Barack is coming to Detroit! And I'm psyched. But it does raise a question: How should he deal with our so-called "mayor"? Common courtesy to one's host demands one response; ethics may well demand another. And on that note...

Kind of weird, but what I'm going to post below is NOT my diary...I am posting the following "open letter" on behalf of its author, a friend who is not a member here (yet), but who is interested in getting some of these thoughts out in the open. Since I agree that this issue warrants discussion - at least here in Michigan - I agreed to post the letter, although I don't necessarily subscribe to all of its tenets. Figured that others here might like to weigh in with their opinions.

J's letter is below the fold.

Sick of carrying around all those excess pounds? Ashamed of your flabby, out-of-shape physique? Mortified at the thought that when others look at you, all they'll see is a bloated, gluttonous, ugly pig?

Well, the Republican party has a solution!

At this point in American history, we're all pretty well accustomed to lone nut gunmen (and to some extent, lone nut gunmen with buddies): Charles Whitman, Kip Kinkel, Harris/Klebold, Charles Unruh, "Big Jim" Huberty and others have seen to that. And every time one of them cuts loose in a school or a cafeteria or a factory or a post office or an office complex, the news reports sound sickeningly the same: the crimes and their perpetrators have come to seem so much "of a type" as to seem scripted.

Which is perfectly convenient for the parasites in the broadcast and print media: The stories practically write themselves! And overnight ratings and newsstand sales both soar through the roof! Ah, the profits to be made from blood-drenched human tragedy. ("BLOODBATH!" screams the headline on today's Detroit "News," which  makes itself look even more pathetic than its usual norm by desperately seeking out a "survivor" of the attack with Michigan roots to interview. They manage to find one: A woman who happened to be in the basement of a different building. Nothing like going for the relevant eyewitness account, eh...?).

One of the best people I know in this world, a woman of 37, is a kidney transplant recipient. She's done very, very well healthwise until recently, when she was diagnosed with PTLD - post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. Basically, it's a form of lymphoma associated with the Epstein-Barr virus which exclusively affects transplant patients.

Surely everybody's aware that the golden-domed Al-Askari shrine was blown up today by a well-organized group dressed as Iraqi cops? And that as of this moment, at least 19 Sunni mosques have been attacked in retaliation, 3 Sunni clerics killed, 27 confirmed deaths including three journalists, and tens of thousands of exceedingly pissed off Shia are in the streets demanding reprisal?

This is big. Really fucking big.

Everyone understands that many U.S. ports are already overseen by foreign firms, right? P&O, the Brit company that's being bought out, qualifies as a foreign firm so far as I can tell, even if they do speak in those charming Hugh Grant accents and look nice 'n' white 'n' nonthreatening and all.

Y'know what? My picture could be there. Your picture could be there. Your mom or dad or son or daughter or wife or husband - any of 'em could occupy that space right now.

When the London pigs shot this man, they didn't attack just one unarmed, innocent Brazilian. They attacked all of us. Oh: In the name of "protecting" us, of course. The same way Bush and Blair "protected" us from Iraq and Afghanistan by dropping bombs on wedding parties, torturing innocent detainees, and wiping out 100,000 or so innocent people whose pictures also could occupy this spot.

When you make apologies for this kind of human garbage, you show the world whose side you're on.

Nonetheless, last night I had the most inspiring, uplifting, and yes, spiritual experience I've had in quite some time. Which I think is saying something.

I went to see Gang of Four play at Detroit's Majestic Theater. And for anyone who likes their music hard and their politics left, I can only entreat you as earnestly as I can: DON'T MISS THIS.

US-Iraq Battle Touches on Syrian Border.

I haven't seen this diaried here today, unless I've missed something (which is altogether possible, because I'm somewhat inattentive and stupid at the moment owing to misc. and sundry real-life shit going on). But this strikes me as important, and worthy of further banter.

Like a bull with a muleta waved before its nose, liberal America charges headlong towards another GOP red herring, straight into another Repiggy-built frame guaranteed to cost Dems votes in years to come. I can see it now: Repiglican Candidate X in '06 on the stump, saying "You can vote for me. Or the representative of the MURDER PARTY." And guess who the trained poodles are gonna pull the lever for?

Warning: no real politics, nothing topical in here.

About four hours ago I got a call from my brother, who was nearly in hysterics. Tang, depicted above, had gotten up, started walking across the floor towards him, yelped, fell over, and died. Three years old, healthy (so it seemed) as could be. More significantly: Incredibly intelligent, incredibly affectionate, with more personality than most of the people in the phone book (and probably double the character).

In a day when, coincidentally enough, a lawyer was convicted of "terrorism" charges for simply doing her job - defending her client - the House has passed a measure which, amongst other things, enables the government to effectively define ANYONE as a terrorist, AND to make said "terrorist"'s alleged "crimes" RETROACTIVELY prosecutable.

I like free prizes as much as anybody. Just not from them.

If there ever was a political party that could use the ministrations of a good doctor, it was the sorry, sad ensemble that eight years of Clintonian complacency left us with at the time of Bush's first inauguration. Passionless, rudderless, directionless, and anxious to kowtow to any voice preaching "moderation" (read: evolution into Republican-Lite), this was a party in the throes of Hari-Kari. Two years into Dear Leader's first term, extinction seemed imminent.

Seemed like a good idea to me, so I did it. It's at www.programforprogress.com.

Yesterday, Bexley Lane posted a diary about a paralyzed Iraq war vet who desperately needed a computer, and the bullshit he had gotten from some right wing motherfuckers online. Within MINUTES Kos people were putting their heads -and dollars-together to get this guy what he needs.