Friday Funday: What Now? Or Why Not?

We know today is Friday, and we usually try to give you something a bit more light-hearted to think about, as you head into the weekend. We'll do our best today, but it's not going to be easy.

Then again, nothing worth doing ever is.

For many folks in the media, right now, covering this insane manufactured debt ceiling crisis, where the Tea Party has taken the rest of the country hostage, we feel like we're at the end of the world. We can't tell you how many times we've heard that the economy is "going off a cliff" - and this is from people we work in the same industry with.

The fact is, there's no way to know exactly what's going to happen over this weekend, between now and the time you touch base with us again on Monday. There's no certainty of what's going to happen next week either.

Then again, that's pretty much how every day really is, even if we don't realize it most of the time.

We say this as we found out this week about a couple of media acquaintances, friends of friends who had been living good lives, filled with work, family, and friends - and now have been diagnosed with deadly conditions. One has been diagnosed with ALS and the other with a vicious cancer. While we're certain both will put up valiant fights, we know the long-term, and even mid-term prognosis for either isn't great.

In what may seem counter-intuitive, neither man swore to keep going with their regular lives, like nothing had happened, as you see in so many sappy Hollywood movies.

Both men did call their loved ones though; gathered their editors, producers, and fellow media partners; and told them all the news. Then, they each went back to doctors, and both have began treatments, of one kind or another.

And then they each went to their favorite grocery store, and stocked up. One finally joined Netflix.

They are living their lives - and that's exactly what we think you should do.

None of us every know when the script of our lives will change direction rapidly. We often think we know what's around the corner - but we really don't. So ask yourself... If that bottle of wine you've been saving for a special occasion never gets opened, what's the bigger crime? That you never had an occasion worthy of opening it? Or that you didn't celebrate with relish the occasions that you did have?

Go have dinner with a friend this weekend. Call someone you haven't talked to in a while - just because. You never use up all your monthly cell phone minutes anyway - why NOT make that call now? Write a letter. Sure, you may have to walk farther to mail it - and it will probably not arrive before the world economic situation drives off that cliff, like "Thelma & Louise". What the hell? Write that letter it anyway.

Make plans for LATE next week. Or next month. Or next year.

There are no guarantees in life, one way or another.

We don't necessarily recommend living life that country song, that implores you to "Live Life Like You're Dying."

We do recommend, simply, that you live life to the fullest every day.

If This Is What You Want, Then This Is What You Get

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." - Histories, Herodotus, 440 BC

"Cash, Grass, or Ass - Nobody rides for free." - 1960's U.S. pop culture slogan

While the news that came out Tuesday wasn't entirely a surprise to any of us, it's one of those social and technological markers that we'll remember for a long time - along the lines of when we first heard that Polaroid film was going the way of the dodo bird.

In case you missed it, the U.S. Postal Service has decided that it can no longer afford to keep open every post office and postal retail location they currently own - so they've released a list of about 3700 post offices that will likely be eliminated across the country.

From coast to coast, every postal service outlet is being looked at, including the historical post office on the site where Ben Franklin invented the U.S. postal service, on July 26, 1775, 236 years ago this week.

For an organization that is fully self-supporting - and has been since 1970, when the Postal Reorganization Act was signed by President Nixon - the last 15 years have been a never-ending onslaught on their core business. The more e-mail we send, the less regular, first class mail goes through the U.S. postal service system.

We understand the logical progression of technology. Every member of our staff uses computers and cell phones, and even iPads and e-readers. We like that it doesn't take days or weeks to send messages across the country or the world. Without modern forms of communication, we couldn't do what we do for you every day.

That doesn't negate our love for the postal service, either.

The U.S. Postal Service is, to us, still one of the wonders of the modern world. Friends, family, and others we love can bake cookies or cakes, buy a book, or take a child's afternoon art project, box them up, and send that item anywhere in the country - really anywhere in the world - for an amazingly small amount, and have that item delivered in a matter of days.

In the U.S., there isn't anywhere the USPS really won't deliver - and in many rural and remote areas these days, it isn't FedEx, UPS, or DHL that carries those precious items the last mile. Often, those private delivery services contract with the U.S. Postal Service to do the part of the job that's too dirty, remote, or expensive for others to handle.

We're certain many of you are probably like us - concerned for the small towns and local neighborhoods that might lose a post office over the next year. You may have friends who will lose their jobs at the postal service, to say nothing of the fact that for many small towns, the post office is one of the few remaining vestiges of an America where we once cared more about our communities than the bottom line.

The next time the idea of privatizing more government services is thrown around by some far-right wing, corporatist-backed politician, we hope that people remember: this is what happens when a society chooses to privatize public services that should remain public.

If you're worked up about this issue, we'd suggest you to write a letter to your Congressperson about it. Sadly, you may have to go just a bit farther to mail it.

Being Led To The Slaughter

We're not sure really what more can be said about the debt ceiling and budget battle raging in Washington. Things likely have already gone past the point where real and significant damage has been done to both the credit rating and the reputation of America.

The truth is, this 'crisis' has been wholly manufactured by the extremist, regressive, far right-wing of the Republican Party - and it's being done against the will of the American people. This is absolutely NOT a "both sides" issue, something that too many media organizations have been glossing over.

More than two-thirds of the American people want REAL, true compromise right now on this issue. In poll after poll, Americans support a mixed solution of targeted tax increases on those who can afford them, smaller cuts in government spending, dumping tax cuts we can't afford, and a few other strategic moves - like bringing our troops home - to save money.

This is exactly what the President has been proposing all along - and growing numbers of Americans seem to understand that he is still on their side.

Even Wall Street, against whom we have (legitimately) railed many times over the years, is opposed to the current positions taken by House GOP members. As long as this political deadlock continues, investors cannot grow their businesses, invest, or hire more workers.

By insisting on NOT taking any of a number of deals weighted heavily in their favor, the party that has claimed for decades to be pro-business has also abdicated its responsibility to businesses, large and small.

Not surprisingly, liberals on the left have whined about the false weakness of President Obama for being willing to go as far as he has in some proposed deals that have fallen through. Yet the all-too-real lack of effectiveness of House Speaker John Boehner has become blatantly obvious as he's failed to pass even his own proposals through the House he allegedly controls.

Speaker Boehner's latest plan - a plan designed specifically to pander to the extremists in his own party - doesn't look like it will succeed as originally designed, and is being "reworked" even as you read this. Even if it would garner enough Republican votes to pass the house, the Congressional Budget Office has said it won't reduce the debt by as much as it needs to - and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised it would fail in the Senate.

In comparison, the President asked Americans on Monday night to call their elected representatives if they were angry about this issue. The American people proceeded to crash the websites and phone lines of multiple Congresspersons, primarily Republicans. If it were true that President Obama is weak, such a task should be beyond his reach. It's quite obviously not.

News organizations around the world are as focused on this issue as most American media. If the United States defaults, or even if its credit is downgraded - as appears increasingly inevitable - the resulting shock will harm people from all corners of the globe.

At this point, like some other wise folks, we're just praying that President Obama's lawyers discover legal precedent that proves the 14th Amendment is legitimate after all.

Otherwise, we could all soon be facing a return to a pre-colonial economy - which would be extremely ironic, since the Tea Party extremists are the people who've been warning us all for years about Muslim terrorists dragging the U.S. back to the 14th century.

Looks like it may be our own homegrown fanatics who drag our nation into oblivion after all.

It's All Connected

It should be obvious that the topic of the debt ceiling and budget battle is still weighing heavily on our minds, and is being heavily covered in most other major media sources. In case you missed the President's latest address on the issue last night, you can find it at whitehouse.gov - and we do recommend watching or reading it.

Today, though, we wanted to draw some focus back to a different story we've been monitoring for a while now.

In case you missed our links yesterday, the discussion about the Keystone XL pipeline is heating back up again in the Midwest, with two public hearings scheduled in Nebraska on the pipeline matter over the next month. As we've mentioned previously, we do not trust the oil pipeline companies to make good on their claims about safety for a host of reasons, including the recent Exxon Mobil spill into the Yellowstone River in Montana.

To be honest, we recommend you see Yellowstone Park and the Yellowstone River sometime in the near future, if you'd like to see a landscape that resembles the Ansel Adams photos you've likely admired. Sadly, the forecast for the future of Yellowstone, like many other places around the world, isn't a very comfortable one.

The heat waves sweeping North America, as well as the snow and cold sweeping South America and Australia have something in common with the attempt to put a dangerous oil pipeline that stretches from the Canadian Rockies all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

They're all related to global climate change.

The latest research continues to reinforce that what climate change scientists have said for years would happen if we didn't get our bad habits under control. The latest development is that frozen toxins, trapped in Arctic ice, are now being released at rates that have never been seen. Many of these are toxins that are no longer produced, but were generated years ago, like a poisonous ghost, now come back to haunt us all.

There are still those stubborn, obtuse people who say these are just ghost stories. So we'll ask a simple question: What's a loaf of bread cost now? What did it cost ten years ago? Twenty years ago? How about forty years ago?

What did it cost ten months ago?

Food costs around the world have gone up, every month, for ten out of the last twelve months, according to the latest research data. We know we've certainly seen it around the country - and we now know it's also happening worldwide.

How about global safety and stability? Famine in Ethiopia and Somalia isn't just something that happened back in the 80s and 90s. It's going on right now, and causing even more unrest in areas of the world where we're already concerned about famine and war breeding terrorism

Don't just think we'll use new technology to get ourselves out of this problem. The Saudi Arabia of lithium - a mineral that is key to new battery technology - is located in the Chilean desert of Atacama, the driest desert on Earth, perfect for drying the soil that holds the precious mineral.

The Atacama desert that just received snow this past week.

The problem of climate change, like many of the problems our society is facing, wasn't caused yesterday, and won't be solved easily or quickly anytime soon. But for our sake - and yours - we hope that governments and private businesses will continue to ramp up an even more rapid investment into green energy and green jobs.

Not only will such an investment produce more jobs NOW, which we need. Those jobs will likely pay better than many of the jobs corporate interests have left behind in America. It will also likely help make things better for all of us years down the road.

The human race simply can't stick our heads in the sandy, dry lakebeds of ignorance anymore.

Going Overboard

The single most important story this week - and sadly, we're thinking the story won't entirely be over this week - is the insanity of the debt ceiling and budget negotiations. To say that we are concerned about the financial stability and the near-term future of both the U.S. and the world on this Monday morning is an understatement of extreme proportions.

In case you've somehow missed the entire story so far, the Washington Post's Ezra Klein and Dylan Matthews wrote a single short piece on Friday summarizing everything you need to know about the debt ceiling situation. In short, there is NO way to NOT default if we don't raise the debt ceiling, regardless of what the regressive nuts in the Tea Party say.

Who is to blame for this mess? It's obvious Americans are angry with both parties, as they should be. But don't confuse anger with blame, as far too much of the media did this past weekend. If you ignore outlying polls, most people are blaming the Republicans for the devolution of debate on this issue - and we wholeheartedly agree with that position on recent events.

Yes, both sides are responsible for accruing America's current debt level over the last ten years. On the right, they did it by advocating and passing things like unfunded wars, an unfunded Medicare Part D plan, and tax cuts that benefitted the wealthy over everyone else - and were supposed to expire in 2010. On the left, they didn't stand up to the bullies on the political right and demand more fiscal accountability. Now the bills are due, and there is no more putting off paying those bills.

The differing responses of the left and right on this simple fact have been stunning - especially as they appeared on Friday.

President Obama and Speaker Boehner had been working on a deal all last week. The President called the Speaker on Friday morning to continue the talks - and the Speaker refused to talk with the President. This insane back-and-forth went on all day, until finally, President Obama had enough of Speaker Boehner and the House GOP playing games - so the President took to the podium. Mr. Obama told the American people EXACTLY what had happened in the deals that he and the Speaker had been working on - even volunteering that yes, as Democrats and liberals had feared, the President was willing to cut Medicare, if only to get a deal. The ONE thing the President insisted on was that we PAY for some if the problem by raising taxes on the wealthiest, and getting rid of tax loopholes. The Republicans still refused. The President's response was clear - and angry about Republicans: “Can they say yes to anything?”

In short, the President gave the GOP almost everything they wanted - but as we warned last week, unless they get 100% of everything they want and everyone else gets nothing, Congressional Republicans won't be satisfied.

The key word the President used to describe their conduct was "inexcusable" - and we couldn't agree with him more, especially after the response from the other side.

Speaker Boehner's reply on Friday was to lie about the President's position, the Democrats' position, and the position of those in his own party on the debt ceiling issue. Boehner was lying so much, if we didn't know better, we might have thought he was auditioning to be a rug. We understand he's trying prevent the Tea Party members of the GOP from lynching him, but we also insist Mr. Boehner recall his Oath of Office was to the Constitution and the country - not an unelected, hyper-partisan lobbyist like Grover Norquist. Even Norquist has backed down from his extremist position in the face of worldwide economic collapse.

The response of the Tea Party has been the most insane of all - and it has quite obviously been part of the reason Mr. Boehner has been acting so stupidly. The Tea Partiers' response is simple:  America doesn't need to pay its bills - and no one can make us. They're willing to blithely run the entire world off an economic cliff, because of their infantile refusal to deal with reality. It's as simple as that, sadly.

It's obvious who the liars, traitors, and incompetent frauds are in this whole charade. It's also clear who has been willing to truly negotiate with EVERYTHING on the table. Sadly, what's still unclear is how we can keep the least sane among us from dragging the whole world off the end of an extremely short economic pier.

Friday Funday: With Pride And Thanks

With all of the news coming out this week, we've felt like every day, something else is going to drop out of the headlines and splatter all over these pages, like a grocery bag where the bottom fell out.

So it was with a sigh of relief when the headline story we're talking about today came scrolling across our screens last night. No, we're not talking about the NFL lockout being basically over with - but we're glad for that, too.

We're talking about members of our military finally being able to be proud of who they are.

As people who've grown up and lived many years in Nebraska, we tend to be very accepting of most individuals as they are, regardless of weight, height, skin color, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or just about anything else you can think of.

In a similar way to comments we made earlier this week, as long as a person is the best they can be, and they do their jobs to the best of their abilities, we have no problem with most folks.

Maybe our amiable, accepting Nebraska attitude comes from spending many years in Lincoln, a town with a large variety of educated people, immigrants, and gays. Maybe it comes from the fact that when winter comes, and Nebraska gets hit with mountains of snow and twenty below temps, as long as the person living next door knows how to shovel snow, drive out of a snowbank, and keeps the heat on while not burning the place down, we don't care if they're red, green, blue, purple or orange.

Yes, we'd even accept John Boehner in Nebraska, as long as he was willing to grab a shovel.

With that in mind, it shouldn't surprise anyone that we're very proud that new Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are going to certify the end to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law today.

While Congress voted to repeal DADT last year, it's abolishment was conditional on the policy change being authorized by the top military brass in the U.S. Armed Services. They needed to give legal assurances that dumping DADT wouldn't harm military readiness or unit cohesion.

That's what both Mr. Panetta and Adm. Mullen will be certifying today.

We've never understood the point of DADT. Although most of us haven't served in the military, the one veteran among us assures us - only a small handful of bigots even cared about a fellow soldier or sailor's sexual orientation when he/she was serving. As long as each person did their job the best they could, no one in the service ever really cared who someone else was dating.

We are proud of our servicemembers and their families. Always have been. Whether it was Offut Air Force Base or Fort Leonard Wood just a short drive away, or Pentagon personnel throughout the community, we've been used to having plenty of members of all the Armed Services around - and we've never cared who they chose to date or marry either.

Today, we're glad that our Armed Service members who happen to also be part of the LGBT community can be proud of what they are too.

They're Americans in uniform.

Our thanks go out to them, and to all of our Armed Services members around the world.

Struggling To Keep Our Cool

We can't say preparing for today's commentary was easy.

While the ridiculous levels of heat are affecting millions of Americans, we can't directly blame the heat for our difficulties today. Our offices are all comfortably air-conditioned , and Paul even had the energy to create two cartoons for today, a 'Two-Fer Thursday,' if you will.

The biggest reason we had a difficult time today is the sheer volume of information we needed to wade through, especially on the two major stories dominating the legitimate media landscape this week: the budget and debt ceiling debate, and the Rupert Murdoch scandal.

On the topic of the budget debate, the situation continues to remain bleaker than we'd hoped, but not as bad -yet- as we've feared. It's become increasingly obvious that a majority of Americans want a compromise on the debt and budget, the President wants to compromise on a debt deal, and even some sane old-fashioned Republicans want to compromise on a deal. The problem remains that some far-right, regressive Republicans are willing to risk destroying the fiscal stability of the world, unless they get one-hundred percent of everything they want - and their political enemies get nothing.

We only wish that the blistering heat wave sweeping the nation were the only reason for these legislators' insane behavior. Sadly, though, these ideologues were this way long before the mercury ever hit triple digits.

The Rupert Murdoch/News Corp. scandal also continues to blaze even hotter, much like the incessant heat wave affecting the United States and Canada. All signs in the U.S. are pointing to major criminal actions coming down the road. News Corp just hired the law firm known in DC circles as the folks you go to when you're guilty. The other members of News Corp's Board of Directors have also hired their own law firm - a different one. To add to Rupert's legal problems in the U.K. and U.S., Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has now said that Murdoch will have to answer questions in Australia for his company's actions. It seems the only friend Mr. Murdoch may have is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Of course, Talal is the second-largest shareholder of News Corp. stock, so we highly doubt his support is without ulterior motives.

On both topics dominating the news right now - "Murdoch's Mess" and "The Debt and Budget Battle" - the jury is far from in, either literally or figuratively.

We hope you read through the stories on both topics thoroughly, and make up your mind for yourself on each.

After all, you may as well read all the articles on either story that you can find. We highly doubt you'll be outside running a marathon anytime soon.

Defensible And Indefensible: Snake Oil & Real Medicine

For a long list of reasons we won't go into today, it's rare that you'll see us defending Michele Bachmann much over the next year or two. Frankly, some of us really don't like her. Still, we dislike snake oil salesmen masquerading as legitimate news media sources even more.

Of course, since some of the planet's most well-known fake information peddlers are currently busy lying to the British Parliament and dodging pies, we've chosen to defend Ms. Bachman, at least a little bit today.

An online rag whose name we won't even mention ran a story yesterday, citing anonymous sources, stating that GOP presidential candidate and U.S. House member Michele Bachmann suffers from severe, somewhat debilitating migraine headaches. According to this unsourced story, Ms. Bachmann treats her condition with high levels of medication - which the story made sound as though Ms. Bachmann is a drug addict.

As we mentioned, there are many reasons we disagree with Rep. Bachmann - including the behavior of her bodyguards on Tuesday, which was far outside the range of acceptable conduct. Still - there is absolutely NO reason to accuse her of being a drug addict.

Bachmann addressed the spurious rumor herself on Tuesday morning, saying "Like nearly 30 million other Americans, I experience migraines that are easily controlled with medication." We applaud her for stepping up and addressing the slur directly. Thousands of her fellow Americans suffer from the same debilitating problem and also successfully treat it with prescription medications.

Whether someone has a physical or mental disease, or challenge, or handicap - or whatever you choose to call it - as long as they do their job to the best of their abilities, and try to be the best at what they do, we have absolutely no problem with them. We've had presidents and legislators who've been morbidly obese, had polio or Alzheimer's, were missing limbs, or have suffered traumatic brain injuries, or had any number of other challenges. Most of them have served honorably and ably. If Rep. Bachmann has some bad headaches now and then, and takes a few prescription pills to fight off the pain, we could frankly care less.

There are SO many more important things to worry about.

The insanity that is the debt ceiling and budget debate is still going on in Washington, DC. Yes, the plan put forward by the so-called 'Gang of Six' was praised by President Obama yesterday afternoon. Yes, it's basically the same three-dollars-in-tax-cuts-for-every-one-dollar-of-revenue plan the President has been pushing for some time. No, there aren't any real details in the plan yet. No, it won't likely pass. Yes, we and the rest of world are getting mighty jumpy about the whole damn thing right now.

Michele Bachmann's migraines certainly don't rate on our list of things to be worried about - and they frankly shouldn't rate on anyone else's list, either.

If the trash rag promoters who tried to take a shot at Rep. Bachmann were serious, there are SO many more questionable stories they could have focused on in her life - especially the continuing questions surrounding her husband's counseling "clinic". The Bachmann's so-called therapy center has been proven to try to "cure" homosexuals by "praying away the gay." Homosexuality has never been recognized by the medical community as a "lifestyle choice", as the religious right likes to call it. It hasn't even officially been considered a mental disorder that needed curing since 1973. Since there is nothing to cure, we see no point in Mr. Bachmann's highly questionable methods - and we can't understand why his clinic has received so much government money to cure something that doesn't need curing.

As we said at the beginning today, there are plenty of reasons we are not fond of Rep. Bachmann and what she stands for. But if a media organization is going to attempt to claim legitimacy, the least it could do when attempting to tar and feather someone is start with actual facts.

In the case of the slanted story about Rep. Michele Bachmann and her headache medicine, we hope the only ones that end up with a headache are the people at the organization that started the unfounded rumor against her.

Why The Murdoch Mess Matters, Part II

There are people we know who've mentioned to us over the last few days, "What does all this hoopla with 'hacking phones' and 'Fox News' and Rupert Murdoch really mean?"

For those who don't work in news media or communications, we can understand how someone might question the value of the Murdoch corruption story dominating the news. Other than the ongoing drama of the U.S. debt & budget battle, this story seems to be taking up the other fifty percent of headlines right now.

It is an important story, however, both in the U.S. and abroad - and not just from the standpoint of media and ethics, as we pointed out yesterday.

By the time you read this on Tuesday morning, Mr. Murdoch, his son, and the former News Corp. executive Rebekah Brooks may all be in front of the British Parliament, their version of Congress, for hearing on this matter. While it's not expected that any of the three will say anything shocking, it's entirely possible that one of them could say something which could incriminate them - and not necessarily just in the U.K.

In the U.S. for some time now, authorities have been investigating American corporations for growing levels of international corruption. IBM paid a $10 million fine over selling illegal materials to China and South Korea earlier this year. Maxwell Technologies, a California company, also paid nearly $15 million earlier in 2011 to settle both criminal and civil complaints of dealing products to China illegally. The French-American company Alcatel-Lucent settled their own corruption suit in 2009, after getting caught red-handed giving illegal benefits to Chinese politicians. All of these cases were prosecuted by either the U.S. Dept. of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or both - and all were prosecuted under the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The reason the hearings in front of Parliament today are so crucial is that the U.K. implemented its own anti-corruption act just this month - one that mirrors the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in many ways. Other countries have also been following the lead of the U.S. in this regard.

Any company that wishes to gain the benefits of doing business primarily in the United States faces certain legal restrictions, including the FCPA - in part, because the business they may be working on might involve the U.S. government or military secrets.

If that idea seems farfetched, remember that not too long ago, Apple Computer company was not allowed to sell its desktop computers to certain governments, because their computers were so fast (for the time) that each unit was considered a supercomputer. Even the sale of one such computer would have violated international laws and sanctions against countries like North Korea and Iran.

The ethical implications of toppling governments with propaganda that we cited on Monday are not the only reasons Mr. Murdoch and his now-former employees need to be investigated, and if guilty, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

In a world where timely and sensitive information can be more valuable than gold, a company that deals almost exclusively in information, yet cannot be trusted to acquire that information legally, becomes a security risk of massive proportions.

In an interconnected world, where a device in one's hands can connect a person to the farthest corners of the planet instantly, following the law isn't just a matter of ethical or moral correctness in the media. It's a matter of security, both for the countries that company does business in, as well as the safety of the company's bottom line.

Call The Exterminators

As longtime readers of this commentary know, our dislike of Rupert Murdoch and his media empire has less to do with his ideology and significantly more to do with his continual corruption of one of the pillars of our society.

As the story surrounding the ongoing implosion of Rupert Murdoch and New Corp. has continued to unravel, we've remained mostly silent, even as our sources keep telling us that the dishonesty, ethical rot, and outright corruption we've seen so far aren't even the worst of it. Like a rat carrying disease, everything Murdoch has touched now seems to be in danger of collapsing - and we can no longer hold our fire on this matter.

Since we published Friday's edition, several of Rupert Murdoch's highest-ranked corporate executives have resigned and/or been arrested in the U.K. This includes the woman Murdoch called his "fifth daughter", Rebekah Brooks, and the head of the Dow Jones Company and the Wall Street Journal, Les Hinton. Sunday morning, the head of Scotland Yard - considered one of the U.K.'s top law enforcement agencies - resigned over this scandal. Even the U.S. Department of Justice has already moved its actions towards Murdoch's company from an inquiry phase into an investigation that grows larger every day.

Frankly, we're not entirely surprised that the perversion of facts and honesty that have been on display to the outside world for years through Murdoch's so-called "news" companies have now been discovered to be equally poisonous inside the walls of his enterprises. Some sources in the media have been covering this story for nearly a year already.

When - and we're fairly sure it will be when - it's discovered that actions taken by Mr. Murdoch's people violated laws on both sides of the Atlantic, and even in his home country of Australia, the only significant question we'll have is, "Why wasn't this rot cleaned up years ago?"

It has been a well-known fact in media circles for most of a decade that the so-called "news" arms of Murdoch's media companies have been propaganda machines. When it comes down to accuracy and truth, Murdoch's "news" media companies have continually chosen one rule above all else: what will make us the most money?

For most businesses - especially corporations - we grudgingly understand their drive to follow that prime directive, even if we do not always agree with doing so.

However, as we've stated here and elsewhere countless times, the responsibility of the news media in societies like those in the U.S., U.K., and Australia demand more of journalism. Even those entertainers who are not journalists, but who help add understanding to journalism, should be held to a higher level of responsibility than those who are purely entertainers.

It's a function of government that America's founders made clear, that in order for citizens to be able to effectively govern themselves, they MUST be both well-educated AND well-informed.

It's obvious that Murdoch's actions, and those of his employees, were taken with the idea that they would never be caught, and that there were no consequences for their actions. That one of the world's wealthiest individuals has poisoned the minds, the public discourse, and the very foundations of government in multiple countries, purely to enrich himself and his chosen few, should surprise no one. Power corrupts. It always has.

Murdoch's actions make clear something we have been screaming about for years: It is long past time to bring back strict standards and practices in the news media, with harsh penalties for violating those standards - especially in the Untied States.

A person needs only look at the right-wing ideologues in Washington, DC to see the damage that propaganda and lies like Murdoch's can cause. People who are so ill-informed that they're willing to tear down the world's economy in order to defend their own flawed ideology have no business participating in, let alone leading, any form of government, anywhere.

It's long past time to exterminate misinformation and ignorance from our public discourse, for the good of all.

Friday Funday: True Leaders

While some of our political leaders have been acting like spoiled brats in Washington, displaying the worst of America's problems for the whole world to see, we've been proudly keeping our eyes on a group of Americans traveling the world, displaying the best of what makes us who we are.

It's our football team, or more appropriately, our "futbol" team, the U.S. Women's World Cup Soccer stars.

We understand that millions of Americans, especially men, are often stupidly scared of seeming less-than-manly by rooting for women's sports. Even if they secretly pay attention to the WNBA, or Michelle Wie of the LPGA, if their guy friends strike up a conversation about sports, they often steer the conversation away from "those girly things."

Of course, in Nebraska, we're used to rooting for our women, on and off the sports fields and courts. We've done that for years. Off the field, Nebraska had the first all-female race for Governor some 25 years ago. On the field, Nebraska volleyball is known across the country and around the world as consistently one of America's best programs. Nebraska softball and women's basketball have also become known for quality players who succeed. And Nebraska soccer - women's soccer - has a proud tradition of excellence as well.

As you can see, when you come from Nebraska, you get used used to having women excel as much or more than men.

We're incredibly proud of our U.S. Women's World Cup Soccer Team - and for those macho jocks who say they don't watch soccer, ESPN and the Neilsen Company can prove you're fibbing. The American Team's World Cup semi-final match earlier this week produced the best weekday ratings for any match - men's or women's - on ANY American television network in history.

The ratings for that semifinal match rank second in all Women's Wold Cup matches behind last weekend's U.S. win over Brazil in the quarterfinals. That's even better than when Mia Hamm led the U.S. team to gold in the 2004 Olympics.

What makes us most proud of how our U.S. World Cup Soccer Team is doing is that they are examples of what what we hope for all the young women we know - including the wee one that is the daughter of our editor, Amy.

The members of the U.S. team work hard, but they're not obnoxious. When others told them they wouldn't succeed, they didn't get in the faces of the critics and yell - they put their heads down and just went out and won. These young women - many of whom also have solid academic records and honors under their belts - haven't bragged, or boasted, or expected awards to come to them.

They have acted like adults. They have acted like professionals.

They have acted the way we think real leaders should act, on or off the field.

We know where we'll be this Saturday afternoon.

Listening or watching how real winners achieve victory.

If we're lucky, maybe our Congressional representatives in Washington will also be watching, so they might learn how to be real leaders too.

Enough!

It is becoming increasingly obvious to a growing number of Americans that it is time - long, long, long past time, actually - to rein in the insanity of the extremist regressives on the political right, and the feckless wonders they claim as their leaders.

In the Gallup poll released Wednesday, only one in four Republican voters thought that the budget should be solved with ONLY cuts, and NO increase in revenues. From everyday Americans, the number of people who agree with the Republican position of absolutely NO tax increases is in only one in five.

That means EIGHTY PERCENT of Americans agree with the Democratic position on the budget, debt ceiling, and taxes. EIGHTY PERCENT.

Yet the Republican leadership still thinks they can bully the President, and anyone else who doesn't agree with them, as they insanely, stubbornly insist that Americans agree with the GOP point of view.

As Nate Silver pointed out, after digging deeper into the numbers, the facts are crystal clear -  it's the Democratic Leadership and our Democratic President that the American people truly side with.

Still, Republicans continue to bluster that THEY should be the final arbiters of all major decisions for Americans. Mitch McConnell even said - flat out - that our Constitution needed to be amended in order to force the government to be fiscally responsible. It seems he's forgotten that Republicans, including himself, championed their win last fall by saying THEY were going bring responsibility back to Washington.

Responsible leaders don't need the articles of their government to force responsibility and compromise upon themselves.

Republicans don't seem to think they have to care.

It doesn't seem to matter to them that the Federal Reserve Chairman warned again yesterday of a "huge financial calamity" if the debt ceiling is not increased before August 2. The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde said that America defaulting would be a disastrous shock to the world economy. In Minnesota, where a small scale version of this disaster is already playing out, they are LITERALLY running out of beer and cigarettes.

Even the nearly indefatigable President Obama is among those who have finally reached the end of his patience with the disrespectful, small-minded, selfish, arrogant, ignorant, infantile twits in the GOP leadership.

It is LONG past time for Republicans, Tea Partiers, and the other economic terrorists on the right to give up.

There is NO universe in which they win, get everything they've dreamed of, and see everyone they hate lose.

If default occurs, there WILL be a worldwide financial collapse. The market will be effectively dead. So will the political futures of nearly anyone associated with this collapse. If default occurs, Congresspersons won't be able to sneak out the back door, to steal an election - or anything else of value.

Even if default doesn't happen, the 2012 Congressional elections are now one hundred percent certain to have more bite and fight than most Americans have ever seen. Sadly, we doubt this mess will bring about more serious political campaigns, especially from conservative quarters.

It is long, long, long past time for those who are responsible on the right to regain control of their political party, for their own good, and for the greater good of us all.

America - and the world - has had enough of their brand of insanity.

Infants And Grown Ups

We're not sure whether our first reaction should have been astonishment, shame, or stunned silence at the actions and words of the Republican Congressional Leadership yesterday in regards to the ongoing budget and debt talks. As writer and journalist Kevin Drum stated yesterday afternoon, "It's Now Official: The GOP is a Party of Sixth Graders."

We think that's an insult to sixth graders. At least most of them seem to understand when they're being called on their childish behavior.

Indeed, President Obama all but called the GOP infantile on Monday when he made that point that it is now time to make the painful and difficult decisions of governing, by saying that legislators on all sides needed to, "Pull off the band aid. Eat our peas."

The response from Congressional Republicans on Tuesday was only slightly more intelligible than the response of a colicky baby with a full diaper, in a house without air conditioning, in the middle of summer, being forced to eat its vegetables.

John Boehner's response was unconscionable, shirking both his personal and professional responsibility for governing by saying, "This debt limit increase is [Obama's] problem."

Mitch McConnell made Boehner look downright reasonable, however, when he laid out his own, convoluted, Rube Goldberg style-contingency plan that that Kevin Drum noted ought to be called, the "Gratuitous Embarrassment of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party Act of 2011."

McConnell's plan, in short, would have Congress conditionally abdicate its constitutional responsibility to appropriate funds, and give that power to the President - an idea which was never envisioned by any of the founding fathers. The President, would be allowed to raise the debt ceiling on his own, in short-term, temporary chunks without any other authorization from Congress. Once the President moved to raise the debt ceiling, it would literally take an act of Congress - a "resolution of disapproval" according to McConnell - to stop him from allocating the money. The President could veto Congress' resolution - but then it would take a two-thirds majority of Congress, in both Houses, to override the President's veto.

Not only is this the most convoluted and brazen attempt to sidestep political responsibility that we've ever seen, it's also one of the dumbest and most childish.

We're aware that there is going to be an enormous amount of political pain surrounding this decision. The President's peas and band-aids comments weren't meant as a joke. As he also pointed out, the closer we get to the 2012 election, the more painful and uncomfortable these kinds of difficult but necessary political decisions will be.

"Now is the time to do it," President Obama made clear. "If not now, when?"

We actually find ourselves partially agreeing with TPM's Josh Marshall, that McConnell's last ditch effort may have at least one good point, in that it would force Democrats to keep doing what they've mostly been doing for some time now: "go to the public with what they believe is best for the country, and be accountable for it."

As Marshall also notes, "...that's what people who are given the power to govern are supposed to do."

Insanity

When we look at the way our political leadership in this country  - Republican and Democratic alike -  has gone about the debate on the budget and debt ceiling, the term we keep coming back to is insanity.

We wish there was another way to put it. How else can you explain doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results?

We're not even sure we can give the President any more leeway in his dealing with the Republican Congressional leadership on the debt ceiling and budget issue. Mr. Obama has been willing to compromise so much there are now five separate sources who've confirmed the President has at least floated the idea of raising the age of Medicare eligibility, just so that he might get the Republicans to agree to ANY kind of budget.

It doesn't seem to matter that less than a month ago, one of the top economists in the world - Paul Krugman - pointed out that raising the Medicare age from 65 to 67 would actually cost Americans MORE money than if we left the age barrier at 65. President Obama's push to get Republican leadership to agree to a deal - ANY deal - has pulled him into political waters so deep, we're not sure he's even above the waves anymore.

Still, when it comes to the highest levels of insanity of those involved in the debt and budget negotiations, Mr. Obama isn't even in the same boat as his Republican colleagues.

Speaker of The House John Boehner continues to deny that his party's strategy of extremism wouldn't come back to bite him sooner rather than later. That the Speaker seems to have lost control of his party members is proof enough of how loopy the idea was to depend on people who don't understand basic concepts of government to be your fellow leadership members.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is a perfect example of Boehner's insanity (or incompetence). As journalist Steve Benen noted on Monday, "the oft-confused House Majority Leader [Cantor] tried to argue that Republicans have already made all the concessions they should be expected to make: they’re willing to raise the debt ceiling after Dems pay the ransom."

This was even after the President said about Republicans, point blank, "I do not see a path to a deal if they don’t budge, period."

The nuttiest member of this crew, however, seems to be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Mr. McConnell bluntly stated in October of last year just before the elections, that the Republican Party's goals weren't to fix America's economy, or put Americans back to work. He said, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

Not cutting taxes, or fighting terrorism, or balancing the budget - just making President Obama a one-term President.

Since that initial damning statement, McConnell has denied multiple times - even just last weekend - that the GOP is trying to destroy the economy in order to sink President Obama. Of course, in the same appearance that he denied it, he restated that, "...[making Obama a one-term President is] my single most important political goal along with every active Republican in the country."

It is insane for anyone, in the face of our current budget crisis, to attempt to deal honestly with a group that brags that their only goal is to cause their main political partner to fail, at any cost.

That President Obama continues to try and bail out both Republicans and the nation is either a testament to his dedication to America - or further proof that his brand of insanity may merely be different than that of his Republican colleagues... but not by much.

Caught Between Facts And Fiction

It was no surprise to us over the weekend when Republican House Speaker John Boehner began to buckle, showing both his acknowledgement of reality and the fact that his recent bravado - like that of most of the Congressional GOP leadership - has been little more than lies and bragging.

The recent claims about America's debt ceiling from those on the American political right may have played in the media as rhetorical red meat for the far-right regressives. The truth, however, is something we're certain even Mr. Boehner is well aware of.

Sadly, we're not sure everyone in Congress is aware of that truth - especially some of those who've tried to straddle the fence, like Nebraska's U.S. Senator Ben Nelson.

The truth is, one of the two competing interests for our budget priorities is nothing more than a bully pretending to be a gunslinger - and that bully has no real ammunition.

In order for Republicans to win the seat in 2012 that Nelson now occupies, the Nebraska GOP will have to find someone who is honest and personable, and not an extremist - yet who can still win the Republican primary race. Since that kind of person doesn't currently exist, we're not as worried as we might be otherwise, that a loopy regressive might take over Nelson's seat - and leave all non-Republican Nebraskans without legitimate representation in either the U.S. House or Senate.

Still - there's no guarantee that Nelson couldn't lose his seat in 2012. He certainly did himself no favors last week.

In case you missed it, Sen. Nelson came out last Wednesday and squarely planted himself in a no-win position on the issue of the debt ceiling and budget negotiation.

Like most Democrats, Nelson insisted on protecting Medicare and Social Security from the kinds of attacks that Congressional Republicans have been threatening lately. For that, we applaud him for remaining loyal to his previously stated claims and values. However, Sen. Nelson - much like his friends in the GOP - also refused to acknowledge the reality that our country is simply not pulling in enough revenue for all the things we have already committed ourselves to.

The commitment our society and government made long ago to provide Social Security and Medicare isn't one that is short-term.

On the other hand, tax cuts for the wealthy who are NOT using the money to create jobs in America - who, in fact, are more willing to invest in the war zone that is Mexico right now, than to create jobs here in the U.S. - were never supposed to be permanent.

One of these two ideas will have to fall in order for us to solve the budget and economic problems we have. If Sen. Nelson - or the Republican leadership - were being honest with themselves, they'd come out and admit that giving tax breaks to the rich and corporations didn't generate jobs over the last decade, and it's obviously not going to do it now.

The problem with this budget debate, especially from those on the political right, is the same problem this country is having with unemployment, as Paul Krugman pointed out over the weekend, and again today. It's also the same problem that Sen. Nelson will be facing with the debt ceiling issue as we head into 2012.

The problem doesn't appear to be as much our system, as it is the emotional need for some of our so-called leaders to lie to themselves - and to us. It isn't a question of whether we can do this - it's a question of whether we have the will.

Funday Friday: Crazy, As A Good Thing

If you're like us, more often than not, you probably hear the word "crazy" a lot these days - and it's not usually in a positive connotation.

There are crazy Republicans, and crazy Democrats; crazy ideas like ignoring the U.S. debt ceiling, or attempting to force political candidates to agree to ban pornography in the internet age. Using "crazy" as an adjective to describe any of these things is less than flattering, to be sure.

There are times when the word "crazy" isn't a pejorative, however - and for us, those are some of the best times in life.

The idea that women would one day be part of America's special operations military forces has been crazy to generations of Americans. Yet, Army Special Operations Command recently announced that they had deployed America's first teams of female commandos in Afghanistan - and that the women's initial performance was "off the charts" successful.

In a similar way, there was a time when Americans - and people all over the world - said that humans making regular trips into space would never happen, that it was a crazy idea. In fact, there are people lamenting the end of the U.S. Space Shuttle program now, saying it's crazy that America won't be regularly going to space again anytime soon.

We agree. It IS crazy to think that America won't be going into space regularly anytime soon.

The old definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, the exact same way, and expecting different results.  If that's the case, then being a just little bit crazy, to our mind, means doing things slightly differently over and over, until you get the right results.

We firmly believe America's next steps into space follow that latter model of crazy.

After all, the world's first spaceport is being built right now in New Mexico. The first X Prize, the Ansari X-Prize for private manned spaceflight, was won by an American spaceship, and built by an American company, Scaled Composites. That company is also building some of the first commercial spacecraft for Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space lines company, which will be launched from that American spaceport.

It isn't just privateers breaking the bonds of Earth - NASA isn't done exploring space by a long shot. The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle was announced by NASA just this past May, which could take humans to nearby asteroids, and even Mars. It's part of the space exploration plan announced initially by President George W. Bush, and preserved from budget cuts by President Barack Obama.

That's right - a Republican and a Democrat, working together.

We know... that's just crazy.

It's the kind of crazy we hope we see a lot more of, both in the near future, as well as many years down the road.

Crazy can be a good thing.

Someone's Guilty - But Not Who You Think

We caught a small bit of flak yesterday from at least one reader for the comment we began Wednesday's commentary with - namely, that the Casey Anthony trial wasn't really "first-tier national news". We stand by our statement; it wasn't first-tier national news when it first happened, and that hasn't changed in the last three years.

Our disgust for some people with whom we have to share the broad label of "media" is nearly palpable, especially when it comes to this case. The ambulance chasing lawyer/wannabe television stars, who pursued this story for three years, certainly fall into the category of people in our business we can't stand.

To make it clear, we certainly don't condone what happened to little Caylee Anthony. A child died unexpectedly, and whatever the circumstances that led to that outcome, we feel sadness for the situation, and sympathy for those who loved and cared for a child who is now gone. We also don't think Casey Anthony is innocent - but then again, the jury didn't say she was innocent. They said she was not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, of the crimes she'd been charged with.

No matter how you slice it, this story never warranted the level of coverage it received. How many children, of all colors, ages, and economic classes each year go missing, and never receive the kind of media scrutiny this case did? Those children are no less worthy of attention - but very few child disappearances should draw the kind of media attention this one did.

There are so many other stories that deserve far more attention - something those in the media who know what journalism is about understand.

For example, the debt ceiling and budget battle continues in Washington, a battle whose outcome could decide the economic future of nearly everyone on Earth. Yet Republican "leaders" are still crying like babies, saying that millionaires and big business shouldn't have to share in the economic pain of fixing our economy. That one of our two major political parties is functionally insane? That's news.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal reinstated an order permanently striking down "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", a legal ruling which will affect every member of our Armed Services, around the world. Some of those service members will begin pulling out of Afghanistan this month. Furthermore, a bi-partisan group of Congressmembers - in a Congress where it's doubtful that members could agree to put out the fire if the building was burning - are calling for an even more rapid retreat from Afghanistan. All three of those things are also news.

Finally, if it's more sensational stuff about the news business our fellow media members were looking for, they need look no further than the cell-phone hacking scandal erupting from the Rupert Murdock-owned British publication, "News of The World". Hacking into the cell phone accounts of victims and families of Britain's worst terrorist attack ever - then attempting to defend your company's actions by using the shield of "journalism" is disgusting, depraved, sickening - and is definitely newsworthy.

We're all for stringing up individuals or groups in the court of public opinion who have proven their guilt by committing heinous acts beyond a shadow of a doubt. However, that level of proof is incredibly hard to achieve in most cases.

Sadly, in the Casey Anthony case, the only people who are unquestionably guilty are those members of the media who ignored many other valuable stories to totally focus on a criminal trial that didn't merit the attention it received. Character assassination and incompetence in journalism aren't offenses that can get a person locked up or strung up in America.

No Further Explanation Needed

Since once again our crack (or maybe "on crack") major national media spent an inordinate amount of time over the last few days covering the Casey Anthony trial - an event that wasn't really first-tier national news - you may not have heard about the massive oil spill, courtesy of Exxon Mobil, in the wilds of Montana, on the Yellowstone River.

We would be extremely surprised if the corporate executives at Exxon didn't prefer to have their story buried.

Sadly, none of the news we've found about the current ecological disaster has surprised us. First, Exxon said it was just a small spill, nothing to worry about. Then, when pressed, they admitted that the spill could easily go far beyond their initial 10 mile containment zone. This isn't just any zone, mind you. That zone is the Yellowstone River, which flows out of the famed Yellowstone National Park, that contains some of America's most important natural scenery and wildlife.

As we have grown to expect from oil companies like Exxon Mobil, no contingency plan seems to have been crafted, in case a spill like this should happen  - which it obviously did. While the cleanup continues, the company still does not have a repair strategy for the "leak."

Montana's Governor Schweitzer did tour the spill site, and said the cleanup effort was "pretty good" so far - but if the oil companies had been doing their jobs properly, it never would have happened at all.

Anyone who understands geography and is aware of the weather in the U.S. this year should understand with astounding clarity, that what happened in Montana won't stay in Montana. Some oil will slip through - and any chemicals like the carcinogen Correxit, used during the Gulf oil disaster of last year, that are dumped into the water to break up the oil, will flow downstream.

Downstream, through a series of rivers and tributaries that are sufffering through some of the worst flooding in history.

Through the flooded city of Minot, North Dakota, down the Missouri River, through the flooded river towns of South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. Down into the state of Missouri - and then into the Mississippi River, where the remnants of the oil spill can poison even more fish, farmland, and wildlife, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

For those Nebraskans who keep looking at the proposed Keystone XL2 pipeline, and can only see short-term dollar signs, we invite them to speak with the folks in Valdez, Alaska, people throughout small towns on the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans - or even scientists in Nebraska. The stories of increases in rare cancers and odd health problems is rampant, the economic problems continue, and there seems to be a never ending flow of damaged humans, animals, and landscape in those areas.

If we seem to be against the proposed pipeline project, and a little overprotective of the Ogallala Aquifer, we are - and we can't see how everyone else isn't as well.

Without the clean, life-giving water the aquifer provides to Nebraska and most of the Great Plains, our home region of the U.S. would be a desert - one where people could not survive, long-term. This isn't hyperbole; that region has experienced severe drought before, a chunk of time so damaging it earned its own derogatory nickname: the Dustbowl Era.

An oil spill in the aquifer could mean the poisoning of the water that gives life, not only to the people and animals of the Great Plains, but also to the crops that feed our whole country and much of the world.

It is time we abandoned the Keystone XL project as a state, and began actively investing in alternative energies like wind and solar - both of which, as Nebraskans, we know we have an abundance of.

This isn't some far-left wing, pot-smoking, hippie idea.

This is our life, and our home. It's time to put our families and our country ahead of corporate profit and short-term economic gain.

'For The Public Good'

As Americans across the country recover from their Fourth of July revelry and get back to work, we hope that you took the time to enjoy the holiday - because the political discussion in Washington is turning right back to the budget, debt, and deficit battle.

We can only hope that you also re-read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights that we linked to yesterday, as those founding documents have a great deal to do with the outcome of the debate going on now.

As E.J. Dionne pointed out in his syndicated column yesterday, our nation is facing a significant crisis in how we see ourselves, one that that is positioning at least a portion of our country to be at odds with the Founding Fathers.

The idea that this nation was created - as many Republicans and regressives on the far right seem to think it was - as a haven from taxation and government  is preposterous. As Dionne points out, "A reading of the Declaration of Independence makes clear that our forebears were not revolting against taxes as such — and most certainly not against government as such."

In the first item on the list of King George's many abuses listed in the Declaration, the Founders condemned the king for his refusal to pass laws that were "the most wholesome and necessary for the public good." In the Constitution, the issue of taxation isn't even addressed until the third graph of Section 2. Conversely, the need to "establish Justice" and "promote the general Welfare" are in the very beginning, directly after "We the People..."

This wasn't an oversight by the founders, any more than the choice to NOT deal with the issue of slavery. These were items that were debated and discussed - and then codified in language released to the world.

As Steve Benen also pointed out yesterday, "We’re supposed to believe the leaders of the era were states-rights libertarians, embracing the attitudes of Ayn Rand and Grover Norquist generations before their birth."

The facts about the founders simply don't agree with the regressivist philosophy of today.

The question by many progressives and sane Republicans is, "So how do we fight the crazies, on this issue of the budget?" Surprisingly, Republican Sen. John Cornyn may have given those who do want to protect "the public good" the exact answer on how to defeat the regressive arm of the GOP on this issue.

Sen. Cornyn called for the budget debate to be laid out in public, as did another regressive Republican, Alabama's Jeff Sessions.

We firmly agree with both of them. Let the American people see EXACTLY who agrees with who.

As President Reagan's former budget director Bruce Bartlett pointed out, the American people overwhelmingly agree with the progressives and the Democratic Party right now. Americans are clamoring for unnecessary tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations to be abolished, and tax rates to be raised, albeit slightly, in order to keep our promises and our benefits.

It's long past time for the Democratic Party to stand up for what the American people overwhelmingly want - and by doing so, force the Republican Party to also stand up and defend their stated beliefs; namely continued tax breaks for the richest and those who need them least, while taking away benefits from the sick, elderly, children, and those who need help the most.

As the saying goes, when they show you who they are, believe them.

Independence Day

It's Independence Day in the United States, so we realize that many of you won't even be reading this until Tuesday, at the earliest. Still, we think the following is worthy reading for every American, every day. We've edited it for space - so feel free to view the entire document at its official website, including some great information on it's history.  While you're at it, you may even want to read the Constitution - and feel free to forward today's Daily Felltoon to those persons you might know who may not know the difference between the two documents.

Enjoy your holiday safely, whatever you choose to do.
---

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States...

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Friday Funday: Looking Forward, Looking Back

Today is not only Friday - for most of you, it's the beginning of the Independence Day holiday weekend in the United States. For our Canadian readers, it's Canada Day weekend. And for our non-American readers from Bratislava to Brazil? We hope you'll indulge our celebratory spirit today.

It's also the halfway point of the year, and it's been quite an eventful first six months. Our web guru has moved himself and his family - twice - in the last six months. But we gained a new location in Florida, one of the states guaranteed to be a political hotspot between now and November 2012.

There have been many firsts, too - especially in the home of our editor, Amy, who's young daughter is giving her and her husband a run for their money.

Paul has been in and out, traveling to many places, and working with the Sowers Club of Nebraska on some great HuskerNutz cartoon calendars for 2012. Keep in touch to see information on the calendars and where you can order them... right here.

Like we said, it's been busy.

For all of us, the Independence Day holiday weekend always means a little bit more, and not just because we have great love for our country. It's also a chance for us to kick back, relax, and spend a little time with family and friends. It's not exactly Christmas in July - but it is a chance to ignore the craziness of the world around us for a day or two, and remind ourselves of the blessings we all have.

Whether you are a far-right-wing conservative, or a far-left-wing liberal - or like most people, somewhere in between - if you're an American, we hope you take some time this weekend to remember what that really means.

It means you're lucky. To be born in this country - or simply to be able to live here at this time in history is still amazingly lucky. You could be living in a hut, in a village, in any one of a number of third-world countries.

You're also generally free, and hopefully employed. Yes, the facts are what little economic recovery there's been has been highly skewed in favor of corporate profits and against increased wages for workers, as a recent study from Northwestern University has proven. And yes, unemployment is still much higher than we'd like to see. But it could definitely be worse. We could live in Somalia - or even Greece - right now.

We know that the tendency in the media these days is to overreact to everyone and everything - for example, suspending someone for using vulgar speech that doesn't even come close to what we hear on many talk radio shows these days. But we've never been that way, and we won't start now. Even extremist Glenn Beck is an American - and we wish him well on his future as a non-Fox employee.

The key thing to remember about this weekend is, while we don't always agree with each other, we need to remember we are all Americans, and we're all in this together. We don't wish that other Americans who vehemently disagree with us were dead. We do hope that we can find some common ground with them, sooner rather than later.

Looking forward, we hope the next six months are filled with as many positive events as the last six have been - for us, for you, and for our nation and world.

It'll require hard work, and yes - compromise as well.

But anything worth doing is worth doing well.

For us, that includes celebrating our weekend, and our nation's independence.

We hope you enjoy your weekend too.