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This is a Democratic blog, a partisan blog. One that recognizes that Democrats run from left to right on the ideological spectrum, and yet we're all still in this fight together. We happily embrace centrists like NDN's Simon Rosenberg and Howard Dean, conservatives like Martin Frost and Brad Carson, and liberals like John Kerry and Barack Obama. Liberal? Yeah, we're around here and we're proud. But it's not a liberal blog. It's a Democratic blog with one goal in mind: electoral victory.

Does this look familiar?  Of course it does; its primary season and... well, its primary season.

Now take a second to read just a tiny bit further.

And since we haven't gotten any of that from the current crew, we're one more thing: a reform blog. The battle for the party is not an ideological battle. It's one between establishment and anti-establishment factions. And as I've said a million times, the status quo is untenable

Why are many online progressives opposed to another Clinton presidency?

Put aside her policy positions, her “experience” and her supporters’ verbal assaults on anything resembling potential Party nonconformity.  

Also, put aside the shameless attacks on the integrity of her detractors; no, it’s not because of her gender nor is it because people have fallen for conservative talking points, (although her supporters would have us believe so).

Our opposition to Clinton’s candidacy is due to what she represents – the very power structure that many of the politically disenfranchised have been fighting to overturn.  To say that Hillary Clinton is an establishment candidate is an understatement; she is THE establishment candidate.

Hillary Clinton won’t be crashing the gate anytime soon.  In fact, she’ll be the first one on the other side barring it closed.

Please feel free to go right ahead and read our G-Rated welcome too.

Our country is going to hell in a handbasket while Fox peddles a constant stream of lies and propaganda.  We liberals have tried reasoning with you for far too long while you willfully turn a blind eye to decimation of the Greatest Country on Earth.  

Every day that you tune in to the O'Reilly Factor or Fox News Sunday, an increasing number of our boys and girls die due to your inattention.  How many must die fighting for you before you begin to fight for them?  Open your eyes to the hypocrisy that is Fox.  Fox programming contains some of the most base, objectionable, anti-family material while their "journalists" simultaneously rail against the entertainment industry's contribution to the breakdown of family.  It might be funny if it wasn't so sickening.

How much time do we really have left before it's too late to Impeach?

There are 18 months left until the Cheney/Bush term expires.
There are 15 months left until the 2008 election.
There are 6 months left until the first Democratic caucuses.

Does anyone actually believe that congress will pursue impeachment durning the presidential race?

I thought not.

Well... It took Congress 4 months to impeach and unsuccessfully try President Clinton.

Assuming that the Democrats are half as hasty as Republicans, (which they won't be) we're left with 2 months, for impeachment proceedings to begin, less they cut into our presidential nominating circus.  

The clock is ticking...

7 EASY STEPS TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT

Step 1 - Go get yourself a diesel powered car
Step 2 - Run it off of biodiesel
Step 3 - Drive with a smile because you pollute a lot less
Step 4 - Point out to hybrid owners that you are superior to them ;)
Step 5 - Laugh as petrol prices skyrocket and biodiesel prices stay constant
Step 6 - Convince others to follow in your footsteps
Step 7 - Rinse & repeat steps 2-7

More detailed instructions below the flip...

It’s about time that we start giving Bill Richardson some credit.  He may not be the best campaigner and he may not be the most progressive Democrat, but it’s clear at this point (at least in my mind) that he is putting forth the best foreign policy solutions.  

Although there are a myriad of domestic issues that need the attention of a progressive president, foreign policy issues are in such disarray that they are going to need to take precedent, unless we want to set back peace in the Middle East even further than we have already.

In addition to being the only mainstream candidate calling for a full troop withdrawal from Iraq, Richardson has now stepped up once again and called for a ceasefire of blustery anti-Iran rhetoric.

I'd like to take a moment and adress all the moderates.  Sorry conservative liberals, or whatever you are calling yourselves these days, but I'm not talking to you.  This is for those of you who advocate moderating our progressive values because "we are out of the mainstream" as the dangerous "leftists" that we are.

I used to be respectably apathetic about politics - one of those middle of the road guys, which was why I was so disturbed to pull my head out of the sand one day to see that I was actually closer to pinko lefty than red blooded centrist.  The entire political spectrum seemed to have shifted over night, yet someone forgot to remind me to set my clock back to 1953.  Over the past few years, I've had to listen to you moderate Democrats tell us progressives to wait for our turn in the spotlight; that it was going to take years to sway public opinion to our side and that in the meantime, we would just need to sit up straight and take what you dished out.

Well, I call bullshit; it's all a doggone sham.  Follow me below for the proof.

Should we attack Iran?

SIGN HERE!

We all "know" that online petitions do jack squat to influence the President, but what if this petition was able to to influence just one member of congress.  This member could influence another and so on and so forth until the hostile cries for another needless war were extinguished once and for all.

Is it really that hard to take 30 seconds out of your day to click this link, enter your first and last name, and then hit send?  Is it really that hard to take another 30 seconds to forward this link to 5 of your friends and family?  What about another 30 seconds to forward it to your entire address book?  

Will you donate 2 minutes on the off chance that something so innocuous as signing an online petition might save hundreds of thousands of lives?

SIGN NOW!

When Republicans used fear and nationalistic frenzy to usurp our libertiesin the middle of the night, Feingold was the lone voice of reason.  

When the President used that same political climate to attack another country that had nothing to do with 9/11, Feingold stood his ground.

When the President neededto be held to account, Feingold called for censure while others equivocated.

And now as others speak of Pottery Barn and Iraqi sovereignty, Feingold is doing everything in his powerto force a quick troop withdrawal.

The ultimate test of leadership is when would-be leaders face those infamous Rumsfeldian "unknown unknowns".  The time for reaction, adaptation, and response is limited while the all-consuming allure of fear and anxiety can easily create disorientation.  

It’s either fight or flight.

The term "universal healthcare" presupposes that every American will have equal access to the same quality of healthcare.  Whether it is government run healthcare, single payer healthcare, or a central well-regulated health insurance market, universal healthcare attempts to eliminate people’s inequity of access to America’s cobbled together healthcare system.

Unfortunately, (to the detriment of our Party and country) politicians continue to put forth healthcare proposals under the guise of "universal healthcare" when in fact they do little to truly equalize healthcare access.  Either they intend to mislead the public or they are truly ignorant of the insurance market and overall healthcare reform.  Either way, these politicians demean the efforts and wishes of Americans, many of which desire universal healthcare.

It’s going to so incredibly gratifying to see all the inane bickering between Obama and Edwards supporters dry up as Gore steals their online support.  

Oh sure, we’re gonna see some diehard supporters scream and shout about how Gore is a loser who’s past his prime and should just fade away, but its going to be like fresh rain on a cool spring morning when the Edwards/Obama flame wars come to an abrupt end.

As much as these candidates would like you believe that their healthcare proposals will fix the health insurance market, they will not.

Don’t believe me?  Go look at health insurance in Washington State.  The health insurance market here is fairly similar to both Edwards and Obama’s proposals, yet health insurance premiums and the number of uninsureds in the state are close to the national average.

Believe it or not, Washingtonians have universal access to health insurance RIGHT NOW and have had so for a number of years.

As you sit in your nice comfy leather chairs shuffling through papers on your powerful mahogany desks in your air-conditioned offices and broker backroom deals and discuss power plays, you are turning a blind eye to the murder of our country.

Today, while you politick, a child will lose his unborn sister, a wife will lose her daughter, a mother will lose her grandchild, and America will lose a Nobel Laureate.  This girl’s father never made it home so she was never conceived, never able to wear pigtails, never able to become 7th grade class president, nor was she ever able to play the viola in front of her father.  She never met the love of her life, never bore that beautiful scarlet haired daughter, and was never able to braid her granddaughters’ pigtails over Christmas holiday.  Her daughter never studied abroad in Europe and thus was never able to drill wells in Uganda, never able to help starving refugees in Sudan, and never found that cure for cancer.

Single Payer Healthcare IS NOT meant to socialized medicine.  The government provides the funds, but not the healthcare – that is left up to the market itself.  I suppose that I may be in the minority of single payer proponents; I trust that the market can still be used to serve a socially redeemable purpose, as long as it’s subjected to a healthy dose of regulation and oversight.  

Whenever the issue of single payer healthcare arises, people seem to be concerned that either it will limit their access to healthcare or that the transition would be too convoluted to effectively implement, (mainly because the existence of insurance carriers provides a major roadblock to change).  The prospect of eliminating an entire industry is much easier to imagine in theory than it would be to realize in practice.

Follow me below the fold for details of my plan...

Dear Senator Feingold,

Maybe it’s the caffeine talking or maybe it’s the lack of sleep, but I just wanted to let you know that if for some reason, ANY REASON, you change your mind and decide to pursue the Democratic nomination for President, I will immediately send you my max contribution of $2,300.

Back in 2002…

WASHINGTON – Noting that 40 million Americans now have no health insurance, Al Gore says he now favors "single-payer" national health coverage, a proposal that would require a massive change in the health insurance system.

With single-payer coverage, money to pay for health care – such as insurance premiums and tax dollars – would be collected by a single agency, which would then pay for comprehensive coverage for all citizens.

I think we've reached a point where the entire health care system is in impending crisis. I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we should begin drafting a single-payer national health insurance plan

Yet neither Clinton, nor Edwards, nor Obama, nor Richardson support a single payer system nearly 5 years later.

Why is that?

It’s far past time for oversight; it’s time for action.

What in the hell has to happen for us to see some results in this country?

Does Al Gonzalez need to geek out with a live chicken on Jerry Springer while George Bush and Dick Cheney both takes paternity tests to figure out the father of Condi’s baby?

Most Americans cannot afford the financial impact of a serious injury or illness.  Many cannot even afford to cover the moderate and/or minor ones.  Without any health insurance or social safety net, people would be responsible for their exact healthcare usage.