So now I'm disillusioned.

I haven't read Kerry's speech, but this comment resonated while my opinion of the essays on his website. Its pandering without a point. Like he is throwing a thousand lures into the water hoping that one resonates with you on an emotional level. The intellectual is left feeling empty. The only reason I'm voting for this guy is that I don't like some of Bush's policies. But what about the swing voter. The one whose not pissed off at Bush. I mean, is THIS GUY really going to be president of the United States? Does it REALLY make sense? Or is it going to come apart at the seams.

You'll be left at the voting booth in a very dejected state. You can vote for the conservative christian who damaged our relationship with Europe and invaded a country based on an incorrect set of assumptions, or you can vote for Mr. Wishy Washy, or you can vote for the third party candidate.

What you cannot vote for is what you want. A strong leader who can clearly articulate a plan for the war on Terror and the economy who also happens to have real respect for people who are different then he is.

All Things to All People

"Chicken hawk" is interesting as an insult because it is such a pure example of reactionary thinking or, rather, the substitution of reaction for thinking. It is the sort of thing you say when you need to stop the argument in its tracks because you simply can't bear to address its realities.

Return of the 'Chicken Hawks'

] "Mother Jones and Alternet interviewed Joe Trippi,the guy
] behind the Howard Dean campaign ('the candidate lost but
] the campaign won'). He has a new book out, 'The
] Revolution will not be Televised' (click for excerpt),
] about how the Internet is radically changing the way
] politics is done.

Slashdot has a number of articles with Joe Trippi. His speech at ETC was one of the most interesting I've heard this year.

Slashdot | Joe Trippi Roundup

Mr. Bush gave as good as he got, once his Irish was up. But Ms. Coleman remained resolute. It may have cost her a follow-up interview with Laura Bush. But the griping and debate about the interview was a sad reminder to Americans that the White House seldom welcomes robust questioning, especially when it is most needed.

When Irish Eyes Stop Smiling

] The court refused to endorse a central claim of the White
] House since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001: that
] the government has authority to seize and detain terror
] suspects or their protectors and indefinitely deny access
] to courts or lawyers while interrogating them.

This is one of the most important things going on around you right now. Read these decisions.

Yahoo! News - Enemy Combatants Win Right to U.S. Courts

] Justice Scalia wrote, in the biting tone that has become
] his trademark, "The Framers would not have thought it too
] much to demand that, before depriving a man of three more
] years of his liberty, the state should suffer the modest
] inconvenience" of submitting its accusation to a jury.

Justice Stevens rox...

Justices Tighten Limits on Judges in Sentencing

Jeremy wrote:
] 26 percent of Repulicans say CNN is credible. 45
] percent of Democrats say CNN is credible.

How much of this is genuine realization of the problems with sensationalistic infotainment, and how much of this is simply an example of the increased stratification of American politics. Whether you are left, or right, you know you've drunk the koolaid when you decide that CNN is controlled by your enemies.

The Republicans have been ramming home the "liberal media" message for years. In other words, don't get your information from the news media, who are mostly lying because they are trying to sell you toothpaste, get it from us, because we're mostly lying because we're trying to sell you an ideology. Is it really surprising that this message has caused 70+ percent of their side to question CNN?

In recent years the left appears to have joined in the fracas. It hasn't been going on for as long, nor is there a "conservative media" meme backing it. There is simply the presumption that the news media, CNN especially, promotes corporate interests because they just another evil corporation. The CNN represents the "right wing" to people who are so far left, and so distrustful of success, that can't see halfway around the political spectrum.

I agree, CNN is not a great source of information. CNN has an agenda. But I don't see any of the above as actual progress. People aren't really realizing that the news media is playing them. They are switching to less objective, less honest sources of information who are playing them even more, with more sinister goals, and they are getting worse, not better, at thinking critically about the information they are being presented.

RE: Fewer Republicans Trust the News

] Twin Cities filmmaker Mike Wilson's upcoming "Michael
] Moore Hates America" details his unsuccessful attempts to
] interview Moore, the director who won an Oscar two years
] ago for "Bowling for Columbine." Moore's earlier film,
] "Roger and Me," detailed his own failed attempts to
] interview General Motors honcho Roger Smith.
]
] Wilson says his documentary tries to point out the biases
] behind Moore films such as "Bowling" and the highly
] anticipated "Fahrenheit 9/11," which will be released
] June 25 and which Wilson has not seen. He says it's not
] only a response to Moore but also to others who have
] added to "the shrillness that has engulfed the American
] conversation."

St. Paul Pioneer Press | Moore gets a dose of his own

] A New York man convicted of using the network of Internet
] service provider EarthLink to send out hundreds of
] millions of unsolicited commercial (spam) e-mail was
] sentenced to between three-and-a -half and seven years in
] prison Thursday, according to Brad Maione, a spokesman
] for New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Buffalo spammer gets 3.5 to 7 years

In this speech Gore explains that the administration's disdain for checks and balances lead directly to systemic horrors in U.S. prison facilities. The checks and balances concern is something that we've discussed here repeatedly for years. It was my fear that these things were dangerous precedents that would inevitably be abused in the future. Gore is right. Those abuses came much faster then I had predicted. This essay is worth the time it takes to read it.

Gore Speech