Is Larry Johnson being pwned?  After what I’ve read here (and elsewhere) today, I have to ask that question.

human kind cannot bear very much reality

     --from Burnt Norton by T. S. Eliot

Yesterday the United States Congress passed a bill to provide emergency supplemental funding for military operations in Iraq through September 30, 2007.  I look at this bill and I see very much reality.

Al Gore has said he's not running for President, but he hasn't made the "if nominated I will not stand, if elected I will not serve" speech.  What is he thinking?

Well, I believe Al Gore is thinking about how he can best serve his nation and the future interests of humanity.

Today the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee held a hearing on private contracting in Iraq.  Director Robert Greenwald, who was invited to testify by Rep. Jim Moran, prepared a short video of excerpts from the film "Iraq For Sale" which he intended to show at the hearing.  However, due to Republican objections, the video was not allowed to be shown in Congress.

Look below the fold to see the video that Republicans refused to watch.

There's a diary on the recommended list today reporting that the hosting server for the Ohio Secretary of State website was changed on or shortly before November 3, 2004.  As I explained in a
comment, the hosting server in question was not counting the votes.  Furthermore, there are reasonable explanations for why the hosting server would be changed during a period when heavy traffic could be anticipated.

During the 2004 election in Ohio there was thumb on the scale -- but it wasn't put there through a website hosting server.

UPDATE #2 - Get the whole story at ePluribusMedia

The diary on the recommended list is incomplete and fails to reference a 2006 story by ePluribusMedia. Read that story to understand what really happened and why it IS significant. Further relevant links can be found here.

I apologize for this short diary that covers ground previously tromped by Kos and others.  However, certain warnings bear repeating.

Personally, I like all of the current likely Democratic candidates for president in '08.  I would gladly support any of them as the nominee.  At present I favor Obama because he seems to have that rare quality of charisma that could unite and inspire the nation in what may be difficult times ahead.  Thus it has troubled me greatly to see folks who represent themselves as Obama supporters attempting to drag down other candidates in ways that not only undermine the Democratic brand, but also have potential to harm Obama. Then it hit me:

Beware of wolves in Obama clothing.

Earlier today, the Recommended list included an interesting diary about Republican smear tactics, citing as an example the smear against John Edwards over the price of a haircut.

Thinkg it over, it seems to me that the progressive community needs to seize on such smears as an opportunity to attack myths about money perpetrated by the right.  In particular, we need to expose and attack a myth that is deeply embedded in the right-wing world view:

Myth:  "Ownership" wealth is the noblest form of weath.

Can the claim of Executive privilege apply to the current Congressional investigation into the forced resignation of U. S. Attorneys?  Because the issue is obstruction of justice, it cannot.  In this matter Congress has the clear authority and responsibility to investigate and to provide such oversight as may be required to insure a government of laws.

However, I think it is important to recognize that Executive privilege based on separation of powers is not the privilege the Bush administration is seeking when it proposes to provide information to Congress in secret and off the record.

The sovereign of a nation is the holder of the ultimate authority for the government of that nation.  In the United States of America, who is sovereign?  Is it the President?  Is it the Congress?  Is it the Supreme Court?  Follow me below the fold for a discussion of sovereignty and its relevance to the Bush administration's proposal to communicate with Congress in secret and off the record regarding the USA forced resignations.

If you are referring to Valerie Wilson as "Valerie Plame" or simply as "Plame," I urge you to reconsider. I also urge you to think about why she has come to be referred to by that name.

Her name is Valerie Wilson.  For more about that, follow me below the fold.

My qualifications for writing this diary are simply this:  When I was growing up, I frequently had to deal with extremist right-wing views.  In order to defend myself, I worked hard to understand what was going on in the minds of those who espoused such views.  On the basis of this, I am offering some advice about how to talk with right-wingers about Valerie Plame Wilson.

UPDATE:  If you want to see a good example of the right-wing mind in action, check out the comment below by poster Rohan.

The Uncle Remus stories are public domain due to their historic date of publication.  So without any violation of copyright law, I can post this for the enjoyment of those who have been following the Nevada debate tale.

"Didn't the fox never catch the rabbit, Uncle Remus?" asked the little boy the next evening.

"He came mighty nigh it, honey, sho's you born - Brer Fox did.

Follow me below the fold for the rest of the tale.

This is being covered at TPM, but I haven't seen a Kos diary on this yet.  Senator Diane Feinstein has spoken out about this on the Senate floor.  Below the fold is my transcription of the first part of her remarks.

I've been told by a friend that there was someone who called into the Ed Schultz show today and said she had seen a scan of the letter sent out to voters who would be purged if they did not respond.

Since there are delayed broadcasts of the Ed Schultz show available on the web, folks here should be able to verify this for themselves. UPDATE: I listened to an Internet streamed delayed broadcast of the show. You can read what the caller said below the fold.

Whether we are talking about Foley or Iraq -- or rape and forced abortion in the Marinas, or the defrauding of Native American tribes, or the raiding of the Ohio worker's compensation fund, or the continuing Katrina debacle, (and the list goes on)...

The core issue is the same: betrayal of trust.

Today the United States Senate is likely to vote on legislation that will undermine the Geneva Conventions against torture and inhumane treatment of captive persons.

This diary is a call for action.

UPDATE I've updated this diary to include phone and fax numbers for four key Senators. If there are other Senators that seem to be taking the lead on this, please describe their activites and post their contact information in comments.

If you want to become "the fastest man on earth," it helps to be part of a team that's politically savvy.  That's one of the themes of the movie "The Right Stuff," and it's also the theme of this diary.  Do Democrats have the right stuff?  Follow me below the fold for some thoughts about what we might learn from Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and his fellow astronauts.

There's an aspect of the PT911 business that I haven't seen much discussed:  Why did they release advance copies in a way that would pretty much guarantee that the content of the movie would be widely publicized in advance of its showing?  Was it just to generate controversey and buzz, or were there other motives as well?  

I'm going to offer the hypothesis that the advance copies were intended to create a political trap by exploiting the paradox of liberal values.