Like most of you, I was appalled to see the McCain campaign continue on it's tactic of taking the jacked-up four-wheel drive of their campaign further into the mud, slinging as much behind them as they could. The latest ad, 'The One' is no exception - their mocking tone and imagery has become the staple of the McCain campaign of late. But I was struck while watching it at the absolute 'slow pitch' it is - an opportunity for the Obama to absolutely drive the ball out of the park, destroy this entire meme, and yet take the high ground with a stirring return to the populism of the primary that got him where he is today. Follow me below the fold and I'll lay out why I think this ad is a stellar candidate for a knockout response.

Reading Brandon Friedman's excellent diaries about the VA e-mail controversy, I was struck by the manipulation of language that is occurring yet again in discussion of the combat condition that occurs after the human body is subjected to the physical and mental stresses of war. I was reminded of a George Carlin stand up routine which really spoke to the history of the language behind "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder". Follow me below the fold for a look at how language is once again being "used to squeeze all the humanity out" of a very human reaction to the stress of war.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

It's been "We" since the very beginning...

Dear Bill O'Reilly,

It has come to my attention that you are now monitoring DailyKos comments and diaries, so please allow me and my fellow kossacks to give you a great big fat invitation to place your Falafel scarfing, Murdoch rimming, propaganda spewing lips firmly upon our buttocks and give em' a sloppy one. It's blatantly obvious to the most obtuse dullard that you don't have the intellectual capacity to make toast, much less back up any of the ridiculous vitriol you peddle. You lie so often and with so little remorse you almost seem like a not-so-cute-or-effective turdblossom mini-me. You constantly puff yourself up to the point it looks like your face might crack, which honestly seems like it might be helpful to the overall package.

(More formulations of full frontal facial flames for the Falafel fornicator follows the fold...)

Vladamir Putin is giving our president a serious schooling in the cards that can be played in an cold war style stand off.

President George W Bush has described as "interesting" a proposal by Russia's president for resolving the row over the planned US missile defence shield.

Vladimir Putin said their two countries could use a radar system in Azerbaijan to develop a shield covering all of Europe, during talks at the G8 summit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/...

Interesting is right - radar in Azerbaijan would be perfect for detecting missiles coming out of the middle east (read: Iran) towards Europe. If there were to be a joint missile defense installation, this would be the place to put it. But will Bush back down on the interceptor installation in Poland, a sticking point for the Russians? Was the "we should work together" offer real, or has Putin called Bush's bluff?

Details and background below the fold...

Jan. 11, 2007 - Sen. Joe Lieberman,  the only Democrat to question President Bush’s new plan for Iraq, has taken to the airwaves to demand President Bush live up to his pre-election demands that the White House turn over potentially embarrassing documents relating to its handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

Lieberman’s zeal underscores the new role that he is seeking to play in the Senate as the leading apostle of a bipartisan plan to bring our boys home, and to focus especially on domestic issues. On Wednesday night, Bush conspicuously cited Lieberman’s advice as being the inspiration for creating a new "bipartisan working group" on Capitol Hill that he said will "help us come together across party lines to win the war on poverty."

I knew it all looked too familiar. Reading the ISG report today, I was struck over and over by the many parallels that we see to Vietnam. But it was more than that - an overwhelming sense of historical deja vu from my history class back in high school. I had seen this before - so similar it drove me nuts all afternoon at work until I got home and got a chance to look it up. It's the Nixon Doctrine. Completely.

http://www.talkweather.com/...

The Kos community has so many knowledgable people, I thought maybe somebody could put this lady in touch with someone who could help.

Details below the fold...

America is a better nation than it's leadership reflects.

Over the past few years we have seen a horrible decline in overall responsibility in our government. Many if not the majority of us nationwide fall in the political position of being fiscally conservative and socially liberal. The common wisdom has been that republicans are the party of social and fiscal conservativism, while the democrats are the party of "immorality", "breaking the bank" and "creating big government". I'm not going to rehash those arguements other than to state my opinion that it hasn't really been that way, but that is now irrelevant. America is looking for a way out of our current mess, and we're going to give it to them.

It's time for our leaders to get back to work.

Follow me below the fold for my view on some issues.

We are the historians of the white areas, the black areas, and unlike our counterparts, we can even accept the existance and intellectual nuances of the occasional grey area. What we haven't yet done is boil our desire for change down to a simple marketable phrase that can cover it all.

I think we can do it in two words.

http://www.al.com/...

EDIT: Whoops! Forgot to add the link to our site. Litter On A Stick

Refreshing honesty, huh? That's because I'm not a politician seeking your donation. I'm just a regular guy who has picked a fight with the politicians in one of the reddest states there is - Alabama. I'm fighting against politicians here breaking the law.

I started a movement of local netizens getting out and doing something to make the community look better and to make the politicians take responsibility for their illegal actions (or at least lose some of their campaign's investment in plastic signs).

http://www.litteronastick.com/

Are we?

http://www.whnt.com

Look for our little green offramp sign on the left. They are going to run a story about us on their 10PM news tonight. I hope they put the video for the segment online - I'll post it if they do.

Background information below the fold and in previous diaries of mine...

Main Site
http://www.litteronastick.com

Forum
http://www.litteronastick.com/...

We're building a site to help connect concerned citizens who are interested in ending the practice of political campaigns using illegally placed corrugated plastic signs to increase name recognition. It's ugly, wasteful, expensive, and not effective, in addition to bein illegal here. Have you ever voted for a candidate based on a plastic sign? We haven't either and we think it's time to tell these politicians to clean up their mess.

http://www.LitterOnAStick.com

The Bush administration Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for rebuilding the nation's decrepit nuclear weapons complex, including restoration of a large-scale bomb manufacturing capacity.

The plan calls for the most sweeping realignment and modernization of the nation's massive system of laboratories and factories for nuclear bombs since the end of the Cold War.

Until now, the nation has depended on carefully maintaining aging bombs produced during the Cold War arms race, some several decades old. The administration, however, wants the capability to turn out 125 new nuclear bombs per year by 2022, as the Pentagon retires older bombs that it says will no longer be reliable or safe.

http://aladems.net/

Many Alabamians have expressed disappointment with the campaigns of Drayton Nabers and Lyn Stuart for violating state law in placing political signs on federal, state, and municipal property.  While most campaigns can run afoul of this law due to overzealous or unaware volunteers the size and scope of the Nabers/Stuart efforts show it was a coordinated, intentional practice paid for by the campaigns.

Now Drayton Nabers admits that his signs have been illegally placed on public land.Nabers campaign website hosts an "attention to volunteers" notice in which he informs volunteers of state law.