Forgive me for the short, non-political diary, but I'm sure there are Kossacks, who knew and will miss Dan Fogelberg.  Dan who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004, died Sunday. He was 56. Dan was a great wordsmith and composed some of the most beautiful songs of my generation. As a twenty something, I played his albums over and over.  His music has always been on my playlist.

David Brooks said tonight on the News Hour that "this election is not about George Bush."  Brooks said this in the context of talking about Scott McClellend’s new book which implicates George in the Valerie Plame outing.  Brooks said he’s never heard anyone on the campaign trail ask about the issue of Plame’s outing, and thus it’s a non-issue.

Yahoo News reports that Japanese whalers renewed their hunt to kill protected humpback whales today.  Families on shore waved flags with smiling whales as the whaling ships planned to head to Antarctic waters, to resume the largest expedition in decades.  The expedition had been halted in February after a fire on the mother ship. (Karma?) The hunt will last until April.

I'm not a Gabrielle Giffords fan. She is my Democratic Representative from AZ 08 elected in the 2006 election with lots of pre-primary help from the DCCC.  I would call her Republican lite. But for you fans of social ceremony, I guide you to the wedding of Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-08) , as presented by the AZ Daily Star.

Michael Chertoff, the homeland security chief, a presidential appointee, made the sole decision yesterday, to override environmental law and allow construction of a wall through the San Pedro Riparian Wilderness area, which is adjacent to the Mexico border.

Mr Chertoff claimed that the environmental damage caused by illegal immigrants was greater than the environmental impact of a wall on migrant wildlife.

The AZ Daily Star reports that:

The move puts an end to a legal battle that had begun on Oct. 10 when U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle issued a temporary restraining order for construction in the area in response to an appeal submitted by Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club.

Here we go again.  When all else fails, when your ideas are finding no takers, find religion.  

In an interview on Beliefnet, McCain declares America a Christian nation.

John McCain says the "Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation" .

This strategy of assuring fundamentalist Christians that they own the country gives Mccain a solid 8 on the Beliefnet godometer.

I thought I’d see a million diaries on this, but to the best of my search knowledge, I found only one.  My Backwards Bush Countdown clock is striking 500 in 3 hrs, 45 minutes, and  57 seconds.  (MDT, of course)

I know, I know,  it’s still too long, but yikes, it’s a September milestone.  George W Bush and General Petraeus can lie all they like about a subjective assessment of "progress" in Iraq, but the absolute, objective reality is that Bush is history as POTUS in 500 days.

The abracadabra presidency is attempting to alter reality once again.  Raw Story is reporting that computer technicians at the White House have removed any references to FOIA compliance from their web site.

Where visitors once just found information about how to file public records requests or view annual reports on the Office of Administration's FOIA compliance, the White House has appended the following admonition:

"The Office of Administration, whose sole function is to advise and assist the President, and which has no substantial independent authority, is not subject to FOIA and related authorities. However, these pages have been maintained due to the Presidential Records Act."

The Bush administration is trying to stem the tide of illegal immigration across the Arizona border, pero, son mensos. Unfortunately, it affects us detrimentally.  Read below the fold to see how it affects us here in Baja, AZ.

Although Kylwas re-elected in ’06 and McCain isn’t up for re-election until 2010, I take comfort in knowing that both are losing steam in Arizona.  A new
Rocky Mt Poll (pdf), measuring AZ voters’ opinions, finds McCain sinking to 42% approval, down 7% since March, and Kyl at 40% approval, down 6% over the same time period.  McCain’s disapproval rating grew from 18% to 30% and Kyl’s disapproval grew from 12% to 18%.

Entertainment news became deadly in Phoenix today, when two news helicopters, covering a police chase, collided mid-air and killed all four people aboard.  Five news helicopters and one police chopper had all been cleared to enter the same airspace.  The big story that resulted in death, the story these copters were chasing was a stolen vehicle that rammed a police car.  

I’m subbing the Grieving Room for Dem in the Heart of Texas.  I’m doing this in honor of my own mom, who died on Father’s Day, 2003.  My mom was the victim of indifferent, geriatric health care.  Although she was under the care of a family practice physician and a cardiologist, she was diagnosed in Stage 4 cancer on March 21 and died on June 15.  In the summer of 2002, she went for her annual exam and told her doctor of bumps on her back.  The doctor said, oh they’re sebaceous cysts, not to worry.   By Christmas she was in extreme pain in her back. It took three months for doctors to diagnose her with five fractures in her back (osteoporosis), two days before she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Those bumps on her back were metastasized cancer and she had many of them by the time she died. Geriatric patients need a manager for health care, not disparate doctors who don't communicate with each other.

If Janet Napolitano signs the proposed budget bill, it will contain a provision to collect DNA from anyone arrested of a crime.
Collecting DNA from people who have been arrested and not convicted is another step down the slippery slope of government intrusion.  The fact that a Democratic governor does not see the Constitutional harm is this practice is disconcerting.

Recently, I called my newly elected Democratic representative, Gabrielle Giffords to ask her to vote no on the supplemental appropriations bill.  As we know now, Ms. Giffords voted with Republicans to approve the funding.  Today, I received an e-mail letter from Ms. Giffords defending her position.  I share it with you below the fold.

I began this diary to tell you about the border deaths that continue to occur in spite of the beefed up manpower in the AZ sector of the border.  It’s already hit 100 degrees here in the Sonoran desert and a man from Guatemala, was the first (known) death of this summer as reported today in the Arizona Daily Star.  A 32 yr. old pregnant woman and her husband were also rescued over the weekend from the deadly heat.
But the latest news is that in order to support the surge (have we heard that word lately?), the Department of Homeland Security is enticing Border Patrol agents to sign up with a private contrator to go to Iraq. This is at the same time that the agency is trying to hire more people to guard our border.
Go ahead, make the jump.

In Tucson, Az, last summer, with 110 degree heat, I walked neighborhoods for an Iraq War I vet who was running for Congress for the seat being vacated by Jim Kolbe.        
Jeff Latas who also had a son in the current Iraq War,(occupation)was anti war.  

Well, well, well! Guess who got caught cheating and lying?  None other than Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank and architect of the amazingly unsuccessful Iraq War and occupation.
The New York Times is reporting that:

No Mas Muertes-No More Deaths

Yesterday in Tucson, Judge Raner Collins dismissed indictments against Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss, two young volunteers for No Mas Muertes, a humanitarian group that delivers water, food and medical aid to illegal entrants walking in the desert.