I dunno. Navajo Blankets would stand out, too.

Unless–you *were* referring to blankets infected by smallpox, right?

“in the early ’70s kids (in S. Cal.) didn’t have many options for self-expression or shirking convention.”

Yep, Southern California was all about mom, pop, and apple pie in the early 70’s. LMAO

If Allen were in high school today, maybe he’d get a tattoo or wear a ring through his nose, but in the early ’70s kids didn’t have many options for self-expression or shirking convention.

Wait.. did she just write that? Dumbest statement of the week, easily.

Ha ha ha. You’re all a laugh riot…except that the US shot, today, a missile across the bow of its northern neighbour

I hope you all realise that Canada can develop “The Bomb” in about a week or so, and point it right at Washington.

Ha!

If Canadians had a bomb, it would be called “the Polite Bomb”.

People within the blast radius would automatically start picking up any litter in their paths and complimenting their neighbors on how nice their flowerboxes look.

Oh, I think in the late sixties and early seventies in california folks could find something to do.

When I got back to the world in ’70, california was a pretty weird place to be…

mikey

Jillian, it’s not a joke. The US Secretary of State has determined that Canada is a terrorist haven.

Canada has loads of fissionable material and an indigenous nuclear technology (the CANDU technology.)

No one here is laughing.

Canada, the ultimate sleeper terrorist nation.

No one here is laughing. All of us have no idea why the State Department decided to produce a report that accuses Canada of harbouring terrorists.

Because Operation: Canadian Bacon is go!

Oh, Jiminy whillikers.

My country gets stupider every day.

I’m sorry, dude. I just don’t know what to do about anything other than laugh anymore. I haven’t made a joke that was anything other than gallows humor in at least two years now.

I’m…..aw, shit. I’m speechless. I dunno what else to say. I really don’t know what to do, and unfortunately, if I did know what to do, it probably wouldn’t be a fit topic for conversation in public forums.

Just when you think they’ve established a floor for stupidity, someone has to go and stumble across the subbasement.

Holy shit, de mer. That is hilarious.

The fact that Canada was finally shamed – after one of their citizens was pulled out of line at JFK and sent to Saudi Arabia to be tortured for months, all with the full knowledge and implicit approval of Canadian officials (and maybe even at their prompting) – into maybe, you know, not dropping trou the exact second the US says “drop em” makes us a haven for terrorists?

Um, where were the 9/11 hijackers living prior to that day? Which govt sent them visa renewals months AFTER that day?

Wasn’t us.

Looks like they’re going to stop those over-the-border prescriptions once and for all. Gah!

Maybe winking at racism is a lot like winking at pedophilia .

I just don’t know what to do about anything other than laugh anymore.

..and pray you don’t live near the armed forces base at Plattsburg, New York.

I just heard that there was a huge mobilisation in Petawawa (the largest base where everyone pretends there aren’t nuclear weapons.)

You want war? You got war.

one of [Canada’s] citizens was pulled out of line at JFK and sent to Saudi Arabia to be tortured for months, all with the full knowledge and implicit approval of Canadian officials

More than one. I have a line of “trivia cards” (the plan is to get people to leave them lying around like chick tracts), one of which features that issue. You can see it here: card 12. They’re meant to be humourous, but I can’t tell anymore.

You know what? If the US touches so much as a hair on Canadia’s head, I’ll be first in line for Atheist Jihad. One copy of “Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric”, and enough property-damage equipment to make life very uncomfortable for a lot of people. I mean, Fuck, That. Arar was innocent, for Christ’s sake. What the fuck is wrong with these people? Those dickheads owe him, his wife, and his two kids an apology, and shitload of money … oh, don’t get me started, don’t fucking get me started. The US is out of control.

The US is out of control. Look at how the sane, liberal, majority Americans remark on this: “There’s nothing we can do!”

Pathetic.

For chrissakes, we’re now threatening Canada? CANADA?

Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, rendition, secret prisons, Jose Padilla, debates on the Senate floor over acceptable forms of torture, a possible pre-emptive nuclear strike on Iran, and now this?

It never ends with this Administration. It just fucking never ends.

My apologies also.

Oh, by the way. Sorry for letting you all know that your government is thinking of invading Canada. You all got quiet all of sudden, and I guess it was harshing your buzzes, which I totally understand.

After all, if SadNo, TBogg, World o Crap, and Jesus General think ongoing war and killing of foreigners, brown or ortherwise, is endless fodder for yuks, who am I to stand in their way?

When thousands of Canadians start dying, don’t sweat it.

sane, liberal, majority Americans remark on this: “There’s nothing we can do!”

Hence my desire for a photoshop of the collective left sodomising Haj Ali with the speech bubble “Yeah, yeah, another stupid open thread”. When all is said and done, the US will have a lot to answer for, but the most severe questions will be levelled at the American left. We expect the American right to be racists and torture apologists, much like we expect a dog to lick its own balls, but from the left?

For example, I know of two bloggers that are exclusively dedicated to the torture issue, and both are Australians. There’s also diplomat/poli/blogger, but he’s a Pom. Did the American left not give us the peace movement, beatniks, hippies, and all that revolutionary shit? People are being tortured to death, for fuck’s sake, why the isn’t every American city, town and village in flames?

think ongoing war and killing of foreigners, brown or ortherwise, is endless fodder for yuks

Nah, I don’t think it’s like that. I can only speak for myself, of course, but the fucking empty black void of meaningless violence and death gets to you after a while. Humour is, after all, an acknowledgment of the absurd, and nothing is more brutally absurd than torturing an innocent person until they admit that al Qaida is in cahoots with Iraq. That’s why I joke about it, but between you and me, Mal de mer, I’ve spent more nights than I can count chain smoking and drunk off my tits, weeping my fucking eyes out, because I now know what a person looks like after he was tortured to death with an electric drill. My partner thinks I’m going mad, but I reckon it’s the world that’s gone mad, and I’m the only sane one left. Humour is my last defence.

Hmmm…. a reading of the article you linked doesn’t seem to indicate anything that is necessarily untrue (paranoid “the terrorists are coming!” notwithstanding).
Very open asylum policies and such do hypothetically allow for radical groups to exploit the system (hell, they do/did it here too), and there probably are cells in Canada if there are cells in the US (a matter of debate). The fact that said system is much friendlier to endangered political dissidents than ours and holds several other advantages isn’t terribly relevent to the topic of the report.
And, “The principal threat to the close U.S.-Canadian co-operative relationship remains the fallout from the Arar case that prompted the Canadian government to review and restrict information-sharing arrangements with the United States,â€? if the relationship in question is that between the governments vis a vis the “War on Terra”, then it is likely a true statement (who holds the morally superior position not being addressed).

I think (and granted, I haven’t read the actual report yet) that you might be reading a bit too much into this one- the Administration is making it clear that they are pissed that Canada isn’t cooperating with their little War to the extent they would like, and are making whiney diplomatic noises about it. Nothing remotely resembling “war with Canada!”
I think if we just calm down…

FYI, this is your blogging one-stop shop on the Maher Arar case. I think Katherine R is originally Canadian, though the other folks on that site are American.

The article does make it sound as though Bush is making a lot of hostile noises over Canada because they won’t fall in line with his kidnap-and-torture schemes. I don’t see any threat to invade Canada there, though.

Anyway, I am ashamed of the stupidity of my government.

Nothing remotely resembling “war with Canada!”

Let’s get this straight. The US has cracked the shits with Canada because Canada has finally taken a stand (a weak one, at that) on having its citizens kidnapped and tortured. That the US would do anything other than apologise profusely and make reparations for their misdeeds, but further to whinge about it, is belligerent in the highest degree. Let’s not fuck around with semantics here: the US is a rogue state that will stop at nothing to take oil and resources, no matter what the humanitarian or legal cost. It is a sociopath, a bully. The American people have already proved themselves contented sheep who’ll let anything pass if the right reptile-brain buttons are pushed, so we can’t expect anything from them. If it was anyone but the US, we would be astonished. Do I think the US will invade Canada? Not likely, at least, not in the next 50 years or so. But I do think the US would be happy to twist arms and shit all over sovereignty, rule of law, and any sense of fair play, to get their way. Considering that, I think Mal de mer’s reponse has been positively subdued.

Katherine’s my fucking hero, her and Jeanne de Arc from Body and Soul both. I wish Katherine would come back, and Jeanne’s been on hiatus for a while, which is giving me growing concern. She writes beautifully, with clarity, passion and extraordinary insight. I also want to give props to fellow Aussie Janet Gunter, who’s low Technorati score is an indictment of you all.

As a contented sheep, I don’t suppose I can understand the complexities of the NWO.
Sigh… someone pass me a Big Mac and the remote control, reruns of “The Real World” are on!
Ain’t saying we aren’t wrong about the torture business, and Canadians have every right to be upset that we’re being pissy at their taking a morally superior position- it just doesn’t look like it constitues an actual threat on their nationhood to me. If we actually did threaten them (God forbid), I’d be first in line to protest.
That said, I’d appriciate it if y’all avoided nuking major midwestern cities sos that I don’t die in the fallout from the Glorious Nuclear War for World Peace, if that isn’t too much to ask.

Ah, crap, I got that wrong. Gunter’s an American, Carmela’s an Aussie. Well, I think it’s a tribute to Janet’s humility that I got her mixed up with her message. I’ve been a grumpy bitch here, but the truth be told, I love America. I love your b-grade movies, your early horror novelists, your philosophers and artist. I even love your shitty reality-tv shows. Most of all, I love your professed values. That’s why it cuts to the fucking core to see you pissing that away. You Americans get back to your core values, and we can turn this lonely planet into a beautiful, happy place. It’s a noble enterprise – but please, don’t fuck it up. I’m off to get drunk.

I hear you, GuinnessGuy, but there’s more than one way to threaten nationhood. You guys are really fucking powerful, and you have many ways to flex that might, but with power comes responsibility. Throw that torture issue into the mix… that presses all the wrong buttons in my reptile-brain. That’s a fury that won’t die.

Seeing that hanging is no longer a part of our system of jurisprudence

Several states still hang people.

Anyways, Allen is getting smeared hard by the left.

Strange how there’s so much publicity about how the Confederate flag is racist, but none of those Nation of Islam flags get called racist.

There were a lot of good things about the spirit of the Confederacy, which are obscured by a few of the less likeable things about the Confederacy.

a few of the less likeable things about the Confederacy

Hahaha, nice use of understatement. Gary, you’re a fucking riot. Tell me (cause I’m willing to hang around to get my answer), we’re discussing torture right now, how do you feel about torturing those so-called enemy combatants? You have any thoughts on your Administration pulpifying the legs of random taxi-drivers? Taking scalpels to the genetals of human beings? Do the ends justify the means? Can we sodomise for Freedom?

Several states still hang people.

Two isn’t several, and one of them only allows it if lethal injection can’t be used.

how do you feel about torturing those so-called enemy combatants?

I don’t think it happens. I think we have used new interrogation tactics. But just bvecause anti-American groups like the ACLU say something is torture doesn’t mean it’s torture.

You have any thoughts on your Administration pulpifying the legs of random taxi-drivers?

I would imagine such accounts are exaggerated.

Taking scalpels to the genetals of human beings?

Also an exaggerated claim.

Do the ends justify the means?

We’re not at that point in this war.

Fair enough elendil- we all have our buttons and fears (goodness knows I do).
I believe and pray that we’ll get back the House in ’06 and maybe the Senate in ’08- and almost certainly the Presidency (assuming the matchup is sane).
Believe you me- I want us back to where we were in the Clinton years (preferably if the guy in question has Carter’s intergity and dignity). I’m confident that we our taking steps in the right direction and in another three years, we’ll have a brand new Democratic presidency and/or Congress.
I believe, however, in using the process; it has worked (mostly) for our entire history in a self-correcting fashion, and, God Willing, it will work again.

Jesus, I sound like I’m running for House…

I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt, Gary, because you seem like a nice guy. Thanks for responding. Forgive me, but I’m gonna show you something really fucking horrible. Here we go:

I would imagine such accounts [pulpified legs] are exaggerated.

His name was Dilawar. He was a taxi driver in Afghanistan. According to the military’s own autopsy doctor, Maj. Elizabeth A. Rouse, the tissue in his corpse’s legs were so severely battered that she described them as “pulpified” She said “I’ve seen similar injuries in an individual run over by a bus,”

[Taking scalpels to the genetals (sic)] Also an exaggerated claim

His name is Benyam Mohammed. Here’s an extract from his diary:

“One of them took my penis in his hand and began to make cuts. He did it once, and they stood still for maybe a minute, watching my reaction. I was in agony. They must have done this 20 to 30 times, in maybe two hours. There was blood all over. “I told you I was going to teach you who’s the man,” [one] eventually said.”

I’ll admit that, if it were just a few, I would also say that they were exaggerations. However, I’ve got a list, from many different sources — NGOs, declassified military documents, first-hand accounts — all saying the same thing: that the Administration is torturing people. I’ve got about 70 of them, and that’s what we know of. I’ve skipped many, particularly in Iraq, ’cause I gotta maintain some semblance of sanity here.

So, any thoughts on that?

Jesus, I sound like I’m running for House

🙂 You know, there’s a lot of nasty powers in the world that do this, and worse. I focus on the US because, truth be told, I have faith in you. I reckon if I and a few others push, we’ll set you right again. I might actually be able to make a difference here. You, too, sound like you have the faith. Faith maybe stupid, but it keeps us powered. It’s not cheesy at all. You keep that, and you spread it, and we’ll work this out.

Maybe in 10 years… 😉

Aw, Gary, you’ve gone all quiet, and the sweet oblivion of the rest of a bottle of cheap red is calling me. Let me leave you with this thought.

You can support both aspects of this Administration’s policy and be absolutely opposed to the use of torture in the War on Terror. Considering the consequences of the torture policy that are antithetical to that objective, that is the most sensible position. You can be both a conservative and anti-torture, and in fact, I think that would be the natural position for a conservative in the fine traditions of decentralised power and individual freedom.

This is an issue that cuts across politics, across creeds, across cultures. It is fundamental to all right-thinking political and social theory. In fact, Gary, we need Republicans like you. The left can rant and rave all they like about extraordinary rendition, but this pollution of the Republican Party can only be cleansed from the inside out.

So you think about that, mate, and if anyone else is reading this and hears my words, you too go donate to AI, read on it, talk about it. Link to my shitty blog if you like, and I’ll link back. Especially if you are a conservative, I will link to you with pleasure. Just, for God’s sake, help me do this, because I sincerely believe that the wellbeing of our entire species depends upon it, and it tears me up inside to see this happen.

I keep starting this comment, then deleting it . . . .

All I want to say is that there are millions of Americans like me who write our letters to the editor, write our Representative/Senators, go to demonstrations, give donations to groups like AI when we can, organize MoveOn events, put on bumper stickers, canvass, etc., etc., etc. Not all Americans are sheep. We are trying, world, we are trying, but it’s like trying to change the course of an aircraft carrier with a single oar. There are so many forces against us, and we sometimes lose hope, but we’re trying.

Christ Almighty, the rest of the world knows how representative democracy works, or maybe doesn’t work. We know that some – most – Americans don’t support Bush or nuclear war with Iran or Canada or Timbuktu or wherever else your fucking idiot of a President hit while playing War on Terror darts or however the Administration decides where to invade. You don’t have to apologise for your leaders when you didn’t even vote for them.

As for this ‘sheep’ thing, it’s very simple – it’s difficult to get most people (and not just Americans) to fight against the status quo. That’s because they know that it won’t do any good. Jesus, Mal de mer, what do you want them to do? What purpose will be served by everyone sitting around and acting mournful about the American Government being mean about Canada (and that’s all it is, so you can stop it with this nuclear weapons bullshit)?

You are just a bunch of people commenting on a blog. Do you honestly think anything you do or say will make the slightest bit of difference? Christ, I’m seventeen and I haven’t been that idealistic in the last decade.

I cannot take this self-righteousness any longer. I’d say I’ll never be back, but I’ll probably get this medication stuff sorted out in a few weeks and then I’ll feel really stupid and maybe post again in a couple of years when I think everyone’s forgotten about this. Yeah, I am blaming my actions on my mental health just like a whiny teenager would, you don’t need to remind me. I am so sick of all this.

Do you honestly think anything you do or say will make the slightest bit of difference?

“A small group of committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
— Margaret Meade

There were a lot of good things about the spirit of the Confederacy, which are obscured by a few of the less likeable things about the Confederacy.

The spirit of the Confederacy is treason, pure and simple. I can’t think of a more direct act of treason than taking up arms against your own nation. Personally, I’ve always thought the US made two huge blunders at the end of the Civil War: first, deciding not to hang every last Confederate general; and second, letting the South back in.

You are just a bunch of people commenting on a blog. Do you honestly think anything you do or say will make the slightest bit of difference?

Actually, I work with an organisation that is lobbying for the Arar family in resolving the case of his rendition to Syria and torture. Which is why this ridiculous report from State Department is so unnerving.

The Canadian government is partly at fault in this matter, since it stupidly shared information on people who had no idea it had been collected on them. Getting them to admit this culpability is within my sphere of influence as a citizen. Getting the American government to stop lying is…well, someone else’s responsibility.

Sorry for pooping all over this thread. I’m really pissed off lately.

The spirit of the Confederacy is treason, pure and simple. I can’t think of a more direct act of treason than taking up arms against your own nation.

Family history is one thing. Nostalgia for a movement to destroy the nation is another. Personally, I think anyone nostalgic for the Confederacy–not for your heroic granddaddy, not for the Dukes of Hazzard, but for the Confederacy and all the evil that goes with it–is a traitor and doesn’t deserve to live in the United States.

As to Canada: I honestly don’t think the U.S. will ever try to make war on Canada. You always have your nutcases; sadly, we elected ours. It won’t be forever, despite what the right believes and the left fears. And I don’t believe you can ever get support for a war with Iran, MUCH less Canada. It just won’t happen.

If it does, though, damn, maybe I should carry through with my plans to move to Ireland. My great-grandfather’s old house is still there, last time I saw it in ’95…

If you can’t be angry around your friends, Mal, whom can you be angry around?

I tried a few times to come up with something to say yesterday that wouldn’t get me put on a no-fly list. When I kept failing, I got depressed and went to bed.

As unseemly as the yuck-yucking over my country’s homicidal stupidity is at times, it’s also the best defense I know of against the “get depressed and go to bed” response.

But it’s sad when it upsets people I like and respect.

When I get to Canada, the first round is on me.

not for the Dukes of Hazzard

OK, I guess I’m trying to let myself off the hook for liking bad television.

Thanks Jillian. The reason I spend time reading American satire these days is to remain convinced that Americans are no worse than anyone else. If I don’t, I’ll become the type of person I don’t like.

I wish Canadian wingnuts provided such fodder for satire. They’re mostly all like Adam Yoshida…no nuance or originality in their sheer dull-wittedness and dishonesty.

I won’t go into my long family and personal American history, here, but it’s enough to credential me as the bull goose looney of Southerners, and, let me assure you all, there was nothing good about the Confederacy. It was a scheme by which rich white slaveholders conscripted and deluded poor white subsistence farmers and white mechanics to wage a bloody, doomed, and bloody war to keep those rich white fo’k rich. And, along the way, sustain a polity that repressed poor whites and opressed African Americans. The Confederacy was the worst thing that ever happened to the South, after the establishment of a slave economy, and we should no more celebrate here in the South than Camobodians celebrate the Khymer Rouge state or the Germans celebrate the Third Reich. It brought us ignomy and ruin, and we deserved it.

but because they think it irritates liberals or Northerners or the politically correct — anyone who “can’t handle” their outsized sense of self, basically

Exactly.

WP, please don’t give up on your country yet! There are millions of us that hate what the U.S. has become and together we DO have the power to change it. Here’s the quote I have up on my bulletin board; it keeps me going when I start to lose hope (it’s from SusanG at DailyKos and the context was a debate about which tactics are most effective):

“We can do this, together. With all our hearts and souls and passions, we can exert constant and immutable pressure, from all sides, with all strategies, all at once without ceasing. It’s time to leave either/or thinking behind as a relic of the 20th century and embrace–with an enormous yes–the and and and and of every imaginable human solution to the problems of our country and our planet.”

That’s what it’s going to take–a real commitment from all of us to “exert constant and immutable pressure” from all sides. I challenge everybody here to answer this question: what can you do TODAY to help improve things? Here’s mine: today, I will write a letter to the editor of my local paper about the evils of the Bush administration. It’s a small thing, yes, but that’s what we need–a million small things. And who’s going to do them, if not the smart, passionate people here?

Oh, and one more thing, WP: I have at least a 30-year history of clinical depression (I really can’t remember ever being without it). And it keeps me from doing some things I should do, like the Dem canvass yesterday. But I keep trying, because I know that the best therapy for many people with depression and anxiety is to get out there, interact with people, and do our best to have a positive effect on the world. It sure isn’t a cure-all, but it really helps both me and the country.

If ever a country needed the help of a bunch of loonies like me, it’s now. 😉

“OK, I guess I’m trying to let myself off the hook for liking bad television.”

For some reason that picture reminds me another great bit of bad television, the theme song from the Fall Guy (mp3 in the right sidebar)…maybe Allen can work that into his campaign somehow, a surefire way to impress with authenticity.

Strange how there’s so much publicity about how the Confederate flag is racist, but none of those Nation of Islam flags get called racist.

Maybe because you never see the Nation of Islam flags that much (what does it look like anyway?) but you can see the Stars and Bars everywhere in the South, even incorparated into the state flags.

Mal, any advice? Especially with the Arar case, as you’re involved, is there anything we can do that would help with your efforts?

And Gary, fuck you.

is there anything we can do that would help with your efforts?

Yes. Give Bush a blow-job and make sure the batteries in the tape recorder you bring along are fresh.

I don’t think so, Tigrismus…as far as the US is concerned it ceased being its problem once Arar’s suit against the US Government was dismissed because it could potentially expose secrets critical to the war on terror and “damage US-Canada relations” (which of course, rendering Canadian citizens for torture doesn’t do). His civil suit against the Canadian government is being similarly stonewalled, and may end up being a Charter case. If he loses that, then the Charter is history and the molotov cocktails will start flying on Parliament Hill.

..oops. Forget I typed that, CSIS operative 398.

The Arar Commission is supposed to issue a preliminary report by the end of the summer. It will probably determine how the rest of the case will proceed.

A blow job? Mal, man, there’s only so much I would be willing to do for my country, and trying to ignite a flicker of life in those dead eyes is over my line. I’m willing to add to the pot to hire out the job, though, if anyone could be found willing to do the foul deed.

I have to say, though, as an American I do feel rather helpless and hopeless. Voting, letter writing, contacting representatives, all the things folks do to get their voices heard in a democracy, none of it seems to have any sort of positive effect. There was a three-page article in the Boston Globe today about the massive abuse of power that is the Bush administration: the signing statements, the signing into law of bills in forms that didn’t pass in Congress, the simple refusal to execute laws, etc. Why the hell didn’t this come out before the election, none of it’s new information? And what can we do about it? I can’t impeach him, I can only tell my representative I want it done. I’m open to ideas, but they still have to be legal at this juncture.

Elendil, way upthread:

I love America. I love your… philosophers

woot!

Seriously, I agree that it’s absolutely infuriating that the U.S. would have the gall to upbraid Canada over opposing a torture policy that is morally indefensible and stupid besides. It makes me angry too. Right now I think the #1 priority is stopping a war in Iran, but I hope we can fix some of our other misguided policies soon.

Have to wonder how far back the far right wants to push back the clock…to 1898, so we can declare war against Spain again? to 1861, so the right side could win the Civil War? to 1846, so we can declare war against Mexico again? to 1812, so we can invade Canada again, this time with better results? I can’t believe no one has referenced South Park’s “Blame Canada” yet on this thread…or Thoreau’s protest against the Mexican War.

The C.: I have to admit, I was hearing “Blame Canada” in my head when I first read the thread. After all, isn’t Canada the LEADING supplier of crude oil to the U.S., ahead of the Middle East? Just sayin’…

MdM, you need to relax. Yeah, we participate in black humor. Yes we feel pretty damn helpless and hopeless about our realistic options for changing the course of things while all three branches are controlled by these criminally insane cobags.

As I recall, you’ve been here with us while we did. And I don’t recall your entreaties for us all to “Stop it, just STOP it” because things were Just Too Serious. Nothing like a bit of enlightened self interest to shift one’s perspective, eh?

And what, short of campaigning and contributing monetarily to campaigns would you have us do with the time we dither away cracking wise? Is it armed insurrection time already? I’m sure you’ve done exactly enough to help us out there as you fear we are doing in your interest here. Tell ya what, I’ll liberate the National Guard armory right after you guys loosen immigration and citizenship restrictions for Americans.

ReadysetGO!

Hi. I’m an actual Virginian who is actually represented, and I use the term loosely, by George Allen. Please help us; the machine is lined up behind him flush with cash to set him up in his seat again, and then to unleash him on an unsuspecting country just when we need him LEAST.

If you want to be proactive, work for Jim Webb’s campaign and get this embarrassment to the Old Dominion out of office. We have a chance at this one, but we need help.

Look, this is not the time to start eating our own. We get NOWHERE if we’re taking each other down. It’s like my husband says: I vent to you because you understand. Isn’t the whole point of the blog community to support one another?

Sometimes this stuff is too much to bear, and we need to vent. We vent here because we understand each other (except for that Gary guy; he’s just a tool). So take the rancor at each other down a notch. You want something to do? It’s easy. Go phone bank. Volunteer at a campaign office. If you can, go see your Congressman or Senator. Let’s not get fractured now.

Does the Dukes of hazzarfd have anything to do with the civil war?