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Big thanks to Shoq for tipping me off to this segment.

It's hard to cogitate when you're immersed in the cesspool that passes for political debate nowadays that this country has actually seen worse days than this. Our economy has been worse, unemployment was higher and journalism was just as yellow.

But as documentarian Ken Burns points out, we also had a president who was willing to invest in our country, to invest in American "shovel-ready" jobs and put them to work developing our beautiful national park system. And as a result, we all share in the beauty of Yosemite and the Grand Canyon as well as the historical significance of sites Monroe Elementary and Manzanar, which do not necessarily reflect a time where America is at its best.

Burns does a great job of smacking down the GOP's completely nonsensical cries of "Socialism!" and reminds us of how tragic it would be if those in Washington had been so similarly cowed during Roosevelt's day, instead of understanding that the creation of the National Parks system brought Americans together, made these areas accessible and available to every American, thereby democratizing our very best idea.

I love Asian Yakuza movies. Heck, I love a lot of the J-horror flicks too, but I never thought I'd see this in real life. Hello, DHS---where the hell were you?

UCLA Medical Center and its most accomplished liver surgeon provided a life-saving transplant to one of Japan's most powerful gang bosses, law enforcement sources told The Times.

In addition, the surgeon performed liver transplants at UCLA on three other men who are now barred from entering the United States because of their criminal records or suspected affiliation with Japanese organized crime groups, said a knowledgeable law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The four surgeries were done between 2000 and 2004 at a time of pronounced organ scarcity. In each of those years, more than 100 patients died awaiting liver transplants in the Greater Los Angeles region...read on

You have got to read this story. It's a Pulitzer Prize winner....I have used the UCLA medical group in the past. Damn, if I would have produced a samurai sword when I checked in---who knows what kind of treatment I might have received.

Hillary:

How would General Washington treat these men? The British had already committed atrocities against Americans, including torture. As David Hackett Fischer describes in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, "Washington's Crossing," thousands of American prisoners of war were "treated with extreme cruelty by British captors." There are accounts of injured soldiers who surrendered being murdered instead of quartered. Countless Americans dying in prison hulks in New York harbor. Starvation and other acts of inhumanity perpetrated against Americans confined to churches in New York City.

full transcript

Nicole linked this story the other day on the AP photographer--Bilal Hussein, who is still being detained in Iraq. Will Bunch has the goods on the Cult of Bush.

I don't know whether an Iraqi photojournalist named Bilal Hussein [..]-- a member of the Associated Press team that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for its breathtaking pictures of the fighting there -- has any connection to the anti-U.S. insurgency there.

Neither does Powerline, Michelle Malkin, or any of the other right-wing bloggers so eager to convict Hussein, who has been held in captivity by the U.S. military for five months now without any charges lodged against him.

But the lack of any criminal charges -- let alone much information about what Bilal Hussein did to merit five months behind bars -- hasn't stopped these wingers from convicting him, and the Associated Press along with it, of being a terrorist....read on

A "Pulitzer Prize for Treason"

Bill Bennett and Powerline...

Glenn Greenwald found this today and I figured I would post the audio. "What journalists would dare defy the wishes of the president? And in America, no less."
Download | play -MP3 (Podcast)

Bennett: "How do we know it damaged us? Well, it revealed the existence of the surveillance program - so people are going to stop making calls - since they are now aware of this - they're going to adjust their behavior - Are they punished, are they in shame, are they embarrassed, are they arrested? No, they win pulitzer prizes - they win pulitzer prizes - I don't think what they did was worthy of an award - I think what they did was worthy of jail, and I think this investigation needs to go forward..."

So much for freedom of the press.

Andrea Mitchell just reported that the CIA has fired an agent who failed a polygraph and admitted leaking classified information to Dana Priest of the Washington Post...
Priest won a Pulitzer Prize for: "Dana Priest won the beat reporting award for revealing that the CIA was using secret prisons in Eastern Europe to interrogate terrorism suspects."

Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT (QT still loading)

Andrea says that it also has been referred to the Justice Dept for possible criminal action.

Mitchell's being told about the firing actually violated Porter Goss's order within the CIA not to leak. Go figure. This definitely will have huge ramifications...

Miller sure wasn't happy about the blogs. Let's see-who reported about WMD's in Iraq? My guess it was Judy, what about you?

FDL:

"People at the Times appeared to be talking to Huffington?" Yeah and anyone else who would listen. Judy was loathed by the people she trampled on during her tenure at the Times, people who had to suck it up and take the heat for her crap reporting. She castigates the blogs for passing off speculation as fact? She led the f--king country into war with her quote-unquote "reporting" about non-existant WMDs and then breezily gave herself a pass because her sources misled her (so she says). She makes even the most lowly, conspiracy-theory laden blogger look Pulitzer worthy when compared to what she calls journalism. Blog traffic soars expressly because she is the poster girl for everything that's wrong with traditional media right now.

A reader is nominating me for the honor. A letter will be sent to the board. That means when I get a call, interview, mention or whatever; I'll be able to say "I'm a Pulitzer Prize nominated blogger" just like Dr. William Hammesfahr.

That's all Dr. William had to do to have Sean " my best friend is Hal Turner" Hannity give him the title. It doesn't matter if there is a category either.

Here's the link to do the same.

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It's good to see other bloggers finally reporting on Sean Hannity's relationship with Hal Turner.

I posted about it on Saturday. Eschaton and AmericaBlog just posted it too. If you see any other bloggers posting it let me know and I'll start a round up.