Fundraisers. The beast that has attached itself to the face of public education like the the creatures from Alien. You thought you were here to teach, but the beast leaves little behind when it's done. Then, just when you thought you were going to get some help, Predator shows up and make the job that much harder.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, since diaries don't seem to be my strong point.

Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists

Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.

The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.

You hear it everyday on the radio, on the television, you read it in print:

The War In Iraq

thereisnospoon has diaried about this issue repeatedly. There is no war going on in Iraq. The war ended years ago with the capture and execution of Saddam Hussein. What we have now is:

Civil War In Iraq,

or

The Occupation of Iraq.

Not. A. War.

alternate title: "Why Are You Turning Your Backs on the Troops? [you Democrat scum]"

I woke up a few minutes ago and turned on CNN as background noise. All of a sudden, I hear 'The Ominous Voice.' This is what it said:

I just heard this on WTOP News Radio, so I don't have a link yet. The story is still coming out, but one witness posted a photo taken at the time.  What looks like a muzzle flash can be seen near the balcony.

Washington D.C., the city we all love/hate, is looking for a new tourism slogan:

Seattle has a new tag line: "metronatural." And Little Rock has recently begun calling itself "The Rock."

Now the District is looking for its own catchy way to describe and define the city and lure more tourists to town. Tourism officials are hiring marketers, conducting surveys and convening focus groups in search of a few words or images that capture Washington's essence.

I think we, the DailyKos community, are more than up to the task of assisting the fine folks at the DC Tourism Board.

The video is here (when I find it)

The fact sheet they used is here (whitehouse.gov)

The AEI Background -- you know, the $10k to rebut Global warming people.

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

I've still got a buzz from playing a drinking game during his press conference yesterday, so I'm staying sober for this one (against my doctor's advice.)

It's been a while since the Public has even heard, let alone thought about, Afghanistan. If you don't have loved ones stationed there, Afghanistan is just one more issue of the myriad of issues we are fighting with this Administration. This is still an important issue though, because this war helped Bush rev up the War Machine and helped prepare the American psyche for the Occupation of Iraq and has some of them salivating for invading Iran as well.

For those of you who couldn't attend the United for Peace and Justice UFPJ March on Washington today, here are a few of the images I managed to capture before the event I call 'Death of a Camera.' I'm a little sad, but it was almost 5 years old, but I had hoped to get more than 5800 shots before its demise. Now, back to the show...

If you want to see the whole show, you can go see the whole 100+ picture set on Flickr (you know, cool toys like seeing the images at the size you want and slideshows, etc.)

The Democratic blog DailyKos announced today that it reached a milestone with the welcome addition of member number 100000. The Democratic site's membership swelled after the Lamont / Lieberman election in Connecticut one day prior. Labeled the 'Extreme Left' by critics, the blog has seen its ranks swell as more members of the public grow disenchanted with President Bush's Administration and seek ways to return to an America based on the Constitution and not the Unitary Executive theory.

Today's Daily Al Bayan (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) controversially exposed the secret Al Qaeda program "Nobody Obviously Sees How Idiotic" Tactic (NOSHIT), resulting in terrorist leaders lashing out against the paper today.

Numerous Islamic extremist figures have lashed out at Daily Al Bayan over an article describing a secret Al Qaeda program designed to pretend the US monitoring international financial transactions was a suprise to the organization, arguing that the publication of the article was a contemptable act and suggesting that the newspaper is "siding with the White House."

I thought it would be helpful to provide a guide for the candidates and the politicians who post diaries here since none exists yet. While a few already know how to post, some are just beginning to understand and embrace the internet and the netroots. This is intended especially for them. As we get closer to the 2006 elections, and the candidates will be trying to get their message out in so many forums, that we could provide a little help to them explaining what we look for in a diary. Here's what I recommend:

While watching the evening news, I caught a piece about the Christ Church of Peace down in Florida that put up a database of the persons who signed the petition in support of the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment. Their goal:

The purpose of Know Thy Neighbor Florida is to provide meaningful access to public information in order to promote open and meaningful conversations regarding the anti-family, anti-equality Florida Marriage Protection Amendment.

What I didn't know was this was copied from the Massachusetts version, knowthyneighbor.org, created in response to the Legislative Amendment to the Constitution relative to the affirmation of marriage (House, No. 3190, amended).

Leaders intent on stripping congressman of committee post
DAVID ESPO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Democratic leaders worked to strip embattled Rep. William Jefferson of his committee assignment on Thursday after the Louisiana lawmaker rebuffed repeated calls to step aside pending completion of a federal bribery investigation.

Jefferson, at the center of an increasingly complicated legal and political controversy with racial overtones, insisted he would not go quietly. "I can guarantee" he will not voluntarily step aside, said Melanie Roussell, his spokeswoman.

EFF is urging people to contact their Congresscritters to stop SIRA.

We've all seen them: The television ads that start off as if real consumers are asking questions but end up being a PR piece for the API (American Petroleum Institute). The URL given at the end of the ad is factsonfuel.org. So I stated wondering, what could make me happier about adding a few more years toward retirement by paying higher prices for gasoline now?

I hope you have your towel...

or, "Did we lose in '04 because of them?"

As some of you know, I create bumper stickers and t-shirts. I got into this because of Bush's lies leading up to the 2004 <strike>Dieboldition</strike> election. I went searching on the internet(s) for the Bush-Cheney '04 sticker (I am working on Bush-Cheney '08 ... The War Crimes Trial) when I came across the 2005 Pollie Award winners.

This diary has nothing to do with Stephen Cobert, but maybe putting his name in the title will get some attention for this issue. ;-) If you want to skip the Diary and head straight for the images, here is the flickr set with all 92 pics. If you prefer the set as a slideshow, open it here.

::

Yesterday's Rally on the National Mall was, in a word, pleasant. From the weather (68 degrees with a light breeze) to the atmosphere (no altercations that I heard of) to the people involved (polite and professional) - All nice.

I jumped on the Metro and got down to the Mall around noon. The crowds were still light at this point, and the volunteers were cheerfully handing out savedarfur stickers as everyone swarmed out of the station. These type of events quite often have personnel who are frantic to get anything and everything into your hands with the belief that the issue of the day will be solved by promotional goods. The first kudo goes to the person who got these volunteers motivated to hit the streets with the right disposition. The rest, and a few images, are below...