On one hand, I gotta express support, yet again, for Rep. Waxman, as he is one of a shrinking number of Congressional officials that dare to investigate, ask tough questions and follow up to a large extent.

On the other hand, I can’t help but feel that we have been down this road more than once over the past few years and still are in the same crappy place we were had no subpoenas been issued in the first place.

This is a disturbing diary, so I am warning you up front.

A report out of Iraq this past week by Dahr Jamail highlights another stunningly horrific result of the illegal use of white phosphorus and chemical weapons in Fallujah by "coalition forces" back in late 2004 and 2005.

Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.

The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004.

After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used a year earlier in Fallujah.

In addition, depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste, were used heavily in Fallujah. The Pentagon admits to having used 1,200 tons of DU in Iraq thus far.

A week or so back, I created a bit of a stir with a diary whose title referred to SCOTUS overturning Roe.  And while I make no apologies for the title, I did only talk about McCain’s "fondness" for judges like Alito, Scalia and Roberts, and how he would like to appoint SCOTUS justices in their mold.

McCain’s positions on abortion have been, even for someone who is firmly on the anti-privacy and choice side of the ledger, all over the road.  But the least odious of the miserable positions that he takes is that he would like to see the decision revert back to the states, where a good number of states already have "trigger laws" on the books, which would effectively ban the right for a woman to have control over her personal private medical decisions.

I’ve been quick to point out the coddling of John McCain by the corporate media, and have (like many) been frustrated when his verbal diarrhea went virtually unnoticed during the Democratic primary process.

But over the past week or so (as a coincidence or not), it seems like there is a breaking through of the various "gaffes", other comments, crazy-ass policy positions and general confusion by McCain – and the coverage has started to show.

Not one week ago, John W. McSame got a bit defensive when addressing charges that he is running for Bush’s third term:

"You will hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that I'm running for President Bush's third term," McCain said. "You will hear every policy of the president described as the Bush-McCain policy. Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false."

False, eh?

You can expect to see that headline if John McCain wins the Presidency.

It is no secret that the non-"activist judges" on the Supreme Court are the older ones, and it is no secret that there could be two, maybe even three appointments over the next 4 years.  And it is also no secret that McCain has been pandering to those who want to erode the Constitution further - ironically in the name of "strictly interpreting it".

One of the more difficult things that face Democrats and progressives is to undo the "maverick" and "moderate" brand that McCain has spent decades building and crafting.  There are mountains of evidence, hundreds of votes, countless comments, actions and people that he has closely aligned himself with - yet he is STILL though of as more likely to reach across the aisle and more likely to effectively work with the other party than Obama.

With all due respect, since I have (1) been pretty neutral relative to 98% of Democrats and progressives and (2) I agree that regardless of how Clinton ran her campaign, BOTH her, Obama and each of their supporters have to chill out and realize that neither candidate will win in November against a tremendously flawed candidate without the other’s supporters campaigning for him/her.

At the beginning of the primaries, all that we heard and spoke about is how deep and excellent a field of candidates the Democrats had and how pitiful the republican field was.  And guess what, the republicans ended up with a tired, old, out of touch, double talking, confused, angry candidate who isn’t even liked by his own party.

Well, for starters, if you have been to Yearly Kos either last year or the year before, you know how ass kicking they were, and how much more ass kicking this year’s Netroots Nation will be.  

And even if you haven’t been to either prior Yearly Kos and won’t be coming along this year, you can help send some very deserving folks to Austin this summer without even spending a penny.  Folks like Daily Kos members Canacki, Troutfishing and King One Eye, not to mention folks affiliated with state blogs such as Blue Jersey and The Albany Project are hoping and trying to get to Austin, but alas, they just don’t have the funds necessary.

This may hold true for you too.  Yes, you - the reader of this diary.  And tonight may, just may, be the start of a chain of events that can send you to Netroots Nation in Austin with the hotel and registration TOTALLY PAID FOR.

For starters, I only use "MSM" in the title because "corporate media" or "infotainment media" wouldn’t fit.  That being said, the sad irony of the press corps which once again shows how out of touch the village idiots are with reality is that, despite all of the huffing and puffing about how Scott McClellan wouldn’t let them do their jobs, they still are falling flat on their faces at every turn.

I’d use the term jumped the shark (hyperlinked for those who don’t know what it means) to describe them and their role in the whole "reporting the news and professional journalism" thing that they clearly have long given up but I think the term "jump the shark" has kind of jumped the shark...

This is a call to action diary - I’ll just get that out there right up front.  It is clear that Joe Lieberman has been taking pot shots at the Democratic Party in general - whether it be his very public displays of affection for John McCain (either helping him with his outrageous comments about Iran and al Qaeda or coming to McCain’s rescue when he called Purim the "Jewish version of Halloween"), whether it be his serving on the board of a 527 that is against the likely Democratic Party nominee, whether it be saber rattling against Iran or whether it be standing behind comments that try to tie Obama to Hamas.

Not much commentary here today other than a moment to stop and pray for the families of those who have given their lives in Iraq since Memorial Day, 2007.

While each year brings hundreds more troop deaths, not to mention thousands of non-fatal casualties, we do not take enough time to think about the families, the friends, the loved ones of those who have been lost in what has unfortunately become a "game" of finger pointing, politicization and childish projection and rants from those who claim to "support the troops".

As we should stop today to remember all of those who have been killed in military service - regardless of where and when and how it is the sad truth that most of the prior military conflicts have memorials recognizing the casualties of each war and conflict, while there is none for Iraq or Afghanistan.  In fact, the blackout surrounding the flag draped coffins that return from Iraq and Afghanistan is a further disservice to those who fought and died in Iraq or Afghanistan - regardless of their reasoning and motives for joining the US military.

I’ve really stayed out of the Presidential candidate frenzy except for a few posts here and there which were critical of both Obama (and his supporters) as well as Clinton (and her supporters) over specific actions or accusations, so it is quite ironic to me that I would feel the need to write a diary about something that one of them said - let alone something that was most definitely not with nearly as much malice or disingenuousness as pretty much every thing that has come out of John McCain’s mouth.

So, while it is not surprising for me to be offering up this "Captain Obvious" observation - I am not going to be doing it with outrage, as both Delaware Dem and Keith Olbermann did over the past day, but with a just as obvious thought.

No, I’m not shitting you.  This military hero, respected veteran, Vice Chairman of VoteVets.org, not to mention author, blogger, and one of our own will be joining me and thereisnospoon on BlogTalkRadio at 5:30 Eastern/2:30 Pacific.

Who, you may ask, is this tremendous voice?  Well, none other than Brandon Friedman, formerly known around here as The Angry Rakkasan, and we will be talking about the current state of things on the foreign policy front.

Earlier today,  teacherken had a very important diary about the connection between McCain campaign honcho, lobbyist and political advisor Charles Black and Ahmed Chalabi, who we all know as the de facto Iranian double agent who duped the US with bogus intelligence about Saddam.

But there is something that has only been noted here and there which really merits more probing, and certainly demands an explanation from McCain himself - especially if he is to claim that he is not clueless on foreign policy and that is his own connections to Chalabi and how he helped Chalabi dupe the US, how he stood by Chalabi and how he propped up Chalabi all while Chalabi was working for Iran (even FoxNews reported that Chalabi was spying for Iran).  

We are all familiar with the longest serving republican Senator Ted Stevens – whether it be his frequent outbursts on the Senate floor or his comment about the internet being a series of tubes or his "Bridge to Nowhere" or his promises to resign from the Senate if he doesn’t get his way on whatever it is he is whining about on any given day.

Or, of course, the little fact that his home was raided as part of a Federal criminal investigation.

And for the first time in a long, long time, Senator Toobz has his hands more than full on the re-election front, with a recent poll putting him 5 points behind Mark Begich.  Needless to say, this is one of the most telling opportunities for a Democratic pickup, as there hasn’t been a Democratic Senator from Alaska since Mike Gravel in 1981.

There has been a lot of talk over the past few months and even past couple of years with respect to the refugee crisis in Iraq - the flight of much of the professional class from Iraq, the displacement of millions of Iraqis and the sectarian cleansing are just some of the things that jump to mind.  Couple that with the high unemployment rate, the lack of electricity, the ongoing violence and rampant corruption, and the outlook has been pretty bleak for quite some time.

However, the recent events and fighting in Sadr City that created a shortage of food, water and medicine for tens of thousands of Iraqis (including up to 75,000 children) is just the tip of the iceberg.

How can that be, you may ask.  

I won’t even use the comparison to what Teresa Heinz Kerry went through and was accused of when she refused to release her tax returns.  Because, while there is a reason to compare the media hypocrisy for hounding Kerry but giving McCain a pass - this is not about a gotcha moment.

Nor is this about John McCain using Cindy’s private jet and the hypocrisy of McCain’s faux maverick persona. And it isn’t even completely about transparency, as the talking meatsticks are focusing on (even though it is consistent with past criticisms of Democrats).

I’ve been meaning to write this post for quite some time, but now is as good a time as any.  For the past few months, I (and a fellow liberal traitor) have been "debating" a few rightists on a whole variety of issues.  Whether is it nonsense like Rezko or Wright or whatever other manufactured fantasy reason to point out (with escalating rhetoric that only a fifth grader on the playground would be impressed with) why liberal traitors with San Francisco values love terrorists, don’t want to "win" in Iraq and hate America, it always comes down to a few points.

• Conservatives rule, liberals are teh suck;
• Everything that went wrong with respect to everything over the past 8 years is because of "Clinton and the coward liberal Democrats" making it harder for America to be the greatest country in the world;
• Facts provided and documentation of actual events are either ignored or compared to something that the Democrats or specifically Bill Clinton or "the Jew hating" Jimmy Carter did - but never actually addressed or even acknowledged; and
• Conservatives rule, liberals are teh suck, only this time with insults, strawmen, profanity and my favorite, "I’m done with you".