I'd like to initiate a discussion on DKos, about the role of clandestine government agencies in general. Being an avid reader of  John LeCarre myself, and other espionage-type novelists as well, I am fascinated by this demi-monde of people who live apparently, beyond the reach of civil law. I'd like to shed some light in there. Even if it only be the light of discussion, or speculation, or hearsay.

At DKos we have Larry Johnson, a dear liberal and passionate supporter of Ms. Clinton -- but beyond him, we have little access to the inner workings of what America's clandestine networks actually are. We don't really have much of a clue.

I'm an artist. A painter, to be specific.

I know that DKos is primarily a political blog (especially so at this highly-charged political time) and I am about as partisan as you can get, when it comes to the political direction, the trajectory of the USA. That is why I am here.

But politics (of whatever stripe) is enlivened and deepened by a consideration of art, and the role that art has always played in progressive politics. I might even go so far as to say that progressive ideas would not even exist, were it not for the artists who first postulated and expressed them.

Not only am I a mystic, I am also an artist -- I am an accomplished painter with proven practical abilities -- and in this diary I'm weighing in for any other Kossacks who (I'm sure there are some others here) like myself, percieve politics primarily from a supra-rational point of view.

DKos is a wonderfully rational forum in which to discuss politics and world events. And I would heartily agree that rationality is the last word, when it comes to civilized discourse. If we cannot be rational and logical with one another, then dialogue becomes impossible. Thankfully, here on DKos we can, and DO engage in productive rational discourse.

But I happen to be (sigh) an artist -- and as such my primary perceptions exceed the bounds of rationality. I SEE things, I KNOW things, I am SURE of things that are not at all rational. This is a tough row to hoe, so I hope y'all will bear with me.

This here's an email I recently sent to my longtime (35-yr) pal up in Vancouver, who happens to be an ordained (and then unfortunately de-frocked) minister of the United Church of Canada. The (ex) Reverend David Logan also happens to be one of the best blues harmonica players in the world, so when I write to him, I do so with utmost respect. We're both a couple old progressive visionaries from way back, and I thought some Kossacks mighy enjoy a peek into our correspondance. I am absolutely sure the Reverend Dave wouldn't mind. Most of the stuff I email to him, I could say to everybody. Is that not the very nature of the internet?

I keep trying to figure out why I like Obama so much. I'm a regular reader of DKos, and well aware of the many arguments against Obama's candidacy. I can even agree with most of them. He's inexperienced, unproven. He's opportunistic. He voted for the bankruptcy bill. He sucks up to the corporatist Dems. And so on.

But I just can't help it - every time this guy opens his mouth, I find myself agreeing with what he says. This is perhaps due not so much to the substance of what he says, as it is to HOW he says it. Obama speaks (it seems to me) with grace, sincerity, and deep intelligence.

These are qualities that have been sorely lacking in American leadership, for quite a long time now. They are particularly, and obviously, and almost gruesomely absent from our current leadership.

There is a strong possibility that the Bush administration will use the US military to pre-emptively attack Iran and/or Syria. This, in spite of the will of most Americans, in spite of most reasonable military advice, in spite of overwhelming objection from world opinion, and in spite of what might be called common sense.

My question to the DKos community is, what will we do if this happens?