Internal Monologue

Task one of the American progressive movement is to help Democrats defeat the Republican radicals who had taken over all branches of our federal government. Task two is to remake the Democrats into a party that is actually a good party, rather than a less-bad-than-the-Republicans party. Three things on the back pages of today's NYT A-section show that we have as much to do on task 2 as task 1: 1. The energy bill doesn't increase fuel economy standards . According to this DailyKos story , the Democratic proposals to do so were withdrawn for fear of causing the consensus on the bill to collapse : Pelosi in a statement said she supported requiring automakers to make more fuel efficient vehicles but that the issue was deferred "in the interest of promoting passage of a consensus energy bill." Boo hiss. Didn't these folks see An Inconvenient Truth ? I am so tired of the lobbying (i.e. whining) of the American auto industry, and of that industry using American worker

Image from Yahoo! News Image from Yahoo! News A section of I-35 collapsed in my hometown of Minneapolis: MINNEAPOLIS - An interstate bridge jammed with rush-hour traffic suddenly broke into huge sections and collapsed into the Mississippi River Wednesday, pitching dozens of cars 60 feet into the water and killing at least six people. The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of being repaired and had several lanes closed when it crumbled. "There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse." I've contacted my family and they're OK. So far no terrorism is suspected. The bridge was undergoing repairs. Eyewitness reports are coming in : Dennis Winegar of Houston, Texas, said he felt the Interstate 35W bridge start t

Click the comic or here to see the whole thing. Via Crooks & Liars .

Here's another one of those stories that show how different some people are from me: Among those virginity pledgers, courtship has become the trend du jour. The brainchild of Josh Harris, a 33-year-old Christian evangelical and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, courtship is the antihookup. No nooky. No commitment flake-outs. No playing the field. You see a stranger at the local mall or church barbecue, and then—if you both feel that certain spark—he asks your father if he can “court” you. Lauren’s parents, Randy and Lisa, are on board, to say the least. I can understand dissatisfaction with the more standard methods of finding a spouse. But I hardly think this method is more likely to succeed. But who knows? Maybe the data will prove me wrong. I found this story via Pandagon , where the poster and commenters are of course horrified: The father approved the “courtship” in the spring of 2006, so basically they got married as strangers. But that’s pretty much how it has to be, it w

Upyernoz asks a very good question : why do cell phones play a little shutdown tune when you turn them off? who came up with that idea? if i am shutting off my phone it's because i don't want it to make any noise. is it just trying to taunt me? yeah, i realize you can disable the shutdown song. but it seems like most phones default to having it on. why would anyone think that's a good idea? Fortunately, my phone, a Nokia something-or-other from Cingular--oops I mean AT&T (but my phone still says "Cingular Mall" in the lower right-hand corner)--does not do this. But my previous phone did. I agree that a shut down song is very bad design. The only benefit I can imagine is that it may serve as an alert if your phone is shutting down and you don't want it to, perhaps because the button got pressed by something else in your bag. But that's bad design, too.

Jay Inslee (D-WA) has introduced a bill to begin an impeachment investigation of Gonzales . Follow the link to C&L for news video. There's a diary on Kos , but it doesn't seem to have more information. It does have some transcript of the NBC coverage: From NBC's Mike Viqueira A group of House Democrats will introduce a resolution calling on the Judiciary Committee to begin impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) will sponsor the measure. It will be dropped in the hopper tomorrow. It's too early to say whether it will actually get anywhere. Here's the text of resolution... RESOLUTION Directing the Committee on the Judiciary to investigate whether Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. 1 Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary shall 2 investigate fully whether sufficient grounds exist for the 3 House of Representatives to imp

Digby quotes Matthew Yglesias on the very odd behavior of the current Republican party: Much of the crisis in Washington today boils down precisely to the congressional GOP's unwillingness not so much to "do the right thing" but unwillingness to even be petty and power-hungry; their decision to see their job as backstopping the president come what may rather than to jealously horde[sic] the powers of their own offices. Then she goes on to say: This is why our institutions are failing. The founders never counted on politicians "doing the right thing." Profiles in courage are always in short supply and no government can depend upon good intentions. But they did assume that they would, at least, want to preserve their own careers and constitutional prerogatives. The modern Republicans are so committed to their party that they will follow their 28% president over the cliff, and that is a mindset we haven't seen since the civil war. The big question in my mind is