I will not be citing any scholarly studies in this Diary, because I'm not aware of any that are based on gathering observations for over 100,000 miles a year since the advent of portable phones. I have watched, with interest, since "portable phones" came in bags with shoulder straps and weighed ten pounds, and were rare as virgin dancers in Las Vegas.

You, or a family member, are more likely to be injured or killed by a driver talking on a cell phone than a drunk driver!!

An individual driver on the phone is slightly less dangerous than a drunk, but in the aggregate they are far worse because they vastly outnumber drunks, particularly during the daytime. Their contribution to motor vehicle accidents is grossly under-reported and under-appreciated because, unlike drunks, there's a cellphone in damned-near every car and truck on the road, so it's usually not even worthy of note.

I utterly oppose granting immunity of any kind to ANYONE who participated in illegally wiretapping American citizens, no matter who told them it was legal or how much they were paid, and consider anyone who goes along with granting it a fucking coward.

Nothing new there, I've said that all before. There IS, however, a possible small bright spot in the abortion that is the FISA Amendment Act.

The text of the relevant Section across the jump...

Everybody has heard by now that John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam, captured, and held as a Prisoner of War; it apparently, to some, is his main qualification to be President.

According to what looks like a reasonably well-sourced page on Wikipedia, a total of 3,032 aircraft were lost to hostile action during the Vietnam War (the actual total was considerably higher, as these numbers don't include Army rotary-wing aircraft), which means at least that many pilots were shot down (yes, some were shot down more than once, but they are way more than offset by the many aircraft that had two pilots).

The Air Force lost 1737, the Navy 530, the Marine Corps 463 and the Army lost 302 (fixed wing).

This is from The London Times, so...

In defiance of traditional party labels, Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, may ask the defence secretary of President George W Bush to stay on if he wins the White House.

Obama’s top foreign policy and national security advisers are pressing the case for keeping Robert Gates at the Pentagon after he won widespread praise for his performance. The move would be in keeping with Obama’s desire to appoint a cabinet of all the talents.

I haven't seen this mentioned, here or elsewhere; as always, if it's a retread I'll disappear it.

Just when it looks like the "crisis" over North Korea's nuclear program has lessened (by essentially doing what Clinton agreed to a decade ago), comes this Press Release:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,

Dannebrog yesterday and Libby Shaw today have tried, with little success, to get attention on the travesty that is the House vote on FISA and the excellent work done by MapLight. I have no illusions that I'll be much more successful but that's no excuse for not trying...

Since telecom immunity was rejected by the House in March 94 Democrats changed their votes to allow it to pass on the 20th. What do those vote-switchers have in common?? Telecom PAC money.

House Members who changed their votes received an average of $8,359 from telecom PACs while those who didn't averaged $4,987. Steny Hoyer got $29,000 since 2005, Nancy Pelosi $24,500, Rahm Emmanuel $28,000.

Let me state right off that in November I will vote for the Democratic Nominee, because I have no choice; my Country simply cannot have two or three more Scalias or Alitos on the Supreme Court.

I have stated probably 50 times in the past that I "didn't like Hillary and didn't trust Obama". The Hillary supporters never understood why I just didn't like her. I guess the Obama supporters are catching on, for their part.

To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.

We all know about the armed nuclear missles that "inadvertantly" wandered to Louisiana, and the missile nose cones mistakenly shipped to Taiwan and left there for a couple years [insert yawn here], all of which cost the Air Force Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Air Force their jobs. As they say on the late night infomercials, Wait! There's More!

The US military cannot locate hundreds of sensitive nuclear missile components, according to several government officials familiar with a Pentagon report on nuclear safeguards.

Lets review here children, that's hundreds, which is dozens of dozens, or a bunch, any way you look at it.

There's this guy named Ed Hale, runs a website called Hillary Clinton Supporters for John McCain. Big clue about his intellect there, but wait.

This guy has a diabolical plan to strike a devastating one-two punch against Obama that all Obama supporters need to immediately gird themselves for (loin-girding optional).

The first part of his plan is an ad in the Chicago Sun-Times, yes, that Chicago Sun-Times, a tabloid. Follow me across the hump for his reasoning and the even more devastating second wave.

Every Hillary supporter who believes the government should make reproductive decisions for women because women can't be trusted to make them for themselves should vote for John McCain.

Every Hillary supporter who thinks Antonin Scalia and Slappy Thomas are exemplars of what Supreme Court Justices should be, and want two or three more just like them on the Court should vote for John McCain.

Every Hillary supporter who wants the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry making all their health care decisions should vote for John McCain.

Folks here (and elsewhere) are having conniptions because Senator Clinton did not explicitly grovel before Senator Obama last night. I submit that Senator Clinton and her chief political advisor, a certain former two-term President, have a firmer grasp on the situation than the vast majority of the bellyachers.

Clinton has a large contingent of very loyal supporters, many of whom are bitterly disappointed in falling just short of their goal. They are going to need a little time to change gears to get behind the presumptive Democratic Nominee. Fortunately, we have that time to give if we just will.

Ranting and raving against Senator Clinton at this point is not merely useless, since all the voting is done, it's counterproductive to the ultimate goal of defeating John McCain in November. Give her time and Senator Clinton will swing the maximum possible number of her supporters behind Obama. Trying to turn a throng that size on a dime will only shed more than there's any need to.

Shuttle Discovery launched successfully, carrying parts to get the shitter on the Space Station back in business...

The repair parts for the space stations toilet weigh only about 33 pounds, but it was a challenge to figure out where to pack it on the shuttle, because there is so little extra space on the mid deck of the orbiter.

Link

This Diary is a mash-up of several Diaries I did a year ago, that I thought appropriate to rerun with the start of Summer driving season and the 50,000+ Kossacks we've added since they ran. They have an entirely political purpose: helping Democratic voters survive to vote in November. After that I don't really give a damn what you do unless it delays me

The flatbed truck, loaded with steel pipe out of Chattanooga westbound for Oklahoma City, was 30 miles out of Little Rock, cruise control set right at the posted speed limit. 200 feet behind him was another tractor trailer, pulling a dry van loaded with shelves and fixtures for a new Auto Zone store in California. There had been a light sprinkle earlier, but the road was mostly dry

The Pontiac Transport minivan was headed for Memphis, with a perfectly average couple in the front and their two little girls in their car seats in the back, going to see their Grandma.

This Diary is a mash-up of several Diaries I did a year ago, that I thought appropriate to rerun with the start of Summer driving season and the 50,000+ Kossacks we've added since they ran. They have an entirely political purpose: helping Democratic voters survive to vote in November. After that I don't really give a damn what you do unless it delays me

The flatbed truck, loaded with steel pipe out of Chattanooga westbound for Oklahoma City, was 30 miles out of Little Rock, cruise control set right at the posted speed limit. 200 feet behind him was another tractor trailer, pulling a dry van loaded with shelves and fixtures for a new Auto Zone store in California. There had been a light sprinkle earlier, but the road was mostly dry

The Pontiac Transport minivan was headed for Memphis, with a perfectly average couple in the front and their two little girls in their car seats in the back, going to see their Grandma.

Barring a miracle (or catastrophe, depending on perspective) Senator Obama will be the Democratic Nominee for November. For a variety of reasons, starting with Supreme Court appointments, the Democrat MUST win the Presidency.

Whether his supporters wish to accept it or not, Obama has a problem attracting average white voters, which problem he has to overcome to win. Since New Hampshire on Jan. 8, Obama has won 15 of the 29 Primaries, but got a majority of white voters in only 5.

I have two bits of advice for Obama that might help him address this problem, one of which is pro-active, the other preventative.

God, I love Republicans...

That great environmentalist Glenn Beck asked Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne why he listed the Polar Bear as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (which action Beck opposed, he's scared shitless of bears). Our esteemed Secretary of the Interior, Protector of America's natural heritage and public resources, answered:

Well, I’ll tell ya, unfortunately I have to follow the law.

There's video here.

There always comes a time of testing, and for DailyKos, and hypocrisy, ours may well have come.

Back in December we had great sport with Mike Huckabee's Christmas card with the "inadvertant" cross formed by a "bookcase" (example here), and his use of religious imagery...

Now the presumptive Democratic Nominee has a new flier out in Kentucky that explicitly shows him in a pulpit with a huge cross prominent behind him.

West Virginia was almost universally expected to be a big victory for Clinton, which it clearly is, but for me the big surprise is the breakdown of the votes (so far).

Obama Lost in EVERY Category

Based on CNN's Exit Polls: