Sad news of a truste DKOS member.

I've been waiting to hear what Dean has to say about the Gulf Tragedy. He's right now on Randi Rhodes and he's in good form.

Here's a link to Air America
He's saying, "America needs better leaders." [I'll say!]

He just called Bush a "hopeless, hapless person," and he's saying Katrina is a "national and international embarrassment." You're all invited to use this diary to contribute comments.

Bushco to Durbin: Rape, torture and murder are yesterday's news. According to the Times , we've put all that stuff "behind us."

Take a look at this map, but be advised that in Italia red = blue (centrosinistra or center/left) and blue = red (center/right).

Abasso la destra!

This map charts the findings of "exit polls and projections" for Sunday and Monday's regional elections in Italy, home of Bush's cagnolino da compagnia(*1) Berlusconi.

More esultanza(*2) below the fold.

1 lapdog
2 jubilation

According to La Repubblica, an Al Qaeda website has announced that they now have nuclear weapons.

Our own dear leader has written the most emailed Guardian article of the past week.

If you've somehow missed it, you need to click here -- "Madness of George"  this second!

It's also satisfying to note that "rival" Glenn Reynolds didn't even make the Top Ten. What a loser!

Have we made enough of "the internets"?

It occurs to me that this could be Junior's supermarket scanner scandal. Do you really think he spends much time online? Do you really think he even  knows how to turn on a computer?

Here's a clue from a speech he gave four years ago.

Fox has this odd report

Fox isn't clear whether the shocked and awed "reporters" were all in the Fox "press room," or if they mean the actual debate press room.

This morning's email included a message from my sole winger friend -- an oxymoron if there ever was one -- taking cackling delight in Sludge's latest fashion critique of Senator Kerry. I refuse to go to that site, but from the picture included in the email, I can tell you that it has to do with Kerry's recent tan, which Sludge characterizes as an "Orange Alert."

Trivial? Petty? Assinine? Typical Sludge? Yes, yes, yes and emphatically yes. But how much do you want to bet this is just a preview of the "issues" the Rover Boys & Girls (AKA, our "Liberal Media") will  be addressing after Thursday's debate?

According to Editor & Publisher:

It will be years before we know how much damage was done to our WMD intelligence operations -- and how many operatives got killed -- by the Plame outing. But we already know how many tens of thousands of people have died in Iraq, in part thanks to Judith Miller's irresponsible and false reporting.

Watching live coverage from North Ossetia right now. Uzhas [horror] is all I can think while watching this, but when I turn away -- or the feed takes an extra long time buffering -- I start thinking about "Terror," too.

Bush has essentially followed the same strategy as his off-and-on friend Puty-Poot: relentless military action, disregard for human rights, support for puppet governments, stay the course, stay the course.

According to Juan Cole and Jim Lobe:

A "puzzle" one of whose pieces may be none other than al-Qaeda.

I keep hearing from Likudnikish (American) Jewish friends that Bush has been better for Israel than Kerry would be, and this scares me. Even if only a few thousand Jewish voters think this way, that could make a big -- and tragic -- difference in a state like Florida.

But now I see this:

The State Department defended a prospective deal to equip Jordan with high-tech air-to-air missiles and cautioned Israel not to build 600 new homes at a large Jewish settlement on the West Bank alongside Jerusalem.

Jordanian missile deal

Right in the middle of good, mostly accurate reviews in CNN's Pundit Scorecard, we find the following outrageous, supposedly favorable comment:

and Vive la France!

Glorying in my all-Irish pedigree (after viewing Ms. Coleman's brave interview), I turned to today's Observer and stumbled on this stomach-turning "review".

'Moore is shameless in feeding his own ego'

Observer film writer Mark Kermode on the controversial filmmaker behind Fahrenheit 9/11

What a line-up!

Ron Reagan, Jr., is just starting to talk now. Michael Moore and Bill Clinton are due a little later in the afternoon.

Use this space for comments.

I'm never sure where Charlie Rose falls on the political spectrum. In general, I'd say he falls on his knees before his guests, no matter what their political stance (in between asking questions so long, pointed and rambling, they're impossible to parody). But this past week, which he's declared a five-night tribute to our dead but not-to-be-forgotten McCommunicator, has been whoring worthy of the likes of Russert.

It's disturbing that so few American journalists are investigating the ever-widening torture scandal. Besides Hersh, the only (print) journalist who seems to be taking this horror seriously is Miles Moffeit of the Denver Post.

Last week, he was the first to break the story about 5 deaths in custody, 0 autopsies. This week, he's found more evidence of systemic torture, including a case where a soldier handcuffed Iraqi kids before stoning them. And there's worse: