...the story of thousands of Personality Disorder Discharges from the U.S. armed services.

This is the institution I'm supposed to respect as such?

This is how the Bush Administration thanks those it chewed up and spat out in their miserable war of economic aggression? If these men aren't hauled before a court with the power to punish them, then justice will have lost the war and they'll be rounding us up for the camps.

...

I'm getting away, slightly, from my favored position that Hillary will eventually be a vice-presidential nominee on the McCain ticket (provided there is actually an election), to a more nuanced question with, perhaps, a stronger foundation in reality.

I wondered today what Hillary got in exchange for her decision to suspend her campaign, endorse Obama and so on.

I don't think she's going to be given the vice-presidential slot...I don't think she wants to be veep, I don't think anybody wants Bill creeping around the White House anymore and I don't think Obama should be made to accept that the first black nominee can't pick his own VP...here's what I think she will get...

I have come to this conclusion reluctantly, because I'd hate to see it actually happen.

It would be an indicator that the level of orchestration by the corporate establishment of America's electoral process has reached an all-time high in terms of cynicism.

Worse, it would probably work.

In a remarkable turn of events, Hillary Clinton late Sunday conceded the Democratic Party's nomination for the Presidency to upstart Senator Barack Obama.

"I decided that, for the good of the Party and given the fierce urgency of November, the only reasonable course of action is to abandon my failed bid for the nomination. I congratulate Mr. Obama on a hard-won victory and I pledge to work for his election this fall."

In a response issued by the Obama campaign, the first-term Senator from Illinois stated:

There is a unifying theme in broad circulation among those invested up to their necks in the social, political and economic status quo in this country.

It is the fundamental belief, acted upon or, as is more often the case, simply spouted without true personal conviction, that America is above question, above doubt and above pessimism.

Optimism is the key driving force of conservative America, and in the face of impending disaster, it has become clear that America -- the one from the stories of your childhood and from your civics textbooks -- is a colossal lie.

Earlier today, I heard one of our Senators, I think it was Inhofe, say that trying to pass legislation on the Iraq war that includes timelines is WRONG because it lets the Enemy know what we're going to do.

The alternative, of course, is never leaving. That is unless we can figure out a way to pull 160,000 servicemen and their infrastructure out of a desert WITHOUT letting the Enemy know what we're doing.

The right really has this thing triangulated. We can't legislate getting out because that telegraphs our intention to  the Enemy. We can't pull out suddenly because that is not practical from a military standpoint. Only choice is just to stay.

Has anyone in government thought this through to any sort of practical, logical conclusion?

T.

Football season is approaching quickly, and an appropriate analogy seemed apt to me this morning, the first day of respite from a long, heavy summer.

The Republicans just punted.

They're counting on their defense to hold and a chance to get their hands on the ball again for one last drive. You can't say much good about Bush, except that he's one stubborn son of a bitch who's willing to take the sack rather than throw the pick or drop the ball.

It's too early to go for it, because one slip or hesitation and the Dems get the ball at midfield.

This is the way to win the fight.

Make them filibuster. Make them stand up there and do it, instead of folding up shop when they threaten it. Nothing illustrates the attempted obstruction of the will of the people than Senators being carried into the chamber by the sergeant-at-arms.

I suspect it wouldn't take long to see who's most committed to his or her position on Iraq.

How much do the Republicans want to avoid losing a vote?

Let's find out. Every time.

T.

It seems to me that whatever details may emerge from all these hearings and investigations into the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush administration, there is one thing becoming painfully clear, but it requires a broader view than those who devote so much of their time to examining those details generally take.

This is not to say that the examination of those details is not key to unraveling the veil of secrecy and lies behind which the Bush administration operates, it is just to point out something that deserves to be recognized. And it is something that I think will actually be easier to impress upon the voting population next year than the detailed account will be...people's eyes glaze over and the fine print gets blurry, eventually...

I'm sure it doesn't really constitute news to very many people around here, but I've sort of drifted away from the news lately and have been absorbed in work and domestic endeavors, and on reading DKos for the last few days, a common source of problems seems to be becoming more clearly defined.

The other day, I read a diary about how CDC policy must pass through the office of "an additional bureaucratic layer that requires CDC foreign postings be approved by a senior political appointee's office in Washington."

Today, I read one that goes to the involvement of the White House or Monica Goodling in the US attorneys fiascos and it just seems to me that "White House involvement" == Karl Rove's Office, which seems to me more and more clearly to be a pretty effective filter through which passes all information the President gets.

If that's the case, and we've all long known it must be, what is different now that makes this more clearly evident?

Something high5 said in pontificator's "CIA Spokesman Confirms Plame was an Undercover Operative" diary comments got me thinking, and I thought it deserved higher visibility:

high5 wondered aloud whether this whole Plamegate thing could have been a sting operation set up by CIA and State:

The CIA and the INR 'conspiring' to bring down BushCo? They knew BushCo would go beserk and use whatever means to discredit Wilson, so they let him stage the operation by writing his oped, INR provided a memo on Plame as bait, Rove took the bait and leaked the info on Plame to Novak for him to write about it, and the rest follows along. What Rove didn't know was that Novak and INR and the CIA set him up. I'm dreaming...

Maybe not...

Reporters:  Liable.

P2P software makers:  Liable.

Cable ISPs:  Liable.

Before the General Assembly of South Carolina a few moments ago, Bush again described his trip to West Virginia to have a look at the "file cabinets" containing the IOUs backing up the Social Security obligations to future recipients.

"Not very encouraging," he said.  When will the SCLM point this out for what it is -- a violation of his Oath of Office?