Minor wingnut talk radio figure Jim McQuinn out of Pittsburgh this morning confirms what most who can add 2 and 2 in order to come up with 4 already knew...

The Bush admin's recent labeling of Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization is part of a deliberate attempt to prepare the legal groundwork for an unprovoked attack on Iran in the very near future.

Since so many are feeling betrayed by the Democrats in Congress over the war funding capitulation, I wanted to diary the following web doo-dad that serves as a great educational tool and helps serve as a reminder to keep up the pressure for change.

Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel has announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for US President.

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor

Contact: Elliott Jacobson, 202-558-6394, 202-460-8340 (cell)

News Advisory:

WHO: Mike Gravel for President 2008

WHAT: Press Conference where former United States Senator Mike Gravel (D-Alaska, 1969-1980) will announce his Candidacy for the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States.

WHEN: Monday, April 17, 10 a.m.

WHERE: The National Press Club, Zenger Room, 13th Floor, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20045, 202-662-7500, 202-662-7512 - Fax

Paid for by Mike Gravel for President 2008

I'm an anarchist, so I'm going to oppose anybody being elected to anything -- but I will say that his candidacy looks interesting.

More via Drudge after the fold:

Stuart Richards at the Libertarian community blog Hammer of Truth writes in his post "Probably the most explicitly evil thing I've seen our government do":

I never thought that I'd live to see the day where the American government would allow pesticide testing on little children against their will.

I wish I was making this up. But the story goes like this:

More after the jump...

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is being revived by todays student activists along with help from veterans of the original SDS, as reported by Next Left Notes:

Some ask if America is becoming a police state. Regular readers of my blog will already have a pretty good idea of what my opinion is, but it occurs to me that perhaps the most important thing to stress is that this mostly isn't a well-demarcated, "either-or" sort of thing. At any one point in time, it could be said that such things are all a subjective matter of shades of gray. Eventually, though, it'll be to awkward to point out that it's become pitch black.

As Garet Garrett wrote:

There was a great deal of nervous anticipation accompanying the announcement of the President's selection of Johnny Coch to defend him at the impeachment trial. Would Johnny use his famed Chewbacca Defense?

In a certain grimly satisfied way, I've been pleased to notice the level of indignation resulting from President Bush's acknowledgement that he broke the law by ordering surveillance of Americans without warrants. It's about damned time people woke up to the reality of abuse of power.

Many have noted their doubts that the Bush administration will ever peacefully leave office, due to members of the administration having committed so many crimes that they don't dare abandon power for fear of the indictments to follow.

Bearing that in mind, as well as the lack of remorse exhibited by the President when he incorrigibly stated his intention to continue defying the law, I believe that a broad change of outlook on the part of the American people, or such among them as value freedom anyway, is perhaps in order.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a prediction.

Regarding the revelation that President Bush (by his own admission) illegally took it upon himself to order the NSA to disregard laws that require the government to obtain warrants to surveill Americans, one thing that occurred almost immediately to me, but that I have yet to see anyone else catch on to, is this...

This regards the recent controversy over use of white phosphorus in the November 8th, 2004 assault on Fallujah in Iraq.

I'm looking for help with meteorological research to determine whether or not a smog-inducing temperature inversion formed immediately before or during the assault on Fallujah.

This isn't a tin-foil hat thing about weather manipulation. Rather, what if the anticipated assault was timed the way it was not merely for election reasons, but to wait for the right weather conditions?

I believe that may possibly have been the case. Here's why...

I had some things to say on my blog about about the recently court-ordered upcoming release of the rest of the Abu Ghraib photos -- the ones our glorious leaders decided were to controversial for the public to see.

Readers may have heard the chatter of late about the so-called "nuclear option" that's likely to wind up being used in the US Senate. I'll try to provide a little background info in case you're unfamiliar with what that's all about before offering my own suggested response.

I just received an e-mail from Stephen Gordon, a long-time Libertarian Party activist and one of the driving forces of the 2004 Badnarik presidential campaign.

He talks about the proposed Compassionate Use Act to decriminalize medical marijuana in Alabama and the organization they are building to carry the legislation forward, AlaCare.

They're seeking assistance nationally because:

This is a strike deep into the heart of Red State Fascism. A victory here could have impact beyond even the Drug War debate, in my opinion.

Join me below the fold as I share his message with you in its entirety.

Former DNC press secretary Terry Michael suggests what a few have already been calling for. -- that the Democratic Party "re-brand" itself -- embracing its Jeffersonian (moderately libertarian populist) heritage.

Most vigorous proponents of civil liberties recognize that mandatory national ID cards (as in "Your papers, please") are in and of themselves odious and harbingers of more totalitarian things to come.

With the recent talk of drivers license standardization among states, and why this would or wouldn't be a national ID card, it might be helpful to gain some anti-authoritarian historical perspective...

Former Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne has a very good commentary on the Iraqi elections (and the media "spin" of them) published over at LewRockwell.com.

Excerpt follows:

Browne skewers the absurd hype and lack of honest analysis in the pro-war media and concludes with several good talking points.

We on the anti-war side have been caught flat-footed by the war supporters incredibly attempting to make the Iraqi election dog-and-pony show some sort of vindication for their side.

That's nonsense. We've known the date of this thing for months and we, frankly, should have been better prepared to get our side's message out. Instead, most seem to be codependently staying quiet in the vain hope that some good might come of this tragic farce.

Well, snap out of it, and don't fall for the hype. There are some things you should know...

Democrats face a long-term predicament in regards to the GOP. The tug-of-war with the Republicans would be a stalemate, except that the point of equilibrium seems to have been reached with the Republicans having a slight edge.

At present, Democrats are looking for different methods, directions and approaches that might bring future victories.

As an activist with firmly libertarian views, I'd like to use my diary to point Daily Kos readers at libertarian commentary pieces they may find helpful or at least interesting. The essentially un-American, anti-freedom character of what Lew Rockwell calls Red State Fascism is where the GOP is vulnerable.