And so the wholesale selling off of America continues.  Thanks to $140/bbl oil, Mission Accomplished, eh, George?

There is great sadness among a committed core following in Left Blogsylvania:  My favorite blog, Welcome to Pottersville has gone offline forever.  Robert (AKA Jurassicpork) deleted it sometime in the last 48 hours, and the blogging universe is the poorer for it...

We all know that Senator Susan Collins is no friend of progressive politics.  With Holy Joe at her side, however, she is trying to create the appearance of being a moderate.  So much for that image (which we all know is an illusion).  The Maine Senator said today, at a hearing of the Senate's committee on homeland security and government affairs, that she is opposed to a proposal to ban large institutional investors from investing in commodities, a proposal floated by her own BFF Sen. Joe Lieberman.  Give that she is in a tight race with Tom Allen, with recent poll numbers showing Collins vulnerable, tacking to the right of Joe Lieberman can only help unseat her...

Sounds pretty fantastic, but according to several stories just out, could $2/gal gas be just around the corner?  More on the flip...

I haven't seen this up yet, but, according to a report on Bloomberg, two ex-Bear Stearns hedge fund managers have been arrested at their respective homes by FBI agents.

Ah, yes!  Show me the money!

Being from "The Great State of Minnesota!", I remember fondly the days of "Jesse Checks".  In the late 1990's, the state was taking in more tax revenue than it needed.  Jesse Ventura ran on a promise to return that excess money directly to the tax payers in the form of rebate checks.  He "Shocked the World!" by winning the election, and proceeded to live up to his promise (imagine that!).  Those were fat and happy days in the land of sky blue water.  Fast forward 10 years, where you find woe and misery descended upon the land, and a new leader, one in Washington, writing checks our asses can't cash...

...who needs enemies?

Stunning new revelations detailed in today's LA Times reveal what a lot of us have been screaming from the mountain tops for a long, long time:

WASHINGTON -- Saudi Arabia remains the world's leading source of money for Al Qaeda and other extremist networks and has failed to take key steps requested by U.S. officials to stem the flow, the Bush administration's top financial counter-terrorism official said Tuesday.

Stuart A. Levey, a Treasury undersecretary, told a Senate committee that the Saudi government had not taken important steps to go after those who finance terrorist organizations or to prevent wealthy donors from bankrolling extremism through charitable contributions, sometimes unwittingly.

"Saudi Arabia today remains the location where more money is going to terrorism, to Sunni terror groups and to the Taliban than any other place in the world," Levey said under questioning.

Or: The John Edwards Supporters Not-So-Anonymous Rally Redoubt

My name is Ken, and I am a John Edwards supporter.  No, make that believer.  It has been 3 days since I voted for John Edwards in the Minnesota Caucus Presidential Preference vote.  So for my precinct that made me, my 19-year old son, and one other guy, God bless his soul.  I have been told by many that it was a wasted vote, mainly by Obama supporters (for which I forgive them and chalk it up to passion).  I’m not sure why.  Perhaps they think so poorly of their chosen candidate’s chances that they feel I could have "thrown" the election to Hillary Clinton.  (Obama easily won Minnesota, by the way!)  Shit, it’s not like George W. Bush could have won because of my vote.  But "Whatevah!".  That was yesterday, this is today.  I come before you today for another purpose.  Leap with me...

I finally received a response to my tersely worded letter (a little trick I picked up from Harry Reid!), asking my senator, Norm Coleman, to condemn Rush Limbaugh for his "phoney soldiers" comment, in the same way he condemned the MoveOn.org ad.  More Norm Coleman after the jump into hyperspace...  Now, Chewie!

Yesterday I wrote a diary about one of those stupid wingnut e-mails we all receive from a well-meaning friend, family member or coworker, and my response to said e-mail.  In the comments section, I revealed that the e-mail was forwarded to me by my brother, whom I love dearly.  He was merely forwarding it on from a friend of his in order to get a rise out of me.  He thinks that's funny, and I, being very secure in my political convictions, and having one hell of a sense of humor, agree that that is funny.  His friend, on the other hand, seems to be a little unhinged.  I will pray for his eternal soul tonight, even though I am not a religious man, and, like Mother Theresa, doubt the existence of a god, at least the one portrayed by the world's dominant religions.  But I digress.  Follow me over the fold into Right Wing Madness...

I'm sure something like this must have been done before.  And we all get this garbage from some well-meaning "conservative" friend or relative.  My first reaction was to say, "Blah, blah, blah!" and then hit the delete key.  But then I thought about it for a minute, pulled it out of the virtual trash, reread it, and then decide to take out my frustrations on somebody I love and care about.  (Then I wrote this.)  Follow my spittle sputtering stupification over the fold...

Phil Krinkie, the esteemed head of the Taxpayer's League of Minnesota, has issued a statement concerning the I-35W bridge collapse.  I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or break stuff.  More on the other side of the bridge...

In the aftermath of tragedy, the second thing to do, after dealing with the initial shock and horror, is to assign blame.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, if the exercise leads to improvement in the way things are done.  Many of us were quick to point out his or her belief that "Conservative" government is designed to fail, and that enormous budget deficits caused by perpetual war are designed to "starve the beast", so that eventually the Cons can shrink government to the point where they can, in the infamously despicable words of Grover Norquist, "...drown [Government] in a bathtub."  We also pointed out the obvious:  There were warnings, yet the warnings went unheeded.  For those of you who don't know much about Minnesota politics, let me just tell you that it has been weird the last few years, much more than the good old days of having to fend off the whole "Governor Goofy" thing.  However, fate, karma, or whatever has a way of popping up when you least expect it.  Yes, on the day the bridge collapsed, a press release was issued BRAGGING about how stopping funding for road and bridge repair was a good thing for Minnesota.  More on the other side of the failed bridge...

Teamsters Joint Council 32 and Teamsters Local 120 PAC endorsed AL Franken's bid for the US Senate in Minnesota today.

In a Homepage linked story, CNN exposes Fred Thompson's Washington D.C. insider status:

Fred the Insider

Republican Fred Thompson, who likes to cast himself in the role of Washington outsider, has a long history as a political insider who earned more than $1 million lobbying the federal government.

Well, it's about damn time...

I can’t wait to vote for Ralph Nader, because 8 years of an ego-maniacal nitwit in the White House is just not long enough!  More insanity below the fold...

Air America has fired Mike Malloy.  Mike was the one that really got me fired up during those late-night bouts of insomnia, so much so that I actually looked forward to not sleeping.  Elwin Niwle has created a petition page asking Air America to reinstate Mike:

http://www.petitiononline.com/...