I got up this morning, saw that Iran had implemented gasoline rationing, and my heart sank. I strongly suspect they're doing this not so much because their current use/production is out of whack, but because they expect an attack very soon.

 The 21st century has been truly monumental in terms of the hurricanes we've experienced, but three of them truly stand out from the rest. Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen, because Katrina/Rita/Wilma are not in the top three.

 This evening, Friday May 25th, there will be a small fund raising reception for Governor Bill Richardson in downtown Albuquerque. The event will be held on the roof of the 219 Central Avenue North West building beginning at 6:00. More details below the fold ...

 I just got the call. My girlfriend's unit is going to Iraq.

OK, so I'm not exactly a San Francisco liberal, but I've been to the Bay Area twice in the last year. Work took me west across Nebraska over the weekend, I had some time to kill on Sunday, and I spent it roaming around with my camera near Alliance, Nebraska, in the heart of NE-03, where Scott Kleeb will win the house seat in 2008.

Nebraska's Carhenge was initially slated for $25,000,000 in Homeland Security dollars to ensure its safety against terrorist attack. Google tells me this was later reduced to $3,200,000.


Never heard of Carhenge? Well look below the fold for the details on this amazing use of our tax dollars.

 The long term outlook here is not so good. The economy will hit the skids on the slow motion collapse of the housing market. The wildfires of the west will eventually burn until they hit the high water mark from the hurricanes coming out of the gulf. The government is badly corrupted, perhaps irreversibly so. Fifty percent of our forces in Iraq are actually mercenaries.

 The United States shows every single sign that geriatric empires display right before they totally collapse.

 This is a stark assessment but you'll be amazed by those I've found who share this view with me and are already planning an exit.

 Another scandal for the Bush administration. The money line?

Palfrey's civil defense attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, told CNN that it was his understanding that Ullman used the business' services but did not engage in sexual activity with the escorts.

http://www.cnn.com/...

  The United States is exceptional in many ways but one of the more historically notable ones is the nature of our civil war; a clean geographic divide between regions with functional governments followed by a massive ground war between organized opposing armies fighting over what, in retrospect, was a very clear moral issue. Modern civil wars stand in stark contract; muddled geographic areas and/or muddled ethnic groups struggling against authoritarian or collapsing governments and very little of the action by any of the involved parties has a clear, defensible moral basis.

  The Council on Foreign Relations bi-monthly publication Foreign Affairs is regarded as the foremost publication in the realm of foreign policy and they recently had an article addressing the nature of post colonial civil wars and the likely outcomes in Iraq. This is an excellent factual resource upon which I'm going to expand just a bit.

 Yesterday I wrote up my experiences during the day and a half I was permitted to post on FreeRepublic.com and I was honored by having the diary recommended.

 Today I'll follow up on my promise - some thoughts on how to reframe and communicate with the evangelicals who are completely fed up with the Republican party.

I recently returned to online activities after a ninety day 'vacation'. I decided to see some new country, so I created a Free Republic login, and what I found in the day and a half my login survived ... has interesting implications for the 2008 elections.

We've seen the 43%/43% Democratic/Republican split shift to a 50%/35% split and after just a day with the FReepers I'm sure that trend is going to continue. In fact, I think we can help it along ...

(I've completed my follow on thoughts to this diary - some ideas on framing and communication that could be directed to the portion of Evangelicals who are fed up with the Bush administration's behavior)

http://www.dailykos.com/...

 Our new Congress is in place and while the MSM seeks to discount speaker Pelosi with some "catty" remarks of their own I see another sort of cat - one with fangs long enough to reach the internal organs of the fattest, lobbyist fed Congressman who doesn't toe the line on the nation's new direction.

 But what about you? What did you do today that will help the situation?

 What will it take to get our Congress to step in and stop the Draft Dodger's Crusade?

  I ask my Senators this very question quite often in my weekly fax to them and I'm hoping the Draft Dodger's Crusade meme catches on one of these days soon, as I believe that is neatly sums up the Iraq policy which Bush has been unable to articulate.

 George W. Bush is very popular with fundamentalists and evangelicals, but has anyone really examined the behavior of he and his administration in light of those pronouncements in the twentieth chapter of Exodus?

  They've taken two of our legislative houses captive.

 I caught up with Jim Esch, Nebraska's other handsome young Democratic candidate, last night right before his appearance at the Pizza Shoppe at 60th and Maple.

 I knew that Jim had received and returned $2,500 from Senator Ben Nelson's PAC and that this has been the only 'special interest' money that they've had to return. The campaign's funding has been entirely from individuals and Jim had some words to say on this and a few other things.

 Lee Terry (R NE-02) agreed to attend a government class at Omaha's Central highschool ... and then had a hissy fit when he found out he'd be appearing with his Democratic challenger, Jim Esch.

  I stopped by the Jim Esch campaign HQ today to pick up a few more yard signs and I had a chat with the campaign manager, Jim Rodgers. He had some very encouraging numbers to share.