Story of the day

Now that I am back working in the criminal division of the DA's office, I get to relish the stupidity of criminals.

A 45 year old man in Salt Lake City broke into someone's house and starting cooking their 2 pounds of bacon, whereupon the owner returned home and found him and called the police. "Responding officers found ...[him] sitting at the kitchen table. " He was charged with burglary.

What the heck is going on in Canaan?

Man, Israel is getting attacked with hundreds of missles from Hesbolah, Hamas is cheering away, and who knows how much Syria, Lebanon and Iran are involved. Meanwhile, the Bush administration is saying nice dipomatic nothings and doing less.

This is a direct result of the failure of the peace talks in the twilight hours of the Clinton Administration, the election of Sharon and Olmert, and the election of Hamas to the PLA. What a freaking disaster.

Meanwhile, our troops are being beseiged in Iraq by local insurents, rival tribal gangs, and Iranian operatives. Meanwhile still, Iran is moving forward with nuclear technologies, as North Korea reworks their crappy missle technology. They already have nukes.

This is also a direct result of cowboy diplomacy of the Cheney/Rumsfeld cabal. They PNAC plan really has made things much, much worse.

Israel has the right to defend itself, but at the same time, there needs to be peace and it cannot be achieved at the butt of a gun. The Palistinans need a contiguous homeland, with access to water, the ability to work, and saftey and security for all those living in the land of Canaan. If only fmr. Rep. Wayne Owens (D-UT) were still alive to help bring both sides back from the brink of disaster.

the week I missed

Sorry for the long absense dear readers, I took a much needed vacation. Canada is very interesting, it is like a cleaner, nicer version of the U.S. But I couldn't live in a country that doesn't have the guts to stick up for itself and permitted Great Britian to control it until late into the 20th century. I saw many interesting things, like the hundreds of bunnies hopping around the University of Victoria (pics to come).

I also enjoyed Seattle, but I think the overcast weather would eventually be draining on my phyche even though my skin would love it. I had not really been outside in the sun this whole year until last week and even though I used sunscreen, I got pretty burned. Remember kids, apply liberally and thorougly, especially when you go out on a boat or on a long bike ride.

On the plane, I read Glenn Greenwald's book, which I bought, and Kos/Armstrong's book, which I checked out from the library. I am glad I bought what I bought and borrowed what I borrowed. Crashing the Gate reads like a series of blog posts by Kos, which tend to be more based on emotion that clear, thorough logic. Maybe it is the fact that I am in law school, but I found Glenn's writing to be excellant and will be giving the book to my father who seems inclined to think that the NSA wiretapping scandal is no big deal. I believe it will pursuade him otherwise. Whereas, if you weren't already a believer in Kos and Jerome's brand of agressive progressiveness, you were only pursuaded that the GOP has their sh!t together whereas the Democrats don't in areas of consultants, ad buys, and GOTV.

The DLC section to me is the most frustrating thing. No matter how many times I and others tell folks on Kos or MyDD that the DLC doesn't endorse or support candidates other than writing policy papers and calling them the New Dem of the week or among the 100 to Watch. The DLC doesn't have a vast conspiratorial agenda, and I don't see how they can simultianously be irrelevant and capable of taking down Howard Dean.

The DLC is a 501(c)(3), which means it can't support candidates or get involved at all in primaries other to state their opinion. Individuals associated with the DLC/PPI like Al From could endorse a candidate personally and give them $2,100, but that's it. There is no way they would risk their tax status to help Liberman win. Sure they might had advised him, DLC members might have given money or raised money for him, but the DLC can't and doesn't get involved in any election other than in their magazines, blogs, and interviews. DLC staffers liked Rep. Ed Case, CA Aud. Steve Westly, and ex-Rep. Tim Roemer, but they did little for those folks in their efforts to climb higher. The DLC like to take credit for spotting rising stars and crafting them with the DLC's message, but they aren't repsonsible for telling them to run for higher office or supporting them on an institutional level.

Westley's big mistake was hiring the Chris Lehane of California politics: Garry South. South ran Gray Davis' horribly nasty 2002 reelection effort that reduced turnout to unheard of levels, even for California. Was it surprising to anyone that South used the same low-ball tactics against Angelides that he used in 2002 against GOPers? Westley also shouldn't have listened to South, but that's another story for another time.