I know that this matter has been blogged about repeatedly before, but I need to get it off my chest. YES, this is another Wright diary.  No, it's not about how it's going to effect Obama or his rejection of Wright or whatever.  This was drummed up pre-Obama statement, and it's a sum up of my feelings on the whole dumb, dumb, dumb matter, taken and expanded upon from Glenn's post on the whole thing:

I want to quote a great mind and political genius as far as this Wright mess goes:

Yeah, about time for me to get a little drink of water. Figure this stuff is safe to drink? Huh? Actually I don't care if it's safe or not, I drink it anyway. You know why? Cause I'm an American and I expect a little cancer in my food and water. That's right, I'm a loyal American and I'm not happy unless I've let government and industry poison me a little bit every day. Let me have a few hundred thousand carcinogens here....Ahh, a little cancer never hurt anybody. Everybody needs a little cancer I think. It's good for you. Keeps you on you're toes.  (more below the break)

Earlier this week, it was noted that John Gibson of Fox News, on his radio show, made an utterly bizarre attack on Jon Stewart by mocking his post 9/11 commentary, on a show where he was defending the idea that another 9/11 was necessary in this country for the sake of 'national unity'.  I made a diary on this as did BruinKid (who's diary I don't have the link to ATM).

As many have already noticed as well, Jon Stewart took obvious offense to this, the subject coming up (though not explicitly) in his interview with Stephen Hayes.  Quoting him: "You know, I myself had some idiot from Fox playing the tape of me after September 11th -- very upset. And them calling me a phony (...) because, apparently, my grief didn't mean acquiescence."

Well, John Gibson took offense at Stewart's offense.  On two different occasions, no less.  On his August 14th show, he talked about the 'War on Gibson', in a strange moment of egocentricity.  On the 16th, he went at it again, stating that Jon Stewart was  "purposeful(ly) misunderstanding" his mocking comments.  (more beyond the fold).

I'm surprised I didn't see this on earlier, and I might have overlooked a diary on this earlier, but the utter unmitigated gall and shamefulness of it all has to be highlighted.

On his August 10 radio show, only a day or two after hosting the columnist Stu Bykofsky, the Philadelphia Daily News writer who opined that 'To Save America, We Need Another 9/11', John Gibson defended him further, putting out the question about whether people agreed or not.  After taking a caller, his producer asked if he remembered 'what the media was like' after then.  Gibson's immediate response?

"Jon Stewart sobbing."  He then goes off to playing an audioclip of Jon Stewart's heartfelt comments on 9/20/01, interjecting himself sardonically and mockingly.  To finish it off, his producer, "Angry Rich" got in one last comment, calling Stewart a 'phony'.  (more after the break)

It has been over a year since I made a diary here at Daily Kos, as other blogs have taken my attention.  However, with my severe disappointment and depression over the capitulation of Democratic Congressmen over the FISA bill, I felt I had to speak, both to them and to fellow Kossacks, to voice my disgust and malaise.  So I present my letter, which I plan to mail to the Congressmen of all three states I have resided in before and now, as well as the Majority leaders of each house, to explain my sadness with their actions.

"Dear Honorable Senators/Representatives of the United States Congress,

I wish to start by saying that I respect the work that you do in Washington, D.C. and I have respect for the offices that you represent, both in states that I was a former resident in and am currently a resident in.  (Complete letter) below the fold)

So I decided to take the dive yesterday and get some real, physical involvement into the political process and attended a meeting for the group Democracy for Baltimore.  It was an interesting experience to say the least, and I got more than my handful of jobs to try and do.  One of which was to try and find people within Maryland's 2nd District in order to help convince the rep there, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, to take a stand on HJR 543.

(more beyond the fold)

It's been a while since I've done one of these threads, mostly because of the off time Real Time has had, but also because none of them seemed diary worthy lately until last night's.  So, here comes Real Time once again!

This week's panel was author Erica Jong, Seth Green of Robot Chicken, and a real robot chicken, Rep. Dana Rorbacher of California, with guests Robert Wuhl and Univision anchor Jorge Ramos.

For analysis...well, check below the cut.

So that's it.  Only 25 votes.  Just a little more than half that was necessary.  With cloture reached, Alito pretty much IS a given, as much as the media wanted to announce it early.  And with ALito on the Court, it's easily become yet another conquest for the Republican Party...

(more)

It's that time again.  I missed it last week, but here's your weekly does of the "Real Time", baby.

And while the Arianna Huffington intro was a little iffy in my opinion, the real interesting part came with the first bits of Tucker Carlson on the panel.  The show's still going on, so those of you lucky enough to watch, throw up your issues and comments here.

Oh...and as far as Tucker goes....mealy mouthed bastard he is.  He's seemingly unable to hear any criticism of America, without seeing it as an utter condemnation of the country, or an admission of hatred.

Uh oh....it's time for Real Time.  And guess who's on right now.  Yep, that's right, the wonderfully evil Ann Coulter.  And she just claimed that the media demonized blacks and invented all the supposed atrocities attributed during the Katrina aftermath so the Democrats could stomp on Bush.

Anyone watching, pop in with your own comments.  I'm TiVoing it right now, so I can analyze and deconstruct further...but for now, I'm reduced to flipping the bird and shouting 'Fuck You Bitch!' at her image.

No, this isn't a real-time tracking thread for some issue.  Nope, this is a threat for "Real Time with Bill Maher".  It's an interesting show so far, especially with Galloway and Hitchens taking blows across the table at each other.

So, anyone watching and got something to pop in with?  Perhaps something about Hitchens being a hopeless hack as far as kissing Bush's ass?  :P

So far, it's really been amazing how Hitchens keeps misrepresenting the side that doesn't like the war as somehow tacitly supporting Saddam and Bin Laden.  He also seems to come off as quite the self-hating Brit, doesn't he?

First off, I apologize if this has been diaried more than enough times.  I searched through the diaries and found only one diary with just one comment in it, so I felt that this needed repeating.

A House Appropriation subcommitee on Thursday drastically cut the budget allocated to public broadcasting, and has also set down the groundwork to completely eliminate funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (15% of Public Broadcasting revenue) within 2 years.

Public Broadcasting Targeted By House

(more below the fold)

Again, because I can't summon up any more rage from all the draining outrages of the day, I propose something new to talk about, this time with something sort of skewed away but not quite off topic.

So.....yeah...

Any fans of Boston Legal here, or at least anyone who watched yesterday's episode?  Ok, ok, disregard the whole 'nympho' case side of the episode.  What I'm more interested in is good ol' James Spayder's character going down to Texas (home of Fear Leader George W. Bush) to try and get a stay of execution from what seemed to be a state bent on ramming through any and all executions.

Ok...since talking about all the Schiavo shit and Pentagon's outright rejection of diplomacy as 'strategy of the weak', we (read: I) need something else to talk about that at least keeps the daily outrages out of mind long enough that brains don't explode.  ANd since the official topic on the tournament seems to have slipped off the front page, why not make a diary about it here?

So....

How's your March Madness going?  I honestly haven't been following it too much, save one team:  My Mountaineers.  One of the few saving graces of the state in my eyes (aside from Sen. Byrd, of course).  I don't know basketball too well admittedly, but can anyone tell me that was NOT an incredible game?

And for those who have been tracking brackets for pools and such, how's your last few days been going?  I know there have been a few upsets (especially in regards to Syracuse and Wake).

This is a call to the other side of the aisle:

STOP THE EXPLOITATION!

(More below the Fold)

I don't know how many of you actually go over to Kevin Drum's blog and read, but I count it amongst one of my must-reads for the day, along with Pandagon, DKos, and Eschaton.  However, every now and then, Kevin posts about something that makes me scratch my head (a severe understatement).  Such is his post late last night, on Tom Wolfe's book and how we're too condescending to 'the heartland'.

"The Liberal Elite Hasn't Got A Clue"

Kevin:

(Continued Below)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I still haven't gotten past the emotional gutcheck and moved past to planning.  I just don't move that fast.  What I have done is at least try and find means of venting, and a lot of that is done through music.  Never one for writing lyrics, a lot of my reactions to this whole debacle has proven good fodder for writing.  I managed to plug out one whole tentative song in about 15 minutes, over the outrage I had that gay marriage was so soundly rejected and mollified (the actual song will be plugged in extended text).

So what have you written lately, or at least heard, that manages to sum up your thoughts?

Ok...so we've all heard the analogies between Bush and...well, let's not break Godwin's law so soon.  But perhaps it's just the pinoy in me talking, but don't you think there might be a more recent, slightly more prescient parallel?  Like Ferdinand Marcos?  My father has maintained several times that he's seen a lot of things in Bush that he saw in the Marcos regime leading up to martial law.

(expanded below)

(A fair warning to all:  This is going to be an overtly negative diary, written as a means of catharsis.  I won't mind any negative comments in response to it, but I hope you will at least be civil about it, as this is mostly a stream of consciousness vent)

So it's the day after.  Despite all the GOTV campaigns, all the issues that should have gone in our favor, all the scandals that should have hobbled Bush, we still lost...

And by 'we', I don't mean the Kos-munnity, the Democratic Party, liberals, or the left wing.  I mean 'we' as in America.  We've lost our chance to vindicate ourselves in the eyes of our peers and the world.  We have not only reelected Bush, but reelected him with a mandate for both him and the Repulican party.  As a result, we have lost so much more than just a chance to change our leadership.