So many lives lost. So many dreams shattered. So many families with empty arms. So many loved ones with aching hearts. Still.

The full transcript from yesterday’s Citizens United arguments has been released by SCOTUS. SCOTUSblog has links to both the transcript and the tape of oral argument, made available from PBS Newshour. Depending on the outcome of the case, there could be a reversal of laws which sought to balance speech rights against a compelling interest to prevent public corruption that go all the way back to Taft-Hartley and beyond.

The Citizens United case will be re-argued today before SCOTUS. As Robert Barnes put it, this is yet another test of stare decisis in a period where that hallowed doctrine has been repeatedly tested since Justice Roberts took the helm. And, more precisely, it “raises new ones about the boldness of a court that has moved to the right with the addition of Roberts and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.”

Meanwhile, how the other half lives still isn’t pretty: The National Academy of Science’s formula, which is gaining credibility with public officials including some in the Obama administration, would put the poverty rate for Americans 65 and over at 18.6 percent, or 6.8 million people, compared with 9.7 percent, or 3.6 million people, under the existing measure.

Continuing to open yap and insert ass, the random wingnutty Obama school speech idiocy continues:After reading the text on Monday, even Jim Greer, the Florida Republican Party chairman who last week accused the president of seeking to use the speech to foist “socialist ideology” on schoolchildren, said he could find nothing to criticize in its text.

Because I thought we could all use a little beautiful music.

Kathy Mattea and Suzzy Bogguss sing “Teach Your Children Well.”

Just a beautiful version.

Enjoy!

As a nation, we are failing the most vulnerable members of our society. The number of homeless schoolchildren, uprooted amidst the financial turmoil of the last few years is rising:There were 679,000 homeless students reported in 2006-7, a total that surpassed one million by last spring, Ms.

Friends of ours recorded a few songs, including Country Roads. As a West Virginia gal, its a song near and dear to my heart…even if John Denver didn’t know the difference between western Virginia and my home state.

Go figure.

Anyway, thought I’d pass along a lovely listening experience to everyone for their Sunday morning smile.

Hope you can join us for what promises to be a very lively book salon this afternoon.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge will be here at 5 pm ET/2 pm Pt to discuss his book “The Test Of Our Times.”

I know you all have questions.

Be sure to drop by and ask them…

Ahhh, Labor Day weekend. Time to kick back, relax, and enjoy whatever it is we all enjoy together or separately. How many folks out there are planning a picnic, BBQ, meal for family and friends or football watching weekend snackfest extravaganza?