You may be forgiven for missing it, but several weeks ago, amid the hubbub of a Supreme Court nomination, a White House scandal, corporate welfare in the form of energy and transportation bills, and more terrorist uprisings than one cares for during the slow summer season, an historic bill was introduced: H.R. 3037, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2005.

This legislation — sponsored by Reps. Sam Farr (D-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Jim McDermott (D-WA), George Miller (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX) (yes, that’s a Texas Republican on the docket), and Pete Stark (D-CA) — is the first bill ever to be introduced in Congress to repeal the federal ban on the cultivation of industrial hemp as a commercial crop.

I suspect that the images would make it more difficult as to who the real terrorists are. I still predict that the images will slowly begin being leaked.

So what is shown on the 87 photographs and four videos from Abu Ghraib prison that the Pentagon, in an eleventh hour move, blocked from release this weekend? One clue: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress last year, after viewing a large cache of unreleased images: “I mean, I looked at them last night, and they’re hard to believe.” They show acts “that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhumane,” he added.

What the F#$& are they trying to hide this time. I predict that some of them will appear anyway, although not in the MSM.

Today was the day the government was supposed to process and redact photographs and videos relating to the abuse and torture of prisoners held abroad. Raising new arguments on the eve of its deadline, the United States government refused to release the materials to the public. The photographs and videos were to be processed for eventual release as a result of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations.

Does anyone else think this way about the current Administration and Congress?

A number of rebuttals have been provided around the liberal blogosphere to the fakery from the GOP and their media arms about the Valerie Plame expose. Here’s a roundup.

President Bush faces stiff challenges in his second term with public support for his policies and credibility dwindling. But he retains one critical asset: Americans’ willingness to weather violence in Iraq in the name of fighting terrorism.

Only when pushed, and then prodded and then finally pinned, will Richard Friedman explain why he’s running as an independent candidate for Texas governor. Initially, he will offer only the glib, catchy one-liners that befit the songwriter nicknamed Kinky who once proclaimed, “They ain’t makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore.” He will say things like “I’m for the little fellers, not the Rockefellers.” He will inform you that people are tired “of the choice between paper and plastic.” He will explain that the Capitol building in Austin is seven feet taller than our nation’s Capitol, but that ours “was built for giants, and instead it’s inhabited by midgets.” He has a million of them, and by the time November 2006 comes around–hell, by the time you finish reading this story–no doubt you will have heard many of them several times.

Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is angry. He’s upset about the more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Iraq. He’s also aggravated by the continued string of sunny assessments from the Bush administration, such as Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent remark that the insurgency is in its “last throes.” “Things aren’t getting better; they’re getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality,” Hagel tells U.S. News. “It’s like they’re just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we’re losing in Iraq.”

When did this little jewel slip in?? February of this year that’s when. I don’t believe that I have heard anything about it from anywhere. I can’t believe that is is flying so low under the radar, even MSM’s. O can’t believe that a Democrat sponsored it.

Repeal of the 22nd amendment bill. The 22nd amendment is the one limiting the president to 2 terms.

The FIX is in. How do they continue to thumb their nose at everything and get away with it?? Ethics, we don’t need no stupid ethics.

A dispute between the parties has shut down the House ethics committee for the second time this year, and lawmakers said that it could be months — and perhaps next year — before the panel will decide whether to examine the activities of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) or others accused of violating restrictions on lobbying and travel.