Nancy Pelosi is facing "tough questions" via Digg on CNN.

Check it out.

Update:  And they're done.  It was cool, though.  The Internets really work!

My work day is done, but I'm still here, catching CNN's live feed of the Convention.

I see Sen. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader, step up to the podium and I think to myself, "this'll be a good one".  I was right.

He starts talking about how oil is a major reason behind nearly every war - from WWII up until the Russia-Georgia war.  He says that Pearl Harbor was bombed for oil.  My eyes are widening, and suddenly, massive credibility is being given on a major stage to ideas that I have been afraid to truly lean into for fear of them being goofy conspiracy theories like the one about the Moon Landing being a fake.  I get excited, like the cover is finally being blown on the connections between the oil and war industries.

Then CNN cuts him off.  For a bullshit, pre-taped interview with Nancy "Useless" Pelosi.  I can't find his speech anywhere.

This smells like information control to me, and this ain't f*cking China.

It's official:  Nancy Pelosi entered a motion to nominate Barack Obama by acclamation, it was seconded and carried. Discuss.

John Boehner is my former Congressman, sadly, and he's about to pull another stupid stunt to push the drilling for oil issue.  This time, he wants people to send him their gasoline receipts, which he's then going to give to Nancy Pelosi.

After the flip.

Thus far this convention looks just like '04, just more lavish. As Carville said he had not heard either of the words war,gas(there was plenty from the podium),mortage, bankruptcy, etc. Just change change and more change. Change what and change it to what. Does the average American living hand to mouth care that the bigwigs sit in massage chairs? Who pays for this extravagance? Who is the gaudiness supposed to impress? Michell looked kind of foolish trying to explain how they were just ordinary folk running for president. I guess DKos is impressed since most nouns are preceeded by at least five meaningful adjectives such as wow and absolute most,  and a sentance not ending in !!! is considered meaningless.

I know I’m not supposed to be watching CNN, but had I not, I would never have seen the truly sublime moment I am about to recount.

Nancy Pelosi is still onstage, but here's some fresh thread for y'all to keep the conversation going.

With all of the news coming out of the convention, it's hard to believe that the Associated Press would need to make up a story, but hey, it is the Associated Press...the headline is eye-catching:

Pelosi admits Democrats not yet united

Oh no! This is exactly the kind of story you don't want to see, right? Well, don't worry because there is nothing in the article that justifies the headline. What does Pelosi have to say about the disunity question?

The nomination is decided, we have a vice president, we're going to work together and go forward...You know what? This is like a yesterday room. We are going into the future. What did I walk into, a time capsule?

Short diary -- more of an announcement and a call for assistance. I'll keep it all above the fold.

1. Call to action: A man with two hunting rifles and two pistols was arrested in the Denver hotel where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was staying today.  Combined with the UUC shooting by the disturbed individual who'd been reading Savage, and O'Reilly and the murder of Arkansas Democratic Chair Bill Gwatney, a disturbing trend of violence is emerging. Help ePluribus Media gather additional information on this.

2. Dick Cheney and Ted Stevens have now been linked -- can you say "RICO"? Sure you can. And graft. Corruption. Republicans. It's all the same, if you're a Republican. Hat-tip Sarabeth.

3. Read my diary from yesterday, dammit.

The End.

This is going to be short, but will update with more content.  This is breaking news, and I wanted to get it out there immediately.

Here's an article from SFGATE:

Man arrested at hotel carrying rifles

Update:  Here's the lead sentence to the SFGate article:

A Wyoming man remained jailed Sunday after trying to check into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's downtown Denver hotel while carrying two hunting rifles and two pistols.

 Are you kidding me?  I wonder what he wanted to do with those guns...in Denver?  What kind of "game" are hunted this time of year aside from Libruls?  (/snark)

The article says the Pelosi was evacuated quickly, and was never in danger.  The man, who was arrested and is still in jail awaiting a $10,000 bond, says that he had the guns worked on to prepare for an upcoming hunting trip.

Could be true, could be a lie.  I guess we'll never really know unless the man speaks.  The thing is, there have been other instances where violence was bestowed upon the Democrats by RW lunatic fringe elements.  We need to be very careful and exercise extreme caution.

According to The Houston Chronicle and other sources, Texas Rep. Chet Edwards has been vetted by the Obama campaign and is on Obama's short list. This indicates that Barack Obama did indeed take a sip of the Kool-Aid offered him by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been pushing for Edwards to be Obama's running mate. But to borrow a phrase from the McCain campaign, is Chet Edwards ready to lead our party? The answer is an emphatic no.

Let me preface this by saying that I don't have a problem with Chet Edwards being in Congress. He represents Texas' 17th congressional district, one of the most conservative districts in the state and a district that includes Bush's home in Crawford. So it's not hard to believe that Edwards has distanced himself from his own party on some key issues, and given that this distance is likely what it takes for him to be elected in his district I don't really have a problem with it.

More beneath the fold . . .

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid should tell John McCain that with all the ugliness, questioning of Obama's patriotism, lying, etc. it will be difficult to work with him after 1/20 - no matter which job he has. McCain has burned some bridges.

And how can McCain promise all that he has knowing he has to go through Congress. At least one house and probably both will be in the hands of the Democrats. If the Democrats don't believe in his ideas, they are unlikely to happen.

I  know there's an election going on, and people are caught up in the day to day of the campaign. But something is occurring that is way too important to ignore: Our world has just been thrust into the most dangerous confrontation since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

If the world wasn't dangerous enough from Bush's disastrous invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention allowing North Korea to get nuclear weapons, now they have put us and our allies on the direct path to World War III.

Unlike the insanity we have been worrying about of the US or Israel bombing Iran, which would lead to off the charts oil prices and a potentially collapsing economy, Bushco's incitement of Russia has real consequences - for all the species on the planet.

The games the Neocons are playing, first with Georgia and now with Poland, are nothing less than a gambit for the next World War. And once again, the misjudgment that usually accompanies insanity has allowed these psychotics to underestimate Moscow's patience with their aggression.

As promised:

So I had the chance to hear James Carville and Mary Matalin speak.  I'd asked Kossacks for question suggestions.  Thanks again to everybody who posted.

Sadly ... the Q&A was a bust.  Written questions only. I never expected mine to be read.  For the record my question was, "When will McCain, and Matalin, and the people who brought us this war start to urge young people to enlist?  And would Carville and Matalin urge their daughters to enlist?"  

Can't wait for the reply by email.  

Make no mistkae about it, John McCain wants to drill. And now, even Obama is open to "compromise" on this issue, despite the ecological pitfalls. Americans must make a critical decision, save a few extra gas dollars now, or face ...

It's been eight long years for Americans.  Long, difficult years.  Internationally shameful years. Environmentally wasted years.  And let's face it:  it's going to take some time—not to mention a lot of hard work on the local, state and national levels by many individuals and groups—to turn back the policies, procedures, and sociopolitical culture built by The George W. Bush Empire.  Chairman of the Board Pelosi, while otherwise saying all the right things, abdicated her responsiblity to call for a vote to oust C.E.O. Bush from his throne of expanded executive power, a power never before wielded so coldly and absolutely by a modern day vice-president, himself an ominous, seemingly sociopathic man who has, like Bush, also amazingly escaped impeachment.  But, follow me below the fold as I point out the events and contributions that I believe constitute important blows against the Bush Empire. It's my booster shot of optimism for those who hunger for, work towards and see on the horizon, progressive change.

Summary: As you almost certainly know, Rachel Maddow will be getting her own show on MSNBC.  As you probably know, there is no title yet for it.  Now, I could just run through a list of realistic titles for you to consider, but Clem Yeobright beat me to it.

So let's try something a little different, shall we?

First it was Speaker Pelosi:

Reversing course, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning energy legislation that may allow oil and gas drilling in new areas off the U. S. coast, according to a House Democratic leadership aide.

Now it's Mark Udall:

If any doubt remained that the debate over energy has shifted in Republicans’ favor, Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) ended it this week.

Udall, one of the House’s preeminent environmentalists and the Democratic nominee in a closely contested Colorado Senate race, came out in favor of a bipartisan, comprehensive energy plan that would permit additional offshore drilling — a striking departure from his past opposition to such measures.

And it's probably not just Udall. To tell you the truth, I didn't even look to see who else might be doing the same thing. Because even if it is just Udall for the moment, it won't be just Udall for long.

Why not? What's behind the opening of the floodgates?

Meteor Blades told you last week:

Republicans have an ace up their sleeve. The ban on additional off-shore leases must be renewed each year by September 30. The extension is attached as a rider to the annual appropriations bill. Senator DeMint says 36 of the 49 Republican senators have signed a letter to Senate leaders opposing a renewal of the ban. Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling is said to have gotten 136 House Republicans to sign a similar letter.

CongressDaily [now linkable] reports:

"Many people aren't aware that these bans on drilling must be renewed every year, and that all we have to do is to allow these prohibitions to expire on Oct. 1," DeMint said in a statement released Tuesday.

"In just 50 days, Americans will have the freedom to pursue their own energy resources here at home," he added. DeMint argued that it was "irrational to say 'no' to American energy" because it was needed to reduce independence on foreign oil and bring down gas prices.

That's the game, right there. The floodgates will open because they have to open. There's no way on God's green earth to find veto-proof majorities to re-up that ban, and no bill George W. Bush won't veto to stop it. Not a defense bill. Not a continuing resolution to keep the government running. Not a National Motherhood and Apple Pie Day bill. Nothing.

So it's either flip now and do what you can to save face, or stick it out to the bitter end and lose.

We know how these things go, by now.