We are seeing some real progress in the political establishment, at least as far as facing the truth about Bush's humiliating military defeat in Iraq.

Powell: We Are Losing In Iraq
Exclusive: Former Secretary Of State Says More Troops Are Not The Answer

This near-candor about the war in Iraq is quite refreshing.

Now, if our political establishment would finally admit something that was obvious in the spring of 2004. The Bush regime has lost its war in Iraq.

I will be doing a posting on this topic soon, and it seems like a good idea to seek out suggestions on who belongs on the list. Here are some nasty corporations that come to mind, in no particular order.

Exxon-Mobil
Wal-Mart
Halliburton
Monsanto
Taser International
GE
News Corp
Disney
Lockhead Martin
Blackwater
Diebold
Various telecoms and cable companies
Best Buy
E-Bay
Microsoft

Please post your suggestions, along with your reasons so I'll know why you think your choices are deserving of such a dubious distinction.

Let's face it. Ann Coulter is hideous. Her hair looks like an oversized mop from a Barbie doll. Her limbs protrude outward in a way that reminds one of the legs of a deformed spider. Her facial features are similar to those of Osama bin Laden.

Ann Coutler Pics

Osama bin Laden pics

A question that might naturally pop into your mind is:

“So what?”

After all, corporate media pundits tend to be mirror breakers, regardless of gender or political persuasion. Why should the Queen of Mean be any different? The answer to why anyone should find her frightful appearance even remotely interesting lies in her status as a sex symbol among some rightist wingnuts.

4) She is also very pretty, sexy, and aggressive which attracts even more attention because, when combined with her intelligence, it makes for a very unusual and interesting combination.

She's pretty, tall, sexy, brilliant (that's Coulter, not Sheehan) and certainly sassy.

I dont know how many of you watch Bill O'reilly, ya he's a little strong on the republican side, but hey, he's got a good show. He had on Ann Coulter, and I hadnt really seen pictures of her just heard of her, but damn. I mean...WoW, She's good looking, she knows what she's talking about, and she supports what our country is doing. I couldnt ask for much more.

However, if Ann Coulter, the sexy Queen of Conservative Mean, has one achilles heel, it's her propensity for overstated hyperbole.

The interesting thing about this is that they are being shallow, but not in the usual looks-matter-more-than-anything way that is typical for men. Her right-wing groupie-wannabes are turned on more by one silly criterion than any other:

They get woodies over being told what they want to hear from women.

So, if you are a heterosexual woman who actually wants to talk dirty to a Republican hetero boy, here's an example of how to go about it.

You're just so big.
George Bush is the best president ever.
You are so hot.
Cindy Sheehan is an Islamofascist.
I love strong men like you.
Liberals are godless traitors.
It's OK that it only lasted 47 seconds. I need to do my nails.

Thanks, Coulter-lusters! You have given us all an insight into the Republican mind.

Moderate Republicans from blue states face serious difficulties. They are tethered to a party that is increasingly unpopular where they live. In the past, they could win general elections by taking occasional moderate stands on issues. However, the defeats of Lincoln Chafee and Jim Leach show that disgust with the GOP often can trump individual political positions when voters are sufficiently angry.

Of course, electorates increasingly hostile to Republicans are not the only problems facing moderate blue state Republicans. The “Club for Growth,” a group of extremely rich Republicans from the far right of that party, routinely runs primary challenges against GOP moderates.

Politicians like Susan Collins and Christopher Shays are ideologically incompatible with the GOP and have been ever since Ronald Reagan swept the Christian Right into party control in 1980. The same is true of Gordon Smith and Arlen Specter, who really do not fit that well with the Democrats either.

There is a simple solution for them. They can switch to being independents. Over 35% of voters are independents. James Jeffords showed that being an independent makes politicians more popular in blue states than being a Republican.

Jeffords ended up caucusing with Democrats in the Senate, but was able to vote pretty much how he pleased. Such an arrangement would be very convenient for many moderate Republicans.

(Note: Olympia Snowe has been excluded from this analysis because her personal popularity trumps her GOP affiliation. She can get away with staying in the GOP as long as she wants.)

Militant Christian fundamentalists have come up with another way to try to harass women who need abortions and add more red tape for their doctors. The "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act" (H.R. 6099) would make it legally required for doctors performing abortions to make scientifically dubious claims to women who are about to have abortions, trying to scam them into getting unnecessary fetal anesthesia, even though there is no credible medical evidence to support the procedure.

If women are bamboozled into doing this, it will raise the cost of abortions. The Christian jihadists are hoping to make abortions more costly to punish women who exercise their fundamental human right to choose on abortion.

NOW has an Action Alert to get people to contact their representatives before the House votes on this latest misogynist nonsense by the lame-duck Republican leadership.

Bigotry and discrimination against atheists has been a core value of the Republican Party. However, that should not blind anyone to the fact that discrimination against atheists sometimes comes from Democrats as well.

Every Democratic Senator who showed up to vote that day joined their Republican allies and condemned an appeals court ruling striking “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Tom Daschle even condemned a ruling restoring the Pledge to the pre-McCarthyist version, calling it “crazy.” As one would expect, his fundraising letters subsequently ended up going into my recycling, unopened.

The latest incident involves the Democratic Party having chosen Rev. Jim Wallis to speak during the Democratic Party's official weekly radio address. Bringing religion into politics discriminates against atheists. This kind of behavior sends a message that atheist voters and atheist money are not welcome in the Democratic party.

Having preachers meddle in politics also endangers democracy. When religion becomes the political coin of the realm, every debate ends up degenerating into a “my god can beat up your god” kind of argument. It makes rational policy nearly impossible to make.

We only need to look at Iran, the Taliban, or the Salem Witch Trials to see that every effort must be made to keep religion out of politics.

They should be ashamed of themselves.