In her surprise resignation speech, Sarah Palin confidently quoted Gen. Douglas MacArthur to the hastily assembled press corps, "We're not retreating, we're advancing in another direction."

Mitt Romney was on Meet the Press on Sunday, where he argued essentially that the United States doesn’t need a public health insurance option because Americans like to have choice when it comes to health care. After hearing this, I realized a couple of things.

First, Romney needs a Thesaurus for Christmas. Badly. Desperately, too.

It is easy to say that others are responsible for progress.  To fail to take ownership of the here and now.  Well, as one member of this community, I am here to tell you, it is time for all of us -- for me, and for you -- to take responsibility now to move our community forward, together.  There is nothing that could possibly be more important.

Wow, and I mean wow.  This is a quite the romantic email thread.  After reading this, I honestly think he originally went to Argentina with the intent of never coming back, but his conscience got the better of him and he decided it would be poor taste to leave his South Carolina (oh, and his 4 young children) hanging.  I can't really blame him, what would you rather do: wrangle in American politics with blowhard unscrupulous lawyers or live on the beach in Argentina with your South American lover?   The thing that strikes me about these emails is that he genuinely seems to care for this wom

I've been sort of hounding my elected officials lately; sending them poll results, asking them to commit to the public option, following up on their correspondence with me to ask them to please answer my questions instead of responding with canned crap that somebody on their staff wrote.

Seriously, how hard is it to answer the question "Do you support a public option for health insurance?" Yes? No? You haven't made up your mind yet because you get a lot of money from the insurance industry and you're afraid the Republicans will use the issue to run against you in 2010?

***Breaking News***

Is it me, or does Nixon become more racist with every release of White House tapes? Ironically, the latest batch show him embracing moderate ideas for racist rationales.

For instance, it turns out that he supported a woman's right to have an abortion...in order to avoid those horrible mixed-race babies:

There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white.

I guess that Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, didn't get the memo.

Citigroup executives have decided in their infinite wisdom to increase base salaries for many of their employees by as much as 50 percent.

The bank says the raises - which will be partially offset by a reduction in bonuses, though overall compensation packages could be higher or lower - are necessary to remain competitive ... in an environment where the official unemployment rate will soon be in the double digits no less.

Watch for the Mega-Shark cameo...

Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) and Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA) have introduced a resolution expressing support for Iranian citizens, condemning the violence in Iran, and spouting off about the importance of free and fair elections.

No, seriously. I want to know why.

They get six years of free reign during which they drive the country into a ditch. Not just any ditch, either--a snow-filled ditch with a pond of thin ice at the bottom, far, far away from the nearest gas station.

Then, they start losing. So, instead of asking themselves why they are losing, they double down, and lose some more.

Today the Senate Local Government Committee will be hearing AB 715 (Cabellero) which would allow cities to post adopted ordinances on their official city websites in lieu of adjudicated newspapers.

According to the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) it would “kill the required publication in newspapers…key public notices”. But when AB 715 went to the assembly floor on May 14, 2009 it didn’t receive a single vote against it.

I have no clue as to the veracity of these photos, but if they're real, they are very disturbing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arasmus/

Beware, some of the images are very graphic.

For all of our efforts trying to 'promote democracy' in the Middle East (mostly by destroying Iraq and then trying to rebuild it), this may end up being the real catalyst. And you could at least make the argument that Obama's speech to Muslims - just words, as Genghis has mentioned - helped in some way.

Being the President is cool and all, but how about Supreme Leader?  Way tighter.

dear mr. david lecherman...i mean letterman !!!!!

Would a white male judge have fractured his ankle?  Hmm.....  I have a few questions for you, Rush.

Last week, in response to Deadman's salute to Obama's Cairo speech, I wrote:

By Justin Smith

The California Assembly recently approved AB 155 (Mendoza), a bill that prohibits cities and counties from filing bankruptcy without state approval and is headed to the Senate. The bill requires local governments and counties to get approval from the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC) before filing for bankruptcy.

What can you add when one man says everything you're thinking and says it with such clarity and such poetry??

All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart or whether we commit ourselves to an effort, a sustained effort to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children and to respect the dignity of all human beings.

Our friends over at salon.com have a series called, Ask a Wingnut, in which a former Bush official who wishes to remain nameless (I can only assume it’s Jeff Gannon) answers questions from wacky liberals about why conservatives do and think what they do. He goes by the moniker Glenallen Walken, borrowed from the fictional character of the television show The West Wing. This is fitting since he bases many of his arguments for neocon ideology in a fictional world.