I'm with you on this one. I have been a member of MoveOn for years. I have been a member of a number of other activist organizations. (I think I may even be a member of the ACLU. I'm not sure.) I have written dozens of letters to my Congressional Reps. I have written numerous editorial letters to my papers (and had several of them published). I donated as much money as I could in 2004 and 2006 in hopes of making a difference.

I am deeply disappointed with this Congress. I have given them the benefit of the doubt, but the writing is on the wall. They are waiting it out. They have abandoned the present and are positioning themselves for a 2008 run in hopes of a Democratic president and Congressional majority.

After the 2006 elections I thought they were unassailable.

Now I think they are sitting ducks, because they are sitting on their asses. They have options but they don't use them. They could filibuster the supplementals or dispose of the supplementals altogether and force the military to put their monetary requirements into an annual budget. They could subpoena key witnesses both in and out of office (Rumsfeld for example). They could get in front of the TV and on the radio every second of every day and say, "No more war! We're getting out! Not someday but now! Not another American live lost! etc."

There's nothing radical about these things. It's how Congress stops a war. No money, no war. It's how you get elected and stay elected. Do what the people want.

But they obviously don't want to stop the war. Every time a critical vote comes to the floor, they vote to continue the war. Our leading presidential candidates are war-mongering out of both sides of their mouths. They obviously think this will help them win the 2008 election, when it may be the very thing that causes them to lose it.

I'm very angry with this Democratic Congress. This K Street Congress. This corporate donor Congress. This politics as usual Congress. I am not alone in this. The rate they are going, they may end up with worse numbers than Cheney.

They screw this up and not only will we have a Republican president. We'll have a radical partisan SCOTUS that will last for 30 years. With that kind of SCOTUS we'll abandon any vestige of civilization as we continue to legally, culturally and economically bomb ourselves back into the medieval ages.

I hope your dream comes true. I really do.

(I'm still mad.)

You maintain one of the best progressive blogs on the Internet. You write books. You speak in public and on TV. There is no reason why you, Digby and Jane Hamsher in particular shouldn't all be writing a book a year, sharing press, promoting each other on TV and doing everything else to create a market identity for Internet progressive bloggers. Other progressive bloggers would soon find opportunities to do the same.

IPTV will be big enough in a few years to provide many new opportunities to provide high-definition content. There is no reason you shouldn't have your own TV programs at that point. Can you imagine an online talk show with you, Digby, Jane, Atrios and Josh Marshall as regulars? I can.

The future of communications and media belongs to the Internet. Where political commentary is concerned, you were one of the first to market. All you have to do is just keep doing what you're doing.

From today's McClatchy:

While the U.S. presses its war against insurgents linked to al Qaida in Iraq, Osama bin Laden's group is recruiting, regrouping and rebuilding in a new sanctuary along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, senior U.S. military, intelligence and law enforcement officials said.

The threat from the radical Islamic enclave in Waziristan is more dangerous than that from Iraq, which President Bush and his aides call the “central front” of the war on terrorism, said some current and former U.S. officials and experts. Bin Laden himself is believed to be hiding in the region, guiding a new generation of lieutenants and inspiring allied extremist groups in Iraq and other parts of the world.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/17387.html

Al Qaida have ALWAYS been in Pakistan. THAT'S WHERE THEY LIVE. We ALWAYS KNEW they were in Pakistan. We didn't attack Pakistan because Musharraf has been one of our very best friends in the whole world (even though Pakistan remains a terrorist nation and is still responsible for the proliferation of black market nuclear weapons technology throughout the area) since right after 9/11 when we got up in his face and basically threatened to bomb him into the stone age (which we ended up doing to Iraq instead). Musharraf doesn't go after al Qaida in his own country (or let us go after them) because his government might be overthrown by Islamic militants who would then have access to Pakistan's nuclear weapons as a result.

Now that's a fine kettle of fish.

This is totally off topic I know, but I thought it would be OK since the last few pages of comments (bebop-o excepted) have been assorted versions of "Jane, you ignorant slut!" (Dan Aykroyd to Jane Curtin on SNL for those old enough to remember).

If fact, you can write your ass off.

P.S. It's only a matter of time before the Devil tempts you. Don't sell out.