It is fantastic that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has granted Don Siegelman, former governor of Alabama, the right to wait out his appeal from outside the walls of prison.

The question I have is: "Can the people involved be brought to justice?"

Anyone who saw the CBS news coverage and heard the individual testimony about this political prosecution KNOWS that a "wrong" was done.

But does a "wrong" equate with a "crime"?

Under the Hatch Act, it does....

One thing that WILL haunt Obama in the General Election is his supposed lack of patriotism. The Republicants will attempt to paint him the same light as Michael Dukakis....

The Republicants have Barack symbolically removing his lapel pin, which is equivalent in many people's eyes to burning the flag.

The Republicants have Barack not covering his heart during the national anthem.

And the Republicants have Michelle Obama admitting that she hasn't been proud of America during her entire life, until just recently.

Barack has addressed this issue of patriotism, saying that such trappings became a substitute for "true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security...." among other things.

Just as he did with the race issue in his recent speech, Barack needs to lift the dialog with respect to what Americans should consider "patriotic" and what we should not.

This entire argument about Hillary using the popular vote to grab the nomination is akin to the following peculiar NBA basketball game.

Both teams start out knowing that the game will be decided based on who is leading on the scoreboard at the end of the game. Points will naturally be awarded for successful baskets....

As the game goes on, one team (which happens to be missing all its shots) decides that it will try to convince the referees that the game should be determined based upon the total number of PASSES each team has made....

:shake head:

Naturally, had both teams known that the game would be decided based upon the number of passes, the team that is leading in baskets DEFINITELY would have put more effort into passing.  (Setting aside the fact that the team leading in baskets also has more passes at the time when the losing team starts pushing for new rules mid-way through the game.)

During the Republican debates, Ron Paul referred to the CIA concept of "Blowback," the unanticipated consequences of U.S. policy decisions abroad.  He was, of course, referring to the Middle East, and how fifty years of meddling (e.g., overthrowing governments, supporting despots, and inducing wars) MAY have led to resentment in the Middle East regarding America.

I see the Reverend Wright issue in much the same way.

The bile that spewed from Wright’s lips is simply "Blowback" from decades of discrimination, degradation, and occasionally outright inhumane treatment of Blacks by the U.S. government domestically.

Sadly for America’s conversation on race (which Obama hopes to catalyze and elevate), Whites have long forgotten these blips in the news.

Blacks, however, have never forgotten....

I am very upset with the hypocrisy that has been promulgated by the talking heads of the mainstream media with respect to Obama's relationship with his minister Rev. Wright....

As we all know, Obama himself is not responsible for the statements for which he is being held accountable.

Still, Republicans have fed into this notion that Obama "sat there in a pew for 20 years" listening to the racist and unpatriotic statements, and so he is guilty by association and/or osmosis.

They claim that Obama should have abandoned the Reverand and the Church, and found a new one somewhere.... They argue that by staying with the Church and continuing to seek counsel from the man responsible for the bile that Obama was condoning it....

Were these same Republicans up in arms when Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson BOTH claimed that God was punishing America through the 9/11 attacks for accepting gays?

No.

Were these same Republicans up in arms when Falwell claimed that America was "rotting from within", and that God did not answer "the prayer of any unredeemed Gentile or Jew"?

No.

So why the double-standard?

Congress is empowered to make laws, not determine whether those laws are Constitutional or whether those laws have been violated. That is the purvey of the Courts.

The individuals who are suing the telecoms for violations of their privacy are not doing so to "make money."  They are doing so to ensure that the mold that is creeping into our Constitution is exposed to some sunlight.

If America is to remain strong, it needs to remain a land of laws, not the land of Presidential whims. I pray that the Blue Dogs seek to live up to their calls for "responsibility" and "accountability" and do not side with the Republicans in providing blanket immunity for actions that have not been judged by those who bear Constitutional authority to do so.