With all the fur flying about race and racism, I am curious about a phenomenon I have experienced several times in my life--sounding "white" on the phone. On the flip

It is freezing in the Old Line State (Maryland) today. It's 20 degrees and yes, maybe that makes us a bunch of wussies compared to Chi-town, but man it's cold. Went early to my polling place. An older gentleman greeted spouse and I with an Obama handout; no one else in sight. Inside were maybe 20 voters. But surprizingly to me, they were 2:1 what I would call black blue collar workers. Our precinct is mixed middle class and section 8. The poll workers, judges were mixed too: older white women, younger black women. As I surveyed the elementary school gym, it hit me..

This is a short diary. As I predicted, Time, along with the rest of MSM, was not going to give Al Gore his due. No Person of the Year. Instead it goes to Bush's soul mate, Vladimir Putin. Why you ask?

If anyone has diaried this already, my apologies. Today in Dan Froomkin's column, Henry Waxman has been talking to Patrick Fitzgerald throughout the summer. Working with Fitzgerald's staff, a list of documents pertaining to Scooter Libby was drawn up. This list was felt to be reasonable as it did not involve Grand Jury secrecy rules nor was there any apparent claim of Executive privilege. Of course, BushCo has been blocking the release of these documents and it looks like Mukasey is going to have to decide if he is going to independent or continue as Bush's new sock puppet. Worse..

Well, I guess the uberpatriotic nutosphere is at it again. They have foolishly tried to claim that Senator Obama attended a radical madrassa (as a child). Who could forget the Jeff Greenfeld sendup of the satorial similarities between Obama and the Iranian president. Now it's the flag pin controversy.

Incredible isn't it? How the MSM are swallowing hook, line and sinker, Rove's meme of departing "on his own terms". Pulleeze! Any other WH official who announced his resignation in three weeks would have reporters scrambling. He's leaving to spend more time wth his family. Yeah, right, I can see Rove partying with his son at the Gamma Rho House or whatever. So if you, like me, don't buy Rove's fairy tale, follow me after the jump.

The recent "slumber party" at the Senate has lost all meaning for most Americans, I believe. Once again, the Democrats did not lay down a foundation upon which the debate could be built upon to highlight what was supposed to be a pivotal vote. This is critically important in an environment where the media is both lazy and all too willing to adopt the Republican spin as fact. Instead of Americans tuning in to see what their Senator had to say, most assumed it was going to be a snoozefest--literally and figuratively. Today, the papers and networks are full of the words "failure" and "falls short", making the Senate Dems look weak and pathetic. What I want is for Harry Reid or Dick Durbin or Jim Webb to make this speech: Not one drop more!

Today we will learn whether I. Lewis Libby, convicted felon, will serve jail time immediately. In the past week, we've all heard from Libby apologists why he should not serve jail time: record of public service, financial hardship on his family, no real crime committed, an out of control prosecutor. They even thrown in Sandy Berger's sentence as a red herring to decry how unfair it would be to send Libby to jail. The unspoken part in much of this is that an "innocent" man is being sent to jail (i.e., he's taking one for the Cheney-ster)
Who knew that Scooter's ethos had more in common with da hood and Lil Kim than Harvard Law. <More on the jump</p>

Today is Mardi Gras and for Plame-ologists, its turning out to be Fat Fizzle. More at the jump..

This week, the jury in the Scooter Libby trial will receive their instructions and deliberate. Unfortunately, for those of us who have followed this case closely, the Libby trial has been an anti-climax. No Fitzmas or St. Fitz's day. All we are left with is Fat Fizzle.

Nino is at it again. I suppose he and apparently several other justices are tired of being pummeled about Bush v Gore. Nino says that those like myself need to get over the decision. Claiming that SCOTUS was "forced" to accept Bush's appeal, former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor now cites some studies that Bush would have prevailed if the recount had been limited.

To what must be our collective embarrassment, we Americans have allowed the rule of law slide slowly into a swampy morass for the illusion of security. It is hard to imagine that over eight years ago, when President Clinton made some modest proposals to combat terrorism, the same opposition would become pliant and supine (even contortionist) to slake the powerlust of a messianic executive. Somehow, we have been convinced to relinquish our "constitutional" rights as easily as we empty our pockets at an airport checkpoint. Without an iota of real proof of keeping America safe (aside from 'we haven't been attacked') the Administration has been trimming our civil liberties. I, as a citizen, am unsure what rights we do have.

Some felt I should write a diary on it, so I am on the fly.

Those of you with severe reactions to Christianity or religion probably should stop here. Otherwise, more on the jump....