...millions of Americans who see media consolidation as a corrosive social force. It robs them of their voice in public affairs, pollutes the political culture, and turns the debate over profound issues into a shouting match of polarized views promulgated by partisan apologists who trivialize democracy while refusing to speak the truth about how our country is being plundered

I milked cows and churned butter with my grandmother, who was also the family butcher. They bought flour and sugar and a few other sundries, otherwise they lived off their land.

Now I've got an organic garden. The green beans are coming in and soon I'll be knee deep in cucumbers for pickling. The corn is waist high in front of towering sunflowers. I'm concerned for the cauliflower- aphids or butterflies keep eating the leaves, but all the tomatoes and peppers and squash are flourishing and the yield looks to be heavy.

Scroll way down at the link and look where the undecided/someone else numbers are....:

This is so nice to read what he's up to. Thanks, Jeralyn.

A very long time ago he said one of my favorite lines ever, which of course I failed to write down exactly - something to the effect that one must treat people well on the way up, because it's a long way back down.

Israel has agreed in principle to an Egyptian-mediated proposal for a cease-fire and the opening of intensive talks for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, security and government sources said yesterday.

Haaretz

And perhaps, despite BushCo and other right wing meddling, a thirty year truce is on the horizon.

Sayed Abu Musameh is one of the founders of Hamas and now a member of the legislature. One of the old guard moderates, he is also on the board of Hamas's first research organization just opening here. It is called Beit al Hikma, the House of Wisdom, and seeks to build bridges with the West.

"We are not seeking all of Palestine, only the '67 borders," he said. "Then there would be a truce for a very long period to pave the way for the next generation to resolve the issues we are paralyzed to resolve."[emphasis added]

NYT

via War and Piece

Pat on the issues:

Middle Class....."What middle class? There's only seven people left in the middle class - who cares about them? 4-12

National Debt....."Let the kids pay it - they still owe us rent and gas money." 4-05

The Future....."Worrying about the future is a thing of the past. I don't think about it." 3-29

Foreign Aid...."We should ask every country in the world to send us whatever they can." 3-22

Same Sex Marriages...."I'm for them. They will cut down on overcrowding in the schools." 3-15

Pat on Education...."Every child has a right to go to high school and end up with a third grade education." 3-08

Pat on taxes...."No Taxes. Let's just tip the government 15% if they do a good job." 3-01

Pat on prayer in the schools...."Kids should be able to go to school and pray they won't get shot." 2-23

Pat on his running mate...."Many of you have asked why it's taken me so long to select a running mate. I have no intention of reaching into the political grab bag and grabbing any man to be my running mate. I'm going to reach in and grab a woman!" 2-16

Pat on drugs...."They said I ignored the drug problem. Well, I gave speeches on drugs, I wrote books on drugs.....I did darn near everything on drugs!" 2-09

Pat on his motivation.... "I'm often asked why I travel around the country talking politics. Is it for humanitarian reasons, community spirit, or is it for the money, the limosines or the girls? The answers are: no, no, yes yes yes!" 2-o1

.....And as they sifted through files and images on the hard drives, investigators found tons of material -- orders for equipment, names and places where the Khan network operated, even old love letters.

"There was stuff about dealing with Iranians in 2003, about how to avoid intelligence agents," said one official who had reviewed it. But the most important document was a digitized design for a nuclear bomb, one that investigators quickly recognized as Pakistani.

"It was plain where this came from," a senior official of the atomic energy agency said. "But the Pakistanis want to argue that the Khan case is closed, and so they have said very little."

The City of Seattle vs. Sonics trial starts tomorrow and it has important implications for cities and sports fans.  Basically, the local NBA franchise is being held hostage by out-of-town owners that demanded a $500 million arena with all revenue benefiting them.