Today's Nuze: October 21, 2005 

THANKS OKLAHOMA!

We're back at home base this morning after an incredible trip to Oklahoma.  Royal and I had a fantastic time.  Once again, thanks to the folks in Oklahoma City for the great turnout at our book signing at Barnes & Noble and the folks at Oklahoma City's KOKC for helping us do a flawless remote broadcast.  A very special thanks to the people in Tulsa for the tremendous turnout last night.  You packed the Mabee Arena for KRMG's Meeting of the Mouths.  What a turnout!  Now we'll cap off the week with Royal trouncing my tail on the golf course tomorrow.   Maybe it will rain.

Don't forget ... Monday night it's Lynchburg, Virginia and on Tuesday we'll be in Roanoke!  Details later!

HERE COME THE INDICTMENTS

The word out of Washington is that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will decide soon...maybe today, maybe next week...who to indict in the Valerie Plame affair.  All indications are that Karl Rove will be indicted, along with Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby.  Not good news for the Bush White House, for sure.

Of course, as soon as they're indicted, both will have to resign.  Once this takes place, expect the media to go wall-to-wall with coverage of the news.  It won't matter that someone is innocent until proven guilty.  It doesn't matter that a prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict Fred Flintstone.  All that matters is that some Bush administration officials are in trouble, and oh what good news that is for the left.

Sadly, in our government-educated culture, an indictment might as well mean someone has been convicted.  And in government, there's nowhere to go to get your reputation back.  But it need not have come to this.  If Libby and Rove are indicted, and they probably will be, it will most likely not be for revealing Valerie Plame's name.  Her name was known by many others and besides, there's no proof so far that she even meets the requirement of being a covert agent.

What they'll probably be indicted for is obstruction of justice.  That should be a good one for the media and any reporter looking to earn his or her stripes.  Once again, the Watergate template is in action! How long before calls for George Bush to be impeached?  What did he know and when did he know it? 

The Democrats won't be able to contain themselves on this one.  Maybe George Bush will pardon Rove and Libby.  Imagine the uproar!

A POLITICAL MASTERSTROKE

Speaking of indictments, what do you do when you're an indicted politician, facing having your picture taken for a mug shot, a picture that will be broadcast instantly around the world?  You do what Tom DeLay did...wear a suit with your House of Representatives pin on the lapel and smile nice and broadly while they take your mug shot.  Why do that?

Because as soon as that mug shot is released, your political opponents and the media are going to be waiting to pick it up and run with it.  They planned on using that picture in their news reports and campaign commercials.  An unflattering mug shot photo could be used to make Tom DeLay look like a criminal.  But he took away their ammunition by making his picture look like the photo you might see hanging in a congressman's district office.  It looks nothing like a mug shot. So much for that.

DeLay continues to thwart his political enemies...they're not going to get any mileage out of this picture, that's for sure.

PROTECTING PORK PROJECTS

Senator Ted Stevens, Republican senator from Alaska, is well-known for funneling an endless amount of federal spending to his state.  One of the more ridiculous spending items to date was when Stevens slipped into a highway bill $223 million for a bridge.  But not just any bridge.  This bridge runs from Ketchikan, Alaska (where? Me neither.) to an island where 50 people live.  That's right...$223 million for 50 people, or $4.46 million a person.

The "bridge to nowhere" as it was called at the time, caught the eye of recently elected Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who authored an amendment to take away the funding.  This sent Stevens into a tailspin...he said he would resign if the Senate took away the funding for the bridges.  The United States taxpayers could only be so lucky.  Said Senator Stevens of the effort to take away his pork projects: "It is an offense, a threat to every person in my state."  A threat?  Hardly.  But he's a threat to every American's wallet, that's for sure.

Unfortunately, true to form, the Coburn measure was rejected, 82 to 15.  That means 82 senators circled the wagons and protected the pork projects of one of their fellow senators.  Why? Because their own pork projects might be taken away.  So much for reducing the size and scope of government.

When it comes to federal spending, there's no longer any difference between the two main political parties.

Tour Gallery | BUY ONLINE | Book Tour, part 2!

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

I'm glad to see these people trying to better themselves by learning a trade. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

The troops in Iraq are starting to wonder why the media is not reporting the good news in Iraq.  Debra Saunders says the press is starting to manufacture bad news to fit their agenda.

Help David Hasselhoff out of a hairy situation. Warning: complete waste of time, but it's Friday, right?

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?
These are links to each individual story on the Nuze, p-links for the geeks out there. Plus, they work today and they'll work tomorrow. Now you can easily discuss/debate/rip apart the Nuze without worrying about the links going bad. Enjoy!

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