Another reason to vote for Melissa Bean and against Phil Crane: the list of sitting Congresscrittes who took dirty money: Tom DeLay PAC Contributions, By State Yep, Crane took about $10,000 – amazing. He manages to be a do-nothing at taking graft, too. Lots more Rethugs took way more, and quite a few didn’t take much or gave theirs back. So he’s bumping along in the middle.

I gave Media Matters some money, a few minutes ago. They’ve made my day. In fact, I’m so cheered up generally that I’ll actually talk about something other than politics for a minute: the proposed film of Pattern Recognition. One of these days (I’m shooting for November 3rd or 4th, you know) I’ll get back to nattering on about something other than my nascent interest in politics. I’m pretty cheered up generally by a lot of the things linked at Media Matters, a site I’ve run across before. So I added them to my Bloglines list. They’re probably a little…

People ask how we do the job we do, and there’s another answer, too: because of you. We fight, and you hope. The act of taking up that banner links everyone together, even if you never take up a weapon. Freedom doesn’t mean isolation; it means connection, and admittance to a club with a wide-open membership. We have a common desire, it’s just the execution that’s different. People ask how they can support us. It’s very simple. Vote. I don’t care who you vote for, I just care that you do. Our deaths, our injuries, our sacrifices, are all payment…

Kerry, we acknowledge, stands to the left of this newspaper on many issues. To restore fiscal order and responsibility, he must leave behind some of the social programs he favors. As a practical matter, a check on his more liberal instincts might be provided by a Congress that is likely to remain in Republican hands – although this Congress has aided and abetted the Bush administration’s building of record deficits. My God! The Daily Herald, a conservative suburban newspaper with a distinctly faith-based, family-oriented slant (Holy Moly advertises in it occasionally) endorses a Democrat challenger over a Republican incumbent. It’s…

The Chicago Tribune has endorsed George W. Bush for President. Apparently the editorial was written by a journalist who, in spite of the many proven omissions, prevarications, contextual elisions and flat-out lies put out by the administration, spouts the same tired “strong leader, working hard” party line. It’s particularly shocking given that they have endorsed Bean over Crane, Obama over Keyes. Perhaps the Trib is merely attempting to preserve the appearance of non-partisanship, because the editorial is thoughtfully and carefully written. However, the arguments for retaining Bush and rejecting Kerry smack a little too much of shopworn Republican talking points.…

Heard at choir practice yesterday: my choir dominatrice brought in a CD she found in her yard after she put up a Kerry/Edwards sign. It had a little orange sticker that said, approximately (and somewhat incoherently): MOSLEM’S FOR KERRY! ALLAH DEMANDS IT! he must be elected! Weird, eh? It’s a teen-boy prank, of course. There’s been a rash of signs torn and burned on both sides of the political fence, all over the country, and it’s my opinion that it’s snot-nosed kids. I wonder if I’ll get a free CD if I put up a lawn sign?? I’ve been thinking…

When Republican leaders passed over Rep. Phil Crane for the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee in 2001, it was a clear signal that they didn’t trust him with a prominent role in Congress. Crane might have taken the hint–after three decades of modest achievement in the House, it was time to leave. But he didn’t. I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to vote against Crane ever since moving to Illinois. Never seemed viable until recently, though. But owing to the massive amount of growth and increased diversity in the suburbs, the formerly lily-white Repub strongholds in the…

And meanwhile, over at eBay, you can buy some wood on the Internets, cheap! Here, a small business owner holds a product sample up during a recent infomercial. If you do nothing else, scroll down at the auction site and read the Q and A – they are friggin’ hilarious. my husband David and I posted one about whether wood can be used in nuclear, chemical, or biolgical weapons, and we’re anxiously awaiting the answer. I suspect that Jesus’ General has gotten in with a question before us: there is a rather suspicious query about “little soldiers” and whether the…

Did I call it or what? Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em! Expect the lawn inflatables in stores by the week before Election Day. The Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) blow-by-blow blogging of the debate last night (linked via the image) is pretty funny – scroll to the bottom and read up to read it in chrono order. He also noted some details about people in the audience and what will probably be Bush’s most inconsequential, but most widely blogged gaffe. All over Blogistan, people are gleefully snarking “He called it ‘the internets!’ Hee, hee!” And for the record, I’m a baby-boomer, and I…