Church of Elvis is boarded up, with a sign saying “Elvis Has Left the Building”.  Before you can lament too much, the same question needs to be asked for, say, cultural icons like CBGB — how many quarters have you stuck in this thing lately?

… Also, the Church of Elvis has had many deaths and lives.  It lives on as something or other.  And a wikipedia entry.

Doc Hastings wants Interior Watchdog to go after Obama.  Or be replaced.  And for someone new to go after Obama.

Maybe because there’s something serious that needs to be gotten to the bottom at with Obama and the Environment.  But Probably more because of about this spot…

The environment used to be a bipartisan cause, particularly in Washington — witness the state’s million-acre 1984  wilderness bill — but Republicans have bailed here and across the country, according to the 2012 National Environmental Scorecard compiled by the League of Conservation Voters. […]

But Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., chairman of the powerful House Natural Resources Committee scores a rock-bottom rating of 3. He cast just one pro-environment vote during the 112th Congress.

Two notes that are not that noteworthy:

Almost all of the anti-environmental legislation and amendments passed by the Republican-run House of Representatives was stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and would have faced President Obama’s veto pen if passed.

Curiously, many House efforts to weaken environmental statutes — e.g. the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Air Act — were directed at laws passed under the Nixon Administration or signed into law by President George H.W. (“I want to be the environmental President”) Bush.

Yes, Nixon.  Yes Bush the First.  But really, they just thought domestic politics were a bunch of outhouses out in the sticks, and had their eyes on the International Scene.  And yes, House passes, Senate doesn’t, nothing happens after that.  But I want to know…  What the hell did Doc Hastings vote for to mar his nearly impeccable record?  Was there, like, something Hanford related or was there something like a “remove maggots from government cheese” bill out there?

The one thing you can say is nothing has changed… he is consistent, with a lifetime average of 3.

I thought it would be … interesting… to see how the “Beyond the Right / Left Paradigm” (but really just an extension of Bircherism) conspiratorial wacko Alex Jones and the “Prison Planet” website would handle the death of Venezuelan strong-man Hugo Chavez.

We get something like this in the headlines…

Oliver Stone, Sean Penn Hail ‘Hero’ Chavez.

Friends of the show, at least in part.

But I guess this is the actual word from Alex Jones himself… “Another Communist“.  And this slides into the realm of … Carroll Quigley.

But all that side, we must beware because… now that Hugo Chavez is out of the way, Venezuela is safe for the Bankers… (this is where the ambivalent left perspective of Hugo Chavez jumps in here), and … wait for it…

… probably when all is said and done we get to the bottom line of the ideology…

Did US Cancer Weapon Cause Hugo Chavez Death?

And there you go.

Yes, Republican opponents to John Brennan’s nomination have nothing to crow about, given their Bush era legacy.  And Democratic voters have nothing to crow about, given… their supposed opposition to things Brennan.  Amuse yourself with the comments section at the dailykos.

And now to do what I like to do with these votes… delve into the roll call.

The only two Democrats to buck their President are Merkley of Oregon and Leahy of Vermont.  Insanely enough, Wyden (fellow Rand Paul filibusterer) of Oregon voted yes.  Wyden says he got the documents.  Decide for yourself if this solves all Brennan problems.

If (quasi-Socialist) Sanders of Vermont had voted yes, I would have lost my mind… there aren’t party ties that bind him to Obama, are there?  Luckily, he cast a no.

The challenging thing is to figure out the Republican nos and yehs and break-down.   Because you have to stare and look into the vote blocs.  It looks like Rand Paul led fellow Tea figures like Lee of Utah into the no camp —

, but after that…

Ayotte of New Hampshire is a surprise no vote, only because she has hewed to the hawkish group team of Graham and McCain (replacing Lieberman). But I suppose she falls in with half of the nay voters as “Democrat put him up, so no” as opposed to formulating civil libertarian reasoning.

Mr. McConnell was also careful to note that his own opposition to Mr. Brennan was due to concern that Mr. Brennan had been “a loyal, dogged defender of the administration’s policies—policies with which I seriously disagree.”

For filibuster purposes… Standing with Rand Paul are Rush Limbaugh and Code Pink.  No, the former makes no sense to me… there is a “If this were Bush” quality on him that doesn’t jibe.  And it is the “defending procedural prerogatives” for further implications to other Obama things that energizes him — ie:  It’s Partisan.  And the challenge in looking over the Republican no voters are to differentiate policy and partisanship — McConnell will slide into one end, Paul the other.

I’m a little curious to see if the name “Lincoln Steffens” has popped up in various commentary about the unsolicited diplomacy of Dennis Rodman.    I know Lincoln Steffens was the first name that popped up in my mind when learning about the antics of Dennis Rodman.

It pops up in a commentary to the libertarian Reason Institute, which also drags in Hugo Chavez into the gambit (a tad gratuitously, but he’s in the news).

The one key difference with Lincoln Steffens and “I have seen the future and it works”, after being shuttled about by Stalin is… well, Stalin had things he could show Lincoln Steffens.  Sure maybe he’d also choose not to show Lincoln Steffens some other things, but at least there’s some “there” there.  With North Korea… I gots nothing.

Leafing through the quotes from the … meetings with the new Dear Leader… I think the most problematic quote from Rodman comes around here…

“He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him,” Rodman told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.” “He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me.”

It’s “I don’t want to do war” — which is that sort of passive aggressive stance of “Balls in Your Court.  If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be firing random missiles over the South, but what can you do?”

Actually getting down to the bottom line… and not much reported in the hype of the stunt… how did the Harlem Globetrotters do against their North Korean companions?  (And is this a Harlem Globetrotter game?)

Thursday’s game ended in a 110-110 draw, with two Americans playing on each team alongside North Koreans, Detrick said. The Xinhua News Agency first reported on the game, citing witnesses who attended.

There are no ties in basketball.

Not even reported in the North Korean state media… which does give us this.

Pyongyang, March 1 (KCNA) — Dennis Rodman, ex-player of the NBA of the U.S., and his party toured the Rungna Dolphinarium on Friday.
The guests expressed deep impressions as they were briefed on the Dolphinarium on picturesque Rungna Islet.
They spent a good time watching dolphins dancing to the tune of cheerful music, jumping in group, spinning rings, jumping into the air and shaking hands with people.
Earlier, they also toured the Tower of the Juche Idea and the Arch of Triumph.

AND a description of the game… sounds exciting.

Looking over to the exciting slate of 2014 Senate races, and the Democrats’ search for who to slot up against Mitch McConnell in Kentucky…

Apparently the Republicans are playing “hardball”.

Ashley Judd is the putative front-runner.

Karl Rove’s American Crossroads PAC has already spent $10,000 in a pre-emptive online advertising campaign to attack Judd as another elite Hollywood liberal.  Rove has vowed that his group will spend money to “make fun” of her.

Let us all now make fun of Ashley Judd.

Among Democrats, the big question is whether Judd has the political toughness to deal with McConnell.

And Karl Rove’s jokes.

An interesting bit of confusion comes in with possible Republican Primary challenge to McConnell.  Try to square this circle, if you can — between these two paragraphs.

He is the main architect of the GOP’s congressional strategy of obstructing virtually every Obama administration nominee and every part of Obama’s legislative agenda. As Senate minority leader, he has broken with centuries of precedent to institute a permanent filibuster in the Senate where every piece of legislation now requires 60 votes instead of a simple majority.

Some Tea Party activists consider McConnell too moderate because he negotiated on deals that led to tax increases and the unpopular sequestration cuts.  A tough GOP primary could split Kentucky Republicans and cause him to spend lots of money, weakening him before an election fight against Judd.

Historical Level of Minority Obstructionism is not enough.

 As for Mitch McConnell’s early strategery…  He, like Karl Rove, plans on making fun of his possible opponents.

Beyond any primary, McConnell also is taunting would-be Democratic challengers in a comical online video intended to raise second thoughts about taking on a politicians known as brawler. Never hugely popular with his constituents, McConnell has managed to win elections by making his opponents even more unpopular.

The video shows Judd, who has a home in the Nashville, Tenn., suburbs, saying “Tennessee is home” and that San Francisco is “my American city home.” It also shows some of Kentucky’s leading Democrats, including Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, Attorney General Jack Conway and Auditor Adam Edelen, saying they won’t run against McConnell.

That’s.  Really not all that funny.  And except for Ashley Judd — the old “My Opponent is a Carpet Bagger” bit [the “Outside Hollywood Liberals taking me on” will end up a line of attack no matter who ends up running against him] — kind of irrelevant if these opponents — no one really cares if one day a candidate isn’t running for a seat and then the next day he or she is running for a seat.  Also, I guess I have to see this video, but by the description of it — even if I place it up to wacky music — it doesn’t sound all that funny or insulting.

The speculation is running rampant.  Vegas is putting out lines based on … probably limited information.  Interesting note here:

betting on the pope is illegal in the United States.

Bah.  Turn of the Last Century blue-noses, I bet.

Anyway, here’s my prediction:

We’ll find out when the Smoke clears, I guess.