I don't know if you have heard of the site sendkarlrovetojail.com but it is a petition collecting signatures to influence the House Judiciary Committee to hold Rove in contempt of Congress for ignoring their subpoena.

I thought you might be interested in promoting it or mentioning it in an article, since you seem to be one of the few media people interested in government accountability.

that political orientation should become transpartisan, but I'm not sure a lot of Americans would agree with you.

"Iraq, U.S. treatment of detainees, domestic surveillance, attacks on press freedoms, executive power abuses, Iran, the equating of dissent with treason"

I know that these issues are important to me--perhaps too important and I recognize that we, all of us who read blogs such as this and are participating at this level, are, for better or worse, a wing of the polical class. That is, our discourse and our activities occur far from the purview of 'ordinary' people (I use this term for lack of anything better).

I have begun to recognize over the last few months that to a certain extent these issues can also serve as a smoke screen so that other government activities go largely unscrutinized. For example, though I have heard a lot about FISA, Bush's constitutional non-sequiturs, etc., what is occuring with corn subsidies for ethanol and the relationship between the United States and oil and gas producing countries outside of the Middle East goes largely unnoticed. Similarly, we do not seem to be too interested in corporate malfeasance in the form of pollution and ecnomic marginalization that is taking place on a vast scale across the nation. I realize that this blog has a particular focus, and I depend on it, but I don't know if people in general really are retooling their political perceptions along constitutional lines, or if that's just the way it looks from here.

Although I agree that factions of the left and right can indeed be strange bedfellows when it comes to Constitutional issues, I'm not inclined to believe or trust much that Barr says or does.

I'm not saying that this changes much one way or the other, but for the record, Barr:

- Authored and sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act.

- Was a longtime supporter of the "war on drugs".

- Was a zealous advocate of Bill Clinton's impeachment.

- Voted for the Iraq War.

- Reinvented himself as a libertarian only after he was defeated in a 2002 reelection bid for his House seat.

Regardless of what he's saying now, that's not exactly the track record of someone who's been consistently libertarian or free-thinking.

By all means, let's make use of Barr in his new incarnation. But it's a fair reading of his career to say that he's little more than just another opportunistic politician.

While Barr has a few deal breaker positions as far as voting for him, I do like the job he is doing so far in helping to crack the two party system. Add to that his recent numbers indicating a possible syphoning of significant Republican votes, and he has serious potential to make this a very fun political season.

What are the odds of him getting into the debates and bringing up these key civil liberty issues?

Blogging Heads discussion is 35 minutes, not, as you posted, 45 minutes.

Before taking office. Then, suddenly, accountability is for other people. Now that Bush has shown Obama how easy it is to ignore congress and the people, I'm sure he'll out-Bush Bush. Barr would too. Imagine if YOU were King of the U.S. Hell, I'd exectute most of congress for treason.

Many years ago, my dad talked about there only being one party in the USA, the party of big business. It had two names, Democratic and Republican, but that those two names simply represented two different groups of businessmen. I didn't understand what he meant til relatively recently, but how true it is.

Neither of these parties represent the people. If they did, the richest country in the world would look after their poorest members. It would not just call itself civilized, it would be. The only measure of humanity that is of value is how we treat our neighbours, and those less fortunate than ouselves. The US still has a long way to go to become a civil democracy.

Unless Bush is impeached, the rule of law is dead. Welcome to the era of monarchic dictatorship. You remain free at the will of the Leader, for now. Pelosi is a disgrace, and will be remembered as the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st Century. Great legacy Nancy!

Could someone with more time to examine electoral college considerations crunch this one:

With McCain and Obama running alongside 2 additional party candidates (Barr and McKinney) with substantial followings in Georgia, is it possible for Georgia's electors to end up in limbo and make the overall results more interesting?

Could GA end up being 2008's OH/FL?

If anyone is in the mood to have his or her blood run cold, I strongly recommend that you check out Benny Morris' op-ed in today's New York Times - found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/opinion/18morris.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

(or by clicking at link in sig)

Regardless of what he's saying now, that's not exactly the track record of someone who's been consistently libertarian or free-thinking.

Sure, Barr is not a truly changed man overall, and remains the same person who supported/authored everything listed, but, in this case, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Truly this is the case.

Barr isn't going to win. No way. He does serve a good purpose here however. He can inject civil liberties into the debates and the greater dialog. He drains votes (primarily) from McSame. He could help crack the stranglehold the two parties hold on the election system in this country.

If he can win enough votes, he will force notice from the MSM. He WILL force the start of a change in how the voters view 3rd (4th, 5th, 6th) parties.

I don't want Barr as President but I want him in this race, in the debates, and I want him to obtain a significant percentage of the vote. THAT would put the fear of Pan into the GOP AND the Democraps.

Useful.