Weed is magical. It cures nausea. You can make rope and sails with weed and explore the sea. You can make garments fit for stoned Mayan chieftains. And of course, you can watch the "Knife Show" on QVC for hours with a fascination normally reserved for children, children who like knives.

Weed was too magical for 1920's-era racists, who cruelly snatched it from the poor, calloused hands of the Mexican immigrant and from the poor, jazz hands of black jazz players. Damn the man who snatches the weed. Damn the man.

Fin.

P.S., Now give me an editors choice star.

Olbermann, in explaining sovereign immunity, says "If they don't use [classified intelligence data], there's no legal action." I don't know if Olbermann really gets how radical these executive opinions are yet. Tell me if I'm wrong on this: In order to "use" classified intelligence data gathered by violating FISA, the government does not have to "willfully disclose" anything to the public. We have already established the fact that, in conjunction with other national security decisions made during the Bush era, the government can wiretap you without a warrant, hear something they don't like, and ship you off to Bagram, one of many examples, where Obama argues that you would have no right to habeas corpus, and where you would most likely be tortured. Again, do I care about Obama's assurances that he doesn't torture? No. Promises are irrelevant. In the vast realm of worldwide government abuse, if it can be done, it might be done. That's all I care about.

Oh! This is all just a big misunderstanding. A difference in semantics, really. Here, let me. Wingnut says:

"It is undeniable that the U.S. elite media -- what both liberals and conservatives sometimes call the "mainstream media," or MSM -- skews to the left. From the news pages to the editorial pages to the Op-Ed pages -- where even the conservatives tend to be statists (we call them "big government conservatives") -- the liberal point of view on any issue receives more favorable treatment than the conservative one."

Wingnut thinks that "conservative" media stars are actually statists, and statists are liberal! So, of course he thinks the MSM is liberal! Christ, was that what we were fighting about all this time? I apologize, lots of feelings have been hurt, reputations ruined, shit flew, over nothing. You see, Wingnut, we liberals hate "conservative" statists as well. We call them neoconservatives. Shit man, we can be pals now! Now all we have to do is decide what word to use to describe the Bush-Cheney menagerie of shame we just witnessed for the past eight years: neocons or statists, so that we never misunderstand each other again.

"There's an order to this stuff."

Well, had_enough, yes there is, which is why investigating Bush or simply allowing independent investigations should have been done first. Now Obama is obstructing justice, probably in the interest of getting his agenda through Congress. I do agree with you that the situation in which Obama finds himself is fucked. On the other hand, our ex-president is a war criminal. Bringing justice is hard whatever the political environment, but polls show that Obama can appoint a special prosecutor and not lose the American people. Might he lose some of his high approval ratings? Yes, probably. Shit would fly in the MSM, and people might further retreat from Obama, but I think he could still retain a majority. Even if his approval fell to 40% though, it is still worth doing if America regains her soul.

Thanks for making my day by dredging up the french fry post. That was the funniest thing I've heard in a while. You can tell that he at no point wondered about what he was saying. Did he ever think, "Hmm, why would the French ban their own fries?", as if he was so thoroughly confident in the American-ness of french fries that he never thought to check where they actually came from. Turns out that in France, "french fries" are associated with Belgium. Now if France was really upset with us, they could vandalize McDonalds franchises. Oh, right.

400 years is a long time in microbial evolution. Bacteria and viruses evolve quickly into different strains on the order of decades. I'm not an expert, but the smallpox strain that killed John Smith's native Virginians could have been a sort that incubates longer. It's worth looking into at least.

Did I stumble into Castle Greyskull? Is Obama Skeletor? Are we minions?! David Ignatius needs to live in the jungle where he belongs, and leave civilization to the rest of us. I'm pretty sure we'll be just fine without his commentary.