Comment over at YouTube:

I wish Lois Capps would stop funding these wars!

Capps signed the 2007 pledge not to vote for any war funding that didn’t bring the troops home. Didn’t stop her.

What’s the word I’m searching for….?

There’s a special place in hell for think tanks that set themselves up to suck up donations from rich donors for the sole purpose of wrapping imperialist foreign policy in progressive rhetoric.

May Heather Hurlbutt and her “It could be the last of its kind” speculations spend a great deal of time there.

J-Ro:

This move just goes to show how much power a small, dedicated group of people can have, and how toxic the war in Afghanistan (as well as bailouts for European banks) is becoming.

I think that’s worth noting again. Afghanistan is playing a big role here. More and more people are questioning the rational for escalation, and more and more Members of Congress are listening.

What is this, Celebrate False Equivalencies Week?

Dear Conservatives:

Your fellow Americans demand an answer — and we want it now. Just one simple question:

Are you deliberately trying to start a civil war?

Just answer the question. Yes or no. Don’t insult us with elisions, evasions, dithering, qualifications, or conditional answers. We need to know what your intentions are — and we need to know NOW. People are being shot dead in the streets of America at the rate of several per month now. You may not want responsibility for this — but the whackadoodles pulling the triggers make no bones about who put them up to this.

The assassins themselves are ratting you out.

Hadi Ghaemi of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran explains

In Bailout Nation, econoblogger and analyst Barry Ritholz asks how exactly America turned into a country where those who don’t manage risk properly are bailed out from the consequences of their own decisions and stupidity. Clocking in at 300 pages, the answer isn’t short, but Ritholz’s combination of wit and clarity makes the book an enjoyable read. I’ve read a number of books on the crisis, and this one is the clearest and easiest to understand, yet it remains accurate. Ritholz keeps it simple, but he doesn’t oversimplify.

I’ve been following this crisis for, well, long before it existed, at least as far back as 2002. I’d say I know a fair bit about it, but Bailout Nation had a number of insights and many facts I wasn’t aware of.

Tom Suozzi is a neighbor of mine. We belong to the same gym. We run onto each other on the street. And, Tom being Tom, we talk politics. We don’t always agree.

One thing on which we did not always agree was marriage equality, which I have always favored. Today, Tom, a prominent practicing Catholic voiced his full support for marriage equality. Amen to that.

Odum at Green Mountain Daily:

Fast approaching (next Thursday, probably) is a vote on yet another supplemental to Iraq War funding. Welch is among those who vowed not to approve any more such funds unless they included a timetable for withdrawal – and he has held to that vow in the past.

[]

While Representatives such as Frank and Jackson-Lee have indicated they will weenie out on this, we trust that Rep. Welch will join fellow progressives like Baldwin, Conyers and Woolsey and stick to his guns (so to speak).

I guess the Vermont anti-war movement isn’t going to quietly just to further Peter Welch’s leadership ambitions.

Maine Owl reports:

As of the morning of Friday June 12, the offices of both Maine Representatives are reporting our members will vote NO to the conference report of HR 2346. Don’t stop calling. A lot can happen with Rahm on the case. Please continue to register your views. And THANK YOU to all who have called so far.

A source tells me that while the final version of the compromise bill will not be reported out of the Conference Committee until most likely Tuesday, “unless something changes dramatically,” Chellie Pingree will vote against H.R. 2346. Again. 

And THANK YOU to Turn Maine Blue for staying on top of these reps.  We hope Pingree and Michaud show up on Tuesday and cast these principled votes.

It’s the weekend, but anyone who feels like taking action can write letters to local papers.