From the "'Twas ever thus..." file.

Via Fixer...

From the "Good News" file.

Via Washblog…

On Sunday, Washington became the 20th state in recent years to ease voting restrictions for individuals with criminal convictions.

"We're number 20!" isn't the most inspiring state cheer, I suppose, but it's good news just the same.

From the "Credit where it's due…" file.

While the timidity of the substantial Democratic majority in Olympia has been pretty frustrating this session, they got this one right...

The Legislature today approved a measure that would restore the voting rights of offenders once they are out of prison, off probation and making a good-faith effort to pay their fines.

Now if we could find a way to stop producing so many felons in the first place. Drug law reform (where reform = repeal, mostly) seems like a productive starting point.

Hey, hey, LBJ…

…I hope you're feeling good today. Stanley Kutler at Truthdig...

After the voting rights bill passed, presidential aide Bill Moyers found LBJ rather downcast. “Why?” Moyers asked. “Because, Bill,” the president replied, “I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come.” It is true that Strom Thurmond, Newt Gingrich and the Southern Democrats who became Republicans indeed profited from the 1965 legislation.

Johnson was right, but only for a short run. Forty-odd years is not terribly long, given the eventual payoff in 2008.

Yeah, yeah, the war and all. I was there - literally. You don't have to tell me.

Dollars to donuts, though, that if we hadn't had LBJ when we did, we wouldn't have Barack Obama when we do.