Rep. Pete King (R-NY) "people like Tim Russert ...and all the media, they're the ones to be shot"

Saying that members of the media should be shot for their criticism of Karl Rove is not becoming of a member of congress. However, Rep. Pete King, a Republican from the 3rd district of New York spoke on MSNBC's Scarborough Country on July 12 about the Karl Rove controversy. After defending Rove and criticizing Joe Wilson, King said:

"And Joe Wilson has no right to complain. And I think people like Tim Russert and the others, who gave this guy such a free ride and all the media, they're the ones to be shot, not Karl Rove. Listen, maybe Karl Rove was not perfect. We live in an imperfect world. And I give him credit for having the guts. " (emphasis added)

View the video on www.crooksandliars.com. Read the transcript on MSNBC. Thanks also to via Eschaton for coverage.

Did Paul Harvey Cross the Line?

Paul Harvey, known for his biased and often incorrect "news" and commentary, made comments on June 23 that some feel support the idea of using nuclear weapons in the middle east and maybe even supported our killing (by spreading small pox) the Indians as well as slavery. Harvey seems to lament that we are now "made of sugar candy" because, although we quickly ended the war with Japan with nuclear weapons now "we sent men with rifles into Afghanistan and Iraq and kept our best weapons in their silos".

Read the transcript at www.chicagotribune.com
and send comments to Disney (distributer of his radio programming) at http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2569.

This is President Bush's Birthday. Send him a card.

Today is President Bush's 59th birthday. You may send him a birthday card online at the GOP web site, but that is tied to a donation. You may also send him a free birthday card at the The Democratic Party.

You may wish to let him know how much you look forward to his retirement.

Bush to oppose global warming accord at G8

According to a British television ITV in a story to be broadcast this evening, President Bush, soon to travel to the UK for the G8 summit, has told ITV that he opposed any Kyoto like agreement on global warming. `"If (the proposal) looks like Kyoto, the answer is no" Bush told ITV, according to an early transcript.

We will have more on the story later.

UPDATE

The Guardian has a transcript of the Bush interview with Britain's ITV1. Thanks to AmericaBlog for the lead.

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's Announces Retirement

On July 1 Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced that she would retire from the Supreme Court in order to spend more time with her husband. This comes at a time when the retirement of Chief Justice William Rehnquist was expected but has not been announced.

Justice O'Conner's retirement will have a greater impact on the court that a Rehnquist retirement. Rehnquist is one of the most conservative justices; O'Conner is more moderate. President Bush has indicated that his judicial appointments will be very conservative, referring to Justices Scalia and Thomas as models. A replacement of O'Conner with a conservative of the Scalia or Thomas mold will definitely swing the court to the right.

Many conservatives look to the OConner retirement as a chance to make a change in the court. After the retirement was announced, James Dobson, of the far-right group Focus on the Family Action, commented that "President Bush must nominate someone whose judicial philosophy is crystal clear. And no one has been clearer about this than the President himself, who said during his campaign that he would appoint justices in the mold of Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia. We have full confidence that he will carry out that pledge."

Further information, speculation, and discussion can be found on the blogs SCOTUSblog and its companion The Supreme Court Nomination Blog.