So says Human Events.com in a recent e-mail to its supporters.  They plan to put signs up all over Denver with this statement, more detail below.

When: January 20, 2009

What: A twilight of relevancy

WTF: There’s no shortage of memorabilia celebrating Dubya’s final 24 hours of power, by which I mean someone of extreme prescience has trademarked the date itself. Well you can stop looking forward to the third Sunday of the first month right now, my friends, because that’s exactly when the worst shit comes to pass and hits the fan in the process and the resultant shit fallout seeps into your drinking water.

I’m sitting here this morning thinking about last nights forum at Saddleback, and what hit me was something slimy John McCain pulled, and he hasn’t been called on it yet.  He named
Congressman John Lewis  as one of his 3 top "heroes" or person’s whose advice he would seek.  

I was stunned.  How dare a man who has done nothing to advance the cause of Civil Rights, has actively worked against it,who will support Supreme Court Justices who undermine Civil Rights wrap himself in the heroism of a movement – symbolized by one of the last living "leaders"?

This is not McCain's first use of John Lewis as a black mask of his true character.  

Hundreds of New York City students joined together yesterday to stop the over-policing of their schools. It was really inspiring to see so many young people out there fighting for the right to have a safe and police-free education.

Since 1998, mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg assigned more than 5,000 school safety agents and at least 200 armed police officers to the city’s schools, making the NYPD’s school safety division larger than all but four of the nation’s police forces – larger than Washington DC, Detroit, Boston or Las Vegas.

The aggressive policing of New York City’s schools reflects a trend nationwide that pushes students -- mostly low-income youth of color -- from the education system into the criminal justice system.

Schools should feel safe and nurturing, not like prison.

As many of you know, the online progressive community has been working together to collectively and democratically craft a shared vision for the country.  Only three short weeks ago, a small band of netizens gathered in Austin to kick off the process of writing our own political platform.  We set our goals high: to collectively write a shared progressive vision for the country, which we would use to influence the Obama/DNC national platform process.  

After many intense days of writing, remixing, and rating, the final version is complete. Amazingly, what started with just a few people brainstorming ideas at Netroots Nation has since grown to an impressive 29-page policy document, involving 246 registered participants, 167 planks and 925 ratings, and ultimately coauthored by 164 people across the country!

And we just received word that some parts of the Netroots platform were included in the National Platform.  (We're just not sure which...)  

Follow us below the fold for more...

Over the past few weeks, various members of the online liberal/progressive community, that included quite a few Kossaks, worked together in a democratic fashion to create the Netroots Platform  

For those of you who have just joined us, check out DemocracyLover in NYC mothership diary http://www.dailykos.com/... , to get the whole picture.  For the Civil and Human Rights Plank, we had a whopping 67 Contributors.  Join me over the fold to read the final version

Crossposted from Progress Florida

John McCain has built a broad base of public support over the years, first as a war hero, then as a seeming straight-talking maverick willing to reach across the aisle to get things done.  But after McCain’s visit to Florida last week, even his most loyal confidantes are wondering what happened to the McCain they thought they knew.

As many of you know, the online progressive community has been working together to collectively and democratically craft a shared vision for the country.  Only three short weeks ago, a small band of netizens gathered in Austin to kick off the process of writing our own political platform.  We set our goals high: to collectively write a shared progressive vision for the country, which we would use to influence the Obama/DNC national platform process.  

After many intense days of writing, remixing, and rating, the final version is complete. Amazingly, what started with just a few people brainstorming ideas at Netroots Nation has since grown to an impressive 29-page policy document, involving 246 registered participants, 167 planks and 925 ratings, and ultimately coauthored by 164 people across the country!

And we just received word that some parts of the Netroots platform were included in the National Platform.  (We're just not sure which...)  

Follow us below the fold for more...

On June 25, 2008 the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 passed by a whopping 402-17 vote in the House. Sometime in September, the full Senate is expected to begin floor action on the Senate bill (S.3406). It currently enjoys the sponsorship of 65 Senators, and the endorsement of a wide variety of business and disability community organizations, so it's widely expected to pass, but your help is needed to provide just that little bit of insurance so that the opportunities and protections intended by Congress in the original ADA are certain to be restored to persons with disablities. We need to pass this with a veto-proof majority!

After the fold, there's an action request (the links are toward the bottom of the diary) as well as background information on why it's so important for the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) to pass...

Note: I'm posting this quite late - it's nearly 2AM! - and won't be able to stay awake to respond right now to any comments. So here's a shameless pitch: please, my fellow night owls, help me out and rec this diary up, so that people may have a chance to see it in the morning. It's not campaign-related, but it's such an important issue!

There's a line from a Babylon 5 episode (I'm a big fan of the series) which has always stuck with me.  Several characters are discussing the political situation on Earth following the imposition of martial law.  One character says that people love it - crime is down, things are calm, peaceful.

"Yeah, the peace of the gun," replies another character.

Updated: Readers can contact the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (MJS) (to broaden the audience) on this matter at:

News Tips
Please contact Ellen Gabler at egabler@journalsentinel.com for news tips

News Tips
http://www2.jsonline.com/...

Letters to the Editor
http://www.jsonline.com/...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin—Donna Ganong is a 70-year-old widow running a corner tavern on Milwaukee's near-south side.

In early July, Mrs. Ganong tried to help a crying, hungry dog in an alley, and the Milwaukee police fined her $350 for her trouble.

Located at the corner of 1400 West Orchard Street and South 14th Street, Ganong’s Corner, has seen its share of life, though the neighborhood bar is not much of a blip on the Milwaukee radar screen.

Apparently the people don't matter all that much to the Milwaukee police either.

The right is already at work trying to deligitimize the black vote.  This is the story being pushed right now by Faux News.

The claims have surfaced in eight counties in Alabama, and they include allegations that absentee ballots were sold and traded for cash, crack-cocaine and even piles of driveway gravel.

...

Alabama Attorney General Troy King, a Republican, seized absentee ballots from three primarily black counties after allegations of vote-selling surfaced in the June 3 Democratic primary.

Yes, Oct. 16. Two months and five days from now.

But pardon me while I break from my habit, in the wake of the death of Isaac Hayes (if you didn't know, now you do), and use what was to be the celebration of one Olympics story (Herb Brooks and the 1980 men's Olympic ice hockey team will have to wait) to tell parts of a story you haven't heard all of.

To tell parts of a story you haven't heard all of because athletes aren't supposed to make political statements, though the media didn't seem to have any problem pressing Steve Nash some years ago when he politely objected to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

To tell parts of a story that have become part of the American tapestry of the civil rights struggle, which is by no means won.

To tell parts of the story of what Tommie Smith and John Carlos did on Oct. 16, 1968, that saw their quick exit from the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Ok, ok.

I can hear it now.

"There is no way this question can be answered"

"You are too linear in your thinking"

"It is not an either / or question"

Too that I say

<More after the break>

They don't have to do with the behavior of former Democratic senators. Or Paris Hilton & Britney Spears.

No, the important questions are about the policies that we stand behind and work toward - questions we're grappling with in the Netroots Platform.

Should we strive to produce 100% of our electricity from renewable energy sources within 10 years?

Should we use mandates to achieve universal healthcare?

Is the disenfranchisement of Puerto Rico one of the critical human rights issues of our time?

Does the Federal Reserve need to be abolished?

Where we come down on these issues in the Netroots Platform is still up in the air - but only for the next few hours! Rate the planks we've developed over the past several weeks to make sure the final platform captures our collective views.

There is something very, very wrong with a society that thinks it is acceptable for police to violently kick down the door to a private family's home, shoot the family dogs and physically restrain the family while they conduct a search for drug dealer materials or other incriminating evidence, all because a large package of cannabis sativa was discovered in the postal system with their address on it.

The AP just picked up a week-old story in which Prince George's Country police raided the home of a local mayor in a bizarre case of identity theft, and shot his dogs dead:

Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/200...

This was by no means the first time the PG police have violated its citizens.

--2 & 1/2 weeks

--11 plank categories

--137 participants

--More than 150 154 collaboratively developed draft planks

--550 ratings

The result?

One Unified Netroots Platform

Or it will be, with your help!

We are down to the closing hours to refine the planks of this netroots defined platform; plus two additional days to rate up or down the planks WE have collaboratively authored.  

You can still participate and make sure your voice is heard. But to make sure the best and most representative planks appear in our platform we need your help in the next 3 days, because we want to get this into the hands of the DNC and the Obama campaign in time for them to integrate your ideas into their planning.

To learn more about how, when and where you can still participate see the email after the flip from the Netroots Platform Committee: