Crossposted at the Motley Moose.

This is all too easy for me to write.  I've spent the last eight months trying very hard to agree with then-President-Elect Obama that we should look forward, not behind us, on the issue(s) of what the Bush Administration did to make us safe.  I sympathize with President Obama on this one.  There is so much work for us to do on policy!  Health care, climate change, credit card reform, and god knows what else is on the list!  Moreover, I agree with the basic premise that the Bush people did what they did in the honest belief that they were doing what (they thought) was necessary to save American lives (and perhaps atone for their monumental fuckup).  Well, I give up.  I can't get behind this, even though I cannot condemn President Obama for his impulses on this one.

Attorney General Eric Holder MUST act, regardless of the costs!  If Vice President Cheney ordered the CIA, as has been recently reported, to NOT brief Congress on matters that the CIA is required by law to so brief Congress, well, that's it.  Holder MUST act in order for us to keep this republic our founders gave us.

Hello all!  It seems we've got one hell of a lot of angst on this whole Israel/Palestine issue.  We've really just had five or six people rehash the same arguments of late.  Not all of those arguments are bad, but we aren't really gaining any ground here.  Maybe I can stir things up a tad.  I'm going to present my own take on this, and maybe I'll be lucky enough to offend all sides.  No, I ain't gonna troll.  I think there's enough blame to go around.

Crossposted at The Motley Moose.
Barack Obama is a goddamned genius.

Every day this tiff with Limbaugh continues is a win for Rush, true.  His fanbase may be growing in size.  It is absolutely growing in ardor and intensity.  Limbaugh is amped up, as if on steroids.  There is a power vacuum in the Republican party and in the conservative movement.  Limbaugh has been singled out the President and good old Rush has risen to the occasion.  He will tell truth to power!

And it's goddamned hilarious.  For every foot soldier he collects he's probably scaring off two moderates, maybe three.  And this is far more devious than anyone realizes.

Yep, they really do.  Not every single one of them, but certainly most of them.  If you're gay you're a sinner but you're a sinner of the worst sort to them.  You may be one of God's creatures but you're certainly one of the evil ones.  That's how millions of evangelicals see you gay folks.

Rick Warren isn't unusual in this respect.  He is a part of a movement that is defined, in part, by it's focus on the evils of homosexuality.  He didn't create this meme, nor has he done particularly much to further it.  Yes, he has done some, but generally without ardor.  To this agnostic Jew, it's pretty obvious he thinks there are more important issues.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/1 1/19/pritzker_tapped_for_commerce.html

CNN reports that Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker is President-elect Obama's choice to become Secretary of Commerce.

Again from Political Wire:

CNN reports that President-elect Obama has chosen Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) to be Secretary of Homeland Security pending further vetting by the transition team.

Okay, look.  I get that pretty much all progressives want to see women properly represented in the Obama cabinet.  I want the exact same thing.  That said, some folks have taken the time to complain about how few women have been picked when, well, let me see now, we've got five cabinet appointees outed at this point, and three of them are women.

Howdy folks!  We're probably going to have an argument, but at least it isn't an argument about what primary candidate we should support.  I guess that's progress.

I was absolutely shocked that Proposition 8 passed in California.  That was a true crime against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.  I just can't fathom why a majority of Californians would do such a thing.  It hurt.  It hurt me less than it might have hurt someone who planned to marry the person they love, but it's still a crime against me too.  We are, all of us, brothers and sisters.  A crime against the few is a crime against all.

But I'm seeing too many people at too many websites lashing out against whole groups, namely African Americans and Mormons.  Be better than this, please.

Crossposted at The Motley Moose

I'm in my last year of law school.  In my first year I made a good friend who'd had some time in IT before giving law school a try.  It didn't work out.  The man worked like he was possessed by some particularly motivated demons, but it just wasn't in him.  He moved to Pennsylvania and got a fantastic IT job, making more than he would have as an attorney.  We've remained good friends.

My friend considers himself a conservative.  He believes in a small government, low taxes, generally less regulation, and is moderate on social issues.  He's a big believer in a strong national defense and he absolutely cannot stand the Clintons.  I mean at all.  He can go on for quite awhile about how much he cannot stand Bill or Hillary.

He's voting for Obama and he's made a donation to the Obama campaign.  And he ain't the only one.

Crossposted at the Motley Moose

I expect I'll take some hits for this one, but it's an honest conclusion that I've held for months.  Nothing has changed my mind and I don't think anything will.  The only complaints are political, and I'm fighting for policy here.

Robert Gates, our current Secretary of Defense, is a foreign policy realist.  What this means is that he frames the whole of international relations as a question of what's actually going on and what can this country actually accomplish.  We have interests, and those interests must be secured.  This will mean doing business with bad people in bad places, from time to time.  Remember, Gates is one of Bush 41's people, and he was brought in to clean up W's mess.  Gates did NOT want the job, and had turned down a prior appointment by President Bush just the year before.  He rather liked Texas A&M.