As a person of logic and mathematics, it is abundantly clear to me that the telecom companies that participated in wiretapping at the behest of the Bush administration were committing a crime.  The conclusion follows from logic and the law of implication and transposition.

Follow the logic after the fold.

I do not write many letters and/or diaries but I was compelled to write a letter to Tim Russert today about MTP.  I rarely watch MTP, but today I made an exception because I wanted to hear Senator Charles Schumer talk about the US Attorney firings.  To be truthful, I didn't even bother looking at the list of people on the panel because I had no intention of watching beyond the Schumer segment.  Imagine my surprise when the first face I looked up to see was Tom DeLay!  I nearly spit out my tea at the monitor!  WTF is he doing there?  Make the jump to see my letter to MTP.

Or, Why do we have more Iran-Contra flunkies running things that we don't know about?

I just finished reading an article in Newsweek Online Elliot Abrams: The Last Neocon Standing that annoyed and astounded me.  Here we are, two decades after the Iran-Contra debacle and these accused and subsequently pardoned ass-clowns are still here:

But Abrams has one powerful advantage. "Bush has enormous regard for him," says a senior administration official who would not speak about their relationship on the record. "One, because he knows Elliott is keeper of the flame. And also, he's the only one who doesn't draw any attention to himself." (Abrams has been somewhat press-shy ever since he admitted to withholding information from Congress about the Iran-contra affair two decades ago; he was later pardoned.)

On Monday, in this diary, nhdapple wrote about a CNET news article about data-retention policy for fighting child explotation (euphemism for porn).

However, here in this updated CNET article by Declan McCullagh we hear the truth:  It's about anti-terrorism, of course.  I didn't see any diaries about this update yet, but if there is one, let me know and I'll either turf this one or update it to point to the other, older diary.

Flip==>

Disclaimer: This is likely not really a meaty enough topic to be a diary entry, but I do not want it lost as a comment in some open thread somewhere.

Yesterday, our family put words into action, money where our mouths are.

Make the hop if you care.

Friedman pretty much lays it out how I feel about how hypocritical and cowardly this administration is with his Op-Ed in the NYTimes (select subscription required, but I get it from our library) today.

Yeah I know I am preaching to the choir here. :)

Sorry, no poll here.  Move along, go below the fold.

I have been thinking for weeks on how to approach our republican rep. Dave Reichert about why he has not had the guts to help bring about articles of impeachment against Shrub and Dick.  Here is what I have come up with thus far.  Any comments are welcome.  Please make the jump and let me know of any changes would be warranted.

Thanks!

I am preparing to go into the hinterlands for the holidays where I have no broadband access and only long distance dialup, so I have decided to combine a few of my passing thoughts into a single diary before I go.  I will no doubt have to watch only MSM TV to get any news at all and will no doubt get behind on real news like we get here on dKos.  

• New Rules (Bill Maher is missed while not in season)
  
• Piled Higher and Deeper?
  
• Real Republicans Waking Up?

More after the jump!

After reading that Shrub was going to have a live genuine imitation press conference this morning, I went to bed with high hopes.  I dreamt* in vivid detail, after the fold.

A couple of diaries recently have catalyzed a deep foreboding thought I have nursed for months, if not years, regarding the long-range plans for Iraq.  Those plans quite clearly started with oil and will end with oil:

• KovachForCongress's "The difference between a son of a bitch and Bush is toughness"
  
• seesdifferent's "New Iraq Report: US/UK oil scheme exposed"
  

This morning, I sent out my email letter to my Senators and Representative requesting that the Congress work only on a very few specific issues dealing with Katrina, Iraq, Plame, Able Danger, and impeachment.

I am a "diary virgin" after lurking for a long time and finally joining up as an actual user some weeks back.  Be kind and failing that, at least be constructive.

The letter follows after the fold.