Breaking story on the major websites.

Today on this site (and no doubt in many other settings) there have been discussions about the Founding Fathers and their imperfections. Many view such men as Washington and Jefferson as hypocrites because they owned other human beings while at the same time espousing enlightened views about liberty and justice for "all men".

We acknowledge that the original Constitution was written for a very small percentage of the inhabitants of the Colonies: Those who were white, well off (land owners), literate, and over 21 years of age. With that in mind, I ask you to consider this:

Almost five years ago, my small town lost one of it's sons in Iraq. Army Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Kimmerly died when an RPG hit his vehicle near Baghdad. He was 31 years old and left behind a wife and young son (in addition to many relatives and friends).

At the time, I wasn't yet registered here, but I diaried about his funeral on another forum, and you canread it here (if you wish).

Last Thursday, we lost another, this time in Afghanistan.

I have to confess that I’m probably not my first choice for writing this kind of diary. First, I’m not that good of a diarist. Second, my personal experience of this topic is pretty superficial and removed from much direct knowledge, but I thought I would take a stab at it since no one else has diaried about today’s date in history.

On this date in 1960, four young black men from A&T University walked into the Woolworth’s on Elm Street In Greensboro, NC, and after doing a bit of shopping, they sat down at the all-white lunch counter and asked to be served. They were refused, so they stayed on their stools until the store closed. They came back the next day with a couple more students, and as the days went by, more and more people joined them. The tactic spread nationwide, and while the Woolworth’s in Greensboro eventually integrated it’s lunch counter, the result was not the same everywhere. But the struggle continued.

According to a Siena poll released today, Rudy Giuliani now trails McCain by a dozen points. Just last month, McCain was trailing Rudy by 33 points!

Last Thursday I had the honor of taking the oath of office for a seat on our local town board. (I narrowly lost the election last November, but the three remaining board members, all republicans btw, voted to appoint me to an existing vacancy. But that's perhaps a diary for another day...) And as I was pondering the awesome responsibility that comes with serving the people of my community in a legislative postion, I began to wonder about the folks on this site and how they might be serving their towns, counties, states, and country.

Did you know that Bush's Neverending War on "Terror" is just like the American Revolution? Well, according to Incurious George is it. Speaking at a commemoration of George Washington's 275th birthday at Mount Vernon today, Bush made actually made that comparison.

From MSNBC:

"President Bush honored the 275th birthday of the nation’s first president on Monday, likening George Washington’s long struggle that gave birth to a nation to the war on global terrorism.

"Today, we’re fighting a new war to defend our liberty and our people and our way of life," said Bush, standing in front of Washington’s home and above a mostly frozen Potomac River."

No, this isn't another diary about my distinguished congressman's drinking and driving habits. This about a situation that's likely repeating itself all over our country. As poll after poll shows the public catching on to the moral and philsophical bankruptcy of the republican agenda, more and more republicans are swerving toward the middle of the road. Mine is no exception.

Tom Fox, the peace activist kidnapped in Iraq last year, has been found dead.

Damn... just Damn...

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day.

In his never ending quest to piss off the world, George Bush's visit to the Gandhi memorial shrine in Rajghat has sparked controversy and created animosity with some Hindu officials, including Gandhi's great grand-son Tushar Gandhi, who called it a "National shame".

It seems that there has been some difficulty in reaching agreement in the Senate on amendments that might marginally safeguard a few of our remaining civil liberties, so House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner has delayed a vote by his chamber until next week.

According to this LA Times story the UN is set to release a report by five independent experts, appointed by the UN Commission on Human Rights, that accuses the US of abuse and torture in it's handling of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Remember when Saddam was finally caught and everyone from Bush to Kerry was crowing about how this development was a major blow in the Never-ending-war-on-terror, and how Howard Dean had the honesty and foresight to state that we were no safer for this development? Joe Lieberman even said that Dean was "in a spider hole of denial".

History proved Dean to be correct.

More recently, Dean (again with honesty and foresight) declared that: "The "idea that
we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong..."

According to an MSNBC story Bush will announce that he's agreed to support Sen. John McCain's ban on torture. You know, the torture that Bush claims we don't engage in but should be allowed to do even though "we don't torture" and all that.

It looks like, for at least the second time, George Bush is not going to fulfill his civic obligation to appear for jury duty.

VP Cheney picked two replacements for Libby today. Everyone expected Addington to be named Chief of Staff, but I don't remember hearing speculation that possible turn-coat John Hannah would be his choice for his own private National Security Advisor.

Ontario Christian School has expelled a fourteen year old student, not because of anything she did, but because her parents are gay.