Dear Michael:
Every Democratic home has a special hero to thank today. In our home, that hero is you. My husband and I will be forever grateful for your tremendous effort on behalf of candidates who support embryonic stem cell research. The victory of the Missouri initiative is another step forward.

The Grace with which you conducted your campaign for science will never be forgotten. It is a lasting lesson of Dignity in the face of Adversity. Despite some ugly bullyism, you held your head and your tongue -- refusing to be cast aside. You have forced America to confront the effects of deteriorating or fatal illnesses. In so doing, you have enlightened all to the Beauty and Wonder of the Life Force.

The Washington Post is reporting that Dick Cheney is going hunting on again -- on Election Day. Watch out.

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney will spend Election Day on his first hunting trip since he accidentally shot a companion last February while aiming at a covey of quail on a private Texas ranch.
The vice president, after working at the White House on Monday morning, will head to South Dakota to spend several days at a private hunting lodge near Pierre. Lea Anne McBride, his press secretary, said it was an annual hunting outing and said Cheney spent Election Day in 2002 at the same lodge.

Since it appears the Republicans have no plan to stop with the Kerry distraction -- and the stupidity of it is dulling my senses -- I would like to take the opportunity to reintroduce the Democrats to their primary issue: the failure of the war in Iraq.

The apparent disregard for the valuable advice of his retired generals is not the least of Bush's galling traits. One of the generals -- Lt. Gen. William E. Odom (Retired) -- appears immune to White House spin. He has presented a plan for complete withdrawal from Iraq within six months. He boldly entitled his new opinion peice "How to cut and run". The piece was published yesterday in the LA Times, but I am linking to The Hudson Institute, where Gen. Odom is now a senior fellow. He is also currently a professor at Yale.

With the boss away and nothing to do while waiting for the Friday news dump, I thought I'd sift through over 1,300 Google offerings of the worldwide reaction to the latest Rush to judgement. It's sadistic to take such pleasure in all this hate, but I can't help myself.

The menu is delectable, and I thought you all might enjoy a sampling of Creamed Limbaugh.

When it comes to taking a chicken back to the henhouse for laying an egg, it's impossible to beat Molly Ivins, so why try? So she's the entree.

(Just desserts are below the fold.)

Is good journalism completely dead or merely underfunded?  Although James Ridgeway was fired from the Village Voice earlier this year after thirty years at the publication,  he has resurfaced at Mother Jones.  All is well.

In the current issue of Mother Jones, Ridgeway has graced his readers by presenting Sweet Subpoena: Nine Tough Questions for Congress. Keep reading  -- especially if you are a congressperson who expects to win this November. In fact, the questions Ridgeway raises are so succinctly stated, I suggest you print out the article and keep them in your pocket for talking points.

Like Barbara Bush, I have a Beautiful Mind. I simply dismiss the Limbaughs, Hannitys, and Coulters of the world on the theory that these gasbags foul the air within that beautiful space. But today Media Matters presents a portion of Rush Limbaugh's July 19 broadcast, which is causing deafening static to my Truth Radar.

Following Wednesday's veto of federal funding for stem cell research, I realize there are still far too many people who continue to suck up right-wing lies, inhale them and blow them out like secondhand smoke.

Grab a gas mask and read a transcript below the fold:

Like most Americans, I was losing my mind during Katrina Week, watching and waiting, desperate for help to arrive to bring water, food and shelter to the trapped and homeless people. By mid-week, prompted by news of plans to transport people from a dome in New Orleans to a dome in Houston as well as purchasing thousands of trailers, I wrote an e-mail suggestion to Michael Chertoff.

(Make my day and stay with me, okay?)

So I've been peeping over the fence this morning, and I see that Drudge is offering a link to Dick Morris's column in The Hill. Admittedly, I'm no great diarist, but since many seem focused on the Alito hearings, I thought I would offer this somewhere besides the Open Thread.

I smell Fear, and it's delicious. What do you think?

There she blows! The Associated Press is reporting that Hurricane Katrina is the top news story of 2005. For once, U.S. editors and news directors have made a decision with which I can concur. Katrina received 242 out of 288 votes.

The AP story (as reported by the Chicago Tribune) appears below the fold. Great news for the citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast -- wherever you are today. You have not been forgotten entirely by the mainstream media.

Happy Holidays! (Yes, Bill O'Reilly, I said HOLIDAYS.)

I have been thinking (yes, occasionally I do that) of an interesting Kossack Christmas project. Since this community is worldwide, I think regular readers must have interesting but untold stories to share. Since it's Christmas, I propose the stories should reflect Kindness. It is a virtue I think all Democrats share in principle.

Kindness not only begets more Kindness, but I think it tells much about the inner character and basic decency of people.

Since I can't decide which of two stories to share, I will tell two below the fold. One of the stories is about a nice communication my husband and I received from Patrick Fitzgerald. The other is about one of my favorite musical groups, the Dave Matthews Band.

So you thought the President's poll numbers were bad here? Take a look at poll of Arab nations being published today at Reuters http://www.alertnet.org/....

An October poll of six Arab nations indicates 78 percent of respondents thought "there was more terrorism because of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, with four out of five saying the war had brought less peace to the region."

How about we fire the Lincoln Group and end the contract for that faux news? Aside from the obvious lapse of journalistic ethics, we paid for brie and got Cheez Whiz.

More below

The world is growing stranger every day. Suddenly, heroes are villains, truthtellers are liars, and liars are, well, who knows? So I've taken to looking for information directly from sources I perceive to be reliable.

Today, I was reviewing the week's news. Watchful that news might easily be buried just before the holidays, I was scanning through GlobalSecurity.org information and linked up with a November 17 story from Radio Free Europe (http://www.rferl.org/...
). I quote:

• highfive's diary :: Permalink ::
• There's more... (2 comments)