatically kick in (Republican=Elitist asshole) I decided to take off my
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Iraq Casualty Update
2007-07-21 16:41:00
As I reported last week American casualties in Iraq have continued to grow as the "surge" continues. American casualties hit 3,632 Friday. With all political indicators in Iraq negative (such as the Iraqi parliament taking August off) I fail to see how massively increasing the body count in Baghdad can possibly help. The sooner we get done playing whack-a-mole in the desert the better.
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Draft College Republicans!
2007-07-20 21:42:00
Max Blumenthal's new film ridiculing the next generation of fascists- check it out here. Hilarious! UPDATE: Here's the inevitable YouTube embed;
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Kerry's Clever Limerick
2007-07-20 20:55:00
I have no real thoughts on this, I just felt it was hilarious and should be posted far and wide; The Democratic aid has confirmed to ABC News that Kerr y said, "There once was a man named Vitter / Who vowed that he wasn't a quitter / But with stories of women / And all of his sinnin' / He knows his career's in the -- oh, nevermind."
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Bush Prevents Congressional Justice by Fiat
2007-07-20 15:40:00
Bush administration officials have issued an astounding threat that the Justice department will not pursue Congressional contempt citations in cases of so-called executive privilege regarding the firing of 9 U.S. Attorneys (emphasis, and utter bewilderment, mine); Under federal law, a statutory contempt citation by the House or Senate must be submitted to the U.S. attorney for the District of
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British Air Force Confronts Russian Bombers
2007-07-19 16:13:00
Two Royal Air Force Tornados were scrambled Tuesday to intercept two Russian Tu95 "Bear" bombers as they approached British airspace; The incident, now rare according to the RAF, but once commonplace during the Cold War, may be seen as a show of defiance by the Kremlin.But Moscow said the Russian planes were on a training flight unrelated to the current diplomatic crisis over the murder of
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John McCain Will Never Be President
2007-07-18 19:44:00
As I previously noted here I believe Senator John McCain's campaign was doomed from the moment he started running as "Bush-lite," and recent news reports seem to back up my assertion. First of all we have the fact that the Senator's campaign is down to $250,000 on hand;CNN has learned the already-dire situation for Sen. John McCain ’s presidential campaign has actually gotten even worse, with two
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Senate GOP Obstruct Iraq Withdrawal Legislation
2007-07-18 18:25:00
After a fun-filled 24 hours of non-stop speeches, the Senate ended its all-nighter right where they expected- 49 Democratic votes and 3 Republican votes (Hagel, Snowe, and Smith) against the lock-step 49 of the GOP (plus celebrity special guest star Joe Lieberman, of course.) The Republicans were able to hold their ground despite repeated attempts to force a straight-majority vote on the
More About: Iraq , Legislation , Draw , Legi

Senator Webb Eats Lindsey Graham's Lunch on Meet the Press
2007-07-15 16:28:00
Have you ever watched a great boxing match and were so into it you felt your heart beat in time with your preferred fighter? You vicariously are down there in the ring, with the boxer, and each new jab jangles your nerve endings. That's the way I felt today watching first-term Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) give a sound rhetorical thumping to the similarly freshman Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on the
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Cheney Forced 9/11 EPA Administrator to Resign
2007-06-27 14:39:00
New details about former New Jersey governor Christine Whitman and her connection to recently publicity-challenged Vice-President Dick "Shotgun McGee" Chen ey ;In a groundbreaking article today by the Washington Post, the paper alleges that Whitman left the Administration because they pressured her to accept pro-industry coal power plant rules which threatened ghastly air pollution. After industry officials complained to Vice President Cheney that Clinton-era rules requiring plants to update their technology when they conducted routine maintenance to comply with air quality standards, Cheney turned to Whitman, she said. Whitman told the Post she'd "been stunned by what she viewed as an unquestioned belief that EPA's regulations were primarily to blame for keeping companies from building new power plants." "I was upset, mad, offended that there seemed to be so much head-nodding around the table," she said. She said she had to fight "tooth and nail" to keep Cheney from turning ove...
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Keith Ellison Bulldogs Former EPA Administrator
2007-06-25 20:27:00
You catch the greatest stuff on CSPAN-3... today I caught Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) bulldogging former Governor and EPA administrator Christine Whitman (2001 to 2003) during the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Rights. The hearing was pursuing the after effects of asbestos cleanup near Ground Zero after 9/11.After questioning why Whitman had released press statements that there was no reason for concern about asbestos cleanup measures (under her watch the EPA recommended a "wet mop and/or a wet wipe," clearly not adequate for cleaning a carcinogen off your drapes) Ellison elicited an angry tirade (rough yet precise transription and emphasis mine);Rep. Ellison: "Right, and do you also agree today, even looking back in hindsight, that the language that you used gave people a false sense of safety?"Governor Whitman: "No I do not agree I gave them a false sense of safety."...leading to heated verbal sparring. Whitman's voice raised and she leaned forward angrily as she...
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More Wisdom from Our Elders
2007-06-25 18:43:00
I'm sure some folks just hate quotes, but in this age of irrationality it sometimes helps to know we've been here before, and that others have endured and learned the lessons we need to learn now (emphasis mine);The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms ? he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization... he does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated ? if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention. This demand for total triumph leads to the f...
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Our Founding Fathers Saw This Coming
2007-06-24 20:08:00
Reading through the Federalist papers (which isn't a bad idea in this age of wavering checks and balances and over-reaching executives) and found this great bit from Mr. Twenty Dollar Bill. I thought it a great way to put the stubborn opposition we are seeing from the disorganized ranks of what's left of the Right;Men often oppose a thing, merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike. But if they have been consulted, and have happened to disapprove, opposition then becomes, in their estimation, an indispensable duty of self-love. They seem to think themselves bound in honor, and by all the motives of personal infallibility, to defeat the success of what has been resolved upon contrary to their sentiments. Men of upright, benevolent tempers have too many opportunities of remarking, with horror, to what desperate lengths this disposition is sometimes carried, and how often the great interests of society are sa...
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Iraq Casualty Update
2007-06-23 18:19:00
I have not paid a lot of blog-attention to the mounting death toll in Iraq - here's an update (savagely capitalized uber-headline courtesy of iCasual ties.org);A Full Scale U.S. Surge Counteroffensive Began the Week of June 17th, Following a Security Crackdown in Baghdad After the Latest Bombing at the al-Askariyah Mosque in Samarra, Resulting in 179 Iraqi Fatalities, the Lowest Total Since August 2006. This Follows 11 Weeks of the Most Intense, Sustained Fighting of the Entire War, During Which 280 U.S. Soldiers Died and The Fatality Trend Line Has Been Continuously Above 20.As you can see despite the "surge" American casualties in Iraq continue to climb (click the image for a better view.)When will we get effective leadership to stop all this madness? Oh sorry, I forgot...January 2009.
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Bush Runs Out of Laws to Break; Resorts to Breaking His Own Executive Order
2007-06-23 17:16:00
President Bush , tired of the regular business of systematically dismantling our democracy, decided Friday to start breaking his own executive orders for a change.Apparently the simple process of breaking laws that have been on the books for decades (in essence daring the Democratic leadership to take drastic actions such as impeachment or censure) then ignoring the ensuing shitstorm and subpoena frenzy, has just become jejune. The Prez is now defending his boss, Cheney, by declaring neither need to comply with a March 2003 executive order he himself signed;"The executive order that Bush issued in March 2003 covers all government agencies that are part of the executive branch and, although it doesn't specifically say so, was not meant to apply to the vice president's office or the president's office, a White House spokesman said.Here it is from my personal favorite Bush lying mouthpiece, spunky, yet Oh so fascist Dana Perino;"The president and the vice president are complying wit...
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AG Appeals Commuted Harsh Sentence for Horny Teens
2007-06-23 13:33:00
I could hardly believe this when I read it; in Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker is appealing the commutation of a horrific 10-year prison sentence for Genarlow Wilson, who was convicted of aggravated child molestation.Now on those facts alone, one would think he would be right to appeal a decision to commute the sentence from a felony to a misdemeanor, thus reducing the sentence to time served. I mean we're talking about a child molester here, right?Wrong.Wilson was 17 when the "crime" occurred; his consensual partner was 15.I don't know about any of you, but by those standards I was apparently a big molester throughout my high school days! Here's what happened, and why this became such a big issue;Wilson's case stems from a New Year's Eve party involving drugs and alcohol in 2003. Wilson's friends rented neighboring hotel rooms in Douglasville for the event. One of those male youths videotaped the party with a handheld camera. The tape shows Wilson, who was 17 at the...
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Metamorphosis
2007-06-22 18:38:00
After much consultation with "blog authorities" well beyond my level of comprehension, I have decided that ultimately the "Indigent A-hole" pseudonym must be retired. As my first stab at an unused name it served well for my blogging infacy, but the time has come to move on.I will continue to post here for quite a while, but it may be slow going now that construction has begun at the new site. If you'd care to take a peek check it out- I named it Progressive Dissidence with Murph and Freethinker's inestimable help (and a sobriety-free brainstorming session!)Beware, I am continually screwing with it throughout the day, so you're not likely to see the same thing twice. If you have any ideas from what you've seen drop me a note here and I promise to, at the least, read and consider it.
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