Tripping through the blogosphere....

I've been up to no good lately, at least according to some folks. I'll post more on a particular feud over one comment a little later, when i can get my thoughts in order.

Around the Conservative media and blogosphere, there seems to be an uproar over a "lack of Unity" behind our President. This is of course a smear campaign against anyone who has trouble with unlimited warrant less spying, unlimited arrest and detention of any person without no evidence or criminal charges, and let's not forget the little trifling matter of outing covert agents, and then suppressing an investigation into the damage caused by such a a leak.

Be warned, that if you make any public statement questioning the validity of these acts, you will be labelled "un-American." If you're an elected Democrat, you will be called an "islamofascist" even if you're a christian minister and/or a U.S. Military reservist or retiree.

It's refreshing to know that not all conservatives are steamrolling towards the extreme right. A few cases in point:

CrooksandLiars has a post on a new book coming out, written by Sen. John Danforth, formerly a contender to be Bush's Vice-Presidential Candidate, an exclusive from Raw Story:

The former Missouri senator shortlisted to be then-Governor Bush's running mate in the 2000 presidential election -- said to have been second choice only to Vice President Cheney -- will come out vehemently against administration and Congressional Republican policy in a book to be published next week., according to an advance copy obtained by RAW STORY.

John Danforth, who retired in 1995 after four terms in the Senate, briefly served as Bush's ambassador to the United Nations but resigned after Condoleezza Rice was tapped to be Secretary of State. According to CNN, he was second on the list of Bush's potential vice presidential choices in 2000.

In Faith and Politics, to be released Tuesday, Danforth blasts the alignment of the Republican Party with the Christian right, lays out his most aggressive pro-gay stance to date and attacks the handling of the Terri Schiavo case.

See, this is what's called "thinking" for yourself, and respecting the rights of every American Citizen to do as they wish (isn't that point of Capitalism and Democracy?). It's also about principles such as small, limited government and self-determination:

Danforth calls the Terri Schiavo case -- where Congress intervened to attempt to keep a severely brain-damaged woman from being taken off life support -- "Big Brotherism."

"That the federal government could intervene in the Schiavo case was a threat to all the families that had seen their loved ones suffer through terminal illness," he writes.

It was a threat to people who were terrified that their own lives might someday be artificially extended in nightmarish circumstances. It was a threat to some of our most heartfelt values. It was Big Brotherism in the extreme, an exercise of the raw and awesome power of the federal government.
"They intervened not in the name of principle, but at the expense of principle," Danforth avers. "They abandoned principle by deciding a medical question without any firsthand knowledge of what they were doing."

So, let's add The Reverend John Danforth, an ordained Episcopal Priest, to the ranks of Colin Powell, John Dean, and other conservative who have the moral fortitude to stand up and say that they will not go blindly down this dark path.

You can pre-order Danforth's Faith and Politics

While there, why not pick up Conservatives Without Conscience by John W. Dean, White house Counsel to Richard Nixon, and self-described Barry Goldwater conservative. You might also like any of the books by or about Colin Powell.

For a more immediate fix, Crooksandliars has video of Joe Scarborough placing Principles above Partisanship or Sen. Lindsey Graham explaining the importance of the Geneva Conventions. Scarborough is a former Republican congressman from Florida, and Sen. Graham is a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command.