The Watergate Foreclosure

The Washington complex that was the site of a burglary that led to the Watergate scandal and the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon is to be auctioned.
The Watergate, made famous by the 1972 burglary, will be auctioned Tuesday after owners Monument Realty, a Washington real estate developer, defaulted on a $40 million loan balance, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

Related:
Bernard Barker, a Watergate Burglar, Dies at 92

Palin's Perplexing Political Pull Out

It's not even safe to go to a July 4th weekend barbecue without a big news story breaking, in this case the surprising, some might even say bizarre news that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has up and quit her job in Alaska with a year and a half left in her term.
From her rambling remarks, Palin seemed to be saying she decided she wouldn't stand for re-election and when she decided that, she figured she might as well quit now so she wouldn't be a lame duck.
She said, "Many just accept that lame duck status, and they hit that road. They draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I'm not going to put Alaskans through that."
HUH?
NPR report w/CNN video HERE

Related:
Alaska's governor Sarah Palin to resign, dooming her presidential pipe dream
Palin: shades of Nixon's 'this is my last press conference' speech
Columnists name Palin 'Sitting Duck'

More Nixon Tapes Released

Tuesday’s release was the 13th from the Nixon library since 1980. Along with tapes covering 994 separate conversations, the library also released a scholarly trove of some 30,000 pages of documents, comprising some 10.5 cubic feet of previously restricted materials.
more HERE

nixontapes.org

Arbor Day 2009

The first Arbor Day took place on April 10, 1872 in Nebraska. It was the brainchild of Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902), a Nebraska journalist and politician originally from Michigan. Throughout his long and productive career, Morton worked to improve agricultural techniques in his adopted state and throughout the United States when he served as President Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day.
more HERE
Arbor Day timeline HERE
even more at arborday.org

Bizarre Blago Behavior

The lead prosecutor in Illinois' historic impeachment trial urged the state Senate on Monday to remove Governor Rod Blagojevich from office for crimes against the public while the governor spent the day in New York, lashing out at his accusers on national television.
The solemnity of the political trial within the ornate state Senate chamber contrasted with a TV appearance in which talk-show co-host Joy Behar mussed Blagojevich's hair and unsuccessfully urged the governor to do a Richard Nixon impression saying, "I am not a crook."
Chicago Tribune report HERE
more video HERE

Nominations for 81st Academy Awards

Best Motion Picture of the Year

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

• Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
• Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
• Sean Penn, Milk
• Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

• Josh Brolin, Milk
• Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
• Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
• Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

• Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
• Angelina Jolie, Changeling
• Melissa Leo, Frozen River
• Kate Winslet. The Reader
• Meryl Streep, Doubt

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams, Doubt
• Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Viola Davis, Doubt
• Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

all the nominations are HERE

Mark `Deep Throat' Felt dies at 95

W. Mark Felt, the former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as "Deep Throat" 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal that toppled a president, has died. He was 95.
Felt died Thursday in Santa Rosa, California after suffering from congestive heart failure for several months, said family friend John D. O'Connor, who wrote the 2005 Vanity Fair article uncovering Felt's secret.
The shadowy central figure in the one of the most gripping political dramas of the 20th century, Felt insisted his alter ego be kept secret when he leaked damaging information about President Richard Nixon and his aides to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward.
more HERE

Happy Birthday Grace

...Grace gets credit for trying

McCain = Nixon

In true Nixonian fashion, McCain ramps up the politics of resentment:
In his weekly radio address, McCain said, "this week the presidential contest was a long-distance affair, with my opponent touring various continents and arriving yesterday in Paris. With all the breathless coverage from abroad, and with Senator Obama now addressing his speeches to 'the people of the world,' I'm starting to feel a little left out. Maybe you are too."
This is classic Orthogonian rhetoric (those of you who've read Nixonland will know what that means.) And it works on many levels.
more HERE

Worse Than Nixon

WASHINGTON D.C. – In a stunning admission to ABC news Friday night, President Bush declared that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA's use of torture.
Recent reports indicate that high-level advisers including Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet were part of the National Security Council's "Principals Committee" that met regularly and approved the CIA's use of "combined" "enhanced" interrogation techniques. These top advisers reportedly signed off on how the CIA would interrogate suspects – whether they would be slapped, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning.
more HERE


... I vote for a firing squad

40 Years Ago Today

Unfortunately this will be a year of often tragic anniversaries. The election of Richard Nixon to his first term in office. The brutal police riots at the Chicago Democratic convention. And worst of all, the assassinations of two of the brightest lights in the history of the American progressive movement: Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
more HERE
Washington Post article HERE

The Wisdom of George McGovern

"Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse." - George McGovern

Calling it "the only honorable course" for him to take, Former Senator George McGovern calls for impeachment in a Washington Post editorial.
read it HERE