Open Thread for Night Owls & Early Birds

At the Washington Post, Robert D. Novak writes:

^{A Column's 45 Years}

On May 15, 1963, Rowland Evans and I published our first column. That makes today the 45th anniversary (the first 30 years under the Evans & Novak byline) of the nation's current longest-running syndicated political column. ...

The longevity record for syndicated political columnists (57 years) is held by David Lawrence, whose life and column ended in 1973, when he was 84. As he did, I would like to die in the saddle without retiring. But Lawrence, the founder of U.S. News & World Report, had done little reporting since he covered President Woodrow Wilson for the Associated Press. I cannot write a column without reporting, and I hope I can continue to do so and newspapers see fit to print me so that I can celebrate my 50th anniversary.

Hey, Bob? Bite me.

You're a waste of ink and newsprint and pixels. As Amy Sullivan so perfectly put it four years ago:

Novak likes to trade on his reputation as a reporter to retain credibility as a journalist. But if challenged, he shifts and claims that he is only a columnist, voicing opinions.

If only your editors and all the folks out in syndication land would get a clue, Bob, they wouldn't see fit to print you until you reach that golden anniversary. But then, they haven't wised up yet, so I'm sure we're stuck until you fall out of that saddle. The only good news - bittersweet as it is for us old journalists - is that the plunging circulation of most of the nation's newspapers means fewer and fewer people are subjected to your crap.

+ + +

The Overnight News Digest is posted.

•  No, I Seem To Lead All of Them

  Hat tips to you all for that.

  by Gooserock on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:03:55 PM PDT

  •  McCain for Hamas before they drank his milkshake

    RUBIN: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"

    McCAIN: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."

    As Rubin adds:

    Given that exchange, the new John McCain might say that Hamas should be rooting for the old John McCain to win the presidential election. The old John McCain, it appears, was ready to do business with a Hamas-led government, while both Clinton and Obama have said that Hamas must change its policies toward Israel and terrorism before it can have diplomatic relations with the United States.

    Even if McCain had not favored doing business with Hamas two years ago, he had no business smearing Barack Obama. But given his stated position then, it is either the height of hypocrisy or a case of political amnesia for McCain to inject Hamas into the American election.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

    by Jimmy Crackcorn on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:55:42 PM PDT

    •  and, the corresponding diary:

      http://www.dailykos.com/...

      This story should be on the rec list.

      by Yirmiyahu on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:00:58 PM PDT

    •  Nice. The guy is McTwoFace ...

      ...to the core on every issue except Iraq. There, he's clear. The U.S. is sticking around until some new administration we're not sticking around anymore.  

      by Meteor Blades on Fri May 16, 2008 at 01:41:47 AM PDT

      •  Behind the scenes at the Bill O'Meltdown

        by Jimmy Crackcorn on Fri May 16, 2008 at 03:48:58 AM PDT

        •  damn that is funny.

          great find, of if you did it, GREAT JOB!

          by agnostic on Fri May 16, 2008 at 05:09:31 AM PDT

  •  I.F. Stone

    Surely I.F. Stone must hold the longevity record and surely he out-classed anyone writing today. An amazing, prolific commentator.

    

    by koNko on Fri May 16, 2008 at 07:24:43 AM PDT

    •  But not syndicated. n/t

      by Meteor Blades on Fri May 16, 2008 at 03:38:09 PM PDT

      •  Mmmmaybe ...

        Between 1933 and 1963 when he started the IF Stome Weekly, he wrote syndicated articles for a string of newspapers and magazines starting at the NY Post, then moving on to The Nation and PM (while continuing at The Nation). After starting the Weekly he sontinued to publish occasional articles in other publications but not as a featured columnist.

        The fact that he published a subscription-based newsletter from 1963 almost until his death in 1989 is, itself,  a pretty amazing feat.

        I don't know if that qualifies, but I'm interested in your opinion of Stone.

        In my mind, broadsides such as IF Stone Weekly were the forerunners of today's political blogs and it might be an interesting diary topic to compare the two media. Certianly TPM Muckraker owes at least a hat tip to Stone.

        Were you ever a reader of these publications?

        by koNko on Sat May 17, 2008 at 01:34:29 AM PDT

        •  Correction

          According to Wiki, Stone published the weekly from 1953 to 1971, I got the dates quite wrong. One interesting bit of trivia in the Wiki article is that John Edwards includes Stone's The Trial of Socrates as one of his 3 favorite books.

          by koNko on Sat May 17, 2008 at 01:46:04 AM PDT

        •  And ours.

          Just thinking about poltical writers, the Chinese writers Lu Xun (League of Leftist Wrters), Ba Jin (Company of Equals), Ding Ling, Mao Dun and Luo Tuo Xiang Zi are probably the equivelent of Stone and his liberal American coherts.

          Although the afore mentioned often wrote fiction, they also published numerous political tracts. Sadly, most of them were victims of the Cultural Revolution (Luo actually died at the hands of Red Gards) but were rehabilitated afterward and are still revered in China today.

          Lu Xun's classics Diary of a Madman and The True Story of Ah Q were very influential works in intellectual circles and have been translated into many languages.

          The building housing the office of the League of Leftist Writers in Duolun Lu, Hongku District still exists in Shanghai and has recently been preserved as a "culture street" of bookshops, etc.

          by koNko on Sat May 17, 2008 at 02:20:08 AM PDT

•  i read a few columnists

  nick kristof rocks.

  but only online.  

  by jlms qkw on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:04:11 PM PDT

  •  Agreed! Kristof is a must read, as is Krugman

    although he's pissed me off of late.

    Others I read fairly religiously include:

    Mark Morford - S.F. Chronicle
    Eugene Robinson - Washington Post
    Andrew Greeley - Chicago Sun Times
    Ellen Goodman - Boston Globe

    Now, when I have my blood pressure under control I will occasionally peruse one of Maureen Dowd's vacuous utterings which serve as an alternative to Page Six in the New York Post.

    by rontun on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:11:47 PM PDT

  •  I confess I read some of the RW columnists

    but only if I am suffering from hypotension or need a good laugh. While it is a complicated world out there, in their universe, everything is still simple. Local pundit here opined this week that 30 years ago, it was estimated that as many as 85% of species could face extinction. He chortled "Now how many have actually gone extinct in the last 30 years?" Having warmed up, he then swung into GW  with the observation that 95% of all greenhouse gases are water vapor and that weather is cyclical and has too many variables to be predictable in any meaningful fashion. He then gave his opinion that ice ages come and go and in a century, there could be glaciers bearing down on Wall Street.
    The depressing thing is this guy also teaches at a local community college and is an editor for a local newspaper so his views are fairly widely disseminated.  

    by entlord1 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 04:46:08 AM PDT

  •  What about Frank Rich?

    His column is so often excellent, but his book was a disappointment.  

    Also, Lexington, in The Economist, is usually interesting.

    by SMWalt on Fri May 16, 2008 at 07:00:52 AM PDT

    •  Lexington Rocks ....but ......

      "Lexington" is a psudonym The Economist has used for that page for years and the writers have changed from time to time.

      Always good, but ... just say'n'

      by koNko on Fri May 16, 2008 at 07:30:59 AM PDT

•  Folks I read when I get the chance

  Anna Quindlen (every other week in Newsweek)
  Ellen Goodman (Boston Globe -- local papers occasionally pick her up)
  Cynthia Tucker (Atlanta Journal Constitution -- SF Chronicle prints her on Mondays)
  Eugene Robinson (Washington Post)
  Bob Herbert (NY Times)

  And assorted sports columnists, but those probably don't count.

  by Cali Scribe on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:05:41 PM PDT

•  I have a craving for some Baracky Road Ice Cream

  Anyone else?

  by ScottyUrb on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:06:13 PM PDT

  •  Is it really the "barachy road" you're craving?..

    ... or just the herb talking.

    by MacJimi on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:31:42 PM PDT

•  I'd happily celebrate Novak's years in the biz

  if he were in jail for leaking CIA names right now.

  Otherwise, Bob, kiss my patootie.  You're a nasty old rightwing tool who spreads lies for a living.

  by chumley on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:06:42 PM PDT

  •  jail is an excellent idea

    i was wondering if reporters, or journalists, or columnists could leak without penalty.  

    by jlms qkw on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:23:33 PM PDT

•  I only read Marmaduke :) n/t

  by Trix on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:06:56 PM PDT

  •  You might, then, be interested in this ...

    from David Malki:

    In my local newspaper, the crappy square strips -- Marmaduke, Heathcliff, Dennis the Menace, and Family Circus -- all appear together, in a sort of matrix of suckitude. Occasionally they synergize; one may inadvertently comment on another, or illuminate an unseen facet of an issue raised by another.  Each of the four consistently deals subtextually with deep-seated social neuroses -- with Dennis it's the fear of abandonment; Heathcliff addresses post-violent-victimhood paranoia; and Family Circus is racist.  (More on these in future articles.)  

    But Marmaduke is uniquely psychosexual; the dog is a huge, lumbering id waving its monster lipstick-phallus throughout the tightly-buttoned Winslow household while tension simmers just below the surface ...

    Marmaduke the dog is the rape fantasy taken flesh; he is the overpowering force that conquers your will and thus leaves you inculpable. You physically cannot resist; therefore you are absolved of responsibility. It is not your fault. (The tacit implication is that you are then free to enjoy it guiltlessly.)

    However, brutalizing rape is socially unacceptable behavior.  It's excused because he's a dog, but it's not condoned.  He is a force that can only be vectored, not contained, but civil society must at least do their best to try and harness his surging energy.  Thus the Winslows and their hapless neighbors must discourage Marmaduke's advances whenever possible ...

    by Meteor Blades on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:10:46 PM PDT

    •  LOL... that's hysterical :) n/t

      by Trix on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:12:12 PM PDT

      •  That's one word for it

        I have mine. Below.

        by PresentMoment on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:13:27 PM PDT

    •  Grotesque

      It's nice to be reminded of what is socially unacceptable. Cause I forgot.

      by PresentMoment on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:12:51 PM PDT

    •  Fabulous!

      by snootless on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:21:53 PM PDT

    •  Maybe this person can help me

      explain the rage I feel whenever I encounter a Ziggy strip?

      by gallimaufry on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:24:24 PM PDT

      •  Qualuudes can help that.

        Tried Throazine - no effect. Riddalin - zip/zero.  'ludes & vodka does the trick.

        by koNko on Fri May 16, 2008 at 07:36:27 AM PDT

    •  The last word in "square strips":

      The Nietsche Family Circus

      by Crashing Vor on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:27:53 PM PDT

•  McCain embellished record on Rumsfeld.

  WaPo:

  In recent weeks, McCain has gone so far as to tell audiences that he was "the only one" who called for Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation as defense secretary.

  The trick is that he never did, at least not publicly. The senator from Arizona was a tough critic of Rumsfeld and more than once said that he had no confidence in the Pentagon chief in the two years before Bush finally dumped Rumsfeld in November 2006. But even as he was criticizing Rumsfeld, McCain typically stopped short of calling for the Pentagon chief to step down.

  by organicdemocrat on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:07:44 PM PDT

  •  More from WaPo

    A McCain spokesman acknowledged this week that that was not correct. "He did not call for his resignation," said the campaign's Brian Rogers. "He always said that's the president's prerogative." Asked specifically about the senator's statements in Florida and California, Rogers said, "I think he's really just pointing out that he's the only one who really called out the Rumsfeld strategy, and that is certainly true again and again."

    McCain's enhanced version of his opposition to Rumsfeld has come as he begins to wrap up the Republican nomination and pivot toward the general election, where his embrace of the war presumably will not prove as popular as it has been with the Republican base. McCain's false account has been unwittingly incorporated into the narrative he is selling by some news organizations, including The Washington Post.

    by organicdemocrat on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:09:23 PM PDT

    •  Cleanup, aisle 1.

      Brian's really got a lot of hard work ahead of him. Good thing Joe's been helping him out, or he would already have been hospitalized for exhaustion.

      How long before a square mystery hump appears on McCain's back?

      by operculum on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:39:07 PM PDT

•  Washington State news - McDermott endorses Obama

  Per story here

  The state has six uncommitted superdelegates: former U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley; state Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz; state party Vice Chairwoman Eileen Macoll; Democratic National Committee member Ed Cote; Democratic National Committee member Sharon Mast; and Democratic National Committee member David McDonald.

  McDermott said he has been greatly impressed by Obama's appeal to young people.

  "They have not only shown up, but they have stayed involved in the whole (campaign)," McDermott said.

  by Creosote on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:08:17 PM PDT

•  I'd rather read the back of a cereal box

  than this old coot's crap.

  by Zwoof on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:08:41 PM PDT

•  Nice diss of the record holder, you arrogant pric

  k!

  I bet you he would have had a different opinion of his career if he hadn't died 35 years ago.  Way to honor the departed...

  And, even if he did do just a little, it's better than dragging journalism full-on into the realm of propaganda so that the whole profession is belittled.

  Sorry, but you are one of the reasons we're in the mess we're in.

  by waydownsouth on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:08:51 PM PDT

  •  Perhaps we wouldn't be in the mess ...

    ...we're in if folks like you had paid attention in reading class. My diss is of the living Bob Novak, not the departed David Lawrence.

    by Meteor Blades on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:13:58 PM PDT

    •  I think the comment was aimed at Kovak n/t

      by Zwoof on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:17:49 PM PDT

      •  Oops. Sorry, waydownsouth. n/t

        by Meteor Blades on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:19:38 PM PDT

        •  BTW Mr. Blades

          Every so often I go back and re-read your bio on the About Us page.
          It's such a honor to have you here for us Nite Owls, Early Birds and Global Wanderers.

          Thank you.

          by Zwoof on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:24:45 PM PDT

          •  wow, I just looked it up

            Working in Mississippi in 1964 for SNCC.

            Truly an honor to have him with us.

            by Yirmiyahu on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:10:22 PM PDT

            •  See ...

              ...here.

              by Meteor Blades on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:41:15 PM PDT

        •  It wasn't clear. Most definitely aimed at Novak!

          No worries.  An easy mistake.  My post wasn't the greatest, and kind of about a side issue, really, but it was incredible to me that Novak would feel a need to take a shot at someone else in this case.  Talk about schoolchild mentality!

          by waydownsouth on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:33:06 PM PDT

    •  I always had trouble w/ Irony in my reading class

      What that an example?
      :-}

      by shock on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:58:08 PM PDT

      •  Grammar was hard too.

        ("What" = "Was")

        by shock on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:58:57 PM PDT

  •  Wasn't Novack the one who had a warrant

    sworn against him for taking a swing at someone questioning his integrity a couple of years back? I don't recall the resolution of the case but watching him puff up on TV about taking care of business, I decided he was suicidal.

    by entlord1 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 04:48:51 AM PDT

•  I love, love, love

  Joe Galloway and Leonard Pitts.

  Galloway has been calling out Bush's crapola for years.

  by RagingDem on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:11:52 PM PDT

•  I follow one

  More of less out of morbid curiosity. Its a weekly column in my local paper. More than a decade ago, the writer's investigations were involved in taking down Traficant. This is mentioned in ever single article. I mean that, too.  EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE.

  Sometimes it has an actual connection to what's being written about, but usually it's totally out of the blue. It reminds me Al Bundy (Married with Children) who continuously brought up his single moment of glory in life, his high school football record (four touchdowns in a single game!) to cover up for his now-pathetic existence.

  by Drocket on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:12:13 PM PDT

•  I used to read the NY Times everyday

  But after the lead up to the war I realized that even the "paper of record" was merely propaganda.  

  To me all the for profit media are suspect.  It isn't news it's just informercials for the corporatist ethos (which is not what my life is about).

  I miss dong the crossword.

  by Urizen on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:12:30 PM PDT

  •  Same here. nt

    by MAORCA on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:15:09 PM PDT

•  Read and weep

  I give up, says Brazilian minister who fought to save the rainforest

  In a letter to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ms Silva said that her efforts to protect the rainforest acknowledged as the "lungs of the planet" were being thwarted by powerful business lobbies. "Your Excellency was a witness to the growing resistance found by our team in important sectors of the government and society," she wrote.

  The decision by Ms Silva to walk away five years on from her triumphant unveiling as a minister in President Lula's first term has underlined just how far the former trade union hero's administration has drifted from the promises made in its green heyday.

  "Her resignation is a disaster for the Lula administration," said Jose Maria Cardoso da Silva, of Conservation International. "If the government had any global credibility in environmental issues, it was because of minister Marina."

  by SarahLee on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:14:03 PM PDT

•  Frank Rich, religiously.

  He knows how to interpret the political world better than anyone I have ever read.

  by carolinacal on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:14:35 PM PDT

  •  agree

    I read his columns and the political cartoons.  Mike Lukovich and Bruce Plante are my favorite cartoonists.  

    by Sandy on Signal on Fri May 16, 2008 at 04:16:07 AM PDT

•  Anybody wanna get RickRolled?

  DO. NOT. Click. on this youtube link.

  http://www.youtube.com/...

  by MAORCA on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:14:49 PM PDT

•  Congratulations Novak on your

  45-year dry heave.

  by Mother Mags on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:15:28 PM PDT

•  Well MB

  Don't be so hard on the asshole, you old asshole.

  by LaEscapee on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:17:52 PM PDT

  •  Just to be clear

    Not everyone was graced with the wisdom of the ages, so to speak ;~)

    by LaEscapee on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:26:17 PM PDT

•  And McBush declares victory in 2013

  Specifics here

  He also envisions a "simple flat tax" while speaking to an "audience of several hundred" in Columbus, Ohio.

  "It's not a timetable; it's victory. It's victory, which I have always predicted..."

  by Creosote on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:20:32 PM PDT

  •  Well, he needs to counter...

    ...the 100 years McCain frame.

    I'm not sure anyone really believes him at this point...  2013 is 5 years too long for most Americans, anyways!

    by LordMike on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:26:15 PM PDT

  •  I predict

    a hernia as he tries to lift the load of crap that he's trying to sell.

    by professorfate on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:47:05 PM PDT

    •  Bravo to that! n/t

      by Creosote on Fri May 16, 2008 at 10:59:55 PM PDT

•  other

  You left out "not any more."  I almost never see a paper since they raised the solitary local to seventy-five cents per daily copy.  And there's no more Molly, alas.

  by snootless on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:20:33 PM PDT

•  President Bush is such a good campaigner.

  I hope he's out there every day for the next six months.  He's gonna be down on the interstate soon and he can only get crazier and stupider as his administration slides into a malevolent oblivion.

  by Turtle Bay on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:21:17 PM PDT

•  You misquoted Novak

  I cannot write a column without reporting, and I hope I can continue to do so and newspapers see fit to print me so that I can celebrate my 50th anniversary.

  The real quote was:
  I cannot write a column without distorting, and I hope I can continue to do so and newspapers see fit to print me so that I can celebrate my 50th anniversary.

  Yep, it will be easy for him to continue distorting as long as News Corporation is making up the truth.

  by professorfate on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:21:28 PM PDT

  •  How sloppy of me. ;) n/t

    by Meteor Blades on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:30:09 PM PDT

  •  best

    laugh of the morning

    Thanks

    by eeff on Fri May 16, 2008 at 12:49:15 AM PDT

•  One last reminder

  Still the 15th Mountain and Pacific time.

  
   This year is the 60th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the US never signed. There's a big UN DPI/NGO conference (PDF) in September 08 . . . It'll take place in Paris where the Declaration was first signed.
  

  Bloggers Unite For Human Rights challenges bloggers everywhere to help elevate human rights by drawing attention to the challenges and successes of human rights issues on May 15. What those topics may include â€" the wrongful imprisonment of journalists covering assemblies, governments that ignore the plight of citizens, and censorship of the Internet. What is importantis that on one day, thousands of bloggers unite and share their unified support of human rights everywhere.

  Check out 5 Little Things - To Make a Difference for Human Rights

  by SarahLee on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:21:42 PM PDT

•  I don't even read kos's other columns

  unless he posts it here, in it's entirety.

  by MTmofo on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:22:26 PM PDT

•  I hate Tennessee Republicans

  Both the party itself and some of its more infamous members.

  by raatz on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:22:26 PM PDT

  •  I'm with you

    I just read their latest smear on Michelle. WTF is wrong with them, with a party that thinks thinks this kind of shit is ok? Fucking rat bastards. What  he hell has happened in this country..nevermind, I know: Republicans.

    I'm really pissed right now, gah!

    by Its any one guess on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:25:39 PM PDT

    •  Thanks - and here's the other link I intended

      http://charliedaniels.com/...

      (Don't click if you're not in the mood to get angrier.)

      by raatz on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:27:25 PM PDT

      •  good freakin gawd

        Charlie Daniels..I don't know what the hell to think anymore. There are some individuals in this country that are just beyond ignorant...downright fucking embarrassing to what I hoped this nation would become.

        Well, this crap needs to stop, get fixed. Instead of whipping out my trusty cyber razor blades,I see I 'm going to have to work harder to help...after I'm done being really pissed. }:<</p>

        by Its any one guess on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:36:25 PM PDT

        •  Yeah...

          That site and it's message boards alone came within a millimeter of utterly destroying my husbands love of CW music.  As it is, he got rid of all his Daniels stuff, and listens to others instead.

          For me, the hard rock side of this partnership, it's working out nicely.  :-D  It's only a matter of time before he realizes those attitudes prevail in the CW side of music, and then I won't have to hear it hardly at all anymore...lol!

          (No offense intended to anyone who loves CW) :)

          Cheers!

          by sophistry makes me tired on Fri May 16, 2008 at 02:00:32 AM PDT

  •  The asshole of the Republic

    even the Dems kinds suck for the most part.  It's actually cursed, I kid you not.  I can say so cuz that's where I'm from.  ;)

    by bythesea on Fri May 16, 2008 at 12:38:48 AM PDT

•  PLEASE TELL ME THAT ....

  Rep. Conyers and Wexler are not yanking my chain re: that bastard ROVE . . .

  siegleman so deserves to be exonerated.

  what happened to the last round of threats and subpoenas for myers, bolten etc  . . .

  i am sick of lip service.

  by trippinsf on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:22:34 PM PDT

•  weep

  by Stranahan on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:25:27 PM PDT

  •  Hawaii is from the west, dipshit!

    Not you, Stranahan, the moran in the video...

    by LordMike on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:28:07 PM PDT

    •  I used to get into arguments with people like

      this all of the time.  I wish I had those hours back.  Wasted breath was all it was.

      by gallimaufry on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:32:38 PM PDT

  •  3 cheers for West Virginia!

    shouldn't she be off somewhere dropping out of high school?

    Is those below serving those up above

    - Sweeney Todd

    by tinfoilhat on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:35:51 PM PDT

  •  I love

    the smell of ignorance in the morning.

    by professorfate on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:59:08 PM PDT

  •  Idiotic cow

    comes to mind, but I won't say that because to me it seems sexist.  

    by bythesea on Fri May 16, 2008 at 12:40:14 AM PDT

  •  Brilliant logic

    Vote Hillary because Barack Obama is the anti-christ, and he's Muslim.

    Now I see the light.

    by smlefo on Fri May 16, 2008 at 03:39:10 AM PDT

    •  Talk show on radio this morning

      is discussing the possibility of Hillary running as a third party candidate and the callers are all saying she would win in a 3 way race.  Matter of fact they are saying if she does not run as a third party, that McCain will beat Obama because none of Hillary's people will vote for him and will either stay home or vote GOP.

      Why doesn't anyone point out the effect this would have down ticket?

      by entlord1 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 05:56:29 AM PDT

  •  This is sad...

    She doesn't even look old enough to vote.  Brainwashed, can I get an amen?  Probably newly minted in one of those "fellowship camps."

    I wish I could muster the energy to be angered by her nonsense, but at the moment I just feel sad.

    I'd love to lock her in a room for a few weeks with the ghost of Molly Ivins.  Damn, I miss Molly...

    by azure on Fri May 16, 2008 at 03:45:21 AM PDT

  •  obama is the antichrist

    if that is a typical example of our country's yutes,
    all hope is lost. without a map, with a disfunctional GPS, no GM's OnSpy, with the lights out, four flat tires, out of gas, broken axle, sinking slowly in a fetid, poison snake filled bog.

    by agnostic on Fri May 16, 2008 at 05:20:43 AM PDT

•  World's First Village that Runs on 100% Solar

  Donggwang, a village on the western half of the island Jeju-do in South Korea

  Only 40 houses and a small school - but if they've done it, so could many small towns in the US of A.

  by SarahLee on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:26:03 PM PDT

•  McCain Goes Green

  Trying out a new McCain logo —

  

  Hat tip to A Siegel and his diary Greenwashing McCain's Campaign.

  by Magnifico on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:26:12 PM PDT

  •  oooooo. Nice. n/t

    by Meteor Blades on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:32:20 PM PDT

  •  is he moldy as well as decrepit now?

    by tnichlsn on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:09:26 PM PDT

  •  Now I need

    to change the post above

    this one is GREAT

    thanks Mag

    oh & that ones a keeper

    by eeff on Fri May 16, 2008 at 12:51:32 AM PDT

•  Mark Morford

  I'll still read Maureen Dowd but the bloom has faded.  Frank Rich.

  Alas, Molly Ivins.

  Is those below serving those up above

  - Sweeney Todd

  by tinfoilhat on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:30:39 PM PDT

  •  I Think Modo Is Stuck on "Elite" nt

    by Gooserock on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:03:08 PM PDT

  •  Morford so rocks

    I'd tongue kiss him if I was gay.

    Damn-Francisco is too expensive for my bloody budget or I'd be overlooking the Bay.

    by SecondComing on Fri May 16, 2008 at 01:11:52 AM PDT

•  Free Medical for quake injured

  BEIJING  -- Quake victims will not have to pay medical expenses, the Chinese government has promised.

  "Medical expenses shall not be inflicted on them, and the government has the responsibility to help them get better medical service," Vice Health Minister Gao Qiang said at a press conference on Thursday.

  Bush's Katrina fustercluck just gets worse and worse as we see how others deal with catastrophes.

  by Zwoof on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:30:57 PM PDT

•  Any Maria Bamford Show fans here?

  It looks as though her weird and hilarious web show has webbed its last.  I couldn't get it to embed, so here's a link to a late episode.  If it tickles your fancy, start watching them in order from the beginning.  So you know, Maria is playing various people you have met in prior episodes--her father, her mother, her sister, etc.
  http://www.superdeluxe.com/...

  by geomoo on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:35:22 PM PDT

•  Holy shit!

  Hillary defended Obama today against Bush!  Maybe she really IS gearing down!

  by LordMike on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:35:26 PM PDT

•  You mean "without whoring" don't you?

  I cannot write a column without reporting.

  by muledriver on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:39:26 PM PDT

•  Print media?

  Please tell me another story grandpa.  I can't sleep.  What was it like when you were a boy?  Was the internet really slow back then?

  by shock on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:41:53 PM PDT

•  diary pimp

  Apparently, McCain was for talking to Hamas before he was against it.

  by Yirmiyahu on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:46:18 PM PDT

•  Groove I tell you groove!

  by lockewasright on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:46:42 PM PDT

•  What happens when we fail those with PTSD?

  That is the subject of my diary buried in a flurry an hour ago.

  Browsing the NYT website, I stumbled upon War Torn and its accompanying articles including Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles. The NYT describes War torn as A series of articles and multimedia about veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have committed killings, or been charged with them, after coming home. Reading some of these horrific stories can only leave the impression that we have failed our veterans when they return home. Some of these tragedies may have been prevented with adequate mental health care.

  http://www.dailykos.com/...

  by Liberal Youth on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:48:40 PM PDT

•  10-15 more years

  

  by Zwoof on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:48:43 PM PDT

•  Why?

  Why has Novak not been hung for Treason? The CIA told him on two separate occasions not to print (out) Valerie Plame's name. If he can get away with outing undercover agents, they I should be able to out them all legally right? Blow all their covers? To heck with looking for WMD's, we gottan election to win right?

  by thantos on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:53:56 PM PDT

  •  Hanged

    Horses are.. nevermind.

    Much respect, It's my English teacher alter-ego come to roost at 1AM.

    Novack needs to be hanged, along with Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, and a veritable slew of neo-cons.

    Does "Condi" get a pass?

    Hell no. How many deaths is she immediately responsible for? One is too many.

    Hang 'em all in public and hang 'em high.

    by SecondComing on Fri May 16, 2008 at 01:21:13 AM PDT

•  Want to reiterate a couple of things.

  This type of comment

  I'm of the opinion that all marriages should be civil unions, and that churches should be free to marry (or not marry) anybody they want.

  is a LIE.  Plain and simple.  A lie.

  Legal marriage is a civil union that is simply called civil marriage.  ALREADY.  Churches are already free to marry (or not) anybody they want.  ALREADY.  Those church marriages have no legal force without the civil union called civil marriage.  ALREADY.

  People who argue this don't know what they're talking about.

  Second, the California decision has (at least in my mind) clarified the strategy:

   1.   Defend the California decision, at all costs.  When people become used to SSM, it becomes entrenched.

   2.  Spread gay marriage to the Washington, Oregon, and the entire Northeast.

   3.  Strike down DOMA.

   4.  At this point, it will become untenable for the SCOTUS to try to skate around the Full Faith and Credit Clause.  Too many states will have gay marriage for it to be ignored; the legal chaos in allowing the other parts of the country not to recognize SSM's performed in other states will become untenable.

  Third:

  There is no defensible reason ASIDE FROM CONCERN TROLLERY for the Democrats to continue to defend bigotry versus progress on gay rights.

  Either defend us, at long last -- be our allies -- or be cowards.

  It really is that simple.

  Because if you don't, everything else becomes an exercise in bullshit:

  1. You cannot talk about a UNITED AMERICA if you don't include us.

  2. You cannot talk about THE CHILDREN unless you include us.

  3. You cannot talk about civil rights, torture of free beings, or your belief in any greater good on that scale if you don't include us.

  The homophobes want to destroy our liberties, and  they want to destroy yours, too -- even if you are not gay.

  by AndyS In Colorado on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:56:07 PM PDT

  •  Yes. nt

    by Gooserock on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:04:42 PM PDT

  •  If you haven't yet Diaried this ...

    ...you should.

    by Meteor Blades on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:05:01 PM PDT

  •  defense IS keeping it off the ballot. period...

    end of story. If we don't, it's over for CA and the rest of US.....

    by tnichlsn on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:06:07 PM PDT

    •  It will get on the ballot.

      And then, be defeated.

      by AndyS In Colorado on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:17:09 PM PDT

      •  that's what they said/thought in WI but

        they got clobbered when the votes were tallied. People lie on this when polled. You'll/they'll need a 5-6 point cushion going in to the election in order to pull it off.

        by tnichlsn on Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:20:01 PM PDT

        •  Yes, but if gay people don't realize?

          There are 18 million of us.  Most, not in California.

          It's time to go on the offensive.

          The problem I've had -- and I've experienced it in Colorado, is gay people whining for their rights.

          We should be done with whining for our rights by now.  It's time to go on the offensive.

          These people, who push these initiatives, are scum.  And like I said, want gay rights to be eliminated only as a first step.

          Thereby, if we can communicate with the population of California, it is only the first step.

          They already have enough signatures to get on the ballot in California.  That battle is already "lost".

          But the broader battle is an opportunity.