The U.S. Department of Justice just announced that Assistant Attorney General David Kris just resigned, effective March 4. No reason for his departure was given, though Kris did mention his two year tenure; that might explain the March departure, two years after he was confirmed.

The Guardian version of the cable hides the ties between British Gas Country Director for Kazakhstan, Mark Rawlings, and a U.S. citizen recently acquitted of bribery because he had offered the bribes at the behest of the CIA.

I think it’s a worthwhile exercise, instead of pointing fingers, to look inward, to ask ourselves what we could do better with the limited time we have on Earth, how we can do our part to build a better America. This call to service is a feature of Obama’s rhetoric.

Small government activist Grover Norquist is calling for Republicans to begin a serious debate on the Afghanistan war. Not surprisingly, Norquist was focusing on the cost of financing our seemingly endless military commitment to the country.

One of the things that maybe surprised everyone after the assassination attempt on Gabrielle Giffords is the fact that the United States has not had a confirmed director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for four and a half years. Potential directors nominated by George Bush and Barack Obama alike, both of whom seemed to have the proper credentials for the job, were immediately opposed by the NRA. They objected to unbelievably minor transgressions on the part of the nominees, like revoking gun licenses of sellers who broke the law, and opposing giant .50 caliber bullets. And they were quickly able to find a US Senator to take up their cause and block confirmation.

• Civility?! But rhetoric had nothing to do with Arizona!
• Wingnuts following their Paul Wellstone script.
• Way to look petty and small, there, Quitter.
• The wages of fiscal conservatism.
• But…but…it snowed in New York last month.
• Teabaggers: still not all all racist.

How dare you impede the First Amendment rights of those calling for revolution or gunfire…now shut up and don’t applaud or wear your school’s colors at a Memorial Service.

Jimmy Hall & Friends — Shame, Shame, Shame, Perry, GA, December 28, 2006.

It’s long been obvious that conservatives conceive of “civility” solely in terms of point-scoring, because they are essentially sociopathic fuckwads. Oh, perhaps this is unfair. But as I was grouching about last night, “once you’ve gone ahead and, say, made excuses for state-sponsored torture, if you want the benefit of the doubt, fuck you.” Honestly, [...]

A poll by the Afghanistan Study Group shows majority of conservatives are turning against the war, prompting Grover Norquist to call for an antiwar coalition. But not everyone is happy about this.