Hi there.  How are you today?  Let me introduce myself.  My name is AT&T.  I am a corporation, or as I am sometimes called, a telecom.  

You have probably heard a lot about me lately as my name has been bandied about in newspapers, Congress and on liberal blogs of the internet.  There have been many negative things written about me so I am writing you to set everything straight.

You see, the liberal bloggers are to blame for going after me.  Why?  Because they believe that I spied on Americans citizens without a warrant.  Well, maybe I did.  So what?  George W.Bush, President of the United States, asked me to do my patriotic duty and wiretap citizens.  He said that I wouldn’t have to worry about any repercussions.  He said that he would protect me if the liberals came after me.

Okay, I have waded through various diaries on the recent recommended list and I have also read many of the comments in those diaries.  The diaries I am referring to ended up evoking passionate comments by supporters of Hillary and equally passionate comments by Obama supporters.

Not once, however, did I see anyone mention anything about who the First Spouse would be.

In spite of what I know about the mainstream media, I am a subscriber to the Chicago Tribune.  One of my favorite sections is the Perspective Section in the Sunday paper.  It is a separate section with opinions and analysis from people in different fields about current events.  I always looked forward to reading that section because it gave me a better understanding and sometimes a different perspective of the world and this nation.  However, in the last several weeks I noticed a change in that section.  The articles lacked a kind of importance, or relevance to the problems this nation is facing.  At first I thought is was just my imagination, but as several weeks went by, it became apparent to me that something was different.  

Today's paper confirmed my suspicions and I realized that it was not my imagination.   So, I did what any good Kossack would do - I wrote an email to the editors of the Perspective Section with my observations and criticism.  Here is my email:

Dear Intelligent Designer:

Many people believe that humans are so complicated that only an omnipotent designer would have possibly created them.  So, I have some questions from you.  

Why didn't you use a standard model in your design?  Why did you create so many variations of people and people in different colors?  Why did  you  create some people prone to diseases like arthritis, diabetes, sickle-cell anemia?  Why did you create some people with Down's syndrome, autism, heart disease, and high blood pressure?  Why did you create some people with no limbs, some joined together, some with their spine outside their body?  Why did you make the human body so vulnerable to microscopic organisms like the flu bug?  

I have been watching the news for information about the release of the other pictures from Abu Ghraib.  The ACLU, under the FOIA, requested that these pictures be released and a judge had ruled that they should be available by June 30.

Now it appears that there is extensive editing to be done to the video tapes as they must be edited one frame at a time.  This is in addition to editing of the pictures to block out identities of people involved.  A US attorney has asked for an extension til July 22.  

The release date has not been determined yet, but when they are released, they will serve to remind people of the atrocities that occurred at Abu Ghraib.

Wierd.  I just receive a telephone solicitation for $100 for an emergency fund for the RNC.  I don't know how they got my name and number because I have NEVER contributed to the Republicans and have NEVER given my information on any of their web sites.

I played along and said that I couldn't give any money right now, but would they please send me information.  The young woman was very accommodating, verified my address and said she would send the info to me.  

It will be interesting to see what they have to say.  But, I wonder if now I will be on the solicitation list of other Repub organizations.

Has this happened to anyone else?

John Conyers will be on C-Span's Washington Journal this morning (Thursday) at 9 a.m. EDT.  He will be on for 1/2 hour.  Here is a blurb from his blog:

"The pace will not let up tomorrow either. At 9am, I will be on C-Span's Washington Journal for a half hour. Shortly after 10, I will be appearing on Stephanie Miller's show to break some news I am very excited about. Finally, at a time to be determined, I will appear on the Al Franken Show at 12:15pm.

For those commenters who were concerned (or hoping) that there would be a media blackout of the forum, that will not be the case. I have every major network, other than Fox, bringing cameras to the hearing. Nightline is taping the event, which I think represents a welcome development from a well respected investigative program. In addition, C-Span 3 and Radio Pacifica are carrying it live."

Tomorrow morning on C-Span's Washington Journal at 7:45 EDT, the Downing Street Memo will be discussed.  The two who will be talking about the memo are Steve Cobble, described as a political consultant  and Kevin Aylward, Editor of Wizbangblog.com.

The blurb from C-Span's web site says:  "Topic:  The Downing Street Memo- a document written by a British national security aide - about events leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.  The two guests will talk about the significance of the memo and about what U.S. bloggers are saying about it. Mr. Cobble's group is calling for an investigation into the memo. Mr. Aylward's site says the memo is not credible."

Well, it is finally happening - the memo is finally getting attention.  I wish that John Conyers had been the one to appear on C-Span.  I am not familiar with the two participants in this discussion, but it appears C-Span wanted both sides will have their say.