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Ed Schultz took a whack at chickenhawk Dick Cheney for having the nerve to be out there whining about President Obama's national security cabinet nominations over the weekend: Dick Cheney Criticizes Obama National Security Appointees In Speech :

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Saturday night that President Barack Obama has jeopardized U.S. national security by nominating substandard candidates for key cabinet posts and by degrading the U.S. military.

"The performance now of Barack Obama as he staffs up the national security team for the second term is dismal," Cheney said in comments to about 300 members of the Wyoming Republican Party.

Cheney, a Wyoming native, said it was vital to the nation's national security that "good folks" hold the positions of secretary of state, CIA director and secretary of defense.

"Frankly, what he has appointed are second-rate people," he said.

John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, has been confirmed as secretary of state. CIA designate John Brennan and defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel are still awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation.

As Schultz noted, coming from the man who got five draft deferments, and that worked in an administration that lied us into invading Iraq and hired the likes of Condi Rice and Don Rumsfeld, that's pretty rich. And as Ed reminded us, it's just in time for the seventh anniversary of Cheney shooting his friend, Harry Whittington in the face, which is as Ed noted, probably as close to combat as Cheney will ever come.

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Dick Cheney may have accidentally shot a man in the face while he was vice president, but that didn't stop Fox News from flying to Nevada to get his advice on recently-proposed gun control laws.

Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins caught up with Cheney over the week at the Safari Club International convention for gun owners and manufacturers, where the former vice president and his daughter, Liz, participated in a discussion about gun rights and the realism of torture in the film "Zero Dark Thirty."

Cheney told Jenkins he was "worried" about President Barack Obama's efforts to increase gun safety.

"We may end up in a situation where you get a proposal or a proposition that does, in fact, threaten the rights of law-abiding Americans, and at the same time, doesn't do anything with respect to the problem everybody's concerned about, such as the shooting that happened in Connecticut," the Wyoming Republican said.

"I find especially in groups like the group here and an awful lot of my folks in Wyoming who supported me all those years in Congress are very, very concerned that there isn't adequate regard for the rights of law-abiding citizens," he added. "We understand that there's clearly an effort underway, but one of the things we've done in Wyoming -- with respect to Jackson Hole, where I live, with respect to safety of schools -- we have a deputy sheriff, armed deputy sheriff at the schools in the city. And that's probably a more effective deterrent than anything that Congress seems to be debating at the present time."

"How worried are you the President Obama's gun control plan threatens the Second Amendment rights of every law-abiding American?" Jenkins asked.

Continue reading »

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The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday refused to deny that she was planning a run for Senate in Wyoming.

Politico noted last week that Liz Cheney had been setting the stage for a possible Senate run by increasing her visibility and speaking at six events in Wyoming this year alone.

"This is planting seeds of thought in people’s minds," Shawn Whitman, a former chief of staff for two Wyoming senators, told Politico. “There’s nobody I know that goes to those events unless they have a position in the party or they’re trying to run for office.”

Liz Cheney declined to speak to Politico, but she couldn't avoid the question from Chris Wallace on Sunday while appearing on Fox News.

"I love Wyoming," she explained. "Wyoming is my home. And what I have been hearing from people all across Wyoming is how important it is that we defeat Barack Obama in 2012. And they're very afraid about -- you ask people in Wyoming, 'Are you better off now than you were $5 trillion ago?' They'll say, absolutely not."

"There was a report yesterday that you're traveling around the state, and that you're thinking of running for Senate from Wyoming in 2014," Wallace pressed.

"Look, I have been honored to have been asked to help support the Republican Party in Wyoming," Cheney replied. "As I said, it's my home. It's a very special place, but I'm really focused on defeating Barack Obama. We don't have the luxury, frankly, of looking beyond this election because this election is so important."

"And let me tell you, folks: to be continued," Wallace concluded.

Charles Mahtesian, Politico’s national politics editor, pointed out that "[f]or a nation forged by revolution against a hereditary monarchy, America has always had an unusual tolerance for -- or even embrace of -- political dynasty."

"At the moment, there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 members of Congress whose parents also served in Congress, or have a sibling or cousin in Congress, or who succeeded to their husband's seat," Mahtesian wrote. "And there's more waiting in the wings: Seven sons of congressmen are currently seeking election to the House."

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Ed Schultz didn't have any kind words for "unmitigated disaster" Dick Cheney for this bit of projection at the Republican state convention in Wyoming over the weekend where he attacked President Obama and issued dire warnings to his fellow Republicans about the prospects of his reelection -- Unmitigated Disaster Dick Cheney Calls Obama An ‘Unmitigated Disaster’.

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Ed Schultz spoke to "Gasland" director Josh Fox about his arrest this Wednesday while attempting to film a Congressional hearing on hydraulic fracturing.

'Gasland' Journalists Arrested At Hearing By Order Of House Republicans (UPDATES):

In a stunning break with First Amendment policy, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Initial reports from sources suggested that an ABC News camera was also prevented from taping the hearing; ABC has since denied that they sent a crew to the hearing.

Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Gasland" was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing. The meeting of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment had been taking place in room 2318 of the Rayburn building.

After showing video of his arrest, Schultz asked Fox to describe what happened.

FOX: Well, I didn't expect to be arrested for documentary film making and journalism on Capitol Hill today. I was prepared for it, but I didn't expect it. I did think they would come to their senses and just let us film the public hearing. We were there covering a very crucial hearing about a case of groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming, a three and a half year investigation by the EPA where it shows subjects from the first film, Gasland, from Pavillion with groundwater contamination resulting in fifty times the level of benzine in groundwater.

And EPA has pointed in this case that hydraulic fracturing is the likely cause. And what was happening on the Hill today was Republicans have called, in the Science and Space and Technology Committee, a hearing to challenge science. Their panel was made up of gas industry lobbyists. And we were there to expose what I believe is actually a rather ugly and brazen attack on science itself, on what's happening across the country with this hydraulic fracturing and water contamination.

So we were there actually doing our jobs as journalists. I was not interested in disrupting that hearing. I was not charged with disrupting that hearing. I was simply interested in capturing on film in a broadcast quality camera what the Republicans were going to be doing right there, putting the EPA and citizens of Pavillion and everyone across the nation who is complaining of contamination due to hydraulic fracturing on trial. We wanted to make sure people knew that that was happening.

You can read more about the Pavillion case here and here.

From the Billings Gazette -- Ruptured pipeline sends oil coursing down the Yellowstone River:

An ExxonMobil oil pipeline that ruptured beneath the Yellowstone River has fouled more than 150 miles of the waterway between Laurel and Miles City.

Exxon officials have not said what caused the leak, but in a morning press conference Saturday, Yellowstone County officials noted that the high level of the river, the speed of the water and quickly moving debris all may be factors.

ExxonMobil spokeswoman Pam Malek said the pipe leaked an estimated 750 to 1,000 barrels of oil for about a half-hour before it was shut down. Other Exxon officials estimated as much as 42,000 gallons of crude oil escaped.

The oil slick started just east of the Laurel Bridge late Friday night and by 9 a.m. Saturday had reached Worden. By about 3 p.m. it had reached the Myers Bridge in Hysham. The pipe itself connects Exxon's Silvertip Line — which brings crude from the oilfields in northern Wyoming — to the Billings refinery.

At various points along the Yellowstone, strings and pools of black and red-brown crude collected in eddies and clung to plant life and riverbanks. White pelicans sitting on floating logs in the morning sun Saturday were ringed with brown slurry.

"It's going to be a heck of a cleanup," said Duane Winslow, Yellowstone County director of disaster and emergency services. Read on...

Drill, baby, drill! What could possibly go wrong with allowing them to drill in or around our national parks?

h/t Jamie

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As Rachel noted, the actual small government, pro keep the government the hell out of your personal lives conservatives in Wyoming did something that would make most liberals proud. They rejected a bill that would have prevented same-sex marriages from being recognized that originated outside of their state.

Lawmakers on marriage bill: "I Don't":

A bill that would prevent Wyoming from recognizing same-sex marriages outside the state died Wednesday.

The state Senate on Wednesday defeated a compromise on a bill that would have defined marriage in Wyoming as between one man and one woman.

The Senate voted 16 to 14 to reject compromise language to House Bill 74- Validity of Marriages, which would not have allowed recognition of same-sex marriages from outside Wyoming.

The state House had approved the compromise a few hours earlier in a 31-28 vote with one representative excused.

On Tuesday, a conference committee reached the proposed compromise after the House and Senate could not agree initially.

The compromise was a lot like the bill the House approved initially. It removed Senate language that said couples from same-sex marriages or civil unions could access the courts to resolve disputes in their relationships.

The bill now is essentially dead. Legislative rules do allow the Senate president to appoint another conference committee to work out differences. But that seems unlikely, given that the Legislature plans to wrap things up this morning.

The close vote in the House came after some emotional debate.

Rep. Owen Peterson, R-Mountain View, spoke in favor of the compromise. He said there is a void in state law that needs to be resolved.

A statute on the books since 1876 says marriage is between one man and one woman. But the law also recognizes foreign marriages. Peterson said the lawmakers back then didn't contemplate the types of relationships that exist now.

The law restricts marriage in Wyoming to a man and a woman. But it also recognizes legal marriages performed elsewhere.

Rep. Pete Illoway, R-Cheyenne, said the existing law doesn't need to be changed. He encouraged representatives to vote against the compromise.

"People are equal, whether you agree with their lifestyle or not," he said. "People that you may not agree with are still people."

HB 74 "is not good for our legacy as the Equality State," said Rep. Ruth Ann Petroff, R-Jackson. "This bill does nothing more than to strip away liberty that had been granted by other states." Read on...

December 11, 2008 C-SPAN