Ella Fitzgerald
“Keepin Out of Mischief Now”

From TPM:

I don’t believe it. This bastard has no heart! I keep waiting for him to resign due to health reasons and dipshit to appoint Rudette or Romette as vp.

More here

Why do these guys run if they don’t want to serve out their terms? What’s up with that?

After months of playing coy about when he would depart, Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) bid his official farewell to the House today.

The speaker for eight years, Hastert wrote letters to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) officially resigning his congressional seat in a move that has long been anticipated but with the timing in question because of internal Illinois politics about when to hold a special election to pick a successor.

In a bit of historical coincidence, Hastert’s resignation, taking effect at 11:59 pm EST tonight, comes on the same day that Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) announced his plan to resign later next month from the Senate. For four years in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, Hastert and Lott served together as the top Republicans in Congress, legislative point men for the early days of President Bush’s tenure.

More at the Washington Post

The USA decided not to cut its military presence in Europe, Austria’s Die Presse wrote yesterday. U.S. troops were heavily deployed in the Old World during the opposition between the United States and the Soviet Union. When the Cold War ended, the Pentagon started to evacuate the troops from Europe. The U.S. administration planned to keep the deployment of only 24,000 servicemen by the end of 2008 as opposed to 43,000 military men currently serving in Europe.

However, Washington apparently changed its mind against the background of Russia’s rising powers. General David McKiernan said that the U.S. troops would stay on their European bases, because the Russian power started rising, the Austrian newspaper wrote.

“If this is a reaction to Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty then it is a weak and a nonsensical statement to make. It reminds a person in a state of hysterics, not knowing what to say and how to react to something. The U.S. administration basically ignored our suggestions regarding the missile defense system. Now they start to rattle their weapons near our borders again. What’s next - another Cold War? This is a matter of the past, and no one wants to go back there again,” the Vice President of Russia’s Military Expert Board said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Full article at NewsfromRussia.com

While looking around tonight to see what the word is on Lott’s resignation here’s what’s out there. When I heard of his resignation it really surprised me, because after being kicked out of the top Republican leadership 4 years ago, he REALLY fought to get back to the top. I couldn’t imagine he would just give that up for no good reason. Maybe THIS is the good reason.

From Atrios on 11/25:

From Big Head DC:

Trent Lott Fallout: The Gay Escort Who Knew Too Much
Monday November 26th, 2007 5:35 PM by BHDC Staff
Filed under: Scoops, Gay, Trent Lott

Once upon a time, there was a twentysomething boy-next-door type with reddish blond hair and a brilliantly white smile. Not one to shy away from attention, he wrote a blog called “Fifteen Minutes,” and also became a freelance writer for various publications, including The Stranger in Seattle. He-d often focus on his non-traditional lifestyle as a gay male escort - a topic that often fascinated his readers, which, in turn, helped him to garner a substantial amount of powerful business acquaintances through the years.

Based in San Antonio, he would travel all over the world to meet his clients, which included high profile celebrities, businessmen and even politicians in the United States Congress.

Sometimes within his writings he-d give advice on how other males could become successful escorts. Other times he-d post videos of himself flexing on YouTube. Once, he even scolded gay escort Mike Jones for outing Rev. Ted Haggard as one of his gay escort business participants.

“You were paid for sex, Mike,” he wrote in 2006. “The most important rule you can follow when taking people’s money in exchange for sex is that-no matter what-their lives stay their own and whatever passes between the two of you remains private. Period.”

Many of his clients greatly appreciate his professionalism. In fact, according to one 66-year-old patron who reviewed him on a gay escort site, he is “a very reliable escort who keeps you informed.”

The boy happens to be real, and his “stage name” is Benjamin Nicholas. One of the politicos Big Head DC has learned he’s alleged to have been involved with is the married Sen. Trent Lott, 66, who unexpectedly announced his retirement on Monday. Lott is well-known to have been against a plethora of gay rights issues throughout his terms in Congress. He was also good friends with Sen. Larry Craig throughout his time in Congress.

Nicholas told Big Head DC today via e-mail that he didn-t want to go on the record to talk about his dealings with Lott, because, said Nicholas, “Trent is going through his fair share of scrutiny right now and I don-t want to add to it.” However, e-mail and other records confirm that the two have met on at least two occasions.

“All I can say at this point is no comment,” Nicholas told us. “It’s the professional thing for me to do.”

In a subsequent e-mail message, Nicholas confirmed that another publication is working on a story about a “possible relationship” between Lott and himself, but Nicholas also “politely declined” an interview for that story.

“As I said before, Lott has quite a bit on his plate right now and I don-t really want to add fuel to the embers,” Nicholas told Big Head DC.

Perhaps.

Clinton slips behind Republican foes in new poll

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democrat Hillary Clinton would lose to all major Republican White House candidates, according to a hypothetical election matchup poll Monday, reversing her months of dominance over potential 2008 challengers.

The Zogby International poll was the latest sign that withering attacks on the former first lady were chipping away at her opinion poll leads just 38 days before the Iowa caucuses, the first party nominating contests.

In the new survey, Clinton trailed Senator John McCain 42 percent to 38 percent, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani by 43 percent to 40 percent and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney by 43 percent to 40 percent.

She also lagged behind former Arkansas Republican governor Mike Huckabee by 44 to 39 percent, and former Senator Fred Thompson by 44 to 40 percent in hypothetical general election matchups.

Clinton’s top Democratic challengers Barack Obama and John Edwards however would still beat their hypothetical Republican rivals in potential 2008 contests.

Mitt went on to add later that, if elected, he would have former president Bill Clinton imprisoned, call for a total repeal of the 13th and 19th amendments, legislate a mandatory guns-for’school-children program and, for shits and giggles, a proposal to change the theme of our July 4th holiday to that of a national piss-on-the-bill-of-rights day.

Factoring in for mass stupidity, Mitt’s a shoe-in for prez!

“…preferential treatment for American investments”. And what do those investments consist of, you ask?

Some say our ultimate goal for an Iraqi invasion was to take control of their vast oil reserves. I find that a little hard to believe. The Bush administration, great defenders of civil rights, simply wanted to bring freedom and democracy to the Middle East. Oil was NEVER a part of it!

I can see it now. One day, sometime in the near future, Bush will be addressing the Iraqi people from the public square in the center of Baghdad. Thousands upon thousands of Iraqi citizens will be in attendance, cheering and waving at their great uniter,.. savior.

And Bush will set the record straight on this day. “It was never about the oil,” he will say. “We Americans are above simple greed. We just wanted you to live freely, like us!”

And the cheers from the crowd will grow.

He’ll go on to say that he’ll adamantly refuse any “preferential treatment”, because, that’s not what we’re about.

(Tissue and air’sick bags are located in bins at the bottom of the page, for your convenience.)

Iraqis May Offer US Deal to Stay Longer

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s government is prepared to offer the U.S. a long-term troop presence in Iraq and preferential treatment for American investments in return for an American guarantee of long-term security including defense against internal coups, The Associated Press learned Monday.

The proposal, described to the AP by two senior officials familiar with the issue, is one of the first indications that the United States and Iraq are beginning to explore what their relationship might look like, once the U.S. significantly draws down its troop presence.
[...]

The two senior Iraqi officials said Iraqi authorities had discussed the broad outlines of the proposal with U.S. military and diplomatic representatives. The Americans appeared generally favorable subject to negotiations on the details.
[...]

He said the government would announce within days a “declaration of intent” that would not involve military bases but would raise “issues on organizing the presence of the multinational forces and ending their presence on Iraqi soil.”

One official said the Iraqis expect objections from Iraq’s neighbors. Iran and Syria will object because they oppose a U.S. presence in the region.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia will not like the idea of any reduction in their roles as Washington’s most important Arab partners.

Hmmmmm………

From MSNBC: