At the risk of resurrecting the "cult of personality" hub-bub, let me say: An eloquent, articulate, clear, concise, passionate and kick-ass post, Glenn. You are truly a part of the Patriot tradition, in the very best sense of the word. It has done a lot towards removing the needle in my brain that was yesterday...

I'm now even more committed to preventing the tyrants, the colluders, the cowards and the corporate shills from continuing their assault on the principles and foundations of our Country. And I'll start by not giving another dime - not one cent - to the DNC or the Obama campaign. (This is not a "who I will or won't vote for" pledge). My money and time are now going to ActBlue, the ACLU, Iraqi refugees and Cindy Sheehan's campaign to unseat Benedict Pelosi (regardless of how quixotic that may be).

As noted earlier here by someone Barack made sure to reassure AIPAC(by doing so telegraphing to Israel and American ME militarism/economic colonialists) that he will not be rocking these peoples boat. Score one for AEI,PNAC and Heritage and the Brookings folks and those who they front or instigate behind scenes with/for.

Some very big American West Asia policy dies are being set in Iraq as this telecom cave-in unrolls before us.

One should remember that American WH contenders must run to the middle after having played to the outer ring crowds in the primary elections. Barack will be surely now doing just that.

His very direct endorsement of letting Bush/Cheney get what it wanted from a DEM run Congress surely intended to appease not those of us in the American political left outer ring but to soothe the middle and near right realms.

Expect more of it.

By the time Barack Obama gets to the WH in Jan.2009 he will have had to affirm,confirm and validate that he is not going to bring on any wide and deep 'yes-we can' to WashingtonDC but something much more along the lines of 'maybe-but not now'.

As seen with the fiscal ruin in WashingtonDC,the rampant and deeply entrenched Pentagon WashingtonDC high temple cult and the inability of Congress to do much other than rearrange the same failed set of failures and shortfalls.

The DC DEMs surely going to great lenghts to do just this very thing since November 2006 election.

This American Occupation/Colonization of Iraq is shaping up to be very much a two party WashingtonDC creature.

Now with Bush/Cheney regime surely scrambling to put in a SOFA in Iraq that will be without any near exits going well into next WH regimes time frame the pieces of this game are being setup. Iran surely will be attacked with the matter of soon,sooner or soonest only consideration yet to be set.

One could suppose that Pelosi,Reid and the rest of the DC DEMs should out of simple shame submit resignations for being so duplicitous and craven.

Yet one can fully count on these people to be standing behind and around Barack Obama at his WashingtonDC coronation.

The American Imperial Capital will have more of the same and we Americans who are left outside looking in will either need to swallow how we get played over and over some more or go with being politically apathetic.

Historically it all has happened before.

It will come down to the money or in truth the lack of it that will pull the whole rotted pile down.

But that is a ways off likely enough.

Perhaps in another 100-150 years after all this periods senseless mayhem and untruthful dance Americans of that time will know a better America.

I am not happy with the America of this early 21st century and it is not hard to figure out Nancy,Harry and quite likely Barack are not going to truly gut out the rot and do right.

The Liberal Media

I'm vacationing in California and I thought I'd let you know that the LA Times reports in 4 short paragraphs "House Passes Compromise Bill" on page A11. Obviously that story is much less important than the front page stories, which include:

"Hard-earned Million: Lil Wayne is a Tough Act to Follow"

and

"Multiple Choice for SAT takers"

It's jarring.

It's VERY jarring.

The WaPo had a piece up yesterday that didn't even quote any opponents of FISA. And the other day when Taguba talked about the Bush administration committing war crimes the Post ran a story that totally downplayed this explosive charge.

I sent the following to them in their online chat but of course they never answered.

I have a couple of questions about a Joby Warrick story that appeared on page A7 of the Post:

Exams Back Up Reports of Detainee Abuse, Group Says

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/18/AR2008061800336.html

I almost missed this story because I was looking for a headline that talked about a former Bush administration general accusing the administration of war crimes.

Why did the Post bury the headline on this story? Does the Post believe it is not newsworthy that a former General accuses the administration of war crimes?

Included in the Warrick piece was this single characterization about what Taguba said. It was at the end of the piece and did not include his actual quote:

"In a statement accompanying the report, retired Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, who led the Army's first official investigation on Abu Ghraib, said the new evidence SUGGESTED a "systematic regime of torture" inside U.S.-run detention camps."

Do Warrick and the Post really think that Taguba only SUGGESTED torture when he said:

"There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

Why did Warrick and the Post go out of their way to downplay this story?

which I referenced a little earlier

Glenn, I can only take my hat off to as cogent, level-headed a response regarding Barack Obama’s own capitulation that one could ever read, even disregarding the fact it came at the end of what had to be the most rage-inducing, socked-in-the-gut few days a blogger who cares so deeply about our Constitution and our rights could ever encounter. You’ve been on riding herd on FISA and Bush/Cheney’s arrogations since I started visiting UT over two and one-half years ago - this had to be a tough one.

You set aside your rage in a way most of us could not do - see this video for a pretty coherent rant by Cenk Uyger on Obama, Hillary Clinton and Democrats in general @

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bdyE8-Zlc&feature=user

Heck, I even kicked in an extra ten bucks to the Blue America PAC simply for the spiteful pleasure I derived yesterday from seeing Baldie McEagle, Kitt and a few others humorously slap around a hapless troll who picked the wrong day to make his debut.

Obama and most politicians’ worst nightmare is not the occurrence of a deadly act of terrorism on our soil; it’s that it occurs just after they have supported legislation that could be interpreted in any scant, oblique way to have enabled it. With this War on Terrorism mindset firmly in place that affects the breadth of our policy-making - not just as it relates to national security matters, but fundamentally to our allocation of limited national resources - we are headed to many more misguided policy decisions, and maneuvers by clever, adroit politicians to obscure them.