A Hard Week At Work - Blackwater Activities in the week of 9/11

Would it be possible for congress to pass a law that would declare any US citizen in a country we occupied to be bound by US Federal or Military law? It seems a reasonable law to me and something that Congress might actually be able to accomplish.

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Video: Hillary Clinton’s “evil laughter”

Not quite the Dean Scream but close!

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Petraeus Report, Logged Live

Live blogging of the report to Congress. Complete with pictures, humor and insight.

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Iraqi Oversight Director Flees Maliki

Iraq’s chief watchdog overseer in charge of discovering corruption, had to flee the country with his family on fear of death from the Maliki government.

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"Is Hillary A Shallow Liar?" And Other Fair Questions - Debate Review

"...the debate that began as a backhanded message that Obama was not ready to be President was proof that, at last, he truly is."Matt delivers a great review of an abysmal debate.

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Clinton "Lead" A False Indicator in Drudge-Hyped Field Poll

Hillary Clinton seems as unstoppable a westward force as Hurricane Dean, as a new Field Poll prominently featured on the Drudge Report indicates - thing is, it’s a false indicator. The polling method is shoddy at best, having only been a random sample of 418 households.

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Petraeus Conquers Stalling Congresses, Spreads Hope

Finally it feels like there might be an end in sight with some realistic hope for a positive outcome. Great Analysis. It makes me want to hug Petraeus and squeeze him till he begs for mercy.

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The Democratic Debate on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Issues

Review of last nights debate. Matt watches so we don't have to.

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Obama at Soldier Field

Good to see a review of Obama's performance. His take down of Dodd and Clinton was the highlight of the debate, along with Joe Biden's classic answer, "Yes."

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The Soldier Field Democratic Debates

Another great debate review from Matt. Informative, interesting and amusing read. His take on Dennis Kuchinich being the Dems own Ron Paul seemed just about right. They both seem to have an abundance of passion and energy but Kuchinich I think additionally inhaled some helium causing him to bubble and bounce with grand enthusiasm.

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The Iowa GOP Debate

Informative (all things considered) and humorous review of the GOP Iowa debate. Each candidates performance is analyzed and I think nailed. Makes one wonder how Ron Paul managed to win the Drudge and ABC polls with such huge numbers.

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Absolutely Absurd

Alright. It’s official. Dialogue is on its deathbed.It had a grand mal seizure during the rise up to the fiery, factious ‘04 elections and now is dwindling quickly, unable to sustain so much as a whimper without words being snarled into flaccid, sensationalist nonsense.

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Congress Presents 'Hamlet'

Another insightful and thought provoking article by Matthew Funk.

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Maliki Reads My Blog

Matt's analysis of Maliki's 'Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out' statement is dead on. Anyone who feels strongly about Iraq one way or the other should read this article. The whole blog in fact. Matt has been prophetic in his dissembling of the news. Great Article. Great Blog.

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Bloody Watercooler Talk

Democrats and Republicans alike would be resolved that the storming of a mosque that abducted citizens for “re-education” would be a good thing. But after a minute’s discussion, I realized it would be worthwhile to post something about how the West would do well to recognize it as not too good a thing.

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Iraq - Who Passes, Who Fails

The mixed report on the progress of the Iraq situation coming out of the White House this week has been reviewed by both supporters and critics of the President’s policy with too general a perspective.

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A Long Time Coming Back

If anyone could explain to me why the US is going back to appeasing North Korea at this point in the ballgame, please do. I can't seem to figure out what is in it for us. Maybe if we are nice to them, they won't use the bombs they claim they don't have? In 50 years have they given us any reason to believe they are sincere in anything they say?

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Iraq Update

What people must realize is that the mounting dead are not an unexpected byproduct of the Surge, but in many ways the result of it. - Matthew FunkMatt measures the progress in Iraq not by body count but with logic and insight into military strategy and the political process in both Iraq and in the U.S.

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House Votes Itself A Raise

While media attention was focused on the immigration bill in the Senate, Paris Hilton and the fate of Scooter Libby, the House of Representatives quietly gave themselves a raise. And it is no wonder they were quiet as church mice, given their 14% approval rating. This really isn't a surprise. The real story here is just /who/ are these 14% people?

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If you are here, You should go here next.

This post marks the official archiving of PJ.

Subpoena Heat Continues To Make Constitution Smolder

"...that kind of legal twisting makes the logic ligament of the brain twitch.

We can’t sue against a secret programs used against us, because they’re secret.

I would hope even advocates of the program would be wondering, “Well, what recourse do the American people have to challenge such Executive power?”

The short answer? The Constitution." - Matthew Funk

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The Unhappiest Place On Earth

A sober and heartbreaking look at the reality of childhood in Palestine.

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Peace Takes More Than A Word

"Israel and its supporters must discern which is the better partner to broker peace with - the one that promises war and acts on it with total authority, or the one that promises peace and exploits its lack of authority to continue a war." Matthew Funk

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Bloody Lambs

My political sparring partner, Matt, of Driving Too Fast, has inspired me to comment on Bush's commute of Scooter's prison sentence.

If you are going to spare the lamb, spare the damn lamb. Bush comes off like he is trying to appease his critics with a half-assed half-measure. I would rather see him go whole hog, or whole lamb as the case may be.

Matt says, in part..

"You don’t sacrifice the lamb. You just stab it a little.

Who is appeased in that equation? Not the deity waiting for the sacrifice. Not the lamb’s owner. For sure not the damn lamb."

I have read pages and pages of comments condemning Bush. As a people we seem to have so much righteous energy! One of the more popular rants is that Libby is the only person ever to have been pardoned for obstruction of justice.

Before this particular tidbit is accepted as truth by virtue of continuous echo, lets review some recent history.

• G.W. Bush Pardons (117)
• Clinton's Pardons (456)
• Bush Sr. Pardons ( 77)
• Reagan's Pardons (406)
• Carter's Pardons (566)
• Ford's Pardons (409)
• Nixon's Pardons (926)

I didn't bother to count how many of these pardons or commutations were for obstruction. I saw several from Clinton's list alone and only scanned the others. Look at the numbers. Can any reasonable person believe that Scooter Libby is more deserving of hard time than the hundreds upon hundreds of other pardons we never hear a peep about?

The news cycle will play this up until some new bloody thing comes along to beat on. They are selling conflict. When are we going to stop buying it wholesale and using our own brains to decide what we are enraged about? Darfur anyone? Now there is a conflict I could get righteously enraged over.

Should we be spending the next couple of months debating the justness of Scooter's already sealed fate, or should we be demanding answers for why things like this are still happening? For the record, the only candidate I have seen showing appropriate passion for resolving the genocide in Darfur is Joe Biden.

I want more from this country. I want more from our press and our leaders. I want to demand outrage and action. I don't want to accept that we can't do more than squabble over our differences. While we are sitting in our air-conditioned living rooms, kicked back in our over-stuffed La-Z Boys, debating pizza or Chinese take-out, while we whine about Scooter not doing hard time; people are being raped, tortured, murdered and starved to death because we can't pay attention long enough to help.

I Made a Widget!

Ok.. I made two.

One for my step-Dad's recipes - Vito's Meatballs (look down) and one for my favorite author's blog - Driving Too Fast Down The Middle Of The Road (look up). You can download and install it on your blog too. What fun!