Senate to stay in Pro Forma session over the winter break

The Senate will stay in Pro Forma session during the winter break to deny the little idiot the opportunity to use recess appointments to put mendacious thugs like Sam Fox in positions that they wouldn't have a prayer of being confirmed to.

The Fox appointment might have been the proverbial straw that broke the donkeys back. Sam "Swift Boat" Fox was nominated for an ambassadorship, and withdrawn because the votes weren't there to confirm him. When Congress recessed for the Easter break, Bush made an end run around decency and installed Sammy-the-Swiftboat-liar via a recess appointment.

I have to give the devil his due here - I have been one of those Democrats screaming the loudest for real leadership. I would prefer that the feckless Republican bastards be treated exactly the way they insisted on treating the Democrats for the entire Bush administration. I want my pound of flesh, and I don't even pretend to deny it. I want the fuckers to bleed and sputter and whine like the little bitches they are.

So when I see a scintilla of spine, a modicum of moxie or even a dram of determination - I am happy for it. It fortifies me for the upcoming fight, and since I want more, and better - with the emphasis on better - Democrats, I will take all the fortification I can get.

Dodd Questions Legality of Fox Appointment

Senator Christopher Dodd (D, CT) has indicated he will seek a legal opinion on the recess appointment of Sam “Swift Boat Liar” Fox to be Ambassador to Belgium.

Fox would serve in a voluntary capacity, without pay, but there are legal questions about the interpretation of the law the way the Bush White House reads it.

In the White House interpretation of the law, Fox could serve as ambassador voluntarily, so long as he agreed not to sue the government later for not being compensated for his services.

But there is a catch…

Under federal law, “voluntary service” is prohibited when the position in question has a fixed rate of pay – and ambassadorships have a fixed pay rate. The salary is a “statutory entitlement” and therefore unwaivable. That is how the Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, interprets the law.

Look for this to be a major issue when an angry congress returns to session next week.

This appears to be far from over.

Talk about Defiance!

On Wednesday, the President blatantly defied congress and appointed Sam "Swift Boat" Fox to be Ambassador to Belgium.

You might remember Fox - he is the nominee whose name was withdrawn last month after his sponsorship of the Swift Boat Liars for Perfidy during the 2004 election turned out to be an issue for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. You remember the cloying jackass Fox - he is the feckless, simpering liar who looked the man he helped to slander in the 2004 presidential election by saying he didn't deserve his war commendations in the eye - and said he considers him a hero.

Bush used his power to make recess appointments to put Fox in his position just like he used it to plant John Bolton at the U.N. when it became obvious that he would not be confirmed to the ambassadorship. Fox will enjoy his appointment until the end of the current session of Congress - which will coincide with the scheduled end of the Bush presidency.

He also used recess appointments to put a couple of other unconfirmable lackeys in key positions at the Office of Management and Budget and the Social Security Administration.

Congress will be back next week, and this is certain to be a bee in their bonnet. I get really angry when I think about his thought-processes. It's all a big game to him - who can screw who hardest, fastest and first? "I'll show them sumbitches. They don't get to tell me 'No!' 'cuz I'm George Bush! I'll show 'em!"

Does he realize that nothing is in a single compartment, everything is interconnected when examined closely?

How will this play out?

Is he thinking he can shift public opinion by pissing Congress off to the point they will deny his every last wish? Is he trying to use this to get Congress to cut off war funding and then he will try to blame congress?

Does he think this is just brinksmanship?

Or when I ask 'Does he think...?' am I being far too generous?

(Hat tip to And, yes, I DO take it personally. I firmly believe that it's better to learn infuriating news from a friend.)