We have a man running for President entirely devoid of empathy for his own dog. How will he treat the rest of us Americans, let alone the rest of the world?

There’s nothing that the people running campaigns in downticket races fear more than a tidal wave at the top of the ticket. Some voters will be discouraged at being swept away by the wave, and won’t come to the polls. Other voters, excited to be part of the wave, will come and vote in that big race and maybe a couple more, but then leave the booth and neglect the other races entirely.

That’s a shame, because when times are tough and DC is in gridlock, those downticket races may be the very ones that save your house, your health, and your community.

In the long and storied history of phony pretzel-logic right-wing arguments, this is surely one of the all-time greats.

Lots of things to talk about!

Today four Northern California animal rights activists await Federal criminal trial for ghastly crimes including passing out leaflets, chalking slogans on pavement, and chanting. Oh, and using the internet to locate the indivduals they were protesting. Yes, the world’s only superpower can’t be bothered to defend us against banksters’ ursury or death from want of health care, but when it comes to leaflets, chalked slogans, and Google searches, they’re here for us. To shut us up.

I can’t figure out if these Bushies are doing it for the usual bribes, or because they’re homicidally jealous of sentient beings.

And here we all thought the Humane Society was a place to pick up Spot and Fluffy. Nope. Rick Berman’s “Center For Consumer Freedom” tells us the Humane Society’s kitten-huggers are really terorrists.

Over at Green Is The New Red, Will Porter tells how CCF bought a full page ad in the NYT and blew the ad on a risible “six degrees of separation” link between the Humane Society and some supposedly scary terruhists

Farm Animal Confinement. YES. This initiative requires that farm animals be penned in cages that allow them to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs, and turn around freely. In practice, it would affect only the egg industry, and it moves California very moderately in the direction of more humane treatment of farm animals. The factory farming industry is running the usual campaign claiming that it would put California farmers out of business entirely, but that dog just won’t hunt anymore.

When I was in Sunday School, the Book of Genesis we read there taught us all the living creatures on Earth were God’s creation. Though different Biblical translations and versions use different words, I’ve never heard of any version of Genesis that left out God’s role in creating all life on Earth; I’m confident even Sarah Palin’s atavistic, violence-loving Dominionist sect tells the Genesis story this way.

Not much to add here. The self-deprecating reference to attendance at the United States Naval Academy in the Coolidge Administration did not get the laugh Old Lord McCain expected — and probably gets from the BBQ Krew on the Double Talk Express.