Imagine running for Congress in a red district against a long term incumbent. Then, put Blackwater in your district. Then, open your campaign with statements like:

Private Armies represent the very things we despise as a people. Servants to the highest bidder with true allegiance to no-one.

Did I mention that he knows because while in Iraq, he was transported in several Blackwater convoys?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

What lessons does history hold for us regarding non-violent "revolution?"

As talk about the 2008 ticket starts to warm up, I got to thinking about that old adage - "balance the ticket."  Does it matter? What is the general pattern of the influence of geography on winning elections? Can causation, or even correlation, be established?

So, I dug into the results of all the Presidential elections since and including 1952.

Check it out.

Pop Quiz:

What is the Mission of the U.S. Department of State?

You have 10 minutes.

More Below the Fold, With Answers and a Report Card for Bush and Rice.

Let's allow my State Senator to tell the story:

"I'm just stunned by the numbers," said Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla. "You can be a great swimmer, but you can't live through a 30-foot tidal wave."

More below the fold:

Local Church Rolls Out Embedded Pastors Program

By The Association Press
© 2006 The Association Press
-- AP Correspondent Edith M. Learner.
Friday November 3, 5 p.m. Austell, Ga.  -

Austell, Georgia is a town of  5,452 souls 18 miles northwest of Atlanta.  That distance used to be enough to largely insulate it from big city problems. However, as many towns in similar proximity to major population centers have found in recent years, drug-related crime, domestic violence, and small-time organized crime have steadily increased.  At his office on Joe Jerkons Rd., Police Chief Bob Starling says: " Some of the sophisticated city criminals think that small town police are just yokels. In some ways, they are right. We needed a new strategy to help protect the community."

Let's take a little diversion from the fallout of primary day, OK?   What is the meaning of a beard?

I have had a beard and mustache of some length or other for over 30 years. I have noticed that its presence and condition have a variety of effects on other people's opinion of me. There are obviously social, political, and religious implications of facial hair, which vary by time and culture.

More Below The Fold.

This Diary series is intended to collect OUR knowledge and experience. Please read the previous diaries for grounding. And, in your comments, please share your practical knowledge.

Let's consider three issues today:

1. How does your county's election supervision interact with your state laws and regulations?

2. What sort of monitoring is already built in, and who really controls it?

3. How does any existing monitoring relate to the system of poll workers?

More Below The Fold.

I intend to post a series of diaries to raise the profile here at Kos of what can be done, county by county, parish by parish, to help monitor the vote count in November.

The First Diary

We will examine what you need to know, what sort of team and resources you need, and share experiences as we learn together.

First: Don't Do It Alone.

Second: Posse Does Not Mean Vigilantes.

Third: Build A Lasting Relationship.

Today's Diary Below The Fold.

I intend to post a series of diaries to raise the profile here at Kos of what can be done, county by county, parish by parish, to help monitor the vote count in November.

There are 3,141 vote-counting locations in the country.  As I hear from you across the country, we can refine that to include those areas where it's done a little differently. But that is a good starting number.  In addition, state laws and Secretaries of State help control the process, so we will look at how the locals interact with the state officials.

More below the fold.

Local Church Rolls Out Embedded Pastors Program

By The Association Press
© 2006 The Association Press
-- AP Correspondent Edith M. Learner.
Thursday, May 18, 5 p.m. Austell, Ga.  -

Austell, Georgia is a town of  5,452 souls 18 miles northwest of Atlanta.  That distance used to be enough to largely insulate it from big city problems. However, as many towns in similar proximity to major population centers have found in recent years, drug-related crime, domestic violence, and small-time organized crime have steadily increased.  At his office on Joe Jerkons Rd., Police Chief Bob Starling says: " Some of the sophisticated city criminals think that small town police are just yokels. In some ways, they are right. We needed a new strategy to help protect the community."

Yes, it is grain of salt time, since the details are coming from Raw Story. But, it is seductive stuff:

"John Bolton, the former Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs who is now the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was contacted by I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in late May 2003 to find out who sent Ambassador Joseph Wilson on a fact-finding mission to Niger, lawyers involved in the CIA outing investigation told RAW STORY over the weekend."

While we are waiting for Fitzmas:

What's Your Price To Kiss Some Ass?

Maybe you have a bad job now: low pay, stupid boss, stupid clients. Or, maybe you have no job, and the tension with the family is BAD.

So, you here about this job. It utilizes your skills. But, it is clear you will have to try to pass as a Kool-Aid addict.  Maybe it's something like a Program Manager at KBR. (Kellogg, Brown, and Root/Halliburton.)  You know, upscale grooming and wardrobe,  reactionary small talk, martinis, golf. The job is for two years.  

What's your price? $100K/year?  More, Less?    

I hate ass-kissing.  I gotta say in all honesty,  I'd start thinking about it at $150K/year.   AArgh - my self-esteem just exploded!!!

A Comprehensive Clean Energy Plan to Address Jobs, National Security and Climate Change.
U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee and fourteen other Members of Congress today introduced the New Apollo Energy Act (H.R. 2828) as a comprehensive clean energy policy for the 21st century. Inslee's legislation will use new and innovative tax incentives and market-based assistance, along with energy performance standards to address three challenges to America: creating clean energy manufacturing jobs, decreasing dependence on foreign oil, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As the most comprehensive and technologically visionary energy program proposed in Congress, New Apollo seeks to solve America's energy problems and high energy costs through technological innovation much in the same way that President Kennedy channeled the resources of the American people to meet the challenges of the race to the Moon. The bill introduction is the culmination of several years of meetings and town hall forums that Inslee conducted on developing a clean energy policy.

More Below:  Recommend and Tip, Si Vous Plait!

James Klurfeld of Newsday writes:

Here

"Niall Ferguson gave us a measure of that reality this week in a New York Times op-ed piece. Ferguson, a professor of history at Harvard, argued that to defeat the insurgency in Iraq and establish a modicum of stability there would take one million U.S. soldiers and possibly 30 to 60 years. That contrasts to the 138,000 soldiers there now and a prevailing belief that we will start to draw down troops next year - before the midterm elections"

(Emphasis Added)
More Below:

The clip below originates here:

Onlinejournal

and was picked up here:

Dailywarnews

"At the same time Enron Chairman Kenneth ("Kenny Boy") Lay was involved in Vice President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force secret dealings and when he was stuffing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the pockets of George W. Bush and Cheney's political campaign, he also managed to illegally stick $206, 757 into the pockets of Saddam Hussein and his cohorts.

The Iraqi Oil-for-Food scandal also involves one of the Bush children--Dorothy "Doro" Bush Koch, sister of George W. Bush and married to Bobby Koch, reportedly a cousin in the oil industry Koch family, the owner of Koch Industries, which is also one of Bush's largest political donors. The minority committee report indicates that Koch Industries was also a major recipient of illegal Iraqi oil and a huge source of kickbacks to Saddam Hussein.

The total sum in kickbacks from George W. Bush's cousin-in-laws to Saddam's bank accounts: $1,294,620."

More below:

Imagine that my lawn chair is perched atop the following:  A Lincoln Navigator, on top of a squad of dead Marines, resting on a layer of oil-soaked seabirds, held up by 10 starving Congolese villagers without access to contraception, all on the backs of 50 asian teenagers making $1.00 day in sweatshops.  As I climb up the ladder to my seat, I get a faint whiff of ...something.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on any person's "right" to happiness, or joy, in a world such as we have now.

Is it moral - justifiable -  for me to relax in the yard in the sun, with a sports magazine and a beer, while my country is perpetrating atrocities of all sorts?

I perceive these atrocities ranging from the intrinsic, like consumption of 25% of the world's resources with 4% of its people; to targeted, like global financial policies that ensure 2nd class status for most countries; to immoral, like the tactics being used in the "war on terror."

So, don't worry, be happy, right? Right?

How about those Miami Heat!