The global economic system is not merely at the pop of a cyclical, natural bubble caused by overconfidence and greed, but transforming.  Ambition and greed, their present form known by "Anglo disease" as named by Jerome, has become so reckless that irreperable change is being wrought in a way that did not happen in 1999, or 1987.

While many of the points are not new, most Americans--and especially the "serious" boys and girls--remain fundamentally ignorant of what's going on.  

Behind the scenes, Senator Kennedy is preparing one of the cornerstone pieces of legislation for a new political age. I will be brief.

Amidst the haste, the fighting, the devastation, the chaos, it can outright medicinal to take in and digest a simple act of beauty. However flawed and human, however compromised. Last June, Senator Max Baucus, (D-MT) often not our favorite Dem, helped the Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land preserve a massive swath of western Montana!

This region holds perhaps the greatest store of ecologic riches in the Lower 48. -- Kat Imhoff, director for the Nature Conservancy in Montana

Pictures and details below the flap...

I will no longer be donating to Barack Obama for the forseeable future, though I'm one of his earliest and most vociferous, consistant supporters on Daily Kos. I'm plum broke, and I have neglected my other candidates in critical congressional races.

It's time to put my money where my mouth is. We've lifted Obama up, we need to give him a progressive majority.

Our history is not written in stone.  It is time to bring new history to Oklahoma.  Will you join me, below?

Laying all your eggs in one basket is poor planning whether the subject is finance, politics or in life in general.  The Obama campaign rejected such silliness when they released their 17 state roadmap, a list of swing states to expand the battlefield.  So why do we let the old swing state narratives from the media influence our discussion now?

Rather than take their dubious advice, I propose something very simple that we can do to reduce our risks for November below the fold...

Seeing as my first close friends at my Catholic elementary school were fellow brown kids of filipino descent, I have at least a rough understanding of some aspects of the Filipino-American experience, cuisine and culture.

Coupled with my overview working knowledge of the US's complicated relationship with the Philippines, I could only congratulate Preznit Shrub-Bush on his deft handling of a formal meeting (oh my gosh alert) with Preznit Arroyo.

Let's see the Preznit's fine work below...

Last November, Senator Joe Biden (DE) stated:

"The president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran, and if he does, as Foreign Relations Committee chairman, I will move to impeach

Considering that regardless of this statement Bush still seems obsessed with attacking Iran, it might be time we got some clarification from our other Dems on the Executive's rights and powers.

Cindy Lou Hensley McCain seems to be a complicated but self-assured person.  This national story should not even involve her but for the fact that a majority of polled Americans recently expressed that a candidate's spouse does matter in their voting.  But we are not, ultimately voting for Cindy or Michelle Obama, we are voting for their spouses. So their relevance is more in how their spouses connection to them than their personal stories.

Obama's so called "weakest" hand in this election is national security, and the core of that hand is US-Israeli foreign policy--policy in a turbulent, war-wracked, cruel Middle East..  He not only just shattered the lattest variation in a history of slur against Democrats' integrity in war--"soft on communism"/"socialist"/"terrorist __" blah blah--he also just forged his unity with Jews amidst roaring, spontaneous applause.

Conventional wisdom says that if the election is about foreign policy, it's McCain's. And if the economy is center-stage, in the bag for Obama.  More than ever, our nominee seems to be a more tactful, stronger warrior in the campaign battle than John McCain.

Welcome the political alignment.  Witness the tables being turned, and Republicans having to run from who they are.

Bad at the New Orleans rally when he suggested that we as a nation must become "energy independent".  Perhaps he might have realized that there would be some Texan oilmen and allies of Freeport in the audience.  There's something interesting about this booing though, something generally unexpected.

Please, do not injure the Democratic Party for a fight you cannot win.

You are still a powerful figure in the party... you are perilously undermining that.

Only a mind as balanced and penetrating as George Monbiot's could get to the heart of the matter when oil prices meet state policy. In the mess of connections between OPEC outpit, the statements of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the British, US and French governments, Monbiot organizes them all into coherence.

And we can realize the threat looking back in the mirror, the caution we should take at the sign of our own anger and fear.  It's not Arabs or OPEC to fear but our own irrationality.

Since 2006's Democratic pickup, our Democratic-led Congress is more conservative than the American public on a broad array of issues, making every progressive elected the possible weight that tips the scales on a Senate or House bill.

ith a 50/50 Senate and the possibilty of two of our new Democrats being Bush Dogs Bruce Lunsford and Ronnie Musgrove, where exactly do you think you're going to get your universal health care, a sane withdrawl from Iraq, an economic package capable of at least treating this global economic collapse like it really is?

The president doesn't do everything, in fact, the president's really a small part.  It's about the Congress stupid. And barring unforeseen catastrophe, you and I are going to get us at least six more Democrats--not including Blue Dogs--into the Senate this year.

While I'm watching MSNBC and all the other cliche primary night geekdom things, there's a significant, unrelated link for you to see.  An urgent matter, requiring forceful response from our election officials.

As exciting as tonight is, it's also a fairly forgone scenario: even if Obama tanked Clinton still was too far behind to get the nomination weeks ago.

What is not forgone is war with Iran.  But according to yet another highly credible source, Bush is already set and determined.

And if there's one thing we need to fear from this president, it's his intense, ego-driven determination when it involves life or death...

The same analyst for the company who predicted 100 dollar oil three years ago believes oil will hit the 200 mark within 24 months.  This is a financial goldmine for investors.  But it's also frightening in more ways than just the price of gasoline...

More below the fold:

In all honesty, voter concern for the economy drastically eclipses serious media time spent on stimulus, homeowner-targeted and "bailout" proposals, where it ranks about even with flag pins.  

Also, national security is a very broad problem only tentatively put into context by the likes of Brian Williams and Charles Gibson.   That said, the most probably scenario in which we face another immediate Middle Eastern war is if Israel or the United States initiate, not Iran.  While Bush may well try that, what we really should be highly concerned about is the fall out of the economy working together with a destabilizing East.  Specifically, there's the prospect of war breaking out in the Caucuses--hello? oil?--this very month, and we've heard minimal from the candidates

I never thought I, Mr. "Blind With Hillary Hate" (per  Alegre) would have to defend Hillary Clinton.  But sometimes opposition derails the political agent--you and I--as independent consumers of media.  So here we go.

Problem:

She has a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (32+ / 0-)
The only "reality" that is meaningful to her is one that can be construed to bathe her in the golden light she feels radiating around her.

The conversation then preceded to turn down the avenue of unfounded claims she is a sociopath.

As someone who was probably raised by a sociopath, let me tell you why this is not ok.

Hillary Clinton always seems to have a nebulously defined sense of the times.  

Unfortunately, her political intuition sort of resembles those possibly rabid miniature dogs that shut-in woman down the street keeps.  You know, the little dogs with the hand-crocheted sweaters and the ribbons on their ears that bite your pant leg and nip at your hand while their affable human gently reminds you that "they won't harm you!"  Clinton has about the emotional responsiveness of a... living being... as far as people noticing that their government is bought up and their tax dollars are going to a bunch of machismo dandies out of the liquor-soaked, cigar-perfumed parlors of the 1870s.  In the age when everyone deserves an award for doing anything decent, Team Clinton would have her heralded for visionary leadership when in fact she's pretty typical Washington stew.

Rather than ever confront these sources of frustration--bitterness?--and yes, malaise.  Hillary Clinton has learned to take emotional investment and divert it into a parallel political universe.  But can it work when you half-bribe people, half scare them on a vital subject: their energy expenses?

More yap below the flap...