Today [September 5] we added Adam Colliers (Gold Bar, WA) as the 96th taser-death on our list since January 2009. Something is wrong in America when the police electrocute folks on a WEEKLY basis with their taser arsenal ... and the public is mute in its response. 25-year old Adam Colliers was unarmed and he weighed about 120 pounds. However, two Snohomish County Sheriff's deputies didn't want to get dirty or be patient ... they pulled out their taser guns and electrocuted Colliers to death in the front yard of the house he was staying at in Gold Bar WA.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has told the Mainichi he believes the Iraq War -- which began while he was in office in 2003 -- could have been averted.

It’s clear that Obama just doesn’t have the fire in his belly that many activists thought he had. And you know what? That’s okay. It’s not ideal, but it doesn’t mean that Obama’s first term can’t be a success. What it means, however, is that those who voted for transformation can’t simply sit back and wait for the man of their dreams to do it for them. That, as we’ve seen, is a recipe for frustration. And the sooner progressives realize this, the stronger they’ll be and the more likely it is that the goals that Obama won America over with — especially saving the middle class, the “North Star” of his campaign — will be met. What we need is Hope 2.0: the realization that change will not come from Washington or from one man; that real change will only come when enough people outside Washington demand it, and make it politically risky to stick to the status quo.

As Democrats brace for a November wave that threatens their control of the House, party leaders are preparing a brutal triage of their own members in hopes of saving enough seats to keep a slim grip on the majority. In the next two weeks, Democratic leaders will review new polls and other data that show whether vulnerable incumbents have a path to victory. If not, the party is poised to redirect money to concentrate on trying to protect up to two dozen lawmakers who appear to be in the strongest position to fend off their challengers.“We are going to have to win these races one by one,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, conceding that the party would ultimately cut loose members who had not gained ground. Democrats acknowledged that several races could quickly move out of their reach, including re-election bids by Representatives Betsy Markey of Colorado, Tom Perriello of Virginia, Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio and Frank Kratovil Jr. of Maryland, whose districts were among the 55 Democrats won from Republicans in the last two election cycles. Representatives John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, chairman of the Budget Committee, and Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, who is seeking a 10th term, are among the senior Democrats who have appeared to gain little ground in the summer months in the toxic political environment.

In the 1930s, the only thing we had to fear was fear, itself.... Today, the main thing we have to fear is us, ourselves.

"Islam is a very oppressive religion, and the Quran is definitely a dangerous book, we want to send a clear message to radical Muslims, that in the U.S., we are not interested in shariah law and shariah courts. We have a Constitution, and we hope to uphold it." " Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center.

This biblio-barbeque will be covered by the international press because it’s a train wreck of a bad idea; therefore, Pastor Jones will be our face to the world. Mine, yours — Americans in general. Yes, a preacher to a flock of nearly 50 will be the guy who Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Atheists from all over the world will identify with America. Everything about our country is about to be boiled down to a picture of a heap of Korans smoldering. Shock and awww. It’ll be, “Americans burned the Koran.” And it’ll be true. So as all Muslims are apparently judged by their extremists who on 9/11 crashed planes into buildings — all Americans will be judged by our extremists who on 9/11 burned Korans into ashes Muslim-Americans are in an awkward position.

The high court took the unusual step of directing the federal judge in charge of the case, US District Judge William Moore, to re-examine it after Davis and his lawyers presented evidence that the reliability of witness statements used by the prosecution was questionable. Laura Moye, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign director at Amnesty International, called the Davis case, which has received international attention amid claims that an innocent individual may be executed, emblematic of a broken justice system. "How could you have a system that would put human life on the line like that?" asks Moye about the strong possibility that Davis may be innocent.

As much time as the Republican heir apparent spends in tanning parlors, on the golf course and doing the night club circuit, far too many Ohioans don’t know him. Those who do don’t like him. Agent Orange was a bust in the latest poll.

Last week, an Israeli military court convicted Abdallah Abu Rahmah, whom progressive Zionists have called a "Palestinian Gandhi," of "incitement" and "organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations" for organizing protests against the confiscation of Palestinian land by the "Apartheid Wall" in the village of Bilin in the West Bank, following an eight month trial, during which he was kept in prison. The European Union issued a protest. But as far as I am aware, no U.S. official has said anything and no U.S. newspaper columnist has denounced this act of repression; indeed, the U.S. press hasn't even reported the news.

A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the purchase of child pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department -- including some with the highest available security clearance -- who used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon investigated only a handful of the cases, Defense Department records show.

This graph from Gallup shows something turned things around on or about July 25th. From Democrats being 6 points ahead to 10 points behind. A drop of 16 points in less than 30 days. What happened on July 25th or so to steadily lose so much ground?

AMONG the few scraps of news to emerge from Barack Obama’s vacation was the anecdote of a Martha’s Vineyard bookseller handing him an advance copy of Jonathan Franzen’s new novel, “Freedom.” I doubt that the president has read “Freedom” yet. If he had, he never would have delivered that bloodless speech on Tuesday night. Missing from Obama’s address was any feeling for what has happened to our country during the war whose “end” he was marking. Why [would] a candidate so attuned to the nation’s pulse, most especially on the matter of war, grow [so] tone deaf in office? The war failed in all its stated missions except the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Iraq’s “example of freedom” only perpetuated the Israeli-Palestinian logjam it was supposed to help relieve.There must be an accounting. America does have a soul, and, as Franzen so powerfully dramatizes in “Freedom,” when that soul is violated, we are paralyzed until we set it right. There was no escaping the tragic fact that instead of bringing American-style democracy and freedom to Iraq, the costly war we fought there has, if anything, brought the bitter taste of Iraq’s dysfunction to America.

A former treasurer of the National Republican Congressional Committee pleaded guilty today in Washington federal district court to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the political committee and business clients....Frankly, I wish he had stolen it all and put the right wing lunatics into financial bankruptcy, to complement their current state of moral bankruptcy.

"We do not generally look to gubernatorial debates for excitement. But this week there was a fascinating one in Arizona, where Gov. Jan Brewer gave a bad performance of epic proportions. Really, Richard Nixon in 1960 was Demosthenes in Athens compared with this one. Brewer began by blanking out during her introductory statement — there was this horrible 16-second interval where she went silent, stared down at her notes and giggled. The evening ended when she stomped away from reporters who were yelling: “Governor, please answer the question about the headless bodies.” Everyone knows you never want to finish a big campaign night on a headless-body note."

The 450-ton device was being lifted slowly to the surface and likely wouldn't reach the top until Saturday said Thad Allen, the federal government's point man on the BP oil spill. When it is brought to shore, the device will be taken by barge to a National Aeronautics and Space Administration facility in New Orleans to undergo the mechanical equivalent of an autopsy. Federal investigators will take the blowout preventer apart as they try to determine why it failed to shut off the well after the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig April 20 that killed 11 crew members and led to 206 million gallons of oil spewing from BP's undersea well. Investigators know the explosion was triggered by a bubble of methane that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before igniting. NOTE: This is a major accomplishment toward killing the well. The bottom kill is next with additional risks, but we're nearly out of the woods. Just so you know there is something positive to report on this subject. HAppy Labor Day Buzzflash.

So if this twat of a man thinks the answer is just for those with no legs to learn to crawl better makes you want to puke, perhaps this little video will ease your pain. Whack a Stossel

Arizona has a white supremacist problem -- one that has been exacerbated by the nativist immigrant-bashing that has been part and parcel of the right-wing approach to the issue in Arizona. Instead of inverting the reality, at some point they're going to have to face up to it -- especially because, eventually, Latinos and homeless white people are not going to be the only victims.

71 percent: Portion of Americans who say the Bush Recession was caused by George Bush, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll. Republicans say recession is Obama’s fault four to one. Democrats blamed Bush 20 to one.

2010 is shaping up to be the Year of the Hate Crime in America, thanks in large part to right-bent Republicans and their Tea Party allies who have nothing to run on in the upcoming midterms....This time around, the right's weapon of choice against this republic is spreading hatred and fear of Muslims and Islam. September 11 happened nine years ago, so it may seem an odd topic to harp on after so much time has passed, but the Cordoba House controversy gave them an opening and they ran right through it. Of course, it started before that, pretty much as soon as President Obama first threw his hat into the ring for the 2008 election. Once the right figured out his middle name was Hussein, it was hats over the windmill, and their incessant blather about his background and religion has finally begun to bear bloody fruit.