in case you did not know, refers to the White House's policy of releasing "unpleasant" news items on Friday afternoon so that they will die off before the news cycle begins afresh on Monday. They were busy yesterday.
1. The United States government has agreed to buy the new helicopters for the Presidential fleet from a joint US/European consortium. This is huge news primarily because it sets a precedent of the US government buying a military item from a (partly) foreign firm. Even Airbus has US partners, and that means that Boeing is scared shitless right now about even the possibility that the US Air Force might follow this precedent and order tankers from Airbus instead of tried and true (and corruption-tainted) Boeing. It also leaves Sikorsky Aircraft out in the cold, which could leave it vulnerable to being acquired. New York Times story here
2. The US government heavily penalized the University of California for poorly managing the nuclear weapons laboratory at Los Alamos in New Mexico. I tend to assume that financial penalties from the federal government are usually mild but this one cost more than 50% of the total value of the contract for the year. It is disgusting that the University of California manages this operation for the Federal government so it pleases me when someone they listen to urinates in their drinking water. Times story here
3. And another Bush administration appointee (the secretary of Homeland Security no less) has been linked to supporting torture. Advocating torture is looking more and more like a bona fide for Bush appointees. Times story here
Lady at the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 to Dr. Benjamin Franklin:
“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
Franklin:“A Republic, if you can keep it.”
We haven't kept it, the United States of America is a monarchy.
Any questions?
A tip of the hat to Juan Cole.
"Bush has figured out, apparently, that some in the American public respond, rather like the apes to which they deny they are related, to posture, grunting and body language rather than to reason and evidence. When I see him smirking and gesturing, I can't help thinking of the ape General Thade (Tim Roth) in Tim Burton's remake of the Planet of the Apes, which used scientific findings about primate behavior and hierarchy to inform the acting."
From Juan Cole