In case you missed these powerful words from Two of our Countries Dedicated Veterans of the Current Occupation Theaters.

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan can be Proud of these two, your brother and sister Veterans, as can the Families of All who are Serving and have Served, for You All are the Only Ones Sacrificing as this Country refuses to understand that Sacrifice!

The 'Honorable Cause' is the protection of your brother's and sister's as they protect you, in any conflict theater this nation sends those that serve it, wrong or right!

This Country must Now make it Right for All of You, it has Shirked It's Full Responsibility for far too long, from Korea to the Present Day, that must End!!

In the outstanding election year that was 2006, there remains a sore spot that nags me to this day: The IL-06 race. I still remember the anger on the part of a lot of progfressives when Rahm Emanuel recruited Tammy Duckworth to run for the seat. She did not live in the district because her special-buit house (to accomodate her disabilties) was located just outside. What's more, a number of good folks were very attached to Christine Cegalis who nearly knocked off Henry Hyde in the 2004 election. A lot of bitter words were exchanged on Daily Kos and some of the negativity unfairly (in my opinion) was foisted upon Duckworth. She evntually lost the election.

Say it actually happens - Obama beats McCain in November. In that case Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will have to choose a successor for Barack Obama's Senate seat.

Today, Robert Novak rumors that Nancy Pelosi would like Rahm Emanuel, House Democratic caucus chair, to replace Obama. Now, this may be true or not. With the self styled Prince of Darkness you never know.

No matter what Novak "reports" or Pelosi supposedly wants, here's the more important question:

Who would you like to see replace Obama in the Senate?

Within the past month I put forth 19 polls with 15 candidates each to figure out who you guys want in an Obama cabinet. With voting in all rounds now over I compiled five different cabinets and they were all up for a vote this week.

Who got included in the final cabinets: the top three in each poll automatically made it into these final cabinet polls, in some cases also the 4th and 5th. However, to make sure that the cabinets are as diverse as possible I gave some candidates who didn't have enough votes a wildcard.

Each day this week you can rate a cabinet. Today, you can rate a possible Obama/Webb cabinet on a scale from 1 (hate it) to 10 (love it). At the end I will post the results and the cabinet with the highest average wins.

Who else would be better to be chosen as the 'Keynote' speaker at the Democratic Convention than one of those this country sent into a failed Foreign Policy Conflict and Occupation.

There are many to choose from, way too many, who have Sacrificed way too much for this country, but now that Senator Obama has made History and will Lead the Convention they need look no further than his own State for one who can speak of the incompetence within the Veterans Administration leadership, and the Administration, and the Failure of the Republican Controlled Federal Government, while beating the Drums of War Louder and Louder, failed to even Think about those returning from their War Of Choice, the results of which we've been finding out about as Congress finally got back to it's job of Oversite and Investigation, as well as the MSM!

Who else would be better to be chosen as the 'Keynote' speaker at the Democratic Convention than one of those this country sent into a failed Foreign Policy Conflict and Occupation.

There are many to choose from, way too many, who have Sacrificed way too much for this country, but now that Senator Obama has made History and will Lead the Convention they need look no further than his own State.

Everyone's talking about Obama's running mate. But who would you like to see in an Obama cabinet?

Today you can vote on the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Also, the previous rounds are still open for voting. More below the fold.

What happens in Podunk shouldn’t stay there.  Or at least if it does, the Democratic Party Establishment, the corporate wing of the Democratic Party, the Blue Dogs among us, will have won one more unrecorded battle against those of us who want real change.

What’s happening most immediately in the IL-14 corner of Podunk (a term I use here to describe anything not directly inside the DC Beltway) is a primary and a special primary on Tuesday, between the DC insider "pick" for our district, an attorney who is a relative newcomer to both politics and our area, and John Laesch, the nominee against Denny Hastert last time out, and the only progressive in the race.

At this point, I’d call it a significant bellwether for the upcoming Congressional elections that virtually no one outside of IL-14 is paying much attention to in the glare of the presidential race, as well as a bellwether event in the battle for control of the party.  So while I don’t expect this diary to get much attention, I want to leave a record of what has happened in this primary.  Bellwethers, however unobserved at the time, sometimes have a way of becoming useful history for those who follow.  

The old adage that 'money talks' has never been spoken more truly than in US politics.  As a 32-year long Democratic supporter and former staffer for congress and a president, a relic from the days of grass-roots campaigning when the Democratic candidate was always beholden to working people, not corporations, this development saddens me.  Truly, until we get Big Money out of our elections, 'change' and 'hope' are simply marketing slogans.

I like Barack Obama, and would vote for him in a general election, though I consider him a show horse as opposed to a war horse, which is what I believe the Democrats must ride into the White House on if they are serious about changing our corrupt political system in any meaningful way.  But in the end, the voters will decide, and just as corporations sell US consumers new cars and ever-bigger flat-screen TV's by flooding the airwaves with commercials to convince us that we cannot live without their product, just as Wonder Bread and Budweiser are the pre-eminent brands in their respective market niches, voters will be sold a corporation-approved candidate in 2008.

Just up at the NYT:

October 2, 2007
Report Describes Drunken Contractor’s Killing of Iraqi

By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — A Blackwater USA employee under investigation in the killing last December of an Iraqi bodyguard in an off-duty confrontation was so drunk after fleeing the shooting that another group of guards took away the loaded pistol he was fumbling with, a report to a House committee said Monday.

More

As if it wasn't hard enough, in 2006, to have to fight against the Lazy Media's stenographic efforts in promoting the neo-conservative talking points, progressive candidates also had to fight against the strong will of Rahm Emanuel.  The Democrats won in November 2006, in spite of, not because of the efforts of Mr. Emanuel.  His blueprint for "success" in the 2006 Congressional elections was to find DLC-friendly, "Republican-ish" candidates to field, giving us the present day dilemma of the Bush-Dog Democrats helping to seize defeat from the jaws of victory on the National Stage.  

Many of the candidates that Emanuel helped elect have joined with a group of self-styled conservative Blue Dog Democrats and have cast key votes with Republicans and stymied Democratic efforts to end the occupation of Iraq and the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

In an article just published at Truthout four races from this time period show a pattern of deviousness which was Mr. Emanuel's Modus Operandi.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Tammy Duckworth, the decorated Iraq War Veteran who came close to defeating Republican Peter Roskam in the 2006 Congressional elections, has announced that she will not seek that seat in 2008.  She is currently the director of the Illinois Dept. of Veteran's affairs.

This is disappointing news as I felt that she would be swept in on the wave of dissatisfaction that has been building up.  But, she seems to have found her Al Gore momentum in what she is doing now.  

Chicago Tribune Story

Daniel Zwerdling has another NPR report up on his continuing Investigative Reporting on PTSD and the Military, at a time of War!

It aired this morning on NPR's Morning Edition-Saturday, at the end of this post about Andrew there's another short inteview with Tammy Duckworth.

Any reading this, click through to listen to the reports and read the reports. The traffic will show that many care forcing the MSM to follow through with that which is important, Understanding what War's are and what they do to those participating and living in the Theaters of operations, especially War's Of Choice, not Need!

I will be the first to recall that Tammy Duckworth, wounded Iraq war veteran, was forcibly installed over a perfectly good Democratic candidate, Christine Cegelis, by Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel. This heavy-handed move p.o.'d legions of Cegelis' hardworking backers, and quite probably cost Democrats this seat.

However, Tammy Duckworth paid nearly the highest price one can pay in service of one's country; she lost both her legs in battle in Iraq. She had some good things to say about the ass-headedness of Bush and his war, and I think she is a decent person. I can't stay mad at Duckworth herself.

Now, her husband, who is also in the military, is being rotated to Iraq. Let us hope and pray for his safety and well-being, and that of all the soldiers who are over there. Most of all, let us keep pressing our Congresscritters, in person if necessary, to get us out of that maelstrom.

Hopefully, Dean is right, and Round Two will commence in July.

Yes, that is right. Newly elected GOP extreme right Congressman, Peter Roskam (IL-8) cut and runs from his constituents. Although he has already voted on major bills such as:

On January 10, 2007, Roskam voted against a bill to increase the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour over two years. The bill passed the House 315-116[103]. 82 House Republicans supported the legislation.

On January 11, 2007, Roskam voted against the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.[104]

On January 12, 2007, Roskam voted against the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, which would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower covered Part D drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. [105]

There is no real way to contact the man! Does he think since he is elected, he has the power of absolute rule? Does he think he is "The Decider" like Bush?

Bloggers were the targets of many verbal floggings this year. The view towards the act of blogging became more hostile and more mocking, hostile towards those who would deign themselves worthy enough to express opinions on that which they are not experts, mocking of those who feel the need to publish the mundane events of their daily lives to make them available to the world.

I just received polling information yesterday from Des Moines, Iowa, putting John Edwards way ahead at 36%; Senator Clinton at 16% and Senator Obama 13% - Obama appears to be pulling from Senator Clinton.  It could be that the country just wants peace and sees John and Elizabeth as a kind of benign Babar and Celeste in Celesteville - would be nice. But my point of view has always been that there are two crises in America today: The secondary crisis is the Iraq disaster.

I just watched Taking the Hill, a phenomenal documentary about veterans running as Democrats this past cycle that just aired on the Discovery Times Channel.

The documentary was bittersweet. While it was deeply moving to see the passion that all of our heroic veteran Democrats exhibited in their campaigns, most of them suffered tragic defeats. The documentary profiled the campaigns of Patrick Murphy in PA, Rick Bolaños in Texas (running for the seat in Texas that we won tonight), Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, and Eric Massa in upstate New York. Sadly, only Murphy was victorious.

So why weren't our veterans as successful as I and many other had anticipated? I place all of the blame on a fundamentally flawed election process in which fundraising is the be all and the end all.