For those of us who are staying in tonight (pathetic, huh?), I thought it might be fun to do a little Youtube-ing.

You know, for years now I've had this wild conspiracy theory. What if you really wanted to destroy an opposition party? How would you go about doing it? Well, one way would be to have people infiltrate the opposing party and then do things that destroy it from within.

As most of us have heard by now, there has been a total political realignment in the Australian Parliament. One of the more interesting changes is the new environmental minister:

Former Midnight Oil rocker Garrett named Australia's environment minister

SYDNEY, Australia - Peter Garrett - the towering, baldheaded former singer of the disbanded Australian rock group Midnight Oil - continued his long, strange tour from pop star to politician Thursday when he was named Australia's environment minister.

With his wild dancing and strident voice, Garrett was one of Australia's most recognizable singers until his band broke up in 2002, after belting out politically charged hits for more than 25 years.

Garrett founded Midnight Oil when he was a law student in 1973, but the semi-punk rock group did not achieve global fame until its 1987 track "Beds are Burning" - a protest song about Aboriginal land rights in Australia.

Okay, this may be one of those situations in which the Democrats' overall propensity for staying within the law may be haunting them. To wit, I bring you the New York Times' obsession with Norman Hsu. Since August 23rd there have been at least seventeen stories and one editorial on Norman Hsu. And we can certainly understand the Times' obsession, can't we? After all, how often do you hear about a corrupt Democrat?

So, O'Reilly says we're all a bunch of haters. Hate, hate, hate, all the time. And he may be right: I really do "hate" right-wing assholes like O'Reilly. I would have to restrain myself from punching him the nose if he were standing right in front of me. That's pretty hateful, huh?

But what if O'Reilly's campaign to "destroy the DailyKos" were to have unintended consequences?

(please click to enlarge)

The above lithograph, entitled Danse Macabre, was created by American social realist Mabel Dwight. While not a household name, Dwight distinguished herself in the middle part of the twentieth century as one of the more engaging artists of this school. Her lithographs now hang in museums all over the country.

One the biggest concerns about the legacy of the Bush presidency is that its criminal activities set dangerous precedent, one which will provide political (and legal) cover for some future, power-mad GOP authoritarian (is there any other kind, these day?).

This is not an irrational fear, as Duncan highlighted yesterday:

Today's post by Glenn Greenwald contains some interesting points regarding American Exceptionalism and our loss of standing in the world. Greenwald links to an article in the Columbia Journalism Review, which discusses the plight of an Al Jazeera cameraman, Sami al-Haj, who has been imprisoned in Gitmo for the last five years, denied access to anything resembling due process.

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

-- George W. Bush

We have ceased to be a nation of laws. We are now a nation of men -- specifically, George W. Bush and Richard B Cheney. Both of these men uttered these words:

"I, (insert name of lying miscreant), do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Well, we know how that one turned out, don't we? Let's do a little rundown on just how "faithfully" these guys have "preserved, protected and defended the Constitution of the United States."

Update [2007-6-1 1:7:14 by Tod Westlake]: CNN is now reporting this story:

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's top general said Thursday the military was ready to stage a cross-border offensive to fight Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq and that he already had sought government approval to mount military action.

Earlier, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has pledged his support for any military decision to stage an incursion into Iraq, said the army had not yet asked parliament for permission.

I suppose we should take as a good sign the fact that the Turkish parliament has yet to authorize any action. I would guess that a resolution of some kind would be the next move.

***

ABC News is reporting that Turkey could be preparing to invade Iraq:

Impatient at continued attacks against Turkey by the Kurdish guerilla group PKK (Kurdish Workers' Party), whose members are based mostly in northern Iraq, Turkey has moved troops and tanks close to the border with Iraq. Iraqi newspapers have expressed concerns that Turkey may be planning to cross the border in pursuit of the PKK guerrillas.

The WSJ is reporting that Tim Griffin has interviewed to take "a top job" with the Fred Thompson campaign (via The Muck):

Backers look for Fred Thompson to use a June 2 speech to Virginia Republicans to step closer toward the race. Thompson allies have had discussions with Tim Griffin, the Arkansas U.S. attorney and Rove protégé, about taking a top job with the campaign.

Does it get any better than this?

Certain members of the British establishment have a beef with the editors of the OED. Sir Digby Jones (not to be confused with Digby the Beneficent) and David Frost (not to be confused with the guy who asked Nixon all those softball questions) are upset because the current edition includes the word "McJob":

* Sounds a lot like "the Jewish Question" if you listen carefully.

Well, it was only a matter of time before I snapped. I've had it. I'm throwing in the towel. I'm ready for the government to take radical action with regard to illegal immigration.

The solution I envision? Mass deportation. Sounds drastic, yes; but stick with me and see if there isn't a certain logic to my argument.

Update [2007-5-18 21:1:39 by Tod Westlake]: Just to clarify my point somewhat, the White House knew they needed Comey's signature. Comey refused, so they went to Ashcroft, whose signature wouldn't have been legally valid. The resulting document would not have legally reauthorized the program. Now, others have pointed out that they only wanted the signature in order to do a Rose Garden press conference. That's certainly possible. But in order to make this work, the document would have to have been dated before Comey stepped in. Again, a back-dated document would explain this.

John Dean tonight on KO pointed out something interesting. When Abu G and Card rushed off to obtain Ashcroft's signature, Ashcroft was no longer the AG in the legal sense. Acting AG Comey was the person whose signature was required to reauthorize this "program."

Update [2007-5-17 13:36:14 by Tod Westlake]: I've changed the title, in the spirt of keeping within DailyKos guidelines. Again, thanks for the feedback.

Update [2007-5-17 13:20:17 by Tod Westlake]: Wow, first time on the rec list. Thanks for all the mojo. And let me just say, I hope to god I'm wrong about this.

Please forgive me if this diary is merely pointing out the obvious. If others have made this connection, I'll be happy to delete.

The excellent diary written by CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream reminded me of a post I read yesterday from Digby over at Hullabaloo.

We all know what a hard-core Christian nationalist John Ashcroft is. He was, perhaps, the most controversial USAG of all time, eclipsing even Mitchell and Meese -- until Abu G. came along.

So what could possibly cause this partisan Christian warrior to say "You do that, and I'm resigning."

Well, Digby has made the connection for us:

This just in via the Huff Post:

Senior Official Linked to Escort Service Resigns

April 27, 2007 8:58 PM

Brian Ross and Justin Rood Report:

Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation.

Tobias, 65, director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), had previously served as the ambassador for the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.

Of course, the cynic in me wonders if such a scandal will knock the more important scandals off the front page.

But then I'm a cynic.

UPDATE:  TheGreatLeapForward beat me by two minutes, so please unrecommend. I'll not delete to preserve comments.

We've all heard the story that the White House is seeking a new "high-powered Czar" to get the war moving in the right direction:

The idea for creating the new position follows concern over longstanding disputes between civilian and military officials in Iraq. The war czar would have the authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies.

I was watching KO just a little while ago, when they ran excerpts from Imus / Sharpton appearance on this morning's Today Show. I was stunned by what I heard: