Hey everyone,
So, we at Headzup are extremely excited about Netroots Nation next week.  We'll be moderating a panel called "Progressives Go Viral: Creating and Distributing Video For Internet, iPod and Mobile Audiences".  And here is the second video we made promoting the conference and a certain Keynote Discussion between Markos & Harold Ford, Jr.  (Transcript below).  The first can be found here.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about life lately and the world in which I find myself.

As you can tell from my handle, and/or previous diaries I've written (If you've read any) I am an experimental psychologist by trade but I have always loved politics.. discussions, debates and learning from all sides from all people.

But it hit me the other day. Where did this interest come from? How come I got bitten by the political bug, and others did not?

>More after the break<</p>

The first half of today's show was about patriotism, and it was juicy. The second was about Barack Obama's shift to the center and John McCain’s Campaign Shake up.

In a recent first, the Personal Democracy Forum held a "Twitter Debate" between Obama and McCain surrogates. The PdF is a really interesting collection of people from various backgrounds, who jointly hope to promote, understand, and evolve technology in democratic uses.

The moderator of this debate was none other that Wonkette Emeritus herself, Ana Marie Cox. The surrogates in question were RNC Director of Communications, Liz Mair and Michael Nelson, Clinton's Director for Technology Policy at the Federal Communications Commission, IBMer, and Visiting Professor of Communication, Culture, and Technology at Georgetown University.

With the FISA "compromise" hitting the news, there has been a predictable blizzard of GBCW, GBCW-lite and other hand-wringing diaries.  Some of them have been thoughtful.  Some of them have been hysterical.  Others were less so.

But even with all this spleen venting and ranting, there's still at one thing I like about DKos.

Kagro X wrote a piece yesterday explaining how McCain - by not paying for the transportation he received from a private plane owned by his wife's company - broke the same campaign finance law that put Jack Abramoff in prison.

A campaign finance law he co-sponsored.

http://www.dailykos.com/...

Which got me thinking...

I kid you not.

This is up at HuffPost

ABC wants to host one of the proposed town halls - to which I add, hell freakin' no!!!

Step 1: Know McCain's stances, from a fact-based source:

Here's a nice site that indexes positions on the issues:

McCain's On The Issues page

Step 2:

Compare those positions against those of either Barack Obama:

Obama's On The Issues page

And/Or Hillary Clinton's positions:

Hillary's On The Issues page

Step 3:
Notice the changes between McCain's stances around the year 2000 and his new stances he's taken in more recent years.  Some of the changes can will be important to know.  Compare them against George W Bush's positions:

George W Bush's On The Issues page

I use the On The Issues pages just because it gives a nice broad view - any set of reliable news sites will do for more focused comparisons - but depending on your audience, you may have to be very selective and comprehensive in your sourcing.  

More below the fold...

I have argued before, that one of McCain's biggest and least discussed vulnerabilities is his tendency to mental lapses that cause him to get his facts wrong (you can see today's here).  Whether this is a part of the normal aging process (he is,after all, almost 72) or is a psychological defect as I explored in Obama Goes After McCain On Iraq (

I know the media likes to call these speaking gaffes, but I believe it's something deeper and more important and reveals that McCain's brain works similar to George Bush's: both distort facts to fit a political view beforethey're stored in memory.  So it's not that McCain mis-spoke, he honestly believed the wrong troop count he was quoting was correct.

) makes no difference: it is a potentially lethal trait for a Presidential candidate. So I think it funny how the MSM seem to agree that McCain's proposal to have a series of town hall meetings with Obama will play to McCain's strength:

Last night, in a speech for the ages, Senator John McCain rose to heights seldom seen in American politics. One was reminded of Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream and Mountaintop speeches/sermons. Even far-left political analyst Harold Ford, chairman of the ultra-progressive Democratic Leadership Council, pronounced the speech, "Absolutely Great. Brilliant. One of the finest oratorical experiences imaginable."

And in one particularly poignant moment, the senator spoke the words that all caring people the world over have often contemplated:

"We should be able to deliver bottled hot water to dehydrated babies."

After watching John McCain blather on last night with that lime-green jello backdrop, it was obvious to see the stark contrasts that will be on display this summer during the scheduled debates. During his speech in New Orleans, I had to wipe the sleep out of my eyes and take some Dramamine to quell the queesiness of watching his head turn back and forth as he played teleprompter ping pong.

I thought to myself, "wow...Barrack will own McCain this debate season." Well, this morning, that "season" may become a bit longer.

I'm finally starting to feel the urgency and necessity of radically expanding the political dialogue in order to check a runaway executive, of which I'm highly dubious as to the prospect of them going away quietly.  As such, this is hands down the most substantial and passionate posting I've ever written. What makes it more significant to me is that I am planning on sending to every single person I know as a personal plea for them to lay down their apathy and realize just how bad the situation has become.

Anyone who's seen/read Naomi Wolf's lecture/book, The End of America understand the urgency of which I speak.

First of all, thanks to JeffLieber for inspiring the title.

Secondly, If this diary is written incoherently, it's because this story just happened to me.

Thirdly, I'm sort of embarrassed with how incoherent this diary turned out, so I give permission for pootie pictures.

I know this isn't breaking news, and that Neocons are very narrow-minded. I just wanted to share a personal story with you all.

The other day, I was on the bus home from school, and I was chatting with one of my friends about Hummer proudly advertising their 18 mpg, when I hear from the seat behind me: "there's no proof global warming exists", or some other such bullshit. This girl was butting in to my conversation with her RW talking points. I tried my best to continue the conversation that had been so rudely interrupted, but there was no turning back.

::More below the fold::

I have personally experienced the result of the polarization of national political bickering with friendships I have held for many decades.  And it's truly unfortunate.

I went over to Huffington Post a few minutes ago, scrolled down a bit, and burst out laughing!!!  If anyone needs any more evidence that Hillary has completely lost her mind, I have it for you.  This has been ridiculous for quite some time, but now it's absolutely Hill-arious!!!  Follow me...

Bush et al have shredded that "goddamn piece of paper".

Will Obama fix it?  I am not even considering a truth council a la South Africa.  

Will he restore a balance of constitutional power?

McCain certainly won't.  I have lost confidence that Hillary would.  One of my main arguments to my republican friends and workmates against Bushco's  unitary executive is that do they want Hillary to have that same power.  I let them argue all they want in favor of a strong executive, and then I drop the Hillary bomb on them.  Not received well.

But what about Obama?

Apparently there is talk of Obama and McCain joining up for multiple town hall events, and both of them are open to the idea. This is not the same as sponsored debates. You can read more about it here.

I had this conversation last night with my SO - he's British.  And he doesn't understand why the US Constitution is considered sacrosanct and 'not amendable.'

I'm not the best person to ask this of, because I don't believe it is.  After all, we've added and repealed Amendments, including the Civil Rights Act in 1964, etc.  Clearly it is amendable.  If we want it to be.  But we don't seem to often want it to be.

What amendments are okay?  Additions only?  Subtractions?  Are we able to look back over the Constitution and see items that are in need of amending to currently reflect society's values?