Daniel Kells

Ahh yes, it’s the annual White House Christmas video, and it just makes me feel bad for those poor innocent dogs.

A few notes:

1.  Bush’s jacket looks like it’s from the Smithsonian’s “Mid-80’s fashion” collection.

2.  No writer was credited.  That’s our government, doing its part to break the union.

3.  Note that Miss Beazley is barely consulted as to whether or not she really wants to be a park ranger.  I bet Barney beats her as well.

4.  The Bush twins sounded a bit like they were making fun of Carol Channing (though maybe it could just be my crappy speakers).

5.  How funny Tony Blair, credited as being “Bush’s poodle,” appears in the video with the dogs.

6.  Say what you will about our government, the do decorate a beautiful Christmas tree.

7.  The Secretary of the Interior is going to spend a billion dollars to “spruce things up.”  Let’s hope there’s a sale in Target’s decorating aisle.

8.  Who is Alan Jackson?

Here’s a link to an aricle from SFGate.com regarding President Bush’s holiday pardons.  Twenty-nine total, including “carjackers, drug dealers, a moonshiner and a violator of election laws.”  Scooter Libby wasn’t pardoned, which didn’t surprise me.  I’m thinking that Bush will wait until the 11th hour to pull that trigger.

Then there was this: 

On the list this year was William Charles Jordan Jr., a 64-year-old retiree from Dover, Pa., who was pardoned for his role in a college and NFL football gambling ring that federal authorities shut down on Super Bowl Sunday in 1997.

And he’s hoping that his grandkids don’t ever figure out what Google is…

Jordan said he did not want his eight grandchildren to know he was a felon, so he obtained the necessary paperwork through his congressman. He learned Tuesday the pardon came through.

And he concludes…

“It’s a nice Christmas present,” Jordan said. “I didn’t know what the odds were on getting one. I just sent the stuff in and hoped.”

I think it’s kind of funny that a guy busted for a gambling ring is speculating on what “the odds were” that he’d be pardoned.  Maybe he’s hinting around at a potential new gambling line in Vegas.

And so what about this Scooter Libby pardon…  I’d say even money that he gets a walk, and I’d probably put a few bucks on it.