Your enabling of this corrupt regime will be recognized. I as well as my father just donated 4600 dollars each to the honorable Cindy Sheehan. We are determined to primary you. Should we fail, we have also petitioned the International Criminal Court to prosecute you as well as the not so honorable president (lower case intentional) George W. Bush. You were complicit after the fact. You have allowed his crimes against humanity to continue unabated. This we, and the world will not forget. How can you open an inquiry to his most obvious crimes, and not move forward to hold him accountable? Your weakness is not an excuse. Just as "I was just following orders" was not an excuse at Nuremburg, it shall not be now.

Let's try a thought experiment:  You're John McCain.  You can't get any media coverage to save your life.  All the public attention is focused on some young upstart who has only been a national figure for about a year.  You can't open your mouth without committing a gaffe.  And the approval rating for incumbent president in your party, to use Robert Gibbs' phrase, is hovering around the drinking age.

What do you do?  Well, I'd seize upon a moment, such as the aftermath of the FISA vote, when my opponent's base is spewing dissatisfaction and discontent, and start attacking.  Force a two-front war.

Follow me after the jump...

I will say right off the bat that this is a repetitive diary.  I can live with that, and will take any flames or donuts that come my way as a result: I'm a big girl.

SusanG has a brief blurb on it in the latest Open Thread.

Back Sassing has diared an Open Letter to the All the Members of the National Press Club.

And of course Fire Dog Lake is covering it and has a petition you can sign.

Hell, more could be being written even as I write mine.

Hello Kossacks,

For those that somehow missed it, the Obama campaign released a new website intended to fight the viral smears.

Throughout this primary season, we have to be honest: Clinton supporters did not find much safe haven in the netroots. So many found respite in Taylor Marsh's blog. And while a lot of us aren't willing to forgive Taylor Marsh, she's at least willing to fight tooth and nail to get Obama in the White House. And I'm glad she is coming around.

However, those who frequented her website threatened that if Taylor supports Obama, they would abandon her website and make sure she doesn't get a radio show through letter-writing campaigns. They're a loyal bunch, aren't they? They're bullying the one who provided a sanctuary throughout the primary season. And true to their word, they've followed through.

So we need to do something about it. Help Taylor Marsh. Visit her website. Comment. Donate a couple bucks to her. Let's welcome her aboard the O-train and show her what we're all about, and let's send a message that bullying tactics aren't going to work.

Yep, that's right. According to the Poll of Polls Obama is losing ground.

Obama has not played the expectations game well, and his new Indiana superdelegate Joe Andrew didn't help by going on Fox News and saying that Obama was going to win both North Carolina and Indiana.

On Tuesday night, when Indiana breaks for Clinton, imagine all of the news networks proclaiming how big of a loss this was for Obama. Imagine the punditocracy saying that Hillary has the momentum.

Disgusted? Do something about it. MAKE SOME CALLS!

Some friends of mine put together this video that I think you may find rather amusing, inspiring, enraging, and uplifting.

I am struggling with my own illness, but I have faith in my faith and in Medicaid.  Without it, I would have nothing.

As many of you know, President Bush's 2009 budget proposal will make devastating cuts (almost one-third of the funding or $120 million) to the Violence Against Women Act program.

Why should you care and what can you do?

We have suffered too long and let the GOP define our politics and our policies.  We have let them reframe the debate in their context and we have been content to let them, conceding to ourselves that maybe our way of doing things was wrong.  What is forgotten is that government is a concept in a constant state of flux and from time to time it needs to be revised to best suit the needs and whims of its people.  This is how government, particularly our government, was set up in the first place.  

But first, you've got to get mad.

Things are still in a bit of a lull right now. On the one hand, that's good, the longer we stall things and the intelligence community keeps doing its thing and preventing terrist attacks, the more people will hopefully grow tired of Bush's wolf-crying.

On the other hand, some of us are worried about a lack of information about a plan on the dems side. It's good that dem leaders in both the House and Senate are speaking out and responding to Bush's scare tactics, but I'm not confident that this is more than talk. Here are some of my specific concerns and questions. I'm hoping someone less ignorant than i will be able to address some of these and better inform us all.

UPDATE: It has been reported (by lgcap - ht) that the House is going to be taking up this issue next week. If so this is potentially bad news, see below...

Dear South Carolina,

Seems that some of the Democratic candidates are acting their shoe size instead of their ages. While literal corporal punishment seems to be out of the question (darn) I am here to ask you to set them straight at Saturday's Primary.

Most people who are familiar with Ron Paul are familiar with the accusations of racism involving his newsletter.  Today, Ron Paul appeared on CNN and tried to paint himself as the "anti-racist."

In order to prove his case, Ron Paul cites his tasteless Martin Luther King day money bomb, which another poster brought up yesterday.

One question, though:  Did Ron Paul remember to ask the King Family Estate before he launched this campaign?  If not, then it could be a costly mistake.

Today I am not going to talk about what other political animals are doing, who is going to win what primary or any of that. Last night one of our own lost a child. Mariachi Mama’s son ended his life. He had problems that must have seemed unassailable and opted to leave this veil of tears. Go and give your support to her diary, if you have not already.

This sad event got the Dog thinking. There can be no doubt that we all know that coming here and slinging words is not enough for us to change the way things are in this country. Many of us work on campaigns, more give money to candidates and parties and all of us follow the process and its outcome obsessively. But that is not enough, the country is in trouble and it needs more than just our words and dollars and interest.

 Very simply stated, I think we need to start calling the Democratic Presidential Candidates and demand that each of them make one, simple pledge. One incredibly easy pledge that would do more to restore the rule of law in this country then all the currently stalled congressional investigations combined.  Not only would this simple pledge more than accomplish that objective, it is an incredibly self serving Democratic wedge issue that will drive the Republicans and their enablers back under the rocks from which they slithered. All the Democrats need to do to "kill two birds with one stone", is pledge that the first day in office and the very first Presidential action, will be...

UPDATE:  After some pretty quick resistance from the Progressive Caucus, Hoyer's press conference has been postponed.  Don't get complacent, though.  They won't rest until they get what they want or until they are publicly shamed.

That stuff about "fixing" FISA?  Incorrect.  Via Matt Stoller at Open Left, we learn that once again, Steny Hoyer plans a press conference this afternoon at 1:30 to announce a new bill to amend FISA, presumably even worse than the one before, and this time containing retroactive immunity for the good Germans who gave up personal information to a gang of two bit thugs without a fight.  Like the previous bill passed by the usual gang of idiots before slinking out of town on vacation, this one was drafted without any consultation with the ACLU or civil liberties groups.  Although specifics of the bill are not yet known due to the secrecy with which it is being launched, one can safely assume that this is another sellout being marketed as "protection for the Freshmen."  

Dear fellow Kossacks and friends,

EMAIL MIKE MYER NOW!

Recently, the managing editor of my hometown newspaper, the Wheeling (WV) Intelligencer, wrote an anti-gay editorial and blog entry opposing the inclusion of workplace and housing protections for gays and lesbians. Here are some excerpts:

Yesterday morning, after a bleary-eyed drive up to the City of Berkeley, CA following a night with Lewis Black at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall (in which he advocated for the election of Santa Claus rather than yet another same-old same-old politician labeled Democrat or Republican, or, at a minimum, forcing whoever won to wear the red suit as a unifying force for the country) I began my work day to the sounds of the drums first approaching, and ultimately being played to the heavens by the Youth as they danced into Zellerbach Hall.  The conga, the snare, the timbale, of varying rhythm melody yet all nonetheless in harmony with the same, insistent calls.  (Polyrhythmic music, as they some it in today's newfangled music labeling language.  We used to say "The Drums", knowing exactly what that meant.)

The Drums, as a Call to Action.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a diary called "The War In 'The Letters to the Editor Section". In the diary, I discussed the importance  of writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. The diary did not make the recommend list, but was deemed worthy for Diary Rescue.

Last week, Bill in Portland Maine wrote a diary with an attached poll asking how many Kossacks wrote "Letters to the Editor". Out of 7,871 respondents, 45% said that they never wrote letters and 36% said rarely.

I said "WHAT THE FUCK!! PEOPLE!!". Fellow Diarist Civil Society was also ticked enough to write a diary called "80% of Kossacks don't write Letters-to-the editor?"

That is a sad and shocking result.

LTE's are an excellent way to communicate, advocate, and organize, epsecially on local issues. It is an excellent way to point out adn correct misleading stories in the main stream media. It is one of the most read sections of the paper.