I Just Have To Say

From the ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ file:

Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), a member of the House Government Oversight Committee, said Tuesday that he’d have “[no] hesitation whatsoever” spearheading an investigation into claims the Bush administration acted illegally in ordering the torture of prisoners captured in the US War on Terrorism.

I’m not afraid of going after the Bush administration. I wasn’t brought here by the establishment. When I ran for congressman in 2008, I’m just a freshman year, George W. Bush, Orrin Hatch, and Bob Bennett, three Republicans, they campaigned against me. So I don’t mind going back and looking at ‘em. So I don’t have any hestitation whatsoever.

Chaffetz spoke on the MSNBC program The Dylan Ratigan Show, appearing to be willing to go where the Obama administration and the US Department of Justice has thus far feared to tread. Time, of course, will tell, but maybe some of these Republican congresspeople aren’t as nutty as others of them seem to be.

Mapnificent is a cool little web app that shows on a Google map where you can get to from your present location.  It’s only available for a limited number of locations at the present time, but some granular configuration options make it worth playing around with if you happen to be in one of them.

Default settings allow you to drop a pin on the map, which then highlights an area reachable within 15 minutes by public transportation.  A slider allows you to shorten or lengthen the time window and a check box allows you to factor in having a bicycle to aid in covering ground.

What will they think of next?

Exhibit #869 for why Lennon and McCartney were possibly the most genius songwriters of all time.

Via [Retrogasm] 

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics released updated information on what it calls the “Employment Situation” Friday and its graphical representation does not make a pretty picture.  Until this graph’s red line starts heading sharply up toward the top right corner of the bounding box it would be irresponsible to use the word “recovery” in describing the US economy.

Remember back when things in the US began heading south under Reagan and so many had such fun singing along with Johnny Paycheck to “take this job and shove it”?  Seems American workers don’t even have that small pleasure left.

Yesterday’s Republican gains at both state and national levels were achieved on the wings of petulant rhetoric about balancing budgets and reducing deficits. Let’s see how that works out this time.

Click on image for hi-res view.  Africa is really big.

Here’s a cautionary tale describing the price paid since 9/11 for the illusion of security under which millions of Americans go about their business every day, not thinking, not knowing what’s been lost nor how complete has been the capitulation.

And will, until the next time. What then will we have left to ante up?