MoveOn on the Ground. MoveOn.org's campaign against the omnibus spending bill is a fine example of grassroots activism. [AlterNet]

Omnibus spending bills are an abomination, in my opinion, and a sign of just how weak and spineless so many legislators are. They like it because they can add so much pork ut bear no responsibility. 'Sorry. We had to pass it , no matter what, because the govenment would shut down otherwise.' There is so much unnecessary stuff in this bill that it will be an example of what is wrong with the process when historians evaluate this time in our history. It is a perfect example of how monied interests and political machines are so much more important than grassroots and the average voter. No money for unemployment or overtime benefits but plenty to fix pools. This view will change shortly, because networking increases the speed and nimbleness of grassoots, while simply confusing the old politicos. Like the inhabitants of Flatland, they are two-dimensional personalities in a suddenly 3-D world.  10:30:27 PM    

Does it come down to Clark v. Dean?. I think Josh Marshall is among our sharpest political analysts. I think that especially strongly when he's saying what I want to hear. His bet is that the Democratic race comes down to Dean and Clark, and that Dean doesn't... [Mark A. R. Kleiman]

I firmly believe that it will be a Dean-Clark ticket. dean has the fire and Clark has the South. The DLC still has a hand in the pot, hoping that it can manipulate and work at Dean. If this plays out, and Dean does make it to the White House ( a very BIG If) I would not be surprised to see some real changes in the party. Because I think it likely that Dean would have some coattails in this scenario, with people more loyal to him than the DLC. Clark, a smart man, would also see where the wind blew, leaving the DLC and its machine out in the cold. Hey, it is a totally unlikely possibility but it sure would be juicy.  10:16:33 PM    

The Dallas police fake-drug scandal. If I hadn't lent my car to someone who switch from the CD player to the radio and left it tuned to NPR, I probably never would have heard about the Dallas police fake-drug scandal. Googling it, I find no... [Mark A. R. Kleiman]

Another example of how a police department will abuse its privileges if there is no oversight. We have many of the ammendments in the Bill of rights to prevent this sort of mayhem against innocent people but we too often let justice lapse. The fact that this was done to minorities rather than rich white folk is one reason I am sure that the cops get acquitted for doing such things. Framing Hispanics with chalk and calling it cocaine. What a racket! In combination with the Tulia scandal, it certainly seems to be an indictment of Texas justice, where more people are sent to their deaths by the state than anywhere else. The lukeward investigation of the new scandal by civil authorities does not bode well. It seems that the public servants in Dallas are paridly forgetting wo they are beholden to. But if the public really thinks that cops faking evidence is fine, as long as it gets immigrants out of their hair, what will they say when the next scandal hits? How badly do the poor and the weak of the community have to be abused before anyone really cares?  10:10:26 PM