Go forth and read

I'm taking a much needed night off so I'm going to send you over to my new partners at Newshog this evening. Cernig and Fester have been holding down the fort while the rest of us have been otherwise occupied and have pretty well covered the news that matters of the day including a breaking story hot off The Raw Story on the appointment of Swift Boat funder Fox. Cernig has discovered that Bush just might not get away with his little recess apointment trick this time. Congress may have finally found a rule of law that Bush can't break. That would be a first.

Cernig also debunks the myth that Pelosi did anything wrong in conveying that message from Israel and takes a look at the many uses for the Hatch Act in taking down the corrupt bureaucrats that infest our government like cockroaches. Meanwhile, Fester does a comprehensive breakdown of the competing players and strategies in Iraq. As the saying goes - start at the top and just keep scrolling.

Editor and Publisher has shocking news. Joe Klein actually said something so unequivocally critical of Bush that it would lead the casual observer to believe he finally has a clue. Shakes has the ultimate take on that story.

Dan Froomkin takes a look at the other recess appointments to domestic policy positions and it doesn't look good. The guy he put in charge of Social Security "Choice," Andrew Biggs, was a key supporter of the Ponzi scheme of privatized accounts they tried to sell a couple of years ago and in light of the recent SCOTUS decision on the EPA, the appointment of the new regulator Susan E. Dudley, doesn't bode well either. As Dan reports:

Joel Havemann writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush on Wednesday appointed as his top regulatory official a conservative academic who has written that markets do a better job of regulating than the government does and that it is more cost-effective for people who are sensitive to pollution to stay indoors on smoggy days than for government to order polluters to clean up their emissions.

Hold onto to your inhalers folks. It doesn't look like SCOTUS made much of an impression on the Dear Leader.

And Steve Benen reports on the less than enthusiastic reception Bush is receiving at his miltary base photo-ops. I agree with Steve, the hoo-ahs just ain't what they used to be. The only people left cheerleading for this occupation are the 101st Keyboardists and their shrinking legion of armchair warriors.

[thanks to Crooks and Liars for the link]