The former president is out with his memoir (Decision Points) of his years in office and notes that his lowest personal point was when rap singer, Kanye West, said he didn't care about black people during a live fund-raising telethon because of the manner in which he responded to Hurricane Katrina's destruction of New Orleans. (See this for a full description of the story.)

He says it was even worse than all the criticism he received over the Iraq War and putting forward the false rationale that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

So, coupled with the lack of introspection he exhibited in a 2004 press conference when asked to identify any mistakes he might have made during his time in office, I guess that's all we really need to know.

Kanye was wrong. The President does care about black people - just self-absorbed Hollywood, elitist, rap stars with gold chains around their necks. A bigger question still exists as to whether he cares about his own legacy.

Insofar as the Tea Party has a coherent talking point, besides their vague, arbitrarily selective hostility towards government in general, it is their concern about our enormous national deficit. That is a concern that progressives have been talking about since long before the Tea Party was a gleam in the eye of its founding libertarian ideologues, corporate sponsors, and veteran Republican organizers.

But let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. We agree with the Tea Party about the importance of reducing the deficit and, fortunately, the main facts about the deficit are so clear and well-established that they are neither controversial nor difficult to understand. They are these:

If you want to be taken seriously when you rail against the deficit, you need to support one of the following four policies. Better yet, support more than one.

Ready for the four? One, cuts to Medicare. Two, cuts to Social Security. Three, military cuts. Four, tax increases. Any budget expert will tell you that we simply cannot fix the deficit without doing at least one of those four.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that by the year 2035, the annual deficit will be almost $2 trillion. Let's imagine that we make big cuts to every government program that's not our list of the big four -- bigger cuts than Ronald Reagan made -- to things like education and transportation. How much money might that save? Only about $100 billion. You can even double that figure and assume truly radical cuts. Even then you have saved a measly 10 percent of the projected deficit in the year 2035.

The reason is that these programs make up only a modest share of government. The three biggest programs -- by far -- are Medicare, Social Security and the military. (This is from here)

Last Winter, I went to a rally to support a strong health care reform bill that was going through Congress. While I was there, I encountered three oddly dressed older women who were holding signs and singing songs for single-payer health care reform and against the power of insurance companies. This was my first encounter with the Raging Grannies, an activist group that fights for progressive causes like the ecology, economic justice, and civil rights. They use humor and music to protest for just causes.

The Raging Grannies began in 1987 in Victoria, British Columbia when a group of white middle-class Canadian women between the age of 52 and 67 began to protest the visit of US Navy warships and submarines in the harbors of Victoria. Many of these women had experience in activism, but were getting tired of being relegated to making coffee in the peace groups that were then in existence. Due to their marginalization in these other groups, these women decided to form the Raging Grannies to implement their own ideas of social protest, and on February 14, 1987 they staged their first protest. The Raging Grannies sent to Pat Crofton, then Chairman of the Defense Committee, a broken heart to signify his lack of commitment and action on nuclear issues. They sang a few satiric songs under an umbrella full of holes, symbolizing the absurdity of sheltering under a nuclear umbrella. Canadians loved the Raging Grannies, and a movement was started.

In recent weeks, there has been a controversy in New York City involving a Muslim center that is a few blocks from where the Twin Towers once were. This controversy highlights the misperceptions that many people in this country have about Muslims. Bob Hooper, a regular blogger in Everyday Citizen, wrote an informative blog about the prejudice and anger among certain groups of Christians towards mosques in various parts of the country. In a Jasper the Cat cartoon that I did last December, I wrote about the various things that I learned about Muslims in America. From what I learned, I believe that most Muslim Americans are patriotic and just as concerned about extremists as their fellow Americans. In this blog, I write of more things that I learned in these past few weeks.

Last night on the cab ride home, I had a great discussion with the driver about President Barack Obama. Many of the supporters that rallied, cried, and worked to get the man elected are now the main people ready to throw him under the bus.

Does that make sense?

People stressed about having a Democratic president, someone who was going to fix all the problems that the Bush Administration created, but what we failed to realize is the damage that was done during those 8 years would take longer than everyone really considered.

right?

On Friday, seven former CIA Directors sent a letter to President Obama asking him to put a halt to the investigation of detainee torture and abuses in the CIA’s interrogation program. President Obama rightly told CBS “I continue to believe that nobody's above the law. And I want to make sure that, as president of the United States, I'm not asserting in some way that my decisions overrule the decisions of prosecutors who are there to uphold the law.” While President Obama is correct that he should not be ordering the Justice Department around, we wish the Justice Department believed that nobody is above the law and would expand their investigation to include those who ordered, designed, and justified torture rather than only investigating interrogators.

On July 1, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that makes certain that my fallen hero will receive the Congressional Gold Medal. Sixty-six years ago, this brave woman died while flying for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II. For more info about the WASP and the medal, read this. But, first, allow me to introduce you to my hero.

It began to occur to me if I'm going to write you while I'm still in the 319th Army Air Forces Flying Training Detachment, I'd better start. One of my three roommates is home packing up her things today - washed out, she is. Had her Army check ride yesterday, and the Lieutenant recommended for her elimination. I'll be having my next Army ride any day now, so maybe I'll be packing up too...

The buzz is that Obama will keep Bush’s defense secretary, Robert Gates, for at least another year. Not to worry, apologists from the media say. Gates has not been nearly so bad as Rumsfeld.

That’s our standard: not so bad as Rumsfeld!?! Heaven help us.

I was a big Obama booster – still am, I guess. He was and is the best of our viable options. But I almost can’t get past this. “Obama will keep Bush’s defense secretary.” I say that to myself and I feel sick. Shouldn’t Obama wait until he is older before he surrenders to the author of Ecclesiastes (or Animal Farm)?

Pamela Hess of the AP reports:

WASHINGTON – Al-Qaida supporters suggested in a Web site message this week they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the U.S. as a way to usher in a McCain presidency.

The message, posted Monday on the password-protected al-Hesbah Web site, said if al-Qaida wants to exhaust the United States militarily and economically, "impetuous" Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We've been watching the endless flow of fear mongering from the GOP be the key tactic to lead Americans around on a leash. The Republicans climaxed in their fear mongering at the GOP Convention in a grotesque celebration of the attack on America which provided them the fuel to wage war on innocence and American values.

I am happy to see someone else has seen this. Yet again I am enclosing a video from Keith Olberman. At least someone in a position of media influence is using their platform to crusade for the Constitution and for the American people.