Here are some of the things that have been going on at my work lately... not exactly work related, but nothing nefarious or illegal.  Though certainly against company policy.

I would encourage everyone in a situation similar to mine to give some of these a try, its quite entertaining.

Here's an interesting email I just received from Democrats.com

Let's Escrow Our Money to Keep Obama Progressive

Last week, we asked 1,000 of you to contribute $10 to raise $10,000 to help progressive Democrats like State Senator Regina Thomas defeat "Bush Democrats" like Rep. John Barrow (GA12) in upcoming primaries. Your response was amazing: over 1,300 of you contributed over $60,000! Senator Thomas and our other "Replace Bush Democrats" candidates were thrilled by your support, and so are we!!

Now we are asking you to use your money to ensure that Barack Obama lives up to his promise to deliver "change we can believe in. "

How? By creating a progressive "escrow" fund that you control.

The late great James Baldwin, my favorite author and intellectual, wrote in The Devil Finds Work, a brutal collection of essays on American film:

"IDENTITY would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one’s nakedness can always be felt and sometimes discerned. This trust in one’s nakedness is all that gives one the power to change robes."

I agree with mcjoan that this wasn't the best compromise Democrats could get.  At the same time, the FISA compromise wasn't worth a quixiotic fight, either.  At the end of the day, below the fold is what this election is about:

I've been here a little more than a month. I came here against the better advice of my big brother, who I always saw as a drama queen always looking at the glass half empty. When he left to live in Italy, I decided to sign up for an account here and prove to my brother that DailyKos wasn't a bad place.

I came here with the belief that there was almost no one further to the left than me. My away message most nights is Paul Wellstone's line "I'm from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." In the wake of the flap over FISA and faith-based initiatives, I began to realize, actually, I may be a little further right than like everyone here.

Compared to most people at DailyKos...I'm a Republican.

George Fearing for Congress
Please subscribe to my diary if you live in Central Washington or follow the race in WA-04.  Thanks!


Soon I'll write in greater detail about why George is such an excellent candidate for Congress, and there are some great diaries already out there about why Richard "Doc" Hastings is as bad as they get, and why it's in the national interest to unseat him.

Keep your eyes posted for some entries from Mr. Fearing himself in the coming weeks.  For now, for the skeptics and the pessimists, have a look at some of the many reasons why this race is VERY competitive -- much more so than Republicans would like to admit.

But trust me.  The Hastings crew is getting nervous.  We've seen folks drive by or even sit in their cars in front of the office, peering in.  They've mentioned us in a fundraising letter.  It's clear that Doc's campaign knows that we will fight for this.  And this year, we can win.

After the jump.

I am fired up about the Constitution, and perhaps my reverence for it qualifies as a secular religion, and as such might cast haze over my eyes when it comes to more immediate, pressing considerations in the realpolitik of American politics in general and advancing the progressive agenda in detail.

I have, sometimes nicely, received this hint from quite a few persons the past few weeks.

The short form: CSK, you need to look at the big picture.

I answered, not always nicely, that what was bigger than the Constitution?

Let me be up front and apologize for that belligerence. Sorry, guys.

So I took the advice and revisited my thoughts on this election for the past several months...and here is what I came up with.

    I'm sorry if what I am about to write here offends anyone personally, as that is certainly not my intent, but I have to chime in on this ongoing debate about whether or not to criticize Barack Obama over his recent apparent turn to the center. I should say first that I am at best a casual observer of the twists and turns of this debate, as I tend to be with most of these divisions among online communities that I belong to, so I am almost definitely going to be retreading over well-worn territory, and for all I know, I may well be so late to the party that this division is no longer as big a thing as it seems. That being said, the issues at hand (FISA and telecom immunity, gun control, etc) are as important to me as I'm sure they are to all of you, and I just need to get this off my chest before my head explodes.

Nancy Benac on HuffPo has a terrific story that on reported donations over $200 from military personnel Obama outdoes McCain:

That Obama attracts support from some in the military is evident in dollars and cents: Among people who have donated at least $200 to a presidential campaign this election cycle, Obama has collected more than $327,000 from those identifying themselves as military personnel, while McCain has collected $224,000, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by The Associated Press.

It's not all roses and sunshine as McCain will obviously garner military support. But the signs are there that is not going to be a cakewalk.

Tonight I and several others celebrated a friend's 82 birthday.  Now I know most people would consider it unlikely that at age 82 a person might still be out there making a difference, but this person is, and she serves as an inspiration for me.

I first met Rosa in early 2004.  At that time I was nearing age 44, nervously approaching public speaking in my first real community battle.  Some of that I have diaried about in the past, but essentially the community battle was one that pitted those of us fighting against the then Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush.  

My first introduction to Rosa was at a public meeting, where she went to the podium and literally gave a verbal tongue lashing to the same elected officials that I was still somewhat afraid of....

There's an old saying. When you get to the dance, you stick with the one who brung you there. For Barack Obama, it seems he was devoted to Democrats on his way to the dance, and once there, has begun flirting with everyone else.

Today Barack Obama rolls out a new policy proposal.  It isn't huge.  It isn't about universal health care, Iraq withdrawal or stopping global climate change - his three top policy priorities as President.  But it is important.  It represents a clear pushback against a signature Bush Administration initiative and a restoration of constitutional principles.

At a speech in Ohio, Obama unveiled his proposal for a new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.   It both expands the federal government's partnership with faith-based organizations and reins it in, by strengthening how the program can meet policy goals and requiring it to abide by stronger church-state separation protections.

Oddly, the early reporting on this program is stupendously wrong- claiming that Obama's proposal guts existing anti-discrimination law that applies to religious organizations.  In fact, Obama's proposal reaffirms the protections of current law and states he intends to apply them.  This error also distracts from the ways this proposal respects both religious organizations and secular values.

haven't we seen this movie before?

democratic presidential nominee barack obama on the supreme court's heller decision, june 26:

"sen. obama has always believed that the second amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms and will uphold the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners, hunters and sportsmen as president," said spokesman tommy vietor. "sen. obama also believes that we can work together to enact common-sense laws, like closing the gun show loophole and improving our background check system, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals."

The Constitution is a framework for resolving domestic political contests in a peaceful, lawful and orderly fashion even among the most diametrically opposed of ideological factions.

In fact, the Constitution thrives in this circumstance.

The Constitution prevails when compromise is made strenuous and unjustifiable deviation from the wishes of one's constituents is made political perilous to the representative of the people who forgets his or her duty - to represent their will, not her or his own.

There is no intellectually, morally or political honest conflation of support for the Constitution and self-destructive ideological zeal.

Most Germans like Obama more than McCain. We usually prefer Democrats over Republicans, but conservative US presidents tend to be better for Germany, opines Thomas Speckmann, a regular op-ed contributor for various German newspapers and magazines. He also points out that greater German military involvement will be expected, regardless of who is elected. See his op-d in the Atlantic Community.

It is a peculiar word: Compromise. Webster's dictionary provides essentially three definitions. The first two are really close to each other, and represent what most of us think of when told that our Congressional representatives have again compromised with Republicans. That would likely be taken as "settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions." The second, somewhat equivalent "something intermediate between or blending qualities of two different things" seems to provide the meaning from another perspective. We all feel good about compromises. They are those solutions we come up with through the process of negotiation where everybody sort of gets something and everybody gives something. Nobody gets everything they want, but then everybody gets something.

Forget FISA.  Forget Heller.  Forget campaign finance.  Forget comments by Wes Clark and photo-ops with Muslim women.

Obama is still better.

And it's time for those who loved Obama most to remember that.

After staying completely financially independent of any primary POTUS candidate, I finally started giving to our Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

That being said as many of you know me here I believe in my heart that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both great Americans and Democrats...