I am. Very much so.  Why, you ask, when nothing was really decided in the Democratic race to be the nominee?  My satisfaction is derived from the fact that all of the states who wanted to play kingmaker in this year's quadrennial spectacle now get to wait on the sidelines while the states later in the primary calendar get to have their say.  Follow me below the fold so that I may explain myself...

Too often, it is easy on this site, and others like it, to get wrapped up in the National politics and even International events.  Sometimes it is too easy to do so, probably because it is much more interesting.  However, there comes a time when, as "Tip" O'Neill is famous for saying,

All politics is local.

To that end, when a flyer came home in my son's paperwork, announcing that one of the members of the local school board had just announced his resignation, I decided that this was the time to get off the sidelines and start getting more involved.

As if it wasn't hard enough, in 2006, to have to fight against the Lazy Media's stenographic efforts in promoting the neo-conservative talking points, progressive candidates also had to fight against the strong will of Rahm Emanuel.  The Democrats won in November 2006, in spite of, not because of the efforts of Mr. Emanuel.  His blueprint for "success" in the 2006 Congressional elections was to find DLC-friendly, "Republican-ish" candidates to field, giving us the present day dilemma of the Bush-Dog Democrats helping to seize defeat from the jaws of victory on the National Stage.  

Many of the candidates that Emanuel helped elect have joined with a group of self-styled conservative Blue Dog Democrats and have cast key votes with Republicans and stymied Democratic efforts to end the occupation of Iraq and the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

In an article just published at Truthout four races from this time period show a pattern of deviousness which was Mr. Emanuel's Modus Operandi.

Due to losing a "fight" with my son over the TV station to be tuned in, I was forced to read the liveblogging of the AFL-CIO Democratic Presidential Forum/Debate this evening.  I was playing catch-up to the events going on when I decided to take up the challenge by Blue Waters Run Deep to compose a diary on the Works Progress Administration (WPA). I decided to use this as a chance to present a bit of history and to envision what it could look like if implemented in the near future.  Join me after the fold for more... thanks!

The AP is reporting that the Senate has put the onerous Immigration bill back in the dustbin where it belongs.

In yet another version of "if only our pResident was actually Presidential, BBC News' Gordon Corera is reporting today that the current hostilities in the Middle East might have had a much different outcome had the Fake Cowboy From Crawford and his cronies done more than just issue rhetorical talking points.

As long as everyone around here keeps calling the Illegal Insurrection in Iraq, or Me$$-O-Potamia (h/t Jon Stewart), a WAR, you keep selling the frame which makes Pres. Bush's arguments for him.  Did everybody forget about the PR stunt on the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN?  When Commander Codpiece vaulted from the passenger seat of a fighter plane and uttered the phrase, "Mission Accomplished," that should have been the time when Democrats started to advance the frame of bringing the troops home.

In yet another predictable move by his royal 28%-ness, King Georgie has tapped yet another PNAC signatory to replace the disgraced Paul Wolfowitz.  According to the AP and carried by Canada.com and BBC, former Bush 41 staffer Robert Zoellick is the current choice to head up the World Bank.

This morning, on my way into work, I happened to hear Bill Press talking about something that sent a shiver down my spine... the possibility of a recess appointment of Rick Santorum to replace John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations.  At this point in time, this appears to be just rumor (I can not find any credible source actually "reporting" this, only blog quotes), so I don't want to waste too many bytes on this.

Why are we here playing the Campaign Finance horserace game?  An earlier posting by dKos himself ebulliently extolling the efforts of the Democratic contestant for Minnesota's Senate seat practically glows about all the money flowing into the campaigns.  If we are ever to correct this system, we need to stop with the "horserace" issues.

It's true!  Markos is an actual person, not some mystery person pulling all the strings behind the curtain.  His whirlwind tour in promoting "Crashing the Gate" took him close to the area in which he originally grew up.  More info and pictures below the fold.

Ladies and gentlemen of the interested and active portion of the world, let me propose that we stop buying into the frame foisted on us by the current Administration: STOP CALLING WHAT IS GOING ON IN IRAQ A WAR!  Let's work on using terminology that does not carry water for this semantical fallacy.

If you are looking for something to do while the King Rethugnican is spewing his spin on the Insurrections in Iraq and Afghanistan, I invite you to join me in attending the first in a series of conversations being given by Christine Cegelis, future Representative for the now open seat race in IL-06.
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Only a little more than one day has passed since W. Mark Felt announced to the world that he was, in fact, the "Deep Throat" from the dark stain on our democracy now commonly refered to as Watergate, and the spin from the right is already kicking in.  Regardless of how you might feel about the timing of the announcement, and the desire for the family to "cash in" a bit on this long-held secret, the Appall-o-meter is registering quite high with the 2 June, 2005 entry in the Chicago Tribune by "columnist" John Kass (login required, free registration).  In his article, he has the audacity to compare the efforts of Mr. Felt to those of Linda Tripp.
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