I don't really give a crap about the ambassador to Belgium. They are a gracious and intelligent people, and will endure 19 months of this twit with their accustomed aplomb, and excellent chocolates. Bush expending a recess appointment to push through the poop-chute a man whose only qualification is financing the smearing of a man who faithfully served his country in wartime serves only to remind everybody of what Bush didn't do.

Good job there, Little Snot-Nose! Way to implement the promised "working cooperatively with the new Congress" you promised. I'm sure this bold strike will bounce your poll numbers up mightily this week. (yawn)

No, the really bad ones are the other Recess-ees. And the least-awful of the two is the new deputy commissioner of Social Security who wants Social Security abolished. He'll be outnumbered and enough people are onto Bush's scam tactics that he's not going to get any changes acts of destruction through in his remaining lame duck days.

The truly dangerous one is the appointee to head an agency you've most likely never heard of. *I* hadn't anyway and I follow the bureaucracy fairly closely, at least most agencies. But the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the office of Management and Budget is not a post that should be in the control of a Cato Institute wackaloon who never met a regulation she likes, and for a relaxing evening puts on some Prince, jumps to "Darling Nikki" and reaches for her copy of The Economist.

We really need a Shadow Government. Not just by the Democrats in Congress; we need to get one going here in the blogworld. Somebody to dedicated themselves to following each and every one of these departments, read all their rulings, follow careers 'n' connections of their upper management--see who's out giving speeches to Wingnut Welfare groups sponsored by the industries they're supposed to be regulating, shit like that.

Then all the evidence will be in one tidy source--with many duplicates here and there of course in case of "damage" to the original--for when we get time and an honest Justice Department to indict all these bastards for fraud, thievery, dereliction of duty and aggravated chutzpah.