Excess Hoggage - Down in the Bottom edition

By Libby

Song in my head. Feels like a good day for singing the blues since George Bush is still president and there's no good news.

I've been telling for years that when they let the government abridge the civil rights of drug consumers it would come back to haunt them and sure enough, now they're gunning for fat people.

I didn't watch the debate last night. I'm finding I'm not that interested in the presidential race at this point. I think impacting local politics is the way to go now for progressives.

Besides, I'm not sure how much any of the primaries really matter. It's looking like the superdelegates will choose and they don't answer to the electorate.

Not to mention, it's all meaningless without a verified vote.

And I made my final pitch for social bi-partisanship. I think I finally got through. Nobody complained.

The economic news is gloomy. We have too many regions dependent on prisons for their survival and while the occupation is now wholly responsible for the mess we're in, I still say you can't discount the Iraq effect.

Speaking of Iraq, in case you hadn't noticed, the surge is failing, miserably.

I expect that suits Bush just fine. He made it very clear with these signing statements that he intends to force the next adminstration to stay there forever.

And if you have time to spare, this piece on how the Bush Doctrine has destroyed America is a long but fascinating read.

Meanwhile, the FISA fight has gone from round two, to round three and on to round four. I'll be addressing the latest developments later today. There's some contradictory information circulating so I'm waiting to see how it shakes out before I post. But we haven't lost yet and a new vote comes up on Monday, so keep those emails and calls going to your Congresslizards. We can still pull this off if we don't let up the pressure.

Finally, to end on a lighter note, a gossipy piece from an insider who dishes the dirt on Fox News.