Shades of Zell Miller, Holy Joe is now heading a Pro-McCain Group.  The time has come.  It is in fact way over due.  Mr. Reid are you listening.  Senator Durbin will you stand for this traitorous bastard to remain in your caucus?

No it must be NOW...

I have long believed that single issue partisans were dangerous to the Democratic Party political process.  I have never agreed to a litmus test to determine Party fidelity but for the foundational or cornerstone beliefs such as civil rights, for example.  The Democratic Party likes to think of itself as the big tent that can find a place for the pro-life and pro-choice politicians side by side.  The way these opposites seem to exist side by side is to acknowledge that choice is the law of the land, it seems to be working and no body likes abortion.  Sort of a stand-off of beliefs and action exists that result in a kind of equilibrium.  After all it is a single issue and there are many other issues and beliefs that bind us together rather than separate us.  Can the war/occupation/quagmire we call Iraq be viewed on the same kind of single issue basis as I have described above?  In a word ...

Your recent gentle dismissal of remarks made by Joe Lieberman is the cause for this letter.  I am a life long Democrat and have never voted for a split ticket in my voting history.  I mention this only to provide whatever bona fides I have as a Democratic constituent.  As you are aware, the Democrats regained majorities in both houses of Congress largely if not singularly upon the promise that our Party would set the machine in motion for withdrawal from Iraq.  I was disappointed in the recent supplemental funding bill outcome as it relates to the Iraq and continued obedience to our despotic President's war agenda. But I am willing to be patient enough to provide you the opportunity to exercise leadership and execute the promise that was made to us, your constituents.  But there is a cancer in the midst of the Democratic caucus and it must be addressed.  Failure to do so will bring sickness, death and ruination in my carefully considered, but humble opinion.

Can it be true that media ratings failure Glenn Beck may be offered a new radio gig with the Washington Post?  What are they thinking?  It is not so much what are they thinking but WHO is doing the thinking.    Take a look down under for the connection that makes sense for this ridicules idea.

Getting off the "oil addiction" needle is a vital national priority or it ought to be.  Changing our energy sources will reform our entire economic approach and hasten our ability to claim self sufficency - a key step to working for peace in my opinion.  Equally if not more important the implications of getting off the carbon based oil and coal energy are essential in our efforts to slow and hopefully reverse our pathway to global warming.  I was heartened by the recently revealed research from Virginia Tech for bio derived hydrogen.  It seems that our future energy could come from Log Cabin Maple Syryp or a close chemical cousin to my favorite pancake additive.  Please follow me to the syrup line just below to hear more of this new technology...

Rev. Falwell was one to attribute calamity to God's wrath and punishment for what Falwell called sin.  He was so convinced that 9-11 and Katrina was the wrath of God against an unrighteous nation that he had no qualms about attributing blame to homosexuals and secularists.  It was always a great day when Rev jerry could find some obscure reasons to cast suspecision and hate against a group of "non-christians".  There's more rant to follow....

Nearly two generations ago, on April 22, 1971 a young veteran named John Kerry made this statement to Congress –

We are asking Americans to think about that because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? But we are trying to do that, and we are doing it with thousands of rationalizations ...

Harry Reid told the President this week that the Iraq was lost.  More importantly he drew the comparison of Bush’s preemptive war of choice to the bitter immorality of Vietnam.  These wars are immoral.  But the Iraqi conflict is immoral for a host of reasons.  I wish to focus on one immorality as it applies to our own society.  If the President is right and the war in Iraq is justified then honor the troops by pledging to societal consequences for the war.  The war can be ended by Congress – this too was understood by that young veteran.

The NYT is reporting that CBS has followed the lead of NBC and fired Don Imus and cancelled his morning show.  Where will McCain and Russert go to get there chuckles and laughs.

Any time that you get Karl Rove saying that he has concerns about a something political, the more I want to do it.  Rove should have sleepless nights and skin worn of his hands from the wringing that he must do about vote by mail. You see the mind of Karl Rove wants you to believe that voter fraud is the issue in elections (knowing full well that the volume of votes cast overall is the real issue for his brand of politics).  Thanks to TPM we see how the Rove mind reacts to the vote by mail methods of the Northwest and Oregon in particular.  Read further to find the "anti-Endorsement".

See the great story about this issue at TPM Muckraker

Mitt Romney: Governor of Massachusetts, native son of Michigan, Utah defender of the faith and progeny of polygamous family connections of the Mormon past.  Mitt may end up as the Republican nominee due to his deep connection to the Mormon Church and their clannish commitment to each other in the primary season.  One thing is easy to surmise, the Mormon Church wants the Mitt presidency and will apparently wield its considerable influence to attain this long standing goal, the Presidency of the United States.   See how after the fold...

Over at Huffington Post, Lawrence O'Donnell is asking the readers there to quit hating Tim Russert, because of Tim's role in the Libby conviction. In his post today titled "Russert Convicted Libby" he indicates that Russert was the only witness mentioned by Fitz in his press conference today.  If you feel like "So the Fuck What" about Tim's role follow below...

I am ready to seriously consider Senator Obama. His rhetoric and enthusiasm are compelling and exciting.  Obama’s throngs at his appearances suggest a movement being made much like those of us that were early supporters of Howard Dean.  I was drawn to Howard Dean because on the majority of the important issues he was pure.  I am not a one issue person but before I decide there are five issues that the candidate must be "pure" on for me.  1) Ending the Iraqi war and occupation including supporting the troops.. 2) The Employee Free Choice Act and other labor reforms that make unions more accessible to every worker.. 3) Trade reform measures that require that our "free" trading partners allow for worker rights, environmental regulation and human rights to gain access to our markets.. 4) A commitment to reducing our society’s footprint that affects global warming – with a serious eye to alternative energy .. and 5) Universal health care through a single payer system.   After reviewing issues on the Obama ’08 website I feel disappointed.  See why after the fold....

or how the movie An Inconvient Truth made me act on my guilt.

With all that is happening in the world, my wife and I decided that we needed to be proactive in our support to reduce our carbon impact on the world.  We have recently seen the movie – yes you know the one – An Inconvenient Truth and driving to work each day in a low mileage SUV not only has become expensive, it now has the ability to fill a person with guilt.  We took a first big step end our guilt and we purchased a hybrid vehicle.

For the newest addition to the kos pages lets look at the double standard privileges permitted the Bush inner circle but where the rabble and serfs are deemed unworthy.  Today an amazing double standard was shown in the LA Times story by James Gerstenzang.  Bush thinks gays should not be parents...

In 1980 when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter, Reagan stepped on the stage in California to thank his supporters and then also called attention to his admiring flock of knuckleheads that the Republicans had won majorities in state legislatures across the country.  This was deemed important by the victorious right-winger because he knew it would lay the foundation for many more victories in the future.  Waves like last night occur like stock market corrections.  But it is the wise investor that profits following a correction.  Well follow me past the bump to see our good news.

It was just revealed that Markos has declared defeat in the Ford Corker race in Tennessee!  All those begged to give money will not receive a refund or the satisfaction of seeing your contribution efforts to the end.

If you are working for Ford - well forget it - you are a sap anyway.  Did you really think an African American would win anywhere below the Mason Dixon Line?  Jeesh!

We are closing in on the final days of most important election since 1994.  I have noticed a rash of titles and comments that are using expletives as attention grabbers or to underscore a point.  I think that this is a risk for us as a community because now we are likely have an increased number of visitors to our blog.  Our mutual credibility come into play by those of us that cannot ease up on the F word or other vulgar expressions in our writing.

An 18 month timetable discussion from General Casey in Iraq must be very disturbing to the families that sacrificed their loved ones in the last 18 months and to see virtually none of the so called  progress in Iraq that our "War President" has said is occurring.  The only thing that that stay the course did for America was cost us the lives of 1,213 service men and women in a useless and terrible war.  Why do I point out Virginia?  Follow after the fold...