You're up. Closing thoughts:
* KOCH HEADS WHINE AT DOSE OF OWN MEDICINE: Guilt by association and dishonest labeling are familiar tactics of the Koch Billionaires' Americans for Prosperity, one of several Koch operations established to spend millions to establish corporate Republican control of state legislatures. They are whining like little babies now because Huffington Post has reported nationally on the Koch boys' significant political support of nutcake Arkansas Republicans, including slavery apologists Loy Mauch and Jon Hubbard. Why, they had no idea about some of their nuttiness! Bull****. Any regular reader of the newspaper the last five years knew about Mauch's neo-Confederate leanings. Hubbard's xenophobia has also been on full display in the halls of the legislature. But, AFP whines, Huff Po — though it admittedly wrote an accurate article — didn't give adequate attention to their tut-tutting over some of the Three Stooges' over-the-top remarks. Will they stop supporting these candidates? Will they work with them if elected? Will they send mailers telling voters to disregard the nice things they said about Hubbard and Mauch? Don't hold your breath. These are some slimy operators. They want Republican votes and they'll lie down with the mangiest, most flea-infested racist dogs to get them.
* AND SPEAKING OF THE KOCHS, WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE .... The Kochs' AFP operation apparently has handed a bit of a gift to Rep. Tiffany Rogers, running against Republican Jonathan Dismang for Senate. It keeps referring to the farm bill as "welfare." One man's welfare is the lifeblood of Arkansas, particularly in big chunks of this Senate district. Welfare? Shut your mouth. Rogers has a radio spot working this angle. This is the out-of-state billionaires' group supporting Dismang, the kind of people who depict hard-working farmers as welfare cheats. Dismang has been a benficiary of the AFP's expensive and extensive secretive mail campaign.
* REPUBLICANS LOSE VOTE SUPPRESSION PLOY: The U.S. Supreme Court, surprisingly enough, wouldn't allow Ohio to implement the Republican plan to discourage early voting and thus hold down turnout by traditional Democratic constituencies. Working people benefit from more opportunities to vote, if work keeps them away from polls on a single election day. Mustn't let the working class vote, if at all possible.
* DEBATE NARRATIVES: Daily Howler still hasn't gotten over how the media treated Al Gore. It's a tale worth remembering as the media becomes willing accomplices to story lines invented by debate losers (see Republicans and Paul Ryan)
* AIRPORT BAGGAGE SYSTEM: The Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport showed off its new baggage handling system today. In short: You can check your bag at the ticket counter now rather than schlepping over to the TSA screening stations. The bags are sent to a new screening building Or you can do this now with most airlines. Delta and American aren't on-line with the new setup yet. Screening machines will be leaving the lobby before long.
* FUNNY: Website explains the Romney Tax Plan.
* THE MARINE BIOLOGY OF POLITICS: Check out NPR's report on how biology created pockets of Democratic support in the crescent identified on the map below. It's about eons of plankton that helped created soil conducive to growing cotton which brought slaves which created concentrations of black population and, thus, a fertile crescent (a "cretaceous coastline) of Democratic votes.
