I was getting all set to break my self-imposed ban on meta diaries to comment on all the warfare going on between the generations and what not, only because of its tiresome nature.  

And then I got a call from my mother to inform me my great uncle died.  I can't remember his exact age, but he was in his nineties.  He went in the hospital last week for heart issues.  He was the last of his generation on my father's side.  Dad is pretty shook up about it. It is sad to lose my great uncle, but I am happy he went on his own terms. He told my dad he knew it was time, and that is, I think, the best we call can wish for...knowing when it our time.

Up until now, I haven't gotten that worked up about FISA, in particular the retroactive immunity.  Yes, it's bad.  Very bad.  Parts of the new FISA legislation are even worse that the immunity clause, in particular the extension from the 72 hours, to one week, of wire tappin' prior to going to the FISA court, as well as the seeming expansion from "foreign" to more domestic sources.  It is a bad bill and should be defeated, although I say again, I'm not tremendously worked up about it.

Having said that...Sen. Obama needs to pay attention to what has happened with this bill.  Because THIS is what is wrong with Washington...and THIS is what he needs to focus his message of "change" on.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, I happen to think former Vice-Presidents make perfect running mates.  I mean, they know how to do the job already, there is nothing preventing them from serving as VP again, and they've already been vetted.

Having said that, there is one person in particular that would make a perfect running mate this November. He's been Vice-President already, is a party loyalist, and is a veteran of his own campaign for President.

That seems to be a message the Republicans want to perptuate this November.

In a strange exchange between former Maryland Governor (and hoping to be Governor again someday) Bob Ehrlich and a caller on his radio talk show this week, the Governor seemed to imply, in agreeing with a caller, that should Obama get elected, we will get some sort of civil war between the Black Panthers and the KKK.

Seriously.  If this is Republican thinking, no wonder we've been in the tank in this country for 8 years...

I've been blogging for about four years now (it seems hard to believe, now that I mention it), and the thing that continues to impress me about the netroots is how organic it is.  From blogs, to Meetups, to Drinking Liberally, even to the Presidential campaigns (starting with Howard Dean and now with our Democratic Presidential Nominee, Barack Obama), this is a bottom-up, not top-down, operation. And there is probably nothing more organic than the Netroots Nation Convention.

This year will be my first time attending the Convention. I'm psyched.  I couldn't make the first Yearly Kos in Vegas because of time and cost, and to be honest, because I didn't "get" it.  I mean, why did we need a convention, I wrote back then.  We have a convention everyday here in the "tubes"!

Boy was I stupid.

Well, not really.  But with today's 5-4 decision restoring the writ of habeas corpus from the dastardly Military Commissions of Act of 2006, the Supreme Court sided with those Senators and Congressman -- including Obama -- who understood the rule of law and respected the Constitution more than fear.

I thought it might be constructive to go to the way back machine and see what the Democratic candidate for President exactly said about this act and the writ of habeas corpus in 2006...

I'm going to espouse an unpopular, or what is probably going to be, an unpopular viewpoint in this diary.  Not the first time, won't be the last time, I'm sure.

Seemingly out of nowhere, I awoke to find another clarion call to impeach.  This time, it appears prompted by Congressman Kucinich.  Make no mistake: I've said before and I'll say again that I would support impeachment of this President because he is deserving, under the rule of law.  But today, I cannot find the energy to muster the outrage, or to join the ranks of my fellow citizens to push forward.  I feel, at this time in our history, it is an ill-fated journey wrought with landmines.

At least, that's what a formula called the Electoral Barometer is telling us.

According to Dr. Alan Abramowitz, a professor of political science at Emory University, the so-called Electoral Barometer is the one of the most accurate measures ever divised of predicting the popular vote electoral victories of the Presidential race.

See how it works below the fold...

Everybody is contributing their favorite vents today, so I figured, what the hey, I'll share a few of my own, give ya my two bits, etc. etc.

Vents happen to be a favorite topic of mine...

I missed the short tribute diary last night to Harvey Korman, and the media seems to be covering him as the great star comedian on The Carol Burnett Show.  And while his work on that show was grand, I will always remember him as this guy:

Hedley Lamarr...the blundering evil genius chief of staff/political consultant type of the Old West.

Sometimes, when you are given a gift that's intended as a slight, you can't help but smile.  John McCain just gave Barack Obama a big wet kiss of a gift, and I doubt he even knows it.

Today, McCain called Obama's foreign policy "reckless."  Now, we know the reasons why McCain thinks it is reckless -- i.e., Obama is "inexperienced" -- but McCain showed he just doesn't get it at all.

And in true form, he's given the Democrats the message to win in November.

Mr. President, I'm sure you know "appeasement" when you see it.  You've been the East Coast distributor of "appeasement" for nearly 8 years now.

Allow me to channel my best KO and give you my best "Special Comment" for the day, Mr. President.

Appeasement, in the way you used it, Mr. President, is defined as the following:

to yield or concede to the belligerent demands of (a nation, group, person, etc.) in a conciliatory effort, sometimes at the expense of justice or other principles.

Under that definition, you are the King of Appeasement.

I normally love RenaRF's stuff, but...

You would think we'd be smarter than this. You would think.

You would think we'd know how to spin things better. You would think.

You would think that instead of contemplating more division, we'd be thinking about unifying.  You would think.

Let's settle this here and now.  No need to feed the conspiracy theories, or worry about any shifting winds.  Obama is going to be our nominee.  There won't be any "stealing" of the nomination. It's going to happen.

So no need to threaten that which needs not be threatened.

Over a year and a half ago, I made a bold prediction to some political friends of mine: Hillary Clinton would not be our nominee for President.  Mind you, I didn't know WHO would be at that point, but I knew that someone was going to capture something in a bottle to overtake her.  Could be Obama, Edwards, or Richardson, I mused.  But Clinton was not going to be our nominee.

Part of it was a gut feeling, and part of it was seeing how her campaign was run.  The aura of inevitability is never a good theme to run a campaign on in a multifaceted race.  I remember the DNC national meeting in Washington in February 2007, when staffers were passing out buttons of Sen. Clinton with the phrase "I'M IN IT TO WIN!" emblazoned on it.  The picture of Clinton was hideous.  She was giving a big thumbs up, and had a smile that was actually an overbite.  The lighting on the photo made her look pasty and showed off every wrinkle.  It was a damn unfortunate button for her, and yet...some staffer had approved that message.

At that moment, I knew for sure she wouldn't win.

Look, I want to see this primary fight end just like the next guy or gal, and I want Obama to be the nominee.  But for the ever living ghost of Harry Truman, we need to get a grip around here.

At the top of the Rec List right now is a YouTube clip of Mickey Kantor, former Clinton adviser, uttering nasty stuff about Hoosiers.  It's even got the "BREAKING" banner an everything.

One problem: this vid has been in the public domain for approximately 15 years.  It's from the Oscar nominated film The War Room.

OK, I'm blowing my one diary a day for a public service announcement, only because I've seen this pop up in numerous diaries, and it needs to be clarified.

PLEASE NOTE: Maryland's Add On Delegates Will NOT Be Selected Today.

I'm a State Central Committee member in MD who sits on the Rules Committee.  Yes, the delegate selection plan says they will be selected today.

However....

"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." -- President Harry S. Truman

"I've always said that in politics, your enemies can't hurt you, but your friends will kill you." -- Governor Ann Richards

There is something unseemly, something awkwardly painful, in watching the Rev. Wright/Barack Obama drama play out.  After Wright's media blitz, Obama counters today with a strong denunciation of Wright's commentary of the past few days.  But there is a profound saddness in many ways to watch it, not because who said what about whom or what, but because in a very public way, a friendship of 20 years is coming to an end.

No, I didn't say that. He did.

In yet another Clintonian moment, the former President went off on a public radio host this morning when asked about his comments the morning of the South Carolina primary.  In a vigorous defense of his comments in which he accused Barack Obama's campaign of playing the race card against him, he concluded by saying, when he thought he was off mike:

I don’t think I can take any shit from anybody on that, do you?

Wow...