The scene was terrible, as a giant strode the landscape, leaving devastation and chaos in his wake. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and seas boiling, dogs and cats, living together, mass hysteria!

This weekend has witnessed a blogswarm in honor of Blogroll Amnesty Day. It’s dedicated to the idea of linking and promoting the fine work of bloggers who aren’t gigantic mutant lizards breathing nuclear flame the usual “A-listers,” and may be off one’s radar. Jon Swift has a good write-up about the original Blogroll Amnesty Day and the response. His piece also compiles and links the posts of participating bloggers. Co’sponsor Skippy also has a great post for the occasion, and has been similarly linking participating bloggers. The indefatigable Blue Gal naturally has an entry, and thanks to her for spreading the word.
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What a game! The Super Bowl is often a blowout and anti-climatic, but not this one!

First of all, while I’m not a Patriots fan (nothing will turn you off a team like knowing a really obnoxious fan), credit to them for an undefeated regular season, the highest scoring offense in NFL history, the most touchdown passes in history, and the most touchdown catches by a receiver in history. None of that’s anything to sneeze at. (By the way, I do root for the Red Sox, mainly because as a Cubs fan I could always commiserate, and unless you’re actually from the New York area and entitled, ya gotta root against the Yankees, especially give the ridiculous lack of a salary cap. I also had a pet theory before the two recent Red Sox championships that if the Cubs and Red Sox ever met in the World Series, a black hole would erupt and engulf the entire universe.)
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Ann Nesby & Al Green
“Put it on Paper”

Oh what a shock…….

WASHINGTON - The Sept. 11 commission’s executive director had closer ties with the White House than publicly disclosed and tried to influence the final report in ways that the staff often perceived as limiting the Bush administration’s responsibility, a new book says.

Philip Zelikow, a friend of then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, spoke with her several times during the 20-month investigation that closely examined her role in assessing the al-Qaida threat. He also exchanged frequent calls with the White House, including at least four from Bush’s chief political adviser at the time, Karl Rove.

Zelikow once tried to push through wording in a draft report that suggested a greater tie between al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Iraq, in line with White House claims but not with the commission staff’s viewpoint, according to Philip Shenon’s “The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation.”

More at Yahoo News

There are two videos you really should see if you’ve missed them.

The brief video below is Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) explaining the real life ramifications of the surveillance policies the Bush administration and their allies want:

This comes courtesy of Glenn Greenwald, who has more here, and who often writes on these issues.

The second video is pretty disturbing, of a woman being strip’searched after a call to the police for help:
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A story guaranteed to enrage:

Another Election Season, Another Political Prosecution in Alabama

The morning calm in the small Alabama town of Toney, located near Huntsville, was broken at 6:15 a.m. yesterday morning. A team of five FBI agents, accompanied by a prison matron, pounded on the door. When the man of the house answered, he was forced into the yard, shirtless in the early morning cold. The team had come for his wife, Sue Schmitz. She was dragged out of her bathroom, where she was taking a shower, handcuffed, breaking her flesh and scraping her wrists, and hustled off to prison.

Who was this threat to the community? Sue Schmitz is a diminutive, 63-year-old retired social studies teacher who has lived in the town for 38 years, roughly 20 of them as a civics teacher. She is loved in the community and among her students is legendary for her passion for civics and her outreach to the disadvantaged. The dream of her life was to let the fire of civic spirit catch on in communities and among families on the margin of society, where the danger of drug abuse and criminality are the highest. She dedicated her life to it. She launched a program called “We the People,” designed to build civic spirit and interest in participatory democracy among school children. And Sue Schmitz’s advocacy of civic engagement led directly to her conflict with U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, who considers it to be criminal. But one other fact figures directly in this drama. Schmitz is a Democratic member of the state legislature. (Emphasis mine)

Continue reading at Harper’s Magazine.

Alas, there’s no Favre to cheer and no Madden to mock in this Super Bowl, but there’s still room for a little Caliendo.

I’m afraid many of the videos I posted last year have been yanked from YouTube, but here are three from last year that weren’t, plus three new videos (and here’s Frank Caliendo’s site).
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Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video

I wonder what Rush Limbaugh’s take on this would be?

A U.S. soldier patrols the streets of Baghdad.

Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day.

The dramatic increase is revealed in new U.S. Army figures, which show 2,100 soldiers tried to commit suicide in 2007.
[...]

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, took to the Senate floor Thursday, urging more help for military members, especially for those returning from war.

“Our brave service members who face deployment after deployment without the rest, recovery and treatment they need are at the breaking point,” Murray said.

SUNDAY TALK

MTP: James Carville (D), Mary Matalin (R), Mike Murphy (R), Bob Shrum (D) discuss Super Tuesday

FTN: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL); Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

This Week: Mitt Romney (R-MA); Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY); roundtable of Dee Dee Myers, Robert Reich, Torie Clarke and George Will

FNS: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

Late Edition: Mike Huckabee (R-AR); Mitt Romney (R-MA); Ralph Nader; Bill Bennett on the GOP primary race; Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA); Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ); Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ)

SUPER TUESDAY COVERAGE

Also, Special Super Tuesday coverage during morning news shows.

ABC (8pm-1am ET): Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos host. More here.

NBC (6:30pm-7:30pm ET & 10pm-11pm ET): Brian Williams anchors. Tim Russert and Tom Brokaw analyze. Ann Curry has exit poll duty.

MSNBC (6pm-2am ET): Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann anchor. Joining them are Brian Williams, Tim Russert, Tom Brokaw, Lester Holt, David Gregory, and Chuck Todd. Joe Scarborough leads a panel featuring WaPo’s Eugene Robinson, Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, Pat Buchanan, and Rachel Maddow.

CBS: Katie Couric anchors from 9pm-11pm ET. Bob Schieffer, Jeff Greenfield, Scott Pelley, and Anthony Mason will do analysis.

TV ALERTS

Tim Russert Show 2/2-2/3: Time’s Joe Klein, WaPo’s E.J. Dionne, and MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson on Super Tuesday

Political Capital w/ Al Hunt (Bloomberg, repeats throughout weekends): reports on the economy and the presidential campaign from Washington and California; an interview with NFL Films President Steve Sabol

Conversations w/ Judy Woodruff (Bloomberg, repeats throughout weekends): Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) on Clinton-Obama race

Chris Matthews Show 2/2-2/3: Time’s Joe Klein, AJC’s Cynthia Tucker, Telemundo’s Jose Diaz Balart, MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell discuss “Super Tuesday for the Democrats - Will Obama surge? McCain - Would he live up to the Republicans’ hopes for his electability? ” Quotes here.

Fox News Channel special airs 2/3, 10am-noon, on the Fox network before Super Bowl coverage starts.

60 Minutes (CBS, Sun, 8-9pm): Gordon Hinckley story (feat. Steve Young and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)); the kingdom of Dubai

Letterman: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) 2/4

Late Late Show w/ Craig Ferguson: Ferguson became a US citizen recently and the 2/4 episode celebrates the newly minted US citizen with video appearances by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA).

SOURCE: NEWSIE8200