From 1999 to 2002 I lived in the Arlington, Virginia area.  The first political campaign I ever worked on was Chuck Robb's failed re-election campaign.  I also happily supported and voted for Mark Warner (I still wish he ran for president).  Even after leaving Virginia for NYC.  I continued to follow Virginia politics and couldn't believe it when Tim Kaine got elected.  Kaine is not Warner.  He is far more liberal.  Granted, he got elected in large part based on Warner's coat tails, but in general, he has earned everything he has gotten through honest and hard work.  He is a good man.  He is a good politician, and he is a good Democrat.

The problem is, he is the current media front runner to be Obama's VP.

I was writing this as a comment and thought maybe I should make it a diary.

I was asked yesterday to write an article about Obama's statements on Faith and social services.  I worked for many years on this issue and, while I applaud much of what Obama had to say, I do find his overall plan disappointing.  This is not a run for the hills, the sky is falling, vote for McCain diary.  Instead, I want people to understand what Charitable Choice is, what Obama's plan is, and why I believe it is wrong.  this is not an easy or cut and dry issue and everyone in invited to use the resources I mention at the end to do their own research and reach their own conclusions.

I left Daily Kos a little over a year ago because I finally grew too frustrated with many of the ideas expressed on this site, and the ways in which ideas (or more frankly lack of ideas) were expressed (i.e. simply telling someone you disagreed with to STFU).  However, with the primary over and the election nearing, I both craved the information Daily Kos provides, and thought that maybe the site wouldn't be as divided (and often vitriolic) as before I left.

I must have joined at the wrong time, because this week has been interesting with Obama's stance on FISA and the Death Penalty.  It has seemed to me that anyone who has attempted to take Obama to task on these issues is called a troll, called naive or met with the derivise, so go vote for McCain though.  The diary that follows was actually first written as a comment in David Sirota's Article, but I decided to make it my first new diary in over a year.

There it is. I have said it. Now, what does it mean?

I always assumed that this was a racially insensitive statement. In fact, I thought it was downright racist. But when someone suggested to me that I was way off on this one, I decided to do a little research.

The actions of Israel and its local affiliate, the US government (run, of course, by AIPAC), has really undermined world peace.  If not for this tiny nation, all would be holding hands and singing Kumbaya.  However, Israel has an agenda to destroy world harmony (wth the help, of course, of AIPAC).  Their latest step in this dastardly plot is below the fold.

FYI - THE TAGS IN THIS DIARY SHOULD SIMPLY READ "ANTI-SEMITISM."  A KOSSACK NAMED LITHO KEEPS CHANGING THE TAGS BECAUSE HE DOES NOT LIKE THE SUBJECT OF THE DIARY.  HE HAS BEEN TOLD MANY TIMES TO STOP, BUT HE REFUSES.  IF YOU SEE THE TAGS READING ANYTHING BESIDES ANTI-SEMITISM, I WOULD KINDLY REQUEST THAT YOU CHANGE IT BACK.  THANKS AND ENJOY THE DIARY.

Anyone who has ever been on a Israel/Palestinian thread knows that there are a lot of flames thrown around.  I believe that it is one thing to present differing opinion.  It is another thing entirely to throw out a bunch of false facts in order to misinform people.  Thus, I am posting the below poll.  Please answer the question to the best of your ability.

A few weeks ago I diaried the creation of a brand new political wiki.  It is different from DailyKos in that it is not a partisan site.  To give you an example of some of the stuff being written over there, I am sharing an article that was written by a good friend of mine who goes by the handle DNL.

Please keep in mind a few things.

1. These are not my views (don't shoot the messenger.)

2. This is an attempt to be analytical, not expressing a preference.

3. Sitting Senators do not win elections.

4. I think Richardson would be a terrific choice, although I feel that way about most of the announced candidates.

5. I think the author is wrong and that Iraq is a winning issue for Democrats.  I think that is part of the lesson of 2006.

I for one appreciate this kind of debate.  I think it is an honest, non-mudslinging discussion.  Please feel to see what politics.wikia.com is all about.

Bradley Burston, writing in today's Haaretz, has an excellent article about why the "left" hates Israel.  He breaks his analysis down into what he calls 5 reasonable reasons for the left to "hate" Israel, and was "unreasonable reasons."  Ultimately, he breaks down the critics of Israel into 2 categories, both of which are prominent here on Daily Kos.

There are leftists whose critiques are clear-eyed, factually valid, morally on point. And then there are those for whom Israel represents a blood-boiling factory of evil, an entity whose very existence is an affront, an abomination. Those who are convinced, and seek to convince the world, that the Jewish state should cease to exist.

My last post asked the question whether liberals were just as bad as conservatives when it came to rhetoric. The answer, for me, is no. I think the left has a long way to go until their rhetoric and hyperbole matches the bile spewed by Ann Coulter and her cult of hatred. At the same time, I concluded that the Left is getting there, and not so slowly.

There is much misinformation in the cyber-world about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are a lot of people who are loaded up on opinion but deficient when it comes to facts. It is my intent to provide a factual background to the current conflict from a non-partisan perspective. History is never truly non-partisan, but I will do my best to keep the editorialization to a minimum. Because I feel it is important to provide people references for an undertaking like this, here are the sources I rely on. 1) ISRAEL by Martin Gilbert; 2) A History of the 20th Century by Martin Gilbert; 3) Arab and Jew by David K. Shipler; 4) Ben Gurion: The Burning Ground 1886-1948 by Shabtai Teveth; 5) Menachim Begin: The Man and the Legend by Eitan Haber; 6) From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman; and 7) Brother Against Brother by Ehud Sprinzak. Where I rely on websites, I will try to relate that in the text.

I know it is much to ask, but I have tried to relate historical information from reputable historical sources.  I would appreciate it if this is not turned into a flame war with ridiculous rhetoric and hyperbole.  If you believe I have been historically inaccurate or omitted an important historical event leading up to the Balfour Declaration, please feel free to point it out.

This is a diary that has been brewing in my mind for awhile. I am frustrated by the state of political discourse in this country. Rhetoric substitutes for substance. Insults substitute for argument. Hatred substitutes for conciliation. In short, political discourse in this country is dead.

From the creators of the best sports Wiki around (www.armchairgm.com) come a new political Wiki. http://politics.wikia.com/...

Ok. I know that a blog is no place to brag. However, today a California court ruled that a prior juvenile conviction could not later be used to enhance a sentence for a subsequent crime committed as an adult. What is notable about this decision is that I had articulated this position in a published article that I penned while in law school. (http://www.cardozolawreview.com/PastIssues/SCHNEIDER.WEBSITE.pdf)

I don't know why I am doing this.  I know it is not going to go anywhere.  Yet I keep trying and trying.  People at DKos tend to use the word Zionist and anti-Zionist alot.  I wanted to provide the meanings of these words so people might use them more appropriately in the future.

David Makovsky is a senior fellow and director of the Washington Institute's (http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateI01.php) Project on the Middle East Peace Process(http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC11.php?CID=65.)  He also lectures on the Middle East at one of the United States' top international relations program at Johns Hopkins University.  He recently penned an article about Secretary of State Rice's trip to the Middle East for the International relations website, http://bitterlemons-international.org).  Makovsky, a top Middle East expert, had a lot of interesting things to say.

What Happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore --
and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over --
like a syrupy sweet?

Or does it explode?

-- Langston Hughes