When the Democrats -- who I thought were the good guys -- took back Congress in the last election, I was overjoyed. I thought we'd see an end -- finally -- to the Bush administration's recklessness and lawlessness that's made me feel ashamed to be American.

Of course, the Democratic leadership has been a pathetic, embarrassing, contemptible, miserable failure, and now we see that not only have they enabled Bush's insanity, they've been willing participants, helping him and Dick Cheney feed our constitution into the shredder.

Yesterday, for the first time in ages, I felt my faith in our government begin to return, and I have Chris Dodd to thank for it.

I suspect many in the Daily Kos community are Working Assets members, and probably participate in their Act for Change program. If you're one of those people, you are likely affected by a security breach that Working for Change just notified its members of via the following e-mail:

Dear Subscriber,

We regret to inform you that the company we contract with to provide
online services, Convio, has identified a breach of one of their
internet security systems. There was no breach of
personally-identifiable information or credit card data, but your
email address and password for managing your Act For Change and
Working For Change subscriptions were obtained by an unauthorized
third party.

Full e-mail, and how it may affect you, on the other side of the jump.

What the fuck is wrong with Harry Reid?

Firedoglake says:

   Tim Starks of Congressional Quarterly reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to bring the Senate’s surveillance bill up for floor debate in mid-November. That’s despite the hold that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) plans to place on the measure — something first reported by Election Central’s Greg Sargent.

Sadly, I've gotten used to the Democratic leadership rolling over for Mister 24% and his pals, but turning on one of our own? This is an entirely new one for me.

Bob Geiger said"[E]very American who voted for Bush should take time this July Fourth to perform a truly patriotic act and be profoundly ashamed."

I have to agree completely. Thanks to the efforts of Bush and his enablers, I don't feel pride this 4th of July. I feel sadness, frustration, and disgust.

In the last 24 hours, I've spent a lot of time thinking about why I'm so furious that Bush commuted Libby's sentence, and I think I've distilled it down to something fairly simple:

I grew up believing that all Americans were equal under the law. In fact, that's what divided America from the rest of the world, I thought, and that's what made America great: we didn't have to fear being taken from our houses in the middle of the night, arrested for expressing unpopular opinions, and no matter what, everyone was entitled to a fair trial by jury of his peers.

The Libby commutation crystallizes so much of what's wrong with the Bush Junta, and how severely they have hurt America: Bush has massively abused his presidential power to elevate himself, Cheney, and a select group of people to some sort of super-legal status.

TPMCafe:

New Poll: Bush And Congress Both At Astonishing Lows
A new NBC/Wall St. Journal poll released this evening has President Bush at a horrible 29%-66% approval-disapproval rating. Congress, however, is even worse off at 23%-64%.

Wow. You're polling behind Bush. You know, I have to hand it to you, because I was pretty sure that was territory reserved for Big Time.

How does that capitulation bill feel now? Feel really great about not having to deal with that criticism you were so scared of when you sent King Bush his blank check for his war?

You know what you should be afraid of? Abandoning the promises you made to the people who put you into the majority in the first place.

You promised us you'd bring accountability to the White House, and end the war. Well, some of you in the House are doing a good job sending out subpoenas and holding hearings; that's a good start. But you. Have. Blown. It. on the war, and now I have a very serious question: what do you intend to do about it?

I want to believe in you again. I really, really do.

Dear Democrats,

Wow. What a scary day! You were so scared the mean old president would take his sub-30% approval rating out in front of the big bad press and say nasty things about you, you gave him a blank check to keep his nifty little war blazin' on forever. I'm sure the overwhelming majority of Americans who were counting on you to bring accountability to this administration and an end to this war will, like, totally understand. I mean, what would you do if the president sent Big Time to snarl at you? Now that would be REALLY SCARY!

Know what else is scary? From now until our soldiers finally come home, the blood of every single American who dies is on your hands, as well. Hope you feel really good about that. I mean, I'm sure you can tell all their parents how scary it was going to be if you were criticized by the White House.

See you in the primaries,

Wil

The more I think about the Mooninite Panic, the angrier I get.

This is the result of politicians and the media creating and then exploiting a culture of fear in America.

Politicians use it to grab power and silence dissent, and the media use it to drive up ratings.

In either case, it's sickening exploitation.

Today is World AIDS Day, and it's as good a time as any to think about the 40 million people worldwide who are living with HIV. Their numbers are growing daily, fueled by ignorance and prejudice.

Over the years, I've just assumed that, as a species, we were moving toward eliminating or at least reducing the spread of HIV and AIDS. It turns out that I am wrong.

I hope that when the political history of the last half century is written it will show, as it should, that the Republicans engaged in a brand of divisive electoral politics that pitted Americans against each other: white against black, men against women, rich against poor, native born against immigrant, straight against gay. Republicans deserve to be tarred by history for exploiting our weaknesses, our prejudices, and our lesser selves for their own political gain.

I hate to agree with Andrew Sullivan, but he's right when he says this is no longer an election; it's an intervention.

Their tales are chilling, and come straight from their own mouths. It is a horrifying look at what is being done to innocent people in our name.

"Nothing is more important than family."
    --My Mom.

NOTE: This entry is extremely long. Please read it anyway. If you're short on time, at least read the beginning and end. Thanks.

I spent much of Christmas afternoon and evening at my parents' house. As dusk turned to night, I stood in their darkened living room, lit only by the lights of their tree, and watched my dad and brother play with my stepkids out in the street, just as he'd played with me when I was a kid.

My mom walked over to me, and after we watched them for a minute she said, "We read your essay."

She didn't have to say anything else. Her tone of voice sent a chill down my arms and the sinking feeling in my stomach told me that something was very, very wrong.

The Wheaton Family Christmas (2005 edition) was exactly like any other of the always-awesome Wheaton Family Christmas gatherings, with one exception that was so painful, I wrote an essay about it for Salon.com called The Real War on Christmas, which is excerpted on the flip . . .

But everyone who is calling for Bush to be impeached and removed from office (myself included) should think twice about pursuing this goal.

"But Wil," you say, "Why? Isn't Bush evil and terrible? Shouldn't justice be done by removing him from office?"

"Yes, he is both evil and terrible," I answer, "but he can't be removed from office."

"Are you insane?!" You say, "Why not?!"

I answer, ominously, "President Cheney."

You click the link to read more . . .

Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.) could be leading a "coup" of moderate and traditional (smaller, less intrusive government) Republicans early next year:

"There's a coup afoot and it's going to be led by Tom Reynolds," a well-place source on Capitol Hill told me on the condition of anonymity. "He's already meeting privately with members to discuss the campaign and strategize."

"To my understanding, this is not an ideological thing. Instead, there's a feeling that we need to move beyond the DeLay era. A lot of people would like to see him put out to pasture, like Trent Lott," my source said.

The Columbia Journalism Review notes:

Bash filed a CNN.com piece previewing the "'campaign-style' strategy" that anonymous "top White House officials" told her they are developing "in response to increasing Democratic allegations that the Bush administration twisted intelligence to make its case for war." The "hit-back," as Bash's anonymice called the strategy, will apparently commence in the coming days.

In addition to countless lies, denying basic civil rights to gays and lesbians, and calling an unnecessary special election with powergrabs that masquerade as "reform," I present yet another reason Arnold Schwarzenegger makes me want to puke. Last week, while firefighters were battling the Topanga fire, the Governor flew in for a George Bush-esque photo-op, and several firemen say they were ordered to stand with him for the cameras.

But that's America, and when 51% of us voted to re-elect the worst president in history, we all knew that we'd end up with at least one conservative justice on the Supreme Court.

My biggest problem with Roberts to this point has been his lack of experience at the Federal level. I just don't think two years of practice qualifies someone for a lifetime appointment. However, I did keep as open a mind as I possibly could. Really, I did. Even when he seemed to weasel out of some very important questions, and gave answers that even Arlen Specter admitted were misleading.