It's official! Record profits for both Exxon/Mobil and Chevron/Texaco. That rounds out the "big five" and everyone's up about 30-35% over last year.

You know what else is up about 30-35%?

Gas prices.

Gee, what a coincidence.

The invisible hand is picking your pocket, America.

John Robb has an "inside source" that says the 82nd Airborne will be deployed to Lebanon soon. This echoes speculation in Harpers that US Forces will be put in due to a lack of other countries feeling like putting their kids on the line to solve other peoples' problems.

Robb:

However, that won't work since Hezbollah won't comply. Their guerrillas will fight the effort and missiles will continue to fly. The result will be a widening of the war to include Syria and Iran to get at the "real sources" of the conflict...

This is something to watch for. This is something we should try NOT to do as a country. There's no benefit to us to getting involved here as a third party, and plenty of danger. Sadly, I think the political dynamics here are such that there will be no major mainstream opposition to such a deployment, and non-establishment action (e.g. protest, etc) won't start hitting where it hurts until things widen futher and there's a need for a draft or something. At which point...

The numbers are looking promising for the Democrats to be able to build some power this fall (addl. Kos analysis). If you're at all interested, check this stuff out.

That's important. It means there's a decent chance we'll finally put a check on the Bush administration, perhaps even start some investigations. If things go well it will mean building a national progressive consensus around key issues. Health Care will get another shot if we can put together two winning cycles in a row (e.g. gain ground this fall and then take either the White House or Congress in '08).

My advice for you? Get savvy on your representatives. This fall's action is going to be faught in over four-hundred 500,000-person districts. It's going to mean a lot of local nuance, which is where grassroots participation can make the biggest impact. There's also probably some important action at the state/county/city level. The best strategy here is to flood the zone; to push forward on every front and juice turnout as much as possible. At the very least get registered and vote Democrat in the fall, and try to get your friends to do the same. If you're on board for the slow-steady takeover of the government (e.g. you really want that Health Care, out of Iraq, etc), then find a campaign (even a long-shot) and get directly involved.

Getting involved is actually doubly important. It's necessary if the change is to happen, and should Dems indeed put together a comeback with our help, they're going to start getting more and more of that corporate slush money. HMOs, Big Pharma, and the Insurance Rackets all give to the GOP about 2-to-1, but that ratio will probably change if there's a transfer of power. People power will be critical in keeping 'em honest.

Trad media talking heads are hostile to Stephen Colbert for the same reasons columnists are hostile to bloggers: they're facing competition from strangers who are pitching a product that hits above the brain-stem, and people are responding. It's pretty alarming how most members of the Press (I'm thinking in particular of the I've heard Mark Halperin of ABC's "The Note" say) view themselves as producers of a commercial product, with a pretty dim assessment of their "consumers."

It's a post-consumer era, mi amigos. Take a minute and let it sink in.

Bonus link: Matt Stoller pens a great piece in Net Neutrality.