You REALLY don't. This is not your father's Democratic Party. This is a Democratic Party - and a Democratic candidate's presidential campaign - that has taken the high road, but taken it armed to the teeth. Every time you guys have tried to stir shit, a can of Whoop Ass got opened. And it wound up all on you. Don't go there. Keating Five will be a household word. That's not innuendo and outright lies as is Rezko. That's fact. Johnny was up to his eyeballs in activity that manipulated the bank...

There has been a steady stream of right wing harpies on teevee all day ........ with the brightest, reddest lipstick I've seen in a while. Why aren't Democrats that smart? Laugh all you want. They have a message and they have discipline. We can laugh and laugh and laugh ..... while they kick our ass.

Wanda From Wasilla is out to **fuck** you up. Big time. She wants the big job and sees herself as preordained for the seat. She sees it as the Will of Her Lord. Religious mission. Religious Certitude. She follows the "Ends Justify The Means" philosophy so many other mind fucked fungelicals follow. "God Spoke To Me." Look at her, Johnny. Check the game films. She doesn't give two shits about you, pallie. Her body language alone is enough to make it as clear as a 1080 HDTV wide screen movie. S...

I have pointedly left the teevee and the radio silent today. I've also pretty much stayed out of DU and off the internets. I have plenty of real work to do, so it is hardly a sacrifice. But it sure as hell is blissful ignorance. I don't know what's going on in Pennsylvania and even better I have no idea what the manufactured outrage du jour is. Ignorance, sometimes, really is bliss. Now to the wishes. I wish Obama would just kick the shit out of Clinton and end this prolonged, angry, ugly pr...

They Will Get Away With Everything. Take that to the bank.

I'm not posting this one to start a debate and won't engage. I **am** here to post my personal opinion. My tendency when I hear about a foreclosure is to sympathize with the people being evicted, not with the ones doing the evicting. There's plenty of blame to go around and lots of room for recriminations. No one is blameless. But it is a matter of degrees. Some say that the home buyers who went for the stated income, high balance, subprime loans were the greedy ones, looking to make a fast ...

THE LAST WORD Anna Quindlen How Old Is Too Old? Race, gender—they're both up for grabs in this presidential election. It's age that has become the new taboo in a vitality culture. Feb 4, 2008 Issue Here's my unscientific theory about the presidency: it ages a person in dog years. Each year in office is roughly equivalent to seven years in the life of an ordinary citizen. I base this on before-and-after photographs of the occupants of the Oval Office, who frequently look as though they've spent...

I know some people are sensitive and feel we should all play nice. McCain says he's going to run a civil campaign. Yet he goes to the Bushies for help. And do you think the 527's won't be backing him? The Club for Growth is VERY active as are the swiftboaters and that Stone guy down in Florida. This campaign will see, depending on our nominee, the most vile racist and misogynistic spew you're probably incapable of imagining. All indicators favor a Democratic win in November. That fact will ener...

And I bet their story is as unremarkable, ordinary, and commonplace as millions of others. They married when my father returned from WWII. I was born right after that, my brother four years later. Mom had a high school education, but only worked a very few years .... and then only part time (more on that later). Dad had only two years of high school before a childhood disease had him infirmed for a year. He recovered fully, but decided to work rather than go back to school. He was drafted sho...

Were it not a sham, Congress would be investigating CheneyBush, not some dumb ass meathead of a baseball player. Were it not a sham, Congress would not underwrite Bush's desire to shield telcos from criminal prosecution. Were it not a sham, Al Gore would be in the final months of a successful two term presidency and his second term Vice president would be leading in all polling. Were it not a sham, our Congressional leaders would mount an actual opposition to the cabal. Were it not a sham, a...

As the new President of the United States, it is tradition that my remarks are directed at the American people. This year, I find that inadequate. I am making these remarks to the entire world. On behalf of the citizens of the United States, I wish to express my deepest apologies to you. The actions of this country and its government over the last eight years have been the antithesis of what the United States stands for and what its citizens believe. Today we move in a new direction. Back to th...

We got past the last election cycle with wins across the board. The system is not yet cured, but it is working in that direction. The evil that is incarnate in the neocon agenda is being seen for what it is. But we're still in danger - perhaps even more grave danger than ever - of our very democracy cumbling right before our eyes. I have long contended that our very worst enemy is our news media. Rupert Murdoch wrote the book on crap media. The Republicans and the admirals of the Large Corpor...

I believe in many things. I believe in a higher power but prefer not to discuss that and surely not to impose it on anyone. I believe there is life on other planets but we have yet to prove it. I believe the power of man will eventually bring about a Utopian life on this planet, but I also believe I will never live to see it. There are also political beliefs. Among them, I can proudly say I believe: In a strong national defense, well armed and well trained, with the aim to be the preeminent m...

Even if Cheney gets retired after his upcoming heart surgery, even if Bush's polls go to 2% and even Barney and Laura turn on his sorry ass, do not utter one damned kind word toward any Republic. Lugar's statement last night being a prime case in point. His action is what I call showvoting. He was all OVER everything Bush and the greatest bone burier in the history of Congress. He was RIGHT THERE every step of the way with Cheney and Bush. His most used ability was his skilled wielding of the ru...

Here's one man's view of the 08 Democratic Party field. I also want to say, up front, that there's no need to even worry about the Republic Party field; they will not win in 08. Let's start with the top tier candidates: Hillary Clinton: She *will* announce and she *could* could win - both the primary and the general election. She has the name ID and the capacity to raise more money than God. Yes, she's polarizing, but she'll win the women's vote and the minority vote and that will be enough to...

No matter what happens in the next year and a half (to the serious 08 campaign season), the notion of the office of the President as the Commander in Chief will be there, always at or just under the surface. While most of America think this war in Iraq is nothing short of a disaster - maybe even the greatest foreign policy disaster in our history - the idea of war and terror and Iran and and all the other crap that got vomited all over us for the last six years will still be operative notions. ...

The war in Viet Nam went badly for us, as virtually anyone in this country is now quick to admit, no matter what one thought of it contemporaneously. What is also irrefutable is that we lost that war. We lost it to a supposedly inferior force. But the measure of inferiority by which some deem that force 'inferior' is flawed. They may have been less well equipped and less well trained and, perhaps, less disciplined. But that is not the total measure of any force. There is also the too often over...

There's no other way to described George W. Bush. Common criminal (Drunk driving; Harkin Energy) National criminal (NSA Spying) International criminal (Lying a nation into a war of pure aggression and empire) Crimes Against Humanity (Torture) War Crimes (Abu Ghraib) High Crimes and Misdemeanors (Election cheating, exposing a covert US intelligence agent) Today's press conference saw the public tactics of a man desperate to shift the laws of once great nation to cover his own misdeeds. As ...

Yes, it was a remarkable show tonight. Yes, the closing commentary was beyond remarkable. It caused me to alternately cheer and to tear. But there's something here that is even more important than this one show. More than that great closing speech. Keith Olbermann - consistently, day in and day out - IS that good. Quite some time ago, I posted here that I thought Olbermann was the prototype of the absolutely perfect network television news anchor for the current flavor of America's culture. ...

At the beginning of August, I posted this. Way down the thread, someone pointed out that there were no listed MOH winners in my state. Further checking on my part, plus some references provided by others, verified that. I also looked into Bronze and Silver Star recipients, could find no reference to my neighbor, but neither did I find any definitive, complete list of all recipients. If anyone knows of such a listing somewhere, I'd be interested in having a link to it. At the end of the threa...

Who will be tarred and feathered when that earthen dam down at the south end of the county fails and the McMansions built on the former flood plain below it are washed away? How loud will yacht owners scream when they find their fiberglas whales landlocked because the formerly navigable channel to the marina is silted closed? Will the outcry be sufficiently deafening when a school bus plunges down to a railroad track when the overpass it was crossing catastrophically fails and collapses? What...

Perhaps most famously in the last few weeks was MSNBC's Joe Scarborough's 'investigation' of the question: "Is George Bush an Idiot?" The talking heads discussing this were center and right. Not a lefty in sight. Editorial page after columnist after radio yakker after teevee pundit - all on the right - have been hammering on Il Dunce as we've never witnessed hammering. A new found 'bravery' in those held captive by the vaunted Karl Rove? Hardly. The Bush duck has simply pulled up lame a bit ...

The Pentagon is engaged in profligate spending as perhaps it has never engaged before. So spectacular is this spending that we now see it presented as entertainment on such cable shows as "Future Weapons" on the Discovery Channel. We see, over on the History Channel, former USMC drill instructor R. Lee Ermey dressing us down as he replies to all manner of 'booooo-YAH' inquiries about the mechanisms and tactics of war. Smart bombs, laser guidance, flying gunships, night vision capabilities, high...

Pop news and pop culture are what they are. By definition they are reflections of popularity. The very descriptor - 'pop' - is a shorthand for the word 'popular'. Of the people. They reflect what's on people's minds. In fact, I dare say that virtually everyone here knows most of the details - let alone the larger story - about what's going on right now in the Jonbenet Ramsey story. Most of you will feign some level of contempt for those who openly admit it, but you **know** you've taken some de...

(Link) When you watch this video of G. Felix Allen, Junior, get past the word 'macaca'. Watch and absorb, instead, the context and the tone. They've been trying to spin the actual words many ways and look silly doing it. We've been harping on the word and its etymology. And the fact that it is probable it was learned in childhood from his mother. That debate is ...... well ...... debatable. What is not debatable is the context and tone. G. Felix Allen, Junior, was clearly intent on insulting ...

Let's start with a simple fact. The Democrats, today, have no power in the US government. Looking a bit longer, we have really not had very much power for decades. Our one bright period was the Clinton years. And even there we didn't get very much done, really. I continue to really like Bill Clinton and in many ways, as goes the refrain of some, see him as maybe the best president of my lifetime. I also must be quick to add that it was Bill Clinton the man I admired far more than Bill Clinton'...

Good, quiet police work pays off big in the strategy to counter terrorism. And to be sure, terrorism, worldwide, is a part of life. Since the tactic roared forth, we have all wanted effective deterrence. No one except the hard core supporters of extremism want them to succeed. The 'with us or with them' meme is bankrupt. It was never operative, except as jingoistic sloganeering. So what has been the evolution? What has been the solution? What has been the result? What has been the success rate...

John Kerry, during the 04 campaign, made the 'audacious' statement that terrorism should be considered a 'police matter' and dealt with as an 'inconvenience'. With not one hint of snark on my part - HE WAS RIGHT. But this is not about John Kerry. It **IS** about the bobble headed fuckwads all over teevee with their Code Red and their ban on Heather carrying suntan lotion with her on her vacation trip to the beach. It is now indisputable that 9/11 could have been prevented by better police wor...

I support Kweisi Mfume for Senate (Image) (Link) Here in Maryland, Democrats are in the enviable position of having a number of really good candidates vying for the right to defend the Senate seat of the retiring Paul Sarbanes. Ben Cardin, one of our sitting Congressmen is running and is the 'conventional wisdom' candidate - and for good reason. He's a rock solid Democrat, a popular incumbent in his district, and has a senatorial demanor not unlike that of the retiring Sarbanes. There is also...

There's a neighbor and friend of mine - a few years older than me - who won the Congressional Medal of Honor in Korea. He's a member of a group called the Chosin Few and served with the 1st Marines in that frozen hellhole. To this day, he flies the American flag, 24/7, and the Marine Corps flag below on a lighted flag pole - all very proper and respectful. I've known this guy since 1980. He's a lifelong Republican, but in no way one of the nutters of the modern 'base'. This is an area of Maryla...