Sherif Girgis of Dover, Del., is a senior philosophy major at Princeton University and a 2008 Rhodes Scholar.

I suppose that among those discriminating moralists who elevate abortion above any other consideration, this is a pretty speech, Sherif being young and a Rhodes Scholar and all.

The following is an excerpt from his open letter  to Barack Obama which appeared in The Audacity of Hope, National Review OnLine 3/4/08:

Picked up the mail yesterday which included a letter from my local agent who writes my auto and homeowners insurance.

Although it is on a letter bearing his personal agency letterhead, he didn't write the letter and he didn't sign it. His insurance company wrote it and no doubt told him what to say and how to say it.

Among other things it says,

"Washington's trial lawyers sponsored a self-serving bill in the state Legislature this year that will significantly increase frivolous lawsuits ..."

Worrisome to insurers is Referendum 67

According to Dictionary.com,

frivolous lawsuits would be
"characterized by lack of seriousness or sense: as in frivolous conduct."

They would be lawsuits that are
"self-indulgently carefree; unconcerned about or lacking any serious purpose."

Roadbed's comment confirmed for me what has come to be my "pre-prejudice" that always tempts me to avoid posting on Kos.

I learned more than a year ago that the bread you cast on Kos waters most likely will be tossed back on your shore within minutes of posting because of the sheer volume of posts. To see my post's life span for possibly at least an hour, I max out the view to the "50 most recent posts."

What has really caused me to keep my Kos account active with occasional posts is the spur-of-the moment impulse wherein I'm so invested in something I've written that in my desire for a possible wider venue of exposure I forget the reality of posting at Kos.

In addition, knowing the volume of comments, I'm also aware that many Kos personalities seem always to be conscious of the  "free-admittance" opportunity to what all bloggers realize is a national stage or platform.

In a relatable way, I suppose that the most active and consistent Kos bloggers have in mind the kind of success represented at Kos by someone they know or have met - in my case - McJoan.

My wife and I have included a concern about depleted uranium in our writings now going back almost five years. Recently - as members of a Google group that focuses on Veteran Health issues in Washington State - we received an email  from another military veteran group member which included the following:

Since you are a former AF brat, wife of a Viet Vet and mother to soldiers still serving, I would appreciate it if you would contact me. You have been gravely mislead by a bunch of frauds about DU.

What made you even go looking for them (or did they come to you) -- you are the perfect person for them to make a dupe as they have made Congressman McDermott who was sent a forged document that is purported to be from 1943.

This started out as a short piece until I let my emotions have free reign.

Reference Today's Aberdeen Daily World:
Baird faces his constituents in Raymond

I like the article cause obviously they couldn't find a picture of some handsomer guy and were afraid to put up a picture of Lietta as a mother/grandmother being uppity and rude to a U.S. Congressman.

Mary makes a well-written case for Single Payer health insurance at Pacific Views today.

"America's health care system is imploding. Despite the fact that America devotes more of its GDP to health care than any other developed country, the real outcome for a significant portion of our country is miserable. And despite all the initiatives that claimed to fix the problem, the problem is getting worse."

As someone who administers state Medicaid in Pacific County and who becomes aware of as many uninsured citizens in an hour as an enterprising researcher could find in a day, I consider the above seriously understated.

"Getting worse" actually means something far fouler smelling than what you see in Sicko.

Mary has more:

"Universal health care is particularly unsuited for a market-based approach because people are unable to do a lot of comparison shopping when they are sick and the overwhelming need for health care is when someone is sick, not when they are well."

Think about this if you will, as if your child, your spouse, your beloved family member or friend were someone like our good Lt. Watada up the road facing court martial for declaring the war illegal and refusing to lead men in a criminal enterprise. Nor coming home with blood on their hands for Bush reasons. - Arthur Ruger

This is still another view of the surge. But this one is the butt-ugliest version I've seen.

Problem is, it's the one that makes the most sense of what has appeared to be absolute lunacy on the part of Bush and Cheney, given their statements today.

I'd really like to print this entire article but cannot legally do that so I'm going to write commentary on excerpts from the article. However, in the strongest terms, I suggest that you all read it. Whether you believe the author or not, your understanding and perspective of what is happening in Iraq almost moment by moment these days will be much greater.

If you link to and read the entire article and don't believe or agree, I'd suggest that one of us is in denial.

Our troops are speaking, and this time directly to Congress.  In campaign 'Appeal for Redress' the numbers of active duty troops signing the appeal is increasing daily, if not hourly.  How many U.S. Troops killed in Iraq this month - 91 - and the month is not yet over. How many other courageous soldiers have demonstrated the courage to 'speak out' publicly via media in recent months?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) More than 200 active duty U.S. armed service members, fed up with the war in Iraq, have joined an unusual protest calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, organisers said on Wednesday.

read more below the fold..link to full story

But ... how the hell can you be admired for something nobody knows about you? Sometimes it takes too much patience to practice wisdom in secret and wait for God to reward you openly as the Christian Bible promises the faithful.

How can you make political hay and take political advantage out of something nobody knows about you?

Can you deter everyone else from getting in on the secret if nobody knows you know the secret? That's the problem with knowing secrets, whether in the high school lunchroom or global stage. You don't command popularity by keeping the secret secret.

Knowing a secret and keeping it secret are high marks of integrity - even if you get no credit because you've kept the secret so well, nobody knows you're keeping a secret.

If our children - or their children - come to us when considering enlistment or a commission, asking our reaction or even our blessing for their willingness to sign the bottom line, are we ready to speak honestly with them?  

Have the things we've taught them about citizenship and patriotism come back to gratify us?

... or haunt us?

Just what have we tried to instill in them  in terms of a civic and patriotic sense? What did we teach and model for them when they were young?

... we who were part of a generation of soldiers betrayed by a government we all wanted desperately to trust?

This from a well-known non-veteran - someone who avoided service; who himself cut and ran during Viet Nam. These antics from prominent Republicans hang around the party's candidates' necks like gaudy ties and we fail if we don't ask them if they agree with and support these chicken hawk declarations from the likes of Rove and Cheney.

All Republicans should be challenged to clarify publicly whether or not they agree with and support the self-serving cowardice of Rove, Cheney and Bush who have no credibility as warriors and embarrass every American solider and veteran when they make public speeches and pretending courage with a tough-talk uniform.

"Cut and run" nowadays dribbles from from slobbering jowls like ketchup and mustard at a Republican barbeque.

"Legally speaking" is a debater's point. But there are other points to be made. Nixon learned that in his debate with JFK, who wasn't worried about scoring debating points.

At some point we must put down our cell phones, TV clickers and fancy word-writing thesauruses and start dealing with reality.

At issue here is not a winning argument in a debate or even a courtroom.

Those who pick at this event from a point of legality seem to believe that somehow in a courtroom a decision could be made that would fill the streets with legitimately angry American citizens relentlessly pressuring the administration to end the occupation and stop a war of aggression that was initiated and has been conducted under the pretense of defending the Constitution and the nation.

Otherwise, trying to say that Watada's case is a losing one is semantics and hair-splitting.

Trapped not within their ideology, but within their candidates and other incumbents, Republicans are in trouble and making foot-shooting an art form.

Hotline On Call: RNC Memo Warns GOPers Not To Distance Themselves From Bush: "March 28, 2006

RNC Memo Warns GOPers Not To Distance Themselves From Bush

Republican pollster Jan van Lohuizen, in a memo written for RNC chairman Ken Mehlman, warns that if members of Congress try to drive a wedge between themselves and Pres. Bush, it'd be akin to adding weight to an anchor. GOpers are 'W Brand Republicans' whether they like it or not. And van Louhizen, who has polled (often secretly) for the Bush White House under the RNC aegis for years, is worried about low turnout.

Time Magazine first reported on the memo this weekend, but the full text is below.

A very well-written and informative article ...

*Reference: The Nation, January 30, 2005 - KILLING MEDICARE by Trudy Lieberman who writes about healthcare for The Nation.

I began taking notes for a letter to the editor of our small local weekly, The Paciic Press. I had a good time writing it but knew it was way too long. Sent it anyway. This week it appeared as a guest article and filled an entire page.  

At the behest and demand of family and friends, I'm using up my quota today with my editorial based on Trudy Lieberman's article mentioned above.

... was deployed to Iraq from March to September 2003. He filed for conscientious objector status in late 2004; his application was denied.

Conscientious objectors are morally opposed to war.

Benderman was to leave for Iraq again in January 2005, but he refused. He was charged with desertion and intentionally missing movement for not boarding the plane for Iraq when his unit left. He was found guilty of the second, lesser charge and sentenced last summer to 15 months in prison. He is serving that sentence at Fort Lewis.

The activists did not have banner bridge to themselves. Apparently there are others who believe that since they have utilized the overpass with frequency they own that particular overpass and it should not be "desecrated".

I'll vote for you, but not enthusiastically. In the meantime, I have limited dollars to spend on politics. I pick and choose where I donate carefully. And you just crossed yourself off my list.

Your letter is well written and more than anything I could write. I sent the Senator a note referring to and endorsing your thoughts.

I've listened long enough to Dick Cheney's pretenses to knowing more about what it means to command in wartime than veterans who've been there and done that.

Cheney's self-projected war wisdom seems most accurately defined by the pipe dreams of the Project For a New American Century with which he has an intimate history.

Cheney's insistance that we stand by and let slip our reverence for the Constitution or face another major attack on the U.S.A. is dishonest fear-mongering at its worst.

Mr. Cheney, when it comes to real war and real combat, you haven't been there. You haven't done that. It's all in a political and foreign policy abstract for you.