Ultimatum

I couldn't resist stealing this one from Bartcop.com. It's so funny and so true. I actually believe it's photoshopped from a real picture that they call "Redneck Babysitter." In any case, this concoction is very appropriate for the most childlike President.Unfortunately his arms and hands have been left free for signing statements or one of those rare vetoes.

Corporate Dishonor

The third largest electronics dealer, Circuit City, has laid off 3400 workers (8% of its workers) because they felt they were being paid too much. CC's management seems to think everything is fine, though, because the laid off can come back to their same jobs, but at less pay than they had been earning previously. This is not a stunt, but a new management strategy of the free market, global economy. It's common knowledge that Circuit City has not been performing well, and I think they deserve everything they don't get. I could kick myself because the computer I'm typing this post on came from CC - but I won't make the same mistake again. I'd rather make my purchases from a corporation that has a little more honorable dealings with its staff.

Collateral damage: I stripe this story together with the ubiquitous WalMart self checkout lines. I refuse to use them when I see the actual human cashier folks that may soon be out of job because customers are willing to do the work of checking out their groceries.It's always the little guy or gal that suffers.

Subpoena Goodling

I don't quite understand this Monica Goodling Fifth Amendment business. My understanding is that she can be subpoenaed (as 31 members of Clinton's WH were), she then appears before Congress, and there she has the right at that time to invoke the Fifth Amendment to any answers that she feels might incriminate her. She (nor you or I) does not get to not appear before the committee because she worries about what they might ask her. Isn't that the way it works? Refusing to appear I should think is contempt of Congress. Nothing new for the loyal Bushies.

Also, another consideration is Ms. Goodling's extremely broad interpretation of the Fifth. The actual language of the Amendment says something about incriminating oneself in a "criminal" case, not the procedures and operations of a government agency like the DOJ. It seems that she has already decided on her own that some crime has occurred. I wouldn't doubt it myself.

A further point of interest : I couldn't find a photo of Monica Gooding on the Web. Google images, nothing. Yahoo, nothing. Ask.com : Your search has produced no results. She is definitely under the radar.

Update: My bad. I misspelled her name. It's Goodling. Still this is the only picture of Monica Goodling I could find. She's the second from the right at the picnic table. Apparently this is a Regent College get together.