This was originally a reply on a friend's post, but it got long so I decided to keep the rambles on my own lj.Over the past few years, I've started playing a game where I imagine what I'd do or say if I could meet the president and had to condense all my complicated thoughts and emotions about his policies and job into a quick sound byte. Playing ( Read more... )

The Rude Pundit publishes his year-in-review haikus and solicits for reader submissions. None of it's quite as bleakly snappy as last year's (Worst Year So Far, Part 3: The View from the Homeland - Rats at Walter Reed / At least have homes and lower / Rates of suicide.) But hell, this year wasn't as bleak- and he gets bonus points for analogizing ( Read more... )

This is some stellar leadership, right here.
While Bush has been briefed on the situation by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, he has opted not to interrupt his final vacation as president to make a public statement on the [Israel-Palestine] crisis ( Read more... )

John Hinderaker, Powerline:
Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets ( Read more... )

If you're anything like me, you are very soft on economics and you understand very little of the current economic crisis in America and how it can be fixed.

But you should at least read this. After reading dozens of articles and blog posts, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that the Bush-backed bailout plan is not just disastrous for ( Read more... )

Democracy Now! is asking that you contact the authorities to ask that the charges be dropped against their people. Numbers and e-mail addies provided.

The Minnesota Independent claims that three peace activists were stopped by police because the car they were in was on a "federal stop-and-search list." If true, this is pretty horrifying; not ( Read more... )

What can I say, I'm still pissed.

More details on AP photographer Matt Rourke's arrest.

The police are now stating that they arrested 286 people at the protests yesterday, which sounds a bit more realistic.

( More comments on the journalists' arrests under the cut )

The police in Minneapolis and St. Paul have been raiding the homes of potential protesters of the RNC convention. Raids have involved 25-30 man swat teams with heavy arms entering homes (with and without search warrants), handcuffing and detaining people in the houses and on the scene (including journalists and lawyers), seizing computers, ( Read more... )

If any of you were quietly doubting the "30 released Guantanimo detainees have returned to the battlefield" narrative but didn't know how to prove it was bs: Obsidian Wings to the rescue.

From Seton Hall Law Center's research:
"Extending to the Government the benefit of the doubt as to ambiguous cases, the list of possible Guantánamo recidivists ( Read more... )