Here in Kentucky's First Congressional District, we have a fine grassroots Democrat running. Heather Ryan is a newcomer, but is educated, young, energetic and smart. She represents a new generation of leadership standing up in Kentucky. There are many reasons to support her, and I want to look at just a few of them.

I am well aware that FISA is an oft-discussed issue here on Daily Kos. And I am well aware that some will consider this hysterical over-reaction. But, personally, I think this entire nation is suffering from a horrific complacency of inaction, and so I'm going to say my piece.

As I celebrate this July 4th weekend -- one of my favorite holidays; the anniversary of this website's birth; and the always joyous occasion of opening a play -- my thoughts are consistently drawn back to the pending FISA legislation in Congress and the issue of telecom immunity. This is not unnatural, because the pending FISA legislation is a betrayal of the principles of government which were laid down by our founding fathers more than two hundred years ago. Since I consider the July 4th holiday to be a celebration of those principles and the nation those principles established, I actually consider it a celebration of sorts to take these issues under consideration.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

I came across Chris Bowers' recent Open Left post via Ferris Valyn's critique, and I began composing a comment addressing the Bowers post that ballooned so rapidly I figured I might as well just write a diary myself on it.  I disagree strongly both with Bowers' premises and his conclusions, and agree with Ferris' critiques, but I examine different aspects of where Bowers goes wrong and some elaborations on why.

I got back from the park a little bit ago.  I was at our city's 4th of July festival registering voters.  One of our Democratic candidates for State Assembly was there and, you know, if he had been the first Democrat I ever met I would have walked away hating Democrats.

First, he complained that there were too many 4th of July celebrations in the county.  He said he thought they should just have one celebration in the county seed because it is too hard for the candidates to get to all the people.  Funny, I didn't realize the 4th of July celebrations were about the candidates.

Then he went out to pass out his literature.  He was gone about 15 minutes and came stomping back like a two-year-old.  He proclaimed that he wasn't going to walk around anymore because it was a "waste of time" because "half these people aren't even registered anyway."  Mind you, we had clipboards with voter registration forms at the booth.

But you know what really bugged me?  He got on a soap box about healthcare and then actually said that if a patient does not follow the doctor's orders exactly they should be allowed to kick them off the healthcare plan and refuse to treat them anymore.  The fu..?

Happy Independence Day everyone!! Today our nation celebrates it's Declaration of Independence from the British Empire. After much sacrifice from that generation, our nation would go on to become the first that was built upon the liberal ideals of the Enlightenment. Our nation would become a bastion of freedom, and the "city on the hill" for the world to aspire to.

When I think about Barack Obama, the first thing that comes to mind is the staggering number of actions he and his staff will need to begin as soon as they've gotten their coffee and found the West Wing restrooms. The problem is, everything must be done at once, in both senses of that phrase. There's no time to waste if we're to turn the country around.

Imagine it's next January and Barack Obama is in the first week of his presidency.

achieve victory in November. We don't all have to agree on every policy position. Hopefully we never will - we are individuals from many different backgrounds, each with their own set of values - but united in broad agreement about the best direction for our country.

I originally wrote this as a comment on Steve R's diary, but I thought that I should expand it a bit and post it, because I am very worried about the ease with which we have fallen into bickering among ourselves over Barack Obama's policy positions.

These policy positions are important. I don't question that. I just think that this is a lousy time to be having this debate. And I see it as a huge distraction from the most important task we face. That is getting Senator Obama and every other Democratic candidate elected in November. I don't want us to squable like some dysfunctional family. I want us to win!

Together, United, We Cannot Be Defeated

Here are some of the things that have been going on at my work lately... not exactly work related, but nothing nefarious or illegal.  Though certainly against company policy.

I would encourage everyone in a situation similar to mine to give some of these a try, its quite entertaining.

Here's an interesting email I just received from Democrats.com

Let's Escrow Our Money to Keep Obama Progressive

Last week, we asked 1,000 of you to contribute $10 to raise $10,000 to help progressive Democrats like State Senator Regina Thomas defeat "Bush Democrats" like Rep. John Barrow (GA12) in upcoming primaries. Your response was amazing: over 1,300 of you contributed over $60,000! Senator Thomas and our other "Replace Bush Democrats" candidates were thrilled by your support, and so are we!!

Now we are asking you to use your money to ensure that Barack Obama lives up to his promise to deliver "change we can believe in. "

How? By creating a progressive "escrow" fund that you control.

The late great James Baldwin, my favorite author and intellectual, wrote in The Devil Finds Work, a brutal collection of essays on American film:

"IDENTITY would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one’s nakedness can always be felt and sometimes discerned. This trust in one’s nakedness is all that gives one the power to change robes."

I agree with mcjoan that this wasn't the best compromise Democrats could get.  At the same time, the FISA compromise wasn't worth a quixiotic fight, either.  At the end of the day, below the fold is what this election is about:

I've been here a little more than a month. I came here against the better advice of my big brother, who I always saw as a drama queen always looking at the glass half empty. When he left to live in Italy, I decided to sign up for an account here and prove to my brother that DailyKos wasn't a bad place.

I came here with the belief that there was almost no one further to the left than me. My away message most nights is Paul Wellstone's line "I'm from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." In the wake of the flap over FISA and faith-based initiatives, I began to realize, actually, I may be a little further right than like everyone here.

Compared to most people at DailyKos...I'm a Republican.

George Fearing for Congress
Please subscribe to my diary if you live in Central Washington or follow the race in WA-04.  Thanks!


Soon I'll write in greater detail about why George is such an excellent candidate for Congress, and there are some great diaries already out there about why Richard "Doc" Hastings is as bad as they get, and why it's in the national interest to unseat him.

Keep your eyes posted for some entries from Mr. Fearing himself in the coming weeks.  For now, for the skeptics and the pessimists, have a look at some of the many reasons why this race is VERY competitive -- much more so than Republicans would like to admit.

But trust me.  The Hastings crew is getting nervous.  We've seen folks drive by or even sit in their cars in front of the office, peering in.  They've mentioned us in a fundraising letter.  It's clear that Doc's campaign knows that we will fight for this.  And this year, we can win.

After the jump.

I am fired up about the Constitution, and perhaps my reverence for it qualifies as a secular religion, and as such might cast haze over my eyes when it comes to more immediate, pressing considerations in the realpolitik of American politics in general and advancing the progressive agenda in detail.

I have, sometimes nicely, received this hint from quite a few persons the past few weeks.

The short form: CSK, you need to look at the big picture.

I answered, not always nicely, that what was bigger than the Constitution?

Let me be up front and apologize for that belligerence. Sorry, guys.

So I took the advice and revisited my thoughts on this election for the past several months...and here is what I came up with.

    I'm sorry if what I am about to write here offends anyone personally, as that is certainly not my intent, but I have to chime in on this ongoing debate about whether or not to criticize Barack Obama over his recent apparent turn to the center. I should say first that I am at best a casual observer of the twists and turns of this debate, as I tend to be with most of these divisions among online communities that I belong to, so I am almost definitely going to be retreading over well-worn territory, and for all I know, I may well be so late to the party that this division is no longer as big a thing as it seems. That being said, the issues at hand (FISA and telecom immunity, gun control, etc) are as important to me as I'm sure they are to all of you, and I just need to get this off my chest before my head explodes.

Nancy Benac on HuffPo has a terrific story that on reported donations over $200 from military personnel Obama outdoes McCain:

That Obama attracts support from some in the military is evident in dollars and cents: Among people who have donated at least $200 to a presidential campaign this election cycle, Obama has collected more than $327,000 from those identifying themselves as military personnel, while McCain has collected $224,000, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by The Associated Press.

It's not all roses and sunshine as McCain will obviously garner military support. But the signs are there that is not going to be a cakewalk.

Tonight I and several others celebrated a friend's 82 birthday.  Now I know most people would consider it unlikely that at age 82 a person might still be out there making a difference, but this person is, and she serves as an inspiration for me.

I first met Rosa in early 2004.  At that time I was nearing age 44, nervously approaching public speaking in my first real community battle.  Some of that I have diaried about in the past, but essentially the community battle was one that pitted those of us fighting against the then Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush.  

My first introduction to Rosa was at a public meeting, where she went to the podium and literally gave a verbal tongue lashing to the same elected officials that I was still somewhat afraid of....