Political Theatre category archive

At the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Duquesne University law professor Ken Gormley considers contemptible Congress. He focuses on the Republican Party’s willingness to sacrifice everything–history, the law, ethics, the Constitution–to political thuggery.

A nugget:

Finally, there is a civil contempt process — created in the post-Watergate era — that allows Congress to seek enforcement through the courts. Ironically, this law creates a specific exemption for federal government employees (like Eric Holder) acting in their official capacities. The exemption, designed to safeguard the separation of powers, was championed by then-Assistant Attorney General and now-Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who told the Senate that trying to weigh Congress’ need for information against the executive branch’s need to protect the confidentiality of information “is the very type of ‘political question’ from which … the courts [should] abstain.”

If Rep. Issa believes he has the power to hold the nation’s chief law enforcement officer in contempt, what would stop Attorney General Holder from returning the favor by arresting Rep. Issa on the streets of Washington for “seditious behavior?” The only thing stopping him would be the Constitution’s command that powers be separated to preclude such monkey business.

H/T Chris.

Ashes to ashes.

When he arrived at the TSA checkpoint, “They opened up my bag, and I told them, ‘Please, be careful. These are my grandpa’s ashes.’ She picked up the jar. She opened it up.”

The agent not only opened the sealed jar, but stirred the contents with her finger, allowing an estimated quarter to a third of the ashes to spill out on to the floor.

Gross frantically tried to scoop up as much of his grandfather’s remains as he could, “She didn’t apologize. She started laughing,” he said . . . .

The TSA says that the agent violated policy.

Via Raw Story.

RT speculates on the drones in your life.

Hilary Rosen thinks it’s all about gut out the vote.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

Turnabout ist verboten.

Excerpt:

The President’s not supposed to do anything in an election year, yet alone the right thing.

Hearsay, the local NPR affiliate’s own news and analysis show, takes a look at the history of racial categories. If you don’t know this stuff, you should; it illuminates today’s events. From the website:

A key subset of both individual and collective identity is one of racial and ethnic identification. These constructs, for Americans in particular, are continuously growing more complex and difficult to frame. On today’s HearSay, Cathy Lewis will speak with a local scholar who’s examining the complex interplay of cultural and racial identities in our modern society.

Follow the link to listen.

At Philly dot com, Daniel Deagler envisions the first day of Mitt the Flip’s administration.

A snippet:

Aide: OK, cabinet appointments. For secretary of energy, you want to nominate — um, is this right? — Exxon?

Romney: That’s exactly right. Who knows more about America’s energy needs than its largest oil company?

Aide: Sir, traditionally, a person holds that job. Exxon is a corporation.

Romney: Corporations are people, my friend. And this administration will not tolerate discrimination against people just because they happen to be corporations.

Afterthought;

It occurs to me that Mitt the Flip has made so much of his money flipping companies into bankruptcy that he thinks it’s a good thing.

No fly? No exit.

In a Psychology Today blog, Nigel Barber struggles to understand rightwingers’ pervy preoccupation with sex.

He doesn’t quite succeed, but does advance some interesting theories. It could be a start to understanding why Republicans and their dupes and fellow travelers want to control your bedroom behavior.