I’m not sure “ignorant” is the one Ralph Nader had in mind… which is fitting.

UPDATE: James S. Robbins has a must-read backgrounder on the topic.

***

Related links:
Prewar British Memo Says War Decision Wasn’t Made
Text of Second Downing Street Memo (via Just One Minute)
Bush and Blair Deny ‘Fixed’ Iraq Reports
Bush: Iraq war plans memo wrong
The secret Downing Street memo
Blair planned Iraq war from start
Britain, U.S. increased Iraq raids in 2002
Downing Street Memo Mostly Ignored in U.S.
The Downing Street Memo
Secret Downing Street Memo Fails To Sizzle
McCain: I don’t agree with British war memo
The Downing Street Memo: All Smoke, No Gun
Why has ‘Downing Street memo’ story been a ‘dud’ in US?
“Downing St. Memo” fizzling in U.S.
British Intelligence Warned of Iraq War
White House challenges UK Iraq memo
McClellan Press Briefing

• Another Jim Wallis puff piece

Anyone have a clue what St. Petersburg Times Political Editor Adam Smith is trying to say here?

Leaders on the religious left contend gay marriage and abortion are just two of many fundamental moral issues for political leaders and that the Bible makes the the [sic] fight against poverty, protection of the environment and a host of other issues moral causes often ignored by the religious right.

I’m afraid that sentence cannot be parsed.

• Kerry goes back to preaching

Senator John Kerry doesn’t “go around preaching [his] faith,” except always. Like he did again Friday:

“I went back and reread the whole New Testament the other day. Nowhere in the three-year ministry of Jesus Christ did I find a suggestion at all, ever, anywhere, in any way whatsoever, that you ought to take the money from the poor, the opportunities from the poor and give them to rich people.”

“And Teresa can vouch for me here — beccause, boy, did we look hard,” Kerry added.

• Truth challenges the status quo

William F. Buckley, amidst a column on media bias:

It is a planted axiom of our democracy that there should be a formal and bristling separation of church and state. Those who believe otherwise are thought unreliable beneficiaries of American history, or else creeping, and creepy, evangelists.

So it goes.

Is it redundant to say “an excellent Buckley article,” well worth reading? [That sentence is both redundant and rhetorical. - Ed.]

The Senate is in recess until June 6.

Cheney was last seen on Friday, May 27, 2005, during the taping of Larry King Live, with wife Lynne.

*backgrounder

FactCheck.org traces a false abortion rate claim from Sojourners to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry, to Howard Dean.

Meanwhile, the current issue of Sojourners magazine includes an article titled “the Death of Fact-Checking.”

Unfortunately for Sojourners, fact-checking isn’t quite dead just yet.

***

In this week’s Sojomail, founder Jim Wallis says the “religious left” movement is starting to rise up:

At packed book events around the country these days, I often make an announcement that elicits a tumultuous response: “The monologue of the Religious Right is finally over, and a new dialogue has begun!” Smiles light up the faces of thousands of people as they break out in thunderous applause.

Jim simply made this one too easy on me.

“This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.”

Thus says Revenge of the Sith’s Padme Amidala, often repeated by her adoring fans in the Democratic Underground, who want the line “on billboards.”

If the Senate majority leader is so unhappy with the Democrat filibuster of John Bolton, why did he vote against closure?

See screenshot below:

UPDATE: Ahh…

Frist was the only Republican to vote against ending the delays, but he only did so because that gave him the procedural right to force the Senate to vote again on the issue.

How odd.

Memphis Red Blogs has the breaking news (imagine that!).

There’s more evidence of a connection between them, according to former Iraqi premier Iyad Allawi. Powerline responds.

Meanwhile, Google is also making some interesting connections. Gotta catch ‘em all, you might say.

Terms like “fishing pole” and “kite” stump Lord Vader. Terms such as “gasoline” and “whisk” do not.

UPDATE: By “stump,” I meant Vader wasn’t able to guess within 20 questions. The term “blog,” however, he was never able to guess. He gave up and made me type it in.

Here’s a puff piece on Chattanooga: A riverfront transformed.

Former Mayor Bob Corker, who coordinated the city’s 21st Century Riverfront project and fund-raising, describes it as a true partnership between public and private sectors.

A hotel-motel tax provided $56 million for the project, and private donors contributed $51 million. The state provided some additional funding and gave the city Riverfront Parkway, the street that runs along the waterfront.

“I don’t know of a community in America that could come together the way ours has,” Corker said. “We have this vital urban area that has been transformed, and all these God-given amenities around us.

“It truly feels very different than even a few years ago, despite all the success we have had in the past,” he said.

That’s a nice bit of free, positive media attention.

Of course, this wouldn’t have anything to do with Tennessee’s open Senate race, would it?

I mean, is this anything more than a transparent attempt to boost former Mayor Bob Corker in the Republican primary against the more conservative Ed Bryant?

There really isn’t a single newsworthy element in this story… certainly not anything that would deserve national attention. That is, except for the political aspect.

UPDATE: Let me preempt some criticism here: even if this is meant as a propaganda piece for Corker, how does it constitute an “attack” on Bryant? The article doesn’t even mention Bryant; besides that, wouldn’t Corker’s other primary challengers take the same hit?

That’s a good point, self.

I left myself open to that one, I admit.

My “attack” language is a bit much… I’m just using it for emphasis.

As for the other candidates… in my mind Van Hillary and Beth Harwell are just wasting their time. I don’t even consider them real factors in this race. But that’s just me; I could be wrong.

Will Franklin’s carnival of classiness is up. You will be both educated and entertained.