yes, I'm braving the wilds of yearlykos. Look for me on CSPAN!

Seriously, though - I think it's a great opportunity to meet the candidates close up. We'll see if they let me ask the questions I want, or if I'll be forcibly removed. ;)

update: for the record, the conference will be attended by Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Dodd, Gravel, Pelosi, Reid, Emanuel, Schumer, and Clark, among others . Whee!

Crooks & Liars has a thread out from yesterday about it . L Ledbetter (not the Pearl Jam song) was the Management employee of Goodyear Tire who found out upon retirement that she'd been screwed wage wise by Goodyear for almost 20 years. ie - she wasn't paid what her male counterparts were paid. She sued, and last spring the SCOTUS ruled that an employee must sue withing 180 days of the FIRST instance of pay discrimination, whether the employee is aware of the discrimination or not, and she lost her case.

The House voted yesterday to change the law so that the employee has until 180 days from the LAST issued paycheck to sue for discrimination. Not surprisingly, President dubya has announced he'll veto the bill if it hits his desk.

Whadda ya think?

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) - The minister of a Baptist church has been charged with indecent exposure and driving under the influence, and police officers say he propositioned them.

Tommy Tester, 58, of Bristol, Va., was wearing a skirt when he was arrested last week after allegedly urinating in front of children at a car wash, police said.

Police also said Tester offered to perform oral sex on officers who were sent to the scene.

Authorities identified Tester as the minister of Gospel Baptist Church in Bristol and an employee of Christian radio station WZAP-AM in Bristol.

story here

It's true, the south really is more genteel.

...a state police officer broke into a couple's house and assaulted them for hanging a flag upside down.

story here

I hate Lincoln so much some days.

The Sunni bloc left the Iraqi government again, and the bloodshed continues to pour:

Largest Sunni bloc leaves Iraq government
Baghdad bombings kill more than 70, four of whom are U.S. soldiers

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab political bloc announced its withdrawal from the government Wednesday, undermining efforts to seek reconciliation among the country’s rival factions, and three bombings in Baghdad killed at least 70 people.

In one attack, 50 people were killed and 60 wounded when a suicide attacker exploded a fuel truck near a gas station in western Baghdad. Another 17 died in a separate car bomb attack in central Baghdad. And in a mostly Christian section of the capital, a parked car bombing killed three people.

The U.S. military announced the deaths of four American soldiers, three of whom were killed by a sophisticated, armor-piercing bomb. Britain also announced the death of one of its soldiers, by a roadside bombing in Basra.

Well, I for one am not happy to play suicidal baby-sitter to a country that doesn't want to even try to cooperate.

I'm glad to see that Britain has pulled their Army out of Northern Ireland, Imho,
any occupation of one country or piece of land by another bodes no good, either for the the population(s) under foreign military occupation or for the occupier. Whether it be the British vs. Northern Ireland, the Israeli Army occupying the Palestinian territories of West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, or the Chinese occupying Tibet, occupation is destructive to all involved.