Realm of Western One-ness

Had a lot of trouble sleeping last night, dreaming about shattered elemental planes, blueberry muffins, and frozen puppies. Not my best night, really.

I'm really sorry I missed Al Sharpton speak at the convention last night. I'm not sure I'm convinced that he was totally off the reservation with his speech. (I gather there's some controversy that he didn't read his prepared speech but went with another thing entirely.) Folks may have problems with the Reverend Al, but that gives him a plausible deniability that allows him to say things like:

If I told you tonight, Let's leave the Fleet Center, we're in danger, and when you get outside, you ask me, Reverend Al, What is the danger? and I say, It don't matter. We just needed some fresh air, I have misled you and we were misled.

...

Mr. President, as I close, Mr. President, I heard you say Friday that you had questions for voters, particularly African- American voters. And you asked the question: Did the Democratic Party take us for granted? Well, I have raised questions. But let me answer your question.

You said the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule.

That's where the argument, to this day, of reparations starts. We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres.

We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us.

Bush got maybe 5% of the black vote last year. If you've ever seen this story, you'll be surprised he gets more than Condoleeza's vote this year.

I liked Edwards' speech last night. The blogosphere has nicknamed him "Johnny Sunshine," which I suppose I will accept over "Slick Willie." I am particularly pleased they've integrated his "Two Americas" speech into the platform. There are two Americas--one for the 1% who made out like bandits for the last three years, and the rest of us, who are still trying to get by with less. This is the second year in a row that income has declined, according to the IRS. That hasn't happened in over 50 years.

Oh, and Juan Cole makes with the funny:

Although it may be true that al-Qaeda is as determined to destroy the US as the Axis Powers were in World War II, this observation is a Himalayan exaggeration if it is meant to suggest a parallel. Al-Qaeda is a few thousand fanatics mainly distributed in a handful of countries. If Zacharias Moussaoui and Richard Reid are any indication, a lot of them are one step away from from collecting old soda cans on the street in their grocery carts while mumbling about the radios the government implanted in their asses.

You wouldn't know that 120 people died in Iraq yesterday, judging by the news. Why people think Bush is equipped to win the War on Terrah is beyond me. I'm not sure he could run a lemonade stand at this point.