There has been a growing attitude and message problem around much of Daily Kos lately because of the FISA capitulation. I'll start by saying that I count myself in the group opposing the bill that was recently passed and signed; I've made it clear that I don't support immunity for the telecoms or insufficient court supervision for the FISA program.

But that's not what I'm writing about today. Today I want to address something that is potentially ten times as dangerous and damaging as the FISA capitulation. I'm talking about the perception that by acting as purists when it comes to ideology we can wash our hands of the consequences when it comes to reality.

Does anyone still doubt that George W. Bush never made capturing Osama bin Laden a priority in this "War on Terror"? If so, you can lay those doubts to rest.

ABC News:

The Pentagon has drafted a secret plan that would send U.S. special forces into the wild tribal regions of Pakistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, but the White House has balked at giving the mission a green light, The New York Times reported today.
...
Although the special forces attack plan was devised six months ago, infighting among U.S. intelligence agencies and among White House offices have blocked it from being implemented, the Times reported.

Follow me below the fold for more.

With the recommended diary detailing President Bush's plan to ramp up covert actions against Iran, I think it is important to take a look at one of the driving forces behind the Bush administration's war-driven foreign policy in the Middle East: Israel. Talking about Israel is taboo in U.S. politics, even on a progressive blog like Daily Kos. However, if we want to understand and address America's tattered public image around the globe we must understand how supporting Israel with arms and tax dollars hurts the United States at home and abroad. Let's take a look at several ways in which U.S.-Israeli relations are hurting this country.

Now that the primary season is over and the Democratic Party has its nominee, we have turned our attention to John McCain. We have talked about how a McCain administration would be a continuation of the Bush administration. We have talked about McCain's plans for 100 years of U.S. involvement in Iraq and the importance of prevent him from packing the Supreme Court with regressive (it's the term I prefer to "conservative") judges. Good. That's the sort of thing that we need to be discussing.

However, I have seen a lot of different talk around here recently - the kind that is not so much about policy. Instead of attacking John McCain on his indefensible voting record as a senator and the folly of his platform, people are going after personal issues like his medical record, his marital life, and his teeth.

Let me warn you, this is a rant diary about a once-legitimate political community, so if you don't care, you might want to move on now.

I've been active on Daily Kos for about four years now and I love the community. There have been some angry, heated debates, many of them involving Kos and other front-pagers. What I love about Daily Kos is that I can disagree with or criticize one of the people with administrator status on this site and not worry about that person silencing me rather than engaging me.

I had lurked at MyDD occasionally before and during much of this primary season, and it has only been within that past few months that I have begun posting regularly on that blog. Many of you post there as well and probably understand the harsh administration policies there. Many of you also know that Jerome Armstrong, the founder of the blog, loves to post anti-Obama material whenever presented with an opportunity.

In light of this recent diary which suggests a strong possibility of Hillary Clinton simply refusing to concede, I think that we need to change the way we're responding to those who claim that Hillary Clinton should or could be the Democratic nominee. I've wasted countless hours trying to explain the numbers, the trends, the conventional wisdom, and the media spin surrounding this nomination to people who just won't hear reason.

It seems as if every time someone presents a fact to a Clinton surrogate, that person just responds with a hypothetical statement. Here are some common examples:

Well, I knew that backlash against the White House was certain to hurt Republican turnout in 2008. I thought that our Dems would have a perfect opportunity to go on the offensive. I even considered the possibility that we could compete seriously with the GOP in terms of financial contributions. But I never expected to see this from the Wall Street Journal:

Democrats Lead By $100 Million In Money Race

WASHINGTON -- With more than a year to go before the 2008 elections, Democratic candidates have raised $100 million more in campaign contributions than Republicans, putting them on track to win the money race for the White House and Congress for the first time since the government began detailed accounting of campaign fund raising three decades ago.

An important issue for nearly all of us going into the Democratic primary is the strength of organized labor in the United States. As most of you know, strong unions lead to significantly higher wages but, just as importantly, also give workers power and job security. So regardless of who we support in the primary, the vast majority of Kossacks believe in the importance of organized labor.

Follow me past the flip.

In an interesting article in Time last week, Nathan Thornburgh discussed the irrational fear of the "a" word - amnesty for undocumented immigrants.

The word amnesty seems to invoke an unreasonably negative reaction from Americans. On the right, conservatives seem to believe that immigration from Latin America is changing the racial makeup of the country and threatening our way of life. The first is true; current trends indicate that by 2020 Latinos will make up nearly a quarter of the United States youth population. But, as Thornburgh points out, fear of a change in lifestyle due to immigration is irrational.

Assimilation is slow, but it is inevitable. Beardstown was settled in the 19th century by unapologetically German immigrants, but you won't hear so much as a gesundheit uttered there today. What is lacking, in Beardstown as in Washington, is faith in America's undimmed ability to metabolize immigrants from around the world, to change them more than they change the U.S.

Continued after the fold.

Minimum wage does not work. Corporations would rather lay off workers than pay them a minimum wage. Or so the myth goes.

But let me talk about a personal experience with the minimum wage. I currently work at Target, where I know many people who depend on the job as their primary source of income. The sad thing is that the little money they do have they end up spending at discount retailers like Target. Their paychecks are effectively used by the corporation to turn a profit. I have talked a lot with my fellow workers and I am shocked to discover some of the things that go on. For one, my store has fired several senior supervisors (who are paid by the hour) in the recent past for dubious reasons and with little warning. I may be being overly pessimistic, but I suspect that part of the reason for this is that after that many years with the company their wages had risen to the point where Target did not want to pay that much if younger people were available to do the jobs at a cheaper price. Many of the employees must use Illinois Link cards (similar to foodstamps) to purchase groceries.

"Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people's lives. It's about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our country and the world. Politics is about doing well for the people."

"The only way to change is to vote. People are responsible."

From BBC:

Washington lawmakers have reacted with shock at the discovery that an obscure clause in a military spending bill will terminate the work of the auditor.
...
In 2005, it issued a damning report citing "severe inefficiencies and poor management" at the body that ran Iraq before the recent elections, the Coalition Provisional Authority.

There it was, in large font: Bush will urge end to oil addiction

CNN might as well try some of these headlines:

Mafia Calls for end to Organized Crime

Hue Heffner objects to Janet Jackson's Funbag Incident

Adolph Hitler condemns Iran Leader's Verbal Attacks on Israel

If Bush and the Republicans really want to reduce dependence on oil, they should start by looking at themselves. Follow the money and come see what I mean.

Wrong.

According to a recent survey, the United States leads the nations observed in the study in medical error.

Keep reading for more damning evidence that our privatized healthcare system sucks.

As someone who, for the most part, has always hated abortion, I think that I need to make something clear: pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion.

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."
-George W. Bush

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."
-Adolph Hitler

When you are a dictator of a country that restricts civil liberties; profiles people based on race, religion and beliefs; worships the military; and invades countries without provocation, you need to make sure that what the public sees is not what is actually happening. Hitler knew it. Bush knows it. For all those people who still doubted that the Bushies employed propaganda even after Armstrong Williams, the recent staged conversation between King George and his knights should send one message to you: we told you so.

Now that the Republican Party is riddled with fraud and corruption - Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, and Karl Rove/Plamegate being a few of many examples - we, the liberal communtity, need to help link the GOP with corruption. The mainstream media, with the exception of a few brave souls, has not called the Republicans out on their ethics crimes, so it is up to people like us to make sure the public knows the real story.

Please read on.