Wednesday website tour

Here's a round up of what some of my favorite internets are talking about today.

• Think Progress: "Administration's Secret Prison System Violates Law" TP provides a quote from the White House that turns out to be *gasp!* bullshit. Here's the Washington Post story cited as the source: "CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons".
• DailyKos' Armando blogs on David Broder's WP article, "President Pushover" Mr. Broder says that the White House and other members of the Religious Radical Right (RRR) can no longer insist that W's judicial nominees get an up or down vote, given how the RRR and other conservatives successfully torpedoed Harriett Miers' nomination before she even got to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
• Atrios hosts a "ballsy" Harry Reid photo caption contest
  
• Rob at AmericaBlog tells us that the latest Gallup Poll shows Alito's nomination is a flop with mainstream America.
• Crooks and Liars has video of Harry Reid's press conference held yesterday after the Senate's secret session. In case you missed it, "...Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid dramatically wrenched the political agenda from the Republican majority Monday (October 31, 205) by forcing the Senate into secret session...Reid’s gambit was designed to prod Republicans to agree to speed up 'Phase II' of the investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, into how spy data was used or misused in the prelude to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003." Reid, et. al, provoked by the indictment of Scooteer Libby, want to know why Senate Repugnicans are putting politics before national security by continuing to stonewall Democrats and stall this investigation. Give 'em hell, Harry! You too, Jay!
  
• The Raw Story has details about the Repugnicans' stonewalling tactics including specific dates and methods.
• Tbogg notes that the RRR's favorite fascist faux-journalist, Michelle Malkin has a book out. Read some of the 5-star reviews here.
• Wonkette blogs the President's dance with foreign jounalists. The Presdient appears to be the only person in the world who can stumble over someone else's feet while doing the Macarena.
• Brad Blog continues his dogged pursuit to uncover the flaws in e-voting and election fraud in November of 2004. "The GAO report which The Brad Blog broke on October 20th, confirms that '[C]oncerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes.' "
• A Lie A Day notes that the President's own church urges a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and calls for an investigation into reports of detainee abuse and torture. Do methodists ever excommunicate anyone? If not, they should start with George W. Bush and Dick "go fuck yourself" Cheney.
• The Onion reports: "Iraqi Constitution Ratified, Burned" "BAGHDAD—The people of Iraq celebrated the passage of their new constitution Monday, in a formal ceremony that included a stirring speech by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a series of explosions that left 77 dead, and a traditional dance performed by Iraqi schoolchildren." I noticed that The Onion is still using the Presidential Seal here.
• Fired Up Missouri blogs about an article in The New Republic that raises troubling questions about the relationship between Tom DeLay's money train and MO Governor Matt Blunt. See the post for a link to the article, or go out and buy your own copy of The New Republic.
• DTS is amused by a class action suit against Major League Baseball on behalf of those in attendance at the World Series games in Houston. The attorney filing the suit claims the fans got sick because MLB Commissioner Bud Selig mandated that Minute Maid Park's retractible roof remain open during the WS.
• Huffington Post links to an article about the the highly anticipated Sunday night debut of "The Boondocks" on the Cartoon Network. Yay! i can't wait!
  
• Songs:Illinois does his usual quality mp3 blogging by pointing to fantastic indie/countrified artists that i would like.
  
• Largehearted Boy introduced me to a site called The Space Lab with great photos of a recent Hold Steady show in Minneapolis, MN. I saw these guys for the first time last Thursday and they made me very happy. Go to their website for a listen to a coupla songs.
• Chromewaves reviews a show by Spoon, whom i haven't seen before, but will very soon (next Thursday, November 10!!), because their new album, Gimme Fiction grooves and rocks and makes me want to sing in my car. Navigate Spoon's official site for songs and videos.
• Early spreads are up for NFL's Week 9. i need to win some tacos this week, i'm falling behind in my league. i'm at a respectable .500, but way behind the leaders. Who's got the inside dope? Where's the smart money goin'?
  

Type at ya later...

Goodbye freedom, Hello Alito!!

The President successfully gave the media something besides his recent f-ckups to talk about. By choosing Judge Samuel Alito to be his nominee for Associate Supreme Court Justice, he gets plenty of "atta boy"'s from his base and the requisite outrage from those on the left. The Religious Radical Right Wing of the Republican Party got the kind of judicial activist they love and the fight they wanted to unite their fragmented party on Capitol Hill. The Liberals and Progressives got the kind of nominee they were glad they didn't get with Miers, but knew they were gonna get anyway, once they realized the Religious Radical Right got their panties all knotted up over her.
Expect a fillibuster. Expect the Religious Radical Right (RRR) to cry, "Nominees deserve an up or down vote!" which would be yet another 180 degree turn, bringing them back full circle to pre-Miers talking points.

More on this later. Meanwhile read Alliance For Justice's preliminary report on the nominee here (thanks to who else? AmericaBlog. Gotta go!