TODAY'S TOP FIVE: Darth Nader, Ralph Nadir, Ralph Traitor, Whatever: Just Call Him "Cocksucker"
Ralph, How Do I Hate Thee? Let Me Count the Ways This is all you should need to know about the effect of Ralph Nader's entry into the presidential race: Yesterday, while listening to the radio show "Money Talk," which is mostly about finance but which is obviously from a Republican perspective, the host and his callers were beside themselves with glee that Nader has entered the race. "This is the first good news the president has had in a while," one of them said. Or, as Noam Chomsky puts it, "The current incumbents may do severe, perhaps irreparable, damage if given another hold on power - a very slim hold, but one they will use to achieve very ugly and dangerous ends. In a very powerful state, small differences may translate into very substantial effects on the victims, at home and abroad. It is no favor to those who are suffering, and may face much worse ahead, to overlook these facts."
Bullet, Meet Foot It's no surprise that the People for the American Way are mad that Alabama Attorney General William Pryor has been nominated to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. After all, Pryor is your garden variety rightist jerk: "States' rights," hates the Constitution, etc. However, it's worth watching the fight over his confirmation, because another group hates William Pryor: religious conservatives. You may have forgotten that Pryor was the guy who ran Chief Justice Roy Moore out of town over Moore's Ten Commandments sculpture. However, religious conservatives have not forgotten, and they detest Pryor.
Roy Moore, Your Country Needs You Speaking of Roy Moore, here's an interesting article on the possibility of him running for president as the nominee of the Constitution Party, which was on 41 state ballots in 2000. If he does so, Moore could siphon off a lot of the religious conservative support for Bush. Right now, neocons like Bill Kristol are terrified at the prospect of Moore becoming a Republican Nader. As the Slate article puts it, "This is an ember that wants fanning." Run, Roy, Run.
Operation Iraqi, Er, Stability I don't know how this one slipped by the radar, but here it is: the June 30 elections in Iraq have been cancelled. The US occupation authorities still plan a "transfer of power" on that date, but no one is exactly sure who power will be transferred to or how it will be done. The new goal date for elections is the end of 2005. The current guess is that the US will "transfer power" to an enlarged Iraqi Governing Council - that is, to a hand-picked body of appointed US puppets. That's sure to appease the Shi'ites, who are calling for elections prior to June 30.
An Inexplicable Lack of "Voodoo Economics" Jokes If it's springtime, there must be Marines headed to Haiti to shore up the rule of some corrupt autocrat or another. Five bucks to the person who can tell me what it is this current round of fighting is about.
-Consider Arms (Contributor's Note: I am saddened to note the decision of Marcus-Marcus to take his leave from the Monster Limo Weblog. What this means for the Monster Limo Weblog at this point is unclear; there will be major changes announced in the next few days, so keep watching this space. Also, please wish Marcus-Marcus well on his impressive but somewhat unexpected decision to start a career as a monkey-wrangler on the Dennis Miller show.)
12:14:28 PM 
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