Wait, Aren't You Scared? -- NO.

firedoglake has a link to a great post by a blogger called Kung Fu Monkey: Wait, Aren't You Scared?

As the initial "OH SWEET MOTHER OF GOD THEY CAN BLOW US UP WITH SNAPPLE BOTTLES!!" hysteria subsides, we discover that these guys had been under surveillance, completely penetrated, by no less than three major intelligence agencies. That they were planning on cell phones, and some of them openly travelled to Pakistan (way to keep the cover, Reilly, Ace of Spies). Hell, Chertoff knew about this two weeks ago, and the only reason that some people can scream this headline:

"The London Bombers were within DAYS of trying a dry run!!!"

-- was because MI-5, MI-6, and Scotland Yard let them get that close, so they could suck in the largest number of contacts (again, very spiffy police work). The fact that these wingnuts could have been rolled up, at will, at any time, seems to have competely escaped the media buzz.

This is terrorism's A-game? Sack up, people.

Again, this is not to do anything less than marvel as cool, well-trained, ruthless law-enforcement professionals -- who spent decades honing their craft chasing my IRA cousins -- execute their job magnificently. Should we take this seriously? DAMN STRAIGHT we take this seriously. Left unchecked, these terror-fanboy bastards would have gone down in history. These cretins' intent was monstrous; they should, and will, all go to jail for a very long time. This is the part where we all breathe a sigh of relief that there are some actual professionals working the job in some countries.

But God gave me a brain, and a modicum of spine. Taking something seriously, and panicking over it are two different things.

Ain't that right!

I'm sorry the Republican Party is overflowing with panicking children. Even more so, I'm sorry a bunch of cowards are running my government.

I am willing to put my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor on the line, just like our Founding Fathers were over two hundred years ago. But if you think screaming at everyone to hide under the covers instead is going to help, rather than working to solve the problem, well, then, you're no patriot.

If it don't work, DON'T BUY IT

On July 13, the Pensacola, Florida based law firm of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a “qui-tam” lawsuit in U.S. District Court, alleging that Diebold and other electronic-voting- machine companies fraudulently represented to state election boards and the federal government that their products were “unhackable.”

If that's what they said, they were definitely lying. We know, thanks to Black Box and others, that these systems are hackable.

"Nasty Liberal Bloggers"

Man, those right-wing bloggers sure have no shame, do they? It's interesting that it's really only innate human decency that keeps liberal bloggers from being as nasty as certain right-wingers rabid types in the first place, -- who suggest killing us (and the occasional Supreme Court Justice) -- and yet, we get *called* nasty.

Nasty Liberal Bloggers

I feel like starting a group blog just so I can name it that.

Supporting the Democratic Candidate in CT

Hillary Clinton keeps her word and supports the Dem candidate for senator in CT.

I haven't said anything about the Lamont-Lieberman race, but I am extremely disappointed by Senator Lieberman's hubris in his apparent assumption that Connecticut voters owed him a job just because they voted him in before.

I'm glad to see a new guy, with new ideas, taking the field. And I'm *extremely* glad to see Democratic leaders keeping their word.

"Backbone" is the watchword for 2006, friends.

Aw, crap.

Susan Butcher died on Saturday.

If you don't know who Susan was, then you've missed a vital part of the history of the Great Race -- the Iditarod. Susan was an icon, a giant, and she owned that race -- one of the toughest endurance tests of human and animal you can imagine, that simulates the desperate dash across Alaska by dog sled made in 1925, to deliver diptheria serum to Nome -- for most of the 1980's.

I remember when her team tangled with a moose in 1985. Two dogs dead, over 10 injured. I'd say that moose is probably the only reason the first woman to win the Iditarod wasn't Susan.

But she came back and won the Iditarod four times -- three of them in a row, prompting T-shirts like

"Alaska: Where Men Are Men, and Women Win the Iditarod."

Susan retired in the mid-90's, but she left an indelible stamp on the race, the sport, and the state. Alaska's most famous athlete, she was tirelessly dedicated to good dog care, and a gracious, inexhaustible champion who deserved to be called "the toughest dog in the team."

Susan was one of my very first heroes. R.I.P.

Oh, no, Canada!

Tories axe website in Kyoto assault

The Conservative government is trying to push global climate change off the federal map, shutting down the main federal website on the topic and removing mention of it from speeches and postings, opposition MPs and environmentalists say.

What, do you think if you ignore it, it'll go away?

That technique didn't work when you were in school and it won't work now.