Welcome to 201k.com - A Commonwealth Perspective.

Paul Krugman:

Future historians will, without doubt, see Katrina as a turning point. The question is whether it will be seen as the moment when America remembered the importance of good government,

Nope.

or the moment when neglect and obliviousness to the needs of others became the new American way.

Became? It's the moment when neglect and obliviousness to the needs of others were revealed to be the new American way.

And have been, since Reagan.

That working class white Americans could turn their noses up at the victims of Katrina, swallowing and regurgitating whole the propaganda that the victims were themselves to blame (ssh!! -- for being black --) is confirmation, not revelation, of what the reality here has been since Reagan told racist Americans what they wanted to hear: that yes, black people really were on welfare and driving around in Cadillacs paid for by the taxes of hard-working whites.

Katrina wasn't the moment of change; it was the moment of truth.

Senator Larry Craig Plans to Resign.

But he's definitely not gay.

Sorry -- just practicing for tonight.

201k is back from vacation. Yes, in NH, and yes, we'll have more about that later -- but one quick thing first. While we stand second to no one in our enjoyment of anti-gay Republicans being caught with their orientations down, so to speak, we can't help wondering:

Why the hell are the Minneapolis police hanging around in men's toilets, waiting to catch gay guys?

Agenda-driven serial liar Thomas Friedman wonders today how the Bush administration could be losing the "PR war" against Osama bin Laden:

One thing that has always baffled me about the Bush team's war effort in Iraq and against Al Qaeda is this: How could an administration that was so good at Swift-boating its political opponents at home be so inept at Swift-boating its geopolitical opponents abroad?

How could the Bush team Swift-boat John Kerry and Max Cleland -- authentic Vietnam war heroes, whom the White House turned into surrendering pacifists in the war on terror -- but never manage to Swift-boat Osama bin Laden, a genocidal monster, who today is still regarded in many quarters as the vanguard of anti-American "resistance."

Gee, we dunno, Tom, how could the Bush administration have won the PR war necessary to dupe the American public and strong-arm the Congress into essentially abandoning the war against bin Laden and invading Iraq instead, thereby crippling the "war on terror" and destroying the U.S.'s credibility in the Muslim world?

Even today the Bush administration and their defenders argue that anyone who disagrees with the policy or prosecution of the war in Iraq is succombing to "the allure of defeat" and is insufficiently anti-terrorist.

How in the world did they get the PR juice for such outrageous arguments? How did they manage to thoroughly conflate the war against bin Laden with the invasion of Iraq? How, Tom?

It's a mystery.

Awesome!


Walpole's Mike Rando made a leaping game-winning catch for the last out as Walpole beat Ohio, 3-2, in their opening game in the Little League World Series. (ESPN screenshot )

This link arrived via email. Watch it and weep. Then pass it on.

What Dick Cheney really knew to be the truth.

Ok, we'res still technically on vacation, and this has nothing to do with what an a-hole George Bush is, or how the Republican Party is destroying America.

We -- meaning Mr. & Mrs. 201k, and 201k Jr., -- went to the Crowded House reunion gig at the Pavillion tent tonight, and it was unbelievable. Neil Finn was in remarkable voice -- and that's saying something. The band was fantastic, the weather was perfect, the crowd was well-behaved and hanging on every note, and the songs were, as always, amazing.

A really special night. One of those magical concert moments.