Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Johnson and Kennedy, passed away at the age of 90 on Saturday. Rather than repeat obituaries’ biographic details, this diary pays photographic tribute to his life’s passion, our wild public lands.

This is not going in a good direction.

Hey look, a Democrat is doing something worth praising!

Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow — Picture.

Growing up, my aunt/godmother who hailed from Ware Shoals, SC would tell me about the “revenuers” who would try to find hidden stills in hills, since the bootleggers were making liquor that wasn’t taxed, and during Prohibition that was doubly illegal. NASCAR grew out the souped up cars bootleggers would drive at breakneck speed to [...]

Michael Bennet was all about the public option when it didn’t matter. Now that the health care bill has passed and the President has signed it, there’s no way that introducing an amendment can stop it from going through — so why is Bennet nowhere to be found? Thirty four thousand people have signed the [...]

So, Obama and the Democrats have triumphed in their heroic struggle to protect the little guy, right? The rapacious health care industry is licking its wounds and wondering how it’ll ever survive, right? Umm… not so much.

Justice in 21st century America is dominated by a coalition of the executive and legislative branches of the government, rather than the judicial branch.

The Fed Chair, Ben Bernanke, intends to fight to preserve the bureaucratic power of the Fed. We know the Fed failed to exercise its responsibilities before the Great Crash, to the detriment of everyone in society, except the financial elites. He should count himself lucky to have a job.

Mark Udall scheduled a hearing on the bark beetle, a pernicious critter that is harming plant life in the Interior West. John McCain was his partner on legislation that would attempt to deal with the problem. But John McCain has vowed not to work for the rest of the year – and presumably put his fingers in his ears and hold his breath until he turns blue – because of the passage of health care reform. . . .