the president's squeaky chew-toy

Reversing field after a meeting with President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he will continue pushing for a floor vote on John R. Bolton for U.N. ambassador.

Frist switched his position after initially saying Tuesday that negotiations with Democrats to get a vote on Bolton had been exhausted.

Talking to reporters in the White House driveway after he joined other GOP lawmakers for a luncheon with Bush, Frist said: "The president made it very clear that he expects an up-or-down vote."

Just over an hour earlier, Frist said he wouldn't schedule another vote on Bolton's nomination and said that Bush must decide the next move.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/21/bolton.vote.ap/index.html

Isn't it nice to see the balance of powers between the branches of government is alive and well? Perhaps Sen. Frist would prefer to simply retire and hand over the running of the Senate to the White House entirely.

The preseident is so stubborn and obstinate that it doesn't matter how much of his nominee's credibility he sacrifices (not that Bolton had much to begin with) or how may senators he alienates, the president has to have his way. No one is going to take Bolton seriously as the US ambassador to the UN after all this, though chances were no one would anyway after the nominee's hysterical ranting and the Secretary of State's assurance that he would be kept on a very short leash and watched carefully (which begs the question--if he has to be watched, why send him to begin with?)

So much for seriously trying to re-engage with the rest of the world. Bolton's nomination was tha act of a contemptuous and confrontational White House. The insistence on continuing the fight over his nomination is that of a spoiled and petulant child.

cats: 1, mice: 0

I was awoken at 0100 from an hour's comfortable sleep by the sensation of the cats stationed next to me going on Silent Full Alert, followed by launch of Ready Cats 1, 2, and 3 and the sound of sustained combat.

Groggily getting out of bed and putting on my glasses, I lit up several LampLight sensors and went on a recce. I discovered Gilbert (acting in an EA-6B Prowler role) providing long range ECM (elderly cat measures) in the living room while Phineas (the classic F-14 multiconfiguration Tomcat) circled on overwatch and Nicholas (the speedy, all-purpose F/A-18 attack cat) in the library proudly displayed his kill (a live mouse) with much growling.

I attempted to retrive the EPW from the attack squadron, but Flight Leader "BadAss" Nicholas was reluctant to surrender his prisoner. When the prisoner got free momentarily and attempted E&E, Lt. "BadAss" promptly leapt into action and retrieved it, thoroughly disgusted at my having mishandled the situation. I demanded once again that he release the EPW into my custody, which he did quite reluctantly. I attempted to neutralize the subject (since repatriation was clearly out of the question, no convincing parole beng forthcoming, and remand to MPs/Shore Patrol not an effective option), but this took a surprising amount of effort--the enemy are highly resilient. Lt. "BadAss" continued circling the area for some time, unconvinced that the hostile had been properly accounted for and doubtless suspicious that more bogies might appear shortly.

Eventually the entire combat wing stood down, but fortunately supporting ground force were already on call and arrived at 1030 hours, equipped to put into place a range of different conventional and chem/bio countermeasures. We are taking the proper precuations to ensure that these countermeasures do not produce any collateral or blue-on-blue casualties, and I have started taking some physical security steps that should prevent future "leakers" from penetrating this far through our defensive perimeter. I'm glad to see that our close-defense assets are so capable, but I'd prefer it if we were able to use passive measures, rather than active ones, to defend our area of operations.

Edit: Combat historical branch reminds me that this is the second kill that Lt. "BadAss" has recorded to his credit. On the occasion of the previous action, his wingman, Lt. "SlimJim" Finn had an assist. Capt. "Drooly" Guildenstern (USNR) also has a kill, but that's apparently disputed for lack of sufficient verification.