By now, the word's been around that Mitt Romney's 5 sons are all of age to serve nobly in combat serving in the American military but all seem to have other priorities than to fight in a War that their father backs 100%.

However, despite all of the criticism from the left and some quarters of the right for the apparent hypocrisy of Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig, it would seem they're only being consistent.  They simply don't seem to enjoy any kind of service unless it's hamming it up for dear old Dad on the campaign trail.

Here are the dots I'm connecting...

As the years roll by, a U.S. demographic bulge is slipping into oblivion with nary a President to show for it.  This generation is sometimes referred to as the Korean War generation, those who were young adults at the time of the Korean War conflict.  Those born between 1928 and 1945.  The U.S. has had many Presidents from the previous World War II generation (1910  to 1927), including: Reagan, Nixon, Ford, Kennedy, Carter and Bush I.

More recently, our last two Presidents, Clinton and Bush II, are both of the Baby Boom generation.

Yup, the entire generation (18 years) in between, has lost out on the Presidential sweepstakes.  And for better or worse, 2008 might be the Lost Generation's final chance at securing the top spot for one of their own.

After reading Al Gore's The Assault on Reason and reading various reviews on this book, I realize that a significant element of the book has not been examined by those who have reviewed the book.

Specifically, if Al Gore runs for President and wins, his hands will be tied.  This book is testament that he will roll back Executive power.  There's no wriggle room.  No half measures, i.e. keep some of the new powers  and ditch some of the new powers.

Al Gore has painted himself into a corner on Executive power.  

And that's a good thing.

Well, it's not really hate.  It's more like confusion.

1. Republicans, please define "Witch hunt".  You have a Republican administration appointing a Republican special prosectuor to investigate a possible violation of law which even the Republican President admitted that he wanted to get to the bottom of.  Is this a witch hunt led by witches or is this a non-witch hunt led by non-witches?  Where is the opposition in all of this which would lead one to use the witch hunt analogy?

2. Republicans, related to the above confusion point, wasn't the time to pardon at the very beginning?  Couldn't the Decider (Cheney) have looked at the situation, deemed no crime was committed, and declared this to the public?  Why are you complaining about the millions wasted on this investigation when it was your guys that initiated it all?

I am much bemused by this article over on MSNBC.com about President Bush's visit to Colombia on Sunday.  From a journalistic standpoint the article does state the Who, What and Where.  But not only do they miserably miss the Why, they end up confusing the issue of why along the way.

It has come to my attention that Michael Alton Gottlieb sort of took a poke at the rules on a new feature around here.  Mind you, I don't believe there is actually a written rule against what he did but it was obvious that he was attempting to bend the rule beyond the spirit of the rule.

Having administered several internet discussion forums over the years, I always had a chuckle when finding someone attempting to subvert the system in some clever way.  Generally a warning was issued along with a sharper eye on such a devious character.  But always with an appreciation for that rule bender's cleverness.

With Enzi, the Republican Senator from Wyoming, ignoring the close result of the election in November in Trauner's race against representative Barbara Cubin and continuing to rubberstamp the Bush agenda by voting for escalation, the DNC should encourage Trauner to go for the big prize in 2008.  And, to start right now...

This type of diary is not my normal fare. I generally am not great at instant analysis. There are better bloggers here and all over the internets for this type of thing but watching a number of events occuring at DailyKos has caused me to venture way out from my comfort zone.

Two DKos regular contributors who I truly respect, mcjoan and BigTentDemocrat, are making the case here and here that much of the bluster by the administration about Iran is a carefully planned ploy to get Democrats, the media and the people at large to look over at Iran for a bit while they achieve their underhanded aims in Iraq.  Note, this is a huge simplification of mcjoan's and BTD's argument, but I think the summary is accurate enough. They aren't arguing to ignore Iran altogether. They are mostly making the case that we shouldn't take our eye off of Iraq and domestic issues by falling for the head fake at Iran. It's a subtle argument, but I think it's wrong for a few reasons. The problem with subtle arguments is that sometimes they can be too clever by half.

In a nutshell... all closets will be ransacked and opened to the light of day.  Or phrased another way... Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts R Us.

Nowhere is this lesson better underlined than the announcement today that Howard Dean and the DNC have hired Michael Gerke to head up opposition research for the DNC through the 2008 Election.  Gerke was hired by Kerry in 2004 to do oppo research on Dean.  And by all accounts, he did a pretty good job, especially if one looks at the results.  So Dean is, in effect, letting bygones be bygones.  In an effort to do the very best for DNC, Dean is putting aside any personal animus to hire the best.  If oppo research was less important, then perhaps Dean would have had the luxury to indulge in a bit of pique.  But this hiring truly does underline the real political lesson of 2006.

Assembling on Union Street

I had the pleasure to walk with many others through the Central District of Seattle, an older neighborhood that still sports a racially diverse population, on Saturday January 27th in solidarity with other Peace Marchers across the country and in solidarity with US Troops serving in Iraq.

I took some cell phone camera pic's along the way.  Sorry about the lack of quality, especially on the 1st and final pics as the camera seemed to automatically select a lower rez setting.

There is one huge topic concerning the Iraq War that nobody in America seems to want to talk about.  Oh, the occasional short piece might turn up on NPR or in Atlantic magazine.  The lefty blogs do a little bit better on writing about it, but most of these diaries sit largely unread and unrecommended.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle are reluctant to bring this up.  Ted Kennedy talks about it an eensy weensy bit.

All of this miniscule dialogue about something that is a huge problem for America...

What to do about Iraqi refugees?

Four years ago I had the good fortune to take one of the 3 trips I've been on in El Salvador.  During this trip I was part of a group that went to a remote village in the mountains to oversee a water pipeline project to bring potable water to the families of the village.  After the trip to the mountains, I got to participate in their annual celebration of the Death of the Jesuit Martyrs, their housekeeper and her daughter.  All and all it was a very moving experience and trip for me.  But that's only prelude to my real Thanksgiving story.

Well, I'm surprised none of the 20 or so people who showed up at the Elysian Fields diaried this yet.  So I'll give it a whirl.

Or better yet, recommend this diary instead:
http://www.dailykos.com/...

After YearlyKos it was written over and over again that "We take care of our own!"  I can't remember names, but the person who organized the event and our webmaster here (who had suffered some damage back home) were helped out tremendously by our generosity.

Well, Jean Hay Bright is one of our own.  She ran against Olympia Snowe in Maine.  Jean has come onto DailyKos and diaried her experiences as a Democratic candidate multiple times.  

Ever since "Don't Think of an Elephant" was published, it would seem the Democrats have been on a Quixotic adventure searching in vain for the right issue to turn the tables on the Republicans.  One where we define the frame and the MSM gobbles it up, and then we repeat it endlessly, the MSM repeats it more, and even to the point where our opponents get confused and buy our frame.  We've been on the opposite side of such frames for far too long.

Enter: stem cell research

FRAME: Republicans are against stem cell research and therefore against potential cures of a whole host of diseases and disabilities that Americans face.

I was at the Darcy Burner celebration tonight and after hearing speeches from Governor Gregoire, Senator Murray (interrupted by cheers for Webb), and Congressman Dicks, we were finally treated to Darcy coming down and talking to the troops.  Good speech, and her 3 year old son did a great job of warming up the crowd initially.

But she had to repeat it twice that the race was too close to be determined by midnight Pacific time.  That we wouldn't know until long into the morning the next day, if then.  She sounded cautiously optimistic but very gracious no matter what the outcome.  And judging by the slow rate of returns, it would seem that this race will be counted last in the entire nation.

Hee haw!  Finally some good news.  I was really really worried that they might let Sadaam off on a technicality, like in those fancy pants lawyer shows on the tv.  I don't trust Iraqi juries.  Never have.  I'm just grateful to the Republicans that somehow they got a conviction.  Even though the judge and jury were Iraqis, I give American Republicans 110% credit.

Also, I'm hoping less Republicans will commit suicide on November 8th because of this verdict.  No matter how bad the election news, we got Sadaam!  That's a reason for keeping on living.

Another thing... I hope now that Saddam is history, we never have to hear about the Republican Guard.  It always made me queasy that Sadaam named his evil troops after the Republican Party.  It just didn't seem right.  I hope the media persons now stop talking about the Republican Guard.

I'm happy.

I hope the noose don't break when they hang him.

I realize Al Gore's focus has been on the planet.  I realize he has used his status to improve diplomacy around the world.  I realize he has fought for the basic rights of not only citizens around the world, but also for the very health of the planet.  I realize he has traveled around the globe to commune with all, but...

We need Al to come home and heal our nation.

This diary isn't about wishful thinking, nor some obsessive love for Al Gore.  It is simply my observation that there is no other person for the job of unraveling the mess that Bush and all other Republicans have made.