964. La, la, la, la, la, la, la....... I can't hear you

Al Gore was interviewed yesterday by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. Listen here.

Left: Florida, today

Right: Florida, if the Greenland ice sheet melted or broke up (or half of Greenland and half of Antarctica)



Be careful, Mom!

964. That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more

From AP: Ex-Kansas GOP Chair Switches Affiliation

The former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party jumped ship in a big way Tuesday, switching his affiliation to Democrat amid speculation that he would become Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' running mate.

Johnson County Elections Commissioner Brian Newby confirmed that Mark Parkinson, the state GOP chairman from 1999 to 2003, came to the office and switched his party affiliation shortly before noon.

Parkinson's name has been widely circulated as Sebelius' choice for a running mate as the Democratic governor seeks a second term. Current Lt. Gov. John Moore - another former Republican - is retiring when his term expires in early 2007.

[snip]

Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison also switched parties from Republican to Democrat to challenge Attorney General Phill Kline, a Republican, in the November election.

and the rest....

965. O beautiful for spacious skies...

America
Paul Simon, 1968

"Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together
I've got some real estate here in my bag"
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And walked off to look for America

"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now"
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've come to look for America

Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera"

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat"
"We smoked the last one an hour ago"
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping
"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America


Listen to America here,
performed by Simon & Garfunkel,
(Bookends album, 1968)

965. 89

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
May 29, 1917 - Nov. 22, 1963

966. In memoriam

Too often things are far from simple...

967. .... and stay out!

Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/24/2006

968. It's the Constitution, stupid!

Samuel Johnson warned us in 1775 that "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". Ambrose Bierce commenting on Johnson's quote in 1946 added "With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first.”

These last 5+ years of a Bush administration and Republican monopoly in Congress have proven the points.

But now we regretfully must add that the administration's unparalleled secrecy and claims of national security to quash any kind of judicial, Congressional or public oversight to NSA, FBI and other spying on Americans have added whole new levels to the meaning of scoundrel.

Bush has always claimed that he trusts the people. What the deciderer really means is that he has the utmost of contempt for the people, and of a sinfully compliant Congress as well. Always has, always will. It's just that at a time when the people had more faith -- at times, a lot more faith -- in him, the contempt may not have seemed so obvious to most of them.

968. Loyal, warm, and fun-loving

From The Harvard Crimson: Bush’s Personal Aide To Enroll at Business School

A 26-year-old college dropout who carries President Bush’s breath mints and makes him peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches will follow in his boss’s footsteps this fall when he enrolls at Harvard Business School (HBS).

Though it is rare for HBS—or any other professional or graduate school—to admit a student who does not have an undergraduate degree, admissions officers made an exception for Blake Gottesman, who for four years has served as special assistant and personal aide to Bush.

Gottesman, a Texas native who attended Claremont-McKenna College in California for one year, has long had ties to the Bush family. He dated the president’s daughter, Jenna Bush, nearly ten years ago when he attended St. Andrew’s Episcopal School of Austin.

In his current role, Gottesman performs a wide range of duties, from dog-sitting the president’s Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, to carrying the president’s speeches and giving him the “two-minute warning” before a speech begins.

Gottesman has declined all requests for comment on his business school admission, but White House staffers have described him as loyal, warm, and fun-loving.

and the rest....

969. Location, location, location

From Forbes.com:

Two disgraced Enron executives, founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling, were found guilty on all six counts and 19 of 28 counts, respectively. Both face lengthy prison terms.

Where they will serve their time can be almost as important as how much time they'll do, says Alan Ellis, a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Ellis now specializes in the defense of white-collar offenders.

Although criminals don't get to choose their prisons, they can make requests. And assuming their desired location matches their security classification, as defined by the Bureau of Prisons--minimum, low, medium or high--and has space available, requests are often honored.

Continue on to Forbes.com for a slide show of the 12 best places to go to prison....

969. Kenny Who?

NY Times.....

Guilty of crimes — and a whole lot more.

Regardless of whether the jury verdict against Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling is upheld, testimony from 56 days of trial has sealed what is sure to be history's judgment — one that is unlikely to be vulnerable to appeal.

The Enron case will forever stand as the ultimate reflection of an era of near madness in finance, a time in the late 1990's when self-certitude and spin became a substitute for financial analysis and coherent business models. Controls broke down and management deteriorated as arrogance overrode careful judgment, allowing senior executives to blithely push aside their critics.

Indeed, it could be argued that the most significant lesson from the trial had nothing to do with whether the defendants, both former Enron chief executives, committed the crimes charged in their indictments. Instead, the testimony and the documents admitted during the case painted a broad and disturbing portrait of a corporate culture poisoned by hubris, leading ultimately to a recklessness that placed the business's survival at risk.

"Enron is one of the great frauds in American business history," said James Post, a professor of management at Boston University...

and the rest...

970. Honest!

Abebooks.com must have spent a pretty penny featuring this fake book in a large ad in a recent print version Harper's Magazine.

971. Turning points

Yet one more for good measure...

972. 25 years, 123 days

From AP:

Since leaving the White House in 1981, Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale have set the standard for public service after holding the nation's highest offices. Today, they set the record for longevity as well: the Democrats have lived 25 years, 123 days since leaving office.

Carter was 52 and Mondale was 48 when they took office in 1976. Carter is 81 and Mondale is 78 now.

Trivia question: Whose after office longevity record did they beat? Answer at the full AP story here.

972. Getting harder every day

973. Incurious George

From AP:

Is President Bush likely to see Al Gore's documentary about global warming?

"Doubt it," Bush said coolly Monday.

[snip]

Speaking Saturday in France at the Cannes Film Festival about global warming, Gore said, "I even believe there is a chance that within the next two years, even (President) Bush and (Vice President) Dick Cheney will be forced to change their position on this crisis," he said. "One can only attempt to create one's own reality for so long. Reality proper has a way of insisting itself upon you."

and the rest...

What? And miss the "Gilligan's Island" marathon?

973. The president, torture and other things

I was invited last night to a special preview screening of the hour 23 episode of "24"..... yeah, the one that's going to be first broadcast tonight. Fantastic! (At least most of the nearly 1,000 participants thought so.) The screening was followed by a panel discussion, featuring cast members, producers, writers and terrorism policy experts*, titled "24"and the War on Terror: Can Truth Learn From Fiction? organized by the Washington, D.C. based think tank Center for American Progress and Fox Television. Thoughts:

First Lady Jean Smart got the loudest ovation, significantly louder than Kiefer Sutherland.

Consistently emphasized by all parties: both liberals and conservatives work on the show at all levels.... there is NO political agenda behind the show. It's a TV show! Story imperatives dictate the action, whether it's a torture scene or the fact that cell phones always work. (Jack Bauer's two scenes over five years where he eats ended up on the cutting room floor.)

Being held in Los Angeles, virtually every question from the audience was directed towards the cast and crew, rather than towards the policy experts.

Panel moderator Matt Miller, one of my favorite all-around commentators, columnists and policy wonks did a superb job of keeping the discussion moving, interesting and on subject. He got the crowd off to a rollicking start by describing "24" as the show that asks the question "When is it proper to torture a sitting president?"

We're in deep doo-doo.

* Panel participants: Cast (Kiefer Sutherland, Jean Smart, Gregory Itzin), Producers/writers (Joel Surnow, Evan Katz, another whose name I forget, sorry), Policy experts (Morton Halperin, David Crane, Brian Michael Jenkins, Jack Weiss)

974. It all depends on what the meaning of "strong" is

"I am a strong supporter of the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and civil liberties," Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) remarked at yesterday's Hayden confirmation hearings, "but you have no civil liberties if you are dead."

Sieg heil, y'all!

974. Peek-a-boo, I see you!

Tom Toles, The Washington Post, 5/18/2006

975. Isn't it time to show the president how much we appreciate his service to this country?

976. The Springtime of Love

Giuliani-Reed. . . . . . . . . . .McCain-Falwell

2008 is closer than we think.

976. All-American Un-American

Down to only 2 on American Idol (including Katharine McPhee from my hometown, Sherman Oaks, CA)..... seems like a good time to trot out an updated version of my 2004 graphic.

977. But we make it up in volume

From AP: Texas Considers Raising Speed Limit

Drivers on two West Texas highways could soon be able to go 80 mph without risking a speeding ticket.

A proposal by the state Department of Transportation seeks to raise the speed limit on Interstates 10 and 20 in West Texas, despite opposition from fuel conservation advocates. The Texas Transportation Commission could take up the proposal next week.

Legislation passed last year allows for higher speeds in 10 West Texas counties, most of which currently have 75 mph speed limits.

Carlos Lopez, director of traffic operations for the transportation department, said a survey of both interstates found that 85 percent of motorists already were driving up to 79 mph.

My guess is that after the speed limit is increased to 80 mph, 85% of motorists will start driving up to 84 mph.

But with gas prices at a premium, some groups said drivers should be encouraged to slow down rather than speed up.

Increasing the speed limit "will have a perverse reaction," said Peter Iwanowicz, director of environmental health at the American Lung Association. "Increasing the speed limit will increase fuel use."

U.S. Department of Energy studies show gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph.

Transportation department spokesman Randall Dillard said the 80 mph speed limit was also intended to make the interstate safer, because motorists would be traveling at a uniform speed.

Come again, Randall?

Image: Gilbert Art Gallery

978. Borderline

I admit that this is really horrible of me.

Yesterday, while taking a walk in the neighborhood, I passed by numerous newspaper machines featuring the Los Angeles Daily News with the big, bold headline:

6,000 Troops Along Border

regarding the president's plan to deploy National Guard troops along the U.S.-Mexican border. Yet, because of my deep distrust of the president, the underlying thought that went through my mind was of this.

German troops pull down the checkpoints on the German-
Polish border, signalling the beginning of World War II
(Wikipedia/Poles on the front of WW2)

978. The DubVinci Code

I posted this on SoCal Grassroots back when the Dubai ports scandal was in the news. (Remember that disaster? It was all of 10 weeks ago. I guess it's just darn hard work to keep track of things when mountains of administration incompetence, corruption and duplicity is exposed daily.)

Seems appropriate again this week.

979. What National Guard?

Well, if the Guard doesn't work out, we can always follow Tom Lehrer's suggestion (from 1965):

When someone makes a move
Of which we don't approve,
Who is it that always intervenes?
U.N. and O.A.S.,*
They have their place, I guess,
But first - send the Marines!

We'll send them all we've got,
 John Wayne and Randolph Scott;
Remember those exciting fighting scenes?
To the shores of Tripoli,
But not to Mississippoli,
What do we do?  We send the Marines!

For might makes right,
And till they've seen the light,
They've got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
Till somebody we like can be elected.

Members of the corps
All hate the thought of war;
They'd rather kill them off by peaceful means.
Stop calling it aggression,
Ooh, we hate that expression!
We only want the world to know
That we support the status quo.
They love us everywhere we go,
So when in doubt,
Send the Marines!

Don't miss Tom Lehrer singing "Send the Marines" here.

981. An idea whose time has come

The states have taken the lead in trying to remove the undeniable and often corrupting influence of campaign money. Arizona, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Mexico and North Carolina all have passed legislation on some form of Clean Money campaigns. My own California and other states are on the way.

But these laws only cover state, and possibly local, elections.

I just learned today about a campaign headed up by some very high powered folks to enact meaningful public financing of federal elections. $6 per person per year is what it'll cost. That's it. Full public funding of all federal elections.

Isn't this an idea whose time has come?

From Americans For Campaign Reform (ACR) just6dollars.org:

Congress would only have to spend $6 per citizen per year to publicly fund each and every election for the House, the Senate and the White House. When you consider that "pork barrel" projects cost every one of us more than $200 last year alone, it’s no contest.

Think of it. With public funding, wealthy special interests and their hired lobbyists would no longer have a commanding influence over our politics and government. Instead of begging for campaign donations, candidates would spend their time communicating with voters. Once elected, our leaders would be free to focus on our nation's challenges rather than having to worry about financing their next campaign. And there's no doubt that more of our most able leaders would run for federal office when the ability to finance a campaign isn't such a daunting obstacle.

Americans for Campaign Reform is building a nonpartisan grassroots movement of citizens who support voluntary public funding and want Congress to act now. We can make this happen. Public funding is already working in Arizona and Maine, and was just passed by the Connecticut legislature.

As citizens we can complain about the corrosive influence of our election finance system, or we can do something about it. With your help, we can mobilize citizens across the country and put pressure on Congress to enact real reform.

ACR Honorary Chairs,

Former U.S. Senators Bill Bradley (D, NJ), Bob Kerrey (D, NE), Warren Rudman (R, NH), Alan Simpson (R, WY)

982. Oopsie!

Well, there goes the rest of the neighborhood country. That didn't take long. Turns out that ol' Dick Cheney was intent on spying domestically without warrants right from the beginning.

From NY Times: "Cheney pushed U.S. to widen eavesdropping"

In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney and his top legal adviser argued that the National Security Agency should intercept purely domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without warrants in the hunt for terrorists, according to two senior intelligence officials.

But N.S.A. lawyers, trained in the agency's strict rules against domestic spying and reluctant to approve any eavesdropping without warrants, insisted that it should be limited to communications into and out of the country, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the debate inside the Bush administration late in 2001.

The N.S.A.'s position ultimately prevailed. But just how Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the agency at the time, designed the program, persuaded wary N.S.A. officers to accept it and sold the White House on its limits is not yet fully clear.

and the rest....

So, is this supposed to make us feel better and safer going into the Hayden C.I.A. hearings.... that the N.S.A. prevented the administration from imposing upon its citizens egregious and widespread violations of the Constitution and federal law, by compromising with them on only imposing semi-egregious (and apparently still widespread) violations?

983. But 100,000,000 Americans aren't being spied on

Not yet...


Remember this scene from "The Simpsons" episode "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk"?

At work, Homer takes a call from his stockbroker....

Broker: Your stock in the power plant just went up for the first time in ten years.

Homer: I own stock?

Broker: Yes, all the employees got some in exchange for waiving certain Constitutional rights.

983. Last chance!

GM announced that production of the Hummer H1 is expected to come to an end next month. You too can the first..... and the last on your block to own one.

The details, if you must....

984. Or are you just happy to see me?

Pic from dood abides. (So what if a few pixels got moved around.)

And so it looks like poster girl Katherine is gonna be the Repugnicant nominee in Florida.

985. "I'll take Failed Presidencies for $400, Alex"

The last 10 national polls on Bush's approval ratings show the following averages:

Approval......... 34%
Disapproval..... 60%
Unsure............. 6%

Many are asking "Who are these 34% that are still insisting that Bush is doing a good job?" Well, many people are willfully blind while others are benefitting handsomely (financially and/or spiritually) from the president's failures.

Personally, I can't help but wondering "Who are these 6% of U.S. adults, evidently functional in using the telephone and in holding something of a rational conversation, that are still unsure about how they feel?"

986. The "o" word

Let's not allow the temptation of the "i" word to overwhelm the importance to our nation of the "o" word. The threat of impeachment is important and necessary. But we should focus on Oversight. It's been missing in action for over 5 years under this corrupt and incompetent Congress, and we're far worse off for it.

John Conyers tells it like it is over at The Huffington Post:

It's not every day a Congressman from Detroit has his name mentioned on, not one, but two Sunday morning news shows.

First, on ABC's This Week, I was taken to task by none other than the soon-to-be-ex-Congressman Tom DeLay. Democrats should not be allowed to take back the House, he said. Why? Because, he claimed, "John Conyers will be the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee if the Democrats take over. John Conyers is to the left of your next guest, Howard Dean and he's already participated in mock impeachment hearings." Funny, I don't remember that hearing. I did organize a Democratic forum on the Downing Street Minutes, but that was not about impeachment, and the Republicans wouldn't even let us have a room for it.

[snip]

Perhaps Mr. Russert has forgotten, but I have been a Chairman before. For five years, from 1989 to 1994, I was the Chairman of the House Government Operations Committee, now called the Government Reform Committee. I have a record of trying to expose government waste, fraud and abuse.

That was back when Congress did something called "oversight." You know, in our tri-partite system of government, when Congress actually acted like a co-equal branch. The Republican Congress decided to be a rubber stamp for President Bush instead.

Perhaps, if we had a little oversight, we wouldn't be mired in a war based on false pretenses in which we have lost thousands of our brave men and women in uniform and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

Perhaps we would not have had an energy policy drawn up in secret with oil company executives that has led to gas prices of more than three dollars per gallon.

and the rest....

987. Semantics

Bush was interviewed by Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper: "I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5-pound perch in my lake," he told the newspaper in an interview published Sunday. Bush said the worst moment was Sept. 11, 2001....

Seems to be that the best thing to ever happen to Bush was 9/11....

987. Hayden nominated to CIA

I feel safer already. (But that's all I'm gonna say.... I plead the 4th Amendment.)

Hayden-Muffley

988. BullPucky

Hasn't BP been spending a shitload of money on ads telling us how environmentally friendly they are?

From AP:

The nation's worst polluting plant is the BP PLC oil refinery where 15 workers died in an explosion last year, raising questions about whether the company has been underreporting toxic emissions.

BP's Texas City refinery released three times as much pollution in 2004 as it did in 2003, according to the most recent data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The increase at BP was so large that it accounted for the bulk of a 15 percent increase in refinery emissions nationwide in 2004, the highest level since 2000.

The company is investigating whether it has been accurately documenting pollution, the Houston Chronicle reported on Sunday. There could be more federal fines levied against the energy giant if mistakes are found.

BP already faces a record $21.3 million fine from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 300 safety and health violations found at the Texas City refinery after the deadly explosion in March 2005 that also injured 170 workers.

and the rest....

Image: "BP Exec", Nick Turner, at Art Not Oil

989. "Hello, I Must Be Gossing"

Hello, I Must Be Gossing*

Hello, I must be gossing.
I cannot stay,
I came to say
I must be gossing.
I'm glad I came
but just the same
I must be gossing.

For my sake you must stay,
for if you goss away,
you'll spoil this party I am throwing.

I'll stay a week or two,
I'll stay the summer through,
but I am telling you,
I must be gossing.

*Sung to the tune of "Hello, I Must Be Going"
from the Marx Brothers film "Animal Crackers"

990. Oil is as oil does

From AP:

Vice President Dick Cheney traveled to Kazakhstan on Friday for talks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, seeking to maximize access to the vast oil and gas reserves in the central Asian nation with a troubled human-rights record.

Cheney became the fourth top administration official to visit the former Soviet republic in recent months, underscoring the importance placed on a country that is strategically located and an ally in the war on terror, as well as rich in energy resources.

[snip]

Energy aside, one senior administration official said the vice president would prod Nazarbayev to make further democratic reforms in the country he has ruled since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.

"The government's human-rights record remains poor," according to a recent State Department report.

[snip]

Meanwhile, a private group said Kazakh authorities on Friday barred an opposition leader from traveling to the capital Astana for a meeting with Cheney.

Police refused to grant Galymzhan Zhakiyanov permission to leave his home city, the commercial capital Almaty, the For a Fair Kazakhstan Alliance said in a statement. Zhakiyanov and other leaders of the alliance were invited to meet with Cheney in Astana on Saturday.

Last month, Zhakiyanov and another opposition leader, Bolat Abilov, were barred from leaving the country for meetings with European officials. Sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of office, Zhakiyanov was considered the Central Asian nation's highest-profile political prisoner before his early release in January.

[snip]

Along with its economic reforms, Boucher said, the nation "has an opportunity to achieve stability by upholding standards of democracy and human rights."

Nazarbayev has ruled the country, which shares borders with China and Russia, since the Soviet Union broke up, and recently was elected to what he has said will be his last term. The elections have been criticized for failing to meet international standards, but administration reaction has been muted. One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters that the "trend, even though it's not as fast as we would like, is in the right direction."

Still, an opposition leader, Altynbek Sarsenbayev, was killed earlier this year, prompting protests.

990. The street

May 4, 1970
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, "Ohio"

991. Fission Accomplished (Part 2)

Laura Bush explains it all to us (via her interview with CNN's John King):

Apparently when the c'mander-'n-chief told us 3 years ago from the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln that the mission was accomplished (under that huge banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished"), he only meant that the mission of that aircraft carrier had been accomplished.

Wasn't that obvious at the time? What's the big deal? If you don't believe me, here's what W actually said on that fateful day. (Well, sorta....)

991. And here's the next pitch.... up and in

Katherine Harris has a new video ad. Check it out at her campaign site. (Tip to C&L)

992. Ah, memories....

A comment at Think Progress (regarding Frist's lame attempt to blame Clinton for our high gas prices):

REMEMBER WHEN CLINTON KEPT SAYING HE WAS GOING TO ATTACK IRAN,

AND THE PRICE OF OIL STAYED AT A REALLY HIGH PRICE BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF A POSSIBLE ATTACK ON IRAN

AND THEN EVERYBODY REALIZED THAT A LOT OF CLINTON’S FRIENDS WERE IN THE OIL INDUSTRY

AND THAT THOSE FRIENDS KEPT GETTING RICHER FROM THE OIL PRICES THAT STAYED HIGH BECAUSE OF A POSSIBLE ATTACK ON IRAN?

neither do i .

Thanx, pgw....

992. Outrage

In a post discussing the often adverse relationships between the progressive blogosphere (and activists) and both the traditional mainstream media and the Democratic establishment, Digby said something that really spoke to me. Something that spoke to the outrage that has grown in me over these last several years, only since I've reached middle age.

Haha. I see that Chris Bowers has accurately, in my view, characterized the beltway mentality about blogs as "adults vs teenagers," which is funny considering the title I gave this post. At my age, being called a teen-ager is a compliment, although it's hardly believable.

[snip]

But beyond all that, this is probably a fairly accurate analysis of how the blogosphere is perceived and those who believe it miss the point. I have been following politics for a long while and, believe it or not, by temperament I'm fairly low key. (Some might say I'm dead inside.) I was a fervent 70's reformer and a strong anti-Reaganite, but even then I can't say that I was particularly rabid in my beliefs. It was never my personal style to be a bombthrower.

I suspect that many others who are engaged in the netroots like me became radicalized in their 30's and 40's by a Republican Party that started to behave as an openly undemocratic institution. Why so many of these establishment Democrats and insider press corps aren't exercised by this after what we've seen, I can't imagine. Perhaps they just can't see the forest for the trees. This past decade has not been business as usual. (emphasis added)

History has many examples of societies that enabled radical political factions to dominate, through inertia, cynicism or plain intimidation. It happened in Europe in the 25 years before I was born and almost destroyed the whole planet. I know it's unfashionably hysterical to be concerned about such things, but I have never believed that America was so "exceptional" that it couldn't happen here.

The stakes are incredibly high. Without the cold war polarity, the US has bigger responsibilities than ever. And instead of behaving like a mature democracy and world leader, we have been alternating from adolescent tabloid obsessives to playground bullies. This is serious business.

The center-left blogosphere may sound overwrought, but in fact it is a rational, clear-headed response to what has been happening --- and continues to happen as this country's political establishemt fiddles and fulminates about civility.

The entire post is long, but well worth the time....