I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I'm incredibly proud of my Ph.D. from Boston University in part because it's something I share with MLK, and in part because my grandmothers were illiterate. In the past, I noted in comments that Markos, MLK and I have advanced degrees from the same school, but, you know, his was only a master's or something like that. (I respond to condescension in kind.)

I strongly favored John Edwards because I judged the candidates by their words. Nevertheless, I had been rejoicing those words from MLK for the past several months, and especially yesterday, because Obama became the nominee based on his words and character. Today, I recall them in a negative light.

Markos, thank you for reminding me that my teeth are "gross" as a consequence of having uneducated refugee immigrant parents who let me drink coffee every morning throughout elementary school but didn't encourage me to brush my teeth, because they just didn't know any better. I'll rush right out and get my teeth whitened for you.

I knew little about Michael "Mike" Huckabee. Except for his religiosity, I had this impression that he was a likeable fellow. I wasn't surprised to learn that he supports the teaching of creationism in public schools, and I wasn't surprised that the AP incorrectly calls this nonsense a "theory".

However, I was surprised to learn that Huckabee is unhinged and corrupt, Giuliani-like, and that as governor of Arkansas, he secretly lobbied the state parole board for the release of a convicted rapist who then

"molested and killed one woman and was suspected of doing the same to another, but died in prison before he could be charged in the second case."

And of course:

To this day, Huckabee tries to minimize his responsibility for DuMond's release. Huckabee's 2007 book "From Hope to Higher Ground" also fudges the facts, implying that DuMond died before being convicted of either Missouri murder. In one recent interview, he even suggested that he had fought DuMond's parole, a statement his own writings prove to be a lie.

Details below. Michael "Mike" Huckabee, you likeable, friendly scumbag.

A diary that was on the rec list opened with:

I'm not kidding about the Free Mumia thing: many liberals cite that very phrase as one of those "fringe" topics on the left that make them CRINGE in embarrassment on behalf of similiarly minded liberals.

I didn't get that diary, but I have strong feelings about this subject. I became involved in Mumia's cause when I read that the bullet that killed the officer did not match Mumia's gun, and devoted countless hours to this cause (details below). I CRINGED in anger when I read this exchange involving Mumia's then-new lawyer:

SAM DONALDSON: But if it's a .38, then your contention that it was a .44 is wrong.

LEONARD WEINGLASS: Well, I think that issue is very much something that should be played out in front of a jury.

Part of what makes me a liberal is that I form my opinions based on evidence. I hate bullshit and deceit, staples of the Republican diet. I don't support the death penalty and I agree that it appears that Mr. Cook/Abu-Jamal didn't get a fair trial, but in a fair trial, he would be found guilty. I see nothing wrong with liberals cringing in this case.

"I applaud them moving out of the shadows and into the light because of the human rights issues involved," Mr. Walters said of illegal immigrants. "I've given my entire life to issues of social justice as an activist and an academic. In that sense, I'm with them.

"But they also represent a powerful ingredient to the perpetuation of our struggle," he said. "We have a problem where half of black males are unemployed in several cities. I can't ignore that and simply be my old progressive self and say it's not an issue. It is an issue."

Mere days ago, we were outraged to learn that Bush had violated on the order of 750 laws. We expect him to obey the law. Shouldn't we likewise expect all immigrants to arrive here legally? If not, why do we have laws? If so, why don't we lobby to change the law?

I ask you to read what I think the problems are and to suggest concrete solutions. If you've already decided that I'm racist, I'm a Republican troll, etc., we won't have much of a dialog, so goodbye.

Detailed rebuttal of the propaganda on the flip, but here's why Serbs have no right to rule Kosovo::

'Once you touch the woman, you touch the honour of the family and you provoke the man to react. The Serbs knew this. Belgrade had, for years, put out propaganda that the only thing Albanian women could do was produce like mice. So daughters were gang-raped in front of their fathers, wives in front of their husbands, nieces in front of their uncles, mothers in front of their children, just to dehumanise, just to degrade.'

It is estimated by the World Health Organisation and the US-based Centre for Disease Control that as many as 20,000 Kosovar women (4.4 per cent of the population) were raped in the two years prior to Nato's forces entering the benighted territory. Numbers to match Bosnia, if not more.

But the category that I want to discuss here isn't any of these. It's the one that gets my blood boiling every time I think about it: 'things I really didn't want any part of but got anyway'. George W Bush. Reality TV. The war in Iraq. Male pattern baldness. And of course, supplementary material.

This month, however, he tackles dwindling funding for NIH research. The situation is dire, but he does pledge to write next month about how to fix it.

The caption for one picture in particular knocked me out:

We used to play soccer 11 on a side. Now there's only enough for three against three.

That's 11-year-old Muhammad Sattar speaking. His twin brother was killed in a bombing. Can you imagine these six kids? Politics aside, this is simply heartbreaking.

three members of a special forces unit based at Fort Carson, in Colorado Springs, have committed suicide.

I thought those Special Ops guys were tough. Suicide? Did we lower the bar to meet recruiting goals? I think not. Things must be tough.

The NYT has an article on the psychological cost of this war. Here's how it ends:

"The great change among American troops in Germany during the Second World War was when they discovered the concentration camps," Dr. Marlowe said. "That immediately and forever changed the moral appreciation for why we were there."

As soldiers return from Iraq, he said, "it will be enormously important for those who feel psychologically disaffected to find something which justifies the killing, and the death of their friends."

54% of soldiers say that morale is low or very low. I don't think they'll find the justification they need when they come home. Another consequence of this adventure.

Earlier, the town cynic, an editor, berates a room of neighbors who insist a dictatorship can't happen here. "The hell it can't," he says. "There's no country in the world that can get more hysterical!" He launches into a litany of ways Americans have espoused fascist ideals, one of which is, "Remember when hick legislators in certain states ... set up shop as scientific experts and made the world laugh itself sick by forbidding the teaching of evolution?"

Ha ha. Remember that?

Keohane is quoting from Sinclair Lewis's 1935 book It Can't Happen Here. Full text after the flip.

I was horrified by some of the reactions, including the diary entitled I don't give a rat's ass about DeLay or Obama.

Anyway, Maureen Dowd's latest column led me to this bit by David Froomkin which refers to this Financial Times article about the guy in charge of crossing the line between Church and State. He claims:

President Bush doesn't portray himself as a super-Christian. He is very private about his faith. I work with people who are very devout Christians who say let's pray together. He doesn't do that. He is all business in the Oval Office.

Hm, I wonder, could it all have been an act?

Yet another NYT article refers to ID as a theory, three times:

Frist Urges 2 Teachings on Life Origin

he said that the theory of intelligent design as well as evolution should be taught in public schools

The theory of intelligent design holds that life is too complicated to have developed through...

Critics say intelligent design theorists are trying to supplant science with religious beliefs.

A THEORY MUST BE THOROUGHLY SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF ID, THEREFORE IT IS CONJECTURE. (Goddamnit, they piss me off.)

Please join me in writing to them at letters@nytimes.com.

While officers and enlisted personnel say they enjoy symbolic signs of support, and the high ratings the military now enjoys in public opinion polls, "that's just not enough," said a one-star officer who served in Iraq. "There has to be more," he added, saying that the absence of a call for broader national sacrifice in a time of war has become a near constant topic of discussion among officers and enlisted personnel.

Hm, why the absence of a call for a shared sacrifice?

David C. Hendrickson, a scholar on foreign policy and the presidency at Colorado College, said, "Bush understands that the support of the public for war - especially the war in Iraq - is conditioned on demanding little of the public."

To whom it may concern,

Giving voice to David Brooks does not advance the mission of PBS to educate the public. He consistently distorts facts or simply lies to support the conservative agenda while giving the impression of balance.

Buried in the Boston Globe, Over half of Iraqis struggle in poverty. (Reg. may be required. I forget.)

NO BABY MILK IN BAGHDAD SINCE JANUARY? UNBELIEVABLE! I AM SO GODDAMN ANGRY! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

Iraqis were already poor, they'll say.

Mr. President, why are you not feeding the Iraqi people? What have you done with our $300 billion?

Oh, I get it: they were fighting for OUR freedoms, but not theirs.

Disgusting.

Their opinions are conveyed second-hand by a Time corresponded who did a story on them, an upcoming story if I heard correctly.

My diary consists of point-by-point rebuttals, with links to sources, books, documentaries and transcripts of Milosevic's trial. The credibility of the previous diary is exemplified by this gem: