I haven't been reading diaries about The Speech today, so I don't know if I'm being redundant, or just sawing off my own personal limb, but I am filled with such an all consuming anger as to be more than a bit irrational.

I heard a masterful presentation address a renewal of American foreign policy by one of the most sophisticated minds on the international stage.

I also heard the run up.  Mincing, prissy words by small minds, herded together to throw stones at the "other" who refuses to conform to their limited, and limiting, world view.

Then I watched interviews with "regular guys", who clearly had no idea what they had seen or heard at the Tiergarten, yet felt no hesitation in parading their fear and ignorance across the stage with inartful comment.  

I'll attempt to set aside my own political bias here (obviously in favor of Obama) and make an objective prediction about the upcoming election: it will be a comfortable win, if not landslide victory, for Obama and the Democrats in Congress. From whence comes this prognostication? I have four reasons.

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
Jeff Sharlet
Harper Collins
454 pp. $25.95

It’s one thing to say that a particular wing of modern conservatism seems a little fascist; it’s another thing to prove it unequivocally.

Jeff Sharlet’s The Family is about what is undeniably the most powerful and bizarre quasi-religious movement you’ve never heard of.  This is made evident near the beginning of the book, when Sharlet gives us a scene featuring Doug Coe, the group’s leader.  Coe is chatting with (or rather, instructing) Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R, Kansas):

CNN just broke this story on their website:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The International Olympic Committee has banned Iraq from competing in the upcoming Summer Olympics games because of what it says is political interference by the government in sports.

An Iraqi Olympic Committee official said the IOC sent letters in Arabic and English confirming the ban.

http://www.cnn.com/...

George W. Bush whoops it up at a "R": fundraiser, laughing and joking while
Americans suffer in silence. This time, Cenk Uygur,(The Young Turks)is very angry at the Bozo-In-Chief... Watch video and feel his rage, and his sorrow. thinkingblue
See It Here thinkingblue.blogspot.com

[UPDATE: Made the Rec List! Thank You everyone!]

John McCain's campaign is becoming a "target rich environment."

The latest attack levelled by the Three Stooges John McCain's crack campaign staff is that Barack Obama is soft and hypocritical on genocide. [More after the jump]

  In recent weeks there has been much chattering about the political themes of summer blockbusters.  First, there was Iron Man, in which billionaire industrialist Tony Stark dons an iron costume, survives as a hostage in Afghanistan and, uh, fights another guy in a different iron costume.  Then came Wall-E, which portrayed a world lost, quite literally, in garbage, with humanity the passive, gluttonous subjects of a seemingly benevolent corportation.  And most recently, The Dark Knight, which, according to some reviews, paints a picture of a post-9/11 Gotham City. More after the jump...

FINALLY – IT’S ALL OUT IN THE OPEN  !!!  
We can all relax – the pressure’s finally off.  Thank God.

JUST THIS LAST WEEK, all those fears that Americans have been burdened with have been calmed, with the solutions provided.  What a relief!  I for one am totally relieved, and thankful that the government spokesmen have laid it all out.  God, what took them so long ?

by Mikhail Lyubansky

This is heresy I know, since most of the white majority likes to pretend that it’s colorblind, but race needs to be part of the calculus in the November election for all voters. Of course, it was never not going to be part of the equation. And race is certainly part of the explicit discourse for Black voters, as it always is. My point is that it's high time white folks join in the discussion and acknowledge that it matters. Because it does.

Here’s what’s at stake in November: For the first time in history, there is a real possibility that "The Man" won’t be White. The implications will take years to sort out, but here are some very early thoughts about why the candidate’s race is important enough to influence our vote. Because the implications of a Black President are somewhat different for different identity groups, I break it down accordingly. But, and make no mistake about this, all other things being equal, having a Black President would benefit all Americans -- well almost.

We'd like to introduce the Vets for Freedom NewsLadder. Like all the NewsLadders that are up and running, this is a great place to find out all about an issue on one site with articles, blog posts, and videos linked up and voted up or down by readers like you.

I'm sure, like so many self respecting liberals who find themselves with limited viewing options early in the morning, I constantly find myself tuning in to the I.Q lowering debacle that is "Morning Joe".

From Federal Computer Week:
"The House rejected a bill last week that would have funded the purchase of paper ballots as a backup to electronic voting systems for the upcoming election.

   The bill would have directed the Election Assistance Commission to establish a program to make the grants in time for the November vote."

http://www.fcw.com/...

If Democrats, who lost two presidential elections under questionable e-voting can't pass a bill providing alternative paper ballots to guarantee free and fair elections, then you have to ask "which lobby paid them off?"

It all happened so quickly.  Within two months two giant hedge funds collapsed.  Because they were leveraged at about 250 to 1 they just took everyone with them.  The banks, the investors, everyone.  There was just no money.  Within six months the national unemployment rate soared to 25% and those that had jobs found their salaries greatly reduced.  The internal revenue service could not collect enough money and for the first time in U.S. history, this great nation defaulted on its loans.

Now we could not borrow at all.Troops overseas and government employees everywhere skipped paychecks.  And from there things went from bad to worse.  Inflation got completely out of control, hitting 55% in 2012 as the federal government rapidly printed money to to make up for the shortfall.  Wheelbarrows full of money were dumped so that the wheelbarrow could be stolen.

When I first saw Vincent Bugliosi, talk about his book "The Prosecution Of George W Bush for Murder", I was blown away. I thought, he's not just another crackpot trying to sell a crackpot book, he is serious.

Netroots Nation 08 - Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi Keynote

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

Welcome Home Netroots Nation attendees.  You may recall, it began with a dream, an impossible hope for a future unforeseen.  It was your wish, his want, her desire, and my aspiration.  Together we were the inspiration.  We imagined greatness would be if we worked together.  

A satiric look at the McCain Campaigns new ad that blames Obama for rising gas prices.

Having attended Catholic parochial school as a child, I and my classmates were constantly reminded by the good Sisters of St. Dominic to "mind our place". Translation: Remember where you are in the social pecking order.

This was meant to teach us that as we grew up we would begin to establish the individual role we would play in the makeup of our society and that once our station in life was determined we should not overstep the bounds of our position. Of course, this deterministic view of one's fate was not all that surprising coming from religious teachers who themselves had to mind their place in the strict hierarchy of Holy Mother the Church.

Why is Bush in office instead of a prison cell? We have only our culture to blame.