Today, Army Private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning came out as a transgender. She is asking everyone, including the press to refer to her as female. She said, "As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible.

• Syndicated columnist & Democratic strategist Karl Frisch in for Thom today...
• Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers: Solution driven unionism
• Dean Koontz, Author of numerous books (many made into films): "Odd Apocalypse"
• Michael Calderone, Huffington Post: 2012 Election Gaffes Fuel Media Obsession, Leading To Scripted Campaigns
• Art Levine, Washington Monthly / Salon, The Nation, The Atlantic: The Dark Side of a Bain "Success"
• John Fugelsang, Actor/Activist/Comedian: His new TV show and the 2012 election

• Syndicated columnist & Democratic strategist Karl Frisch in for Thom today...
• Marc Solomon, Freedom to Marry: Marriage Equality in at the DNC...
• Jeremy Hooper, Good as You / Author, "If It's A Choice, My Zygote Chose Balls": The World According to Chick-Fil-A
• Tina Dupuy, soapblox.net: ‘Always the Opposite of Obama’ is a Tricky Platform
• John Nichols, The Nation Magazine: Gore Vidal and the Unfinished American Revolution

• Mitt Romney and "the little people"...
• Cheryl Randecker, one of the workers at Sensata Tech whose job will be getting outsourced: Mitt ignores workers' pleas to "save our jobs"
• John Manuelian, Libertarian attorney: Do you have a constitutional right to an insanity defense?
• Justice Scalia and the "right to bear hand held rocket launchers..."