"On every issue, there are big differences but the biggest difference is the disregard for our constitutional democracy, the disdain for checks and balances, the denial of accountability that marks this president and vice president, and that's really our entire system being put at risk. Maybe we can dig ourselves out of the hole on fiscal responsibility, energy and health care before it's too late, but we cannot afford to have our Constitution shredded and our country's commitment to freedom basically thrown out after centuries of setting the standard by which others are judged.

There are a lot of people, not just Democrats, who know we have to change direction in our country. I have so many Republicans coming to my events [who] say things like 'I didn't sign up for all this,' and the 'this' would be a long list depending upon their particular concerns. They're coming, because frankly, they're patriots, and they don't want this administration to continue leading us down into a blind hole like they are, undermining our future, failing to invest to make us safer and stronger and richer and smarter, more competitive, fairer for the future," - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

This administration wants a fight; and we need to give it to them. They have bungled the war, trashed the constitution, wrecked the fiscal future, deeply damaged America's reputation, and profoundly corrupted conservatism as a coherent political philosophy. I don't care what we have to do to get rid of them, but we must by every peaceful, lawful means imaginable. They have gone too far. Vote them out.

That's a whole pile of powerful and very true words.

Nice article by Jim Fusilli

NEW YORK, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Bob Dylan's new album, Modern Times, has debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, making this the artist's first album to hit the top of that chart in 30 years. This 30-year span between #1 albums - Desire hit the top spot in 1976 -- is the longest of any living recording artist. Modern Times has sold more than 192,000 copies in the United States since its release, marking the biggest such sales period for a Bob Dylan album in the 15 year history of SoundScan.

Let's face it: The Murdochs and Disneys and Time Warners and GEs that own our media system much prefer a nation of mindless consumers and spectators over a nation of informed, active citizens. They like the fact that avid TV viewers know all the intimate details about the JonBenet or OJ murder cases - and almost nothing about how big corporations lobby against middle-class interests in Washington.

I just might grab his book. I'd love to understand how direct the 'conspiracy' is here or whether it's just a case of lazyness on both sides of the screen.

Bonus: Something that should be getting a little of JonBenet's screen time. Or maybe this. Or this.

Bonus 2: Comparison of Ramsey vs NSA ruling in terms of airtime at the networks.

There is something terribly sick within the Muslim mind at this moment in history. It is Nietzsche's ressentiment, but with God re-attached. We should indeed fear these people for the hideous carnage they can wreak for the sake of their God. But we should never let our fear overwhelm our contempt for them - their sickness, their evil, their petty insecurities, their inability to live meaningful lives and their attempt to assuage this by murdering others in God's name. Yes, they evil. But they are also pathetic, miserable excuses for human beings.

Bonus: Great post from Tom Evslin

Of course, the question of Why would be the first of many regarding MovableType. Why does spam support suck so badly? Why is customizing anything still so difficult? Why are there so few useful plug-ins and the ones that exist are so difficult to use? Why does the software seem to have not moved forward but an inch when blogging has moved ahead lightyears over the past two years.

Among new users Wordpress is eating their lunch, and existing users like me can only wait around until we have the time and energy to switch. What a wasted opportunity.

What is the argument against securing voting machines and enabling a paper trail? Is there no limit to how fucked up things can get in this country? And how is there room for Harry Potter but not this on the cover of CNN.com?

Via Engadget and Register

W. prides himself on his changelessness and regards his immutability as the surest sign of his virtue. Facing a map on fire, he sees any inkling of change as the slippery slope to failure.

"President Bush's penchant for writing exceptions to laws he has just signed violates the Constitution, an American Bar Association task force says in a report highly critical of the practice."

"This report raises serious concerns crucial to the survival of our democracy," said the ABA's president, Michael Greco. "If left unchecked, the president's practice does grave harm to the separation of powers doctrine, and the system of checks and balances that have sustained our democracy for more than two centuries."

(Bonus: Another song from the same show)


And then a documentary which demonstrates why Townes Van Zandt is considered the songwriters' songwriter:

Brian Ross delivers that same note to all of us.

If members of the press think, or know, that they're calls are being tracked and traced, recorded and analyzed, mightn't that reduce the free flow of information, just a bit?

Some people think so.