"We are in the middle of one of the strongest economies this country has ever seen." What a crock of steaming excrement. Sure, the obscenely rich, top one percent are doing very well, indeed. However, the rest of us are still waiting, miserably, for the "promised" trickle down to occur. When pigs fly.

Of course he did. The only mild question to briefly consider (mild and brief because the answer is almost assuredly "no") is whether or not he -- and the puppetmasters who control his every word and movement -- will be held accountable.

<<Update: Truthout is reporting that sources "knowledgeable about the probe" are saying that Fitzgerald has notified Luskin in a letter that his client is, in fact, a target of the investigation. At the federal courthouse in Washington, a spokesman for Rove just told Salon's Michael Scherer that the report is "utterly false.">>

Umm...Gee...Based on about 5 1/2 years of stupefying consistency on the part of Rove et al., just who would you surmise is telling the truth here?

Bush "is the president of the United States," Hoyer said Tuesday, "and he deserves some respect."

It used to be that respect was something you earned. Or didn't. You know, back in the days when America actually meant something better than vast corruption, utterly bankrupt morals, blatant imperialist swagger, and mentally retarded leadership.

Are Kamiya, Greenwald, Daou, and many others correct in their assessment that the MSM failed its mission, its (so-called) ethics, and its country between 9/11 and the invasion? My instant response is "well, yes, of course!". But why is that my immediate gut reaction? Upon reflection, for me it comes to this: I was a teenager in the 70s, so that's the era in which I became aware of the world and things political. My gut reaction to Kamiya et al.'s claims stems ultimately from comparison in my own mind of today's so-called journalism to the journalism I experienced in the 1970s. 70s journalism certainly had flaws, but it is just as certain that it was stunningly different from today. Unfortunately, that is not a good reflection on today's "journalists". Has the MSM failed during the past six years? Yes: completely, utterly, not a shred of doubt about it.

"But like a virus adapting to antibiotics..."

Er..um...bzzzt! In an otherwise fine article, there is this glaring boo-boo. *Bacteria* adapt in response to antibiotics.

> maybe, just maybe, our humiliated rulers will start listening

You're joking, right? This is silly notion that just because a group of people are right that they'll be listed to is at the core of the problem with progressives (liberals, whatever). You think that calling it right from the get-go means the thieves in power give a crap? Or that because cowardly Democrats (not Obama, but the rest) are "in power" now that anything will substantively change for the better? The thugs, thieves, and robber barons could not possibly care less: they own congress, they own the executive branch, they own the major corporations, and -- worst of all -- because they own the media they therefore own all of the idiots and morons that make up more than half this country's voting population and hence guarantee their perpetual ownership. It's a great gig if you, like they, have no moral qualms, no conscience, no capacity for empathy, or anything else that defines "human". You think these creeps give a rat's ass that we were stunningly, overwhelmingly correct from the start? You're joking, right? Progressives, wake up and get a clue.

We bought a Saturn *SUV* in 2004 because we needed a stick shift and Saturn had discontinued stick shifts in their station wagon (which had been our previous vehicle). Our old wagon had gotten 24-26 mpg in the city, and an astounding 39 mpg on the highway. Yes, the "SUV" label was evil and we felt guilty (and our friends all looked at us like we had four heads), but it had the cargo capacity we needed. And a stick shift. And a 4-cylinder engine. And the mileage was at least not horrible. I was disappointed in its rock solid 22 mpg regardless of city or highway, but it did weigh 400 lbs more than our wagon did and the gear ratios are set for more torque than actually needed. Then we moved to Flagstaff last spring, and now it consistently gets 26/29 city/highway for some reason (altitude? different fuel mixture?). In 2004 it was called an SUV, but it's an SUV body on a car chassis, which is what is now called a "crossover". My point is this: what's in a name? And the answer is : who the hell cares? What matters is what it actually is and does. Get over the silly label fixation, and tell your friends to get over it, too.

The assholeness of Max Baucus.

Fortini is totally off point. Palin is a fake, neither scrappy nor folksy. She's an idiot and, apparently, every male wingnut's wet dream. It's embarrassing.