Someone actually GETS IT!

The tragedy of September 11th shook our sense of security and made us realize that we, too, are vulnerable to acts of terrorism. Unfortunately, some believe that this threat renders our Constitution obsolete. This is a Constitution for which men and women have died and continue to die and which has made us a model among nations. If that view is allowed to prevail, the terrorists will have won.

It is my sworn duty, and as long as there is breath in my body I'll perform it, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

We will be in recess.
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Whooda thunk

Who would have thought as I was growing up in the Sixties that at some time in a future political conflict, my sympathies would come down squarely on the side of the CIA!

An excellent Plame case summary here

via e-mail

I get a lot of spam but I must say that today was my first ever opportunity to "Authorizate my PayPal account"

Van Jones on the Huffington Post

Somewhere, in all of these stirrings, I see the seeds of a wisdom-based, Earth-honoring, pro-democracy movement – one that affirms and applauds religious and spiritual impulses, while opposing fundamentalism, chauvinism and theocracy. Over time, that kind of progressive movement has the potential to win – and win big – in the United States. To be honest: it is probably the ONLY type of progressive movement that stands a chance in a country as religious as ours.

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from Mark Morford

Rove, with his meager education and porcine sheen and this-one's-for-all-the-girls-who-shunned-me-in-high-school revenge demeanor, essentially reinvented American politics, created a new language of hate and fear, rewrote the GOP rule book to include the notion that actual facts don't matter and a politician can get away with absolutely anything if the denials are orchestrated just right and if the accusers are immediately counterattacked and mistakes are admitted absolutely never.

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Billmon on Coulter

I know Ilse's just trying to stand out in a crowd here, which isn't as easy as it used to be, now that nuking Mecca has gone mainstream.
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From The Green Knight

Jesus once upon a time threw the money-changers out of the temple. The problem is, in America today, the money-changers have built their own.
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From Paul Krugman

"Ultimately, this isn't just about Mr. Rove. It's also about Mr. Bush, who has always known that his trusted political adviser - a disciple of the late Lee Atwater, whose smear tactics helped President Bush's father win the 1988 election - is a thug, and obviously made no attempt to find out if he was the leaker."

Losing all the modifiers and extracting the meat of the sentence yields -

"Mr. Rove is a thug."

It's about time someone said it out loud.

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From Kevin Drum

Who would have thought that one day the White House would be run by someone who made Richard Nixon look responsible and forbearing?

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Just a Thought

Any enterprise that depends on the stupidity of its customers for its success is inherently evil. (Think lottery tickets and infomercials)

Now consider the Bush administration.

Anthony Gregory goes to the heart of the matter.

Conscription is slavery, and if it returns, any arguments over whether America is a free country become obsolete.
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From Riverbend

Don’t Americans know that this vast wasteland of terror and terrorists otherwise known as ‘Abroad’ was home to the first civilizations and is home now to some of the most sophisticated, educated people in the region?

Don’t Americans realize that ‘abroad’ is a country full of people- men, women and children who are dying hourly? ‘Abroad’ is home for millions of us. It’s the place we were raised and the place we hope to raise our children- your field of war and terror.

The war was brought to us here, and now we have to watch the country disintegrate before our very eyes. We watch as towns are bombed and gunned down and evacuated of their people. We watch as friends and loved ones are detained, or killed or pressured out of the country with fear and intimidation.
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