With the Democratic nomination contest finally over, Democrats now have the opportunity to put the rancor of last many months behind them and unite to defeat the Republicans in November by taking the White House and adding to our leads in the House and Senate.

Among the most important issues that will arise for the next administration is the question of accountability for the villains that preceded it in the Executive Branch.  Yesterday on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Richard Clarke suggested a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission".  Some would go farther, others less far.

But few in American politics today have as much personal knowledge and experience with the Bush Administration's lies and its mafia-style intimidation as Ambassador Joe Wilson, whom clammyc and I will be interviewing today at 2pmPST/5pmEST.  And topic we'll be covering?  Accountability for Bush and his cronies after that glorious day on which they leave office.

I want to make a plea for people of conscience to support a federal lawsuit by 12 prominent conservation groups to challenge the federal governments delisting of gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act. These groups need our financial support to succeed at this lawsuit and prevent the slaughter of hundreds of wolves this year alone.  See the end of this diary for links you can follow to make contributions that will help stop this slaughter.

Many of you may know already, but the Bush administration delisted the gray wolf from the endangered species status that had facilitated it's partial recovery from catastrophic population decline.

This decision leaves the fate of the wolves in the northern Rockies in the hands of myopic and irresponsible state agencies in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.  These state agencies are all but owned by wealthy incredibly influential hunting and ranching lobbies who could not care less about the fate of wolves, except to see to it that they are persecuted right back into near extinction.  This year alone the Idaho Fish and Game agency has agreed to allow 428 wolves to be killed, most by hunting.

This is my first diary entry here and would note this is being cross posted from DK. I hope we might light a fire in the right places.

This is the worst type of mood diary I have ever written, but it comes with a cost. I am still wiping the tears from my eyes because of a truth I saw tonight in a powerful movie which awoke memories of history that now seems to repeat itself again today. The only reason that history is repeating is because we have failed to act as a generation did 30 to 40 years ago and sacrifice a little. We are not the whole of the failure but we are a big part of it, and sadly I admit my involvement as well. We have written with powerful words our disgust, disdain and lack of support for the way this country is being run, but here we all fairly much think alike so it is a safe enviorment, albeit probably well monitored by those shadowy judges who know what is right for us.

I start this diary out with an apology to a long time diarist on the Daily Kos who I got into an exchange with a while back. I thought his wording wrong but I missed it's meaning as many have with the Wright sermon. I start this diary with an apology to One Pissed Off Liberal.

Cross-posted at Project Vote's Voting Matters Blog

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

The ability of injured veterans to vote in November's presidential election rests in the hands of Bush Administration officials, who have so far refused demands from advocates and lawmakers that the Department of Veterans Affairs help hospitalized veterans register to vote.

"'It is an insult to those who have fought to spread democracy and freedom overseas to be denied the right to participate in their own democracy here at home,'" wrote Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) to the Department of Veterans Affairs in March. "'If each facility took a few simple steps to provide voter registration materials, the VA could do its part to guarantee access to voter registration.'"

This is my first Diary.  If you have any suggestions for a newbie, they are welcome, as long as you're pleasant.

Fellow MyDD'er, Sumo Vita, wrote a great comment that brought up an issue that has troubled me for some time.   I do not know if it has been analyzed here at length, but I have not seen it discussed here for quite some time.   Here goes:

Post credit to Sumo Vita:

I don't know if you've noticed this, but during this week, for the first time that I can recall, the news stations focusing on the story of our suffering economy started mentioning, at albeit a minimal amount, the possibility of having another Depression.  I sat staring at the television for a number of minutes unable to fully ascertain what I had just heard.

It had gone beyond the argument about whether or not we were actually in a Recession (had their been 2 quarters of negative growth?) for that one little scary word to come out.

It has been over 2 years now since I went from a $90,000.00 a year job, through a full year of unemployment and job searching, to my part-time, low pay job as an adjunct instructor (read part-time employee without benefits) at a Community College. I was in the first wave of losses brought on by the Bush Administration... and my wave has gone so fare as to no longer be considered among the un- or under-employed.

Now there are tens of thousands of us, no longer able to collect unemployment so no longer counted in the ranks of the jobless.

My wife and I have cut down on so much of our lives... the number of movies we see, the amount of food we buy, etc., that it is unbelievable. We've sold down our properties as well as we could (we had to rent out Elly's former townhouse in Hagerstown because the prices were going down so fast that it wouldn't be worthwhile to sell it right now... we were lucky with my Greenbelt townhouse and her other one on th other side of Hagerstown - that got sold just in time) and bought into a lower-cost part of the country in West Virginia.

The retirement funds I have had invested, some for almost 45 years, have started to go down because of the dwindling stock market, and I have no where else to re-invest right now. I can only hold out and hope that TIAA-CREF crawls back up before the year is over.

So... what would we all do if a Depression did hit? Would we get around the phenomenal debt that the Bush Administration has built up on it's Iraq war that will be cursing our children and grandchildren for years to come (and continues to suck what is left out of our economic future)? Will our food supplies get so expensive that potential workers forced into breadlines? Will corporations and banks continue to get federal support while individual citizens are considered rubbish?

It sometimes seems that it could actually be so. And to hear the words discussing it uttered on TV hits a new and frightening low.

Under The LobsterScope

As part of my commitment to the March 19th blog swarm, I agreed that I would write a post today concerning the Iraq war to help show the majority opposition of this war.

As I sit here and write this post, I am having a hard time figuring out what to say, because what else is there to say? It troubles me that as much as I oppose the war, I can't sit here and give you fresh insight as to why I oppose the war. What I can do is give you my personal opinion on how I feel about the war, our continued efforts in Iraq, and what I see it doing to America.

A graduate of the London School of Economics, Brent Budowsky has been quoted by name recently on CNBC.  The following is an excerpt of his regular Tuesday column in The Hill.

The economic crisis

By Brent Budowsky

President Bush, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) should be applauded for bipartisanship, but the pending stimulus falls short, with a gathering storm of economic danger upon us...

The possibility of a cascading recession that spreads to global markets is real. The need for an anti-recession "insurance policy" is urgent. Chairman Greenspan, Chairman Bernanke, President Bush, Secretary Paulson, Congress and Wall Street leaders have all been wrong about this crisis. They must restore their credibility with policies equal to the task.

First, there must be a six-month freeze on foreclosures. If another million homes are foreclosed upon, the stimulus will be swept aside under a tidal wave of trouble.

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