Coincidentally, that's the name of one of my favorite songs.

What if Barack Obama wins the election? (Which is what I hope for)
What do you personally do after that with the energy that you have put into this campaign season? Do you retire that energy and leave it for Barack and Michelle to fix everything that is wrong? Do you volunteer at a school? Or a church? Or a homeless shelter? Do you attend your local municipal government meetings? Do you write letters to newspapers about social issues? Jump right into the 2010 elections? What happens for you then? Do you reach out to those who were pushed away because they supported the wrong candidate? Or do you punish them for their disloyalty?

What if Barack Obama loses the election? (Which is what I fear)
Do you think McCain will ruin America? If yes, by what method? I personally think that he'll go the way that Philip II ruined the Spanish Empire. Extended warfare and its toll on economics. War destroys wealth. McCain is a good man, and I believe that his intentions might be good. I don't need to see him painted as the Devil in order to believe that he's not fit to lead. He fails to integrate an understanding of the economic lessons from the great (and now dead) empires in history.... and he who fails to understand history is doomed to repeat it. And what about the Clinton democrats in the case of a McCain victory? Branded traitors and shot on sight? Or maybe we realize that (oops) we did need them after all.

What if you were Sarah Palin? Would you be happy to talk to the people who were slamming you, your daughter, your family, your ability to be a mother, and your religous beliefs? (In this country where religous freedom is protected by the FIRST AMENDMENT of the United States Constitution. Sarah's rights are protected too.) I'm not saying I agree with her. In point of fact, I agree with her about exactly nothing at all. However, I have noticed that she is a human being, and therefore I wonder how she must feel right now? What if you were her?   Read More »

From a friend of mine on another website:

"The picture below is emblematic of Papa Bush. He looks at a situation and thinks "Hehe, yeah, this is the solution". However, the rest of the world can see he's got it all arse-backwards. But no matter how long he looks at the situation, he can't see why it's backwards. It looks right to him and that is all that matters."

Write pro Obama posts on a pro Obama website?
Too easy. You can do that in your pajamas while you're getting drunk. That doesn't prove that you're willing to go the distance for a Democratic victory.


Give money?
Easy for those who have it to give.

Register voters? Do footwork on your real time in the real world?
Not bad. Now you're getting somewhere.

How about a real challenge, though. How about, are you willing to talk to people who do NOT support Senator Obama?
Are you willing to take on Republicans head to head - face to face? Are you willing to listen to their points, and have FAITH that your own points have more merit? Are you willing to let your own reasons stand up to a challenge?
Are you willing to LISTEN TO and DIALOGUE WITH the angry HRC supporters who havent come around? Or, is it simply more convenient to shut out anyone who opposes you?

Some who say that they would see a Democratic victory in November are only willing to work for that if it means they get to sit around in a group of like minded people who don't challenge them.

I'm willing to give a little more. I'm willing to work a little harder. I BELIEVE in the Democratic party. In all of it. I believe in Howard Dean, I believe in Donna Brazile, in Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, I still believe in John Edwards... even though we now see his failures. I believe in US. And I am never afraid, NEVER, to listen - really and truly listen - to those who oppose my beliefs, because ONLY in doing that do I earn their respect, and do I earn my chance to share my beliefs with them.

I don't need to have it easy. I'm willing to take the hard road to get from here to the White House.

Is ANSWER planning a protest over Russia's invasion of Georgia? Does anyone know? Their website doesn't seem to have anything since July.

Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone home?

   Read More »

On one of our new moderator's posts yesterday, I noticed a comment that suggested that because Rezko, rev Wright, and other things were Republican talking points, that we should not be allowed to discuss them here.

I'd like to address that as the admin and owner of the "Build the Party" group. "Build the Party" has about 70 members, many of whom have been very quiet recently given the atmosphere here. But the group was created long ago because this IS party builder, I am dedicated, as are all the members of that group, to using this site to promote the Democratic party and help secure a victory for our nominee. "Build the Party" members have always sought to defuse the fighting here on the site, and promote working together.

Now, speaking as a person who has ever worked toward the goal of Party Building, I feel that suggestion about Republican talking points is a poorly thought out, and frankly bizarre extension of censorship over the material that appears on this blog. The recent purge of several members who were working against the party from within may have been necessary from the moderator's point of view, however, I would caution all of us. We, as a blog community, now have both feet on a very slippery slope. Let's NOT rush to create a "book burning" list of things we're not allowed to talk about... and here's why:

Consider some voter who has never been active in politics. He or she is undecided and thinking about maybe voting this time around. He or she is surfing the net for information. On the RNC blogs, that undecided voter will read the talking points against Senator Obama. They will read about Rezko's connection, they will read about Rev Wright, ... they'll see a link to the "God damn America" soundbite.... we KNOW what undecided voters will be fed on a conservative blog. So then suppose that voter comes here to see what we have to say. Do we censor ourselves out of posting discussions that offer rebuttals to those talking points? Given the opportunity, I can, or Liz could, or Kathleen could completely take apart the Rev. Wright issue, so that any undecided voter would immediately see the Republican spin machine for the idiotic propaganda that it is. However, if that topic is off limits to us, as was suggested in the comment on Matt's post, then we can offer no discussion and no rebuttal to their talking points.

Your call, democrats.

As I warned in my earlier blog, DC could either write a reasonable gun law, or it would have one written for them that they would not like.

But it may not even have to wait a few years before DC loses out on their options. Congress, LED BY PRO-GUN DEMOCRATS, is likely to pass a VERY permissive gun law for DC:

House Seeks to End DC Gun Measures

Bigots have, thus far, successfully blocked legislation protecting the transgendered from discrimination, and have forced a referendum. A judge sided with the bigots on a legal technicality stemming from a delay in filing a grievance against the petition that triggered the referendum.

I am hoping, given how liberal Montgomery County is, that even if the referendum goes off, that the measure will pass. Nevertheless, it's something we need to keep an eye on.

News Article

The spate of accusations and counter-accusations has hit an all-time high, and we've degenerated into endless bickering and finger-pointing. One hardly knows whether to laugh or cry.   Read More »

That's a quote from Jack's post, Midnight Madness. It's a call for a response. I'm going to write one. I'll try to make it as to the point as I possibly can, and not ramble. For those who are interested, it's going in extended. For those who aren't interested, ... it's going in extended - so I'm not eating up front page space.

Have a great day everyone.   Read More »

I was leaving the Dr's office today and as I was leaving the parking lot, I noticed that there was some construction going on in a parking lot across the four lane road. There were also some kids - around 10 years old at a guess - trying to get across the 4 lane from the other lot on bicycles. Traffic was JUST light enough that I was instantly afraid the kids were going to try it and not make it.

Just then, a couple of the construction workers, who had apparently seen the same thing I was afraid of, came running over. They told the kids to hold up a second, walked out into the middle of the four lane, and held up traffic in both directions. The kids all crossed safely. AND, as they were crossing each kid smiled a big smile up at their heroes and offered a genuine thanks.

We live in a world where many people dont take the time to just help out another person when we see that help is needed. We ALSO live in a world where not NEARLY enough of us remember to say thank you. I saw something good today.

I wonder if any of us did something as SIMPLE, and yet as important, as help a kid get across the road. - Or if we just sat here fighting about how to make the world a better place?

Peace friends.

In his novel Empire, Card writes an afterward that pretty much hits the nail on the head:

We are fully polarized -- if you accept one idea that sounds like it belongs to either the blue or the red, you are assumed -- nay, required -- to espouse the entire rest of the package, even though there is no reason why supporting the war against terrorism should imply you're in favor of banning all abortions and against restricting the availability of firearms; no reason why being in favor of keeping government-imposed limits on the free market should imply you also are in favor of giving legal status to homosexual couples and against building nuclear reactors. These issues are not remotely related, and yet if you hold any of one group's views, you are hated by the other group as if you believed them all; and if you hold most of one group's views, but not all, you are treated as if you were a traitor for deviating even slightly from the party line.

It goes deeper than this, however. A good working definition of fanaticism is that you are so convinced of your views and policies that you are sure anyone who opposes them must either be stupid and deceived or have some ulterior motive. ...

With the recent SCotUS ruling rendering absolute bans of handguns unconstitutional, the District of Columbia has been considering how to best comply with the law. While some onerous processes are unavoidable at the moment (not having a gun store in the District means that guns need to be purchased elsewhere and then shipped from one Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder to one who lives in DC), and some safeguards not unreasonable (impounding the gun for ballistic finger-printing), one limitation the District is considering is likely to anger the Court.   Read More »

I've been thinking on how to express my distaste for Chomsky in a way that explained what it is about his writing I do not like, yet not come off as saying his conclusions are a priori wrong, and I think I have a great example with which to work.

Consider his article from 1989 on the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan:


Invasion Newspeak: U.S. & USSR   Read More »

A Troll (person) is someone whose intent is to disrupt a blog/forum/mailing list/etc with posts designed to create outrage, anger, irritation, frustration, and so on and so forth.

A Troll (post) is a post exhibiting the above traits, yet may be posted by people whose intent is not primarily disruption.

The difference is subtle but important. You could have an Obama supporter whose goal is to have discussions about the campaigns, even one who is a True Believer, incapable of seeing the other side, or wholly ignorant, they may be happy to engage in conversations. They might engage in trolling in order to anger the Hillary supporters, but they are not True Trolls.   Read More »

There's even good reason to believe that this water contains life in the form of microbes: bacteria, amoebae, or even larger multi-celled creatures. Scientists have reason to believe that this water can even be used to sustain human life.

Click more for the image...   Read More »