While visiting FDL, you may have noticed the smiling face of a man in uniform, attached to these words:

“FDL is important because our words are not just meant to echo within ourselves, but to echo with future generations.”

The words and face belong to Lt. Dan Choi.

Lt. Choi is in Moscow this weekend, in solidarity with the formidable and brave activists of GayRussia — and has now been arrested for taking part in a Moscow Pride demonstration.

It started last Sunday, when the winds finally stopped and people began to crawl out of their basements and stumble out of their homes and businesses. Or, in far too many cases, what was left of their homes and businesses.

“It” is the Joplin Marathon, and it’s being run by dozens of disaster relief organizations who will be hard at work in southwest Missouri, long after the media has packed up their cameras and moved on.

For many in the US, sports on the Memorial Day weekend means the Indy 500, but for folks in southwest Missouri, the Joplin Marathon is the only race that matters right now.

No wonder the US Army was allegedly bested in the WikiLeaks leak by a Lady Gaga CD.

Watching Republicans lie about taxes and money can be entertaining, such as what we’re seeing happen with any Republican who dares touch the leprosy-transmitting kryptonite known as Paul Ryan’s Fantasy Budget. But that doesn’t mean the lies are any less nasty — or that we can depend on the evening news to swat down these lies.

It happens that my home is at a far end of Tornado Alley, and this week we have already had two hailstorms, with the sirens blowing. The tornado itself went around me, but others haven’t been so fortunate. While I do donate to the Red Cross and make substantial food and office/work clothes donations to the nearby Crisis Center, I’m not exactly on the Patron level anywhere.

Miss Piggy — Wonder Pig, from episode 419 of The Muppet Show.

An unafraid, untamed truth-telling voice has gone from our midst. Let’s remember the best of what he gave to us, and use his memory as inspiration to carry on in that spirit.

Every time I look at the field of Republican candidates for president, I find myself distinctly… underwhelmed. Apparently it’s not just me:

Judd Gregg, you may remember, is the guy who said that an audit of the Federal Reserve represented “pandering to populism.” I guess he’s just pandering to profit. And it’s crazy. He has a net worth of between $2.5 million and $9.2 million. He isn’t starving and he’s 64 years old. He’s just a guy who has to be in the game of screwing the poor and cheating people, I guess. And he picked the perfect company to sign up with for that.

Three provisions of the PATRIOT Act set to expire were extended yesterday as Senate leaders effectively shut off debate and worked to block attempts to amend the Patriot Act to include privacy protections. The reauthorized provisions went to the House for approval and, after passing through Congress, the legislation was flown to US President Barack Obama in France so he could sign the reauthorization.