"If folks were expecting any drama tonight, they'll just have to make due with the uplifting kind." Such was the bottom line of David Goldstein's blog for HorsesAss.org, entitled "A Stunning Lack of Disunity." I ran into David here at the Big Tent (the DNC mecca for new media journalists, bloggers, reporters, and non-profit leaders - erected here in Progressive Future's parking lot), and thus launched into a discussion of the disparity between the media's playing up the contention between the Obama and Clinton camps, and the actual on-the-ground unity within the Democratic Party.

To set the context for this blog, let me just start by explaining that there is currently an 8,000 square-foot, two story structure in my office building's parking lot, which is known as the Big Tent. The Big Tent is the place to be for new media journalists, bloggers, reporters, and non-profit leaders covering the Democratic National Convention. One of the great things about the Big Tent is the immense lineup of panels on the second floor throughout the four days of the convention. (Another great thing is the free beer garden provided by New Belgium Brewery).

This morning, I attended a panel on Net Neutrality. As a blogger, my interests in this issue are probably quite obvious, but the bigger picture of what I walked away with is how the real stakeholders in this are all people who live in the United States and are appreciative of our country's commitment to democracy. Panelist Adam Stoller, of OpenLeft summed up the importance of this issue:

"This isn't a story about technology - this is a story about democracy."

When I was at a Big Tent panel this morning, entitled, "Left Behind: What Katrina and a Stolen Election Taught Us About Race and American Politics," a panelist commented on the nature of the media treatment given to disaster victims.

"[These victims] aren't sexy. College students [organizing on behalf of the victims] are sexy."

He was talking about the need for grassroots organizing. Unfortunately, the mainstream press is a business and sex sells. This often means that the people who are in the most need of having their stories heard are often ignored or buried in the media.

Last November, Michael Mukasey stood in the Justice Department's Great Hall as he was sworn in as the new US Attorney General. Having been given the first opportunity to speak publicly to his staff, Mukasey said:

"We do law, but the result is justice. And that is why our ultimate client - the people of this country - can and do rest secure in the knowledge that our unswerving allegiance is to the law and the Constitution, and that the result of faithful performance of our duty is justice."

My, how times reveal the true nature of people; we've now all come to recognize Mukasey as the disappointment who refused to come out against waterboarding, squelching our hopes for a firm protector of the Constitution.

And it seems he's on a roll.

My thanks to Think Progress for this story:

The other day, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann told us that we don't need Nancy Pelosi to save the planet. Jesus has it covered. Here's what she said:

"[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she's just trying to save the planet. ... We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet -- we didn't need Nancy Pelosi to do that."

It gets better.

Good news: Pressure from Rep. Waxman to enforce Dr. Kaye Whitley's subpoena to testify on how the DOD is preventing and responding to incidents of sexual assault in the military have paid off: after first blocking her from attending a House committee's hearing, the Pentagon is allowing Whitley to testify. Bad news: the DOD continues to ignore a very specific responsibility they have been tasked with in order to fully address this issue.

I expect that people find it hard to deal with emotionally sensitive issues. I may even expect that many people would want to shield themselves from it.

But I won't tolerate elected and appointed officials who run and hide when they not only have the power to do something about it, they have the explicit responsibility of doing something about it.

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt is awfully proud of the controversy from the recent draft regulation on what he calls "Physician Conscience:"

"I'm delighted to announce that with the help of Planned Parenthood, my blog -- for the first time -- received more visits than my teenage son's MySpace page."

Congratulations, Mr. Leavitt! But what about our fear that your new regulation will redefine contraception as abortion -- and reduce access, especially among low-income women, to birth control?

On that topic this is all Mr. Leavitt had to say:

"This regulation would not be aimed at changing or redefining any of that."

[cross-posted from www.progressivefuture.org]

This weekend, the American Psychological Association will be holding their annual conference, but it won't be as harmonious as you would think: a group of psychologists are organizing to change the association's position on the presence of psychologists during interrogations of Guantanamo detainees. It's ironic that the ethics code of the APA explicitly states: "Psychologists strive to benefit those with whom they work and take care to do no harm."  Yet this organization has taken the controversial stance that the presence of psychologists makes the detainees at Guantanamo safer during interrogations.

And yet the evidence points in the other direction: