Zubs suggests voting on Sundays. Why not take the whole weekend? This is a big country! Make "Election Weekend" a holiday in itself. Maybe 'round the clock polling could be arranged.

Also, a note in passing. Bill Maher has the revelation that "This is why Bush scandals never catch on with the public -- they're all evangelicals of course, and nobody is having sex."

Not true. How about that evangelist who was busted for having gay sex while all crystal-methed up? How about the Duke Cunningham/Dusty Foggo corruption scandal in which Shirlington Limo (itself also a Homeland Security scandal) delivered Republican Congressmen for many wild nights of drinking and prostitutes? How about Rep. Mark Foley stalking underage Congressional pages? (All boys, natch.) How about this scandal being broken by the heretofor-closeted Gay Republican Underground?

Actually, Mr. Maher has a point - none of these REPUBLICAN SEX!!! scandals has caught on with the public, except for Mark Foley, and the Republican Gay Underground eased quietly back into the closet afterwards.

The reason the Bush scandals aren't catching on with the public is not because there isn't enough seamy sex. It's that the media is somehow turning down the opportunity to make money by publicizing it.

Mr. Keillor concludes "I don't think the Occupant plans on being Distinguished anytime soon. I think he'll stay at the ranch and wait for the revisionists. In 30 years, a few historians will come along to say that he was better than a lot of people thought."

No, we won't have to wait 30 years. The planned Bush (George W.) library is already hiring revisionists - more like fictionists, or fabulists - who are hard at work "documenting" the administration of the Current Resident. Their arduous task is to make him look good. Half a billion bucks (that's $500,000.00) is allocated for this task.

It may not be enough.

Regardless of where the various militant groups fired from, Israeli munitions hit the soccer field. Given that the Israeli military is the best in the world, and that they enjoy the best armaments in the world, thanks to their (goy) Uncle Sam, it's hard not to conclude that they want to hit that soccer field.

I heard Mr. Bush sneering about the Democrats "going on vacation," as if the Republican members of Congress were staying in DC, and as if he weren't going on vacation himself.

Mr. Bush may not realize that when members of Congress "go home," they're rarely "vacationing." They're maintaining office hours to meet with their constituents locally, holding public meetings throughout their districts so they can hear what people have to say, traveling around their states to touch base with the voting public. They realize that most of the voting public isn't able to travel to DC to talk to them.

Congress represents the voters, and the Democrats at least, take this seriously.

Mr. Bush "represents" no one but himself anymore. And he doesn't seem to have clued that the November election was, once again, "a accountability moment." And this one, he lost.

Okay, so we all know, after the last two weeks of rage against poor old Garrison Keillor, that homosexuality is Not Funny. Moreover, they don't wear those colorful costumes, they don't act fey, and there's absolutely no way you can tell a gay guy from your average (non-Log Cabin) Republican.

Unlike what we have been encouraged to believe from TV and movies, gay people are not better educated, nor are they more sophisticated. Their tastes are no different from Joe Sixpax. Morever, they Are Not Amused. Apparently ever.

At least, that's what they told poor old Garrison Keillor.

What does this have to do with "Blades of Glory"? Given that the graceful sensitive guy is represented as a heterosexual, I don't have a clue.

Sorry.

The memo states "The question of whether Mr. Griffin (who then was on active military duty in Iraq) might be considered..." [my emphasis]

Is this true? Was Mr. Griffin, a young Republican, actually on on active military duty - in Iraq?? Knowing what we know about Today's Republican Party™, it's unlikely that Mr. Griffin was a member of the armed forces. Could he have been on political assignment in the Green Zone? Is the whole thing a fabrication? (why would they lie to one another??)

Inquiring minds, you know.

Oh, Tom, how could you? "voters [are] looking for more civility and more cooperation between Republicans and Democrats"

If so, that's only going to happen if

1. You get some radically different Republicans from the ones we have now, or
2. Republicans and Democrats unite in opposition to George Bush and his Regime of (t)Error

We voters may indeed crave "civility and cooperation", somewhere down the line - but more than that, we want a less stupid government than the one we're stuck with now. We want the crooks - and there seem to be a lot of them - to be rooted out, convicted, and punished.

After all that, some civility would be nice, thenkew.