Okay, I know I'm in Obama country here, but I'm still undecided. I've made a long list of pros and cons for Obama and Clinton, and I just can't decide. I change my mind, literally, from one day to the next.

Several days ago, there were some diaries recounting an incident at a Midwestern Target in which a woman was unable to get an Emergency Contraception prescription filled at Target.

Many of us wrote in asking Target to tell us what happened, and we got a response that said that their policy "ensures a guest's prescription for emergency contraception is filled, whether at Target or at a different pharmacy."

It was that last part that got many of us bothered. I, and many others, wrote Target back asking for clarification on the "different pharmacy" clause.

I just got my weekly e-mail from Comedy Central telling me who this week's guests are. With the exception of the ever-adorable Dolly Party, it's a veritable suck-fest:

Monday, 10/17: Dolly Parton, country music artist

Tuesday, 10/18: Bill O'Reilly, host, "The O'Reilly Factor"

Wednesday, 10/19: Louis Freeh, former FBI director

Thursday, 10/20: The Rock, actor, "Doom"

I had always shot down my 6- (soon-to-be 7-) year old daughter whenever she asked me for one of those ridiculously overpriced American Girl dolls (which have umpteen jillion accessories, books, etc., all, of course, sold separately).

Now that the Religous Right is toying with boycotting them, though, I'm tempted to buy them in bulk:

Has anybody confirmed the accuracy of the much-circulated report about armed deputies from the Gretna Sheriff's Dept. preventing thousands of citizens from walking out of NO on foot because they didn't want their area to turn into "another Superdome"?

There have been two diaries on Kos recounting people's personal experiences with those deputies, and Ray Nagin was interviewed about it on TV once, but, from where I sit, that is a huge story, and I think more would have been made of it. It truly is one of the most horrific, malicious stories to come out of this whole debacle.

Here are the two original diaries:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/6/211436/8987

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/6/132725/8931

... but I have been enormously moved by our state's hospitality in the last week. It's made me proud to live here. My neighborhood alone has donated several carloads of items to evacuees staying at hotels nearby (we're now organizing a dinner for 150 of them early next week), and you can't swing a cat without hitting a church group that's adopted an entire shelter or hotel.

But the person who's moved me the most, by far, is our friend Melody Townsel. She has become a one-woman Katrina relief agency. In addition to the facts related in today's  Dallas Morning News (below), she is also hosting a baby shower this weekend for a family who evacuated here and is going to have a new member next week (via c-section). The family recently learned that their house, as of yesterday, still sat under 20 feet of water, and they are quite literally living off the kindness of strangers now.

Fortunately, Dallas, the city I've spent most of my life deriding and wishing I didn't live in, is a city full of kind strangers.

I'm thinking of starting a running/biking/walking/triathloning group in Dallas for Democrats, but I want to find a source for exercise shirts (the cool wicking kind) with either a pro-Democrat slogan or a donkey on it.

I'm not looking for "Bush is a dick" shirts, or anything like that. Just something visually snappy that will instantly register if somebody zips by on a bike or what have you.

I've searched all over the Internet, but can't find anything. Anybody got any suggestions?

Got an e-mail from the fine folks at the RNC today, and, since we're members of the reality-based community, I thought I'd give it some ink here. Apparently, the claims that abortions went up under Smirky were all wet.

FactCheck.org, relying on a study by the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute, posted its summary here: http://www.factcheck.org/article330.html.

I just got an e-mail from Michael DuHaime, the RNC's Political Director, trying to gin up their side to protest the results of the governor's race in WA.

The Dallas Observer, an alternative weekly newspaper, did a piece this week about the fallout from Melody Townsel's letter about John Bolton. The whole story is here.

There's been an important development in the Melody Townsel/John Bolton story, and I need your help disseminating the information as far as you can before the other side can beat her to the punch.

Please recommend this diary.

Below is a letter from Melody:

TIME Magazine has apparently found witnesses (plural) to corroborate Melody Townsel's tale of woe about John Bolton. Unfortunately, they don't give any details about who they are or what they said.

Their story (at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1053670,00.html) seems to indicate general pessimism about his nomination. I'm not buying celebratory beer and smokes just yet, though.

For those of you playing along at home, here is the latest with regard to Melody Townsel's allegations re John Bolton. Melody, as you'll recall, is the former U.S. AID worker who had a prolonged run-in with Mr. Bolton in Moscow in 1994. Their conflict was over Melody's complaints regarding a government contractor who Melody alleged was improperly funding and managing the contract in Kyrgystan (sp?).

Just fair warning here: This can get pretty complicated. Melody's prime complaint about Mr. Bolton is that his legal strategy in 1994 was to claim that Melody was misusing government funds and that she was under investigation by the feds. That was, and is, categorically untrue (evidenced by the fact that she received additional government contracts after Kyrgystan). Now, it seems that the company she originally complained about in 1994 is rising to Mr. Bolton's defense and, not surprisingly, saying, once again, that Melody was guilty of malfeasance.

The L.A. Times reported today that they've found another source who corroborates Melody Townsel's allegations about John Bolton (which involve temper tantrums, threats, and lies aimed at ruining her career in the government).

This is NOT somebody Melody provided. In fact, she doesn't even know who it is. The full story is here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bolton20apr20,0,1776744.story?coll=la-home-head lines

Here's the relevant portion:

It looks like John Bolton's nomination will sail through today unless there's sufficient pressure to delay it.

Melody's produced a corroborating witness who was quoted in today's Dallas Morning News at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/washington/stories/041905dnintbolton.24a7a2ce.html. (For the life of me, I just can't figure out how to embed a link!)

She's also decided she's willing to talk to more media than she originally planned. For background on this, please see here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/4/15/101542/050

Another update on the Melody Townsel/John Bolton saga: she's produced a witness who can corroborate at least a portion of her story. He wasn't there for any of the throwing, but can verify that Bolton tried to smear Melody's reputation and claim she was under investigation.

The Dems have interviewed him, as did the Dallas Morning News. Here's a link to their story (free subscription required): http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/washington/stories/041905dnintbolton.24a7a2ce.html">http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/washington/stories/041905dnintbolton.24a7a2ce.html. (Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to hyperlink this.)

I wanted to write to give everybody an update on the Melody Townsel/John Bolton situation.

First, I want to thank everybody on Kos for creating such a buzz about her letter that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had no choice but to at least hear her out. The support and words of encouragement she read here have definitely helped keep her spirits up. As you can imagine, this has been a difficult weekend (although, it pales in comparison to the weeks she spent in Moscow being hounded by our probable future U.N. ambassador).

My best friend since college, Melody Townsel, was stationed in Kyrgyzstan on a US AID project. During her stay there, she became embroiled in a controversy in which the oh-so-diplomatic John Bolton was a key player. She described the incident in a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee members (who have thus far responded with a yawn), and I wanted to share it with a larger audience.

Here's a small taste:

"Mr. Bolton proceeded to chase me through the halls of a Russian hotel -- throwing things at me, shoving threatening letters under my door and, generally, behaving like a madman."

More after the jump.