SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:50 P.M. ET: 

I LOVE IT – You go to bed with dogs, you get up with fleas.  From Mediaite:  "Al Jazeera America issued a forceful statement Wednesday, dismissing Al Gore’s fraud suit against the purchasers of his TV network and calling the characterization of the conflict overblown.  'The lawsuit and statement simultaneously issued by Al Gore’s celebrity trial lawyer were designed to grab headlines with misleading accusations like "fraud" and "price discount,"' the Qatari-owned network said. 'The truth is that this is an ordinary commercial dispute, of the type that courts decide all the time.'"  I'm surprised they didn't accuse Gore of being a Zionist lapdog.

NORTH CAROLINA LATEST – One of the most heated Senate races this year is in North Carolina, where Republicans thought they could easily knock off Dem Senator Kay Hagan.  It's proving difficult, but progress is being made.  From The Hill:  "Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) has a narrow lead over North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis (R), according to a new poll conducted for USA Today.   Hagan leads Tillis 45 percent to 43 percent, with Libertarian Party candidate Sean Haugh at 5 percent in the live-caller poll, conducted by Suffolk University. That's within the poll's margin of error.  Those numbers are in line with most other recent public polling, which has found a tight race in the Tar Heel State."  This can be won, but that Libertarian candidate can deny us a victory.

I NEVER WOULDA GUESSED – From mediatrackers.org:  "Rho Chalmers, who disclosed to the Houston Chronicle yesterday that she was a member of the grand jury that indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry, was an active delegate to the Texas Democratic Party convention during grand jury proceedings. Chalmers’ active participation in Democratic state politics is important because she claimed yesterday to the Houston Chronicle that her decision to indict Perry, a Republican, was not based on politics.  'For me, it’s not a political decision,' Chalmers told the newspaper. 'That’s what a grand jury is about – take the emotion out of it and look at the facts and make your best decision based on your life experience.'  More troubling, however, is the fact that Chalmers attended, photographed, and commented on an event with Democratic state Sen. Kirk Watson while grand jury proceedings were ongoing."  That indictment is a farce, and should be vacated.

MIDEAST MADNESS – It was revealed that the Pentagon launched a raid into Syria recently, to try to rescue American hostages, but that the raid failed.  There were, fortunately, no American deaths, with one man lightly injured.  Meantime, President Obama interrupted his vacation to denounce the beheading of American journalist James Foley.  After the denouncing ended, he went right back on the golf course.  As great talk-show host Mike Scully remarked in an e-mail to Urgent Agenda, "Obama dropped a stroke on the 11th hole par 5, and is now leading his foursome on Martha's Vineyard.  Good to know he's leading someone, somewhere."

August 20, 2014