I can't believe what I just read on Think Progress.  Taken from the Washington Post today.  

The Bush Administration is now supporting the warlords in Somalia who attacked US Troops in 1994.  

I think my head is going to explode.  

(And sorry if this has already been diaried)

Well, the GOP candidates for governor are bashing one another in ads this week.  Jim Petro is pointing out, rightly, that electing Blackwell would be devastating for Ohio's public services.  Blackwell is running ads that are highly misleading.  Anyone surprised?

Specifically, Blackwell's ads announce that Ohio's tax burden is 3rd highest in the country.  I'll explain why that's wrong below.

An Ohio lawmaker is introducing a bill that would ban abortion in Ohio in an attempt to bring the issue before the newly constituted Supreme Court.

Release from NARAL below.

OK, OK, your attention please.

Time to call this meeting of the Howard Metzenbaum Chapter  of the Liberals Against Christmas to order, Dave Riegel president.  

First on the agenda is the treasurer's report.  Mr. Moore?

Uh, yes.  We have about 78 kazillion dollars in the bank to fund our operations.  Mr. Soros just called and said if we need more we can have it.  

Great, Mike, thanks.  And how's your anti-Christmas documentary coming?

Great, the working title is, Why Christmas is Killing Homosexuals and Feminists who Hate America.   Kind of long, but we're working on it.  

Ok.  I'm sure George Clooney will be great as an evil Santa.  Ok, next on the agenda, minutes of the last meeting. Secretary Fonda?

I am so furious right now I can hardly see straight.  

Atrios links to this, and I won't link to Faux News.  You can read the meat of the column on Eschaton.

Shorter John Gibson: I wish Paris had gotten the Olympics so they could put up with terrorism.

Along the way, he implies the French would just "pay off" al Quaeda to avoid any terrorist attacks.  

It's a total waste of time to send an email, but I did anyway, and it's below the fold.

These people manage to sink to new lows every day. Seriously, what is wrong with our country when people like John Gibson can say things like this and think he can get away with it?  

Think about it: Reid has outflanked the right on SCOTUS nomination.  

They have two choices: nominate a radical which Reid & co. will filibuster.  If Frist breaks the deal they made on filibusters, the Republicans in Congress become dealbreakers and have to wear that collar into 06 elections, along with the baggage of having tilted the court heavily to the right against the wishes of the majority of Americans.

Second choice: pick a moderate, and await the defection of the religious wing of the party.  

Either way, they are SCREWED.  

It never ends in Ohio, folks.

Just another example of pay to play in Ohio.

All of you Ohio Kossacks need to get on the phone and call John Husted,the GOP Speaker of the Ohio House, and ask him why he thought it was OK to take a fishing trip with 3 lobbyists seeking favors regarding the pending budget bill.  

Husted is a young man from Kettering who thinks he has a bright future in the Republican party.  Given his brazen corruption, he looks like he has what it takes to go far in the GOP.  

Background: Keep in mind first that this budget is horrible for Ohio schools.  Funding is not keeping up with inflation but guess what?  There is still room to SLASH CORPORATE TAXES.

Details on Husted's chummy relationship with lobbyists, and what they got for it, below.

Look, my diaries alway suck.  A few people are nice enough to read them.  And I appreciate their stopping by.:)

But this is, IMHO, too important to be left to the likes of me.  

I'm sure a lot of you have been following the story of Randy "Duke" Cunningham.  Josh Marshall has been tracking it beautifully on his site.  

Check out today's post, summarized below.  

Gee, I wonder what the Bush administration could be hiding.  

Maybe Rumsfeld's connection to war crimes?  

The Iraqis are anxious for this trial to get started.  

The Americans, not so much.  

AP story excerpted below.

David Brooks has a typically wafer thin column today, this time bemoaning the loss of the cultural in everyday life.  He cites as an example the fact that Time magazine in years gone by was wont to publish heady theses on Hemingway and the other significant scribes of the day, and painters, and theologians.  

Is it me?  I mean, am I missing something here?

Or am I right... that Brooks is currently in bed with the current ruling class, which has to be among the most anti-intellectual group ever to run this country.  I'm right, aren't I?

I have given up on religion due to the way it has become politicized.  

But reading something like this tells me maybe things are turning.  

This a beautiful, eloquent response to the religious right published in today's Dayton Daily News.

Read "I am not a Patriot Pastor" below.

A couple of days ago I posted a diary in which I argued that Dean and the national party needs to shine a spotlight on Ohio.  

Some people think that national party should just stay out and let this scandal in Ohio run its course.  Here's the headline that speaks to that:

"Taft Hopeful Bad Investment News Finally at an End" (registration required--remember you can use kos@dailykos.com and daily kos as your password)

Still think the Dems should stay out?  The R's are hoping this will all go away like some bad dream.  We need TV ads and print ads and some major national media attention to keep this thing going.

Guys, I live in Ohio.  

The excellent diaries highlighting the Blade's coverage continue to ask the question, Do people in Ohio care?????

I can tell you it is starting to hit the headlines of all the city papers.

But it's not enough.

I am enjoying all of the attention that is being paid recently to the corrupt Republican leadership in my state.  

But the real legacy of the last 15 or so years of unchallenged Republican dominance in Ohio has a lot more to do with the damage they have done to our standard of living and educational system.

We need to get the word out: it's not just the corruption, it's the bad administration of the state!

Some background: Ohio has an excessive reliance on local property taxes as a means of funding schools.  Several years ago, the State Supreme Court, in a decision known as the DeRolph case, found our system of funding schools unconstitutional.  After stalling repeatedly and failing to make systematic changes, the Republicans finally succeeded in unseating the judges who had attempted to enforce the decision and now the new court has declined to enforce the decision.  

Over at NYT's website, the front page has a story that Newsweek now says it isn't sure if the Koran was desecrated by being placed in a toilet.  

And we know they MUST have been wrong because the US Military says so.

Newsweek said a Pentagon spokesman told the magazine late last week that the story was wrong and that the military has found no credible evidence to support separate allegations of Koran desecration made by released detainees.

Oh, well that settles it.  

It's pretty hard to argue, after seeing the pictures of anti-American demonstrations around the world the last few days, that Bush has made us safer.  

I see an awful lot of people who don't like us very well.  

And the Bush administration's response to the Muslim world, copied below, doesn't come close to cutting it.

You know the best thing that ever happened to the Bush administration?  

When the independent counsel law was allowed to expire.  

Discuss.

From Atrios, a letter from Senator Frank Lautenberg to Tom DeLay.  

DeLay needs to answer for this foolishness.

I intend to call the Senator's office ((202) 224-3224) and thank him.  

Man, DeLay just keeps getting in deeper and deeper. Let's hope the Senator's verbal slap makes some headlines.  The letter is below the fold.