Huffington Post reports today that McCain's staff member Deal Hudson is preparing to make a major issue about abortion, aka "infantacide," in the campaign. No surprise here. Abortion has been used as a club by the Republicans for a couple of decades.

But the surprising thing is that Americans aren't there. They reject the two polar views--the all or nothing approach.

My grandmother was a "Rosy the Rivetter"--not because she wanted it, but because she had to do it. She was working for Ford when the "Battle of the Overpass" occurred. She was a union member for decades in Michigan.

Ever since that we've been a union family. Even during the "period of insanity" when I was an administrator, I found negotiating a useful (albeit dissonant) activity. My respect for unions was affirmed when after I stopped being "on the other side" I was asked to negotiate for the union. Mutual respect helps. So it's with pain and angst that I read that there is a serious effort to convert Michigan, the cradle of America's union movement, to a right to work state.

Never happen? Think again. Jump with me.

Brian Williams is scooping himself this morning on Morning Joe, summarizing his interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. What he's saying isn't very detailed, but if you listen carefully, there may be a real victory for Obama (believe it or not) in what happened yesterday.

Here's the link to the preview.

The way in which the nation is buying a concerted propaganda effort on oil drilling is terrifying. This diary should make it crystal clear how false the current memes are. But first indulge me as I describe a clear memory:

In 2000 I took a tour bus to Tiananmen Square. I felt as if the bus were a giant whale swimming in a sea of bicycles. A year later we took the same route in a Towne Car. Over half the space on the route was taken up by cars. Our guide wanted to make a stop to price televisions. We wondered if we were in the same country.

Friedman is indeed right: The world is flat. And beading up on its rapidly-overheating surface are the last drops of ancient sunlight, post-peak oil. There is no American oil, nor--truly--any American drilling plan that could affect what is going to happen to this nation in the next decade. That fate has been sealed by the accumulation of debt and the way in which a super-rich international cabal has raped our nation and our treasury. Follow me.

Today Fox and all the right wing talk radio shows are pushing offshore oil drilling. You'll probably encounter someone at work or at the coffee shop who thinks it's a great idea.

So here are the top five reasons why expanding our oil drilling is a dumb idea (with one quick link each for your further edification):

When you want to punch the gas pump, remember Ken Lay. And if you don't understand why you are so angry, watch Olbermann Wednesday 6/18.

He's clearly explaining the relationship between Enron, Ken Lay, Phil Gramm and John McCain.

Dad has always leaned a bit Republican, too much spare time in front of Fox. At 85, and at bingo with a lot of old Midwesterners, he hears a lot. But he also reads a lot, listens to everything, and hungers for accurate information. Our Father's Day visit was not just enlightening--it was an "Aha" moment. It's something we have to consider and share.

Follow me for a bit, please...

If there's any problem with DKos, it's that some of the diarists are so young! (That's snark...really) But when I read the constant complaining about the perennial pundit Pat Buchanan on MSNBC, I realize that the audience in general doesn't know who he is.

Genial grandfather? Not! I'm going to put a few quotes from this guy into context below, then ask that you demand that MSNBC stop throwing this guy in our faces.

We all shook our heads at "Operation Chaos" and wondered (without much evidence) what fraction of the Texas, Ohio, or Indiana vote for Clinton was Republicans just trying to mess with our heads. After all, they had sixteen years of ammunition about Clinton (including a movie) "in the can."

But now, MSM is buying the line that there are significant numbers of ardent Clinton fans who are organizing for McCain. I wondered how much research has actually been done to find out if this is the real deal--or just an extension of Operation Chaos.

George Bush is right. We can create great harm when we abandon our ethics at the nation's shores. Here's an example from history:

In 1924, a young senator-to-be was set up by his father in the banking Brown Brothers Harriman. One of his first responsibilities was to facilitate funding for the Thyssens, Germany's most powerful industrial family. Fritz Thyssen was one of the first financial backers of the National socialist part.

Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH), acted as a US base for the German industrialist, Fritz Thyssen, who helped finance Hitler in the 1930s before falling out with him at the end of the decade.

I had no intention of starting a diary thread, but see no other on the topic.

Reverend Wright's speech to the NAACP tonight is brilliant, amazing...and potentially culture changing. I wonder how many will actually listen to it?

Like most, I'm sick of "bittergate" and facial tics. I'd like to see the media talk about real issues in the primaries. And my strong instinct is that if that happened, these primaries would be soon over. So I'm asking for a bit of help. I've started by investigating one story--the sad history of Clinton interference in Latin America. If this were news, I don't think that Senator Clinton could hold any majority of Hispanic voters. But to make it news, we have to find video and push the story across the web.

For at least 100 years, the United States has treated the countries of Latin America as unofficial colonies, supporting dictators and using smoke and mirrors to control their economies. This was a big problem during the Clinton years. Do most Hispanics know that...

Today's the day when a lot of people will be sitting across the breakfast table or the water cooler. Which Democratic candidate has the best policies? If one actually believed their surrogates on Sunday, there isn't much difference at all.

But the differences are vast--and if we don't face them right now, we'll be stuck with them into the future. The differences aren't about health care (which will be negotiated with Congress, and for which the only right choice--single payer--is off the table for the near future.)

The difference is the "mindset that gets us into wars." So it's time to talk Turkey...and Indonesia...and China...and Colombia.

There's a Clinton ad that's even more ironic than the notorious series of "3 am" ads. It's the one where Clinton decries companies that "offshore."

As the Clinton tax reports finally trickle out, there is a tidbit that is getting almost no press attention, but is potentially fascinating in the light of these ads. It appears the Clintons have offshored their own fortune or at least a good hunk of it.

...Andrea Mitchell, who (by her own admission) sat up all night reading old Sunday bulletins from Barack Obama's UCC church in Chicago. Let's see what she learned.

The irrepressible Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. is at it again, this time taking aim at Italians -- expounding a two millenium grudge against the sons and daughters of Rome -- and their (allegedly) breath-altering prediliction for scampi and pesto.

So instead of talking about Obama's major address on the economy, the news on MSNBC led with the question: "Has Obama done it again?" and screamed prejudice against Italians (albeit 2000 year old Italians).

What sparked this "discovery" and the "all nighter by Mitchell? A sermon about attitudes toward Romans in Bibical times is the alleged source. But there's a deeper explanation.

It's hard to avoid the memes: Despite the fact that Barack Obama has won 29 states (and two more, if you are more honest than CNN and MSNBC) he didn't win the "important states" (Ed Rendell, MTP). Or he didn't win the states that actually elect women ("Take that, Mississippi!"--Hillary Clinton). Or he didn't win the "swing states" that will count in November (Bill Clinton et al.)

Let me suggest a more logical explanation....and then a little March Mischief. Barack Obama won the "closed" primaries, because the Republicans are messing with the election already. Hillary Clinton wins open primaries that are conducted in private (voting vs caucus) because the Republicans are "Kossing" us.

While our kids are dying to prop up a puppet government, and the CIA manipulating dictators around the world, it's important to remember that the other war is still being fought in this country--the war on science. Sporadic skirmishes occur every week in towns and cities across the nation.

A major battle conference occurred in Boston last weekend at the annual meeting of AAAS. (The American Association for the Advancement of Science features some primary research, but its primary focus is on the communication of science and engineering to the public.)

Let me share a bit of news from the front.

At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science this weekend I had a serendipitous meeting with an expert on geographic information systems. I came away with more information that confirmed my growing conviction that Bush, the magician, is distracting us with the shiny object called FISA while even more ominous violations of civil rights are just off the horizon.

Most terrifying, they seem destined to disproportionately enslave those who can least fight them--women, the young, and the poor.