Ride with Critical Mass. You will quickly see how cyclists are treated on a local level by law enforcement, city planners, legislators etc... Now that anti-cycling is top down government policy I would expect the conditions to degenerate even more.

This would be the "soft" sell:

http://www.jinglejugsforlife.com/mission.html

This would be the "hard" sell:

http://www.jinglejugs.com

Thanks S.A.E. for raising my awareness of breast cancer by offering me singing disembodied breasts displayed as a hunting trophy. I'm sending the check to your proud mothers.

This is a month to month comparison of civilian and military deaths (last year with this year.)

Month-Year coalition forces/Iraqi security forces and civilan deaths.

2-2006 58/846

2-2007 85/3014

3-2006 33/1092

3-2007 82/2977

4-2006 82/1009

4-2007 117/1821

5-2006 79/1119

5-2007 131/1980

6-2006 63/870

6-2007 108/1345

7-2006 46/1280

7-2007 88/1690

8-2006 66/2966

8-2007 88/1674

**************

Total civilian deaths in Iraq feb. 2006 - aug. 2006: 9,182

Total civilian deaths in Iraq feb. 2007 - aug. 2007: 14,501

58% increase.

**************

Total military deaths feb.2006 - aug. 2006: 427

Total military deaths feb.2007 - aug. 2007: 699

63% increase.

**************

Total deaths feb 2006-aug 2006: 9609

Total deaths feb 2007-aug 2007: 15200

58% increase.

Extra! Extra! Apple gets yet another round of free ad space by thinly disguising a product release as some sort of "news." Salon.com agrees that it is news and writes articles about the products. Many other publications follow suit. Reader wonders which is worse, a press that parrots an administration's press releases, or a press that parrots a corporation's press releases.

Isn't the term "sectarian violence" kind of slippery here? It seems to be a particular choice of words. Why aren't we measuring all violence?

Death count can be used here to determine the effectiveness of a military strategy. Here are the DOD's own statistics for fatalities in a month by month comparison to last year (starting in February as that is the official start of the surge and ending in August) As you can see the violence has increased dramatically since last year.

Month-Year coalition forces/Iraqi security forces and civilan deaths.

2-2006 58/846

2-2007 85/3014

3-2006 33/1092

3-2007 82/2977

4-2006 82/1009

4-2007 117/1821

5-2006 79/1119

5-2007 131/1980

6-2006 63/870

6-2007 108/1345

7-2006 46/1280

7-2007 88/1690

8-2006 66/2966

8-2007 88/1674

"...whether his strategy is working..."

Notice that the surge strategy is not claimed by the President. Notice the complete separation from responsibility for the decision to add more troops and continue the war.

The GAO report was leaked last week because they authors were afraid the report would be watered down by the DOD and the Pentagon. That is exactly what has happened here. The headline should be: "DOD waters down leaked report as expected!" Last week the report, as written, said that 15 of the 18 benchmarks had not been met. Now, the watered down version: 11 of the 18 have not been met.

"Isn't it weird that none of them -- not a single one - -has ever revealed the Great Corporate Plot whereby corporate heads tell the pundits and reporters what to say?"

The ones that would not tow the party line are never hired, or fired when they don't. Simple as that. No conspiracy, it is part of the design.

I'd say his short and manipulative answers are more an indication of the failures of the press, than Tony Snow's personal failings. The press, in their weasley way, frame questions and seek out answers that are "press worthy." They then reframe the answers and tilt the truth with bold headlines. Sometimes this works to the advantage of the administration, sometimes to the detriment. By the time Snow got there, the press was "against" the administration and were looking for a fight. Snow recognized that they were not the tough guys they were purporting to be, and treated them like the little bitches they actually were. Notice his general lack of fear.

When a person can turn a phrase like:

"It’s working. We’re just years too late in changing our tactics,” she said. “We can’t ever let that happen again. We can’t be fighting the last war. We have to keep preparing to fight the new war."

and it doesn't end up in the press as:

"Hillary on Surge? ‘It’s Working’…"

Then I'll side with the press over those who would try to control the discourse.

On second read their is a reference to Miranda:

"in a post-Miranda recorded interview..."

There is some confusion as to when Miranda was read as it is only mentioned as a past tense implication.

Issues:

Is being gay criminalized? I managed nightclubs and bars. People always screwed in the stalls every night. Never had cops request an undercover operation to arrest hetero people "hooking up" in the bathroom.

Is tapping a foot lewd conduct? Should a citizen be "detained" for such limited conduct? Depriving a citizen of liberty should be a last resort. How easily we capitulate the the false authority of "justice."

Does our overtaxed justice department use the plea deal as a bludgeon to compel people to admit to crimes they did not do, in order to avoid the full (and often threatened) weight of the justice system coming down?

Why do we feel an inward glee when we find out a Republican is gay or has same sex feelings? Is this the appropriate response?

Floating Chertoff is a gambit. They have no intention of nominating him. What they are attempting to illicit is a Democrat response that makes the democrats look obstructionist and unreasonable. "It seems as though the Democrats don't want anyone at the top job at Justice, if they can't even be comfortable with the guy who holds the top job for homeland security." It is a ploy to draw Dems into a combative mode, make them play their hand early, so they can not be as combative with the real nominee.