Our Government Is Wiping Its Collective Ass With The Constitution, The Federalist Papers, And Pretty Much All International Law.

Habeus Corpus is on its way out, too.

That's It, Folks. America Died Yesterday.

Senate votes in favor of torture.

There's nothing more to say.

A Gift In The Mail.

Last night, I got a wonderful little package in the mail--a CD Karen burned for me in memory of the Dave Matthews show we went to at the Gorge Ampitheatre September 2nd.

She'd painstakingly taken notes during the show of the setlist, and she then hunted down even the new, unreleased material they'd played and burned it onto a compilation CD. It was like the old days, when you'd get a mix tape from the one you love, only this one came complete with cover art (a color picture of the band at the Gorge) and a personalized note from Monster K herself:

"I hope you enjoy it at least one tenth as much as I enjoyed the show itself, and being there with you!"

I'm certain I will, but the pleasure was all mine. Airfare to Seattle Labor Day weekend: $xxx.xx. Seventeenth-row seats to the sold-out Dave Matthews show at the Gorge: $xxx.xx. Watching an outstanding show and putting my arm around Karen as she got (joyfully) weepy* during "Crash Into Me": priceless.

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*Sorry, honey. But it's true.

Quote Of The Day, Pt. II

"If large and important parts of the [National Intelligence Estimate] can be safely declassified and known by the American public, why were they classified in the first place? And why have they been kept classified since April? Obviously, the NIE is being declassified now only because the White House needs a political defense to the New York Times article reporting that the NIE concluded that the war in Iraq worsened the terrorist threat. But it is really amazing just how transparent the White House is being about the fact that it routinely conceals information as "classified" not because it is secret but because it is politically damaging. What other explanation even theoretically accounts for this behavior?"

--Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com. [Emphasis mine.]

We Aren't Safe.

And now, I suppose, we're to believe that the "liberal" media are spinning things to undermine American confidence in St. George.

That's right. We're all just fearmongering, America-hating Islamofascist sympathizers.

After all, Shrub & Co. have protected us from another terrorist attack on American soil for the last five years. Gee, it's so obvious that we're safe from terrorism since we've not been attacked again!

Not like the absence of evidence equalling the evidence of absence, or anything. Get stuffed, Cliff.

The Trap.

"But what in the hell are the Dems going to do if McCain makes a deal and this thing gets to the floor? Are they actually going to vote for a bill that eliminates habeas corpus for terrorist suspects? Because if they don't, you know what the Republicans are going to be saying, don't you? After all, the saviors of the republic and guardian kinghts of the constitution say this bill is ok. The only reason the Dems can possibly have for opposing it now is that they are terrorist loving cowards."

--Digby, on the problem of Democrats approving the McCain-Graham-Warner bill.

Catch-22. Approve a bill that strips away yet another basic freedom enjoyed by Americans, or be called an Islamofascist sympathizer.

You know, this isn't a new strategy. We've seen it before:

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

--Herman Goering.

At Last, The Claims Of A Liberal Media Are True!

Ladies and gentlemen, my hero, Mr. Keith Olbermann.

Finally, finally, someone who isn't afraid to call the administration out on all their bullshit, their lies, their misdirection, their cowardice, and their criminality. Finally, finally, someone who rightly lays the blame for the current state of affairs at the feet of pansy-ass, candy-ass so-called journalists that enable a tyrannical regime by failing to be the watchdog of the people.

There may yet be hope. We just have to remember that Rome didn't fall in a day.

Jesus Camp, Mars Hill, and Evangelism: Will I Never Get Out Of The Bible Belt?

"It would have been so easy to make a farce, to ridicule these people, to do a liberal lynching," Ewing says. "We could have done it in our sleep, with the material we had. Instead, we edited this film for 10 months to make sure that we were being fair, so that we could sleep at night. Being fair is all you owe your subject. And the subjects of our film, Ted Haggard aside, believe that it's fair and accurate. We're showing them the way they are in their lives."

--Heidi Ewing on her controversial documentary, Jesus Camp.

Haggard's problem is likely that he's portrayed in the film as "a cynical, showbizzy creep," according to Andrew O'Hehir at Salon.com. Gee, that sounds familiar. I seem to recall another Christian evangelist who, apart from his fundamentalist, misogynist douchebaggery, has further earned my ire for marketing Jesus, Inc. to my generation by dressing it up with the trappings of hipster youth culture.

What a scumbag. Someone tell me why it is that when a church preys on young people who are lost, searching for an answer, and in need of structure, rules, and a sense of family, it gets the pseudo-legitimate name of "evangelism" rather than "cult," which is (psychologically speaking) the more accurate term. I don't think Driscoll is hording guns, but aside from that, I don't see the difference between him and David Koresh. I really don't.

Anyway, I'm going to have to see Jesus Camp. I applaud Ewing and Grady for going to such pains to make a fair documentary. Still, I don't think a "liberal lynching" is even called for: Give fundamentalists enough rope, and they'll hang themselves.

Quote Of The Day.

"If you just look at how we are perceived in the world and the kind of criticism we have taken over Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and renditions, whether we believe it or not, people are now starting to question whether we're following our own high standards."

--Colin Powell, on America being perceived globally as a terrorist state and Bush's desire to "clarify" Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.

Dallas Sweet Dallas.

For almost as long as I can remember I've wanted to live in Dallas, and since 1997 I've called Dallas home. But I just got back to my apartment a few minutes ago from my second trip to Seattle this year, and I have to say that Dallas feels less like "my home" and more like "my toilet."

It's just a place that, for the time being, I park my ass and leave my shit.