Jesse passed into nothingness this morning.  I plan to memorialism his death by drinking beer, smoking ribs, making potato salad and settling in for an afternoon of brainless TV watching after doing a couple of chores.

A few chuckles and chortles during that period might be coming, but that's about it.

I know, you're disappointed to miss out on another thrillingly breathless tome on FISA and how We! All! Must! Do! Something! Now!

While you were reading the last 40 FISA diaries, something else happened which people should note.

Yeehaw!  Texas, bastion of freedom from them terr'ists 'n stuff has a Supreme Court that is owned by the GOP.  Apparently, religious terrorism is OK with them, so long as it is of the cornpone variety.

With oil prices surging toward $140 and $5 gas looming before summers' end, we're hearing the chorus of "drill here, drill now" from the drool cup wearing constituents of the conservative punditocracy.

This chorus has been shrill, and is eager to assign blame away from a concerted 30 year effort to avoid all discussions of energy conservation, family planning, mass transit, land use and lifestyle issues.

The fingerpointing, as you may have guessed, is directed squarely at "them evil demmycrat 'Murka hatin' liberals that won't let us drill offshore, or in Alaska, or off Florida where them Cubans and Chinamen are drillin' our oil."

This of course, begs the question - how true is that widely held belief?  Is there truly no more drilling equipment available for purchase?  Has every drop been exhausted from every domestic source?

And given the fungibility of an internationally traded commodity like crude, would Americans really benefit from adding numbers to a globally traded resource, or would decades of trade policy be upended (and trade wars begun) over the sort of export tariffs that would be required to lock America's domestic crude production inside?

You knew it was bound to happen someday, as the failure of 30 years of power grabbing and crony coddling finally got them the regime they dreamed of - one of their own organs would finally cry "enough" on something that cuts at the core of their ideology.  

And no, we're not talking about the now customary slaps at the hypocrisy and failures of the social conservative fringe - this time we've gotten to the failure of the "we want small government", alleged pro-business contingent.

No, those weren't the words directly from his mouth.  Unfortunately for us, he's not nearly as direct, so his latest observations aren't even hitting the radar.

Well, the Preznit (along with his cronies and string pullers) has well and truly screwed the pooch.  A mere three and a half years after declaring that he "has political capital, and I intend to spend it", he parlayed a mediocre first term into a colossal disaster of a second term by following the playbook of conservatives.  From idiot unilateralism in foreign policy, to defensiveness on cronyism and corruption, to neglect of critical infrastructure and the fundamentals of the economy, he's left us poorer.

Now that he's limping, we're seeing the desperation.

Should we be surprised that the brainless conservative activists who have been strategically planted in sensitive positions throughout the government would make decisions like this?

These questions really aren't just for Terry the Pumpkinhead; they apply equally to appearances by Wolfson and Ann Lewis as well.

This is the great motto of the Do-Nothing Idiot-in-Chief and his string pullers of the conservative movement; apparently, the fact that the consuming public has given them over 30 years of time to let the markets resolve energy distribution and availability hasn't been enough.

Smirky Ms. "Bumper Sticker Soundbite Speaker" has sent her minions out to crow about her great "triumph" of capitalizing on her committed contingent of Rush Limbaugh listeners.  The thing that those minions are missing out on is what there is to be done with the Obama folks that they plan to kick to the curb.

Howdy Doody (R-Ky), the senior senator of that state (and closet case), is busy trotting out potential GOP themes to see what works.  This latest is a laugher.

Today, I acknowledge the accomplishments of conservatives, particularly over the past 30 years, as the party is too unfortunately distracted by Hillary's Quixotic campaign to be pointing these things out to the American people.

Frankly, I think it would be a great thing if we pointed out the success of these efforts.

I'll start this by saying that I formerly had a middling sort of view of her - I could have been a supporter, as would have been many others like me.  However, for me, she's managed to confirm all too many of the right's caricatures of her in terms of her ego and basic character - and she's managed to confirm that with her basic message to the superdelegates.

Time to quit wailing while spinning - the man was correct.

The 60s profoundly changed the social order of the world, justifying the boundless rage of the hard right as is manifested by think-tank policies, elected officials and the rhetoric of the punditocracy.

Or did it?

I guess flabby, gone to seed True Christian True Conservatives need lovin' too.  Can everybody say "Lowered Expectations"?

For all who remember the sort of tired, unspoken theme that underlaid Bob Dole's 1996 run for the White House, it can be summed up in 4 short words:

"It's My Turn Now".