O Maybe yes.

O Maybe o-no. O gosh. Let's see.

Write in a 4-year old for a president.

O Awful. O `Awesome, And Full of Awe.

Maybe write in someone for Burp-Skills?

Let's watch the politico's discombobulate.

Before long the Harvest-Moon will shine Light.

I like it, except for one thing. Being a good New Deal Liberal and all, I'm forced to imagine the poor sonsabitches in the Congressional mail room, who probably have no union, and are being paid substandard wages.

They'd be the ones who suffered from our cleverness, not Handmaiden Hoyer and the rest of the imperial satraps upstairs, who never read the people's mail anyway, at least not the part of it addressed to them.

You can include Hinchey among those who genuinely opposed this . ( Unfortunately , I'm now a couple stone-throws into the Arcuri ( Weasel, NY) district) He's been emphatically, and very publicly against this all along . In a heavily Republican district too. ( that keeps voting for him ?)

Those insurgent Dem primaries? Those Act Blue candidates that got elected? How many of them voted the correct way today?

ActBlue, as Glenn pointed out includes everyone who can get a page up, so that's hardly a great measure. I can tell you that I stuck to progressives recommended by FireDogLake and digby, and of the ones I sent money to and who were successful, 75% voted against this bill. It's not perfect, but I like the odds.

I'm taking Iokannan's advice and heading for the cool, soothing hills for awhile. What a depressing day.

I thought of that , but they probably get that treatment in some form anyway . :) I just trust they'll understand that the %^*#@^^$$ that they're working for is chiefly to blame . Besides , I have that job, in part , on the sending end (printing business - small town newspapers, etc ) . It's not so bad .

John Dean was on Countdown. He saw a possible pony -- that a President Obama could bring a criminal case, because this outrage only addresses the pending civil suits.

This stuff from Dean is just silly. If Obama is president he can declassify all of the records about spying he wants. He can order the head of the NSA to give a televised address explaining exactly what happened. He doesn't need a criminal case.

I don't want a president to direct the attorney general to prosecute or not prosecute specific people. Dean should know better than this.

I think Clinton's shown herself capable as a Senator, which I've never begrudged her at all. OTOH her presidential campaign was embarrassing in too many ways to count and did not do her credit.

Would she make a good Empress? I don't know, no way to tell. I think she might make a good president in different times, but that isn't what the job is any more and we are long past those times. I don't think she knows it yet.

Obama, seems to me, does know, has known all along, and he's getting himself up to speed to take the reins of the Imperial Thunder Wagon.

His statement today on the FISA issue seems to be in keeping with his whole bearing and focus since he secured enough delegates for the nomination. Monarchial, but a benign monarch, one who listens, is magnanimous (his treatment of Clinton since he became the heir has been superb), helping, caring, but who needs the powers the Congress has been turning over to the Executive just as much as the Busheviks do, but who obviously knows how to use them for good, you see.

By comparison, McCain is more and more just a sour, and borderline crazy, old man. Who wants that on the Throne?

But Throne it truly is. We're no longer dealing with any pretense of Constitutional Republic governance. The empty husk of what used to be may still be around for another two hundred years or more, but it's all but certain we are not going back, any more than Rome reverted to a Republic when Augustus took the Purple. Despite all his fine words about "restoring the Republic." The forms were still there, oh yes, but the substance had evaporated. The Roman Republic was gone. Forever.

I suspect most Americans, like most Romans, will be grateful to be done with the nasty business of political democracy and will be grateful for the domestic peace and harmony of the New American Imperium. I look at Russia, turning into a modern Autocracy, pretty much completed now, and how truly approving of it the People are. They saw Putin as a benign Autocrat (a Good Little Father) looking out for his people. And they like it.

China is another example of an authoritarian/autocratic state that has tremendous support from the People (in most areas domestically, and very strongly overseas).

We'll be joining the World Community.

Who could object?

If you harvest leaf, maybe you can be a neo-Sir-William who chews tobacco and sells slivers of Sir`loin grass fed beef to Arizona Senators. If you get bored you can scrub the latrine again.

I'm not bad-mouthing Arizona people.

You can set up a white 'shrink' couch?

You can bark to puppy-border-collies.

'Um dogs are former schizophrenic cats?

'Um will one day say~'Um forgive poor god.

What a mess. I nominate W.T. as a UT's class prez...

Someone send him a big paper bag. He'll need some practice.

yes, Maurice Hinchey is already on the list (i know it's not formatted for easy reading) - voted against the PAA in feb, member of the progressive caucus and voted "no" today.

p.s. to anyone with comments and/or corrections to the list - i'll try to keep track of comments here, but if i don't respond i hope you will email me at the contact link on my webpage (click on my name). thanks!

I don't think you know what a personal attack is. I criticized your views, which seem pretty authoritarian. And guess what, this bill won't protect us from another 9/11, all it does is give more invasion of privacy, something you apparently don't care about.

--Ron

<<And yet another personal attack. I think that is about 20 for the day so far. What is laughable is the uproar in here about your liberal leaders coming to an agreement over this bill, not the bill itself. Our 4th amendment rights are nothing without the security from those that mean us harm. While I don't like the bill, I do understand the purpose behind it and I'm willing to accept it in return for security against another 9/11. You can agree or disagree with me and that is your right. I think people here tend to over-react a bit and jump off the cliff.

-- bucks4mccain>>