Reading DailyKos isn't like interacting in the real world.  Indeed, DailyKos, per Demographic Tuesdays, is largely young, well-educated, male, white, and well-off.  The rest of the United States, by and large, not so much.

So as Obama supporters wring their hands over the cruel and evil Hillary Clinton and her nefarious "Rovian" tactics (such as airing a commercial that didn't even mention Obama by name), it's worthwhile to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, particularly in terms of who would do better in a general campaign.

Measure 37 continues its unrelenting attack on Oregon's agriculture, scenic beauty, forests, and ecosystems.

Measure 37 allows property owners to circumvent any land use laws passed after they purchased their property: for example, claimants can choose, as most of them do, to subdivide their farmland into McMansions.  This will have a devastating impact on Oregon's quality of life: increasing sprawl (and traffic and pollution), reducing our ability to innovate agriculturally.

A picture speaks 1000 words.  The counties are being WALLOPED by Measure 37 claims.  Almost all claims are approved, and, as you can see below, Oregon's landscape is about to undergo a MASSIVE, twisted realignment:

Hood River county:

You're not going to believe this.  Well, maybe you will.

A year ago, I diaried (and also here) about the Bush administration's attempt to sell over 800,000 acres to pay for schools.  Thankfully, with bipartisan opposition, this crazy attempt was foiled.

But, now, it's back:

The Bush administration again proposed selling off hundreds of thousands of acres of forestland to help continue a program that is vital to Oregon county and school budgets.

In his budget released Monday, President Bush proposed raising as much as $800 million by selling nearly 275,000 acres of Forest Service land deemed "isolated or inefficient to manage."

Measure 37 continues its unrelenting attack on Oregon's agriculture, scenic beauty, forests, and ecosystems.

In Hood River:

The Hood River Valley now has Measure 37 claims on more than one-fifth of its farmland, according to county planners.

Maddox says Hood River could wind up looking like San Jose, California.

Ken Maddox: "These Measure 37 claims have been growing like cancer -- in number and size, and the intensity of development in nearly all cases is very high. We're talking about sub-divisions."

A bright idea to spread...

We've seen the power of DailyKos, and the "netroots" generally, in their ability to mobilize new activists, raise money, and push issues into the national spotlight.  Let's continue this, BUT let's also move BEYOND DAILYKOS to sprinkle progressive ideas across the Internet.  

What do I mean?

The day after the Bush surge speech we learn that the public has NO CONFIDENCE in our commander in chief.  The majority of Americans do NOT support a surge.

And Bush's speech was SO crazy.  Not only did he say that he would surge more troops into Iraq, but he continued the claim that al Q was fomenting things.  And, worse, that Iran and Syria are the culprits for our losses... and, connecting the dots (why else the patriot missiles?), an attack on Iran and Syria might be in the works.

So WHY are Dems being such wimps?  Why aren't they aggressively biting back?  In fact, even on Daily Kos, the Iraq surge is barely registering... we have stories about Denver, and Groundhog day, and dissecting various lies from the Administration.  But, even here, where's the voices of loud opposition?

Sure, we have Ted Kennedy and MoveOn.org and a few other brave (albeit typical) souls proclaiming their attempts to stop the surge.

But where're the sustained chorus of Dem voices denying Bush his crazy attempts?

Yesterday I diaried about the extinction of the Baiji, one of only four freshwater dolphin species in the world.  I noted someone's comment that "it is a true tragedy that the most publicized single moment for an endangered animal, like the Baiji, is the moment it officially disappears."

So, today, I wanted to highlight how such extinctions come to be: by a series of little-noticed habitat losses, factory openings, or minor political decisions.  If you do a little digging on the Internet, it's not hard to find roads leading to more imminent extinctions:

Have you heard of the Baiji, a freshwater dolphin from China?  Probably not (unless you read Douglas Adam's Last Chance to See).  And as someone noted in the comments section of an NGO's blog desperately trying to alert people to the plight of this amazing mammal, "it is a true tragedy that the most publicized single moment for an endangered animal, like the Baiji, is the moment it officially disappears."

And now the Baiji, one of FOUR freshwater dolphin species in the world, is gone...

Dems up:

VA 52-47

RI 53-46

PA 57-42

OH 57-43

NJ 52-45

MT 53-46

MO 50-48

MD 53-46

GOP up:

TN 51-48

AZ 50-46

And, boy, I was scared too... it didn't look good. I read the Freepers ideas, and they scared me: Hussein had attempted to get nukes after the first Gulf war... etc etc. A major blowup.

Well, if you want to do that, and you're stationed in Iraq... guess what?  You can't.

A picture speaks a 1000 words:

Why is it that Americans don't know, say, where England is, or who, like Bush circa 2000, the leader of Pakistan is?  Blame it on the News.  And, specifically, blame it on CNN.  Sure, intrepid folks COULD go to NPR or BBC, but for the vast majority of Americans, they simply can't, don't have the time, don't know about it...

CNN is a scourge.  It leads our nation to stupidity. Unlike FOX, which we KNOW is bad, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for CNN, perhaps because Ted Turner founded it and it was a maverick in its time... but no longer. Now it is a fawning imbecile who spews gossip and trivia and sensationalism like it is all-important.

Don't believe me?  Let's take a look at their home page (from yesterday's "above the fold" CNN home page):

CNN HOME PAGE

Okay, now let's find all of the advertising, including cross-selling and up-selling to other CNN shows and services.  Here's what we get:

CNN Advertising

http://youtube.com/... (it's in German... the actual video is about 30 seconds in)

For those who don't want to watch the video, here's a description:

A ROMANIAN TV station has broadcast footage of Tibetan refugees being shot dead on a Tibetan mountain pass as they attempt to flee Chinese Tibet, according to The Associated Press and internet weblogs.

The video from Pro-TV shows scenes of what the video's narrator says are Chinese border guards, and later cuts to footage of a line of figures walking through snow, one of whom drops to the ground after the sound of rifle fire.

Is this not one of the most disturbing things you've seen?

From loggers:

The LeTourneux tree farm is nearly surrounded by some 850 acres of privately-owned forest owned by a Measure 37 claimant. The owner, a developer named Bob Hemstreet, filed a claim for $35 million for loss of use, and if the county doesn't pay, he may be able to subdivide the property and build as many as 848 homes on 1-acre home sites.

Initiative 933 uses the bait of eminent domain to "meat ax" (per The Olympian) ALL safeguards for clean water, habitat, wetlands, traffic, and pollution.  Far worse than Oregon's Measure 37 (which has resulted in developments in the middle of national monuments and forests), Initiative 933 can roll back all regulations on all property by years.  (Not surprisingly, it's far-right zeal is revealed when it turns out that it also undermines food safety, professional licensing, and more.)

You may think that I-933 is the result of local farmers and local concerns. Wrong. I-933 is a series of far-right TABOR-like and land-use initiatives promoted and funded by New York real estate developer Howie Rich (learn more, and more, and more, and more).

It's so important for Washingtonians to Vote No on I-933.

Folks, we have major news. George Allen and Jim Webb are TIED for the Virginia Senate race.

The polling is done by Maxon Dixon who are known to be the most accurate, NONPARTISAN outfit for Southern races. Here you go (and here):

Incumbent Republican Senator George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb are tied in the latest MSNBC/McClatchy poll conducted by Mason-Dixon. Each candidate received the support of 43 percent of likely voters in Virginia with 2 percent supporting a third candidate and 12 percent undecided.

You're losing us.  You're losing the base.

Will we be there for you when you need us to help with your mailings, phonecalls, canvassing?  Will we be there this year, next year, in 2008?

Will your FAILURE to filibuster haunt you like Kerry's vote for war haunted him?

FILIBUSTER.  FILIBUSTER.  FILIBUSTER.

So you may have read about Virginia Republican George "Macaca" Allen allegedly using the word "N-word" in college.

Of course he denies it.  (However, of course, the AP story forgets to remind us that Doug Jones, one of Allen's former teammates who says that he doesn't remember Allen using the phrase, also works for the Allen campaign and is a member of the Fairfax County Republican Committee.)