Michael Moore joined Jay Leno to discuss " Sicko!"

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It's sad to see the segment about the girl who had to pay for her ambulance ride when she was unconscious and couldn't get it pre-approved....Nope...there's no problem with HMO's as far as I can see...It's not surprising to see the Washington Post review it and knock him around...

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we can agree on two things: The American health-care system is busted and Michael Moore is not the guy to fix it. His "Sicko," an investigation and indictment of a system choking on paperwork, greed, bad policy and countervailing goals, turns out to be a fuzzy, toothless collection of anecdotes, a few stunts and a bromide-rich conclusion...

Moore is trying to raise the conscious awareness of the health care problem in America---not offer up the solution Mr. Hunter. (h/t Clay) With all the talk recently about journalist donating to the left, Mr. Hunter once gave 250.00 bucks to the NRCC... Although he says he was drunk at the time...

Our buddy Blue Gal, along with fellow bloggers from The Largest Majority, BlueMan, MonkeyMuck, Dandelion Salad, Peace Garden, Quaker Dave, PhydeauxSpeaks and The Hermit with Davis Fleetwood, got mad as hell at the stupidity that regularly spews from the mouth of Glenn Beck (aren't we all?).

When Beck started opining on relationship between the presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich and his wife, in that stupid, frat boy way that only he can do, he went just too far in debasing political debate and they created this video, which YouTube has recognized as one of the most viewed videos yesterday.

DCCC:

Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), announced today the DCCC is launching an Independence Day ad and grassroots campaign in 14 targeted Republican districts. The ads begin airing on Monday during drive time and will run for five days.

"Next week, Republicans are going home to talk up their support for our nation's troops and veterans. But, their constituents deserve to know that the Republican record on veterans is all talk and no action," said Chairman Chris Van Hollen. "America's troops and veterans deserve more than patriotic speeches this Independence Day."

The Gavel:

Today, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signed the “Live Earth Pledge,” created by former Vice President Al Gore. The pledge is in conjunction with the global “Live Earth” event to be held on every continent on July 7th.

Think Progress:

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) has dealt first-hand with nuclear weapons - on the Hollywood big screen. In 2005, he starred as President Charles Ross in Last Best Chance, a docudrama about terrorists trying to smuggle nuclear weapons into the United States.

One of Hollywood's favorite plots is the threat of so-called suitcase nukes, like the one featured in the show "24." But these nuclear bombs cleverly concealed in suitcases don't exist in real life...

  Media Matters:

Today Media Matters for America released the following statement in response to a release issued this morning by Neal Kendall, executive producer of PBS' Tavis Smiley, regarding concerns over the announced involvement of Republican pollster Frank Luntz in PBS' upcoming forum for Democratic presidential candidates:

David Brock, President and CEO of Media Matters:

"While Media Matters for America is pleased with PBS' announcement this morning that discredited Republican pollster Frank Luntz will not appear on its Thursday-night programming, PBS has yet to address the fundamental problem with its choice of Luntz to participate in analysis of the PBS forum.

"Luntz's Republican ties, his history of being criticized by his peers for misrepresenting polling data, and his past personal and professional affiliation with GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani make him an inappropriate choice to provide the sole voice of expert analysis on Mr. Smiley's program in the wake of a Democratic presidential primary forum. The fact that PBS has not acknowledged Luntz's partisan affiliation -- either in its original press release or in today's statement -- makes PBS' use of him in this way all the more troubling.

Northman on answering stupid neocon questions like "what would America's enemies like us to do in Iraq?" Stay, of course!

BTC News - Heath care in America is Un-American.

World Gone Mad - Catholic Church says No to Gay Sex and Yes To Beast Sex.

Simply Left Behind - The U.S. used to innovate for the world, now it can't even keep the lights on.

Night Light has a new term for your consideration - Antipartisanship.

The Democratic Daily on the day the law died.

Guest round up by Cernig @ The Newshoggers (newshog AT gmail DOT com) (a recovering linkaholic who is now on the John Amato 12-step program :-)

On "Countdown," Keith Olbermann talked with David Shuster about brewing controversy over The White House's refusal to comply with subpoenas issued by both the House and Senate requesting documents relating to the attorney purge scandal and the illegal NSA wiretapping program. The Solicitor General sent a letter to Congress today claiming executive privilege for both the President and Vice President, but as Shuster points out, an attachment to that letter reveals what is, in essence, an admission that the White House is much more involved in the attorney purge scandal than they have previously admitted.

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At the end of this clip our Dynamic Duo touches on Rep. Rahm Emanuel's proposal to defund Dick Cheney's office. It fell just a few votes short of passing today in the House...

As Rick Perlstein noted, "The 'racism isn't a problem any more' trope is a perennial in America. Next time you hear it, send them the news from Jena, Louisiana."

In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree....

The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen."

Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles....

The mind reels.

Former Cranberries front person Dolores O'Riordan had her first solo album Are You Listening? released in May.

Here's the first single, Ordinary Day