[Paraphrasing while I'm watching Countdown with KO], I was astonished to see Rep. Harman (D, CA) say Senator Mitch McConnell's [R, KY] heart is in the right place because he is knowledgable on intelligence.

When asked about the August vote, she said that there was intelligence circulating but that upon her checking, the intelligence community didn't find the source credible.

After the Pentagon came out denying that they were giving any consideration to reinstituting the draft, in opposition to Lieutenant General Douglas Lute's statement Friday, the draft continues in the news cycle.

Two Iraqi War veterans, John Bruhns and Pinelli were on Hardball with Chris Matthews and I found the exchange very interesting for a couple of reasons. Already diaried by LivesInAShoe Draft Debate on HairBall I would like to add a bit more from what both guests espoused.

Pinelli was in support of the draft; Bruhns spoke against.

First of all, I made a poor decision which resulted in me not being able to go to Yearly Kos so I'm pissed. Secondly, this O'Reilly bullshit has me doubly pissed. We oughta open up both barrels and let 'em have it. [Note: When I say both barrels, it is simply an expression. I am not advocating shooting him in the face Cheney style. Please, Homeland Security. Don't come fuck with me. I'm just an insignificant peon at the premier left wing hate site at my mom's house, in the basement, in my pajamas, et cetera, et cetera.]

So I get up EVERY morning, and I get on DK. I pray before, drink a little water, sometimes get my coffee and sit in this metal chair (my wife has plush, adjustable chair, that I bought, with the netting in the back and the cushions.)

Jump with my ranting ass.

On the op/ed page in today's Tennessean, a soldier opines on the bleakness of the Iraq war, that the president ignored the military reality of Iraq.

I can almost hear the sadness in the voice of Iraq War veteran Mike Krause as another day passes, more of his brothers are maimed and killed, Republicans repeat talking points and the key players prepare for August vacation.

As I sit at this computer, watching a summer day fall on Middle Tennessee, it is hard to comprehend the fact that four years ago today, I was at war.

Four years ago, I was north of Baghdad, enduring the stifling Iraqi summer and daily mortar attacks. Now I sit in suburban traffic and help my wife pick out colors for our guest bedroom.

It could be that I haven't slept a lot and that usually makes my body temperature seem a degree or two warmer. It could be that I have been away from home since October of last year working on a project but since I ain't in Iraq, I will STFU on that one. However, I believe that it is a disconnect from what I see/believe and what those who "represent me" are saying.

From the front page Politics of Fear Part III via LATimes:

If the politics of the war do not change, Republicans fear ...

I know the answer. Republicans fear that more American lives will be lost? Annnhhhh. Wrong answer.

Republicans fear that a concerted effort will not be made on behalf of Congress and the President to rally the Iraqi governmental factions toward unity, governance and decrease in violence? Annnnnnh. Wrong answer. Death of more Iraqi children? Not even close.

A June 24 AP article "Decline for military in black recruits" cited "other job prospects are soaring" and "relatives of potential recruits increasingly are discouraging them from joining" as the top two reasons for the decline by more than one-third of enlisting black recruits.

"The global war on terror has taken its toll, no question," said Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon's director of accession policy, in an Associated Press interview.

The soaring of job prospects, discouraging relatives and the toll from the global war on terror, completely and totally miss the point and is typical in America's continuing cosmetic discussion of African Americans.

I have been in Nashville, off and on, for the past eight months working with my mother on a historical project.  My mother is a history professor at the university from which I graduated. This summer, instead of teaching, she has been working on a couple of projects and doing a bit of traveling with my father.

While driving to various places, she often finds local bookstores and looks for books on the Civil Rights Era; she especially enjoys audio books so that she and my father can just listen to books as they travel.

My mother is working her way toward being comfortable with computers and the Internet.  She told her department head that if he wants her to know anything that is e-mail only, he had better knock on her door and tell her in person or send the secretary with a message or else she will not know what the occasion is or when to arrive.  In that she has been at the university thirty years longer than he has, unfortunately he acquiesces.

(jump)

I met a guy a few years ago when I moved to Orlando and we hit it off perfectly. He is carefree; I am carefree. We had great conversations and just always had a good time.

He plays guitar in a band and I would come out to see him around the city. We have a great group of friends, all from the service industry in all of the restaurants, hotels and individuals that work at the airport.

One night, he confessed something to me, something he felt he couldn't have told me before that night. In all of the weeks and months, nights at bars and Orlando Magic games. In all that time, he kept hidden a secret, that this particular night, tugged on his soul to reveal.

[Drumrolll and prepare your gasps] He told me he was a Republican. Last night, he text me with the latest revelation.

[below the fold]

The American people are continually bombarded with the Republican talking points concerning timetables in the upcoming war spending bill. Our prestigious president and vice president spent the morning hurling insult after insult coupled with their mantra du jour semaine mois annee since this ill-conceived escalation/attempt to save face.

Vice President Dick Cheney accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday of pursuing a defeatest strategy in Iraq to win votes in the next election.

"I'm disappointed that the Democratic leadership has chosen this course," Bush said.
[snip]
"To accept the bill proposed by the Democratic leadership would be to accept a policy that directly contradicts the judgment of our military commanders."

However, the Constitution does not ask Congress to regard military commanders. It does ask something else of them.

Below.

The most ridiculous, hyperbolic, overblown, I know what you're thinking, psychic ball crap of the year has been uttered today concerning the excitement of the Dems and the Democratic candidates over the firing of the U.S. Attorneys and resulting scandal.  

The Bush administration has so altered the political paradigm that every Democrat is a stereotypical opportunist who is at home right now laughing haughtily, drinking brandy and slapping themselves on the back at the mess in which the Bush adminstration finds themselves.

Newsflash. The American people put the Dems in power because they were tired of a number of things with Iraq topping a laundry list of everything from scandal after scandal to no oversight, no checks and balances, cronyism, incompetence, neglect, failure, indifference, mismanagement and corruption.

More after the fold.

African American conservatives have and continue to be ineffective in reaching the African American electorate for a number of reasons. Foremost, they can be found extoling ideas within the conservative canon concerning personal responsibility, a color blind society and equal opportunity with no regard for the actual realities of the landscape.

Some Black Conservative Talking Heads (BCTHs) such as  Armstrong Williams, Larry Elder or Ward Connerly speak with such disdain about a certain segment of the African American populace or the entire African American populace without reference to themselves, without identifying with being African American or doing so tangentially such that the African American electorate defensively, after consideration and even instinctively disregard their positions and dialogue.

Yesterday's Midday Open Thread "Bush is already unpopular in his future as ex-president" and Cheers and Jeers from last Thursday cheering an "escalation" to opposition by Southern Methodist University faculty are the tip of the iceberg for this story.

Opposition to Southern Methodist University accepting the proposal to be the site of the Bush Presidential Library grows but the differing factions have very different reasons for their opposition.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his final address on April 3, 1968 at a mass meeting at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple Church of God in Memphis, TN. If you haven't listened to it recently, give it a listen.

King, almost singing as he was drawing to a close said, "We've got some difficult days ahead." I can only imagine the difficulty of those days - the assassination of President Kennedy, the assassination of Malcolm X, the Civil Rights Movement with integration and finally the war in Vietnam.

And yet, King summated with saying, "I've been to the mountaintop."

A couple of calls at 3:30 AM but I already knew it was one of my two sisters and I already knew that my grandfather had passed.  Actually, my wife had fielded a call an hour earlier and allowed me to sleep because I am a terrible sleeper. Once I'm up, I rarely go back to sleep.

So I did my normal... I came in here and moved my mouse to come to Daily Kos and read the front page, the rec diaries and start down the list. I read the fp article "Sacrifice" and I started in my own brain with my "usual" left-wing, Hollywood, latte sipping anger when I realized something about myself... I don't know sacrifice.

This holiday season is a time of thanksgiving, reflection, forgiveness and rebirth. In that tradition, I would first like to sincerely apologize to everyone, on behalf of the president of the United States, for all of the unconscionable, criminal and catastrophic devastation that WE have brought upon the country of Iraq.

Secondly, I sincerely and humbly implore everyone, the global community, the factions within Iraq, the factions within the United States and the Almighty above to help us correct this grave and deteriorating catastrophe that we have caused in Iraq and the greater Middle East.

From AP:

The Congressional Black Caucus on Wednesday tapped Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick as its chairwoman for the next two years, when black lawmakers will wield more power in Congress than ever.

This "more power in Congress than ever" occurs at a critical time in the history of this nation and I pray and expect Rep. Kilpatrick to wield the leadership and direction worthy of this milestone. I pray and expect this with recent events firmly in mind.

More below.

Watching C-Span this morning, Irealize my skin ain't thick enough to handle the misinformation that pervades the positions of my fellow Americans. It's disheartening.

On the plus side, the review of the nation's newspapers and articles are a great marriage with my morning coffee. However, when the callers vehemently argue the myths that have been propogandized by the administration, op/ed contributors, pundits and others to justify their ideological march into the abyss, I am saddened to my core and feel a helplessness only barely counteracted by the activities, writings and spirit of this site

I read Digby at still dark this morning and Greenwald during the coffee hours as suggested by dmsilev. From Greenwald:

She's not even Speaker yet, and they've already pronounced her to be a bitchy, vindictive shrew incapable of leading because she's consumed by petty personal bickering...

I am an African American that has been prone to sensitivity when it comes to minority issues. Not necessarily a bad thing, it definitely makes me wary. I have dealt with the Senator Clinton thing, you know, her being female, for the last five years. A kid just asked me a couple of days ago would I vote for her and did I think she could really win. The question of course, has nothing to do with her governability but simply can a woman win.
With Rice, it was even worse. She was black and a woman and I didn't  like her. I don't like her because she parroted the president and answered questions with talking points and repetition as if she wasn't Phi Beta Kappa with a terminal degree in political science.