I think I've about had my fill of Obama. I voted for him in his Senate race against the odious Alan Keyes. I've donated to his Presidential campaign and signed up on his web site. I've read his book Dreams From My Father and marveled at his ability to tell a story. I've read most of his second book The Audacity of Hope, but somehow I just can't seem to muster up the desire to finish it. I've stopped reading the messages sent from his campaign site and today I finally unsubscribed. I've lost all of my enthusiasm for an Obama Presidency, but that doesn't translate into any support for McCain.

While candidates and supporters scramble to determine how to resolve the problem of Michigan and Florida, there still remains only one solution. That solution was made by the DNC when it decided to strip both states of their delegates and agreed to by the candidates when they pledged not to campaign nor participate in those illegal primaries. The DNC decision was known to the legislators of both states before they decided to change the dates of their primaries and the voters knew that their votes would not count. Many voters decided not to participate in that primary. So the voters were already disenfranchised by their legislators - not by the DNC and not by the Democratic candidates.

I would imagine that the decision to turn in his putter as a tribute to all of the fallen victims of his unnecessary war was a difficult decision. Thinking of how he might relate the story to his grandchildren when they asked, "What did you do in the war, Granddaddy?", Bush must have gone through some tortured soliloquy like Hamlet, to determine just what honorable thing he might tell his grandchildren he did during the war. The Decider had to think long and hard to come up with something before he finally hit upon giving up golf. I imagine his thoughts might have gone something like this if he is indeed capable of any thought:

Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner apparently feels that the telephone companies should be granted immunity for illegal wiretapping surveillance, but when it comes to Republicans getting trapped by an illegal wiretap it's an entirely different matter. In December of 1996 a Florida couple playing with their scanner picked up a conversation on their portable scanner involving then Speaker Newt Gingrich, John Boehner (who was in Florida at the time), Gingrich's lawyer, and other Republicans. The couple decided to record the conversation they claim they inadvertently stumbled across.

Last night McCain finally realized that his most likely opponent in November will be Barack Obama. He then plagiarized Hillary by suggesting that "Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change". It's the words thing again. But he also dredged up an old attack point that has been essentially rendered meaningless by his former tormentor turned mentor - George W. Bush. Either McCain is an even bigger idiot than we thought or he's so completely out of touch that he might lose to a four-year old in the election debates.

Today we celebrate the birth of one of our greatest Presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born one hundred and ninety-nine years ago in a one-room log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. Almost 200,000 people visit his birthplace each year. Among them have been former Presidents Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, and Eisenhower. People buy Lincoln mementos and pause to reflect on the life of the man many consider our greatest President and our most eloquent and gifted orator. Lincoln was dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal and fervently desired that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

This will be a short diary and link to the story. NBC News Deep Background is reporting a new controversy with the 9/11 Commission. The commission members suspected that "critical information" in its report was obtained from "enhanced interrogation techniques". As such, the information and possibly some of the conclusions of the commission might be suspect.

Yes, I am numbered "among a select group of Republicans who have been chosen" to participate in the official 2008  census of the Republican Party. As a lifelong registered Democrat, I am amazed and a little humbled at the prospect of being able to help set the future course of the Republican Party. I like being one of the chosen. It sounds so Biblical.

But being one of the chosen is not to be taken lightly. We have a mission. As our call to action says:

Either Senator Clinton will become President and -- wth the full compliance of a large liberal majority in Congress -- raise your taxes, pack the judiciary with left-wing activist judges, gut our military and intelligence services, ignore the problem of illegal immigration...

This is a battle about who will control America for the next generation or more.

As I was walking through an almost eeriely quiet mall this afternoon, two days before Christmas, I couldn't help but feel that Christmas is a time of so many paradoxes. It is a time of both hope and despair, a time of yearning for peace while waging war, a time of extravagant displays of wealth and heart-breaking portraits of poverty, a time for believing in magic and a time for losing one's faith in everything. This once thriving suburban mall was once filled with shoppers and stores of every kind. Today, almost half of the stores are shuttered and there were scarcely any shoppers on a day that is supposedly one of the busiest of the season.

The economy is supposedly growing, but it is not evident here. I wonder what happened to the people who worked in these stores and the people who owned them. Did they move on to other things or have their lives become as dark and empty as the stores where they once worked.

Boehner has never struck me as one of the brightest stars in the GOP firmanent. However, he has managed to position himself as Moronity Leader in the House, despite, or perhaps because of, his association with Abramoff and Delay. Boehner's machinations, such as his side-stepping the Foley scandal and placing all of the blame on Hastert, show him to be devious, but not necessarily smart. But he is a strong Bush apologist and Bush has used him to further his agenda in Congress. Boehner is in now leading a congressional delegation to the Middle East and is currently in Pakistan. Prior to that he was in Iraq when he made his infamous "small price" comment in an interview woth Wolf Blitzer.

For the past few years, Bush has been asking for more time to prove that his failed strategy in Iraq will produce results. Yet Bush gave UN weapons inspectors less than four months to search Iraq for WMD, after being allowed to re-enter Iraq in late November of 2002 after a four year absence. During that time the inspectors found no evidence of the weapons the Bush administration claimed that Saddam had. Inspectors asked for more time to complete their mission, but Bush was adamant, ignoring not only their requests, but also claims by Iraqi leaders that Iraq had destroyed its weapons in accordance with UN directives.

The events of the past week have served as a reminder of just how frustrating a democracy can be. And just how futile our participation may seem at times. We seem virtually powerless to affect the outcome of the contest no matter how mightily we cheer or boo. Our team's uninspired performance stands in stark contrast to our lofty hopes. Even more disappointing is the fact that we were not considered the underdogs in this match, although the impartiality of the referees has always been in doubt. Yet here we stand at half-time scoreless and scorned. As our team leaves the field there seems to be very little we can build on to turn the game in our favor.

With the news focused on the Scooter Libby commutation, the chilling tone taken in a memo from CIA director Michael Hayden is perhaps lost in the noise. It's clear that Hayden and his ilk feel that the world has changed since 9/11 and the old rules are no longer applicable. Despite growing uneasiness with the tactics used on the War on Terror, it's full speed ahead according to Hayden.

While scanning the WaPo news this morning I read about Leahy's intent to issue a contempt of Congress citation to the President if the documents requested by the Senate Judiciary Committee were not turned over. Perhaps intent is too strong a word because Leahy almost seems as if he he is being forced to take action he does not want to take. And while contempt citations should be used only rarely, this administration has thrown the gauntlet too many times for the Congress to sidestep it again. At stake is wheteher we will continue to have a government of checks and balances or will the vague and ill-defined concept of executive privilege win out.

If you've gotten this far, you've aleady read too much. First of all, this diary breaks the kos rule of being substantive. There is nothing that could be remotely considered substantive here. Secondly, there are no pootie pictures. Even after explaining to them that they could become celebrities on dkos, my pooties did not seem interested enough to pose. They prefer hanging out on the screened-in patio, occasionally glancing in my direction, wondering what in the hell could be so fascinating about this glowing thing that I keep pecking at. Finally, the tags are, well, see for yourself. More below the fold as they say, if you can take it.

The folks who brought you the Global War on Terror (GWOT), sometimes referred to as just the War on Terror, are beginning to have second thoughts about whether we should call this a war or not. This is precisely where we need to focus our attention. How can we have a proper strategy for whatever it is we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan unless we have a proper name for it? Some of the best minds in the country are hard at work on this very problem.

Last week every member of our local city council received a copy of the book Islamic Imperialism A History by Professor Efraim Karsh, head of Mediterranean Studies at King's College of London. Included with the book was a review written by Amir Taheri that was published in asharq alawsat, a moderate Arabic newspaper, founded in London in 1978. asharq alawsat also owns the Arabic copyright to the Washington Post.

The books were sent from Fullfillment House, Inc., a company in Herndon, Virginia, that describes itself as "full-service fulfillment, distribution, and direct mail company serving associations, government agencies, and small and large businesses." Fulfillment House is on the GSA schedule and is located near Washington-Dulles International Airport in the Beltway. This whole situation begs several questions. Who sent these books? To whom were the books sent? And why were they sent? Is this part of a government propaganda campaign? And if so, what is the message they are trying to convey?  

This is just priceless. It's not really worthy of a diary, but the open threads are now stagnating somewhere in an off screen scroll dump. But, I'd like to share James Baker's comment on Hastert nad the Foley scandal.