To make a living people do many things God doesn't do.

I'm just going to do post covering all the stuff that's been on my mind and "clear the decks" in in a sense.

WEASELS - We were never going to win on FISA. If you think about it it's been Democrats that have allowed this to come close to passage each time until the netroots screamed bloody murder. I don't have a shadow of a doubt that party leaders decided after the last go round to spike it until the presidential primaries were over in order to give whomever our nominee was cover. Disgusting.

ET TU, BARACK? - A professor of constitutional law that doesn't understand the constitutionality of ex post facto law. It feels so great to see him trying to hide behind the skirts of the Dodd amendment to pull retroactive immunity. The chances of that passing are about as good as me flapping my wings and flying. Filibuster or die Mr. Obama.

DEVIL'S BARGAIN - With FISA in mind we get to vote for the President that will appall us regularly in the tradition of George W. Bush or the President that will disappoint us regularly in the tradition of Bill Clinton. Yay democracy!

THIS LITTLE PIGGY - Swinebread has outed himself as a looming papa. I know Mr. and Mrs. Swinebread in real life and I can tell you that little boy (they know) is going to have GREAT parents. Can't wait to meet the little bugger.

PALACE COUP AT FABER - Overdroid took advantage of the fact I was on vacation to utilize his long forgotten administrative rights to throw a wild Tom Tommorrow party at my blog. Lucky for me the damage was minimized when Overdroid got a spur of the moment job teaching improv to trial lawyers at Pepperdine at an event hosted by the infamous Ken Starr. I am not making that up.

LIKE A PACK OF WILD DINGOS - Ever watched one of those nature programs where a pack of dogs take down a gazelle? That's sort of what Franiam does with James Dobson. She doesn't even leave enough meat on the bones for the jackals.

SEVEN DIRTY WORDS - I have little to add to all the great eulogies of George Carlin but I admired the guy for the simple fact that he lived by nobodies rules but his own. He didn't broker bullshit and he didn't suffer fools. He'll be missed greatly.

TOLD YOU SO - Don Imus is a racist. Anybody with half a brain that listened to his show could tell you that. People with half a brain don't listen to his show so there you are.

IS HE PLUGGED IN? - I'm surprised John McCain is offering a prize for car battery. If anything I see him hoping they develop a better battery for pacemakers.

GOOD NORTHWEST POL - Oregon Representative Peter DeFazio has reintroduced his windfall profits tax on the oil industry bill. Among other things his bill would allow oil companies to avoid the tax if they spent some of any windfall profit on researching alternative energy sources or increasing refining capacity. It would also ban the export of any oil obtained on U.S. soil. Naturally the oil companies are against his bill.

BAD NORTHWEST POL - Washington state congressman Brian Baird who I listened to in an interview this morning. Among other acts of wankery he completely ignored a caller's point on FISA that the domestic spying had begun before 9/11 and argued that the surge was a success. Vancouver dems do us a favor and get rid of that asshole.

WORSTEST NORTHWEST POL- Senator Gordon Smith is a lying asshole. Smith says he's "one of the first to stand up to George Bush and other Republicans to end this war." Yeah, four years after the fact when he grew a spine. Shame on you Elizabeth Furse for going along with this crap.

I DID NOT KNOW THAT - Liberality hates flooding and rap music. If you rap about flooding she'll probably punch you in the face.

HELTER SKELTER- Joe the Troll wonders if Charles Manson associate Susan Adkins deserves freedom because she has six months to live. Only if she carves a little peace sign into her forehead.

COOL! - If I use a list of links to link to a dr. zaius list of links will it collapse the universe? I hope so.

I told you I had a lot on my mind.

If we can't win today, then none of us have a future.

Just to follow up on my last post.

A couple of weeks ago I listened to an interview with the contemptible Democratic congressman Brian Baird from Southern Washington and was struck by one theme running through his explanation towards supporting the war in Iraq- he knows better than us.

Baird was asked to explain his view of government in light of that; whether he thought it was the duty of congressmen to represent the views of the majority of their constituents or to try and make informed, reasonable decisions even if those decisions go against what the majority of voters want. Baird predictably stated that we are a "constitutional republic" and it was his job as a representative to vote his conscious; voters be damned.

Putting aside Baird's dubious understanding of his role as a legislator in the House of Representatives I still find his explanation more than a little pathetic. His argument might make sense if we were talking about how high to set the price of tariffs on beets imported from Canada as the average voter wouldn't have the time nor the inclination that a full-time legislator would have to sort through the information and come to a reasoned conclusion before voting.

But in the case of Iraq does Baird really believe that the voters aren't making informed judgements that we should get the hell out? Is he really saying that his few weeks on a Pentagon dog n'pony show touring the country trumps the views of thousands of military men and their families who are begging our government to end the war? Apparently so.

Hubris. Nothing less.

Today's vote on the Cornyn Amendment was more of that same thing. With both political parties failling to get the country to buy in to the whole Petraeus testimony act last week and it's importance towards changing the war or really, really turning a corner this time, the Democrats and Republicans decided to emphasize the point by giving the voters a middle-finger through this sense of the Senate resolution. They have nothing but contempt for us.

Here's the thing- in a democracy contempt doesn't get to work both ways, regardless of what congressmen think on the subject. If our leaders fail to make the changes on the important issues that the people want then we vote in new leaders. If -after voting in new leaders- they still fail to make changes- they wind up with their heads on pikes.

The political class is flirting with disaster if they believe the will of the majority of Americans doesn't matter. Many of us have already had enough where we won't participate in elections or provide monetary support to the parties we've previously supported. You can't keep poking that beehive before you get stung.

What would you do if some miracle happened and we could walk out of here tomorrow morning and start all over again clean?

From Wikipedia; the definitive source on everything-

"The bicameral Congress arose from the desire of the Founders to create a House "of the people" that would represent public opinion, balanced by a more deliberative Senate that would represent the governments of the individual states, and would be less susceptible to variations of mass sentiment. The House is often considered to be the "lower house," with the Senate as the "upper house," although the United States Constitution does not use such language. The Constitution provides that the approval of both houses is necessary for the passage of legislation. "

I was reminded of this when reflecting on Brian Baird's antics as of late. Baird got rightfully reamed in a town hall meeting last night for his recent 180 in support of the Bush administration's surge policy in Iraq after taking part in a dog n'pony visit to that country. His constituents, oddly enough, believe that he ought to follow their lead on this issue. I know it's a crazy idea, don't you think?

Look; I get the idea of representative democracy as opposed to straight democracy (i.e. "mob rule.") There are a whole ton of issues the details of which average citizens don't have the time to inform themselves on in the course of the busy daily lives. Citizens (myself included) can't make an informed judgement on what the optimum level for tariffs on Chinese sugar beets should be. That's why we elect and pay representatives.

But on the issue of Iraq there isn't a breathing American adult who doesn't have somewhat of an idea of what's going on there and, more importantly, what ought to be done in that country. Baird's contention that his opinion is somehow more "informed" because he spent some time with Bush's political cover-boy General Petraeus who he "trusts" doesn't exactly demonstrate good judgement on the congressman's part. Petraeus is not an honorable officer. Serving this administration in this war is proof enough of that.

Today I read in the Oregonian that we are to respect Baird as a political maverick. Idiocy, nor the willingess to let oneself be used as a tool by heartless assholes, does not make you a maverick. Baird is no profile in courage and the party needs to run someone against him NOW.

He has to go.

Are you mad, as well as stupid?

Unfortunately this 29% seems to have representation in about 50% of congress.

I listened to Washington congressman Brian Baird interviewed yesterday and was astounded at how utterly out of touch he was both in his assesment of the situation in Iraq and politics here it at home. He kept referring to discussions with the troops and how most of them want to "win." He dodged a direct question on the nature of the mission and the appropriateness of using soldiers to carry out vague, non-military mandates. He bobbed, weaved and floated like a butterfly and stung like a, well, butterfly.

Democrats in congress should be ashamed of themselves. They've gotten so used to acting reflexively against their base that they've taken up a position that puts them squarely on the wrong side of the majority of the country. They can try and hide behind mealy-mouthed nonsense about how this is the "first time congress has set a timetable for withdrawal" all they want. Nobody is buying it, least of all the people that helped put them in office in the first place.