I'm as excited as anyone about the Fitzmas Season. But right now we all need to take some time away from the holiday joy to mark the horrendous landmark that the bad boys of Fitzmas have brought us to.

Today, the toll of U.S. troops killed in Iraq reached 2000 - and no end in sight. This in addition, of course, to the more than 15,000 wounded, and the uncounted tens of thousands of Iraqi casualties.  And it's not going to stop until we make it stop.

Tomorrow, on Wednesday 10/26, seize the moment to stand up with Cindy Sheehan, with Code Pink, with United for Peace, with Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out and Iraq Veterans Against the War, with Democracy for America and Moveon.org, and with masses of other pissed-off Americans.  Details below the fold...

I think I just decoded Scooter Libby's love letter to Judy Miller. Remember that odd little quote at the end:

So I've been thinking, wtf? "They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them"? That's so lame it's got to be some kind of a coded message. Then tonight I was watching The Daily Show, and Jon Stewart said something about "they're all in this together." And suddenly it became clear.

Read on...

Cindy Sheehan makes me feel proud to be a mother, and humbled by her courage and determination. There she is, in the hot Texas sun, standing her ground to face down the faux-cowboy bully hiding behind his aides.

But she shouldn't have to stand alone. A small but growing group of supporters is demonstrating with her in Crawford. And people across the country are showing support. Here's how to help, whether you're near or far. Read on....

I've gotten more and more fed up with the corporate media's failure to cover the Downing Street Minutes.  Whether it's due to laziness, lack of vision, orders from above, or some fearful sense of misplaced patriotism, it's a fact.  And all of our hammering on them to cover it has only opened a few cracks in the wall.

So what's it going to take, Corporate Media?  Do we have to turn it into a new reality show for you to sit up and take notice?  Very well then, welcome to the next big reality craze, it's - Who will be America's next top Deep Throat?

On a slightly more serious note, it seems to me that maybe a sidelong approach will get through where the direct approach has been bouncing off. So I wrote a pitch aimed at the news media to play up the benefits of coverage from their perspective.    It was met with interest in at least two regional news editorial departments so far.  

The pitch follows below the fold...

My LTTE about the Newsweek pseudoscandal was published in the local Durham paper yesterday.  It starts by debunking the rumors, and then dives into the accountability pot-kettle-black issue.

The LTTEs have been on average leaning more and more progressive lately - a very encouraging sign

http://www.herald-sun.com/opinion/hsletters

Full text beneath the fold...

The dominance of the RWCM (Right-Wing Corporate Media) is one of the biggest threats to democracy today.  There's been a lot of talk about the need to break the corporate stranglehold on media outlets, and now allies are emerging with the resources to really make it happen.

Could it be, finally, the budding of the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy?

More VLWC below the fold....

On MSNBC, Deborah Norville Tonight did a segment on the Sinclair fake-umentary situation.  She had Jon Leiberman, former Washington bureau chief for Sinclair Broadcasting, who was fired after blowing the whistle, and Mark Hyman, vice president of corporate relations, Sinclair Broadcasting Group.

And wow did she come out swinging!