Freedom is not a gift received from a State or a leader but a possession to be won every day by the effort of each and the union of all.
— Albert Camus (1913-1960), French-Algerian author, existentialist

My friend 82-year-old friend Renee (pronounced REE-nee, like it rhymes with “genie”) doing her part in the median of US-1 in St. Augustine

It’s not just me and you who don’t have enough money to go around. The Bush administration has pushed the government to the point of bankruptcy too. Starting Oct. 1, when the 2009 fiscal year begins, we are toast.
We have just got to get somebody smart in the Oval Office again. America can’t survive another [...]

The environmental crisis is somber evidence of an insidious fraud hidden in the vaunted productivity and wealth of modern, technology-based society.
— Barry Commoner (1917- ), American biologist, college professor, and eco-socialist

Rep. Steven King (R-Iowa)

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.)

Prospects are so bad for Republicans in the Senate that Sen. Mitch McConnell, their embattled leader, has given them free reign to vote against the party and, certainly, their unpopular president, if it will help them save their seats in November.
All in all, it was as sad and [...]

Barack Obama’s campaign hasn’t done well with buttons this year.
First, it was a racist button sold at the Texas Republican convention.
Now, a design mix-up has produced a button with Idaho Democratic Senate candidate Larry LaRocco’s name and Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig’s face. Craig, you might recall, earned the nickname, “Wide Stance” after claiming that [...]

Straight talkin’ maverick John McCain has a knack for sniffing out money. First he married it, now he’s trying to sell out America’s coastlines for it.
And it’s working.
Campaign finance reform expert: “This is a case study of how a candidate can change a policy position in the interest of raising money.”
Oil and gas industry executives [...]

AP photo of Obama at the Western Wall
A rabbi is outraged that someone stole the prayer Sen. Barack Obama stuffed into a crack of Jerusalem’s Western Wall. We agree, but we’re still curious about what the note said.
…as soon as [Obama] doffed the requisite skullcap and left, a snoop pulled a folded piece of paper [...]

John McCain is trying to reclaim his inner maverick, boasting that he doesn’t give a rat’s pa-tootey what people think. He’s all about being bold, being right, being…non-poll-driven.
All week long, McCain has been pushing hard on the notion the current surge strategy in Iraq was a crucial test in judgment.
McCain says all the same stuff [...]

I’m used to receiving scam spam from Nigerian con men who must think I have rocks for brains. Occasionally, they’ll show some glimmer of creativity by putting a different spin on the same old scam. But this time they went too far — they tried to get me to believe that FBI Director Robert Mueller [...]