UPDATED DIARY - beginning now with Mark Klein, the AT&T whistleblower, explaining why there should be no retroactive immunity.

On the flip, Russ Feingold, Chris Dodd & others speak FOR and against retroactive immunity -- and on the dangerous flaws of the various versions of the revisions to the FISA law.

I subscribe to lots of YouTube channels, and now follow those more closely than text topics at DailyKos. I'm just posting two stories worth seeing.

(1) Jesse Ventura might run for the United States Senate and is running strong in Minnesota.

This worries me. I'd thought, back when Al announced his run for Senate, that he'd win it handily. I don't know why, I just did.

According to reports today from Ars Technica and earlier Jan 2008 stories from http://www.dslreports.com/...,
Time Warner's "Road Runner" cable web access will soon be changing their pricing model.

The lowest level of service is a 768Kbps connection with a 5GB cap for $29.95 per month. The high-end package will offer 15MBps with a 40GB cap for $54.90 per month. Consumers will pay by the gigabyte for consumption in excess of the established caps. Customers will be able to see how much bandwidth they have left by visiting the Time Warner Cable web site.

UPDATE 3:  6/3/08: comment, from the user crumb:
This is not a Network Neutrality Issue!

Speaking in London to the Associated Press, Jimmy Carter says by the end of the June 3rd primary, most superdelegates, like himself, will be announcing their decision for the Democratic nominee for President. ... Asked by a reporter:

"Is Mrs. Clinton achieving anything by staying in the race?"

Carter responds:

"I think not.

Of course she has a perfect right to do so. ... I'm a superdelegate, having been President before, and I think a lot of the superdelegates will make a decision -- announced quite rapidly after the final primary on June the 3rd. ...

I think at that point it'll be time.

And what to my wondering eyes appeared but...

Was this kept on the down low around here?

That would be Episode 5 of Season 4, titled "The Constant".

With the utmost of respect and admiration for dK's own Jeff Lieber, first writer and creator of this outstanding television series -- whose original storyline was changed dramatically and revamped with a new team ABC selected to develop it further, leaving Jeff uninvolved in the subsequent series that's aired to date, I just have to say that notwithstanding that whole authorship complexity, I think LOST is the finest novel ever translated to celluloid, regardless of whether distributed on TV or on a theatrical screen.

Only it wasn't a novel. It's one of the most complex character puzzles I have ever seen, in any media form. It has had an exquisite structure, character-driven writing, and plotting that -- well -- crosses multiple dimensions.

This diary is comprised of just a comparison between 04 and 08 -- and CNN's role in marginalizing and derailing candidates, for purposes of controlling the narrative for America and removing unwanted voices from access to living rooms in America. Lest people take in candidates on their own terms, without pre-packaging by Conglomerate Media Cartel, who send down their marching orders: Threaten to re-regulate & limit media consolidation, and you're filtered out.

08: Edwards deemed ANGRY by Wolf

VIDEO: http://www.crooksandliars.com/...

Chamber of Commerce vows to punish anti-business candidates

WASHINGTON -- Alarmed at the increasingly populist tone of the 2008 political campaign, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is set to issue a fiery promise to spend millions of dollars to defeat candidates deemed to be anti-business. ...

"I'm concerned about anti-corporate and populist rhetoric from candidates for the presidency, members of Congress and the media," he said. "It suggests to us that we have to demonstrate who it is in this society that creates jobs, wealth and benefits -- and who it is that eats them."

I wondered, when I read this article in todays L.A. Times, whether the "Business Community" understands that for us, there is a huge distinction between "anti-corporation" and "anti-business"? The two are not synonymous in the least. One look on this guy's face, though, and it seems clear he's in the same kind of cloistered bubble of perception as are most DC Beltway Politicians and their consultants.

This is just a diaryette, because I didn't see this published today at DailyKos, but maybe it was. Many of you remember Jason Leopold, reporter at truthout.org, who went out on a limb to assert that Karl Rove would be indicted in the CIA leak Case, back when this was being investigated by Patrick Fitzgerald. Turns out this did not happen, Rove was not indicted, and many criticized Leopold for sloppy and non-credible reporting. On the flip see the 2-part interview Jason Leopold just completed with Valerie Plame and published to YouTube today.

This is so NOT woooonderful I don't know where to begin!

Just noting something that could unify us: Freedom Toast has a new ad image, and, as Helen Thomas says "It's woooooonerful". Howard Dean calls Freedom Toast "sensational". I call them "talentless".

On another diary I alleged that progressive voices are getting drowned out on this site by orchestrated Presidential campaign rapid-responders. Comments helped me refine that premise substantially -- to focus only on the Recommended Diary list, vs the daily diary content on the whole.  But an interesting comment from DemFromCT today provoked further thought about how this site's dual-mission is actualized. I think it's almost impossible to reform if the primary objective is put more Dems into office, replacing Republicans. It seems to be producing a 2-steps forward, 1-step back kind of paradox, for those of us who are pushing a more progressive agenda for the United States, and by extention gauge Presidential candidates by their buy-in, or not, inot more progressive policies.

UPDATE #3, Sunday: I just wrote a followup diary which, I hope, is more focused. It's titled:  DailyKos Mission: Battle of Progressives vs Pragmatists )

(UPDATE: #1. Comments helped clarify that I'm speaking really of the content-flow on the Recommended Diary list, vs the Diary List at large. It's a huge difference, and I should have said so, and made that clear. thanks for the comments. #2 Ooops. I also mis-spelled astroturf, and besides, barb didn't like it or think it appropriate, so I removed it)

This is a simple commentary, from a mile high view. In the early days of DailyKos, participants were more than likely to be part of Howard Dean's new grassroots progressive movement than staffers and volunteers from the DLC machinery.

That has changed. Many things change. Change is okay. But it's often useful to simply note that change, as a frame of reference for where we're heading.

Today, after reading such disappointing news coming from actions taken by Democrats in the House and well as Democrats in the Senate, prompted me, as a citizen, to call and attempt to speak to a deputy of my representative in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, as well as a staff member on Mr. Waxman's Oversight & Government Reform Committee.

I called Speaker Pelosi's two offices: First her San Francisco office, then her Washington DC Speaker's office. In both calls, I asked to speak to a Deputy on staff who is on point for the Speaker's initiative she has called "Draining the Swamp". The local SF office told me they would connect me to someone, and then connected me to a general voicemail comment line. This was not what I had asked for. (MORE re my efforts to have my government be responsive to my questions, as a taxpaying citizen. Starting with phone calls to Pelosi's offices, then to Waxman's.)

You know, it happens all the time with women who have naturally appealing features. Any picture, from any time of day, whether showing casual attire or caught out on the town, captures a natural charm that most people would kill for. Then they always have to go screw it up when posing for Vanity Faire or Harpers, or dressing for the Oscars -- and suddenly these natural beauties take on a grotesque quality with makeup and hair that transforms them into a wax figure from  a Hollywood & Vine tourist trap.

Nice to see someone take a stand like this.

UPI:

Manilow calls Hasselbeck 'dangerous'

NEW YORK, 17 (UPI) -- U.S. recording artist Barry Manilow canceled a planned appearance on "The View" because he doesn't like conservative panelist Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

"I strongly disagree with her views," Manilow said in an exclusive statement to TMZ. "I think she's dangerous and offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her."

I can't believe it.  It's not so much that I can't believe he endorsed Hillary. It's more that I can't believe he would think anyone better to be President than himself. Watch and listen to this spectacular interview with Amy Goodman from March 2007. If that doesn't sound more Presidential than every other candidate running, I must have a screw loose.  Watch the first 60 seconds!

Video (launches RealPlayer) | RealAudio | downloadable mp3 | Transcript

(Note: if you get a Real Player error message, just hit OKAY, then click the Play arrow. It should work fine.)