It is very important that we replace the current congress with some fresh ideas, new attitudes, and a willingness to work with President Obama in the new government in order to get the change we need for our country and our world.  That means targeting elected congress-critters who have been voting with the Bush administration, who are stopping the constructive process of government, and who are opposed by strong, progressive candidates who will serve the public well.

In most congressional elections, Virginia has very few choices to vote for by the general election.  In years past many neanderthals have run unopposed for re-election or only been challenged by fringe candidates without a prayer of winning.  This year (2008) is very, very different.  There are Democrats running for every congressional seat (which is a first I think, for many years).  Some are facing very difficult challenges; but several have a real shot this year because Americans are finally waking up to the lies of the modern Republican party.

It's highly entertaining to watch the childish melodrama exhibited by many of our elected congressional "leaders" and their equally childish counterparts in the financial markets.  These people (the news pundits, the politicians, and the investors) should all grow some intestinal fortitude, slow down, take a breath, and think through the financial crisis and so-called bailout carefully.

Yes, the cost of doing nothing will likely be high; but so will the cost of rashly doing the wrong thing.

Tomorrow morning, no matter what the markets do, my partner will still kiss me goodbye on her way to work.  My cats will still lovingly harass me until I get out of bed to feed them.  The sun will still come up.  I'll still need to pass water and break my fast.  Yes, my retirement portfolio is much smaller this morning than it was yesterday... in fact, I lost more than my gross annual salary in one day of market histrionics.  A lot of people did.  Take a breath, the good news is that our portfolios will recover in time.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post examining why Barack Obama is the obvious choice for president based on who his likely Supreme Court Justice nominations will be.  It is time we looked at another very important issue that the person filling the office of president will face; foreign policy.

A great deal of rhetoric has been spoken and written about Senator John McCain's many years of experience on foreign policy, and at a superficial glance, conventional wisdom would be that anyone who has been a senator for as long as McCain (since 1983 I think) and a veteran as well would have lots of experience with foreign policy.  Conventional wisdom also suggests that an Illinois state senator and freshman U.S. senator would not have so much foreign policy experience.  Let me tell you why conventional/superficial readings are completely reversed in this case...

Just for your entertainment, I have a whacky fun new conspiracy theory....  this election's October surprise from the Rovian arm of the Republican Party will be...

Let's ignore for a few moments the media's focus on imagined personality and pretend outrage and actually focus on some issues; like how the next president of the United States will impact every one of us.  The next president, should he or she last four full years in office, is likely to nominate two United States Supreme Court Justices.  That is not guaranteed, but it is statistically likely as several of the current justices are quite elderly.  Of all the issues before us, real and imagined, the president if the only elected official who gets to nominate replacement justices; so for all of us, whom a president is likely to nominate is one of the most important issues we should consider while casting our votes for the office of president.

This particular election, the issue of the supreme court nomination is more important than some elections because there are two likely nominations instead of one.  In fact, given the huge advantage any incumbent has in an election, the next president is likely to serve two terms and there could be four or five nominations!  At the moment, the current court is unbalanced and leans pretty far over in support of large corporate interests over equal rights and equal pay for women (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.) and religious values over a civil rights (Gonzales v. Carhart).  In fact, the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. ruling may be the most significant case the court has had in 20 years when all of it's ramifications have been felt.  The majority of the court ruled along the lines of a technicality in order to favor their already chosen sponsor.  It shows us that the highest court in the land has indeed already been bought and that justice will not always be served.  This court the most in need of some constitutional law experts in more than 75 years...

The more I think about, the more sure I am that McCain's choice of Palin for running mate clearly shows us all exactly how much thought he'll put into future Supreme Court Justice nominations and cabinet nominations.  Who  would he pick for Secretary of Defense?  Who would he pick for key ambassador positions to countries the United States has a conflict with that we don't want to escalate to war?

It is clear that he'd likely spend about as much time (or lack thereof) vetting said choices.  The nuttier ring wing core support groups are enthusiastically declaring their support for McCain and Palin, but the more moderate ones are expressing concerns for their brand's image:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/21 2920.php

Isn't it funny how the liberal media the ring-wing noise machine keeps ranting about simply does not exist?

Crooks and Liars has an excellent analysis of the foiled attempt to shoot Barack Obama, United States Attorney of Colorado Troy Eid's attempt to portray this as a minor threat, and the media (all networks) simply not reporting on it at all or hiding the story as deeply as they can while giving token coverage and attempting to write this off as shenanigans by meth-heads.

Scant Coverage of Obama Assassination Plot; Irresponsible or Cautious? makes a pretty interesting read.

Of course Eid is a Bush appointee, but no... that really is not a part of this at all is it?

There is something very, very wrong with a society that thinks it is acceptable for police to violently kick down the door to a private family's home, shoot the family dogs and physically restrain the family while they conduct a search for drug dealer materials or other incriminating evidence, all because a large package of cannabis sativa was discovered in the postal system with their address on it.