More on the Nigerian bribery/Halliburton scandal. Oh, and of course the story was buried on the back pages on the last day of the Reagan obequiousies. The energy conglomerate formerly headed by Dick Cheney disclosed the SEC probe (as it was required to do by law for any legal action potentially affecting the company’s stock) on June 11. The timing of the disclosure was no accident–it was a Friday, the last day of the interminable Reagan funeral ceremonies, and Wall Street was thus closed. The national press corps focused on little else but the burial, so the SEC investigation got…

If you’re not doing anything for the Fourth of July weekend, try going to Utica and pumping a few dollars into the local economy. It sounds like it’s going to be a fun weekend.

Announcing a new contest: design a pro-democracy, pro-freedom of choice T-shirt. The catch is, you have to find the model. And that is why there was a wave of international censorship after George W Bush appeared at the window of an Irish castle wearing a white undergarment, rather than his traditional shirt and tie. It would be ridiculously easy to do this, which is why it’s apparently such a big deal that the Irish presidency issued a hastily written memo within minutes of the incident. Unfortunately, some images had already been transmitted by the host broadcaster – which I’m assuming…

Salon (subscription) reports the special version Barbara Streisand sang at the recent fundraiser for John Kerry. It’s too good to cut… it may go down the memory hole, so here it is: Here are the lyrics as transcribed by the press pool reporter at the fundraiser. All together now: People I mean G-O-People Who’d believe there’s such people in the world Bush sees a Lotta Condoleeza They’re dividing the planet’s oil According to Richard Poil And they’re all just trainees Of Cheney’s Now Rumsfeld We must get rid of Rumsfeld He’s the spookiest person in the world As for Powell…

Our esteemed Veep in charge of war profiteering and feathering the nest of his “former” firm Halliburton/KBR had this to say on the floor of the Senate: either “Fuck off,” “go fuck yourself,” or “fuck you.” Yes, that is Vice-President of the United States of America and President Pro Tem of the Senate Richard “Biggus Dickus” Cheney, in a heated and “frank” exchange” with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont. There’s your goddamn family values for you. As there is some confusion as to the precise wording, we’ll all have to wait until the official Senate transcript is released. Right.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – Oklahoma’s attorney general wants a state judge removed on suspicion he frequently masturbated and used a device for enhancing erections while his court was in session, a spokesman for the office said on Thursday This brings an unpleasant image to mind when thinking of the judicial branch. The weirdest part: he actually admitted in court (in a murder trial, no less) that he had a penis pump under the bench, but claimed it was a gag gift. Gag? it’s positively gag-alicious.

Last spring, a group of military lawyers known as judge advocate generals warned that civilian lawyers within the Bush administration were creating “legal ambiguity” on how international treaties should be applied to people in U.S. detention. Many JAG lawyers say their advice was disregarded as the White House sought to tweak the laws of war for political ends. I’m betting that in spite of the custom-made angle, this won’t show up as a “ripped from the headlines” episode on JAG because it’s not very complimentary to the current administration (okay, the usurping administration, I’m annoying like that). But “boo-yah” to…

Oh, this is rich. BoingBoing reports that a pundit named Lauren Weinstein narrowly avoided being skewered on a fake “debate” show called “Crossballs.” Whew! Crisis averted. However, it appears that at least one conservative pundit was contacted to appear on the show, but was warned off in time by another conpundit that wasn’t so cautious. There follows a lengthy tirade in the “Bush-bashers are traitors, all critics of the Administration are evil, Hollywood is part of the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy” vein. Read, or don’t read, it’s your choice. But it’s funny to think that at least one neocon fell…

Directory of clips from the Daily Show that include Asscroft evading a charge of Contempt of Congress and generally being a holier-than-thou, know-better-than-thou jerkwad under questioning. Swiped with love from BoingBoing.

The East-West Tollway’s name officially was changed to the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway. Bullshit! Bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit fucking bullshit. Wait, let me tell you how I really feel. What a steaming load of low-grade assfault. Laid on by a bunch of sycophantic political buttlickers. Who are all ghost employees padding the payroll for their necrotic shirttail relatives. The Trib is already calling for new nicknames, noting that the “Eisenhower” (It’s I-290, people) is usually called “The Ike” by people trying to sound cool. Well, my name for it is “The Gypper.” And yes, I spell and pronounce it that…