This is my Mom.

She, and my Dad taught me and my brother a thing or two about hope and reality and the content of our characters. I should note that they taught this by example. And therein lies...

I'm boiling mad, and I don't get that way easily. I'm very much a person who dislikes conflict, and I will take a conciliatory tone to try to build bridges.

But I believe that Gov. Dean is being railroaded by big donors in the Democratic party, because they have the money and therefore they believe they have all the power and the right to ignore reality and dictate terms.

There's this:

Nemazee, a Clinton national finance chair, pointedly asked Dean why he and the DNC were not doing more to seat the Florida and Michigan delegates. Dean energetically defended himself, saying it was up to the states and the candidates to reach a solution, and that DNC involvement could be perceived as unfairly assisting one campaign or the other. As he spoke, some Clinton supporters protested, while the Obama supporters mostly sat quietly, according to the attendees.

rant continues below the fold.

Hey y'all. hat tip for this article goes to The Littlest Gator over at The Group News Blog  I have to say, the idea of a little town on the sea of Japan rooting for Barack...well, darnit, I teared up (though, full disclosure, I also tear up at squirrels in conflict...)

Obama, Japan, roots for accidental namesake
Okay, so, now comes the obligatory paragraphs. They're going to be stream of

(crossposted at Democrats Abroad Japan
There is so much amazing work going on at the Group News Blog  Anybody who followed Steve Gilliard's News Blog knows that Steve and his great friend/blog partner Jen created a community that had some of the most amazing writers, stuff that hits hearts with sledgehammers, teaches, and changes minds.

there's more...

There are folks that I like to imagine drifting around us, who've gone on, the giants on whose shoulders we stand and I think about what they've said, the visions that powered them...

I've been ill, and the wretched boredom of chronic pain circles like shadows. I couldn't read, and still have trouble with too much computer time. So, I'm left to my own thoughts: horrors!:-)

Seriously, the last thing I want to have to do is occupy my own mind without a book or a blog...

But, when forced, as life will, to do something I really don't want to do, I found in it a kind of...not peace, exactly. Just a sense that there are large perspectives to this fight we have, to get to the bottom of what ails America and effect a lasting cure...

Okay, this is necessarily short - I don't have time, and just want to ask that people support this effort. also crossposted on Democrats Abroad Japan

I met the Color of Change folks at YearlyKos, and it was inspirational to hear how they used the blogosphere as a tool to get word of insanity like the racist persecution in the Jena 6 case

So I signed up. And I promised to do something tangible every week. Money is too tight to mention, but I have a voice in the blogosphere, and I'm hoping to use that voice to greater effect than I have in the past.

And so we come to Color of Change's Katrina project. I'll let them tell it, below:

I sometimes feel, even at 49, that I'm still a mixed up kid. Unlike the situation that Jesse Wendel writes about here
both of my folks were very supportive and patient with me, in the midst of their own struggles to make sure we would survive poverty, racism, and other facts of Queens Village life...

But I wonder sometimes why I am so set against having children (meaning me, not others), and glad not to have them at this ripe middle-age. And I think that, rather than the reason being because I didn't see good parenting in action (I did), it's that I'm still that mixed up kid, and balancing my own inadequacies is going to be my work during this lifetime.

for a bit of personal meta and a question, inspired by Jesse's post (which I highly recommend, both for the post itself and for the comments), please follow me...

I never wanted to learn about war. I never wanted to have to.

I wanted to see even the worst people stop short of war. But, then the worst people got into office, and wage war as a child plays with plastic soldiers.

With no thought. No care. Worse, the appearance of care, all plastic, like that damn turkey.

I learned that, as a citizen, my political will is the 'stop' button when it comes to many things, including the horror of war. And it behooves me to educate myself.

I'm going to do my best to get some data on the panels I go to, just to help round out information that's out there.

apologies ahead of time-please use this as an indication, not a 'paper of record', as I'm not trained to get it all in doing these real time.

Okay:

Holding Congress Accountable

Lane Holden
Jane Hamsher, in for Jane _(who had a baby last night)
Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend
Ari Melber of The Nation

http://www.youtube.com/...

He posted a thank you to the youtube community for participating in the candidate debates, and, true to the desperation that these poor, ignorant souls are feeling, the trolls are trying to overwhelm the comments. It would be great if people see intelligent positivity - or at least nimble snark:-)

I couldn't figure out how to title this post, because I'm still so heartbroken that there's even a need for it. So many of us miss the hell out of Steve. It's like a big hole in our hearts not to go to our familiar homestead at The News Blog, and settle in for intelligence and tea and humor and anger and knowledge and truth and food and relationships and race and...all the wonders that Steve brought to the table.

(follow me below the fold for some really good news)

When I think of essential writers/thinkers/citizen analysts, I have quite a few favorites, many here on Kos, many on their own blogs or sites.

But there's only one writer that I turn to every day, regardless of what is going on in my life, how busy or distracted I am: Steve Gilliard

Let me tell you a bit about why, below the fold.

Jack o'Diamonds is in my ear. Corey Harris' guitar reminds me, like never before, that hope is here. Not on the way. but here, right in this tiny room in Tokyo. Wednesday at 7am we'll gather at our most active activists' place to watch returns, then head off to work.

hope is rising.

And hope is there in Montana.  Jag said so, and you know it is true:-)

But, if you're an American citizen living abroad, this message from Move On will definitely do you good.

We're down to the wire, because Americans abroad have to register to vote much earlier than you folks in the States, it's super important to get the word out in the next few days, so people can register, get their ballots, vote and get them back to their counties.

A MESSAGE FROM YOUR DEMOCRATS ABROAD INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE AND VOTER REGISTRATION COMMITTEES

http://www.votefromabroad.org/  needs you!

Can you believe it? The world is falling apart. The lunatics are running the asylum. Global warming and record temperatures; Yet another Mid-East catastrophe; Iraq's agonizing descent into chaos; More and more tax cuts for the top; No health insurance for close to 50 million Americans; Rising religious fundamentalism at home and abroad...

You can help stop the madness by registering at
http://www.votefromabroad.org/

more below.

The point of Demfest is local, grassroots, community, connecting with many of the folks who were re-energized by the Dean campaign and, now, 3 years later, many folks beyond that impassioned circle.  

You can download and listen here:http://www.dajpodcast.org/

it's a little over an hour, for those long commutes. If you listen, please be both honest and kind - we want to learn how to do it better, but, honestly, we're pretty psyched to have done it at all!:-)

Terri
Chair, DAJ
DAJ newsletter, here: http://dajwebnews.blogspot.com/
DAJ Community Site here: http://www.demsjapan.jp/

more below