The Gift That Keeps Giving

Ezra at Pandagon has a new post up here, which links to a Greg Palast post here. Confused? Palast has done more than anyone else to blow the smoke from the Florida 2000 vote count debacle. He comes up with some serious shit, and his sources and data always seem to be well vetted.

But an a related topic, didja ever notice how the message of Ben Barnes' interview on 60 minutes has been totally lost in the fog of proportional spacing, th superscripts, and kerning? Reading some of the "experts" reminds me of a high school nerd's sweaty jerk off version of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, with Beavis and Butthead giggling in the background. Focus, people! Don't get caught up in the chatter, keep your eyes on the target. If Palast's reporting is true, and sadly, even if it's not, it is the most damaging story yet for the crowd from Crawford. And as Ezra says, pass it on to your friends, anyone, including local media. Spread the word.

Here's the first part of Ezra's post; read it all, please.

Tomorrow's Headlines Today

Now, I don't know if Palast's reporting is true, but if it is, then that's it for George. Again, I can't confirm it so you should all go read it yourselves, but here's the outline:

• Barnes, as he now admits, pulled strings to get a young George W. Bush into the Guard.

• Barnes, a former Lt. Governor of Texas, was a corporate lobbyist when Bush ran for governor in 1994.

• Barnes' client, GTech, was accused of corruption (and were being investigated by the FBI for attempting to influence lawmakers) and about to lose its license to run the Texas state lottery.

• Barnes made a deal with Bush, under which he kept silent about Bush's Guard connections if Bush got Gtech the deal again.

• Bush spoke to the head of the lottery commission and the commission reversed itself, giving GTech a no-bid contract.

• Barnes got paid $23 million, Bush took the governor's mansion.