My phone just rang. Howard Dean was on the line. I got a heads-up from Laura at the DNC about an hour ago. It was a great conversation. He explained the Dems new fundraising venture, Democracy Bonds, which launched this morning.

Governor Howard Dean launched the "Democracy Bonds" program (and bought the first one himself to signify his commitment) because he believes that we can take our country back -- precinct by precinct, block by block, with every Democrat taking responsibility for getting their family, friends and neighbors involved.

He wasn't calling to ask for a personal donation. He was calling to say he's excited about the new programs and website. We talked about Democratic values, and how we have to get the message out that we, not the Republicans, are the party of values. I completely agree with the Governor that we need to become known again for what we stand for.

Democrats believe in clean and honest government. We believe in a balanced budget and a strong economy, where after a life spent working hard, you earn a secure retirement. We believe in a strong national defense, and honoring our commitments to our veterans. We believe that health care should be affordable, and we believe in an education system that works for everybody. The Democratic Party is about everyone having a seat at the table.

Bush says in his speech:

"Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed. Every picture is horrifying and the suffering is real," Bush said, according to excerpts released ahead of time by the White House. "It is worth it."

Who is he kidding? This war was not worth a single life or one single survivor's lifetime of grieving - for their lost loved ones or lost limbs.

This war has not done one iota to make us safer. Nor will it.

Think Progress has the full text of the speech (prepared remarks) and is live-blogging.

Update: Rep. Charlie Rangel writes today on the Huffington Post that the war is going to get much worse.

Please remember the chatterer rule in the comments.

I have just notified a right-wing commenter who has already posted over 20 comments today that he is now limited to four a day.

If you are a conservative who disagrees with what I write, feel free to express yourself, but there is no need to comment on every post or to repeat yourself and annoy other commenters. This site exists to further my point of view, not your's.

If you haven't received a notice that you are limited to four comments a day, then this doesn't apply to you. It is very rarely necessary for me to invoke the rule as most conservatives don't abuse it.

And, whatever your politics, if you comment a lot, bandwidth is expensive and it would be very nice if you contributed through our paypal link.

Now back to our regularly scheduled converstations.

A Russian national and Muslim cleric held at Guantanamo and Kandahar and released says he witnessed episodes of Koran abuse there.

A Russian citizen released last year from Guantanamo Bay prison said on Tuesday U.S. guards at the camp regularly threw copies of the Koran into toilets. "In Cuba, they used to take them (the Koran) and throw them, take them and throw them, into lavatories or elsewhere. It happened regularly and this was to provoke protests," Airat Vakhitov, released from Guantanamo a year ago after 18 months in the camp, told reporters.

As for Kandahar, he said:

In Kandahar, they tore up copies of the Qur'an and even put it in a bucket of feces," he told the Associated Press.

Monday, several of 17 released Pakistani detainees also claim to have observed Koran desecration while at Guantanamo.

Italy has forwarded its arrest warrants for 13 CIA agents accused of kidnapping one of its citizens to Eurojust and Europol so that they can be picked up anywhere in Europe.

As of Monday, 13 CIA agents are being sought for arrest throughout Europe. The agents are accused of abducting Imam Abu Omar in Milan and taking him to Egypt where he was tortured. The formal transmission of the arrest warrants to the Eurojust judicial coordination office means that they are immediately effective throughout all E.U. member countries. [Eurojust is Europe's main agency for judicial cooperation]. At this stage every European police officer could arrest as well as identify the 13 CIA agents who are now “on the run.”

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a Tennessee death penalty case to resolve the issue of when an inmate has the right to have a court consider DNA evidence.

"This will be the first time the Supreme Court considers the impact of DNA evidence on the constitutional right to a fair trial," said Nina Morrison, an attorney with the Innocence Project in New York. "The potential implications are significant." Morrison said that her project is handling about 100 cases involving prisoners who want a chance to prove their innocence.

The death row inmate in the case, Paul House, wants a new trial. DNA tests confirmed the semen inside the murder victim was not his, but her husband's:

After 20 days of deliberation, the jury has found Richard Scrushy not guilty of all 36 fraud counts against him.

Richard Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth Corp., was acquitted of directing a $2.7 billion accounting fraud that nearly bankrupted the company he built into the largest U.S. operator of rehabilitation hospitals.

....The verdict was a resounding defeat for federal prosecutors in Birmingham, Alabama, who had the cooperation of 15 HealthSouth executives who pleaded guilty to participating in the fraud. Five former finance chiefs testified against Scrushy, who was accused of inflating profit from 1996 to 2002 and propping up HealthSouth shares to enrich himself.

Bloomberg News reports more than half of Americans think the War in Iraq was a mistake and we should set a timetable to bring the troops home:

About a third of Americans say they think the U.S. and its allies are winning the war against insurgents in Iraq, the lowest level yet, according to a poll by Gallup for USA Today and Cable News Network.

More than half of Americans say the war in Iraq was a mistake, almost half think the war has made them less safe from terrorism, and nine out of 20 say they think the U.S. won't ever be able to establish a stable government in the middle eastern nation, according to poll data published on the Gallup Web site. More than half said the U.S. should set a timetable for removing its troops from the country.

President Bush will give a televised speech tonight to try to drum up support for his increasingly unpopular war in Iraq. Should he be getting free network time for spin? David Corn shares his thoughts.

I usually blast the broadcast networks when they do not air presidential addresses. But this time around I would find it tough to insist that they displace their usual assortment of sleazy reality shows and loaded-with-gross-details crime dramas for the latest White House word games.

If one state passes such a resolution, it's an event. If 25 of the 50 states pass one, it will be a movement. Contact your state legislators and encourage them to do what legisators in Oregon are proposing:

A group of nineteen Oregon Democrats unveiled a bill Monday that asks the Bush administration to come up with a timeline for withdrawing US Forces from Iraq. Their move comes after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday that US troops could be in the country for up to twelve years.

The Homeward Bound Act of Oregon piggybacks on a bill introduced in Congress earlier this month. It is co-sponsored by Republican Walter Jones of North Carolina, renowned for his efforts to rename French Fries, Freedom Fries.

Jones has changed his views on the war and now wants to force President Bush to announce a withdrawal plan by the end of 2005. Northeast Portland Democrat, Chip Shields, says the Oregon bill may be symbolic, but it could be powerful.

The Wall St. Journal credits Daily Kos readers for creating the buzz on the Downing Street memos (free link.)

In mid-May, three regular readers of Daily Kos, a liberal blog, published their own Web site to publicize the documents. According to its operators, Downingstreetmemo.com was created by a Silicon Valley Web-page designer, a Chicago college student and a Canadian citizen certain they had stumbled onto the smoking gun that could drag the Bush administration down.

They were joined later by three other Daily Kos readers, including Bob Fesmire, husband of the Silicon Valley Web designer. Mr. Fesmire, a marketing executive for an engineering business, said he returned from a business trip to find his wife, Gina, obsessed with the leaked British documents, so he read them. "I said, 'This is it -- this is what's going to crack this whole thing open,' " Mr. Fesmire recalled. He was equally struck by the lack of interest in the documents, even among liberals.

There's more so read the article. The Wall St. Journal deserves credit for making several of their main political articles available free each day--and keeping them online for free for 30 days.

Say Hello to Blog One, the blog for Live 8 and ending world poverty.

As Skippy says,

we are in the wrong part of the world to participate other than with watching it on television and sending our best wishes. but it promises to be an incredible event.