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In May, Al was on local Burnsville-Eagan TV's Access to Democracy hosted by Alan Miller. Alan and Al talked about getting to universal health care as fast as possible, the war in Iraq, and other issues. Al also wins Alan's current events/politcs quiz, earning a few well-deserved bell rings.

King's July 31 interview of Vice President Cheney dealt mostly with a number of political topics. A sample of the questions from the interview: How do you deal with it when public opinion polls are stridently against the [Iraq] policy? But in all cases, they did question themselves. In all cases, they said, well, let's look at it this way. Don't you? I mean the question is, don't you ever say, maybe I'm wrong? In retrospect, you would still go into Iraq? Does it pain you when Brent Scowcroft says this is not the Dick Cheney I knew? Wouldn't you like to be liked? OK, let's go back. On this program, May of 2005, you said the Iraqi insurgency was in the last throes. Why were you wrong? In that same interview, you said that the Iraqis were well on their way to being able to defend themselves. Why not? Why are they gone? To which branch of government do you belong? Are you executive or legislative, or both? We were a little confused over recent statements that you're not in either. We have an op-ed piece by Walter Mondale, a former vice president, who held your job. And at that time, I guess, up to that time, he would be considered the most powerful vice president. He wrote that: "After 9/11, Cheney set out to create a largely independent power center in the Office of the Vice President. It was an unprecedented attempt not only to shape administration policy, but, alarmingly, to limit the policy options sent to the president."He also accused you of having "a near total aversion to the notion of accountability." How would you respond to that? Don't you think this administration has also had its credibility problems? Alberto Gonzales. Do you stand by him? You're going to stand by him? No doubt about that? In that regard, "The New York Times," which is -- as you said, it's not your favorite paper, reports it was you who dispatched Gonzales and Andy Card to then Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital in 2004 to push Ashcroft to certify the president's intelligence gathering program. Was it you? The "Scooter" Libby trial, did it pain you? The Senate Judiciary Committee is subpoenaing Karl Rove in connection with the firing of federal prosecutors. Why shouldn't he appear? But the public might say, what have you got to hide? So he -- so he [Rove] will not appear? General Powell says he would close Guantanamo yesterday. Would you? You have to torture them when they're there? How come in the past though there's been a question on that? Have you ever said, "We support certain methods of physical harm"? What is "enhanced" [referring to Cheney's line 'We support the ability of certain agencies of the federal government to have the capacity to use enhanced techniques for interrogation']?

King's July 31 interview of Vice President Cheney dealt mostly with a number of political topics. A sample of the questions from the interview: How do you deal with it when public opinion polls are stridently against the [Iraq] policy? But in all cases, they did question themselves. In all cases, they said, well, let's look at it this way. Don't you? I mean the question is, don't you ever say, maybe I'm wrong? In retrospect, you would still go into Iraq? Does it pain you when Brent Scowcroft says this is not the Dick Cheney I knew? Wouldn't you like to be liked? OK, let's go back. On this program, May of 2005, you said the Iraqi insurgency was in the last throes. Why were you wrong? In that same interview, you said that the Iraqis were well on their way to being able to defend themselves. Why not? Why are they gone? To which branch of government do you belong? Are you executive or legislative, or both? We were a little confused over recent statements that you're not in either. We have an op-ed piece by Walter Mondale, a former vice president, who held your job. And at that time, I guess, up to that time, he would be considered the most powerful vice president. He wrote that: "After 9/11, Cheney set out to create a largely independent power center in the Office of the Vice President. It was an unprecedented attempt not only to shape administration policy, but, alarmingly, to limit the policy options sent to the president."He also accused you of having "a near total aversion to the notion of accountability." How would you respond to that? Don't you think this administration has also had its credibility problems? Alberto Gonzales. Do you stand by him? You're going to stand by him? No doubt about that? In that regard, "The New York Times," which is -- as you said, it's not your favorite paper, reports it was you who dispatched Gonzales and Andy Card to then Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital in 2004 to push Ashcroft to certify the president's intelligence gathering program. Was it you? The "Scooter" Libby trial, did it pain you? The Senate Judiciary Committee is subpoenaing Karl Rove in connection with the firing of federal prosecutors. Why shouldn't he appear? But the public might say, what have you got to hide? So he -- so he [Rove] will not appear? General Powell says he would close Guantanamo yesterday. Would you? You have to torture them when they're there? How come in the past though there's been a question on that? Have you ever said, "We support certain methods of physical harm"? What is "enhanced" [referring to Cheney's line 'We support the ability of certain agencies of the federal government to have the capacity to use enhanced techniques for interrogation']?

King's July 31 interview of Vice President Cheney dealt mostly with a number of political topics. A sample of the questions from the interview: How do you deal with it when public opinion polls are stridently against the [Iraq] policy? But in all cases, they did question themselves. In all cases, they said, well, let's look at it this way. Don't you? I mean the question is, don't you ever say, maybe I'm wrong? In retrospect, you would still go into Iraq? Does it pain you when Brent Scowcroft says this is not the Dick Cheney I knew? Wouldn't you like to be liked? OK, let's go back. On this program, May of 2005, you said the Iraqi insurgency was in the last throes. Why were you wrong? In that same interview, you said that the Iraqis were well on their way to being able to defend themselves. Why not? Why are they gone? To which branch of government do you belong? Are you executive or legislative, or both? We were a little confused over recent statements that you're not in either. We have an op-ed piece by Walter Mondale, a former vice president, who held your job. And at that time, I guess, up to that time, he would be considered the most powerful vice president. He wrote that: "After 9/11, Cheney set out to create a largely independent power center in the Office of the Vice President. It was an unprecedented attempt not only to shape administration policy, but, alarmingly, to limit the policy options sent to the president."He also accused you of having "a near total aversion to the notion of accountability." How would you respond to that? Don't you think this administration has also had its credibility problems? Alberto Gonzales. Do you stand by him? You're going to stand by him? No doubt about that? In that regard, "The New York Times," which is -- as you said, it's not your favorite paper, reports it was you who dispatched Gonzales and Andy Card to then Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital in 2004 to push Ashcroft to certify the president's intelligence gathering program. Was it you? The "Scooter" Libby trial, did it pain you? The Senate Judiciary Committee is subpoenaing Karl Rove in connection with the firing of federal prosecutors. Why shouldn't he appear? But the public might say, what have you got to hide? So he -- so he [Rove] will not appear? General Powell says he would close Guantanamo yesterday. Would you? You have to torture them when they're there? How come in the past though there's been a question on that? Have you ever said, "We support certain methods of physical harm"? What is "enhanced" [referring to Cheney's line 'We support the ability of certain agencies of the federal government to have the capacity to use enhanced techniques for interrogation']?

King's July 31 interview of Vice President Cheney dealt mostly with a number of political topics. A sample of the questions from the interview: How do you deal with it when public opinion polls are stridently against the [Iraq] policy? But in all cases, they did question themselves. In all cases, they said, well, let's look at it this way. Don't you? I mean the question is, don't you ever say, maybe I'm wrong? In retrospect, you would still go into Iraq? Does it pain you when Brent Scowcroft says this is not the Dick Cheney I knew? Wouldn't you like to be liked? OK, let's go back. On this program, May of 2005, you said the Iraqi insurgency was in the last throes. Why were you wrong? In that same interview, you said that the Iraqis were well on their way to being able to defend themselves. Why not? Why are they gone? To which branch of government do you belong? Are you executive or legislative, or both? We were a little confused over recent statements that you're not in either. We have an op-ed piece by Walter Mondale, a former vice president, who held your job. And at that time, I guess, up to that time, he would be considered the most powerful vice president. He wrote that: "After 9/11, Cheney set out to create a largely independent power center in the Office of the Vice President. It was an unprecedented attempt not only to shape administration policy, but, alarmingly, to limit the policy options sent to the president."He also accused you of having "a near total aversion to the notion of accountability." How would you respond to that? Don't you think this administration has also had its credibility problems? Alberto Gonzales. Do you stand by him? You're going to stand by him? No doubt about that? In that regard, "The New York Times," which is -- as you said, it's not your favorite paper, reports it was you who dispatched Gonzales and Andy Card to then Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital in 2004 to push Ashcroft to certify the president's intelligence gathering program. Was it you? The "Scooter" Libby trial, did it pain you? The Senate Judiciary Committee is subpoenaing Karl Rove in connection with the firing of federal prosecutors. Why shouldn't he appear? But the public might say, what have you got to hide? So he -- so he [Rove] will not appear? General Powell says he would close Guantanamo yesterday. Would you? You have to torture them when they're there? How come in the past though there's been a question on that? Have you ever said, "We support certain methods of physical harm"? What is "enhanced" [referring to Cheney's line 'We support the ability of certain agencies of the federal government to have the capacity to use enhanced techniques for interrogation']?

Q In that regard, The New York Times -- which, as you said, is not your favorite -- reports it was you who dispatched Gonzales and Andy Card to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital in 2004 to push Ashcroft to certify the President's intelligence-gathering program. Was it you? THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't recall -- first of all, I haven't seen the story. And I don't recall that I gave instructions to that effect. Q That would be something you would recall. THE VICE PRESIDENT: I would think so. But certainly I was involved because I was a big advocate of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, and had been responsible and working with General Hayden and George Tenet to get it to the President for approval. By the time this occurred, it had already been approved about 12 times by the Department of Justice. There was nothing new about it. Q So you didn't send them to get permission. THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't recall that I was the one who sent them to the hospital.

Director David Lynch (Eraserhead,Dune,The Elephant Man,Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks) reflects on 9-11 & the documentary "Loose Change".

Marcus Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is an English comedian and satirist who has worked extensively in stand-up comedy, television and radio. One of the best-known jokes Brigstocke uses is an ironic commentary on the controversy regarding the influence of video games on children: “ If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music. „ This joke is frequently quoted on the internet and often attributed to famous figures in electronics (such as an apocryphal CEO of Nintendo, "Kristian Wilson," although Hiroshi Yamauchi held that position from 1950 to 2002), but Brigstocke vehemently claims authorship of the joke: “ Ah! Bloody Pacman....It is my joke. I wrote it, then I took the rest of the day off as I was so chuffed with it. I am gutted that it has been claimed and passed around by so many people. Intellectual property law will not save me, the false claims will continue until I am man enough to give it all up. All I can say is -- it seems that it is very unlikely that it was written by a Nintendo employee in 1989, being as Pac Man was still around and not much of a childhood memory, there were very few claims that gaming influenced children's behaviour, and that the wording of it is identical to how it has been delivered in my stand up routine for 6 years! For those that are interested it has also been attributed to Bill Gates, but then so has Windows! Bitter? Well perhaps just a little. It was sent to me by someone at Channel 4 a few years back after I did it on Channel 4 in a late night stand up show! Hope that clears everything up. ” — Marcus Brigstocke

Glenn Beck discussing Bohemian Grove with a caller. He briefly makes fun of the caller and then hints that the rumors may be true. http://www.markdice.com/ http://www.theresistancemanifesto.com/

"Homer the Great" is the 12th episode of The Simpsons’ sixth season. It features the Stonecutters, a fictional secret society which is an overt parody of the Freemasons.

The Simpsons - We Do (The Stonecutter's Song) This song is on the following album: "Songs In The Key Of Springfield" Who controls the British crown? Who keeps the metric system down? We do, we do Who keeps Atlantis off the maps? Who keeps the Martians under wraps? We do, we do Who holds back the electric car? Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star? We do, we do Who robs gamefish of their site? Who rigs every Oscar night? We do, we do!

The Austin Lounge Lizards team up with Powerhouse Animation and ConsumerWatchdog.org as part of a campaign to build support for a universal health care program that would be funded by eliminating health insurance companies. Learn more at http://www.Cal-Medicare.org and http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/healthcare/pr/?postId=6130

Concentrating on an area of growing concern in our society--the indifference that makes people blind to the injustices around them--this animated parable traces how the erosion of freedom, like the pollution of natural resources, can occur so gradually that both evade the attention of a busy and preoccupied nation. (Narrated by Orson Welles)

One of the classic Depression-era musical cartoons created by Max and Dave Fleischer. Satchmo's soundtrack obviously inspires the artists - even if the visuals aren't in any way "politically correct" 70-plus years later

This is an early Fleischer cartoon from 1930 starring Bimbo and featuring the character who would soon become Betty Boop.

Manifestoon is an homage to the latent subversiveness of cartoons. Though U.S. cartoons are usually thought of as conveyors of capitalist ideologies of consumerism and individualism, Drew observes: "Somehow as an avid childhood fan of cartoons, these ideas were secondary to a more important lesson—that of the 'trickster' nature of many characters as they mocked, outwitted and defeated their more powerful adversaries. In the classic cartoon, brute strength and heavy artillery are no match for wit and humor, and justice always prevails. For me, it was natural to link my own childhood concept of subversion with an established, more articulate version [Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto]. Mickey running over the globe has new meaning in today's mediascape, in which Disney controls one of the largest concentrations of media

April 17, 1995 Oklahoma City Murrah Building bombing news footage. This building was severely bombed and did not collapse. How in the world did WTC building 7 collapse with less damage? Seems that this one was certainly meant to with all the reports of secondary devices

Jack Cafferty looks at the simply unbelievable statement of Colorado congressman and Republican presidential contender Tom Tancredo advocating the bombing of Mecca and Medina to ward off the Islamic fundamentalist threat. What frightens me more is simply how many viewers (and presumably part of those die-hard 29%ers) agree with this bonehead I’m just curious if Tancredo would feel a might bit… peevish if someone, say firebombed his church. Is he simply so intellectually lacking that he can’t comprehend how bombing the holiest sites of Islam would instigate–not deter–violence? And what the hell is wrong with the people agreeing with him? Has this country gone so far down a dangerous (read: Godwin’s) road of demonizing and dehumanizing the Others that there are some (as evidenced by this video) happily slipping on brownshirts and advocating mass genocide? Lord help us all. By the way, the State Department officially told Tancredo to STFU. (I paraphrase, of course)

Published on Friday, August 3, 2007 by CommonDreams.org Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to worry our little heads over politics? Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could just turn over control of all those vexing issues, including our health, welfare and very survival, to some nice men in Washington who would take care of all it for us, occasionally interrupting our somnambulance with this week’s latest thing - Communists! Terrorists! Lindsay Lohan! - to distract our attention? Unfortunately, for far too many of us, this is actually precisely what is desired. And don’t think Karl Rove doesn’t know it. Politically speaking, we are a radically lazy society. Thinking, let’s admit it, is hard work. Many people don’t realize that, but then, many people haven’t really had the experience. For some folks it’s the cognitive equivalent of traveling abroad to a foreign land - done occasionally for a change of pace, if at all. Rigorously exploring and thoughtfully understanding our world is not easy. “Politics ain’t beanbag”, as the man once said, though he meant it rather differently. Far less demanding to defer to simple stereotypes, canned passion plays and quasi-religious political morality tales than to actually do our homework, apply the logic, and generate original thinking. And hey, if you do take the easy way out, you’ll still have plenty of time to catch the game on TV! Moreover, there are lots of friendly people in Washington who would very much appreciate the opportunity to do your thinking for you. They are called conservatives - though I think regressive is a far more accurate term - and they have been getting lots of practice in recent years. They’ll be glad to make your political decisions for you, and even provide you a fully developed, off-the-shelf, ready-to-use reality, any time you like. All you have to do is not think, and not learn. Or, if you really must have the sensory input, simply confine yourself to the infotainment of Fox News or Star magazine. (Though that whole reading thing is to be especially discouraged. Posh Spice is the operative model here. Lots of glamour, lots of money, lots of celebrity, lots of bling. Little substance. She apparently once told an interviewer that she had never read a book - any book - in her entire life. Now that’s something, isn’t it? You gotta love that. You go, Girl! There may be a Presidential Medal of Freedom waiting for you if you keep on pioneering the way toward Karl Rove’s dream citizenry. And why not? Paul Bremer got one, and all he did was destroy a historic civilization of 25 million people.) We in the progressive community know that not everybody in America thinks the way we do. But we would probably be well served also by a recognition that some people in this country don’t want to think at all. It is possible that some of these Borg could be knee-jerk progressives instead of knee-jerk regressives were they somehow to be re-assimilated into the reality-based community, but the odds are not high. So much of progressive thinking requires careful reflection, extended analytical probing, and a collection of just plain data - factual information - about what is going on in the world. So much of regressive ‘thinking’ fits nicely, and completely, on a bumper sticker. “Support our troops!”, to wit, and quite literally a bumper sticker seen all over the place (though noticeably less ubiquitous than it was in 2003). Literally a bumper sticker, that is, but not so literal in its meaning, especially since the most obvious way to support our troops - right here, right now - would be to pull them out of harm’s way, where they sit today for no conscionable purpose whatsoever. Otherwise, short of that, really supporting our troops today would mean screaming and hollering at the top of our lungs to make sure that they get adequate training, armor, and rest before being deployed. While we’re at it, w