Bush the Lesser Uses First Veto - Screws That Up, Too!

For the first time in the 5 1/2 years he has occupied the White House, George "Dubya" Bush used his veto power - a power he has threatened to use (but never had) in the past - against a bill that would allow an increase in funding for embryonic stem cell research, claiming the bill "crossed a moral boundary."

A moral boundary? This, coming from a man who has sold out his country to the highest bidders, allowed corruption to run rampant through Congress, started an undeclared war against a soveriegn nation that had done nothing to the United States, supported torture, courted those who trained and financed terrorists, and continues to ignore the Constitution in order to advance his own paranoia? Just amazing.

The embryos that would be used for this research - research that could, potentially, bring about the cure of countless diseases - would be frozen embryos that had been left unused by fertility clinics. But that's not good enough for Dubya, who, while refusing to allow the press to cover his veto of the bill, still took the time for a photo op with a group of children.

"These boys and girls are not spare parts," he said of the children in the audience. "They remind us of what is lost when embryos are destroyed in the name of research. They remind us that we all begin our lives as a small collection of cells."

Puh-leez.

The House attempted to override the veto, but found themselves 51 votes short.

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Elsewhere, more people died as Israel and Lebanon continued fighting. This has been coming for a long time, and finally came to fruition last week, when Israel decided that they'd had enough of Hezbollah, attacking Lebanon with missles, bombing attacks, rocks, sticks, and possibly a few pies. Republicans like former House Speaker Newt "The Moralist" Gingrich (who approached his second wife in the hospital with his divorce demands while she was still recovering from cancer surgery) are insisting that Republicans should frame this as the beginnings of World War III in order to firm up the Republican base for the November mid-term elections in Congress. And yet they accuse Democrats of trying to politicize everything. Just amazing.

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Meanwhile, while the U.N. is trying to stop the fighting, Dubya was in Russia, taking part in the G8 Summit, where he was caugth cursing on live video and audio, and then attempted to give the German Chancellor an unwanted shoulder rub. The expression on her face says more than anything I could write. It's also a prime example of the kind of image this faux cowboy presents to the civilized world. How proud we all are.

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Back here in the U.S., the campaigns for Congressional mid-terms have been very entertaining. Here are two of my favorites:

• In Connecticut, challenger Ned Lamont had his first debate against DINO ("Democrat In Name Only") Joe Lieberman. Both men are trying to win the Democratic nomination for Senate on August 8th. Since the debate, in which Lamont held his own quite well, Lieberman has pulled out all the stops, going so far as to question Lamont's dedication to the Democratic party. This would be a reasonable question to ask, were it not for the fact that Lieberman intends to run as an Independent (Connecticut For Lieberman) if he should lose the Dem primary. Pot, meet kettle.


• In Florida - you remember 2000 in Florida, right? - Katherine Harris' campaign continues to eat itself alive under her clearly insane leadership. There's just too much fun stuff to list here, so I'd just suggest going here and reading about it. Then laugh. A lot.

And there you have it. My round up for the time being. It's not complete by any means, but it's the stuff that caught my attention.

All the best,
Derek
(DCF)