Keith Olbermann and Jonathan Turley discuss the
suspension of Habeas Corpus. The entire segment is worth your time. In particular, Turley made a salient point:

People have no idea how significant this is. Really a time of shame this is for the American system.–The strange thing is that we have become sort of constitutional couch potatoes. The Congress just gave the President despotic powers and you could hear the yawn across the country as people turned to Dancing With the Stars. It’s otherworldly..People clearly don’t realize what a fundamental change it is about who we are as a country. What happened today changed us. And I’m not too sure we’re gonna change back anytime soon.

Indeed, one only need flip over to “the most trusted name in news” the same night to see his point. CNN devoted about two hours of prime time programming to the mind of John Mark Karr and whether or not Hillary Clinton is named for the climber.
Yesterday, Senator Russ Feingold rightly described the signing of the Military Commissions Act as “a stain on our nation’s history.” And sadly, pathetically, most Americans weren’t even paying attention.

Vice President Cheney:

Well, I think there’s some natural level of concern out there because in fact, you know, it wasn’t over instantaneously. It’s been a little over three years now since we went into Iraq, so I don’t think it’s surprising that people are concerned.
On the other hand, this government has only been in office about five months, five or six months now. They’re off to a good start. . . If you look at the general overall situation, they’re doing remarkably well.

Meanwhile, in the real world:

The U.S. military reported Wednesday that nine American troops had been killed in bombings and combat, raising to 67 the number of U.S. troops killed in October.
. . .
For the U.S. military, October’s death toll is on a pace that, if continued, would make the month the deadliest for coalition forces since January 2005, when 107 U.S. troops died.

And:

A government statement said Wednesday that a much-anticipated Iraqi national reconciliation conference aimed at building political consensus and stemming spiraling sectarian violence in the country will be held Nov. 4.
The conference was originally scheduled to start Oct. 20, but had been indefinitely postponed for unspecified “emergency reasons.'”

And:

The Iraqi government removed the country’s two most senior police commanders from their posts on Tuesday, in the first broad move against the top leadership of Iraq’s unruly special police forces.
The two generals had led Iraq’s special police commandos and its public order brigade, both widely criticized as being heavily infiltrated by Shiite militias. Their removal comes at a crucial time for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who has come under intense American pressure to purge Iraq’s security forces of the militias and death squads that operate within their ranks.

Yes, remarkable–that’s one way to describe things.

. . . er, I mean American.

• “Managed withdrawal“–not to be confused with “cut and run.”
• Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) provides another example of what GOP personal responsibility is all about.
• Some religious rightists are distressed about the “deferential treatment” a homosexual appointee and his partner received at the State Department swearing in ceremony. I guess they wanted him to be publicly flogged, or something.
• Viewers watched 88 million video clips at MSNBC.com in September. Too bad the TV network probably didn’t have 8 million viewers all month.
• As if the Saturday night’s footbrawl between Miami and Florida International wasn’t bad enough, here’s what the CSS color analyst said during the broadcast:
  

  “Now, that’s what I’m talking about,” [Lamar] Thomas said as the brawl raged out of control. “You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don’t come into the OB playing that stuff. You’re across the ocean over there. You’re across the city. You can’t come over to our place talking noise like that. You’ll get your butt beat. I was about to go down the elevator to get in that thing.”
  . . .
  “I say, why don’t they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more? You don’t come into the OB, baby,” Thomas said. “We’ve had a down couple years but you don’t come in here talking smack. Not in our house.”

  Mr. Thomas has since been fired.

The fact that these kind of comments constitute “news” is a story in itself:

Two leading Republican senators called Sunday for a new strategy in Iraq, saying the situation in getting worse and leaving the United States with few options.
Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and John Warner of Virginia are part of the growing list of Republicans who are speaking out against President Bush’s current plan for Iraq as U.S. casualties rise.
. . .
“We need to find a new strategy, a way out of Iraq, because the entire Middle East is more combustible than it’s been probably since 1948, and more dangerous,” Hagel said. “And we’re in the middle of it.”

Apparently these guys must have missed President Bush’s memo that the U.S. operation is constantly adopting its tactics to conditions on the ground.

Recently former House Majority Leader Dick Armey has taken some shots at the religious right (e.g., calling Dr. James Dobson a “bully”). In a statement published yesterday, Armey elaborates on his concern with power-hungry “religious” activists.”
In this passage, Armey explains one of the problems he has with religious movements becoming politically entangled:

Freedom works. Freedom is a gift from God Almighty, and we have a responsibility to protect it. Christians face a temptation to power when we are fortunate enough to have a majority of support in Congress. But government can never advance a faith that is freely given, and it is corrosive to even try. Just look at Europe, where decades of nanny-state activism– including taxpayer support for churches and for religious political parties– have severely eroded the faith. In America today, too many of our Christian leaders fail to recognize the temptation to power and the danger it holds for our society and our faith.

I don’t share many policy positions with Mr. Armey, but I do agree with what he says here.
I wonder if after seeing this, coupled with the revelations in David Kuo’s new book, it might finally dawn on some rightists that perhaps a church/government alliance isn’t best for our society. One can hope.