Seriously, I don't usually make a point of writing a diary while drinking Guinness, I don't even write diaries, but you people have to see this music video:

http://www.youtube.com/...

It's so seriously serious that I got to pass it along. When I first checked it out, via digg, I was under the impression that it was a Saturday Night Live kinda skit done by some Hungarian rappers, so over the top hilarious that it couldn't be serious. But...

Sen. Lieberman,

I was distressed upon hearing, last week, that no call could be returned. It was not my intention to harass you or otherwise interfere with your comfortable life. Indeed, as you well know, and as the correspondence should prove, there was no more an important time to weigh the manner of one's worth than last week, nor a better time than now to examine the findings in retrospect.

First off, I support the election of Hillary Clinton. For Senate.

Like many people on this site, however, I'm not exactly ready to support her primary bid for the presidency should she choose to run.

This is not a definitive decision, just one I've arrived at given my own studies of politics, and it's a decision not likely to change unless she impresses me between now and 2008 with an approach that does not appear contrived to sew up the presidential primary, or ultimately, the election.

In other words, I need to see something genuine from this prospective nominee, a gesture or series of gestures that demonstrate the strength of her commitment to her constituents in NY, those potential constituents elsewhere in this nation, and ultimately to the ideals she claims to hold dear.

SHORTER DIARY: How to polish a progressive elevator-style sales pitch for a random environment of uncertain length?

SEE ALSO: For fucks sake can we please skip the abstract meta discussion on 'framing'.

This summer, if all goes poorly and my B and C plans fall through, I will be hitchhiking across the United States for a 'project'. The details are relatively unimportant, but let me just say it would be a pretty ambitious attempt compared to most of my previous journeys (I've got about 20K miles under my belt from various ill conceived and accidental trips), but this one would take the cake for scope and mileage.

The last time I went for a few thousand mile hitch was in the summer of 2001, a time before I had become so intensely aware of politics. I always love to meet random Americans through through the combination of coincidence, questionable decision-making, and outright irresponsibility, but find that an overly political worldview has recently colored my impressions of people who I would normally have no misgivings about...

Unable to make it to DC, the best I can hope is that plenty of people will record what goes on there this weekend. Videotape it, take pictures, bring a tape recorder... hell, sign up for a throwaway blog and sign on to audblogger and post dumb shit like this live from the middle of the crowd:

http://www.audioblogger.com/media/52152/161831.mp3

That was caught this spring during the march in NYC marking 2 years of Iraq. When listening, be patient, wait until the 30 second mark and hear the woman belting out a tune that was fit for a hundred remixes if it weren't recorded over a cell phone...

I'll try to get to what I'd suggest for the upcoming rally before the fold, and the why after...

The First What: Getting a few technologically minded volunteers set up in coffee shops around DC with laptops and internet access during the protest. These volunteers would dump video/audio/and photo files from the many people with recording equipment out in the crowds.

The Second What: Getting a few sites like C&L with massive bandwith allocation to put them up in something approaching real-time (half day lag, whatever).

Say what? I too am astonished.

Perhaps he never heard when the man wove, in the summer of 2004, the most moving and eloquent, most spiritual, appeal for an end to US torture into his show's story:

...and nowadays we're stone cold sober, stone cold sober, Lord help us, and the terrible things that righteous people can do.

God knows, God knows, friends.

People without a shred of self-doubt, a person without any doubt is a monster.

I'm horrified (applause)...I'm horrified at the thought that torture of prisoners is American policy. It just terrribly horrifies me. Say I'm wrong, I'd like to be wrong...but I would hate to see enlisted men and women being made scapegoats in order to protect policy makers.

America doesn't stand for torture, it's not who we are. America is a refuge, for people who suffer from torture and oppression, and if we practice it ourselves then what plan does God have for us?

Well, I'm watching TV and all three local networks are covering live a series of explosions taking place at a chemical plant near the airport. The images of what's going on should be a reminder of what homeland security should be worried about, one of the chemical silos is enough to set of every other one on site, which seems to be whats happening now.

I heard the pre-announcement and figured a little speculation was in order so I picked up .com. Granted he hasn't been confirmed and is not legit yet, but that's no reason not to speculate. Anyway, was wondering if anyone had any ideas on developing it.

I don't really care to spend any time on it other than parking it with his picture and some words of wisdom like 'George W. Bush is a poopyhead' or something...

I'm sitting here thinking about how government aid for charity is going to flow through 'religion' for the foreseeable future, the changes to the tax code, the loosening on restrictions for religious political involvement, the incentives for mega-churches to pitch grant schemes to the government. I. Don't. Like. It.

At one point in my life, when I thought 250 dollars was a lot, I started to travel a bit. As happens with most people who think 250 dollars is a lot of money, I wound up broke. Living briefly in the Dakotas, I wanted to make my way back to Michigan, and I had a sure ride. Thing was, I had to wait three weeks and had no money...

Dear Slate Magazine,

I am glad to hear that your enterprise has changed course and will now be run under the stewardship of the Washington Post. Whether or not Microsoft was the best host for the first real online magazine, I don't know, don't care. What I do know is that Slate is pretty good, especially with the reachout to NPR.

One thing Slate lacks is a blog.

I've heard rumors on the internets that there is a blogger in residence at Slate...

For about a week now, I've been wrestling with an idea that I've tried to write down a few times and keep giving up on. Briefly, the idea goes something like this:

Maybe the Democrats are too cerebral a party to win at the ballot box.

Mind you...

As most bloggers here in the U.S. may know, the Koufax Awards are an annual ordeal where the left side of the blogosphere toasts its best...

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld faced tough questioning this past week from a member of the Tennessee Army National Guard. The soldier caught the Secretary off guard when he bluntly asked why soldiers did not have adequate supplies of soup to fend off hunger and why it was that they were forced to dumpster-dive to procure discarded styrofoam cups containing the soup that is so crucial to a balanced diet...

The past four years have witnessed a decline in the standing of the United States among it's peers in the community of nations. Even before the attacks of 9-11, an uptick in the level of anti-American sentiment could be sensed in news reports from abroad. While not all attributable to the conduct of the Bush administration (ie. Clinton era trade practices, GM foods, cultural imperialism, etc), these sentiments were heightened by actions taken once Bush assumed office in 2001.

For people who have websites, but find themselves on few blogrolls, I got a project. Take a look at the blogs who have linked to you in their blogrolls (whether you knew they did or not) by checking out technocrati or blogshares. See where you're hits come from.

Should OPEC be given a new cartel? Yes.

The world community (maybe the U.N. Assembly, Kyoto signatories, perhaps various banking/development orgs) should publicly allow OPEC nations a limited proprietary head start, say 8 years, in the development of alternate fuels.

OPEC nations are the arbiters of energy exchange at present and find themselves in a profound position considering the strengths and weaknesses of having a world economy that is overwhelmingly dependent on the extraction/distribution of their oil.

CONCLUSION: "To me, the spirit of bipartisanship is dead until I see active and irrefutable efforts by the Republican controlled government to seriously reach out to the 49% of this country's people who disagree with their idiotic methods of governing. That's about it, the silent treatment and alot of FUCK YOU's. I hope anyone who voted for Bush suffers because of the choices made by their leaders in the next four years.

Oh, did I mention, FUCK YOU?"

The beginning follows...