PSoTD

Duncan has an interesting post up called The Coming Blogwars in which he recognizes that the liberal blogosphere is likely to be pretty divisive in the upcoming Democratic Party presidential primary campaign.

I guess there are two areas of concern - that the perception that "big bloggers" will have "undue influence" on the web in the campaigns is the one Eschaton focuses on, and I suppose that's a legitimate concern. There is a way to get around it, of course, but it goes hand in hand with the second concern, which is more mine than anything I've seen anywhere else.

I know people get interested in the horserace status of the campaign, and the focus of how one candidate would match up against a Republican better than another, yadda yadda yadda. I'm not. I'm sick of it. I think it sucks. I think it's that demand of result over resolve that has gotten the Democrats into the minority status it finds itself today. I'm not complaining about it as far as the candidates go, because frankly, they do have to see things that way - individually. I'm complaining about it as far as the Party goes, as far as the news media goes, and, I'm afraid, where the blogosphere is rushing towards. It is the focus on how a candidate can be most electable, as opposed as to why a candidate should be elected. I'm afraid that the Democrats haven't learned an important lesson yet - that's there's going to be disagreement and debate and division over EITHER question, and the "how" question doesn't get us a candidate that can convince non-Democrats that the candidate SHOULD be elected. Only the why question can do that. And if elected, it doesn't provide an inkling to the sizeable population that didn't vote for the candidate as to why they should support their governance. What was proved was that the candidate could be elected by the slimmest of margins. What wasn't proven was the translation of that result into governing. For the most recent example, see the current Administration. Getting elected is what Karl Rove's campaigns are all about. Governing effectively? No groundwork set.

I'd hate to see the blogosphere contribute to the problem. If we focus on why we should elect a candidate to govern - the platform, the positions, the expectations in governance, the capabilities - rather than why we should select a candidate that can be elected, then the blogosphere will be doing politics a grand benefit that history will remember. If the blogosphere acts just like the consultantocracy and the power news media, then we're no better than they, and history will probably forget us pretty damn quickly. Particularly on the liberal side, it's our choice on where to put the focus, and I hope we prove ourselves to be better than the existing power structures we've been reacting to the past several years.

Elisabeth Bumiller is already calling a potential 2012 Presidential candidacy by Jeb Bush part of a "dynasty".

But Republican Party leaders continue to talk seriously about a continuation of the dynasty, a Bush III administration, with Jeb as a candidate in 2012 or 2016, when the memory of the current president's dismal poll ratings will be less of a factor. That, at least, is what happened the last time around: President George Bush's unpopularity at the end of his term in 1992 did not hurt his eldest son when he ran for president eight years later.

The first George Bush was Lincoln compared to the second. The number of long-term screwups and willful ignorances by this administration will be haunting this nation well past 2012 or 2016. This nation will have completely lost its way - for good - by electing in any fashion another politician from The House Of The Family Of Bush.

There was some good news at the end of this article, however:

This is the last White House Letter by Elisabeth Bumiller, who is going on book leave.

Thank God.

This cracks me up. A whole article about how Bush admitted to a nation that he, as President, needs to be more sophisticated. Really. Bush was right - and there's very little credit to give to him for realizing it or admitting it - as President he should be considerably more careful and adept in how he chooses his words - because language is a tool. America should make the ability to communicate proficiently an obvious requirement for President.

But Bill Bennett disagrees.

"One of the attractive things about the president is that he talks Texas," Mr. Bennett continued. "But what broke my heart is when he said, 'I need to be more sophisticated.' What is this, Kerry talk? Is he going to use 'elan' the next time he speaks?"

Funny. Obviously, Bennett knows the word 'elan', and feels it is representative of the term "sophisticated". Apparently Mr. Bennett had an education and a life experience where he realized that the word 'elan' might come in handy at some point, and he retained it. Bennett feels it's okay for him to have a vocabulary with such words - but it isn't useful for the President of the United States to have a command of the English language to make the fullest advantage of the tool?

Bill Bennett is saying that the language skills of the President should be less than his own, or less than John Kerry's. It's beyond calling Bennett, who makes money as a writer, ironic for holding such a position.

It's just plain stupid.

Yeah, me neither. That's why articles like this make no sense to me. I know her name recognition is probably higher than many other potential Democratic Party candidates. But that's not a real preference.

Oil.
Oil.
Oil.

For Victor Davis Hanson, it is ALL about the OIL.

But what did 2,400 brave and now deceased Americans really sacrifice for in Iraq, along with thousands more who were wounded? And what were billions in treasure spent on? And what about the hundreds of collective years of service offered by our soldiers? What exactly did intrepid officers in the news like a Gen. Petreus, or Col. McMaster, or Lt. Col Kurilla fight for?

First, there is no longer a mass murderer atop one of the oil-richest states in the world.

Maybe neocons are getting closer to their own inner truth. Hanson still decorates the entire article, from start to finish, with freedom rococo and democracy facade. It may take years - decades - for people like Hanson to get past the layers and layers of internal disinformation paint and propaganda wallpaper they've coated their personal logic with in order to accept the fact that they promoted a war mainly so that the U.S. could gain some control of an asset another country held. Maybe Hanson will never allow himself to actually get there. Maybe he'll always have to crutch himself with the false belief that we went there to provide freedom and democracy to the Iraqis, even though there are dozens of other countries in the world with brutal situations lacking freedom and democracy that Hanson won't march off a cliff for arguing that we attack.

It's hard to say. Hanson admits it was about the oil, and a few paragraphs down, he denies it was about the oil. His inner confusion apparently didn't allow him to realize his points were opposing. One thing for sure: America cannot afford to continue to allow people sharing his befuddlement make policy - if such a grand word can be applied to what they are doing - much longer in this country.

America still comes up with them from time to time, and they become accepted by other countries.

from ekathimerini.com

Greek authorities are expected to adopt by the end of the year the Amber Alert plan used in the United States to help detect missing children after more than 350 youngsters disappeared from their homes in Greece in the last 17 months.

Constantinos Yiannopoulos, president of the children’s rights watchdog the Child’s Smile, said yesterday that initial coordination efforts for the alert system will be undertaken by the group.

The plan, established in the USA in 1996, involves police informing television and radio broadcasters about a missing child. The broadcasters then interrupt their programs to transmit the Amber Alert about the child. Messages may also appear on highway signs and on mobile phones via text messages.

The system is considered to deter abductions, since experts say there have been incidents where kidnappers have released children after hearing the alert on the radio.

“[The problem of] missing children is an international daily social phenomenon that affects all of us. It does not have to happen to us to make us sensitive to the issue,” the Child’s Smile said.

The procedure has been successful in the USA. Authorities claim the number of missing children who are found has risen significantly.

According to Greek police, 125 boys and 253 girls have gone missing since the start of 2005.

“Most cases regard children who leave home on their own or are taken away by one of their parents who ignore court rulings,” Yiannopoulos said.

Volunteers handed out balloons and flowers yesterday at Syntagma Square in central Athens to mark the occasion of International Missing Children’s Day.

More than 2,000 children go missing around the world every day.

Since it Iraq a while to put together a Constitution, maybe Gibraltar's politicians feel less pressure.

Treasury Secretary John Snow has signaled to the White House he is ready to resign once President Bush has picked a successor, administration officials and people close to Snow said Thursday.

They said Snow has made clear he eventually intends to return to the private sector. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Snow is not ready to discuss his plans publicly.

Will the Bush Administration drop another load in their pants at the sight of yet ANOTHER leak? Will the Republican bloggers? They usually do...

From the United Nations Association of Georgia:

The promotion of democracy, peace and security, and integration into Euro-Atlantic structures were set as the major priorities of the new regional organization which was established by Georgian, Ukrainian, Azeri and Moldovan leaders at a summit in Kiev on May 23.

The U.S.-backed informal grouping of these post-Soviet states, known as GUAM, has now turned into a regional Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (ODED) with headquarters in Kiev.

When moron prudes run government, prudish moronity is the result.

Yep, the Al Gore movie.

It plays in Harrisburg June 30th at the Midtown Cinema.

Maybe setting an example to the citizenry isn't such a bad idea... too bad the message of reducing gasoline usage by the government didn't land with this editorial writer.

Of course, Bush's message to the public, based on his travels, is to spend the people's money on gasoline frivolously as possible.

If John McCain is so intent on defining this lackluster presentation as "The speech the Angry Left tried to suppress", why doesn't he bother to explain why it deserves that definition? What a cheesy trick, trying to con conservatives to read his speech by tossing a raw meat heading and serving tofu.

Oh, and while I'm at it on the Opinion Urinal, this piece of crap writing is so bad, but has no name on it. I'm betting it is John Fund's.

I AM SO SICK OF THE MANUFACTURED CONTROVERSY OF THE DAY.

A Keller school district parent said political correctness has run amok at her daughter's elementary school, where the principal chose to omit the words "In God We Trust" from an oversize coin depicted on the yearbook cover.

Janet Travis, principal of Liberty Elementary School in Colleyville, wanted to avoid offending students of different religions, a district spokesman said. Students were given stickers with the words that could be affixed to the book if they so chose.

Debi Ackerman of North Richland Hills said she is offended by the omission. It's yet another example of a politically correct culture that is removing Christian references from all public places, she said.

No, it's not that. It's another example of the religiously bombastic culture flaying anyone who crosses even their smallest sensitivities. Most members of faith will look at this and say, hey, it's a school elementary yearbook - an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL YEARBOOK, and it's not worth any controversy. But not Debi Ackerman.

I'm so sick of this press opportunism abusing the name of religion. Quit giving those who have faith a black eye with these kinds of mind-numbingly inane manufactured press pushes. It is an elementary school yearbook and it is an image of a coin. (And to be honest, I think it's considerably more disturbing that an elementary school chose to put a coin - for whatever reason - on the cover of their yearbook.) It was made FOR THE KIDS. Do you really have to spoil that, Debi Ackerman? Are you really that sensitive? Is this really that important?

And, Star-Telegram - don't you realize that the more press you provide for the most inane controversies, the more inane controversies will be stirred up? Are you in pursuit of inanity? The expansion of coverage of inanity? STOP IT!

The American government offers no safe haven or justice from the terror of being falsely detained of being a terrorist - and being tortured as a result. Our government insists on being the bad guys, even after the fact, in these kinds of cases.

Apparently there are other nations with as much perceived disrespect for other peoples as America.

From The Nation:

Lao people are often left feeling insulted and humiliated thanks to jokes by Thai celebrities and the Thai media, an academic said yesterday.

Adisorn Semyaem from Chulalongkorn University's Asia Study Institute has just completed a survey of 216 people in Laos and 40 per cent said they felt Thai television and music personalities actually enjoyed insulting Lao people.

The media were also in the firing line, with 27 per cent of respondents saying the industry harboured a negative attitude towards them, said Adisorn.

The two countries' histories and the fact Thailand is more economically advanced mean Thai people feel superior to Lao people, he said.

As far as Lao people are concerned, Thailand is the worst offender when it comes to countries that tend to humiliate them, followed by the United States.

Very few Lao felt Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan or China had ever insulted them, he added.

On the other hand, I don't remember hearing an American entertainer or seen on American television any knocks about Lao people since the Vietnamese War. So I wonder... what is the perceived source of this humiliation in the case of the United States? Media? Government? Does our State Department ever look into such things, since it public perception can drive government policy?

Just another one of those American efforts likely to get everyone to hate our asses a bit more in the future...

Citing Tehran's "unpredictability" as the reason for its concern over the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, the United States has said it was making efforts to help New Delhi with its energy needs.

"This is a project that's been talked about quite a bit in the region. We have made our concerns known about it. We made them aware of US legislation that might affect any investments in Iran, and made our concern about Iran as the source of energy need, given the unpredictability some times of Iranian behaviour," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said.

Anyone think the primary point here is to help India and Pakistan? Or to hurt Iran...

Sad? Funny? Potatoe? You make the call.

Earlier this week, at Pen-Elayne, I asked this question:

But Americans seem to be more and more inclined to use their naked bodies as a means of political protest - the months before and after the beginning of the Iraq War saw many, many photo op events with citizens posing naked together to spell out aerial messages such as "No War".

But does it work beyond shock value? And does shock value actual undermine the message?

Ann Bartow of Feminist Law Professors posted in comments a link about this very topic that I found very interesting. Please give it a read, both for the warning about providing nude images of oneself and the question: if nude protests garner more attention than clothed protests, will the nudity - and not the number of protesters - be what history remembers for any given protest movement?

Americans, be proud. Other countries are taking the American model of governance and saying that if it's good enough for the United States, it's good enough for them. For example, Bangladesh:

The proposed Anti-Terrorism Act will have the provision to put a suspected militant under preventive detention in the style of Special Powers Act.

The deputy commissioners of police will order such detention for a period of one month. For detention of a longer period, the accused will have to be produced before and get approval of an advisory board as per constitutional provision.

"This law will not be used against anyone with political motivation," Law Minister Moudud Ahmed told reporters after a meeting of an inter-ministerial body formed to examine the draft Ant-Terrorism Act at his ministry. "We are looking into it carefully to ensure stopping of its political use," he said.

The proposed law designed to cover all aspects of terrorism and militancy provides up to capital punishment if the charge is proved, he said, adding that it will be "very strict" about bails. "The court has to be absolutely satisfied before granting one bail," Moudud said.

The draft has been prepared basing on all existing laws, including the Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act and Special Powers Act. Offences covered by the existing laws will, however, not be included in the new law, Moudud said.

The land's laws cannot take action against the persons, groups and political parties for militant activities and terror financing, he said.

"It has become very urgent to introduce a new law as terrorism and militancy have acquired a new dimension. New terms are coming in use and the militants are using substances that the existing laws are inadequate to cover," the law minister told reporters.

Countries like the UK and USA have laws for detention of militants and terrorists without trial, he told the BBC Bangla Service last night.

Don't it make you proud!

Whatever John Hinderaker means by this, he ought to be called on it to prove it, because it smells like ass. Like where it was pulled from...

My cab driver was completely disoriented by this. I could tell he didn't believe it. Like nearly all African cab drivers, he listens to public radio all day long. Twenty minutes with me wasn't enough to overcome years of liberal indoctrination.

I just want to see that study on African cab driver radio listening habits.

Karl's not worried. Why? Because he's needed, because this is the most inefficient White House of all time...

"Karl's focus is sharper than ever and his spirit is high," said Dan Bartlett, White House counselor, downplaying any claims that Rove is distracted. "He packs more work into one day than most of us get done in a week."

On average, the Air Force loses 14 Airmen every year in motorcycle mishaps. Because of that, they have strict requirements on the use of motorcycles. That includes wearing helmets.

There's really no mystery as to why the Air Force makes such requirements. Do other levels of government - federal and state particularly - need to protect their investment as well? Worth considering.

Fear. Everything Bush has done has to be supported by fear - that's all they have. If there's a rational discussion of things like the NSA programs, both known and unknown, then the Republicans will lose the fall campaigns, period. So watch all the "independent" Republicans come back on board, and peddle fear like nobody else can. That's all they got.

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

An indictment of Karl Rove will be a good thing.

Some White House staffers said it's the uncertainty of Rove's status in the leak case that has made it difficult for the administration's domestic policy agenda and that the announcement of an indictment and Rove's subsequent resignation, while serious, would allow the administration to move forward on a wide range of issues.

Karl Rove looks like the last nail to me. Bush thinks he can move forward on policy issues if Rove is indicted? Only by himself...

The way the television news media has jumped on the meme that the majority of Americans approve of NSA courtless review, study and retention of domestic phone records just smells. "Congratulations" for the Bush Administration in getting their damage control program ramped up, because so far it has been quite successful in this newest controversy, at least as far as the television news media is concerned. Of course, the Bush Administration Damage Control should be state of the art, since for the past 2 years that's about all the Bush Administration has been doing.

Still, this poll... I just watched a segment on NBC's Weekend Today in which they discuss the issue with a "focus group" of five people, and Lester Holt told a guy who is for NSA warrantless spying that he was in the "majority" based on this one premature poll. It seems like the news media has taken this poll, and more than any other single poll in recent memory, embraced it to their bosom and cried hosannahs that it was God's Truth. This was one poll. A phone poll. Happening the day the news story broke. Before people knew the details - and we still don't know the details. Why pronounce judgement so fast on such limp details and quasi-facts?

I don't know, but it kinda stinks - like something more than just the standard television news incompetence.

Glenn Greenwald touches upon it with his piece about this Washington Post poll supposedly shows that "63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism."

Either this poll is so flawed in so many different ways that it isn't even close to an interpretation of America's sense on the newest spying admission; or

America, the concept envisioned by our forefathers, is dead.

I think I've decided that a BIG problem that folks like Krauthammer have as they keep pounding the term "war" as their justification for everything is that they need a very specific, operational definition for the term war. Krauthammer tries to argue that:

Civilian court -- with civilian procedures, civilian juries and civilian sensibilities -- is not the place for those who make war upon us.

as it relates to the Moussaoui case. But how does he define "war"? I'm sick of the simplistic answer that somebody attacked "us". Was the violence at Columbine High School "war"? I think the nation felt that attack - as an attack on ourselves. Did the attackers see it as war? If so, does that make it a war? Who determines what is war, and what is crime? What are the standards? This eye of the beholder who is in power argument doesn't cut it for America anymore, there's too much at stake to let it go at that. And the idea we can keep watering down the term "war" to mean whatever we want has to stop. War on Illiteracy, Price War, etc... our country doesn't see the same kind of use of such terms on murder or rape. So why is the term "war" treated so lightly? We need consensus. And frankly, that should be a conversation the Congress already had, and since it hasn't, should be a top priority for the next Congress.

From Raw Story:

Reporters at the major cable television networks plan to be on the ground Friday outside a federal district court where the jury considering the fate of President Bush's senior adviser Karl Rove.

No formal indication has been given of Rove's status, though lawyers close to the case have said his fate is likely to be determined soon. Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is investigating the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame, is scheduled to meet with the grand jury in the case Friday.

Hmmm. No "formal" indication, but they're going to be there just in case. Tantalizing. At the very least, based on the assumption that nothing actually happens tomorrow, here's an opportunity for the news media to discuss what could and should happen to Karl Rove should he be indicted. Will he lose his position at the White House? Will he still be heavily coordinating the GOP's fall election campaigns? And what does that say about the Republican Party if he does either?

and tiny Senator Jeff Sessions:

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, argued that the program "is not a warrantless wiretapping of the American people. I don't think this action is nearly as troublesome as being made out here, because they are not tapping our phones."

To summarize their philosophy: It's okay for the government to track who you telephone, period.

If Karl Rove is indicted over Plamegate, will the National Republican Party still allow him to coordinate their fall election campaign? Why haven't I seen any reporters ask this question?

How do you stop illegal immigration? Why... remove the incentive to move to the United States! How do you do that?

I think talk of a third President Bush does that pretty effectively.

Could there be a third President Bush? The current chief said Wednesday that younger brother Jeb would make a great one, too, and has asked him about making a run.

Interesting story here. When Democratic Party candidates criticize Rumsfeld's handling of the war, non-incumbent Republican Party candidates become very lost in their response. As an example, Martha Rainville, a Republican candidate for the U.S. House seat in Vermont, is not getting very good grades from the media for her lost position.

Rainville does face the daunting task of running a campaign for Congress as a Republican in a state where there is deep opposition to the war in Iraq. She cannot be too critical of the Bush White House without alienating Republicans, and yet she cannot appear too tolerant of the administration without dooming her chances of earning enough votes to win the election. Then again, indulging in wishy-washy double-talk is a good bet for insulting the intelligence of voters of all political stripes.

So how long until this campaign issue - nationally - forces Bush's hand?

What could 500 million dollars be spent on...

One year of China's space program... or
Annual purchase of medicines for poor countries afflicted by HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis... or
Air Sahara... or
A vaccine to fight against a possible flu pandemic...
or constructing the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

If only I could make such a decision...

Funny, I don't remember hearing about any riots in DC the past few years. Political protests, sure. But a political protest is NOT a riot, even if you are a Republican and its your party and leaders that are being protested.

Most employers would not give an employee a year off to go work for someone else.

But when the White House calls, the response is generally more amenable.

So when BYU economics professor Mark Showalter was offered a one-year position as an economist with the President's Council of Economic Advisers, the university was more than willing to give Showalter a temporary leave of absence.

When Heidi Showalter and her family relocated to Northern Virginia for her father's job at the White House, she had to adjust to a new high school curriculum and her father's new work schedule.

"It was sad, because he wasn't at home as often," she said. "But when he came home, he'd have these crazy stories about seeing top-secret files and going in rooms where ordinary citizens don't get to go."

She and her family were in the car in downtown Washington, D.C. when she had her first encounter with a political protest.

"We had parked our car near the Ellipse," she said. "There was a huge riot blocking the Ellipse, and we were stuck in our car in the middle of the mob."

So are the students of Brigham Young University being "educated" that there are riots going on in Washington, DC now?

If you could actually see Bush in action with his 31% Approval Rating... we might call him The Amazing Shrinking President.

Beautiful Horizons has an interesting post that sheds considerable light on Bush's world understanding.

Do they really want to have the George W. Bush Presidential Library in their city?

What's wrong with Hillary Clinton being the Democratic nominee for President in 2008?

For starters...

I think that if Hillary Clinton ends up being the candidate in 2008, the Democratic Party will see a cleaving beyond what we've seen the past 40 years. There is a Clinton fatigue - they had 8 years on the world stage, and many people think that is enough. She's less real and more politico in her public persona than many, many other potential candidates, and that seems like the wrong campaign "asset" at this time. For me, she's on the wrong side of the Iraq War equation, has been since the get-go, and I've never had the sense that she took her position for anything more than political expediency, which for me, is unacceptable. I know I'm not alone in that belief.

And frankly, a candidate that makes such a decision for political expediency - and cannot convince the base that her reasons were personal and real and not some sort of political calculus - isn't capable of leading the nation in the first place. We see that with Bush now. Why would Democrats want to repeat that mistake?

Because the editorial is right.

It's not an energy crisis.
It's a leadership crisis.

If the "War on Terrorism" qualifies as a World War, then the Cold War was a World War. I would say that the wars to remove British imperialism around the world was a World War. What about the wars against the Western Hemisphere's native peoples? Seems like a World War under whatever loose guidelines Bush would like to use.

So, we need to start renumbering. There's no way that World War I and World War II should remain those numbers if we're going to accurately include prequels and sequels and whatever else might be considered.

Or, we could consider that World Wars require a considerable number of actual governments of nations declaring war on other governments of nations. That seems to be the historical and general understanding until Bush and the neocons started bastardizing the term around the time of the Iraq invasion. I really don't see why that understanding should be revised today. Does it really help our effort or our results by changing the War on Terrorism to World War III? If not, then quit revising history.

Seems like the number of cases are high in a lot of states...

Porter Goss resigns. How many shoes are about to drop?

There should be such a designation for such folk that waste the public's time passing legislation naming the "official state snack" and other similar doofusry.

They're slimy and they're goopy, they're salty and they're soupy, they're all together ooky, and now boiled peanuts are the official state snack ? love 'em or hate 'em.

The law designating the official snack calls it a true Southern delicacy. But at its signing this week, Gov. Mark Sanford [South Carolina] joked to the Winthrop University student who proposed the idea, "If I'm gonna eat some, you're gonna too."

I've had boiled peanuts before, several times while traveling in the southern states. I tried to keep an open mind, but my verdict's in. They suck.

BTW, there's a growing trend by schools not to serve foods with peanuts in them due to the food allergies and adverse reaction to peanuts. Even this "law" has a safety warning that schools are not required or encouraged to serve peanuts, especially to students with food allergies.

So congratulations go to co-author Representatives Simrill, Bowers, Kennedy, Duncan, Bannister, Ceips, Cobb-Hunter, Leach, Limehouse, Littlejohn, Ott and Scarborough, the unofficial South Carolina State Legislator Imbeciles of 2006.

Richard Cohen said one intelligent thing in his effort to rip Stephen Colbert and defend the politicojournalist asexual processes that occur around Washington:

If Presidents do not attend the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, it would kill the dinner.

And so, I think Americans should beseech George W. Bush to do something right in his Presidency, if he should be President this time next year:

Don't go to the dinner.

Because this ugly manifestation of whatever it used to be ought to be stopped.

Interesting (and hopeful) story from Rhode Island:

The municipal side of the budget at the South Kingstown financial town meeting was completely routine until Moderator Barbara Hackey arrived at line item 1382 - The Narragansett Council Boy Scouts of America ($500). This item was listed among other nonprofit groups, totaling $38,200, under Miscellaneous Boards and Agencies. One resident wondered about how the selection process for funding private organizations works. "Is there any kind of justification with what they want to do with the money? What process or standards do you use?"

Town Manager Stephen Alfred explained that the town solicits requests and organizations send in request letters, which the town council reviews and considers. There is no specific selection criteria.

Nan LeClaire-Conway Hirst stood up first and said, "In this budget, someone is left out. I would like you all to reconsider giving $500 of taxpayer money to an organization that discriminates against gay men and potential leaders."

Alfred explained that this was a first-year request from the scouts for "children in our community to attend summer camp." The Boy Scouts requested $1,130 for eight disadvantaged scouts to attend summer camp.

David Preston, spokesperson for the Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said in a phone interview Wednesday that one week of overnight camp at Camp Yawgoog in Rockville, RI costs $270.

Referring to the scout admissions policy, he said, "This issue has been raised at the Supreme Court and our policies are constitutional. The policy is that scouts frown on open and avowed homosexuality as leaders or members."

By way of explanation of the $500 contributions to the scout summer camp, Alfred offered, "The effort was not an endorsement of the Boy Scouts or what they stand for." "By giving money to the Boy Scouts you are condoning discrimination," countered Courtney Le-Claire Conway. "The town of South Kingstown should not be giving any money to any organization that conducts discrimination of any kind."

"I think it's a mistake to support them in this delusion. I think you should really take it out of the budget," agreed Carl Storm.

Bob Trager said, "I just could say ditto. This is one of the situations where you have to draw the line. You can't give money to a group that discriminates. I think it's quite simple."

When someone asked about a town discrimination policy, Alfred replied, "Of course we are required not to discriminate."

George Hirst stood up and said, "If this group excluded blacks, would you give them money? Cut the $500."

With only about 100 people in attendance at that point, the line item was cut by a voice vote.

Responding to the cut, Preston said, "I never quarrel with the wisdom of the voter. If it's their decision, it's their decision.

None of the other non-profit organizations listed under line item 1300 Miscellaneous Boards and Agencies received cutbacks of any kind.

America needs to be more like Pilate, and less like Jesus.

From the Shamokin News-Item:

Why doesn't President Bush cut down on his trips all over the country all the time? He could conserve those thousands of gallons of fuel used for that airplane. He is running all over, yet he expects Americans who go to work to cut down on their gasoline. The president should set an example and curtail some of that running around on that big airplane of his.

They're Anti-Western U.S. as well. From the Claremore Progress:

It was bad enough when the Minutemen patrolled the border, armed with their binoculars, walkie-talkies and testosterone.

But now they are talking about getting into the construction business, according to the Associated Press.

The leader of the border watch group, branded “vigilantes” by the president, has given federal officials an ultimatum: If the government does not build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, he and his supporters will.

Chris Simcox, who heads the civilian watch group, said he and his mates will start mixing the cement if the president does not deploy military reserves to the border by May 25.

And now, a little Cole Porter ditty worth singing around these people ALL THE TIME:

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don't fence me in
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please, Don't fence me in

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies,
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don't fence me in
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please, Don't fence me in

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in, no
Pop, oh don't you fence me in