Possible good news.  I kind of doubt this will find a receptive audience in the upcoming Senate, but its kind of early to tell.

"The 7,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers prove that nothing our leaders said should have been taken at face value. It's naive and even irresponsible for a grownup today to get her or his information about foreign policy and war and peace exclusively from the administration in power. It's essential to have other sources of information, to check those against one's own common sense, and to form your own judgment as to whether we ought to go to or persist in war."

An interesting interview with the leaker of the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, on why our leaders should never be taken at face value when it comes to war, and a call to those with conscience in the Administration to let the public know if they are being lied to.

""The Democratic Party needs a left, but it doesn't need the left," sighed John Judis, when I called to get his wisdom about this year's Democratic mess, 18 years after he helped me understand the last Mondale loss. "It doesn't need the Ramsey Clark crazy people. And the Greens are exactly what isn't needed. It has to be people who understand American politics -- that we have a two-party system and there aren't three choices -- there are two." "

I'm a bit behind in my Salon reading, but after finally getting to this article, I thought I'd share it with those that haven't seen it already.  It sensibly takes the Democrats to task for giving up on valid arguments against war in Iraq for the sake of political expediency.  It chastises them for spending too much time focusing on Bush's "illegitimacy."   And it points out that a uncontrolled swing to the left, without paying attention to the lessons learned from the successes of the Clinton administration, will result in furthur irrelevance. 

"A coalition of religious and environmental groups is launching a "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign Wednesday, hoping to get people to switch to more fuel-efficient cars."

I wonder if this will work.  If so, its good to see religious types entering this debate on the right side ;)