Putting dogs to sleep and Scott McClellan ... probably not what you think.

I read this post because I recently had to put a very old and very special border collie to sleep. The post ends with this message:

Somehow, this experience today is giving me a bit more tolerance. Even for Scott McClellan. I'm wondering. Is there a chance that he's actually doing this for a good reason? That he's really trying to set things right? We see how the right wing is all attacking him. What if other former Bush people develop guilt or wake up and decide to do the right thing? It would be nice if they were appreciated for telling the truth. They should assume that Bush's enablers and co-conspirators will attack them. They might even expect that the complicit mainstream media people who allowed them to lie, without challenging, without asking tough questions, might, as passive co-conspirators, attack them.

But if potential truth-tellers see that the reward for telling the truth is villification from everyone, even from those who seek the truth, then it will be that much more daunting for them to. Maybe we need to be thankful that McClellan is now telling more truth. ...

I've been watching the reactions to McClellan. The reaction that surprises me the most is from those who dismiss the McClellan's statements with, 'well, we already knew that, anyway.'

I have no idea why McClellan is telling the truth now. I wish more of Bush's stooges were able to bring themselves to come out with the truth at the time. But we all know what happened to those who did and ... I cannot honestly decide which route I would have taken. I think it may have depended on which stage of my life I was in ...

Having 'what we already know' confirmed by McClellan is no small matter. It has upset many of the enablers in the media and made them look foolish as they pretend they are guiltless. They will get over it too quickly but without McClellan, or someone like him, that would not have happened. It also helps confirm what 'we already knew' to a larger set. It has a certain credibility coming from McClellan. After all he has inside and situational knowledge we can only guess at.

And ... we should encourage the truth. If we want the truth we should not criticize and belittle the teller of that truth for confirming that we were right in the first place. No matter what McClellan's motives in telling the truth (conscience, money, survival) we should not make it even more difficult for others to tell the truth. One can respect the truth without respecting everything McClellan has done.

Tell me the world's not going absolutely bonkers ...

Former prime minister Tony Blair has promised to "spend the rest of my life" uniting the world's religions (via)

He is launching a "faith foundation" in New York on Friday.

Mr Blair, who recently converted to Catholicism, said: "Faith is part of our future, and faith and the values it brings with it are an essential part of making globalisation work."

Values? Isn't it odd how so many of the warmongers, haters and destroyers go on about 'values.' Values such as invading and destroying and murdering people for oil, power and control. Values for controlling the lives and causing the deaths of others. Values.

Make globalization work? Why would we do that? So these people with values can globalize their religion and call it 'uniting?'

There must be something contagious about George W. Bush or maybe Tony Blair was always a fruitcake.

Tipping Point? ...

Once summer had passed and temperatures had dropped low enough for ice to begin to regrow, 10% more ice than usual had vanished ...

So. Will there be one giant environmental tipping point (point of no return for mother earth) which is to come (or has already past) or are there many smaller chances to reverse or stave off destruction?

The Environmental Tipping Point - The restoration of the fish in the sanctuary ultimately spilled over to the rest of the island, restoring the fishing base and attracting diver tourism which in turn brings in fees to establish garbage management and other programs.

You tell me because I don't know and I'm not sure anyone does. But what we do know is that giant forces (the entire GOP apparatus, China's government, powerful corporations, etc.) are working against our survival. It's their survival also, but of course, being so powerful they assume they will survive and still be in power and plenty and what happens to the rest of the world's population is of no consequence (to them, at least).

Lording it over a dying planet seems to appeal to more than a few ...

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

... all this still makes MSNBC as unreliable as it was in the run up to the war. As Chotiner points out, since their friendly Democratic bias seems to stem from an idiosyncratic, personal basis, they are not behaving with any more journalistic integrity than they ever were, it's just that their corruption is benefiting our side this time.

I have always been one of those who felt that the country would be better off if we just had a news media that did its job. I didn't want our "own" network, so much as I wanted a functioning press corps. ...

We've made our views very clear about freedom of the press. We hate it. That's why we block access to the press, withhold documents from the press, pay reporters to pimp our programs, script press conferences and all that other shit we do. Hell, everybody, look at Helen Thomas. She's Queen Free Speech, and I treat her like a urinal, for Christ's Sake. And since we're bringing our American values to Iraq... it only seems right that their whore press looks like our whore press.


But I don't think this book release would be getting the kind of attention it has if McClellan didn't include some choice words for the media. ...

[...] ... everyone else knew their place. But yesterday, discussing the book, Jessica Yellin went off the reservation and told the truth about the media conduct during the war - and the corporate pressure.

[...] I'm sure that this is a one-day story, and the press will consider the matter concluded, in their favor, and move on. But people know this in their bones. The coverage did nothing to enlighten and only to heighten the frenzy over invasion. This was William Randolph Hearst getting his Spanish-American War all over again, and these blowhards can't come to terms with it because their whole world would come crashing down. They were puppets, enthusiastic puppets for an imperialist agenda. And they have to live with that forever.


It seems to me that if we had a female version of Chris Matthews, say, Christine Matthews, with the same history but with the proper reversals we'd never hear the end of what a male-bashing feminazi she is. But somehow the fact that Chris Matthews has a severe problem in viewing women as human beings, in viewing therefore the majority of human beings as human beings -- well -- that's just a small unfortunate quirk in an otherwise honorable and gentle man.

A day after the birthday of Malcolm X, we're reminded that to this day, even Dr. King isn't allowed to be angry. Well, I ask the Commission: what the hell did they think the Civil Rights Movement was borne of? It never ceases to amaze me how frightened this country can be of an angry Black man. Even when he's made of clay.

... Brian Kilmeade argues that this GI Bill is different from the WWII-era one because these troops volunteered, and therefore don’t deserve the same benefits.


Accordingly, the million dollar question is whose definition of McCain wins out. ...

Today, waste disposal firms spread more than half of the 7 million tons of organic and inorganic toxins on American farms as “fertilizer.”

What we've lost ...

George W Bush and his willing helpers in government, Congress, the judiciary, law enforcement and the US populace have not only failed to live up to the standards we, as a people, set for ourselves, believed we embodied and even convinced the world we stood for but went so much further to ensure the absolute destruction of those standards and principles so that the US now stands before the world and a corrupt, arrogant and criminal country.

... when Al-Ghizzawi heard American troops were coming, he tried to get himself turned over to them. As Al-Ghizzawi later told me, he thought he would be safe with the Americans “and have rights” and be treated “with respect.”

And that was only the beginning. It could be you, me, your family and mine next ...

The Last Roundup --Is the government compiling a secret list of citizens to detain under martial law? by Christopher Ketcham (via The Sideshow)

I still alternate between disbelief and numbness. Even after 7 years watching it happen.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

Indeed. But this is what happens when we do what the right-wingers want us to do, to "enforce the laws that are on the books." The problem is that, as we've explained previously, these laws are so misbegotten and unworkable in the first place that travesties like this -- installing a virtual police state in small-town America, terrorizing and suppressing workers in a way that lets employers exploit them without consequence -- are inevitable.

... I long for the day that a man like Bill O’Reilly takes a break from judging the values of the black community and turns that same self-righteous eye toward the Ivy League and private university thugs-in-training who think it’s ok to begin the quest toward alcoholism right after freshman orientation. ...

... Carter's remarks represent a welcome crossing of lines by a prominent Establishment figure. Too bad that no one in America will ever hear them.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

So while Matthews certainly deserves credit for upending such a duplicitous political narrative, it's not enough for him to bask in this all-too-rare instance and then allow a roster of other guests - most notably, bigger fish in the pond than Kevin James - to reappear on his show and push similar false frames without recourse.

Matthews can't have it both ways: he can't claim to be "tough" while only stomping on the occasional lightweight.

And to see Borger and Brazile—sitting there trying to have a rational discussion after he says the things that he does is just as ludicrous. Borger’s retort is to say that a lot of voters don’t feel that way and Donna mildly says Alex has a problem with her. I mean, really. What does he have to do to offend them?

... Shades of the 1910 Mexican Revolution in which many times the citizens of El Paso Texas had to take cover from the flying bullets while differing Mexican Armies fought it out amongst themselves on “the other side”.

... The United States is home to a mere five percent of the world’s total population, and 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated population: 2.3 million people, most of whom are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses. ...

I could take this to mean that indeed there is no crisis in civil-military relations, that the "professionals" will do whatever it is that a new president will want to do and that ultimately the military will salute and follow orders as the Constitution intends. Instead, though, I get the stinking feeling that the attitude, though it is unspoken and would be denied by these ultimately partisan competitors, is that what the president wants is ultimately secondary to what the national security professionals think is reasonable and doable. There is a crisis: God help the new president

... Do you happen to notice, say, that we never read someone writing that maybe boys just self-select away from education? Maybe they are not just interested in staying at school or in going to college? I don't recall ever reading a single article like that. Nope, all the articles I've read about the topic have as their goal a greater success rate for boys. Boys must be educated! Nobody suggests that they might choose not be educated and that we should honor that free and democratic choice.

But when it comes to girls and science, the story immediately changes. Perhaps it's girls themselves who choose not to become scientists? Perhaps that's Just How Things Are?

Too many Democrats want to work for the Telecoms and not for us ...

The "two sides" referenced there means the House Democratic leadership and the telecoms. Congressional leaders are "negotiating" with the telecoms -- the defendants in pending lawsuits -- regarding the best way for immunizing them from liability for their lawbreaking, no doubt with the help of the former Democratic members and staffers now being paid by the telecoms to speak to their former bosses and colleagues about what they should do. To describe the process is to illustrate its oozing, banana-republic-like corruption, but that's generally how our laws are written.

The rational blogsphere ...

... seems to be saying that Obama's main selling point is that "he isn't McCain."

• Kiss the ring
• Cutting Through Primary and Election Crap

But he is a control freak and it's suggested we may end up liking him about as much as we do Reid and Pelosi. And that he will care what we think about as much as George Bush and his cabal do.

And that he is sidelining progressive organization:

The independents-folks like MoveOn, ActBlue, the netroots, etc... are being cut out or marginalized, whether they realize it or not (and I know that some don't.) Obama doesn't feel he really needed them (sorry MoveOn), and he isn't planning on giving them any real say or power.

Can't say I'm excited about Democrats. And I loath Republicans after the last eight years.

The real test, should he get elected, is what Obama really thinks about running the country; administratively, legislatively and judicially, as per the Constitution. Since his inclusiveness only extends to Republicans (and not those of his on party) how do we know what else he says is a sham.

Not looking forward to this and if (should I say when) Obama is undemocratically selected to be the 'Democratic' nominee, I'll probably do no more than vote.

Definitely any money I give from now own will be to those progressive organizations which Obama seems to disdain (a la Bush).

There's so much wrong here ...

Airport 'security' thugs can make you take off your shoes, feel you up in front of everyone, make you drink your baby's breast milk and steal your belongings.

Now I learn that hospitals are in the business of kicking people out of the country when the patients' financial status doesn't suit them. (via The Sideshow)

You might think that the people they decide to kick out of their hospital and the country are here illegally. Not so, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona is trying very hard to kick a very sick woman who is in the US legally out of the country and into a hospital that has agreed to take her in Honduras but that has made it clear cannot care for her properly. The patient has no family in Honduras, her family is here and she has lived here for more than 17 years.

Evidently St. Joseph's Hospital regularly kicks people out of their hospital and sends them to another country. About 8 a month. I don't know how may to places that can't care for them properly (is that called murder?) or how many of them against their will.

The family has taken the issue to court. The article isn't very clear but it doesn't sound like the court is much concerned about a patient's right not to be deported at a hospital's whim.

Whatever the case I wouldn't expect much compassion out of St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

McCain needs Bush to raise money for him ...

Update added to end of post.
George Bush and John McCain will be together again -- in Phoenix, on May 27th.

McCain doesn't want to seem too close to the most unpopular president in US history but at the same time he does want the money the unpopular George Bush is able to entice from his like-minded cohort of world destroyers.

McCain Taps Bush's Money-Raising Ability, Posted May 20, 2008

President Bush is planning to ride to John McCain's rescue, at least when it comes to collecting money.

Bush will headline a fundraising event with McCain in Phoenix May 27 and is expected to do two more funders for McCain and other GOP candidates May 28 at events in Utah hosted by former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The last time Bush and McCain appeared publicly together was March 5 in the White House Rose Garden, when Bush endorsed his former rival from the 2000 campaign. Since then, McCain has kept his distance from the unpopular incumbent.

Update May 24, 2008:
Bush doesn't appear to be giving McCain much help ...

McCain/Bush Fundraiser Moved To Smaller Quarters Due To Poor Ticket Sales/Fears Of Protest

The kind of reporting this country needs ...

The Border Reporter (Michel Marizco) educates us about the 'U.S.-Mexico Pipeline'

After reading this narco-analysis I was sent the other day, I’m starting to think we should dump the noun “border.” Border implies boundary, a line, a control. What we have, this federal report shows, is a conduit.

TPM leads with GOP talking points, just like all the other corporate media outlets ....

Boehner Demands Apology From Waxman for "Abusive Outburst" by David Kurtz - May 21, 2008, 10:57AM

Does putting 'Abusive Outburst' in quotes while transcribing the general talking point qualify as journalism?

Watch the clips of Chairman Waxman's very justified and very controlled questioning of another corrupt and really very stupid-sounding Bush-idiot and Waxman's very restrained handling of the the Republican nonsense-spouting Issa.

Thank you, Chairman Waxman. If only you Democrats who are supposed to represent us in Congress would stand up for us more often.

Really, there used to be admirable Republicans. Really. Where have they all gone ...

Nothing like a coordinated Democratic Party ...

This article makes it sound like Democratic politicians in Congress are working on how NOT to provide health care for Americans (after all they already have theirs).

Congressional Dems Turn Backs on Obama and Clinton Health Plans by Manu Raju --Some senior Democrats are working to lower the public's expectations on health care reform.

Inspiring, isn't it? Just makes one want to donate to some Democrat's campaign fund? Or not ...

Genetically modifying monkeys to GIVE them human diseases ...

Monkey Model of Huntington's Disease

Homo 'sapiens' are a mass of contradictions (to put it kindly), are they not? Stem cell research. NO. Give crippling and painful human disease to animals? YES.

Flagstaff quacks ... ?

'Pears Flagstaff, Arizona's only hospital has (quackishly?) decided that women who have had a Cesarean Section will NOT BE ALLOWED to have a vaginal birth every again, not in THEIR hospital!

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

... Posing, posturing, pretend progressives prevent progress...

... This is simply the way the American elite have always functioned. Ideology, morality, patriotism, law – all must give way to the relentless and ruthless pursuit of wealth, and the power and privilege and dominance wealth brings. Prescott Bush traded with the Nazis, even when they were killing Americans, because there was money in it. For the same reason, his son, Prescott Jr., has long been a leading figure in trading with the repressive communist regime in China (as have Dubya's brother Neil -- and Don Rumsfeld too, for that matter.). For the same reason, Prescott Senior's other son, George Herbert Walker Bush, and his son, George Walker Bush, have long had extensive and intimate business ties with the violent religious extremists in Saudi Arabia, and with a number of other tyrants throughout the Middle East and around the world.

... you told them that American Democrats are Nazi sympathizers and in an act of sheer indecency, the right wing Likud party orchestrated the greatest applause you ever got. For shame!

What this blind adoration finally proves to me is that the right-wing regime that has overtaken Israel cares nothing for its people, its heritage, and the tragic history that they now honor by applauding a man whose family-fortune was built on the bodies of their loved ones. Like their Republican (and Lieberman) counterparts in the United States, Likud does not represent its people, rather, it represents its owners. Likud has traded Israel, its Jews, their heritage and history for the same golden calf purchased and sold by the far-right wing in the United States.

I am ashamed of you Mr. Bush. I am ashamed of those who applauded your political porn played out against the hallowed backdrop of the Holocaust. I am ashamed of those reporters with you, who between them could not muster the moral courage to call you out on your ugly rhetoric and ask you about your own family Nazi ties. You are, sir, the most abhorrent human being of my lifetime. I dare say, in the lifetime of this nation.

Working together with the State, the U.S.-bound media will distort the reality themselves. The American government will tell them the fight has happened because the smugglers are growing frustrated with the outstanding control of the U.S.’s border with Mexico. The correspondents of the American papers working in Mexico will know better but their shouts will go unheeded for the faster, easier story. Some truths are more comfortable than others.

A very brave man ...

Taking a stand against a corrupt administration, that has turned the US justice system into a political arm of the Federal government and instituted untold authoritarian, thugish and pre-FLDS like refinements to both American civilian and military life, is very brave indeed.

Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, who served in the Army until being honorably discharged last summer after over four years of service in Afghanistan, Japan, Europe and the Phillipines, today publicly announced his intention to refuse orders to deploy to Iraq. (via C&L)

There obviously are many brave and honorable US citizens around the country. If a sufficient number of them had been in Congress (or even the press) we might not have been in the situation we find ourselves in now.

We, the American People, have done a very poor job of keeping tabs on, and control of, OUR government.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

Is this a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face? ... Sen. Barack Obama's top fundraisers have asked his campaign donors to refrain from contributing to liberal independent political organizations in hopes of controlling the tone and message of the general-election campaign. [ ... ] The McCain campaign has been less organized than Obama's in its efforts to counter the groups, but the senator from Arizona has made clear his antipathy toward them -- without much effect. ... anyone think McCain seriously cares about the swift-boating of Obama? Does Obama actually believe McCain cares or would do anything substantive to stop it? Will Democratic politicians really ignore the last eight years and get snookered again?

... As I have pleaded with you to understand, they are dishonest and cruel, they are crafty and deceptive, they aren’t stupid. Like all successful con men, they will deceive those they are robbing and destroying quite successfully. They are far from stupid.

I'd just like to say this to Clinton supporters. The spate of endorsements of Sen. Obama will continue. Every victory of Sen. Clinton's will be followed immediately by high profile endorsements to blunt the impact of that victory - it's called politics. ... Politics it may be, but I find it very disappointing that Edwards chose to endorse the least progressive candidate, the one with no real national health plan.

... The oppressor may inflict unimaginable cruelties on innocent victims -- but the victims may only protest in ways which the oppressor deems "acceptable." The profound injustice is obvious, but not in itself remarkable or unexpected: this is how oppression operates. ...

The media deserves a large share of the blame ... All this might be quite funny if one doesn’t consider the consequences for the Republic. When historians try to figure out how the most powerful nation on earth managed to end up under the control of someone as unfit as George W. Bush for eight years, they will have to take note of this media phenomenon. ... and their destructive role has not been accidental.

It’s an example of how American law enforcement tends to marginalize black discontent by attributing it to more organized external forces. This is a tendency rooted in U.S. tradition: black radicals and civil rights activists of past eras were often linked to communists and other “outside agitators” — as if the progeny of enslaved Africans needed Karl Marx to detail their gripes about life in America. Now, apparently, the government claims the link is with Osama bin Laden.

... now that it's clear Hillary's presidential campaign is all but over, the right is proceeding apace with its attempt to Hillary-ize Michelle Obama. ... [...] ... We know what the right did to Hillary, and we can expect them to do a lot of the same things to Michelle. How do we combat this?

Moyers: “ ... We’re not going to have a discourse in this campaign over the fact that the great American wealth machine is benefiting only those at the top. We’re not going to get to the fact that 10% of the people own 60% of the wealth and 70% of the people have no net worth. We’re not going to get to the issues of how do we rebuild the infrastructure, the sewer, the water, the highways, all that. We’re just going to be constantly in this battle of bumper stickers.”

It's so easy to be a commenter ...

To be a media commenter is just so easy. All one has to do is put words in someone's mouth or thought's in someone's head and then comment. Who cares about facts anyway. Glib is the way to go ...

Michael Tomasky shows us how it's done in Power cable.

Maybe that's why digby is so refreshing. She almost never writes this way (I say almost never because I have this long-ago lesson roaming around in my head that instructs me to never say never).

It's too bad anyway, because, every now and then, Tomasky is quite readable. And he has the added benefit, I assume, that some editor reviews his punctuation. Wish I had one ...

They think you 'toddle' ...

Reading the Spring/Summer 2008 catalog for Footwise (footwise.com; also birkenstockexpress.com) I ran across the this description for the Granada model:

You'll enjoy the casual look of these slip-on sandals. Featuring two straps, with cute cutouts, the Granada is perfect for toddling around town. Suede insert. Contoured cork/latex footbed. EVA sole. Resoleable. For Women.

Well, wouldn't you just know it -- of course, women must just luv to toddle on those cute sandles.

Toddle, verb
1 the child toddled toward him totter, teeter, wobble, falter, waddle, stumble.
2 informal : I toddled down to the quay amble, wander, meander, stroll, saunter; informal mosey, toodle, tootle, putter.

The first definition is the one that comes to mind when I hear the word toddle. But definition two is not much better. Stroll would have been a better choice. Can you imagine the writer suggesting that men should toddle around town on their cute sandals?

This is what footwise.com says about the Granada:

A lacy cutout pattern on the double straps gives this style a dressier look. Two adjustable buckles give you a custom fit and the contoured cork footbed provides great arch support for all-day comfort. Lightweight and flexible EVA soles provide a cushioned walk. Resoleable.

Been camping ...

I've been camping in the White Mountains -- north and west [CORRECTION: what am I thinking, the White Mountains are north and EAST] of Tucson. Sometimes one just finds the right spot at the right time and that was the case. I stayed until the holding tank indicated 'no more.'

Some photos, of course -- click on image for larger view.


This picture is at the top of the page (for today). It was taken from my campsite. If only I could move my house there. Sigh.


Just having some fun manipulation the image. I call it Lucy's Ghost.


This is the original image of Lucy's Ghost ... well almost. With digital cameras there's really no such thing as original. The only real question is how accurate the image, and even that is much in the eye of the beholder.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

... quite a few yesterdays as I have been camping in the White Mountains.

... scientists now predict that, at least among insects, global warming will take its biggest toll in the tropics--home to more than half the world's species.

... 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post- traumatic stress disorder or depression

... As I often note these days, we are drowning in lies. Yet it is still no small wonder that this entire conversation about Wright, King, et al. proceeds in the almost complete absence of a discussion of what Wright has actually said, just as no one seems to remember what King actually said.

... [the chieftains of the Terror War] do not and have never cared a single instant about the freedom and well-being of the Iraqi or the Iranian people. (Or the American people, for that matter.) They are engaged on a long-range project of perpetual war toward an eventual goal of iron-clad military domination of a strategic portion of the world's energy supplies and distribution, and the establishment of America's "unipolar domination" over geopolitical affairs.

crAZy Person: Jon Kyl


In fact, the only way McCain's bankrupt domestic policies will not cause one misstep after another is if he confines himself to whistle-stop tours of gated communities and medieval castles.

A lot of noise going on Or where's the camera when you need it ...

My yard is raucous with the sound of baby and adolescent birds.

The cardinal's young is already following him around the yard as he shows her/him what to eat and where to find it.

Today, beautiful sunny and warm (84°F, 10% humidity), seems to be bath day. I was sitting outside in the shade not 3 feet from the birds' water basin when first one, then two, then three young birds came down to lurch around in the water spraying themselves and everything else. One of those chubby feathered balls was just a baby yesterday, hiding on the ground behind a flower pot. Today it's an adolescent ignoring the calls of frantic parent(s) trying to warn them that there was a scary human sitting in a chair almost within arms reach. In fact an adult bird dive bombed them twice, I assume in some effort to strike some fear into the little wayward things. Perhaps they're more akin to teenagers than adolescents. They appeared to ignore all parental input.

Here's a picture (probably, unless there's more that one couple in my yard) of mamma or poppa:
Click on image for larger version.

Global warming? What global warming ...

... New research shows that oxygen is vanishing from ever-larger swaths of the oceans. If the trend continues, it could disrupt marine ecosystems.

And why wouldn't the trend continue? We are no longer what we were when we put a man on the moon, are we? It's not like we value education, science and logic, is it? After all look at what we put in the White House.

The human race may have a long time to consider their folly as the earth dies under their feet. I doubt that anyone really knows when the point of no return will be reached. There are just too many variables. But some think we've already passed it.

Do you realize that George W. Bush and his cabal ...

... and the GOP in general, have made us the laughingstock of the world? They are incapable of anything other than murder, mayhem and theft.

The latest absurdity:

... several flights have gone out without the promised Federal Air Marshalls because these same FAMs have found their names (along with everyone who goes by Mohammed or Ali) on the list and have been refused entry onto the planes they’ve been charged to protect.

Steny Hoyer & Jay Rockefeller, your corruption is showing ...

Isn't there some way to get 'our representatives' to, you know, actually represent us? Whoever votes for ANYTHING that includes telecomm immunity should be socially ostracized forever and never ever allowed in political or public office again.

According to the ACLU, there is rumor of a backroom deal being brokered by Jay Rockefeller on FISA that will include retroactive immunity. I've heard from several sources that Steny Hoyer is doing the dirty work on the House side, and some say it will be attached to the new supplemental.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

Among the things, evidently, that we're not supposed to bring up because it interrupts Peggy Noonan's fantasy vision of an American history populated mostly by noble 49ers and industrious Henry Fords, are the following:

-- The genocide committed against Native Americans.
-- Slavery.
-- The "lynching era" and Jim Crow.
-- Sundown towns.
-- The forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
Knowing who we are, what we have done would seem to be the key to doing better in the future, but that's just me, I guess. Don't most religions teach this concept? I thought so at one time ...

The Illinois senator [Obama] said that when folks feel economically shafted, they get “bitter.” Matthews-ism spun the truism into a scandal. [...] By downplaying inequality and couching royalism in middle-class arguments, the Beltway elite pretend there are not two Americas but only one: theirs.

That nurses, the incarnation of care in the eyes of Americans, should now be a bone of contention among unions is a clue to their paramount value as our nation’s conscience. Unlike priests, they do not bear the stigma of exploiting vulnerability. And unlike faith-based institutions, which in general have been complicit in the 50-year decline in union membership by turning away from issues of morality and justice involving workers and workplaces, nurses are tackling them head-on.

How many have actually read Jeremiah Wright's speech AND the questions and answers following it? ... Obama won't vote to impeach the president for his high crimes; he won't even denounce them for what they are. But he has sure enough impeached his preacher for all the world to see. Which, as Silber says, is "much more significant -- and much more revealing -- than any of Wright's comments themselves."

... the South should really be defined as the corporatism or Plantationsim. It is the same forces that led us to the Civil War to begin with and to imperialism, which is now sinking this entire nation.

After all, look at the talking heads themselves. They are in the job of generating controversy and tut-tutting anyone they want to denigrate, without intelligence, thought, analysis, or facts. ... Not just worthless, the media is very dangerous to our freedom, our security, our Constitutional way of government, our very lives.

... I will never understand why the people who attack Islam as oppressive to women have nothing to say about the FLDS. ...

... This election season, we've seen a cavalcade of white, middle-age men express their deep, personal contempt for the first serious female contender for the White House. Contempt, of course, that has nothing to do with Sen. Hillary Clinton's policies or her beliefs. Instead, it's been an oddly personal disdain dressed up as political analysis.