This comes from the “what has my ‘…Radical Republican Right WingNut…’ friend/relative sent me this time” files?  Many of us are burdened with this condition.  But, it does offer some reassurance that at some level the opposition really is a bunch of sophomoric twits.

Subject: Democratic National Convention Agenda for 2008

Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 12:23:17 -0700 

7:00 P.M. Opening flag burning. 

7:15 P.M. Pledge of Allegiance to the United Nations. 

7:30 PM. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast. 

7:30 till 8:00 P.M. Nonreligious prayer and worship:  Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton. 

8:00 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast. 

8:05 P.M. Ceremonial tree hugging. 

8:15- 8:30 P.M. Gay Wedding: Barney Frank, presiding. 

8:30 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast. 

8:35 P.M Memorial for Saddam: Cindy Sheehan, Susan Sarandon. 

9:00 P.M. Keynote speech: "The Proper Etiquette for Surrender", French  President Jacques Chirac. 

9:15 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast. 

9:20 P.M. Collection to benefit Osama Bin Laden Kidney Transplant Fund. 

9:30 P.M. Unveiling of plan to free freedom fighters from Guantanamo Bay : Sean Penn. 

9:40 P.M. Why I hate the Military: A short talk by William Jefferson Clinton. 

9:45 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast. 

9:50 P.M. Dan Rather receives "Truth in Broadcasting" award, presented by Michael Moore. 

9:55 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast. 

10:00 P.M. Presentation: "How George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld brought down the World Trade Center Towers ", by Howard Dean. 

10:30 P.M. Nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton for President by Mahmud Ahmadinejad. 

11:00 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast. 

11:05 P.M. Al Gore reinvents the Internet. 

11:15 P.M. "Our Troops are War Criminals", presented by John Kerry. 

11:30 P.M Coronation of Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton. 

12:00 AM. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast. 

12:05 A.M Bill asks Ted to drive Hillary home.

There are so many really idiotic ideas in this it’s almost too much to handle in one reading.  But, the scary part is that a large percentage of the GOP really believe these lies and stereotypes, and have no clue of the real damage the current occupant of the White House and the neo-cons surrounding the vice are doing to this country.

With 564 days remaining until the natural departure of the current occupant from the White House, I would hope that a creative patriot/progressive somewhere would present us with a satirical, but truthful, countdown of those final hours.

The hard part is blocking out the doomsday scenarios that are possible until some of the current occupant’s unitary executive schemes are unraveled.  Some may find it hard to be funny when faced with the prospects of a near dictatorship.

An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism.

The new audit covers just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since 2002, and so the mistakes in the FBI's domestic surveillance efforts probably number several thousand, bureau officials said in interviews...

The vast majority of the new violations were instances in which telephone companies and Internet providers gave agents phone and e-mail records the agents did not request and were not authorized to collect. The agents retained the information anyway in their files, which mostly concerned suspected terrorist or espionage activities.

But two dozen of the newly-discovered violations involved agents' requests for information that U.S. law did not allow them to have, according to the audit results provided to The Washington Post. Only two such examples were identified earlier in the smaller sample.

FBI officials said the results confirmed what agency supervisors and outside critics feared, namely that many agents did not understand or follow the required legal procedures and paperwork requirements when collecting personal information with one of the most sensitive and powerful intelligence-gathering tools of the post-Sept. 11 era -- the National Security Letter, or NSL...

Here’s a “Way to GO!” for David Brock (President and CEO, Media Matters for America), and the Campaign for America's Future.  They have completed a new report that is a welcome relief for those of us who must content with friends and family members who are afflicted with the worst cases of Radical Republican Right WingNut –itis. 

The typical Right WingNut relies on a foundational ideal of an American conservative majority.  From there they promulgate all sorts of outrageous and dangerous policies. 

Thanks to Media Matters for America and the Campaign for America's Future, we now have proof that the WingNuts are way off the mark. The hard work now is to put he pressure on the media (yes, I know Faux Noise is a lost cause), politicians and those irritating (but still beloved) friends and family. 

Here’s the highlight summary provided by Media Matters for America.

• The role of government -- 69 percent of Americans believe the government "should care for those who can't care for themselves;" twice as many people (43 percent vs. 20 percent) want "government to provide many more services even if it means an increase in spending" as wanted government to provide fewer services "in order to reduce spending."
• The economy -- 77 percent of Americans think Congress should increase the minimum wage; 66 percent believe "upper-income people" pay too little in taxes; 53 percent feel the Bush tax cuts have failed because they have increased the deficit and caused cuts in government programs.
• Social issues -- 61 percent of Americans support embryonic stem cell research; 62 percent want to protect Roe v. Wade; only 3 percent of Americans rank gay marriage as the "most important" social issue.
• Security -- 43 percent of Americans say we are spending too much on our military; 60 percent feel the federal government should do more about restricting the kinds of guns that people can purchase.

• The environment -- 75 percent of Americans would be wiling to pay more for electricity if it were generated by renewable sources to help reduce global warming; 79 percent want higher emissions standards for automobiles.
• Energy -- 52 percent of Americans believe "the best way for the U.S. to reduce its reliance on foreign oil" is to "have the government invest in alternative energy sources;" 68 percent of the public thinks U.S. energy policy is better solved by conservation than production.
• Immigration -- 57 percent of Americans feel "most recent immigrants to the U.S. contribute to this country" rather than "cause problems." 67 percent of Americans feel that "on the whole" immigration is a "good thing for this country today."
• Health care - 69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have access to health coverage; 76 percent find access to health care more important than maintaining the Bush tax cuts; three in five would be willing to have their own taxes increased to achieve universal coverage.

Alec Dubro is senior editor of TomPaine.com.

Ralph Nader opened the Taming The Corporation conference with a somewhat gloomy and rueful assessment. He and his people had held a similar conference 35 years ago, and nothing much has changed in the interim.

Much of the rest of the conference outlined, in more or less convincing detail, what most people in the U.S. already know: Corporations run the place. In fact, only 40 percent of Americans think corporations make a positive contribution to the public good. And as for public trust, as the McKinsey Quarterly told The New York Times, large global corporations are at “the bottom of the list — beneath nongovernmental organizations, small regional companies, the United Nations, labor unions and the media.”

Martha Burk directs the Corporate Accountability Project for the National Council of Women’s Organizations in Washington, D.C. This op-ed was distributed by Minuteman Media .

On May 29, the Bush Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts delivered what could be a devastating blow to women experiencing discrimination in pay and promotion. After many years of employment at Goodyear, Lilly Ledbetter learned that she had been paid less all along than the 16 men at her management level, including those with less seniority. She sued under the nation’s main gender discrimination law, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but the Court said she had no case. Why? In an opinion delivered by Bush appointee Samuel Alito, the majority said Title VII only allowed Ledbetter 180 days to sue from the time her discriminatory pay was initially set, even though it had been a tightly held secret in the company for over a decade before she found out about it.