One of the better things I did this year was join the National Lawyers Guild. Here is a good indication of what they are about. Where other groups are organizing a wasteful campaign to send shoes to the White House, NLG asks us to give our unneeded shoes to those who can appreciate them.

National Lawyers Guild Launches ‘Give Bush the Boot’ Shoe Drive in Support of Iraqi Reporter Muntazer Al-Zaidi

In light of the recent shoe-throwing incident in Baghdad, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) urges Americans to show their opposition to the policies of the Bush administration by donating pairs of shoes to their local homeless shelters and other organizations serving the needy. The gesture is also intended as a show of support for Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi who remains in detention, accused by the Iraqi government of a “barbaric act.” Al-Zaidi threw his shoes at George W. Bush during his recent surprise visit to Iraq. Al-Zaidi has been hailed as a hero in the Arab world as thousands marched today to demand his release. A spokesman for the prime minister said that al-Zaidi may be sent for trial on charges of insulting the Iraqi state.

In a news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad yesterday, Mr. al-Zaidi shouted “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog,” then flung one shoe at Bush — the worst insult in the Arab world — forcing him to duck. A second shoe flew over Bush’s head and hit the wall behind him.

“With that single brave act, Mr. al-Zaidi has inspired the Guild to transform one country’s negative symbol into a gesture of goodwill,” says Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director.

NLG President Marjorie Cohn says, “The support for al-Zaidi shown by many Iraqis demonstrates the depth of opposition to Bush’s war and occupation of Iraq. We call on all Americans to join in this campaign as we urge the Iraqi government to afford al-Zaidi his full due process rights.”

The shoe drive will run until January 19, 2009, President Bush’s last full day in office. The NLG asks you to visit http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/GiveBushtheBoot/ to show your support for this drive.

To find a Salvation Army by entering your zip code:
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf

To find a Goodwill location:
http://locator.goodwill.org/

To find locations of churches or other facilities that provide clothing free-of-charge to the needy, please call the NLG National Office at 212-679-5100.

Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest / human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.

The consensus bottom line: This is just the beginning.

Gloria A. Totten, Progressive Majority

The message couldn’t be clearer: voters wanted progressive change. They elected an outstanding progressive as the next president. They put Democrats solidly in control of the Congress. And, they elected 79 great Progressive Majority candidates to state and local office! More results will be coming in as the votes continue to be counted.

The state and local champions Progressive Majority helped elect yesterday will ring in a new era of leadership committed to our progressive values - and they will be a formidable ground force to enact the change we need.

Tim Carpenter and Laura Bonhan, Progressive Democrats of America

At least we know, for the first time in eight years, the person on whom so much planetary security depends has a solid intellect. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell called Obama, “a transformational figure.” We may need no less than that to address the challenges ahead. If tremendous damage has been done to America’s reputation, tremendous healing may come from having as president a man who extolled the need to engage even with one’s enemies, whose extraordinary, world-wide upbringing embodies the maxim think globally, act locally,” and will present a new face to a planet that has become wary of the nation which not long ago was its ideal.

PDA can have a huge role in what is to come. At this year’s annual PDA conference, we were particularly struck to hear John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation, describe Franklin Roosevelt’s less-than-progressive roots, and the degree to which FDR was swayed by the great Fiorello La Guardia and other progressives. This should give us plenty of hope about what is possible in moving an entire administration.

Ron Pollack, Stand Up For Health Care

For those of us fortunate to see, and participate in, this transformative election, our work must not only continue, it must start anew. This election is an opportunity – an opportunity to bring fairness and decency and dignity for those who have yet to share our nation’s bounty.

Our work is far from over.

It’s important we do everything we can to make sure the new Congress and President-elect Obama work together to make quality, affordable health care a reality for all Americans, as soon as possible.

Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund

Elections are about change and this election offers us the
greatest opportunity we have ever had to change course on global
warming.

We must do everything we can to pass climate legislation here at
home and to craft a global compact that unites the world against
the common enemy of rising temperatures, melting ice caps,
erratic weather and the spread of disease.

Here is our post-election campaign memo:
http://action.edf.org/ct/cpq4xAY1Em-Q/. It details the steps
our scientists, economists and policy experts are taking to
seize this historic opportunity.

Frances Beinecke, Natural Resources Defense Council

Hundreds of NRDC attorneys, scientists and policy experts have worked night and day for eight long years to stop the Bush-Cheney juggernaut from laying waste to our public lands, national forests, wildlife refuges and ocean ecosystems. Thanks to your phenomenal support, we have succeeded to an extent that few thought possible.

Barack Obama’s election is a huge win for everyone exhausted from playing defense. Count us among them. It rekindles our hope that environmental protection may be restored to its rightful place as a treasured American value.

On the most important issues of the day — from global warming controls to clean energy solutions to wilderness preservation — President-elect Obama campaigned on behalf of far-sighted policies that NRDC has championed for years.

But hope alone will not turn those promises into reality. It’s time to get to work.

Mary Beth Maxwell, American Rights at Work

One of the most remarkable stories of this campaign season is
how corporate-funded front groups tried - and failed - to use
the Employee Free Choice Act as a wedge issue.

They spent nearly $20 million dollars to smear candidates who
would defend the right to form a union, freely and fairly. And
in almost every race, those candidates beat the lies.

These anti-union groups thought they could scare Americans into
voting for candidates who would look out for CEOs while leaving
the middle class holding the bag. Even Wal-Mart thought it could
bully employees into voting against pro-worker candidates. You
proved them wrong.

Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org

Remember back in 2001 and 2002, when so many of you joined MoveOn? When President Bush had an 80% approval rating, when you held candles to stop a war the media was cheering on, when there were few politicians with the courage to stand up for the truth? Back then, a victory like this seemed impossible.

But yesterday you proved that nothing is impossible. If we stand up together and if we fight together and if we believe together, we can change the course of history.

Today, a new day has dawned in America.

Richard Cohen, Southern Poverty Law Center

Around the world, people everywhere are seeing a new face of America, one that is more tolerant and more just. This is a credit to the sacrifices and the determination of millions of people, like you, who have worked so hard to make equality in our country more than just a dream. As President-elect Obama said to his supporters last night, “This is your victory.”

This election, of course, can never erase the ugly stain of slavery and cannot reverse overnight its terrible, enduring legacy of poverty, discrimination and bigotry.

Nor does it mark the end of overt hate and racism. The campaign exposed deep hostility and even rage among some white Americans who cannot yet accept the idea of a black man as our nation’s leader. And many white supremacists believe this election will rally white people to their cause, especially when our economy is teetering on the edge of an abyss.

I hope and believe that they are wrong, that the growing number of Americans who cherish justice and tolerance will drown out the fear and bigotry that have held our country back for too long.

For now, let’s all celebrate the promise of a new era. Tomorrow, let’s get back to work to make that promise a reality.

Kevin Martin, Peace Action

This morning, I’m thinking about two things: the incredible historical achievement of this country electing an African-American president; and, what that means to people of all colors in this country. What an incredible moment - historically, socially and spiritually.

The other thought is more sobering - President-elect Obama is inheriting quite a terrible mess, on so many fronts, and his policies are frankly not so progressive on war and peace issues. However, at this defining moment we have an opening for positive change, after eight long years of Bush’s and Cheney’s all-out assault on world peace.

We in the peace movement, have steadfastly fought against the war in Iraq, successfully (so far) stopped an attack on Iran. We’ve prevented Bush from moving forward with his new nuclear weapons programs. Now, we have the opportunity for a more positive and proactive type of organizing for peace, social justice and disarmament.

Barack Obama’s message last night was that change is not something he will just deliver for his supporters in some consumerist fashion. He called on us to work harder for the changes we want to see in our country, saying “This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.” He said we have to keep organizing for change. I could not agree more and I intend to take up his challenge!

I know that among our more than 160,000 supporters across the country there is no consensus about Barack Obama. Some folks are passionate supporters, others are highly critical of his positions on various issues.

For me, the celebration today is not just about Obama’s victory or the repudiation of miserably failed Republican politics. The celebration is about the tens of millions of Americans who empowered themselves to take the country in a new, better direction.

Larry Cox, Amnesty International

We have a great opportunity. The world faces overwhelming human rights crises. But with your help, we can turn this country’s policies on human rights back in the direction of alleviating, and not contributing, to these crises.

President-elect Obama has promised to restore the rule of law, to repair America’s damaged perception in the world, to close Guantánamo, and to renounce torture.

These promises bring hope. In the coming days, we will need you to help make those promises a reality.

John Sweeney, AFL-CIO

Because of years of work by people of all ages, races, stations
and faiths hungry for change, the political pendulum is swinging
back toward sanity. It took the inspiration of a rare leader to
translate that hunger for change into an election the likes of
which we have not seen in our time.

Barack Obama brings new hope to America’s working families, and
our increased majority in the U.S. Senate means we can translate
that hope into reality. So thank you for your hard work in
educating and mobilizing voters. (Click here to read AFL-CIO
post-election commentary on our blog:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/DpqNgjS1VuYS/)

Last night was a time to rejoice, but now it is time to get back
to work fighting for working families.

Cecile Richard, Planned Parenthood:

I’ve been wondering what it would feel like to know that the president of the United States supports women — it’s been a while — and I must say, it feels amazing.

People around here are finally exhaling, after eight long years. Just think, the massive amount of time, energy, and resources that the Planned Parenthood community had to spend shielding women and teens from the harm caused by the Bush administration can now be directed to expanding women’s access to the reproductive health information and services they urgently need.

Not only that, we also defeated anti-choice ballot initiatives by decisive margins in California, Colorado and South Dakota.

Nancy Keenan, NARAL

Thanks to your hard work, Barack Obama is on his way to the White House! In the House of Representatives, the election of at least 16 new pro-choice members means we have more support to protect a woman’s right to choose. And we moved five Senate seats out of the anti-choice column, with four more still being counted. Check our website for a complete list of winning pro-choice candidates.

http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/R?i=UnHIZBYJ_btoJeVxyQoxzg..

South Dakotans - thanks in large part to the efforts of NARAL Pro-Choice South Dakota and its allies - rejected another attempt by the anti-choice movement to ban abortion by referendum in the state. With the help of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, voters in that state also rejected an anti-choice initiative. And while California’s anti-choice ballot measure is too close to call, the results are promising.

And the advocacy to our new president-elect begins.

Jerry Fowler, Save Darfur Coalition:

A champion for Darfur in the Senate has been elected as the next president of the United States.

President-elect Obama has been a consistent voice for Darfur. But now it is time for more than strong words—we need strong action to end the suffering.

Our voices together can compel the next president to act. …

Presidential leadership can end the genocide. Click here to send your postcard and Be a Voice for Darfur today.

I absolutely believe that thousands of voices, united as one, will compel President-elect Obama to act. That’s why we set a goal of 20,000 new voices by Election Day—and met it. And, that’s why we’re setting a new goal: 100,000 online postcards signed by Inauguration Day.

Nancy Duff Campbell and Marcia Greenberger, National Women’s Law Center

The nation has no time to spare in providing guaranteed, affordable health care for all, passing essential legislation that provides basic fairness in the workplace, like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and undoing some of the onerous restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health that were imposed by the Bush Administration.

A first order of business is to pass and implement an economic recovery plan that addresses the needs of women and their families, including by extending unemployment insurance benefits and by increasing nutrition, energy, housing, child care, and Head Start assistance. In addition, the plan should provide fiscal relief to the states to avert cuts in education, Medicaid, child support enforcement, and other critical services.

We’re eager to begin working with the Obama Administration and the new Congress to expand opportunities for women and their families. And NWLC has developed A Platform for Progress with concrete proposals to address the unmet needs of women and their families in the areas of education, employment, basic economic security, health, and legal rights: www.nwlc.org/platform

Colin Powell, former Sec. of State for George W. Bush, is scheduled to be the guest on Meet the Press this Sunday, and buzz is that he will announce his endorsement of Obama for president.

While this prospect is supposedly a good thing for us Obama supporters, in that it will sway a few people who still hold out some reservations about Obama in terms of the much over-hyped “foreign policy experience” thing, because they view Powell as an fine American warrior, and really, isn’t foreign policy all about war after all?

But for me, it just brings up a lot of anger and bad memories, and I was going to blog about how disappointing I find the idea that the media pundits and other lobotomized groups in American society will give Powell’s imprimatur any kind of validity.

But David Sirota has already made the case at Open Left:

Let’s just remember: Colin Powell is one of the major reasons we went to war in Iraq. In his 2003 United Nations speech, he perpetrated one of the biggest frauds in the history of international diplomacy - a fraud that, in terms of its blood-and-guts ramifications, dwarfs major scandals like Watergate.

The idea that being endorsed by someone like that is a good thing - well, that logic may fly in the television studios of New York and D.C., but it shouldn’t fly anywhere else. A person whose most important legacy is destroying America’s international credibility shouldn’t be seen as a Serious or Respectable person, nor an asset to any campaign, no matter how many apologists - liberal or conservative - claim that “behind the scenes” Powell was really a good guy. He wasn’t a good guy - he was one of the handful of people who quite literally lied us into a war. That the elite media imparts even an ounce of credibility to this dishonest yes-man is not a commentary on Powell’s alleged positive attributes. It is a reflection of the elite media’s deep disdain for the facts and truth it purports to respect.

Of course, Tom Brokow, or whoever the MTP host is this weekend, will treat Powell and his (expected) pronouncement with great reverence and respect. A member of a true oppositional press would instead ask: “Well you squandered your reputation being a good soldier for George Bush; why should anyone follow your advice now?”

So, welcome to the reality-based community, Gen. Powell, and if an 11th hour nod to Obama gets him closer to landslide territory, and Sarah Palin sent to permanent exile in Wasilla, thanks a lot. But please don’t think this in any way cleanses your soul. You’re still a war criminal.

Good news — the Bush Legacy Tour is coming to our community!

Stop by the bus to see a traveling museum dedicated to President Bush’s failed conservative policies — and to show your support for Americans United for Change.

Wednesday, October 15th
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Oklahoma State Capitol
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
South End of South Parking Lot
Oklahoma City, OK

About the Bush Legacy Tour

Today, George W. Bush has the approval of only roughly one in three Americans according to most polls with two out of three disapproving of his performance as President. Across the board, Americans reject everything from Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq and fighting terrorism to his handling of the economy, education, the environment and health care.

Americans United for Change, along with a number of allies, is launching the “Bush Legacy Project.” The project’s goal is three-fold:

• Continually remind American voters why they have lost faith in President Bush and his agenda.
• To tie Bush and his agenda directly to the conservative brand and its followers.
• To highlight how Bush’s conservative economic, social and foreign policy agenda has failed — to shift the center of the political debate away from the conservative frame by demonstrating the failure of Bush’s policies.

The Bush Legacy Project, therefore, will be a critical element in the ongoing effort to redefine American political values and to create an enduring progressive majority in America.

About Americans United for Change

Americans United For Change is a powerful movement bringing together independent voices for new policy priorities and real leadership - to focus our elected officials on the issues that really matter to the lives of everyday Americans and get America moving in the right direction again.

Americans United For Change is building on a foundation of success laid over the past two years. In 2005, Americans United For Change was founded to fend off President Bush’s top policy priority at the time: privatizing Social Security. Americans United For Change beat back President Bush, his allies in Congress and the special interests who sought to break the solemn promise America made to its senior citizens by dismantling Social Security with an expensive and risky privatization scheme. In 2006, Americans United For Change broadened its scope to build broad public and congressional support for action on a wide range of long-stalled policy issues.

I’m breaking one of my cardinal rules and pasting in a post from another site in toto. It’s a powerful rant by Greg Palast, provoked by the recent fires in California, and the government’s response to them. I have a feeling he won’t mind. ‘Course, I’m not alone, soonerthought did the same thing, which is where I found it.

Anyway, there’s no excuse now not to read the whole thing!

BURN BABY BURN
The California Celebrity Fires

Published October 26th, 2007 in Articles

The ‘Boo ain’t no N.O.
Plus: George Bush, Flame Retard
By Greg Palast

What color is your disaster? It makes a difference. A life and death difference.

Dig:

Population of San Diego fire evacuation zone: 500,000
Population of the New Orleans flood evacuation zone: 500,000

White folk as a % of evacuees, San Diego: 66%
Black folk as % of evacuees, New Orleans: 67%

Size counts, too. Size of your wallet, that is:

Evacuees in San Diego, in poverty: 9%
Evacuees in New Orleans, in poverty: 27%

The numbers would be even uglier, though more revealing, if I included evacuees of the celebrity fire in Malibu.

The President didn’t do a photo-strafing of the scene from 1700 feet this time. Instead, we have the photo op of George, feet on the ground, hanging with Arnold the Action Man. (However, I’m informed that the President was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get to wear one of those neat fireman hats like Rudi G got at Ground Zero.)

In 2005, while the bodies were still being fished out of flooded homes in New Orleans, Republican Congressman Richard Baker praised The Lord for his mercy. “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did,” he said about the removal of the poor from the project near the French Quarter much coveted by speculators.

But as this week’s flames spread, no Republican Congressman cried, “Burn baby burn!” to praise the Lord for cleaning up them ‘Boo, the sin-and-surf playground of Hollywood luvvies.

In New Orleans, God’s covenant with real estate developers has been very profitable. Over 70,000 families
remain, two years after the waters receded, in mobile home concentration centers far away from the N.O. re-building boom. Let’s see how long it takes to get Tom Hanks back on his beach towel.

Standing next to Governor Schwarzenegger, a smug little Bush said, “It makes a big difference when you have someone in the statehouse willing to take the lead” – a snide attack on the former Democratic Governor of Louisiana on whom the White House successfully dumped the blame for the horror show in New Orleans.

Mr. Bush never mentioned – and the media would never give away his secret – that 15 hours before the levees broke, the White House and FEMA knew the flood barriers were cracking, yet failed to inform the Governor and state police. Nor did Mr. Bush mention that his Department of Homeland Security’s FEMA trolls took away evacuation planning from the state and gave it to a crew of crony contractors who, for a million bucks, came up with a plan that came down to, “If a hurricane comes, get in your car and drive like hell.”

In California, plans were in place, money poured down with the flame retardant, and no one is suggesting that Mel Gibson move his swastika collection to a FEMA trailer.

Not comparable, the ‘Boo and the N.O.? You can say that again. But as a kid who grew up in the ass end of Los Angeles, I can tell you that disaster apartheid applies on the local scale as well. Look at the tarry filth of Compton and Long Beach shores versus the panicked reaction when a bit of garbage or oil sheen hits Malibu sands. (I remember, standing on the crude-covered shore of an Alaska Native village in March, 1991, the day Exxon announced it would end the clean-up from the Exxon Valdez spill. That day, the papers showed the careful scouring that week of every pebble on Malibu beaches hit by dinky spill incident.)

Please don’t get the idea I’m slap-happy about the California inferno. My parents live in San Diego - and one of my favorite Air America hosts had to evacuate from her Del Mar hot tub, poor dear. (I’ve heard, however, that billionaires well done taste just like chicken.)

What I’m saying is: Besides the flames, there’s a class war raging in America. Or, should I say, Class Massacre. Because only one side is taking all the bullets. Malibu, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica are “incorporated communities” – islands of privilege politically fenced off from the riff-raff sea of Los Angeles. These self-incorporated Bantustans of the wealthy have their own fire departments and schools. The money islands are relieved of having to pay for the schools and hospitals of the city where their gardeners live. (I can’t tell which is the worst disaster that can befall an Angelino – a fire, an earthquake or the LA public school system.)

Now, it’s easy to say it’s just George Bush who’s the class clown of the class war. But it’s an old story. When a flood took out the tony homes at Westhampton Dunes, the Clinton Administration picked up the full tab for rebuilding these summer hideaways of the investment bankers. While today, death-by-poison stalks the environment of Black townships of Louisiana (the FEMA ‘guests’ are parked in a zone called Cancer Ally), Al Gore can’t be found. But when speaking of rising sea levels that can take out the homes of his buddies in ‘Boo or the Hamptons, Gore goes ga-ga.

The one thing I’ll say in favor of that vile little Louisiana Republican cheering the drowning of public housing residents, at least he’s honest about how the system works. He’s not afraid to remind us of the gods’-honest truth: disaster response is class war by other means.

So let me not forget to report the war’s body count:

New Orleans flood deaths: 1,577.
California celebrity fire deaths: 11 (at time of posting)

There’s nothing like a bad metaphor to really sow misunderstanding and mayhem. When the thing being described is as serious and complicated as the threat from stateless terrorists, the consequences of a bad metaphor have corrupted our public discourse and foreign relations, decimated our Constitution and military infrastructure, and made us all less safe from all kinds of threats, internal AND external.

“What War on Terror?” asks Larry Johnson, who has worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, thus has a rather more “serious” perspective than the pants-wetting warmongers on the teevee and tubes:

The threat of terrorism, particularly for the U.S. military, has become a raison d’etre in the same way that the Soviet Union fueled budgets and weapons systems during the cold war. But with this critical difference–the Soviets actually had a five million man Army, thousands of ships, intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear subs, and a genuine first strike capability. All of the terrorist groups in the world, even if they combined their forces, do not begin to approach the scale and scope of threats the west faced during the Cold War.

At some point we need to recover common sense in dealing with terrorism. The threat is genuine but not ubiquitous. No terrorist organization in the world has demonstrated the ability to project and conduct sustained operations outside of their geographic support base. This means that coordinated, sustained pressure to disrupt financing, training, and recruitment will pay significant dividends in reducing the scale and scope of terrorist activity.

Bottom line:

When the history of the Bush Administration’s “war” on terrorism is written, two critical shortcomings will emerge–the failure to sustain operations in Afghanistan and completely dismantle Al Qaeda and the failure to create a coordinated counter terrorism strategy that employed the vast resources of the Federal Government. The Bush Administration has talked a good game but, in terms of execution, it has fumbled the ball.

an honest diplomatic response to Bush’s phony “climate summit”:

A senior European diplomat attending the conference, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meeting confirmed European suspicions that it had been intended by Mr Bush as a spoiler for a major UN conference on climate change in Bali in December.

“It was a total charade and has been exposed as a charade,” the diplomat said. “I have never heard a more humiliating speech by a major leader. He [Mr Bush] was trying to present himself as a leader while showing no sign of leadership. It was a total failure.”

More juicy — unsourced – feedback printed in the foreign press. Here, more ass kissing for George! Gotta love that liberal media!

Digby noted on Friday (during my news blackout while attending the annual Greens meeting) that not one Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee showed up for the hearing to review the confirmation of Karen Hughes to handle public relations for the State Department.

As usual, the Democrats have their heads up their asses at exactly the wrong moment, and miss a golden opportunity to actually communicate something substantial to the American public.

The absence of the Democrats is even more glaring considering just today the New York Times reported that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald called Karen Hughes before the grand jury to testify as to her involvement in the leak-case. Of course, this begs the obvious question: Karen Hughes, did you have a role in leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent?

And, also as usual, the online/grassroots are doing all the heavy lifting. I am continually amazed at how much frustration, neglect and abuse progressive Democrats can take.

Think Progress has a list of questions the Democrats might have asked if they could have gotten it up to attend the meeting. I assume they were too busy with their preparations to lionize John Roberts and didn’t have the time.

Digby, despite his (?) great insight and wicked-good rants, is one of those ever-faithful-against-all-reason Democrats. I just don’t know what it will take for those folks to see the light.

As for Paul S. Sarbanes (MD), Christopher J. Dodd (CT), John F. Kerry (MA), Russell D. Feingold (WI), Barbara Boxer (CA), Bill Nelson (FL), and Barack Obama (IL), I hope they enjoyed their Friday afternoon.

By the way, did I mention that on Friday, I was in Tulsa at the Green Party annual meeting?

It’s pretty pathetic when former intel officers have to explain in detail to the world something as obvious as the fact that it’s a bad thing to expose the identity of a spy, but apparently that’s what it’s come to.

I never thought I’d be rooting for the CIA — see my earlier post on this as a reminder of just what the CIA is all about — but it the agency is half as pissed off at Bushco as I am, then I’d say the neocons may soon be begging Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald to lock them up for their own personal safety.