My mother sent me a link to a Politico article about an article written by Senator Barack Obama's father, Barack H. Obama in 1965.  The title of the article is "Problems Facing Our Socialism,"  and is a review of a Kenyan government paper from earlier in that year.  I've posted a copy of the article (PDF) on my own website.

No, I'm not kidding.  A safe blue seat in the heart of Seattle needs all the help that we can give it, today, now.  What's this about?  John Boehner.

Dear Friend:

I woke up Tuesday morning with some bad but not unexpected news.

An earlier decision was expected, but the Judge stalled for two months before releasing his final fee decision in the Boehner v. McDermott legal matter late Monday afternoon.

Short version . . . the Judge ruled that I must pay $1,111,388 in legal fees and interest. As of today, my committees have $996,871 on hand. I need to raise:

$143,717.43

A "demand" letter from Boehner's legal team is on its way. I have been advised that the money is due immediately. Payment is needed to clear this matter up once and for all.

There is a way (maybe the only way) for me to get from here to the $143,717 that is needed to end this long costly legal battle.

It is with your help! Your support today is vital.

Please contribute now!

Did anyone else see the US Supreme Court ruling that came out this morning?  I heard about it on the Radio this morning, and paid very close attention to the subject all day, actually reading the 33 page decision.  The article in the Seattle Times stated Secretary of State Sam Reed's reaction.  He was surprised and delighted that "the people of the state of Washington are going to be able to control who gets elected through this process."

Mr. Reed has evidently never attended a meeting of his local Republican Party.  If he ever had, he would have seen that there actual humans at those meetings, not automatons.  The people have always had control of the process of who gets elected.  The General Election in November is where our elected officials actually get elected.  The primary is a different purpose entirely.

Please, if you can spare $5 or $10, please help me boost the candidate running in OH-08.  The current holder of that seat is John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House.  The challenger is Nicholas Von Stein.  His email to use in Paypal is votevonstein@yahoo.com.

Why do I, an activist in Seattle, care about this particular race?

The White House branded Pelosi's request for a federal grand jury to enforce the House subpeonas "truly contemptible." Pelosi's House Republican colleagues dismissed her request as "a partisan political stunt." White House spokesman Tony Fratto played the fear card and denounced Pelosi for trying to investigate loyal Americans instead of passing legislation that makes Americans safe by allowing the executive branch to spy without warrants. House GOP leader John Boehner's spokesperson accused Pelosi of making Americans unsafe by "pandering to the left-wing fever swamps of loony liberal activists."

Longshot, yeah.  But it still feels good to send my money to the campaign going against the guy who doesn't give a darn about the law.

I'm listening to Ed Schultz, and he caught my attention about the new 527 that Clinton's supporters are forming to help her beat back the Obama support around the country.  I've read a little bit, but the first thing that came to mind is how far the mighty have fallen.

The second thing that came to mind is anger.  The Democratic Party is coming back from the dead.  The 1980's really hurt us, and the response from the people in power was to reach out to the high level donors and ask for help.  The result was the DLC, which won the 1992 election by moving the party towards those money interests, closer than it ever has been before.  Campaigning as a progressive, Bill Clinton got into office and tried to implement some progressive ideas.  But during the 1992 election he had failed to build the party from the bottom up, and thus when he needed the help of the grassroots, we were not there.  Heck, I was in the Navy, ignoring everything political at that point.

What a day.  At Barbara's at 10:30 to get things set up, at the caucus site at 11:45, and the staff person at Northgate Community Center showed me the two extra rooms that would be available if we needed them.  We already had a few people sitting in the comfy chairs waiting for the room to be available.  I think they all helped set up the chairs, asking for direction, and generally super-helpful.

We got the sign-in tables set up, and the sign-in sheets out.  By 12:10, people were starting to arrive, and by 1:00 we had a full house.  And I mean full.  429 people showed up for 6 precincts.  I have no idea what the fire code said.  (At Olympic View Church up the street, the fire code on the lower room said the limit was around 200 people, and Larry Smith had 510.  They sent the largest precinct (123 people) up to the chapel.  And that wasn't the largest in the district.)

Back to the story.  What does this have to do with John McCain?  Read on!

I got this from a friend and DK supporter who has not gotten permission from the Kucinich campaign to post it with their name.  So they asked me to post it without.

I was at a meeting last night brainstorming ideas to get some visibility for my candidate here in Washington, and someone came up with the idea of doing a fundraiser and visibility event in Lewis County because of the mine closure last year and the flooding.  I contacted the admin for the Lewis County group, and then contacted the county Chair.  I got the following answer:

(Warning, if you haven't heard how bad it is, like myself, this may be a bit of a shock.)

Chad,

Sorry, this is so long - I am exhausted and wordy.  The combination is not always a good thing.  Maybe I am hoping that someone in the campaign will take this to heart... maybe I am just hoping for one more volunteer or one more new pillow to be donated (take that as a heavy handed hint ~smile~)

More after the fold...

Ok, this is probably minor for most people, but I'm raging against the machine here.  Kent Jones announced Monday or Tuesday that he was being sacked by Air America and was leaving the Rachel Maddow show.

I really appreciate the sports reports and other quack-pot news that he comes up with, and I'm going to be really sorry to see him go.  It's probably too late to change the decision, but let's give him a roaring goodbye from the Netroots.  And lots of luck in whatever wonderful thing he is planning on doing after he achieves his freedom from the corporate juggernaut.  Maybe Olbermann or Stewart will give him an opportunity to try television!

Good luck Kent!  We love you, even if Air America corporate doesn't!!!

Townhall.com has put out a letter by John Campbell describing the "The Top 10 Things Democrats Don't Want You to Know, and it's time to fight back.  Can someone help me find the talking points on each of these points?

HillaryCare, EdwardsCare, will you talk to Iran, where did you get your hair cut, what's your plan for energy, what do you think of your opponent's plan for infrastructure.

It's all a damned waste of time.  Know why?  Because it extends the notion that the President is the decider, and that Congress is out of the picture.

News flash:  The President doesn't write the laws.  The Cabinet doesn't write the laws.  According to the way I read the Constitution, Congress writes the laws, and the President and Executive Branch executes those laws.

Am I wrong?

Is anyone else on Kos following the fires that are burning in half the country and that have killed 63 people so far?  Reports are that several of them were started by developers who want to clear land one way or the other in order to build.  I don't think they meant to clear the land around Olympia, but who knows.

Anyway, I haven't seen anything, and wanted to put it on our radar.  Greece is an important ally, and we need to do more to help.  Donations to the International Red Cross of money and material goods to help those who have lost their homes (a lot of people have), or whatever.

One of the fires is in the outskirts of Athens, the birthplace of Democracy.

Is anyone else having trouble publishing comments on the Air America blogs of Thom Hartmann and Rachel Maddow?  I log in, and it gives me the comment form, but when I submit it it's acting like I never logged in.

It's really discouraging.  Maybe Kos Media should offer to rebuild their blog into something that works as well as DailyKos.

Someone called the Thom Hartmann program today with a philosophy that I want to talk about.  "Be willing to lose."

The Democratic leadership in Congress is making choices designed to try and maintain their majorities.  They are afraid that Impeachement hearings would distract from their legislative goals.  They are afraid that voting against funding for the War would allow the Republican Party to claim that they don't support the troops.  They are compromising on their principles in order to maintain power, and those compromises are acting as chains that hold back their power, hold back their majorities, and hold them back from being able to connect with the people who elected them.

Be willing to lose.

I've seen quite a few emails talking about how we can have an influence in the 2008 election, so I thought that I would share a few links and resources that I have either found or created to help us become effective movers and shakers.

This resolution was introduced by Robin Hess in King County, Washington, and it has passed the King County Democratic Central Committee and the Washington State Democratic Central Committee.  We need a new direction in US Foreign Policy, and it's time we organized and developed that direction, from the grassroots.

I'm sharing the text of the resolution here and a few other places to get the ball rolling.

Cindy Sheehan announced her intention to run against Speaker Pelosi.  As an Independent.

I'm pissed.

People can justify just about anything.  We can come up with reasons why things happen, why things don't happen, and how to squirm around barriers and over glass walls while we try to justify our actions.  The power of language is that we can take truth and twist it with abstract words and concepts until we are blue in the face.  Until the ink from the dictionary and thesaurus bleeds onto our fingers, and turns into justifications.

"It's not time yet, we don't have the support, if we do it we'll lose the next election, and we don't want to look like we are going for revenge."

Enough.