I am not an economist.. not by a long shot.  So, when people start talking about overleveraged derivatives and the imminent unraveling of the U.S. financial system, I find myself scrolling down to more intellectually accessible diaries or news items like who's going to win the next election, or which Iraq strategy was the most misguided, or whether the National or American League will win the MLB All Star Game.

But I have kids, college loans, and a hope for a future, and I have been around long enough to know that the elite power brokers that got us into this mess are probably looking for ways to unload it onto me and my family.  If you do nothing else today, please at least skim this diary, and consider a phonecall to Congress, whom the Bush Administration is about to ask for another blank check to bail them out of yet another set of failed, and corrupt policies.

For my own part, I started researching, and I found this article.  To be frank, this article scared the living shit out of me..

Wow... I mean.  Wow!  I've seen it all here, but this last week really takes the cake.  Trying to keep up with the tiresome, un-hinged, un-thinking blather that seems to keep re-spawning itself in the "recent diaries" list and the fanatical associated stream of "comments" is reminding me way too much of Junior High School.  

So, I'm off to spend more time with the kids... be a bit more productive at work..  Maybe volunteer for a local campaign.. and get ready to knock on doors sometime (hopefully) in August.  If there's anything left to support.

But before, I go, in perfect GBCW fashion, I'm going to indulge myself in some parting shots:

SO

Here is the latest polling data.  Yes, it shows the Barak Obama campaign in freefall.  And let me go ahead and steal your process here - I am a 100% unadulterated concern troll at this point.

I am unapoligetically concern trolling this campaign because you have taken a beautiful message of unity, democracy, and grassroots change, and, by your immaturity and weak stomach for criticism, turned it into toilet paper.  Every time a critical thought passes the air waves, the Obama attack dogs come out in force and tear the piece to shreds usually without even dealing directly with the argument.  You've gone into some odd, Orwellian world devoid of critical thought and pulsing with terrifying fanaticism.

I'll start with my bias, just so I'm really clear.  I am 100% for improved populist-based (aka "people-powered") democracy in the United States. It's pretty clear in my comment and diary history. I believe in creating opportunities for people to participate in government on equal terms with one another. I also believe that people have a responsibility to think critically and hold accountable those we give power to.  So, that said, enough of my seemingly silly platitudes and on to the substance:  

*  I like Obama, and the messages he is representing in this election

*  I have some serious questions about the level of critical thinking that some Obama supporters have demonstrated, and some of the consequences this could have for the campaign and the presidency.

*  I have seen some rather trollish behavior with regards to the treatment of Senator Clinton on this site, and don't care for it.

*  I think we can do better than this.  "yes we can":

First and foremost, can I respectfully remind everyone here of the DKOS diary Guidelines:

Especially #22, which states:

Diaries on contested Democratic primaries: Be positive. Make an affirmative case for your favored candidate. If you do criticize a Democratic candidate, don't make ad hominem attacks - stick to substantive criticisms, and back them up with hard evidence. Be very cautious if you go after a fellow Democrat. Odds are, that candidate will have supporters on this site. Reasonable people will accept reasonable criticism - unfair criticism will only needlessly inflame. And remember, deliberately inflammatory diaries are prohibited.

Now, for the substantive portion of my diary, which is to support the primary process adopted by the democratic party, and call out what I feel is poor form by both sides (but largely the Obama supporters) in attacking fellow democratic candidates.  

To make it interesting, I'll do this as a "top ten list".  However, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm all about participatory democracy, even if it's for seemingly symbolic purposes and "beauty contests".  The more we participate, the more inroads we make into the safe inner circles of the power elites that have been relatively immune since the federalists wrote the Constitution.  

Anyway, here goes:

Looking over the recommended list today, I can't see anything except frothing "intra" partisan bickering.  Whose votes didn't get counted where, or which superdelegate is saying "fuck you" to who, or why Bill Clinton is an enemy of democracy.  Gees guys, aren't we just a little better than this?  At the very least, aren't we just a little smarter than this?

So, today, I will head to Maywood Elementary school in Bothell, WA, and caucus for the next president.  Ever since I voted for John Anderson in the 1980 weekly reader poll when I was 6, I have been certain about who I support.  I was a state delegate for Dean in the 2004 Caucuses in Colorado, voted for "he who shall not be named on this site" as a third party candidate in 96 and 2000 (and 92 as a writein).  I supported Gore, then Richardson, then Edwards - and am left between two candidates.  So, which will it be?

Watching this site, the political compass of my political world, has caused me some concern over the last few weeks.  You have gone on and on (and on....) about how Obama can do this, or Hillary has done that, or Edwards/Gore/Dean could have done something else.  You have been playing armchair quarterback for a political game for who wins, as we parade our champions around the colliseum on our chariots of hero-worship.  But we have forgotten who the true heroes actually are - those of you who made "people-powered politics" real.  Those of you who put us into contention in the first place.  You are my superdelegates now, and the ones I would like to spend my time lobbying, because you're the only ones who have ever given me hope.

It's done. Or, according to KingOneEye Maybe it's not done.

Either way, MSNBC , in the opinion page, is calling this A dark day for journalism:

Standards are the lifeblood of WSJ and its related properties. Back in 1998, a source called to ask me to attend a World Series game with him at Yankee Stadium. When the request was shared with WSJ.com’s managing editor, it was denied — even if I paid for the ticket — because it was a ticket I was unlikely to be able to procure on my own, thus making me indebted to the source if I accepted it. Along the same lines, I remember being told in a meeting that not only were advertising representatives who sold for WSJ.com on a different floor; we weren't even allowed to know their names. That way, ad reps and their clients could never influence a story.

It is hard to imagine that News Corp. — a juggernaut with more than $25 billion in revenue in 2006 — will keep such ideas in place...

Look, folks - I'm just as much to blame.  In fact, almost 3 years ago, I myself wrote What if? - Facism, a "diary" (ahh.. before the minimum content requirements kicked in) about fascism, police states, and the need for action.

Now we have the the The brewing storm with Iran, Chertoff's gut feeling, a cornered president, and executive orders..

But wherein lies the truth?  

At best, we have the impending implosion of the neocons, a palpable buildup of tension before the storm that will end a relatively short, but devastating chapter of American History.  

At worst, we have the next Hitler grabbing the reins of America, plunging us into full fledged war with Iran and beyond (Pakistan?), and initiating a police state.

It is up to us to look at the facts, the headlines, the writing on the wall, and come to the right conclusion. There is a lot at stake..

"When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary" to seperate, to revolt, to cast away kings and national ties, incredible things happen.  Nations form, great experiments in government take root, people die so that a dream might live.

Our dream has been one of self-governance, by the people, equal under God (or under the "Laws of Nature" if you choose not to believe in this god).  From the start, the United States of America has granted power at the consent of the governed, by the will of the poeple, for certain human dignities that every person is given from birth - a right to live, to enjoy basic civil freedoms, and to pursue our individual dreams without intrusion by despots and tyrants.  

Yes, it has been said before, but today I feel a need to say it again:  A new Despotism threatens our America, and we will have only ourselves to blame if we don't stop it.

Who really knows what happened last night at the G-8 Summit in Germany:

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 8 (UPI) -- A stomach ailment Friday kept U.S. President George Bush from attending morning sessions of the Group of Eight in Heiligendamm, Germany.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Bush in his room for an hour and later said, "President Bush is slightly indisposed this morning and will rejoin the working meeting as soon as he can."

But we can speculate, can't we?

This is basically my first real diary since I took a vow of silence after Katrina, but I have something to say and I’m going to say it.  Senator Fiengold did a fantastic job of laying out the obvious, that the dems have lost a critical battle in the effort to live up to the hopes of the American People: (and for the record, Senator Fiengold, I don't think YOU'RE stupid at all - you're one of my heroes)

This situation is a collapse for Democrats.  We had a strong start, pushed back against the President’s failed policy and held our ground that the supplemental should include binding language to end the war.  But now, as Congress gets ready to send the President a bill that does nothing to get our troops out of Iraq, we are just folding our cards.

Earlier in the day, this article confirmed to me that the democrats have returned to their old selves, with the typical help of a media all to willing to facilitate their demise:

Let's not get distracted from what actually happened on November 7, 2006.  Americans took their country back.  Sure, there were heroes, not the least of which are the creators of our little community here:Markos and Jerome.  Howard Dean much to the chagrin of many beltway democratic consultants, represents the future of the democratic party, even if Carville does deserve some credit for Clintons successful 1992 campaign (of course, he also gave us Zell Miller).

But, as Markos accurately explains on the front page, neither KOS, nor Howard, nor the democratic committees, and certainly not Beltway Consultants, are the real story.  The real story, in my effort to sort out Kos's enigmatic puzzle, is below the fold:

I know many of you have seen the picture http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9147259/ - a man holding onto a newborn baby, standing knee deep in water, looking up in anger and despair at a news helicopter flying overhead.  It's the image that will stay in my mind as I write this, my last DailyKos diary.  It's this image that was the straw that broke the camels back for me, a father of a one year old.  Honestly, the time has come for me to stop watching life from the sidelines, stop looking for the right soundbyte before I speak and act, and start living my life in each moment to serve justice and compassion.  So, thanks to this community for being so great, and if you like you can read my rant below the fold:

Recently a Mr. Andrew Boucher managed to get appointed as a chair for an important effort in our state to reform highly restrictive tax legislation that has frozen several important state projects including medicaid and higher education funding. This is an important issue that I'm working on, and I really need to know if I'm up against a creep, or someone who could actually be an ally?

From http://www.icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx

The costs of war continue to add up, not just for Americans, but for Iraqi security forces and civilians.  Since June 18, 56 Iraqi security forces and 50 civilians have been killed by a new wave of suicide bombings and ambushes across the country.  This after 3 recent offenses by US Forces to counteract these very acts - after over two years of tactics designed to break this insurgency - an insurgency that, even without Hussein, Al Sadr, and other "leaders" whose names we have forgotten, continues to grow.

The questions are obvious, of course: