The House passed a resolution declaring that the United States will win the War on Terror. The first surprise is the utter unreality that must exist in our Congress for such a declaration to seem like a sensible use of resources. The second is that it received the craven support of 42 Democrats in passing.

The complete and institutionalized break from reality required for anyone to think that simply declaring something to be true, even if voted on by the House of Idiots, makes it the truth, or even merely inspirational, makes me rather frightened and sad. The language of the resolution is revealing of a national leadership deeply in denial about the hard, cold facts of life.

Text of the Resolution and commentary after the jump…

Via: CommonDreams.org STATE DEPARTMENT TELEGRAM – SECRET TO: All Ambassadors FROM: Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs — Karen Hughes THROUGH: The White House — Mr. Karl Rove SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Suicide Initiative: Follow-up to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Colleen Graffy’s New Initiative on Suicide as a Good … Read more

Some SUV drivers are taking matters into their own hands. They are torching their gas-guzzling road hogs and not looking back. While insurance fraud is a ‘bad thing’, ultimately, maybe it is less costly overall than using of a fleet of personal vehicles that are less fuel efficient than 20 years ago. Maybe instead of … Read more

I got a letter from Senator John McCain’s PAC, Straight Talk America, today. Seems the Sentator wants to "bring real reform to government, do away with ‘business as usual’, and help chart a new future to deal with our country’s most serious problems and needs." All that and and to get some traction in his … Read more

Do you believe that the government (especially this government) has never, and will never, lie to you about important matters of public concern? Do you believe that those in the vast secret apparatus of state justified by ‘national security’ would never do unsavory and even criminal things in the name of ‘security’ or what they … Read more

Pressure has been building since the 2004 cycle for more early contests to prevent two fairly unrepresentative states (NH and IA) from so over-determining the nomination process. Several ideas have been floated, including a Western ‘Super’ Primary, but what seems likely to actually occur is that the DNC may (they aren’t committed to action yet) … Read more

John McCain has been busy spreading the love with his Straight Talk America PAC, hoping that it will return a bumber crop of votes in the ’07 primary season. He’s spread over $225,000.00 so far to state Republican party organizations alone. That’s not including the state and federal candidate contributions, and gifts to other PACs … Read more

I didn’t much care for Jim Pederson’s inaugural commercials, and, unfortunately, those will be likely be most Arizonan’s impression of Pederson’s immigration policies for some time to come. Fortunately, Jim has a surprising deep backfield to draw from in coming months on this issue.

He’s put forward a fairly detailed, reasonably bi-partisan, and realistic policy document on immigration. However, it was locked up in a PDF download on his site, so I decided to drag it out into the world of plain text HTML for all and sudry to peruse. Below the fold is the full Pederson immigration plan.

The plan also includes some tasty Kyl opposition research that you should look for Jim to be using as the race heats up.

I’m not inclined to be critical of Pederson’s proposal, because anything Pederson would tolerate in terms of a negotiated settlement of the issue will be worlds better than what Kyl would try to shove down our throats. Pederson’s plan doesn’t exactly stir my Progressive soul, but neither is it stupid, heinous, or plainly irrational as is nearly everything issuing from the Kyl camp these days.

My only suggestion to the cautious and dogged Pederson campaign would be to consider Latino turn-out and participation in this election and make the terms of permanent resident status or path to earned citizenship more explicit; at least in targeted Spanish language media.

Here’s the Pederson Plan…