Good news for George W. Bush! His approval rating is the highest it’s been in years, just as he’s set to open his presidential library at Southern Methodist University. Forty-seven percent of Americans approve of Bush, up from 33 percent when he left office as the economy cratered.

Bad news for George W. Bush! His newfound popularity comes, as my colleague Dan Balz notes, because of “the passage of time and Bush’s relative invisibility” rather than any re-evaluation of his record. Majorities still oppose his decision to invade Iraq and disapprove of his handling of the economy.

But in the interest of history, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at Bush’s record, issue by issue, and, of course, in charts.

The Washington Post: GWB's Presidency in 24 charts

It’s hard to remember now, but in the immediate aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn., this country seemed serious about gun safety reform. President Obama visited the community and tearfully invoked Scripture and vowed real action. Hunting enthusiast and senator Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) suggested he’d consider supporting an assault weapons ban. And National Rifle Association foe Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) called the organization “enablers of mass murderers” and vowed to wage war on it — and few rushed to its defense.

Then, somehow, things seemed to get even worse for the NRA. After a full week of silence after the tragedy, it held a press conference in Washington, D.C., in which its leader, Wayne LaPierre, inspired laughter and ridicule by supporting zero reforms to guns, aside from a call for more of them (arm teachers!).

But for all the mockery LaPierre’s speech elicited (and maybe even deserved), history may well show it to be a canny political maneuver. By effectively shifting the conversation far to the right, he also shifted rightward what constituted a “compromise” in the gun discussion. And ultimately, against all odds, his organization would emerge with a deal it could more than live with — in fact, one it had once publicly proposed, itself.

In other words, it is Wayne LaPierre who will get the last laugh.

How the NRA got what it wanted. As of April 15, 2013, over 3400 people have been killed by gun violence since the shootings at Sandy Hook. This is the price the NRA is willing to pay for their guns: 3400 lives, and counting. Shame on the NRA.

I can't stand that this is what America is; that we trade our children's lives for the opportunity to purchase items specifically invented for killing. I can't stand it. It's pathetic and embarrassing and barbaric.

Congressional gun control legislation is falling apart

By cutting off federal funding for research and stymieing data collection and sharing, the National Rifle Association has tried to do to the study of gun violence what climate deniers have done to the science of global warming. No wonder: When it comes to hard numbers, some of the gun lobby's favorite arguments are full of holes.

Mother Jones: 10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down

Today, Republicans in the Senate faced a choice about how to grow our economy and reduce our deficit. And instead of closing a single tax loophole that benefits the well-off and well-connected, they chose to cut vital services for children, seniors, our men and women in uniform and their families. They voted to let the entire burden of deficit reduction fall squarely on the middle class.

I believe we should do better. We should work together to reduce our deficit in a balanced way – by making smart spending cuts and closing special interest tax loopholes. That’s exactly the kind of plan Democrats in the Senate have proposed. But even though a majority of Senators support this approach, Republicans have refused to allow it an up-or-down vote – threatening our economy with a series of arbitrary, automatic budget cuts that will cost us jobs and slow our recovery.

Tomorrow I will bring together leaders from both parties to discuss a path forward. As a nation, we can’t keep lurching from one manufactured crisis to another. Middle-class families can’t keep paying the price for dysfunction in Washington. We can build on the over $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction we’ve already achieved, but doing so will require Republicans to compromise. That’s how our democracy works, and that’s what the American people deserve.

Statement from President Barack Obama

Most people on food stamps work full time. They work full time but they don’t have enough money to pay for food for their kids. So really, in some ways, food stamps are about a business subsidy because it allows low wage business workers to… feed their families and continue working. But we call it charity, or the Republicans call it charity. They want to cut food stamps so badly that every church, synagogue, mosque, house of worship in the United States — every single one — [would] have to raise an additional $50,000 every year for ten years to replace what he wants to cut. It’s not gonna happen. It’s not gonna work. - Sister Simone Campbell

Since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., supporters and opponents of gun control have thrown out statistics to support their point of view. Here’s one that caught our eye, offered by liberal commentator Mark Shields on the Dec. 21, 2012, edition of the PBS NewsHour.

Tampa Bay Times PolitiFact: Since 1968, "more Americans have died from gunfire than died in … all the wars of this country's history."

Like any good con, it's always the next sacrifice that will be the one that does it, the magic bullet that finally solves the problem. And then when it doesn't, there will be just one more next year, and then maybe another one a few years from now, and then…ten or twenty years pass and we don't even remember what it was we were promised when we starting cutting flesh, and we're reduced to hoping that the next sacrifice will be enough to keep us from losing the house.

Gin and Tacos: Come on, Just the Tip

"What is wrong is that the two parties — and to some extent the American people — have gone deep into the idea that there are two teams in this country. a red team and a blue team, ... To the point where, in Congress, they would rather win than solve problems, oftentimes. And they will come as close as you can get to really, really messing things up in order to win."
--Andrea Seabrook, NPR political correspondent

Hating on Congress is a beloved American tradition. Hence Mark Twain’s old joke, “Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” But the 112th Congress is no ordinary congress. It’s a very bad, no good, terrible Congress. It is, in fact, one of the very worst congresses we have ever had.

Ezra Klein's Wonkblog: 13 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever

The conservative movement that has taken over the GOP was nursed on hatred of Eisenhower’s moderation. The eight years of peace and prosperity he gave Americans are remembered by conservatives as a dark age of “me-too” Republicanism, brightened only by the founding of the Ike-smiting National Review in 1955. The anti-heroic bent of the proposed Eisenhower memorial, with its refusal to acknowledge that there was anything great or admirable about its subject, may well be a source of considerable satisfaction to many on the right as well as the left.

Why Won’t the GOP Stick Up For Dwight Eisenhower?

In 2008 candidate Barack Obama carried 81% of counties with a Whole Foods store and just 36% of counties with a Cracker Barrel store....There is an increasing alignment between brand personality and political personality.

Rick Perry is no George W. Bush. This is not a compliment. Perry's 2010 Tea Party-steeped manifesto, "Fed Up!," makes George Bush look like George McGovern. Perry has said he wasn't planning to run for president when he wrote the book, and it shows ... These are not mainstream Republican views -- at least, not any Republican mainstream post-Goldwater and pre-Tea Party.

Ruth Marcus, Washington Post Opinions Writer: Rick Perry, by the book.

"It's all there and all of it painful," said Simpson. And that's his main point: that what needs to get done to get this country back on a fiscally responsible path is going to be painful. He used a colorful metaphor for it: "It's going to be like giving dry birth to a porcupine."

Alan Simpson on NPR: If Lawmakers Can't Compromise, They Should "Go Home"

NOTE from Kerry::Even though he's a Republican, I love Alan Simpson. You can ask him a question and get a straight answer, and in few words. Also, he's from Wyoming!

... But the arc of history does not bend toward justice through capitulation cast as compromise. It does not bend when 400 people control more of the wealth than 150 million of their fellow Americans. It does not bend when the average middle-class family has seen its income stagnate over the last 30 years while the richest 1 percent has seen its income rise astronomically. It does not bend when we cut the fixed incomes of our parents and grandparents so hedge fund managers can keep their 15 percent tax rates. It does not bend when only one side in negotiations between workers and their bosses is allowed representation. And it does not bend when, as political scientists have shown, it is not public opinion but the opinions of the wealthy that predict the votes of the Senate. The arc of history can bend only so far before it breaks.

What Happened to Obama?

Happy Birthday (by the numbers) to President Obama.

Click for full-size

Looks Like Trump's Right: How the Hell Did This President Get Into Those Ivy League Schools?

Six months after voters sent Republicans in large numbers to Congress and many statehouses, it is possible to see the full landscape of destruction that their policies would cause — much of which has already begun. If it was not clear before, it is obvious now that the party is fully engaged in a project to dismantle the foundations of the New Deal and the Great Society, and to liberate business and the rich from the inconveniences of oversight and taxes.

The New Republican Landscape

Understanding Congress's Solution To The Federal Deficit Problem

A public union employee, a tea party activist, and a CEO are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it.

The CEO takes 11 cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, ‘Watch out for that union guy. He wants a piece of your cookie.'

The central issue in our political life is not being discussed. At stake is the moral basis of American democracy. The individual issues are all too real: assaults on unions, public employees, women's rights, immigrants, the environment, health care, voting rights, food safety, pensions, prenatal care, science, public broadcasting, and on and on.

Budget deficits are a ruse to conservatives. What they really want to do is change the basis of American life.

AlterNet.org: What the Right-wing Assault on Women, Unions, the Environment, Health Care and PBS Is All About

Colorado inaugurated a new Governor this week. His name is John Hickenlooper, which he is able to joke about. Hickenlooper is Dutch for "hedge hopper".

When you heard the terrible news from Arizona, were you completely surprised? Or were you, at some level, expecting something like this atrocity to happen?
...
It’s true that the shooter in Arizona appears to have been mentally troubled. But that doesn’t mean that his act can or should be treated as an isolated event, having nothing to do with the national climate.

Paul Krugman, NYTimes OpEd: Climate of Hate

Ed Quillen: Do you know your (Colorado) governors?

Starting in January members of the US House of Representatives will be allowed to use electronic devices on the floor as long as it doesn't "impair decorum."

Members still may not talk on the phone in the chamber, and they are supposed to use the devices for official business only.

$60 Billion: The approximate amount that extending the Bush tax cuts on income above $250,000 a year — which Congress seems on the verge of doing — will cost a year, in inflation-adjusted terms. On average, the affluent households that benefit from these cuts will save $25,000 annually. What else might that $60 billion a year buy?

The New York Times: What Else Would $60 Billion Buy?

Daily Kos: Four questions for Republicans...and four answers for undecided voters

When President Obama addresses the nation on Iraq on Tuesday night, he will do so from newly redecorated digs. The look, which includes new and reupholstered furniture and new paint and wallpaper, is more modern and tends toward neutral hues of brown and taupe, rather than the gold and yellow tones favored by his predecessor, George W. Bush

New York Times: A New Look for the Oval Office
USAToday: Obama's Oval Office has new look

Take a look at Tuesday night’s box score in the baseball game between New York and Toronto. The Yankees won, 11-5. Now look at the weather summary, showing a high of 71 for New York. The score and temperature are not subject to debate.

Yet a president’s birthday or whether he was even in the White House on the day TARP was passed are apparently open questions. A growing segment of the party poised to take control of Congress has bought into denial of the basic truths of Barack Obama’s life. What’s more, this astonishing level of willful ignorance has come about largely by design, and has been aided by a press afraid to call out the primary architects of the lies.

Timothy Egan: Building a Nation of Know-Nothings (New York Times)

Roger Ebert: Ten things I know about the mosque

A short history of Presidential vacation outrage.

Colorado capitol may get an Obama portrait.

Bob Cesca: Exposing Glenn Beck as a Dangerous Fraud.

Liberals and conservatives have highly different moral priorities. And we have to understand them if we want to accomplish anything.

AlterNet: Conservatives Live in a Different Moral Universe -- And Here's Why It Matters

Nobel Peace Prize Committee defends Obama selection.

"We simply disagree he has done nothing."
Committee Chairman

Edward Kennedy: A Special Tribute by Editorial Cartoonists: "The Dream Lives On"

It was on this day in 1920 that the 19th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote. Seventy-two years earlier, at the Seneca Falls Convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott had called for the rights of women, and begun the cause of women's suffrage.

Today marks the 35th anniversary of Richard Nixon's resignation as President.
I recall the day more personally--we picked up toddler Andrew at the airport, and listened to the resignation speech on the car radio as we drove our new son home.

Happy Birthday, President Obama!

The First 100 Days Quiz

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream recently created "Yes Pecan" in honor of President Barack Obama. A portion of sales proceeds will go to Common Cause.

On the Street: The Fabric of History - Bill Cunningham | New York Times

The new White House website. Still has a few start-up problems, but lots of potential.

Q: What is the basis for why the vice president is sworn in before the president? Why is it set up that way in the Constitution? Does that mean that for a few minutes Joe Biden will be President Bush's VP?

A:In the old days, both the president and the new Congress were sworn in on the same day, March 4...

Inaugural preparations

In a speech at the "We Are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial today President-elect Obama said:

"Despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure, that the dream of our founders will live in our time."

Legoland California has unveiled a miniature model of Barack Obama taking the oath of office as the 44th US president.

The scaled-down version of the ceremony contains more than 1,000 Lego figurines, representing celebrities, officials and other guests.

Barak Obama's Official White House Portrait. It's also the first offical picture done with a digital camera - it even comes with EXIF data (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, taken 2009:01:13 17:38:39, No flash, 105.0mm focal length, 1/125 exp, f/10.0, ISO100)

Obama chooses Lincoln's Bible for the Inauguration.

Ken Salazar made a fashion statement for the West when he wore a Stetson while accepting the nomination for Secretary of the Interior.

Why Obama should keep his Blackberry

A humorous (yet apt) plea from Paula Poundstone: Get our help while you can, Obama.

Obama signs are treasure, not trash.

I am recycling all my old yard signs at church today, but I'm posting my two Obama signs in my garage.

A quote from former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm regarding the election of Barack Obama:

"This is, for the whole world, a symbolic gift that undercuts the negativism of Bush and the Iraq war."

Change.gov provides resources to better understand the transition process and the decisions being made as part of it. It also offers an opportunity to be heard about the challenges our country faces and your ideas for tackling them. The Obama Administration will reflect an essential lesson from the success of the Obama campaign: that people united around a common purpose can achieve great things.

While Americans eagerly vote for the next president, here’s a sobering reminder: As of Tuesday, George W. Bush still has 77 days left in the White House — and he’s not wasting a minute.

President Bush’s aides have been scrambling to change rules and regulations on the environment, civil liberties and abortion rights, among others — few for the good. Most presidents put on a last-minute policy stamp, but in Mr. Bush’s case it is more like a wrecking ball. We fear it could take months, or years, for the next president to identify and then undo all of the damage.

Some wonderful photos of our next President from "The Big Picture" website.Click here.

"Change is exactly what the country is bursting to achieve...The country longs for a president who can talk and think at the same time. ...In America, a man is not held responsible for choosing his parents, only for his own life and conduct. This man promises to take us into a new era where we aren't defined by our differences...and he will do what's best for the country."

Garrison Keillor

Ft. Collins couple agrees to disagree on the Presidential election. Check out their yard signs here.

Ron Howard goes back in time to support Barack Obama. See the video here.

How to get the nerd vote. Ideas for the 2012 candidate.

The Denver Post endorses Barack Obama for President.

Last night, after the debates, we sat down and filled out our mail-in ballots, so we've done our civic duty for this year. Now if we can just get the calls, ads, and mailings to stop early...

An Obama campaign office opened this week just two blocks north of my house. I received a call about volunteering there, and went in Sat. afternoon. After some initial confusion (There were lots of people going in and out, asking for yard signs, volunteering to canvas door to door, etc.) I was briefly trained in data entry and began compiling statistics on a little laptop Dell computer.They were the results of canvassing efforts, so I was putting in info. about who had received their mail-in ballots, which candidates they were supporting, etc. The office is so new that this was the only computer they have so far, and they were very back-logged in data entry. Hopefully they will get things better organized in the coming week, computers will arrive, volunteers will get organized and so on. After all, the election is only 24 days away! I do plan to go back and help out more in the coming weeks.

Bob Barr: Alternative Voice Needed in Final Debate

Yesterday I received my ballot in the mail. Now I need to sit down and read through the League of Women Voters pamphlet so I can get some clarification on the MANY issues to be decided. This it the longest ballot in Colorado since 1912. At least I won't have to agonize over my Presidential vote. I made that decision in February.

Boulder's little secret...It voted GOP till 1984.

My local Home Owner's Association (HOA) has ruled that my subdivision can only put out political yard signs 45 days before an election. Well, today is the day! I now have Obama and Diane Primavera (local state representative) signs in my front yard.

Actually this is an improvement over four years ago when NO yard signs were allowed. A law passed by the Colorado legislature since then makes this "freedom of speech" possible now.

Today, September 19th is the 212th anniversary of Washington's Farewell Address to the Nation in which he said (among other things):

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all.

I am proud to say that the minister of my Unitarian Universalist Church, Peter Morales, gave the invocation when Barack Obama spoke today in Golden at the School of Mines.

As both a U.S. Attorney and Member of Congress, I defended drug prohibition. But it has become increasingly clear to me, after much study, that our current strategy has not worked and will not work. The other candidates for president prefer not to address this issue, but ignoring the failure of existing policy exhibits both a poverty of thought and an absence of political courage. The federal government must turn the decision on drug policy back to the states and the citizens themselves.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman says:

"I'm not convinced we're winning in Afghanistan, but I'm convinced we can."
But: "We cannot kill our way to victory."

... Bob Barr has some damn important things to tell us. It would be nice if John McCain and Barack Obama paid some heed to him. We hear M and O talk about the war, blather platitudes about the economy, slime each other through surrogates. There's something metaphorically fitting about how the media covers elections like horse races  when the race ends, you're right back where it began.

Picture Barr as the horse who ran in another direction.

Don't Mock the Constitution

ABOUT SARAH PALIN - A note to all by Anne Kilkenny
Ms. Kilkenny had asked in her e-mail to "not post it to the web" but at this point it's a pointless request; even NPR ran a feature on it.

The Words They Used.

I LOL'd: Sarah Palin Makes the Cover of Foreign Affairs Weekly

Today is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's. "I Have a Dream" speech. And today an African American will accept the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Two historic moments.

100 Reasons Why McCain Won't Be President of the United States.

Hillary Clinton says:

Barack Obama is my candidate

Yesterday, August 4th, was Barack Obama's 47th birthday. When asked what he wanted for his birthday he said:

"Indiana, Colorado, and Virginia"

Is Obama President.com

Why we vote on Tuesdays.

Both Presidential candidates this year are left-handed. In fact, which ever one is elected, when sworn in, will become the eleventh President to be left-handed.

Goodnight Bush

Hear NPR journalists read the Declaration of Independence.

Denver's Mayor (and others) are working to make the upcoming Democratic National Convention the Greenest Show on Earth. Even the souvenirs are affected.

Go to this site and you can choose a Vice-presidential candidate for both Barack Obama and John McCain. And you can check who's ahead in this unofficial voting as well.

Four Boxes.

How do astronauts vote in space?

What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon  that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.

We won't engage in these kind of smears but make no mistake: when confronted with them, we will fight back vigorously with the truth.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Is Barack Obama Muslim?

101 days till the Democratic National Convention comes to Denver!

Obama in 30 seconds The fifteen best entries.

When Obama Wins

Five Mistakes Clinton Made

This article comes from the Chicago Tribune and has very interesting information about Rev. Jeremiah Wright who has been in the political news recently.

In a dramatic reversal, an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll found that a clear majority of Democratic voters now say Sen. Barack Obama has a better chance of defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in November than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While Obama and Clinton are both sustaining dents and dings from their lengthy presidential fight, the former first lady is clearly suffering more. Democratic voters no longer see her as the party's strongest contender for the White House.

This marks a dramatic deterioration for Bush. Previously he wasn't viewed in the most positive terms, but there was a consensus that he wasn't the "worst of the worst" either. That was in the spring of 2004. In the meantime, Bush has established himself as the torture president, the basis for his invasion of Iraq has been exposed as a fraud, the Iraq War itself has gone disastrously, the nation's network of alliances has faded, and the economy has gone into a tailspin-not to mention the bungled handling of relief for victims of hurricane Katrina. In 2004, only 12 percent of historians were ready to place Bush dead last.

Peace symbol turns 50

Most in the United States don't know much about the Middle East or the people that live there. This lack of knowledge hurts our ability to understand world events and, consequently, our ability to hold intelligent opinions about those events.

For example, frighteningly few know the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and most think the words "Arab" and "Muslim" are pretty much interchangeable. They aren't. So here's a very brief primer aimed at raising the level of knowledge about the region to an absolute minimum.

What is it like to devote two hard years to running for the White House - and then fail? Ed Pilkington talks to former presidential candidates about the shattering loss, the humiliation and the elite club they call the Misery Circle

That speech Obama made? He wrote the it himself. The last presidential politician to do that was Nixion.

There are Democrats in Wyoming. But they've been largely ignored by every presidential candidate for 20 years.

All that changes today. Suddenly Wyoming matters again. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are both holding rallies in the state today, on the eve of the state caucuses Saturday.

Ten things that won't change (no matter who gets elected)

Could you vote? Did you vote? Super Tuesday Results from the Denver Post.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s actual birthday.

"the fierce urgency of now"
from a speech titled "Beyond Vietnam" given in 1967

The Democratic National Convention is coming to Denver in August and MUCH advance planning has begun already. But not just by Democratic leaders--the protesters are getting organized, too. Among other things, they are considering a "daily theme" for their protests.

Regardless of the popular vote, the "election" is all about delegates. Hillary Clinton is winning with 187 delegates. She is followed by Obama with 89 delegates and Edwards with 50.

Remember: A total of 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the Democratic nomination.

Bill of Rights Under Bush: A Timeline

Waterboarding is Torture... Period.

Election Day was yesterday. Here in Arvada we have a new (old) Mayor - Bob Frie was voted in for what will be his third term at the city's helm. Denver voters passed requests for $550 million in infrastructure bond and tax increases.

And in 440 days we'll have a new president in office.

The Republican National Convention has unveiled their logo for their 2008 convention. There is a lot of talk about it in the blogosphere, mostly on how, well, dumb it looks. To me, it depicts the GOP mascot, after it was run over by a truck (those look like skid marks on its back).

When I saw video of the President addressing the UN last week, I wondered why he kept calling it "Burma" instead of "Myanmar". According to this BBC article the U.K. and U.S. do not recognize the name Myanmar since this name was chosen by the military junta which is currently controlling the country, repressing the people, and killing monks... among other things.

Thomas L. Friedman writes in the New York Times about Why 9/11 Is Over:

9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11  mine included  has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

Presidential Scholars confront Bush about torture.

As noted earlier, the Democratic Governor of Wyoming was to nominate a replacement for U.S. Senator Craig Thomas, who died June 4th of leukemia. From the three candidates given him by the W

The President of Vietnam is leading a state visit to Washington, D.C. hoping to increase trade relations with the U.S.

Due to the recent death of one of its US Senators, the Republican party of Wyoming is drawing up a list of names of possible replacements to submit to the Democratic Governor for c

Hillary Clinton's campaign is asking You-Tube viewers to select her campaign theme song, and she has received more than 130,000 votes at her website. Most of the suggestions are totally uknown to me (naturally!) but the n

Did starting Daylight Savings time earlier help save energy?

No.

What is a Blue Dog Democrat??

How's that "war on terror" working out for us? Worldwide, terrorism has INCREASED seven-fold since the war in Iraq started. Mother Jones has the numbers.

George W. Bush currently has 700 days left on his time in office. The countdown continues...

A quote from Nancy Pelosi, the new (first) woman Speaker of the House:

Having five children in six years is the best training in the world for Speaker of the House.

President Gerald Ford passed away last night. The news outlets will be focused on his career all day today. He was the only president not elected to either the presidency or the vice-president position

From Warren Ellis's BAD SIGNAL mailing list:

Karl Rove is not Aleister Crowley, Severus Snape, Darth Vader or Satan. You can kill him by ensuring your vote is counted and being vigilant at your polling station.

Armed Forces Journal explores redrawing borders in the Middle East along cultural lines, not political:

The most arbitrary and distorted borders in the world are in Africa a

I Voted!
Note from Kerry: Me too! (on Thursday, absentee)

Electronic Voting Machine Flaws Exploited: How to steal an election.

I can't believe it's not torture!

Democratic and Republican strategists say they expect over 90 percent of the advertisements to be broadcast by Nov. 7 to be negative.

To paraphrase George Orwell: If you want a vision of the future, imagine a shoe stamping on a symbol of freedom - forever.

A reminder...

For the next time Dick Cheney goes hunting:

Click for larger version

Muhammad at the Deities Association by Oliphant

Four Reasons to Be Glad Bush Is Still President. Really. They're pretty good reasons. Snarky, but good.