Thanks. FWIW, mine was an honestly posed question. I really am curious whether or not the level of insularity, disconnectedness, etc. reaches into the (I'm presuming) more local levels of the Party. Surely they must have a clue why they're held in such low esteem. Right?

Apologies also in that I hadn't read the thread and the previous comments re: the "utility" of satire.

I have a tendency to duck in, glean what I can (for my own edification) from the comments, and duck out. My typing skills are non-existent. Combine that with my inability to string together a coherent sentence, and you have a recipe for a less than substantive presence.

Hey, you just brought back one of my earliest memories. I'm 4 or 5 years old, ostensibly picking blueberries on the side of Mt. Greylock, near Pittsfield, Mass. I'm actually sitting in a patch of bushes, half-dozing, stuffed to the gills, blueberry juice smeared all over my face, watching the sun set. Probably my first, and still one of my most powerful, connections w/ "Nature".

Thanks.

You have to include the entire Democratic Party in GG's Beltway Punditry class. Our elected so-called representatives exhibit all the unthinking, reflexive, "I believe it therefore America believes it" characteristics Glenn describes.

And as their behavior has amply demonstrated time and time again, they (pols) DO think we're a bunch of DFH, and they DO wish we'd go away.

We being, of course, most of the populace.

Educational, it was, in a painful sort of way. I guess I've never given a whole lot of thought to the volume of shite that gets directed your way. I didn't know, f'rinstance, that you were a traitor.

You display a far cooler head than I believe myself to be capable of. You do important work, (even though you neglect to provide marching orders, and have yet to don your beret and lead La Revolucion).

Can you let us know the finalists for "Best Book Title Submitted by a DFH Blog Commentor"?

http://thinkprogress.org/reid-limbaugh-letter/

But, to the best of my knowledge, there's no active "Blackwater" thread. Has anybody seen this?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/20043.html

From the article...

Five days later, three Iraqi security guards were gunned down inside the fortified compound that houses the government-funded Iraqi Media Network, which is also known as Iraqiya.

Habib Sadr, the network's director general, said the three guards, members of Iraq's Facilities Protection Service, were at their post at the back of the complex. A towering blast wall was a short distance in front of them to protect the compound from Haifa Street, which is notorious for car bombings and drive-by shootings.

According to Sadr and Interior Ministry officials, the three were picked off one by one by Blackwater snipers stationed on the roof of the 10-story Justice Ministry about 220 yards away on the opposite side of the street.

Nibras Mohammed Dawood was shot first as he stood in a sand-bagged guard post. Azhar Abdullah Ali was shot when he ran to help. Sabah Salman Hassoun was shot when he, too, tried to aid his wounded colleagues. All were between the ages of 20 and 25, Sadr said.

It's unclear what motivated the shootings. From where they were standing, the guards weren't likely to have been threatening to the Blackwater snipers, who were stationed nearly a city block away and perhaps 80 to 100 feet above street level.

Blackwater didn't respond to a request for information. One U.S. official confirmed that the incident had happened. He asked that his name not be disclosed because he wasn't authorized to talk.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said the incident was captured on videotape, but he declined to share the tape. He said the incident is among seven submitted to an Iraqi magistrate recently to determine if criminal charges should be brought against Blackwater contractors.

"The investigation showed that they were killed in cold blood and in an aggressive and unjustified way," Sadr said. "I believe that if this happened in any state in the United States and they killed an animal, it would be condemned by all.

"They were target practice," Sadr said.

Is it the "not having served" that makes one a sissy?

Or the "having impugned the honor and integrity" of a member of the Armed Forces?

Either way, number me a sissy. We are legion!

And GG, BTW, is apparently endowed w/ supernatural powers. He's bilocational. He's here and over @ FDL simultaneously.

GG: "They're not going to be the ones on their knees, begging. They're not going to be the "faggots." Instead, they are going to send others off to fight and bomb and occupy and kill and thereby show who is strong and tough and feel protected."

I laughed out loud at this. Then the sad truth of it sunk in...

Now, every time I abbreviate "Glenn Greenwald" as "GG", I'll be thinking "Green Genes"

8')

I'm sure there are plenty of psychologists who'd have a field day w/ that piece of work.

Glenn, if you are not actively pursuing a Corporate Print Media &/or TV deal, will you please do so?

When you so precisely articulate my amorphous feelings of ill will regarding where we are, as a country, I just want to scream - in elation, that someone can so powerfully state the case, and in anguish, that countless more voices are not doing so.

...here at UT regarding whether or not it does any good to "Digg" posts like this? (I've done that already)

What about emailing [the post] to elected representatives? (I fear it would simply be ignored)