With Barack Obama having secured the Democratic nomination, speculation has abounded about whether Obama should offer Hillary the VP slot, as well as whether it is appropriate for Hillary to discuss in public this negotiation. I think Hillary should be offered the Vice Presidency, and further it would be supremely to Obama's advantage for him if she accepts. But I have Machiavellian reasons for arguing this position.

In positive news, a helicopter co-pilot stood outside on the wing of his Apache helicopter to give room for a severely wounded soldier, who had been waiting 40 minutes for a medivac. This daring decision during a firefight saved the soldier's life. A few choice quotes below the fold:

The ACLU announced today that it considers the current stalemate between the Bush administration and Congress to be a "constitutional crisis", further asserting that congress must "[...]reaffirm itself as an equal branch of government and vote to hold White House officials in contempt for refusing to cooperate with legitimate congressional subpoenas." The press release further states that it is "do-or-die time" and that without further action to restore congressional checks and balances the US risks "[...]a historic moment when it can fight for its rightful place in our Constitution or accept the president's continued and sweeping claims of supremacy."

I think we all know what that means. Critical outtakes from the press release below the fold. Also: secondary source from UPI.

If, like me, you believe Attorney General Gonzalez, Vice President Cheney, and President Bush have all committed high crimes and *cough!* felonies *cough!* but fear that removing these criminals from office would be a distraction at best and a nightmare for Democrats at worst, here I offer one possible way this could happen successfully. But you're going to have to stand with a few Republicans to make it work. Just like we did during Watergate when Nixon got the boot and Vice-President Ford was handed the Reigns.

Below the fold: how it is Republicans who will decide the success of impeachment and removal. Thus, if you want to impeach, you're going to have to make a few friends with the GOP. One in particular, John McCain, would appear to have most reason for revenge against the Bushies. But feel free to imagine this scenario with any of your most palatable Republicans.

Promoted by Steven D. A good letter deserving of being emailed to your friends and family. And to your Dem members of Congress, too.

Below the fold, the text of a letter I sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

Hi folks! The majority in the senate has spoken! And so, missile defense it is! May I thank members of the senate for so carefully spending my hard earned tax dollars on critical defense projects like this. The program is particularly helpful diplomatically with our new friends the Russians. They really like the idea of having a bunch of missiles parked next door and (supposedly) pointed at an ally of theirs.  

I especially want to thank my Democratic senators who are currently running for the title of Great Leader to the Free World: President of the United States. Here are a few choice names: Senator Clinton (D-NY) YEA; Obama (D-IL) NV; Biden (D-DE) NV. I especially like the courageous abstentions of Obama and Biden. Clinton, at least lets us plebs know where she (and we) stands.

Oh! And may I take bit of extra time to thank my two senators, Kerry and Kennedy for their Yea votes! Gee... THANKS!

Nay votes: Feinstein (D-CA), Leahy (D-VT), Sanders (I-VT), Tester (D-MT), Webb (D-VA).

Complete voting list after the fold:

About two weeks back, the ACLU hosted a one hour long televised debate between ACLU president Nadine Strossen and Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. C-SPAN has posted a podcast of the debate, however, unfortunately, no written transcript is available. I've hand transcribed about fifteen minutes of the program for my own project, and thought there might be some members who would appreciate the posting of it here. Transcript is below the fold:

Dale Klein, Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), was interviewed on C-SPAN's Newsmakers this last Sunday on October 22nd, 2006. Regarding twenty nine recent pending license requests for the construction of new nuclear power plants in the US, he stated that there will be a nuclear renaissance in the United States:

"I do believe that we will see license applications in 2007 and we are looking - we have expressions of intent from a lot of the utilities indicating up - as I said, up to about 29 new nuclear plants.  So I believe that there will be a [nuclear] renaissance in the United States."

In a joint announcement, both NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) have released findings from the Aura satellite which shows that from September 21st through the 30th of 2006, the Antarctic ozone hole was the largest ever recorded.

"From September 21 to 30, the average area of the ozone hole was the largest ever observed, at 10.6 million square miles," said Paul Newman, atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. If the stratospheric weather conditions had been normal, the ozone hole would be expected to reach a size of about 8.9 to 9.3 million square miles, about the surface area of North America.

The Guardian reports on a series of recent studies showing that feeding vitamin and Omega 3 fatty acid supplements may decrease violence among repeat offenders by as much as 37%. These results are leading researchers, and some psychiatrists, to conclude that at least some violent outbursts and other mental disorders are the result of vitamin and essential fatty acid deficiency.

Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack was invited to speak at a Council on Foreign Relations symposium on energy security. Vijay Vaitheeswaran, of The Economist, presided over the speech and question and answer session. An audio podcast of the event is available, as well as a rush transcript.

The BBC reports that Nicaragua has announced plans to dig a new canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in competition with the nearly one hundred year old Panama Canal. According to the report, if built, the new canal would cost roughly $18B, take 12 years to construct, and would carry so-called "super-ships," or ships "...up to 250,000 tonnes."

Only weeks before the November mid-term election, the Associated Press reports that in an advisory opinion by the Federal Election Commission, regulators set funding limits on vote recounts for both state parties in local elections as well as House and Senate federal elections.

External blog commentary, an AP story, and the official FEC pdf below the fold.

The rise of citizen journalism. Everyone is talking about it. Soon, the citizen journalist will rise up against The Man and eclipse those mainstream corporate media outlets, finally freeing the intellectual plebeian masses to "get the story out" and rock that vote!

Or maybe not.

Herein I examine two cases of citizen journalism on Dailykos and one on The Inquirer, the culmination of all which leaves me wondering if -- perhaps -- we ought to register and license journalists as we do physicians and attorneys.