I just donated to moveon.org for the first time ever. The right has been at war with reality for too long. This is only the latest example. But they have a long history of turning lie into truth, disreality into reality. Think of the swiftboat veterans, the CBS 'forged' documents, the Obama Madrassa 'story,' or Kerry's botched joke. But what has happened here is that the right wing noise machine has repeated the same lie enough times that it has become truth. The way these operations work is quite simple. It only requires an army of people with no conscience.

I was thinking today about LBJ and what he said after he signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. He said that democrats just lost the south for a generation. How much of an underestimate that turned out to be. Yesterday I was reading about Mark Warner and his possible senate run. The article said that republicans will use "god, gays, and guns" against him. So earlier today I linked the two. It seems to me that (just about) every election, we still suffer from the affects of the Civil Rights Act. All of that indignation, hatred, and seething fury associated with the signing of the Civil Rights Act has found a new way to express itself. This time, it is about "god, gays, and guns."

Economic growth is down. Joblessness is up. The stock market is down. The number of people without health insurance is up. One of the key reasons as to why we are in this situation has been the fact that our economy has been riding high on an orgy of cheap credit for too long. Due partly to low interest rates and financial deregulation, a credit culture has emerged. This credit culture tells us that in order to do our duty in the 'War on Terrorism,' we have to borrow against the equity in our homes and shop. If we can afford a perfectly good house, we must get a "Reverse Amortization" mortgage and buy an even bigger house. We are told that "reverse mortgages" are the risk-free way to ensure retirement security. If our credit card company lowers our interest rate, we have to buy a bigger car. The orgy of cheap credit is coming to an end. And, yet people will still borrow more than they should. And companies will still attempt to milk every last cent from their customers. To address this, congress must enact federal usury laws.

I was over at RaisingKaine.com, and I found a link to this article. The republican party and candidates in Virginia are using depraved push polling to trash democrats in Virginia. Wikipedia defines push polling as a "political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll." It is nothing more than negative advertising. And since the only people exposed to this technique are those who are called by the 'polling' firm, the attacks are often removed from the public eye.

On "This Week" on ABC this morning, John Ensign, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) called Colorado democratic senate candidate Mark Udall a "Boulder liberal." So he continues the decades-old republican habit of trashing entire cities and entire regions. We have heard this elitism before. Everything from "San Francisco liberal" to "Massachusetts liberal" to "left coast." As it turns out, everyone who isn't from either a red state or red city is a frenchified snob. This is the product of gross arrogance and self-entitlement. Everyone who doesn't vote for them is a Volvo-driving latte-sipping un-American pig.

I was just reading the diary on the main page about 'divided dems.' The diary starts out by quoting another article that says "Divided by their liberal and moderate wings." I want to say something. This distinction between "liberal and moderate" is completely illusionary. There is no such distinction. This isn't about "ideologues versus centrists" as the media likes to say. This is about democrats who are willing to stand up for what they believe ('liberals') and those who are spineless and thus unwilling to do so ('moderates').

I was just reading an article at cnn.com about the recent gay marriage ruling by a state court judge in Iowa. I have to say something. I am freakin' sick and tired of being told by people claiming to be Christians that any position more tolerant than outright discrimination against gays is an 'extremist' position. I am sick and tired of being trashed as a radical by people like Tom Coburn, who wants the death penalty to be used against "abortionists." And I am sick and tired about being lectured about the supposed 'immorality' of gays by the likes of Tom DeLay. These people don't represent the mainstream, and they don't represent the true 'Christian' position on gay rights and gay marriage. No doubt the Christionists will rant about 'activist judges.' And in the end, it still wont bother them that people are losing their houses, their jobs, and their health insurance.

I have been reading some about John Warner's appearance on Meet the Press earlier today. John Warner said he "may" support a democratic pull out bill. I think we all know what that means. But maybe underneath it all, John Warner is starting to rediscover his long lost conscience. John Warner is more responsible for us losing this war than just about anyone else. He was chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee for the first four years of the occupation. He did nothing.