Card Carrying Member!

Apparently it doesn't matter how you affiliate, or who you affiliate with: you're either in, or you are OUT.

I just L.O.V.E. all the stories cropping up about citizens constitutional rights being squashed due to the Republican/Democratic National Conventions. I guess freedom of speech (and the press) and freedom from unwarranted search and seizure are civil liberties that are justifiably taken away from average people in times of...mere political gatherings?

What are these party people so paranoid about, anyway?

Oh well, at least we've got a freedom cage.

I, for one, find it a little disconcerting when the people on the inside assume that outside people like me (and you?) are going to go crazy with illegal rage and launch some kind of offensive. Maybe if we knew what they knew--what really goes on behind the scenes--we'd see why that was an idea of reasonable merit, too.

And that reminds me of the interview that got me started on this whole blog (which I admit I've been neglecting). This interview talks about how a fascist government (yes, kind of like ours, right now) effectively closes down democracies, and how "hot" things can get at election time:



So let's not get crazy, but rather let's get strategic, get local, get organized and get each others' backs. We've been needing to, and something tells me we're gonna continue to need to.

No Really...Thank Youuuuu

Now this is one "team building" event that would have been interesting to attend at the DNC!

Fortunately, Glenn Greenwald and Democracy Now! were there to get the scoop. Unfortunately, they were totally shut out of it, and the guests were also uber-secretive about who they were and why they were there and what the hell was going on...anyway...

you didn't except AT&T to waste good champagne on little lefty reporters, did ya?

Poor Little Multimillionaire

I wonder what it'd be like to have so much that you couldn't even remember how many houses you own, like John McCain did, "I think - I'll have my staff get to you."

Huh? Don't know about you, but personally, I'm never not pretty sure that the answer is ZERO. Oh, and that's zero on the staff, too.

"I define rich in other ways besides income," McCain said. "Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they're billionaires."

It's true. I don't have much, really--and I have a great life! But it'd feel even greater if McCain wanted to give me one of his houses. Not his primary one, of course...I'll gladly take whichever one is presently slipping his mind.

FCC No!

The Senate heard the voices of the people--even though the Republican Chairman of the FCC, Kevin Martin (the boyish looking chap in the middle between the Democratic Commissioners at left and the Republican Commissioners at right), did his best to silence them. The Senate vetoed the FCC's ruling to give big corporate media the edge over local, independent media outlets. Yay!

But don't cheer just yet: victory is not quite ours. Now it now goes to the House. Will the House follow the Senate's suit? Here's your chance to tell them that you think they should!

Weekly Death Toll

Last week the number of Iraqi civilians who had died since, and because of, the U.S. invasion was at 1,251,944.

One week later, the toll is at 1,252,595.

That means that 651 Iraqi civilians lost their lives in the last week. That's the lowest reported weekly death toll that I've seen yet.

Yay?

Paris for President?

Okay, enough pictures of dead Iraq babies. Don't know about you, but I could sure use a chuckle:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Weekly Death Toll

Last week the number of Iraqi civilians who had died since, and because of, the U.S. invasion was at 1,245,538.

One week later, the toll is at 1,251,944.

That means that 6,406 Iraqi civilians lost their lives in the last week.