Forwarded from a friend:

Domestic Partner Benefits Still Threatened -   TAKE ACTION TODAY!

Governor Fletcher is under pressure from anti-fairness forces, to hold special legislative session challenging domestic partnerships

Last summer the University of Louisville Board of Trustees voted unanimously to extend health insurance to all coupled employees, regardless of marital status. The vote marked a huge step forward for GLBT equality in Kentucky. This April the University of Kentucky followed suit.

More information below the fold:

Over the last few years there has been many a discussion about who is a Real Democrat and who is Republican-Lite. It's been hard to define because we Democrats embrace diversity and so we love the metaphor of the big tent. While some would argue that our tent is big enough to fit everyone, I disagree.  

I've been an opponent of the centrist DLC types for quite some time and feel that our Democratic Party is better served by either converting them to Real Democrats or replacing them with Real Democrats when they come up for re-election.

But I've struggled for a simple way to explain to others what a Real Democrat is. It's always been there in my gut, but now I think I can finally sum up what a Real Democrat is in one sentence.

I've been pro-impeachment because of the Bush administration's attack on the constitution, especially with the claim of unitary dictatorship putting the executive branch on a level that is not answerable to the Congressional and Judicial branches of our government.

Below the fold read more and see my political cartoon about putting party before country.

I hope that Harry Reid doesn't disappoint.

This is a public service announcement for Kossacks actively opposing torture. This is taken from a recent School of the Americas Watch email. You can find more information at http://www.soaw.org.

Eight of the sixteen SOA Watch activists who were sentenced for carrying their protest to close the SOA/WHINSEC onto the Fort Benning Military Reservation on the weekend of November 17-19, 2006 will be reporting to Federal Prison facilities across the United States today, Tuesday, April 17. The sixteen received sentences which ranged from one year probation to six months in federal prison.

Below the fold are the names and addresses for those going to prison for protesting against the teaching of torture at Ft. Benning last year.

This diary is about the University of Louisville Lambda Law Caucus opposing JAG recruitment on their campus.  While I didn't have anything to do with writing this diary, I am proud to call the author and the activist friends.  Please give them words of encouragement by clicking on their names below.  

This is reprinted with permission by the author, Jeff Jones.  He wrote this, with local information based on an original e-mail from Chris McDavid, a first-year law student at the University of Louisville.  

There has been an exciting story going on at the University of Louisville Law School in recent weeks.  I wanted to report on it with some help::

I apologize for this short diary, not much time since I'm getting ready to go meet RenaRF at the bloggers march meetup at 10 this morning.

Below the fold see the evidence that Code Pink is alive and well in Ashland, Kentucky!

On Tuesday Cowalker wrote a diary asking us what our protest signs would be for this coming weekend. In the comments there were a couple of people asking about how to make signs. This diary elaborates on my comment from yesterday about how to make a protest sign and also includes some large size downloadable text and graphics that can be pasted together or pasted on your protest sign.

Before jumping below the fold,  I'd like to remind you that RenaRF has organized a place for bloggers to meet for the march  in Our Nations's Capitol for Saturday morning at 10AM. You can find more information, and pictures, from her excellent diary on the march.

I had no idear that this Friday evening would take such an interesting turn.  With all the political handicapping that was going on at Kos, I thought I'd enjoy a nice dinner out with my sister as an alternative to politics.  Little did I know that we'd end up joining one of her staunch Republican friends.

I had met this man once before in May of 2004.  At the time he was wearing one of those little silver circular pins with a star in the middle and at least one diamond on it.  There could have been more diamonds, but that's what I remember from two and a half years ago.  The pin was a sign of a staunch Bush supporter.  It's my guess that he helped raise big money for the Bush campaign.

You can probably imagine how I thought dinner would go tonight. But you may be as surprised as I was at the twists in the conversation if you read below the fold.

My hope is that Venezuela will not be destabilized after this election.  My worries about destabilization arise from  several factors. The first is the history of U.S. intervention in Central and South American countries by putting into power, and supporting, brutal dictators.  The second is seeing the Venezuelan ambassador speak at the School of the Americas Watch where he talked about regime change  in South America being a very real concern of their's, based on current practices of the Bush Administration.  And third, the recent diary of  Florida Democrat, Another Coup in Venezuela, which talks about  the possible efforts our country has taken in U.S. financed post-election destabilization plans around the world and also to oust Chavez.  You can also read more about this at VenezuelaAnalysis.com.

Below the fold is more about the polling and  interesting comments from Chavez yesterday.

1,000 Grandmothers Needed This Weekend

This weekend (Nov. 17-19) will be the annual gathering to close the School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia. This vigil is organized by SOA Watch, an organization that seeks to shut down the U.S. Army School of the Americas which was renamed to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). This school, funded by our taxpayer dollars, has graduated some of the worst human rights abusers in Latin America.

This year Cathy Webster is organizing grandmothers to participate in activities around the country to oppose torture and the School of the Americas. If you are a grandmother, have a grandmother, are the son or daughter of a grandmother, or a spouse of a grandmother, pleae join them this weekend in Georgia or at an event near you. The www.1000grandmothers.net web site has events in many states where you can sign up.

I went to the vigil at Ft. Benning last year and found it very moving. More below the fold about the SOA Watch Vigil.

Below the fold you can read how my momma worked to stop possible election fraud.

Never clean up someone else's mess.  Instead, make them clean it up themselves using the newfound power.

The Democratic Congress has an excellent opportunity for bipartisanship by giving Bush a set of tasks to complete, milestones for success, and then a big stick of what will happen if he doesn't do what the American people voted for on November 7.  

Below the fold is what I'd like to see the Democrats tell George Bush to do. Please add your own suggestions below in the comments.

I'm at the Democratic campaign office in Bridgeport where there are lots of DeStefano and Lamont volunteers and staffers working. Well there were a lot in the office but most of them are out dropping off literature to neighborhoods in the area. I'm way too out of shape to do all that walking but some of the walkers convinced me to go with them. Connor, Devin, Vera, and Stella have been out daily knocking on doors and ropping literature.

Below the fold is more about what's going on and I'll try to update every two hours.

I should be at the Norwalk office volunteering for Ned Lamont, but the friend I'm staying with had major plumbing problems yesterday and so I'm here baby sitting the plumbers while she heads out of town on a business trip. With nothing else to do, I decided to experiment with making a political ringtone for my cell phone. I've met with some success and while I'm here listening to the banging on the pipes I'd be happy to create political ringtones for your favorite race. Post a comment with the text you'd like to have and I'll work on getting an audio file created and uploaded for you.

Ringtones below the fold.

More about volunteering and the debate below the fold.

Tuesday was another beautiful day in New Hampshire as we headed to breakfast with Congressman John Murtha and candidate Carol Shea-Porter at the beautiful home of Jane and Curtis Hoffman.  I was surprised to see what seemed like forty people inside and despite the crowd John Murtha towered over everyone there.  I was looking forward to hearing Murtha speak and was curious about the gossip that maybe he is going to be running for President since he's made more than one trip to New Hampshire.

More gossip and impressions below the fold.

I couldn't have picked a better event to attend my first time in Maine since I got to hear from the Governor, their two congressional representatives and the senator who will hopefully replace Olympia Snowe.

Below the fold I'll tell you what I heard Monday morning from Governors Baldacci and Dean. I'll also pass along some key comments from the chair of the Maine Democratic Party and most importantly a plan for getting out of Iraq from Maine congressional representative Tom Allen.