May 21, 2004

• (er, washingtonienne, not washingtonette. Silly musingmelpomene! Preview buttons are for kids!)
• As a current intern in Albany (at an NGO THANK FUCKIN' GOD- I'm goin drinkin with the rest of the staff tonite), I have to say, the new rules on the folks working for the legislature are just... draconian. I pity them, I really do. They come up here, thinking they'll have access to power, full of idealism, and hope, and thinking that they'll get to do real work, and make some changes... And one by one, they're disillusioned. first off, their access to power is taken away (the one thing they used to be able to count on) by these new rules, and then they get to do jack shit, as the laziest, most ineffectual state legislators in the country, with the highest incumbency rate in the entire US of A go around taking bribes, doing jack shit, and generally screwing the little guy. Oh, and Bribes there is not me being harsh about campaign contributions. I'm talking out and out bribes. State Sen. Guy Vellella was indicted earlier this week. 67 page indictment of conspiracy, larceny, and bribery charges for a "complicated bridge painting scheme" (if any Monkeys want more salacious details, i'll try to put something together this weekend perhaps)
• Oh do tell, captain psyko! I love the dark side of regional politics.
• Damn, I was hoping it was Karl Rove. Not for Washingtonienne's sake, mind you. Yeccchh. Although he does seem like an anal sort of fellow. BLAAAARRRRGH!!!
• Isn't accepting money for sex already illegal? Adopting Albany-style legislation sounds a bit knee-jerky to me. That chick sounds like a total skank, though. At any rate, I'm still eagerly anticipating the frog-marching of Karl Rove's sorry ass from the White House.
• Plenty of young women have "sugar daddies." The arrangement is rarely prosecuted.
• That chick sounds like a total skank, though. I like this Washingtonette, she's wacky cool.
• I don't get any of this. Is it something to do with American politics? Entertainment? Is there any difference?
• actually, politics/entertainment/sex - it's all the same beast...
• It's kinda banal, don't you think? The whole time I'm reading the thing, I'm thinking "well whoop dee fucking doo, doll, you're not exactly blowing the lid off nookie here." Newsflash! People in DC like to fuck. I'll skip the film at 11, thanks.
• what fes said. ain't nothing ever gonna stop sex in washington. power and sex are too closely linked, always have been, always will be.
• Agreed. Personally, I don't have a problem with what she's doing. However I do object to the govmint types that author/support/spew laws restricting privacy and civil rights, who then turn around and pay staffers for sex. Ted Kennedy may be a dirty old man, but at least he's less of a hypocrite than the upstanding lawmakers who had impeachment conniptions over Clinton's exploits. Wonder how skeleton-free their closets are. That's why this is fascinating. I don't give a rat's ass about Ms. DC Girl Gone Wild. Idiots like her are a dime a dozen. I just want her uber-conservative sugar daddy(ies) outed.
• Clinton was impeached for lying, not for getting a hummer.
• The only reason Clinton was impeached for lying was because they couldn't get him on anything else. (Not for lack of trying, though.) Say it was about the lie all you want, but when his successor ran ostensibly on the prospect that he wouldn't be getting serviced in the Oval Office; the lie angle sounds exactly like what it is, bullshit.
• Idiots like her ... I like her. /conniptions
• All politicians lie. Clinton was impeached for lying under oath.
• Say it was about the lie all you want The president provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony to the grand jury regarding the Paula Jones case and his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. House: Passed 228-206 The president obstructed justice in an effort to delay, impede, cover up and conceal the existence of evidence related to the Jones case. House: Passed 221-212
• Blogrot, on both sides of the aisle, politicians stated motives rarely have much to do with what they are actually trying to accomplish.
• So to a Congressional Republican, lying about hummers is a bad thing, but lying about WMDs,, and being dodgy, evasive, or downright belligerent on just about everything are OK? Jeez, I thought Compassionate Conservative was supposed to mean something.
• Plenty of politicians lie under oath and obstruct justice, regardless of party affiliation. My point is: the politicians who make the most noise about "morality" themselves have plenty to hide. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, yada yada yada. the quidnunc kid: actually, I sorta like her too. She's got stones.
• Yee-hah, shinything. Testify.
• I disagree: ALL politicians should tell the truth! Republican and Democrat alike. Lying to us implies that we are too ignorant or immature to handle the cold, unvarnished truth. It's patronizing and, ultimately, hampers the political process, which relies on the voting citizenry to have the best, most accurate available. JUST ONCE I'd like to hear a politician say "You know what? We fucked that up big time. Sorry, America. We'll try harder next time around." or "About that question? I have no frigging idea what you're talking about. I could make up some answer, but it would come lock, stock and barrel directly out of my ass. But I'll look into it and get back to you Thursday latest." I'd vote for that person regardless of ideology any time I was able to. The rest, a pox on them.
• ...politicians stated motives ... I totally agree. but lying about WMDs,, and being dodgy, evasive, or downright belligerent on just about everything are OK? Where is the impeachment process for Shrub at? Fes, it is a damn shame that Dean is out. He seemed like an honest man to me (as far as politicians can go.)
• As someone that occasionally votes Republican, I too would've liked to seen Dean be the nominee. Out of all the candidates I saw, he seemed the most honest about his positions, he has executive branch experience, he seems like a pragmatic sort of guy, and I personally felt at the time that he was the only candidate in the field that stood a chance of beating Bush. With Abu Ghraib, I think the election may be anyone's to win, but so far as I can tell Kerry has neither the voting record or the stomach for the kind of campaign that would win him the election, at least if it were today. A Dean/Edwards ticket? Maybe. A Dean/McCain ticket? A walk to the White House.
• Yep, democracy stinks. We should do away with it, and go over to a Platonic republic, instead.
• Fes, I absolutely agree with you. Sorry, I don't mean to be confusing about this. Our lawmakers SHOULD tell the truth, and it doesn't matter what their party affiliation is. Unfortunately they don't. My point: the politicians who set themselves up as moral authorities and restrict civil liberties have much farther to fall when their secrets come out. For example: Strom Thurmond, well-known for his vocal pro-segregation stance. Turns out he had an illegitimate black daughter. I better go look at the Holy Grail thread before I confuse more people. Sorry everyone.
• It's kinda banal, don't you think? The whole time I'm reading the thing, I'm thinking "well whoop dee fucking doo, doll, you're not exactly blowing the lid off nookie here." Newsflash! People in DC like to fuck. I'll skip the film at 11, thanks. Not to mention the fact that very few of us want to hear about the sex lives of 55-year-old gasbags who sit on their asses all day. There should be a mandatory prison sentence for writing about this shit.
• Yep, democracy stinks. We should do away with it, and go over to a Platonic republic, instead. I'm all for Platonic Republic, I really dig their clothes...
• She (see May 21st's entry) looks a lot like Liv Tyler.
• "You know what? We fucked that up big time. Sorry, America. We'll try harder next time around." I think that was Jimmy Carter - the malaise speech. I heard a talk by a political scientist about it a few weeks ago. I'm not actually old enough, or from the right country, to have heard and remembered it, but apparently Carter just out and said his administration made mistakes, though this is not always how it is remembered. But being honest ruined his career. We won't vote for people who make mistakes, even honest ones. So no wonder we only get politicians who lie. ----- That said - can anyone explain what has happened between this Washingtonienne blog and the Wonkette blog in a narrative that makes sense (beginning, middle, end)? I hate piecing stories back together from blogs - it's like doing painstaking archival research, only without the fun part of getting to think "I'm touching 300 year old paper."
• have you tried printing the blogs out on 300 year old paper?
• Heh. Washingtonienne posts her exploits to her blog for the better part of May. Wonkette finds said blog and showcases it. Wonkette's showcase of Washingtonienne gets it noticed by the powers that be in her office. Powers wig and cook up an excuse to fire her in an attempt at damage control. Boomshanka.
• Spooky - if I could get 300 year old paper to print stuff on, I would in a flash. That stuff's high quality. (But seriously - it's so amazing to open a letter or a note, and realise that you are touching something that may have not been read for centuries. It's the real reason I do it - I don't know if I am cut out for academia. But they do give me money to play with old things, which makes me happy for now.) Surlyboi - it looks like Washingtonienne's blog was only around for about a month. Or am I getting this wrong?
• Nope Jb, you're right. It was only around for the better part of a month.