The Wisdom of Fecke

BOML bookies are standing by.

[as replacement for VP Cheney]

Fmr. Gov. Ronald Reagan (R-CA)

Pros: Everyone in the GOP loves them some Reagan.
Cons: Dead.
Odds:Given that Bush may not know that, 50-1.

Wheeeeeee!

While Gary et all get worked up over the poor guy who had his rights violated because he was told he couldn't carry his gun into the library, I can't help but wonder how they can be so diligent in blaming all violence on Klobuchar, yet still not notice that the rise in crime directly coincides with the passage of the conceal and carry law.

Do they give you a giant novelty check?

Via Saveroe, it seems that among the groups helping to push agendas in South Dakota is the Abstinence Clearinghouse. Beyond just celebacy advocacy and anti-homosexuality, they hate dirty touches, too:

And lest you think purity only relates to the encounters you have with others, well, I'd say you should keep your hands to yourself, but not even that would do. "The focus of the marriage union is a shared intimacy between two people, a husband and a wife. The arousal response in individuals is the most easily trained response in the human body. Sexual self stimulation along with fantasy or pornography can actually train a person to bond to pictures, objects, ect., and may eventually leave the person unable to respond sexually to a real person."

At least they don't say you'll go blind.

To be fair, maybe this is why they think about sex so much...

Amy Klobuchar at Drinking Liberally - March 22

As I had mentioned before, we were working with the Klobuchar campaign to arrange a DL meeting, and we have officially confirmed March 22nd.

Ford Bell - Drinking Liberally March 15th
Amy Klobuchar - Drinking Liberally March 22nd

Be sure to come and meet your potential next senator!

(Cross posted on DFLSenate)

South Dakota Boycotts

According to Lifenews, there's a movement to boycott South Dakota because of the potential abortion ban. They claim that the backlash could cause more pro-lifers to go visit. Said one local pregnancy provider, "I think we've got a lot of people who are going to respect the state more now."

Was South Dakota sufferning from a lack of respect before? Is it because of having to share Dakota name? Does is feel like the lesser Dakota? A little Jan Brady syndrome?

Cheer up, South Dakota! You have Mount Rushmore, and...well, I'm sure many other things to be proud of. Look at your low taxes! Just because so many of your people seem to move to Minnesota doesn't make you any less a state.

Or maybe it just wishes it had a manly panhandle like Oklahoma or Nebraska.

Silly Democrats

Your job is to rubber stamp the administration, not to "pass laws" or exercise "oversight". Jeez, who do these guys think they are, anyway? We already had a two day dog and pony show with witnesses who weren't sworn in and who refused to answer any salient questions. That should be enough "investigation" for any red blooded American. Besides, we shouldn't abuse the office of the Special Counsel. We may need them to investigate allegations of moral indecency if the Dems ever (God forbid) regain the White House.

Democrats seek eavesdropping special counsel

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should appoint a special counsel to investigate the legality of the Bush administration's eavesdropping program, 18 House Democrats told President Bush in a letter released Monday.

The lawmakers said the surveillance of terrorists must be done within the bounds of U.S. law, but complained that their efforts to get answers to legal and factual questions about the program have been stymied -- "generally based on the feeblest of excuses."

"If the effort to prevent vigorous and appropriate investigation succeeds, we fear the inexorable conclusion will be that these executive branch agencies hold themselves above the law and accountable to no one," wrote the lawmakers, led by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California, a member of the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees.

The benefits of being a liberal

Occasionally, all of your terrorist loving gets you a piece of that sweet sweet corruption cash. From my gmail box:

Dear Intending partner,

This mail may not be surprising to you if you have been following current events in the international media with reference to the Middle East and Palestine in particular.
I am Mrs. SUHA ARAFAT, the wife of YASSER ARAFAT, the Palestinian
leader who died recently in Paris. Since his death and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism, confusion, humiliation, frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the new Prime Minister. I have even been subjected to physical and psychological torture. As a widow that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence with everybody in the country at the moment.
You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the discovery of some fund in my husband secret bank account and companies and the allegations of some huge sums of money deposited by my husband in my name of which I have refuses to disclose or give up to the corrupt Palestine Government. In fact the total sum allegedly discovered by the Government so far is in the tune of about $6.5 Billion Dollars. And they are not relenting on their effort to make me poor for life. As you know, the Moslem community has no regards for woman, hence my desire for a foreign assistance. You can
visit the broadcast below for better understanding of what I am talking about;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3479937.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3995769.stm
I have deposited the sum of 20 million dollars with a private security firm abroad whose name is withheld for now until we open communication. I shall be grateful if you could receive this fund into your bank account for safe keeping and any Investment opportunity.
This arrangement is known to you and my personal Attorney. He might be
dealing with you directly for security reasons as the case may be. In view of the above, if you are willing to assist for our mutual benefits, we will have to negotiate on your Percentage share of the $20,000,000 that will be kept in your position for a while and
invested in your name for my trust pending when my Daughter, Zahra,
will come off age and take full responsibility of her Family Estate/inheritance.
Please note that this is a golden opportunity that comes once in life time and more so, if you are honest, I am going to entrust more funds in your care as this is one of the legacy we keep for our children.
In case you don't accept please do not let me out to the security and international media as I am giving you this information in total trust and confidence I will greatly appreciate if you accept my proposal in good faith. Please expedite action and all response to my
email address below. NB / Please reply to : suha33@netscape.net

Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Suha Arafat

So, I'm just curious, any of the conservatives out there getting any similar offers from Halliburton?

Imagine this as a three panel comic strip...

Sort of Mallard Fillmore style.

Panel one: (Talking head journalist says)
In the news this morning,

Panel two:
approximately 20% of Americans read at or below a fifth grade level.

Panel three:
In other news, approximately 20% of Americans still believe there was a connection between Iraq and 9/11.

sigh

Hear no evil

See no evil

South Dakota ignores their constituents while Texas refuses to open their eyes.

Caucus Finder

Smartie and I have been going nuts trying to figure out where our caucus is, but it looks like the DFL now has a handy dandy caucus finder. Much better.

Live Bar Drinking

In order to test out the power of portability, Smartie and I are bloody mary blogging at the 331 club. It makes a nice place to sit, drink, and make new blogroll changes.

We're flipping through the roll, and ran into Tracy discussing the economic benefits of selling your children. Funny how republicans always reduce everything to supply and demand except for Hollywood movies, which are just a liberal conspiracy.

Andy makes us giggle both with his acceptance of Wege as the DFL base, and this quote: "Maybe Klobuchar can't just ramble her way to the party's nod and wink coronation." Insert your own pot and kettle joke here.

Finally, fun with straw...

New to thePower Liberal

semi weekend posting, thanks to our first laptop. We can't promise quality (but hey, when did we ever have that?), but we will be providing slightly more quantity. And really, that's what it's all about.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to finish sewing myself a laptop case.

Touche!

Not bad.

They'd sound prettier with a southern drawl....

Ford Bell at Drinking Liberally - March 15th

For those of you who like to plan ahead, I have Ford Bell confirmed for March 15th at 7 pm. I should know if Amy Klobuchar is confirmed for the 22nd next week.

(Cross Posted of DFLSenate)

Existentialist In Biker Shorts

(An homage to the Nihilist)

Top 11 Reasons Why Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals

11) One, Two, THREE Branches of governement...HA HA HA!!!

10) Cheney still hasn't killed anyone (that we know of)

9) How can you not be when you're named Big Trunk and Rocket?

8) Lots of kids means bigger tax credits!

7) Michael Moore is still fatter than Rush Limbaugh

6) Not reading any "liberal" newspapers or watching any "liberal" news shows gives them many extra hours to spend learning new hobbies.

5) You've all forgotten about Jeff Gannon

4) Repetitive motion clicking injuries means really good painkillers

3) No one's tapping our phonecalls

2) The piles of money make comfortable mattresses

1) Well, they say ignorance is bliss....

Anything I can do to encourage this?

Just let me know.

Christian Movement Moving Into Palmetto State

(Feb. 22) - From his rural home near Lodi, Calif., Cory Burnell keeps close watch over the news from South Carolina, and he likes what he sees.

Turning the state into a promised land for conservative Christians will be easier than he had thought, he says.

Burnell, a 30-year-old financial adviser and founder of Christian Exodus, believes thousands of religious conservatives across the USA agree with him when he says their influence on government is diluted by liberals and Republicans who have failed to do what mainstream Americans elected them to do.

The answer he came up with in late 2003: Move like-minded Christians to one state: South Carolina.

Note to any conservatives in this state who are disgusted by all the "liberalism" around them...I'm available to help you move at any time. I'll even bring the truck.

Just so I'm not girl who cried Franken

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 21:10:08 -0600

Hey Robin,

Doesn't look like we're going to make it tonight -- Al got held up on
some calls and we're way behind. Sorry to get folks excited -- I
swear, we're coming one of these weeks.

Andy

So a definite maybe from here on out. Perhaps Wege is right about the guilt.

Drinking Liberally Recap

A very large group last night, I'd guess around 40. Jon Tevlin got to interview many of the people who were there and a good time was had by all. Of course, it was too bad that Mr. Franken couldn't make it, but don't be too disappointed. Next week our special guests may include¹ John Kerry, Bill Clinton and FDR's ghost!

Da Wedge has a good recap. Go read.

¹ None of these people/supernatural beings have actually indicated any interest in attending, but you never know.

Al Franken at Drinking Liberally Tonight

Mr. Al Franken plans to be joining us.

I'm not linking. You all know who he is.

Updated because I like that headline better.. Maybe the nationals will send me free buttons or something.

It didn't take a genius

To see this coming. Unfortunately, there appears to be no one even moderately competent in the current administration's foreign policy team.

Iran offers Hamas financial aid

Iran has offered to help finance the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority governed by the Hamas militant group.

The offer was announced by senior security official Ali Larijani after a meeting with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, state radio reported.

The decision follows moves by the US and Israel to isolate a Hamas-led government with financial penalties.

After years of bloodshed we finally see some meager gains being made by the peace process. Then, in one fell swoop, we may have not only pissed them all away, but driven the Palestinian Authority right into the arms of our current enemy number one. That's going to be really helpful for stability in the Middle East.

Priceless

"That's a paddlin'..."

Drinking Liberally Tonight - Strib Meets Anti-Strib

Tonight we have two "irregulars" stopping in to say hi...

First, Jon Tevlin of the Minneapolis Star Tribune will be dropping in to meet the group for an upcoming story. Also, conservative blogger Tracy will be coming by to meet some intelligent liberals to spar with.

What happens when Strib meets Anti-Strib? Is it like matter and anti-matter?

Only beer will tell...

Drinking Liberally tonight at the 331 Club, 6-9 pm. Be sure to bring your protective goggles. But remember to take them off for the pictures.

Brokeback Westover

what an imp...

I've had some spirited exchanges with Chuck Darrell of Minnesota for Marriage over the issue of same-sex marriage, but while disagreeing with his position, I've never doubted his sincerity. I've posted a number of Chuck's opinion pieces, the latest as an update to this post. The other day we spent an hour or so at Stub and Herb's hashing over some developments in the debate that may be fodder for a future column. (Don't say anything to Chuck, but before he got there, I told the bartender I was waiting for my partner.)

If you can't say something nice

You're probably talking about the President...

Bush's Minnesota numbers are almost identical to his national numbers (40 percent approval, 57 percent disapproval, 3 percent undecided). Curiously, his positive rating in Minnesota is actually higher than it is in four states which Bush won in 2004--Missouri, Colorado, Iowa and Ohio. But for the president's supporters, the most alarming aspect of the survey must be this one: he broke the 50 percent approval mark in just six states.

I know, I know, look how high his Minnesota nubers are, sayeth the conservatives. I think it's more of a Minnesota nice margin of error, myself.

Quote of the Day

From, of all people, Feminists for Life:

"It is not pro-life to take away the resources and support that women need and deserve to bring children into this world..."

Via this article this post, via this post.

Doctors...psssh...what do they know? - UPDATED

Supreme Court to consider late-term abortion ban

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will consider the constitutionality of banning a type of late-term abortion, teeing up a contentious issue for a new-look court already in a state of flux over privacy rights.

The Bush administration has pressed the high court to reinstate the federal law, passed in 2003 but never put in effect because it was struck down by judges in California, Nebraska and New York.

[snip]

The federal law in the current case has no health exception, but defenders maintain that the procedure is never medically necessary to protect a woman's health.

[snip]

The case that will be heard this fall comes to the Supreme Court from Nebraska, where the federal law was challenged on behalf of physicians. Doctors who perform the procedure contend that it is the safest method of abortion when the mother's health is threatened by heart disease, high blood pressure or cancer.

I prefer to get all of my health advice from CWFA or MCCL. Now, where did I put my Kabbalah water and holy cornmeal?

rew Adds: Remember when they used to think that doctors should decide on health issues?

Mona Charen: Hypocrite

But, really, is anyone surprised?

Mona Charen now: Media's shameful reaction to Cheney accident

The shooting mishap is terrible for the veep, the victim and their families but has zero public relevance.

Mona Charen then: Can just sex be impeachable?

The sex, standing alone, was an abuse of office.

We don't elect presidents to act as moral exemplars. But we cannot tolerate utter louts either. Clinton's conduct is illustrative of the moral rot that has already done severe damage to the nation. Failing to punish him will only accelerate the decline.

Good Show! - UPDATED

Excellent post and subsequent fight up over at Flash's place.

An out of state political group puts together an Ad based on misleading representations.

The opposition gets into the mix to stop the ad from being aired.

The Echo Chamber starts pumping the meme, even using private E-Mails from private citizens ... sent to a private group leaked to them by internal informants.

The news media picks up on the confrontations and alerts the public to the ad, during the news cycle.

The ad maker now gets free air time and more exposure then their limited investment would have ever provided.

lather, rinse, repeat.

I can't wait until the Keginator is open for business again....I miss chatting with the Doc.

UPDATE: I bet Flash would be interested in knowing he's not a patriot....

7) Does the TV ad being run by midwest heroes offend you?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, I want to know how you could possibly consider yourself a patriot? What could that possibly mean?

State of War...a mini-review

I just finished reading James Risen's State of War and I thought I'd say a few quick words about the book.

First, if you're like me you primarily know about this book in connection with the revelation of the secret NSA wiretapping program. If you go into State of War expecting to hear more about this program you're going to be disappointed. That particular charge only gets a few pages and there is no information in the book beyond what is already available in the news media.

However, if you go into the book looking for more information on the background of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, anecdotes regarding the inner workings of the Bush Administration and the administration's relationship to the intelligence community, you'll be much more richly rewarded. These are the topics Risen covers in depth and he provides a very revealing (and depressing) look at the current status of our intelligence community, how it got that way and plenty of dark hints on the broader implications for how this will affect the War on Terrorism in the future.

It has been noted elsewhere that Risen's reliance on anonymous sources occasionally undermines what he is trying to say. This is true to some extent, but much of what he says is corroborated by events that we know about or by the non-denials of the administration, for example the Abu Ghraib abuses, "extraordinary rendition" by the CIA, and of course the NSA program. So, while it would be unwise to trust all of the details that he lays out in the book, most of the broader accusations unfortunately seem quite credible.

In my opinion, it's worth reading, especially if you're an amateur political junkie like me. You may not find much in the way of new information but Risen does succeed in drawing together many disparate elements of the past five years to produce a disturbing image of a CIA possibly mortally weakened because of the willfull blindness of an administration that cares less about real intelligence than getting information that reinforces their worldviews.

DFLSenate Snapshot

Some good stories going on over there, including:

Florida fun

The union "scandal"

Rove-raising

Baisically, all of the stuff I didn't write....

Go check them out.

Morning Commuter Tip

Knitting on the bus is not only relaxing and a good used of free time, but ensures that no one will sit next to you until all other options are taken.

Bias Bias Bi-as!

As a good follow-up to smartie's "Bias is someone saying something I don't agree with," a bit from Sponge over in his new digs.

And, since it's Sponge, you know that when I say "bit" I mean, really really long but informative diatribe.

Some Helpful Advice for the Strib

Kate Parry's Sunday column about bugs at the Strib's website was interesting. I'm glad to know that they're aware of the fact that their new design still has some...ahem...issues to address. However, I noted that Ms. Parry left out what is, perhaps, the single most annoying bug of all related to the new website: the Search feature.

The Search feature on the Strib's website is so bad that it's worse than useless, it actually makes you less likely to be able to find what you're looking for. Considering how compartmentalized the new website is and the numerous layers (often counterintuitively named) you must navigate to find information on it the lack of a decent search feature becomes an even greater deficiency.

Let's say, for example, that I wanted to read the story published on the front page of today's Metro section regarding the local Muslim rally against the Mohammed cartoons and the violent response to them. I go to the search feature and type in "Muslim", figuring it's a pretty broad search, but I should find what I'm looking for somewhere in the results. Right? Wrong:

Not even listed (and I know it's on the website, it's on main page). And, seriously, the Strib has only recently published two articles recently containing the word "Muslim"? I find that hard to believe. Also, what's with the paid advertisements at the bottom? I assume they're supposed to be related to the search, but I don't see how silk ponytail scarves and leather chairs are really relevant.

So I thought, well, I'll just go pull up Kate Parry's story and double check to make sure she didn't actually say anything about this in there. Let's see, search, "Kate Parry". Ooops:



And no, that's not an oversight, apparently no one at the Stirb has thought of indexing any of their reporter's (or columnists) stories with their names. So, anyway, great site redesign, but don't get cocky kid. You've still got a long ways to go. May I suggest a place to start?

Saturday Cat Blog

Something to keep you warm this weekend.

This was taken just a few weeks ago, in January
...when it was warm...

Is there something in the water?

Or did the possibility of having an RNC convention in Minneapolis drive all the local right-wingers into a frenzy? First, Captain Ed calls out noted Maoist George Will. Then, the Fraters crew writes up a post that basically reads:

Liberals and Osama
Sittin' in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G

full of the same tired chest-thumping "get yer war on" junk that was tired in 2003.

Seriously folks, go read that and remember it's the Left that's "unhinged".

Define "Center"

It's long been suspected by myself and others of the, ahem, center-left persuasion that to right wingers "media bias" was defined simply as anyone in the media disagreeing with them, no matter what the topic or facts happened to be.

By changing the very definition of the word "bias", the noise machine has succeeded in cowing most of the media into an acceptable quiescence. Fresh off that triumph, then, it seems that they have set off in search of new frontiers of redefinition. I've mentioned before their attempts at rewriting history (here for example) and there are many others, but that doesn't seem to be an entirely fulfilling activity for our friends on the right. Rewriting history is no fun. It doesn't really fight back, just waits until you've ignored it long enough and then wreaks its subtle revenge. So, instead, they've turned their guns on a live target (no, that wasn't a Dick Cheney joke). Captain Ed:

Normally I enjoy George Will's columns; he isn't exactly a hard-line conservative, but he usually covers the center-right well enough. In today's effort, though, Will starts off on a rant that not only goes far off the tracks, it doesn't even start on them. He argues that the Bush administration has become "monarchical" in its handling of the war and his argument is primarily based on a misinterpretation of FISA...[my emphasis]

George Will not conservative enough!! Forget all of his past body of work where here's faithfully put forward a consistent conservative view point. Forget all that. He disagreed!!

And, as TBOGG points out, that wasn't even Ed's original post. Originally, the post said "he isn't really a conservative".

Huh?

Is the Right now attempting to redefine "conservative" as some kind of antonym to "bias"? Do we need to do a "conservative speak" post here? Something like this:

Biased (adj.)-anyone who disagrees with anything the president does.

Conservative (n, v, adj., adv., prep. and everything else)-Someone who understands that this administration is INFALLIBLE and therefore ALWAYS RIGHT.

Left, Leftist, Liberal, Progressive, Center-Left (doesn't matter)-the first up against the wall when the revolution comes.

Center-Right (who cares)-second up against the wall when the conservative revolution comes.

Whatever. The best part is the fact that Ed apparently didn't bother reading Will's entire column which ends like this:

Immediately after 9/11, President Bush rightly did what he thought the emergency required, and rightly thought that the 1978 law was inadequate to new threats posed by a new kind of enemy using new technologies of communication. Arguably he should have begun surveillance of domestic-to-domestic calls -- the kind the 9/11 terrorists made.

But 53 months later, Congress should make all necessary actions lawful by authorizing the president to take those actions, with suitable supervision. It should do so with language that does not stigmatize what he has been doing, but that implicitly refutes the doctrine that the authorization is superfluous.

So, basically, Will still refuses to lay the blame at the one and only place it can possible lie: with the person who broke the law, President Bush.

Congressional Republicans, who seemed like they might be-against all odds-growing some rudimentary spine, have now, like Will, basically decided to simply retroactively legalize whatever the President wants. Never mind the unconstitutionality of ex post facto laws. When you've been in a supine position for so long I guess it must start to get comfortable.

Free Lambert

How can I resist this call?

We urge all of you to contact KTLK in order to get Brian equal billing. The man was City Pages columnist of the year for crying out loud…Janecek is just a lobbyist with a political tip-sheet. Equal billing folks!!

Your Joke Goes Here

Via Sis, The Bushes had a lovely Valentine's Day....

Singer Michael Feinstein capped the romantic evening by serenading the crowd, which included new Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, actor Chuck Norris -- wearing black cowboy boots with his tux, of course -- singer Wayne Newton and Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.

Feinstein brought a big smile to the first lady's face with a version of Johnny Mercer's "Laura." He sang for about a half-hour, concluding with Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire."

More than a few

mnpACT has a post up this morning about Russ Feingold's efforts to block the PATRIOT Act. The post ends with this line:

His lonely fight continues as he vows to add amendments to this "big brother" of a bill. Thank you Russ Feingold -- your courage has not gone unnoticed by the faithful few.

I think the number of people paying attention to this may be more than a few. Feingold's certainly my leading contender for the Democratic nom. in '08....

If you wanted to know who controls the strings on the administration

My guess is it's the NRO...

Exhibit A:

Cheney described seeing 78-year-old Harry Whittington fall to the ground after he pulled the trigger while aiming at a covey of quail.

"The image of him falling is something I'll never ever be able to get out of my mind," Cheney said. "I fired, and there's Harry falling. It was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life at that moment."

Cheney was soft-spoken and somber during the interview with Fox's Brit Hume.

and Tuesday...

Cheney himself should make a public appearance on the matter, and the sooner the better. He should get himself with a respected national anchor — perhaps Brit Hume of Fox News — as soon as this evening to express his regret and explain in his own words what happened. He should stop relying on press aides who were not present at the accident to tell his side of the story. Not talking only feeds speculation, and aids the cause of those who want to lampoon and smear him. Let's hear from the vice president.

MWHWHWHWA! KLO N JONAH RULZ!

Up up and away

Today he Minneapolis City Council Zoning and Planning Commission is reviewing plans for the Pillsbury A Mill site. The review is necessary because several of the towers are taller than allowed by city ordinance for the riverfront. For an excellent review of this issue, I'd point you to Twin City Sidewalks. I largely agree with everything said in that post and believe that the development should be given the go ahead.

When I was a student at the U I used to live in the Marcy Holmes neighborhood in a four-plex right on the corner of 4th & 4th, only a few blocks from this proposed development. I used to walk around along the river in the evening and think what a shame it was that something more wasn't being done with that area. With beautiful views of both St. Anthony Falls and downtown it seemed like prime real estate largely laying fallow in crumbling mills and half-empty warehouses. From what I've seen, this proposal seems to make good use of the land and still includes public spaces so that the river front remains open to everyone. Seems like a win-win to me.

But will they be pink elephants

Via MNSpeak, the unspeakable.

Time to start prepping T-shirts.

Drinking Liberally 2-Nite!

First, read this sobering article in today's City Pages.

Then realize that if tomorrow we die, then tonight we should eat, drink and be merry!

Here's a suggestion to help you with that:

Drinking Liberally

6-9 pm tonight at the 331 Club (13th & University).

Interesting...

From this morning's CP Blotter:

"That's the argument of flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break. But you would have to be an idiot to believe that."

-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a speech Monday sponsored by the Federalist Society

I'll have to remember that little quote the next time someone tells me, "the constitution is not a suicide pact" and that we need to rethink the 4th or 6th or 8th amendments.

The Flu that Flew

I feel much better now, thank you.

Things I missed while sick...

The explain that gay boys are gay because they're too short for girlfriends and want to play playstation.

South Dakota begins work on changing its name to "New Kansas."

And Walmart gets taken down a notch.

But I'm just sad I was in bed and missed all the Cheney jokes.

Chutzpah ('06 Edition)

I was all set to lambaste Debra J. Saunder for her drivel in the paper this morning. Insinuating that the Democrats are somehow responsible for the current federal budget mess is a truly bold act of chutzpah. It doesn't seem that difficult to understand: when your party is in control of all branches of government your party must own whatever policies come out of that government. You can cry about the opposition all you want but they're toothless (and in many cases spineless as well) to stop you. If the Republicans wanted to reduce the deficit they could do so immediately.

But what stopped me before this became a full blown rant was this bit at the end of her article:

Piper also argues that "the war on drugs is an area that you could cut without political consequences." Alas, there also are no real consequences, because Congress keeps sneaking the money back into the budget. I would agree, except that the press releases sent out by Byrne-loving senators suggest that there is little upside in cutting drug-war spending.

We can ease up on our futile war on drugs, maybe explore other options? I don't know much about Saunders, so I'm curious. Is this becoming a more accepted opinion now even on the Right? Or is she speaking only for herself here?

You Might Be A Conservative If...

Why does it seem like so many Conservatives have such a hard time admitting that they're Conservatives? When did it become fashionable for them to claim that they're really Libertarians? This has been a long time coming, but what finally jarred me on it was Mallard Fillmore self-identifying as a "Libertarian" this morning. Just because you don't like paying taxes does not make you a Libertarian. Since our friends on the right seem to be confused as to which party they actually support, I thought I'd offer them a little help. I'll even put this in a genuine red-state form, a Jeff Foxworthy routine:

If you're against gays getting married, you're probably a Conservative. If you're in favor of outlawing abortion, guess what, you just might be a Conservative. If you think the Academic Bill of Rights should be law, well, son, I think you might be a Conservative. If you've ever thought the separation of church and state was a bad idea, I have to say there's a pretty good chance you're a Conservative. If you think warrantless wiretapping is okay, son, you're definitely a Conservative. If you happily voted for George W. Bush, you're certainly not a Libertarian...heck, considering his foreign and budgetary policies, you might not even be a Conservative. but that's a topic for another show.

The Million Monkeys Corollary

One thing I learned from coining several new words last week is that a) people are horrible spellers; and b) when armed with a search engine, horrible spelling is impossible to hide. For example: presecution.
Also, no matter how clever you think you are, someone probably thought of it first. Example: Anatgognostic.

If you can imagine it, it's probably out there somewhere, from high, to low.

Or, to put it another way:

A million monkeys working at a million typewriters will produce not only the complete works of Shakespeare...but also the complete works of Ben Jonson. (or maybe I should have said, ee cumings?)

Inanity of Inanities

Of this debate, I am full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with reading about it, nor the ear happy with hearing about it.
When you read of gay marriage, you can be assured that it is election season; and there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there an aspect of this debate of which it can be said, "See, this is new"? It has been said already, in the ages before us.

Liberal-Lingus

REW gets the credit for this one:

NeoConfucius: The idea that military strategy works best if boiled down to fortune-cookie wisdom: ie: "NeoConfucius say: you break Iraq you buy Iraq" and "NeoConfucius say: you go to war with army you have."

This is separate from "NeoConfusion", the inability to understand why we are not winning a war that we are not properly planning out or equipping.

Why I Love Drinking Liberally

The regulars come and mix with the new guys, new city DL's are plotted (which will come first, St. Paul or St. Louis Park?), you can discuss the best tuna melt in Minneapolis with radio pundits, and to top it all off, an independant and conservative get to bond over beer.

Remember, it's not just for liberals anymore.

Quote of the Day

Via BvChoice:

"At one level, one almost wishes Kline would prevail in this case, if only to have his offices inundated with tens of thousands of reports that Steve frenched Stacy on the band trip to Topeka."

Liberal-Lingus

Tit-for-Tatism (n)-aka "The New Golden Rule" The idea that anything you do to a political opponent is perfectly justified so long as you can claim that they did it first.

For example: Colleen Rowley's website had a picture of John Kline as Col Klink. Some claimed that was offensive, so naturally this was the response.

On a larger scale (for example Iranian newspapers printing holocaust cartoons in revenge for the Mohammed cartoons in the European press) this mindset may escalate into MAD (Mutually Assured Denigration).

The Powerliberal Media Blitz Continues!

The beautiful and brilliant REW continues her quest to become the queen of all media. Today she adds The Raw Story to her ever-growing list of admirers.

EDITED BY REW: I would also like to give a big shout out and lots of love to a wonderful person who just sent me this:

Dear XXXXX,

Thank you very much for making an online contribution of $100.00 in honor of Ms. Robin Marty on 2/9/06. Your generous contribution will bolster our efforts to keep the wall of separation between religion and government standing strong.

If you requested that we send a letter of notification about your contribution, we will mail it within the next week.

Please note that your contribution is deductible to the full extent of the law. If you have questions about your contribution or Americans United, please direct them to Rebecca Davis-Nord, AU's Asst. Director of Development, by replying to this message or calling 202-466-3234, x228.

Once again, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Barry W. Lynn
Executive Director, Americans United

Thank goodness the article wasn't "who I would give $1000 to..."

Computer Issues...

I seem to be having computer issues this morning. I'll try to put up an actual post once they get resolved.

In the mean time, I recommend checking out the debate between Spotty and the Captain. It's kind of like that scene from The Matrix where Neo and Morpheus are fighting each other with all the cool gravity (and logic) defying action you can fit into a single column of text.

Bad Blogger

Thank goodness for the best husband in the world, as I have been way too involved with the non-fun part of life to read, much less post in the last many days. And I know it's been a long time, cause I clicked on the Wege and thought I was on the wrong site. Weird.

For those of you waiting anxiously, like I was, CWFA is spitting on the grave, just as I expected them too. Although I'm surprised they waited two days.

Even her friends describe her as difficult, ill-tempered, disagreeable, ego-driven, rude, nasty, self-serving and imperious. Unhappily married for 21 years, her three children had to undergo therapy to deal with what was called "the emotional fallout."

Huh, doesn't sound like anyone I know.

Must go drink and hug a Swede now.

Announcements

Drinking Liberally tonight at the 331 Club. 13th & University.

Tonight is the Norwegianity Second Blogaversary Bash. Come down and give the Wege some love. (Scandinavians hate that.)

Also, go check out the brand spanking new official blog of the DFL, DFLers.org. Its still got that new blog smell.

Liberal-Lingus

(In honor of Bruce)

Antagognostic-(n or adj.)-Not just areligious, but actively hostile to all religious or quasi-religious beliefs.

EG. When asked about his religious beliefs the antagognostic replied, "There might be a God. There might not. You want to make something of it?"

Badda Bing!

Sopranos Season 6 Trailer.

Watch it and weep. [Not entirely work safe]

A Modest Proposal '06

Since I seem to be just full of crazy ideas this morning, here's another one:

The traditional and constitutionally defined roll of the legislative branch of government is to pass legislation which is carried out by the executive branch. If the executive branch chooses to flout the laws passed by the legislative branch, then the congress has some limited oversight authority to make sure that the laws they passed are being followed. This authority includes the right to call hearings which can bring about censure, criminal proceedings and impeachment for those who violate these laws.

That's how the country's run for the past 200 odd years. Recently, however, it seems that many in the legislative branch are eager to abrogate their legislative authority and allow the executive branch to run roughshod over laws that they have passed.

So, with that in mind, I suggest that we hold the up or down vote on the NSA wiretapping violations that the right seems so anxious to have. Any congressperson voting against this violation of statute gets to keep his or her seat. All senators and representatives voting in favor of domestic spying loses their seat.

I don't mean they should get voted out, I mean the seat they hold should actually be permanently removed. If they aren't willing to do their constitutional duty to enforce the laws they've already passed, why should they get a say in what laws to pass in the future?

I'm always hearing about the need for "smaller government", well, here's the chance to cut the size of the Senate nearly in half. You could also cut the size of the House, or you could take all that empty space and give real proportional representation to states like California and New York which are seriously underrepresented in the current system. Either way, you'd have a legislative branch who don't believe that the only Executive Orders are "sit", "roll over" and "beg".

The DFL...I?

While mulling over the news this morning that Mike Ciresi is not running for Senate I hit upon an interesting idea.

I had always thought that Ciresi would make a strong gubernatorial candidate, especially since Hatch is already making other plans. Not to take anything away from Steve Kelley or Becky Lourey, but they aren't exactly household names (I had to look up their names to make sure I got the spelling right), and I'm not sure what to think about Doran. Instead of having a party stalwart like Ciresi run, however, what about this idea:

The DFL should not run an endorsed candidate in this race. Instead, they should throw their support behind Peter Hutchinson.

My reasoning is that Hutchinson's views align closely with those of the DFL in most areas and the Independence Party consists largely of the vaunted "centrists" that the Democrats are always so eager to court.

With this move we would avoid splitting the vote by have two candidates running to the left of Pawlenty, we could bring new people and new ideas into the state DFL and we could do it all without compromising our core values. It seems like a win all the way around to me.

I'm reasonably sure there's no law saying that a party can't support candidates from another party. After all, this kind of consensus building is how the state Democratic party became the "DFL" in the first place, right? Maybe it's time to look at reinvigorating the coalition again.

Am I crazy? Or is this just crazy enough to work?

How to Win An Argument

Pajamas Media discovers the age old secret to winning any argument. Only talk to people who agree with you! (You can follow the link to the PJ media clip from there)

"Balance" in the media is something that can be taken too far. On the other hand, naked partisan hackery doesn't usually produce the best results either.

I mean, I can give you a list of media figures getting filthy rich by violating "accuracy and reliability", too. How does my list compare to yours?

UPDATE: Mr. Sponge does me one better over at Minvolved.

Oh the Places You'll Go

Lazy day for the Powerliberals. But the blogsphere offers many wonders. Go forth and read and be amused:

Jeff at Blog of the Moderate Left has the untold history of the earliest "electronic surveillance". Who knew that our current George W. got all of his ideas from the original George W.?

Mitch gets pwned By the end I think he was even cussing out Ronald Reagan. Ouch.

Finally, The Read Menace tells us the real reason congress should be considering impeachment.

Republican Priorities

Here's what I imagine you're average wealthy Republican has on his daily "To Do" list:

Get Marginally Wealthier
Buy Another Republican Senator
Support Our Troops

For those Minnesotans playing along at home: Dayton voted "yea" on both bills, Coleman voted "Nay" on both.

Liberal-Lingus

Presecution (n)-Punishing someone (or a group of people) for an act they have not yet committed. But they could!

Historical examples include: Japanese-American internment during WWII; Communist 'black balling' in the 50's; pretty much anything justified by the Bush Doctrine.

In a sentence: I don't like the looks of those guys over there. They could be terrorists. Let's presecute them before they cause any trouble.

Paying a visit to the P-Libs

Rep. John Lesch is saved from himself. Cue the partisan brigades to start accusing him of whatever they can think of.

------------------------------------------------------

Boobs and Breeding redux (an intermittent series on those moments that demonstrate that the true role of women in the Republican world is solely as eye candy and incubator): Today's entry comes to us asking that question at the very crux of the moral maelstrom that is America's abortion debate: Which side has the best looking women?

This measure of political power has for decades been the only surefire way to gauge the strength of any social movement.

So, let's have at it: who is cuter -- the pro-life gals (on the left side of the page) or the pro-choice womyn (on the right)?

All pictures were taken at the "Walk for Life" march in San Francisco on January 21, 2006.

Who will win this epic battle and determine the future of America? You be the judge.

Yep, that's how we can resolve the issue once and for all.

Why Do I Always Miss the Important News?

Stores sell liquor longer

In October 2005, state legislators amended a law to allow liquor stores to extend their closing time from 8 to 10 p.m. during the week.

The Minneapolis City Council also passed an ordinance to allow stores the option to remain open until 10 p.m. during the week, but it is set to expire June 1.

I'm not too sure about the first paragraph. As far as I know, liquor store closing hours have always been set by local ordinance. For example, when I was a younger Powerliberal I used to work loading trucks at the UPS hub on Broadway. When our shift ended at 9:00 we'd head up to the Top Value Liquor on 37th just over the border in Columbia Heights and buy beer. So I know the liquor stores in Columbia Heights have been open until 10:00 every night for a number of years. It's nice to see that Minneapolis is loosening up a little, though. How soon until some brilliant legislator realizes how much excise tax revenue we're losing to Wisconsin by having liquor stores closed on Sunday?

No Pundit Left Behind

It's a sad state of affairs. I was reading through Mona Charen's column this morning, more or less agreeing with it...until I came to this:

The Communist junta that controlled Nicaragua between 1979 and 1988 didn't want to permit free elections, either. Communists never do. But severe international pressure, specifically from their Central American neighbors, and military pressure from the contras, forced them to accede. It was the first and last free election in a Communist country. The Sandinistas lost big.

Huh? I'm hardly a Latin America expert, but even I knew that sounded like BS. So I did a little looking and, well, what do you know? The "first free and fair election" in communist controlled Nicaragua actually occurred in 1984. And the communist "Sandinistas" won. big.

However, the Reagan administration refused to accept the results, even thought they were certified by international election monitors, and they started aiding a right-wing rebel group named the Contras. After six years of bloody civil war the Sandinistas called for elections to try to end the conflict in 1990. They lost and peacefully handed over power. Don't get me wrong, the Sandinistas weren't good people, but neither were the Contras who replaced them. In fact, no party to that conflict inside or outside of Nicaragua was exactly a shining beacon of freedom or democracy making it a very odd example for Charen to use. Even worse, she couldn't even get her dates right. I know Americans are known for their historical illiteracy, but doesn't anybody at the paper edit this stuff? Next thing you know, some wingnut is going to claim that the Iranian revolution was actually Jimmy Carter's fault.

Rest in Peace, Betty Friedan

No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor.

CSMonitor article here.

Liberal-Lingus

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...the return of Liberal Lingus. Monday's word of the day is in honor of The All Seeing Eye, which celebrates its second blogiversary this week:

Norwego. (see also, Norwegocentrism.) (n) The belief that because you blogged about it, everybody knows (or should know, damnit!) what you're talking about.

Example: "He seems to be upset that I haven't read every post on his blog. What a Norwego that guy has."

If I was a Seahawk fan...

I'd be pretty pissed this morning. They got totally robbed yesterday. Two touchdowns called back on very questionable penalties and at least one other big penalty (the Hasselbeck "below the knees tackle") that didn't really happen. What was going on? Was the NFL pushing a storyline or what?

I Will Never Look at Michael J. Fox the Same Way Again

Neither will you, once you understand the true meaning of the Back To The Future trilogy. The secret is revealed in the fourth movie:

Brokeback to the Future

The Return of the Friday Recipe!

This feature, like many great things, started as little more than a drunken boast. Unfortunately, it had the bad fortune to begin right about the time I got The Long Flu which wretched pox laid me low for nigh on two weeks. By the time I was fully recovered, the Recipe was all but forgotten. And so it may have remained, had someone not actually brought them to my attention again recently. So, since we're currently in the mood to try to breathe new life into old things (Don't forget: All next week is the Liberal-Lingus Extravaganza!) here's The Return of the Friday Recipe! (and the Revenge of Random Capitalization!!!)

Anyway. Here's a great Pad Thai recipe that I've been perfecting for a while now. It is one of my favorite dishes, a very delicate balancing act of its various flavors that engages all of your taste buds with every bite. Fair warning: All measures should always be considered approximate. Also, before anyone mentions it, this is a very Americanized version of the dish. It's about as authentic as Bush's Texas drawl, but far more tasty. Without further ado:

Pad Thai

1 Package Rice Noodles (Approx. 10 oz.)
1 Tbl. Oil
3-4 Cloves of Garlic, crushed or finely minced
1/2 lb. Chicken diced (you can also use Shrimp or Pork as desired)
2 Eggs
1 Can Bamboo Shoots
1/3 Cup Chopped Mushrooms (or 1 can, if not using fresh)
1/2 Cup Peanuts chopped/ground
1 Bunch Green Onions
1/8 Cup Fresh Cilantro Leaves
2 tsp. Lime Juice

Sauce
1/2 Cup Fish Sauce
1/2 Cup White Vinegar
1 1/2 Tbl. White Sugar
1 1/2 Tbl. Paprika
2 Tbl. Rooster¹ Sauce²

Soak the Rice Noodles in warm water for 15 minutes before cooking. Mix together sauce ingredients in a bowl before cooking.

In a large wok or frying pan heat oil and stir-fry garlic until oil is hot and garlic is lightly browned. Add Chicken and cook through. Add noodles and cook until noodles are soft and lightly fried. You may need to add more oil if noodles begin to stick. Once noodles are lightly fried, add sauce ingredients, stir to coat noodles, and allow to cook until most of the sauce is absorbed (approx. 2 minutes).

Spread the noodles out to the edges of the pan and crack the eggs into the center of the pan. Lightly scramble them and allow them to fry until solidified, then fold them into the noodles.

Add bamboo shoots, mushrooms, peanuts, onions, cilantro leaves and lime juice. Stir into noodles and heat through.

Serve hot, garnished with additional ground peanuts, cilantro leaves and lime wedges.

¹: I'm not sure what the official name of "Rooster Sauce" is. It's the hot chili sauce that comes in the clear bottle with the green top with the white outline of a Rooster on the front of the bottle. Very good and flavorful Thai hot sauce. It's pretty widely available now, they sell it at many grocery stores.

²: You can adjust this amount up or down depending on how spicy you like your dish. This amount will give a moderate amount of heat, but not overwhelming.

President Bush at 3M

Andy has a transcript up.

This part's my favorite:

Listen, Social Security was meant to supplement income, retirement income, initially. And so what I'm telling you is there's a solution to be had. Unfortunately, the atmosphere in Washington appears that there will be solution because there's too much politics. And my call to members of both parties - and I mean this - is we need to set aside this needless politics in Washington, this zero-sum attitude, and fix mandatory spending so a younger generation of Americans can confidently contribute into a system that's -(applause.)

Exactly. Much like his social security plan, the President trails off into nothing...

Poetry.

Not so fast, oenophiles

Next time some smug wine drinker tells you he's drinking that glass of Franzia for his health, you can wipe that smile right off his face:

Do wine drinkers just have healthier diets?

Are wine drinkers healthier than beer drinkers? If that is the case, it may have less to do with their choice of drink than with what they eat with it.

A new study found that shoppers who bought wine in supermarkets were much more likely to buy healthy foods like olives and low-fat cheese than were beer buyers, who were more partial to things like chips. The study, which was conducted in Denmark, appears online in the British journal BMJ.

I think the real question is, what kind of wine drinker buys low-fat cheese to have with his E&J Gallo?

We Interrupt This Program...

With a special announcement. One of the earliest features on this site was REW's "Liberal-lingus" dictionary. Sadly, over time this feature has come to be neglected and now occupies a weedy little-visited plot of ground just to the north of those other sites on the blogroll nobody ever visits.

The time has come for this neglect to end. So, I am announcing that all next week will be "Liberal-Lingus" week. A week long celebration of the neologisms that all the cool kids will be using this year. Don't be left behind! Check back every day next week around noon for your Liberal-Lingus of the day.

Also: happiness is now mandatory. That is all.

Breaking from the norm

Some political blogs do these crazy things where instead of just talking to hear themselves talk, they actually talk to candidates.

Weird.

Drinking Liberally Recap

Good time and great crowd last night. Nice mix of new people with some of our regulars. After throwing down a quick drink (okay, two) I did the radio interview and hopefully didn't embarrass myself too badly. I was able to plug a few local liberal blogs, as well as out Mr. Sticks as an occasional member from the other side of the aisle. (Infiltrator is what Sarah Janacek asked about, but we just like to think of him as a conversation starter.)

Brian Lampert offered to help me chase down Al Franken to invite him to a meeting, and I'm going to hold him to his radio spoken word. Should he break his oath, I swear he shall feel the wrath of me and my 45 readers.

We also learned last night that The St. Paul Legal Ledger has been doing blog watches much longer than the Strib. Sadly, we've also learned that unlike some other people, we have never been mentioned. Sigh.

Flora Bush

Finally, a member of the Bush family that I can really get down with.

Introducing, Flora Bush! the forgotten "third twin".

She's mad, she's got a guitar and she's a Democrat!!!

The music is a little reminiscent of Jewel (at least on the track "All Alone Like the USA"), but the lyrics are possibly the best I've seen since the incredible Stuart Davis moved to California.

Shamelessly stolen from TBOGG

Well that didn't take long

I know politicians are pretty much expected to offer empty promises and false hopes, but the rate at which President Bush goes back on his word must set some kind of land speed record:

Administration backs off Bush's vow to reduce Mideast oil imports

WASHINGTON - One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally.

We should invent a new metric to measure this. I think the equation would look something like this:

BP/T=BS Where the amount of bullsh*t (BS) in any one of the President's speeches can be measured by the amount of time (T) it takes for him to break his promises (BP).

I think a good test of this new metric could come from his pledge for $500 million to fight AIDS in Africa...oh wait no, that was in 2002 (and we know how that turned out...wait...this passage from Tuesday's State of the Union:

I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years, including nearly $10 billion in new money, to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean.

Anyone want to take bets on how long it will be until some aide says, "What the President meant was...he was asking for funding for a new Strategic Tidal Initiative to be added to our cool new moon base. We're going to literally "turn the tide" on AIDS by controlling the moon's orbit. Top that one, Kim Jong Il!"

Drinking Liberally Tonight at the 331

Come one, come all and come early. We'll be doing some crazy stuff tonight, since we will be doing the Lambert and Janecek show via phone at 6:10. All crazy drunken liberals welcome!

331 club

Lambert and Janecek Show

I am in the process of arranging speaking a bit on the Lambert and Janecek show this afternoon, if anyone enjoys listening to that sort of thing. Not sure what time yet, but will post later when I find out.

SOTU reaction - UPDATE 3

When did Ben Nelson hit the fake bake? He looked like the great pumpkin.

It's a Happy State Of the Union Day, Charlie Brown!

Smartie adds a couple of thoughts:
I actually didn't think it was too bad of a speech. Much of the speech, especially the first third or so, actually just sounded like they pieced together sound bites from earlier speeches that had generated applause. Very light on specifics, but decent rhetoric.

Of the few new initiatives he proposed:

Social Security Presidential Commission: Sounds like a way to let the whole Social Security reform initiative end with a whimper. The commission will never be formed, or if it is it will produce anything substantive. It's accepting defeat without admitting it.

Reducing Oil Dependence: A lot of what he said here sounded good to me, although the glaring omission was that he didn't mention the two obvious and immediate ways we could cut oil dependence: higher fuel economy standards for vehicles and increased conservation/more mass transit. Without those the other initiative sound a little pie-in-the-sky, but I'll remain cautiously optimistic here.

More Science & Math Education: Sounds like a good idea to me, but the devil's in the details. Where's the money coming from? And does this mean we're going to let science teachers determine what is and isn't science instead of concerned citizens and school boards? Also, nice shot at Stem Cell research in the midst of talking up science. I like the overall idea, but I don't in any way see him following through on this one.

All in all, he proposed a lot of new spending in this speech while at the same time calling for continued tax cuts and deficit reduction. I'm not sure how he believes we can produce all those results at the same time.

One other observation: What the heck was up with his oft repeated "economic protectionism" talking point? Who's the protectionist? Does he think our memories are that short?

rew adds even more thoughts
Was that really the best we could do for a rebuttle? Plain Kaine was not the way to go. I've seen better spokesmodels on the Price is Right. Seriously, put the eyebrow down, let your hands dangle at your side, and for the love of god DON'T SPEAK SO SLOWLY! I had to turn it off halfway through because I was positive he'd already spoken longer than the President.

Don't we have people to groom our public speakers? How did this man get elected?

A truce

Okay, Strib. Tell you what. You want to run columns by people like Mona Charen or Jonah Goldberg, fine. Just as long as for each one of those columns you balance it out with a column by Paul Krugman. I think that's a fair deal, right? It gives you your much sought after "balance", you know, the balance between empty sophistry and actual factual arguments. That is the balance you're looking for, right?

Oh, and no fair not including the Krugman columns in your on-line version. How am I supposed to link to a piece of paper?