I was driving to work this morning, listening to my local news station -- KCBS 740am -- and what comes on but an ad targeting Jerry McNerney sponsored by the "Defense of Democracies Action Fund".

I'm not sure if we're done raising money to make sure we get to keep one of the best features of DailyKos... yes, I'm talking about Bill in Portland Maine's Cheers and Jeers, but I promised myself that -- after a few months of unemployment -- if someone was stupid intelligent enough to hire me, I'd make a monthly commitment to Cheers and Jeers.  So, after having survived a 10 year background check (thank God those felonies were in 1996), I'm putting my money where my mouth is.

Carla Marinucci of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article explaining how the Democrats killed the GOP plan to change the way California Electoral College votes are distributed -- from winner-take-all to proportional.  And since the article mentions (briefly) Daily Kos, I thought it was worth pimping.

Back in August, I watched (along with many of us, I'm sure) Kos debate Harold Ford on Meet the Press.  I took offense at Harold Ford perpetuating the Fox News line that antisemites abound on DailyKos:

But, but, Markos, in all fairness, your site has posted awful things about Jewish-Americans. Your site...You--now you have a site up about...something about Cindy Sheehan, she uses it as a--she has a heavy presence there in talking about her run against...

(Diaried by DHinMI at the time).

So I wrote Hillary on August 12:

I was appalled that Harold Ford used Bill O'Reilly talking points today on Meet The Press in his "debate" with Markos Moulitsas. He accused DailyKos of posting hateful remarks about Jewish-Americans. This is so far from the truth. As a "leader" of the DLC, please ask Harold Ford to apologize for those remarks.

Finally, some action.  From theSan Francisco Chronicle:

Democratic Party activists said Monday they have filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission charging connections between backers of Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and a GOP-supported ballot measure that could have changed California's "winner take all" electoral college system to benefit Republican candidates.

This man has no shame.  Dan Froomkin in today's Washington Post writes that,

"President Bush wishes that he could be alongside the troops in Iraq -- except that he's too old."!!

 Does this remind anyone (Everyone????) of his infamous, "bring 'em on"?

Kos had a story on John Boehner's reprehensible view that the lives of troops were a "small price to pay" for success in Iraq and the fact that the media and Democrats were being very silent about Boehner's comments.

That's beginning to change.  Enough at least that Boehner's office has had to respond.

(This is courtesy of ThinkProgress)

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell yesterday tried to claim that the new expansive FISA law adopted by Congress prior to the August recess was responsible for the foiling of a recent alleged terror attack. The New York Times reports that McConnell tried to tie the capture of three Islamic militants accused of planning bomb attacks in Germany to the FISA bill:

When asked by the chairman, Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, whether the new law that Congress adopted last month facilitated the German arrests, Mr. McConnell said, “Yes, sir, it did.”

.

But did it?

Over a month ago, I sent Dianne Feinstein an email letting her know how disappointed I was that she chose to  join all Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to send Leslie Southwick’s nomination to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to the Senate floor.

Because I seem to be incapable of original thought, I'm left to pimp articles I think are worth wider distribution than my local paper.  This one from the San Francisco Chronicle jumped out today.  It discusses that, along with buying from farmers markets and using alternative transportation, perhaps we should all think about banking locally.

From today's LA Times.  This is unbelievable...

One of the most heavily criticized actions in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 was the decision, barely two months later, to disband the Iraqi army, alienating former soldiers and driving many straight into the ranks of anti-American militant groups.

OK, I'm completely pimping Mark Morford's column in today's San Francisco Chronicle because it has the best one sentence description of Karl Rove I've ever read.

(Note:  This has already been diaried by demonds and SoDak Patriot.. thank you... but this needs to keep getting mentioned, I am beyond outraged)

Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle had an article about conservatives singing the praises of Sen. Dianne Feinstein regarding her support to free two U.S. border agents convicted of shooting a suspected drug smuggler.  Now, if conservatives are singing my praises, I probably need to take a shower.

Apparently, she liked the attention though, because on Thursday, she cast the tie-breaking vote on the Senate Judiciary Panel to move Leslie Southwick's nomination to the Fifth U.S. Court of Appeals to a vote in the full Senate.

If you haven't read Atul's response to people who've written to Home Depot asking them not to advertise on Bill O'Reilly's show, you might be surprised to know that Atul believes that writing Home Depot to complain about Home Depot's choice of advertising venues actually hurts the environment.

From Think Progress:

Last night on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Moore announced that "the Bush administration has now issued a subpoena for me, going after me for helping these 9/11 rescue workers..."

I'm cheered reading the transcript of today's press gaggle.   This exchange took place:

Q On Gonzales, this Negroponte memo shows an apparent contradiction in what he told the committee two days ago about that briefing at the White House. But yet Gonzales' spokesman says that what he said on Tuesday was true. How can that be? Can you explain that?

MR. SNOW: Unfortunately we get into areas that you cannot discuss openly. It's a very complex issue. But the Attorney General was speaking consistently. The President supports him. I think at some point this is going to be something where members are going to have to go behind closed doors and have a fuller discussion of the issues. But I can't go any further than that.

David Lazarus of the San Francisco Chronicle is a psychic.  In February he wrote a column warning that Bush's failure to fill a vacancy on the Consumer Product Safety Commission that had existed for 6 months would lead to consumers being left unprotected from unsafe products.  That's because:

According to the Consumer Product Safety Act, two commissioners can conduct the agency's business for six months after a third commissioner quits. After that, they're restricted from taking action on regulatory maters or civil penalties until the vacancy is filled.

Everyone should read Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle.  One of the best satirical liberal writers left in America.  In today's column, he skewers almost every hateful person, group, entity that has soiled our country over the past 6 1/2 years.