As alarming as you statements are, I have to admit that they are interesting and I appreciate the job the bloggers do.

The administration and the republicans are relying on people simply not believing that they would do what they are doing. It flies so deeply in the face of what America is about that if you talk about it, folks think you're talking crazy.  The president asserts that he can break any law he wants to?  No way that's possible.  But that's what he's repeatedly done.

There is a serious media failure here.  The blogosphere is helping--Glenn Greenwald in particular has laid the case out very clearly. But it is still very difficult to get people who don't follow this stuff closely to listen.  It's very unthinkableness is an obstacle.  

This past week, I got a scare that literally chilled me to the marrow of my bones!  My daughter, who is a stay-at-home mother of two little girls, had her computer hacked last week by the Department of Defense!  I am just terrified that these creeps are reading the emails of any Democrat who dares send an email that is critical of the Bush administration.  I have always known in my heart that there was a good reason for Bush to by-pass court approval before listening in on phone conversations and reading emails.  They don't want anyone to know who they are spying on!  And believe me, they are spying on Democrats who speak up and voice strong  opinions about this President.  

Ironically, wasn't this whole Revolution thing and the Constitution supposed to prevent tyranny?

Something is being said about the Sphere and the rest of the media.

The complaints I see have an eerie echo with the administration's complaints of Iraq reporting.

I believe that except for the occasional scoop, the only way blogs to get a message out is long, persistent and constant hammering on a point.

Here is a button I've used that works well with many moderate Republicans:

"It's no longer that the pendulum is swinging to the right, it's that the radical rightwingers in control now are knocking over the entire  Grandfather Clock."

Then I explain how this radical force is "hotwiring the channels of government," "dismantling the contitutional system of checks and balances," "disconnecting the average middle class taxpayer from the decision makers and handing decisions over to billionaires and thier lobbyists."

Blue collar Republicans walk away ashen-faced.

Knocking over the Grandfather Clock. It's tilting over. Pendulum my ass. The whole clock. Going down. ... unless you hold your nose and vote Democrat...

Checks and balances - repeat.

Ever since the fraudulent Federal elections of '00, '02, and '04, and the controlled demolitions of 9-11, the entire corporate media regime has been playing possum. And the Big Blogs have only sporadically stirred from their own slumber, vowing get up and do some small thing or other before the Reich sweeps all the way into Leningrad.

For those who are new (or may have readers who are new) can you provide a substantive list of what's scary - not annoying, obnoxious of offensive, but outright scary?

I know what scares me but I am interested in others' perspective on what precisely is worth fearing (as opposed to mocking, etc.)

In re the fact that what the Republicans are saying in the blogosphere is different from what they're saying in public--whenever I point this out to people, they say, "Well, bloggers are all just a bunch of hysterical nuts anyway, there's no difference between them, Republican or Democrat,they're not professional, trained newsmen who know what they're talking about, why should you pay any attention to them anyway?" I was even told by a Democratic Party activist, "Don't read the Internet."

Excellent post.  It shows why it is so important we win one or both House of Congress this year.  While it would be nice if the Dem leadership were more aggressive, their power is limited to throwing rocks and mucking up the gears.  We don't even have the votes to make the Repubs swear-in witnesses before Congress.

People need to see the big picture as to why a Democratic Congress is so important.  The Repubs in Congress have completely abdicated their check against the executive branch and the only way we can reinstate it is by winning Congress.  Without a majority in either House and the power that comes with it, we are left to scream and yelling to little or no effect.  We cannot perform oversight, cutoff funding for bad programs or hold people accountable.

Look back to the Reagan-Bush I years.  The Dems used their power as a majority party in the House and later Senate to investiagte things from lack of EPA enforcement to the Savings and Loan scandals.  There is a lot you can do IF YOU ARE IN THE MAJORITY.  YOU CAN DO NOTHING IN THE MINORITY.

Keep your eyes on the prize - a Dem Majority in 2006.