More from the progressive community formerly known as "reality-based," here is one of the editors of the Kansas City Star's editorial page, Lewis Diuguid bemoaning America's violent culture and proposing a "Department of Peace":

Abolishing violence will be more difficult than ending slavery because violence is such an institutional and widespread problem. Violence is how this country was settled, how it spread from coast to coast and became a superpower.

Peace offers a better way. But the United States has to take steps to overcome violence. The first step is for Congress to pass and President Barack Obama to sign legislation creating a cabinet Department of Peace. It would provide people with examples of best practices in solving all conflicts through nonviolent means.

Like alcoholics and drug addicts, we need a 12-step program toward overcoming violence. The first step is recognizing that we have a problem.

At the “From Pain to Peace” service, Ashty Hamaamin said peace removes the uncertainty, instability and fear that violence fosters.

“The only way peace is possible is through communication,” she said. Words for peace should matter most of all.

This Dennis Kucinich-esque proposal is easy to mock because it's so far fetched, as is the notion that terrorists would stop flying planes into US buildings or the President of Iran would stop wanting to wipe Israel off the map if we'd just sit down and discuss things Ghandi-style.

But, not to be hyperbolic, we see traces of a similar type naivete in some of the administration's latest decision making, from the scrapping of the missile shield, to the news that Obama has ordered the Pentagon to map out 'radical cuts' to America's nuclear arsenal.

At the same time, the aforementioned Holocaust-denying despot is going to be in New York this week addressing the United Nations where, according to his aides, he will deliver a message of "peace and friendship with all nations based on justice and mutual respect."

Sounds like something that could have come straight out of the Department of Peace.

David Remnick pens an absolute gem of a paragraph on Blago:

Blagojevich has been in and out of Manhattan since his pre-dawn arrest, last winter, peddling the line that he comes from a mythological realm in which Lake Michigan, like Avernus, is an infernal and troubled water, and a god named Barack has, like Zeus, ascended Olympus, while he, like Icarus, “flew too effing close to the sun.” And yet no sun can melt Blago's coif, which, despite his many troubles, descends like a silken espresso curtain and then swerves suddenly to the side, revealing a gaze most innocent.

Actress Victoria Rowell at the Emmy's yesterday:

Iowans are split on whether they would vote for or against a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, according to a new Des Moines Register poll conducted by Selzer & Co. (Sept. 14-16, 803 A, MoE +/- 3.5%).

The state Supreme Court in April overturned Iowa's statutory ban on gay marriage, making it the first Midwestern state to legalize the practice. Since then Republicans in the state legislature have been working to amend the constitution.

The poll found that 40 percent of the voting age public would vote to continue gay marriage, while 41 percent said they would vote to end it. Twice as many people say they are strongly against gay marriage (35 percent) as say they are strongly in favor of it (18 percent) -- showing which side of the debate has the most intensity.

"The issue has taken on prominence in the early stages of the 2010 race for governor, as potential Republican candidates jockey for favor with primary voters," the Register reports, however most say this is not the most important issue. Former Iowa GOP Chairman Mike Mahaffey said the economy will trump gay marriage.

A new TV ad from the folks at the Democratic National Committee shows the national party is attempting to boost (vocal) support on health care among its liberal base. The ad, airing on national and D.C. cable stations, was recorded yesterday at President Obama's rally at the University of Maryland.

"It's meant to primarily signal our most ardent supporters and the base of the Democratic Party that we are with you -- and that we need you -- to get this done and accomplish the other big things this president has set out to do," DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told Salon.

A press release from the committee also describes a new website launched today -- "Call 'Em Out" -- meant to hold Republicans "accountable for their lies and distortions and for playing politics with the nation's agenda."

At the moment, the site asks activists to write about Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) on Facebook and Twitter, call his office to voice their displeasure with his health care rhetoric, and donate money to the DNC.

I don't know who Kathy Clay-Little is, but she's occupying space on the opinion page of the San Antonio Express-News with this stuff:

While it would be a stretch to label Wilson's outburst as hate speech, it would not be unfair to label the comment as a sinister effort on the part of some right-wing conservatives to wrap themselves in the American flag and lay the groundwork for the kind of hate that killed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy to fester.

Ms. Clay-Little should be given a citation for historical revisionism for conflating the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King with the Kennedys. For the record, JFK was killed by a  communist and Bobby Kennedy was slain by a Palestinian Nationalist. In other words, they were killed by whackos from the left, not the right.

Are there some racist whackos out there who harbor aspirations of being a modern day James Earl Ray? It'd be naive not to acknowledge there are probably a few, and here's hoping the Secret Service sniffs out every single one of them.

But for Ms. Clay-Little (not to mention Nancy Pelosi, btw) to suggest that Joe Wilson's boorish behavior was racially motivated and that those two words (You lie!) lay the ground work for the assassination of the President is outrageous, irresponsible, and only further erodes any chance of having a meaningful discussion about race in this country.

A new Daily Kos/Research 2000 survey in the Virginia gubernatorial race finds Bob McDonnell (R) leading Creigh Deeds (D) by 7 points, the Republican's largest lead of three separate polls released this week. McDonnell led by 2 points in a Rasmussen poll out yesterday and by 5 points in a Clarus poll out Tuesday.

Kos last surveyed the race in early August, when McDonnell led 51%-43%.

The latest Kos survey (Sept 14-16, 600 LV, MoE +/- 4%) finds McDonnell with a 56%/40% favorable rating and Deeds at 47%/42%. McDonnell has the support of 89% of Republicans, higher than Deeds's 80% take among Democrat. Independents favor McDonnell by a 51%-38% margin.

McDonnell 50
Deeds 43
Und 7

The RCP Average puts McDonnell ahead by 6.5 points.

President Obama has a net negative rating, as 45% view him favorably while 48% see him unfavorably. Sen. Mark Warner (D) holds the highest favorable rating among the statewide officials tested with 63%, followed by Sen. Jim Webb (D) with 53% and Gov. Tim Kaine (D) with 45%

Sorry, but I don't think the ACORN worker in San Diego who was fired as a result of the O'Keefe/Giles undercover operation is going to gin up much sympathy with this excuse:

The recording showed Vera appearing to suggest he could help get people across the border and asking the woman posing as a prostitute how much her services cost. [snip]

Vera was at the news conference and he gave an emotional recounting of what happened. He broke into tears at least twice.

He said that English isn't his first language and that he was confused about what was going on. He said he was just trying to help.

Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), who's expected to formally jump into the race today, dropped the first TV ad of the special election campaign to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy.

In the ad, he touts his standing up alongside Kennedy in opposition to the Iraq War, and says he "mirrors his progressive record."

Capuano already finds himself well behind in the polls -- a Suffolk University survey out yesterday showed Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley way out in front.

The six-term congressman represents the Boston-area 8th District, including Cambridge, Somerville and Chelsea. He's won easily in every election since coming to Congress in 1998.

A new Rasmussen automated survey finds GOP nominee Bob McDonnell leading by just 2 points in the race for governor of Virginia (Sept. 16, 500 LV, MoE +/- 4.5%), a 7-point drop since the beginning of the month.

McDonnell 48 (-3 vs. last poll, Sept. 1)
Deeds 46 (+4)
Und 5

McDonnell leads by 6.5 points in the RCP Average.

The two candidates sparred today at a Northern Virginia debate. Deeds continued to reference McDonnell's graduate thesis as an example of the "social agenda" he said McDonnell has been pushing for nearly 20 years in state politics. McDonnell said he was the only candidate with a firm transportation plan.

The race has tightened since late August, when the Washington Post first uncovered the thesis. Fifty-two percent said the writings are at least somewhat important in deciding how they will vote, up from 36% two weeks ago.

The survey also finds that President Obama gets a 49% favorable rating, while 46% say they support the health care reform proposed by the president and Democrats in Congress. McDonnell is viewed favorably by 54% while 50% have a favorable impression of Deeds.