Yes, today is "spam the flist" day around here.

Truthdig - Reports - Dennis Kucinich on the Democrats’ Bailout Betrayal:

“This was the largest single act of class warfare in the modern history of this country,” Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, who led the fight in the House against the bailout, told me by phone from Cleveland. “It is a direct attack on the American people’s ability to be able to stabilize their homes and their neighborhoods. This single vote will define the careers of everyone. We are back to taxation without representation, to markets that are openly rigged.”

It's no secret that I don't especially like Obama as a politician, although I do plan to vote for him, and every other Democrat on the ticket. I do feel that in the absence of any true campaign finance reform, the Democrats still offer the best route to get my voice heard at a local, state, and federal level. This doesn't mean I'm blind to the fact that many Democrats are just as far into the hole to lobbyists and corporate interests as the Republicans. I simply think that ideologically the Democrats are more likely to work for positive change to protect the interests of citizens.
(At least in New York I usually had the option of voting for the Democratic candidates under the Working Families Party. Man, that's a great law NY has.)

This is just depressing and infuriating. (How much do I still love Dennis, though? Today is his birthday, by the way.)

Andl, if when it keeps up, we have pretty explicit instructions from the Founders of our nation on what to do:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
[emphasis mine]

I would just like to state that as I type this, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is delivering Articles of Impeachment against Bush on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Thank you, Dennis.
This is why we love you.

To call your representative to let them know that you want them to support impeachment for the criminal acts Bush and his team have committed during this administration,

dial the Congressional Switchboard Toll-Free at

800-828-0498

and give them the name of your congressperson. If you don't know the name of your representative, enter your zipcode at www.house.gov to find out.

[Edited to correct - Articles entered only against Bush.]

Kucinich to Drop Bid and Focus on Re-election - New York Times:

Representative Dennis J. Kucinich has decided to end his long-shot presidential bid, thinning the Democratic field, and allowing him to focus on a contested race for re-election in his Ohio Congressional district.

With Dennis out of the race, I'm supporting Edwards.  (Which I would have done with my vote anyway, since stupid laws in Texas meant that Dennis wasn't even on the primary ballot here.)

It's not that I have a thing for underdogs.  I genuinely like and respect Edwards and his campaign message much more than I like OR respect Obama or Clinton at the moment. Don't make me think about those two until I must. (Not that I wouldn't really appreciate it if any of them came out a little bit stronger on the issues I care about, because they don't, and that's frustrating. I thought they were supposed to be Democrats, not some Centrist Coalition Party before the votes are even counted.)

I hope that Dennis gets his nomination for Congress and wins his seat again, because whether he's in the Presidential candidate field or not, he is a decent man with the sort of political integrity you don't see often, and he's the only congressperson I know of who has been completely consistent AND taken action toward correcting the problems and injustices going on in our government.

Even if he doesn't get his seat back, I hope he never shuts up.

Given the state of our election systems in this country, we need people who won't ever shut up, to remind us that We, the People have power to change things that goes beyond the ballot box.

ETA: Democracy Now featured Dennis this morning, letting him offer his responses to the questions and answers in the Nevada debate. Not nearly enough to make up for the exclusion, but at least some voters might get to hear a different voice.
---

WTF, NBC? Daring to claim that they are the victim, citing the First Amendment as if they were not the ones stifling a needed and sane voice for Democracy in this country? How can we let corporate interests hijack our democracy like this? 

Is anybody else outraged by the precedent, whether you support Dennis's positions or not?  Why should a bunch of network executives get to make the decisions that are supposed to belong to voters? Insane! If anybody needs proof of the direction America will go unless we straighten out campaign financing, here it is. The only candidates allowed to talk are the ones beholden to the vast corporate media machine, that same machine that owns companies that make weapons and wants to keep finding wars to use them, that same machine that pushes the FDA to tell us that our food is safe without proper long-term studies, that same machine that quashes regulatory control of pollutants and puts "voluntary compliance" laws on the books.  What complete bullshit.

No matter what your politics, NBC's actions and the decision of the Nevada Supreme Court should have alarm bells ringing and sirens going off.  We're watching our representative democracy's death throes here.

Blake Fleetwood: Kucinich Is The Candidate You Are Not Suppose To Talk About. - Politics on The Huffington Post:

Dennis Kucinich is the only Democrat running for President who has voted against authorizing the war in Iraq and against funding its continuation and who wants to remove all the troops immediately.

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate for President with a plan for a Universal, Single-Payer, Not-for-Profit health care system. Health care in the US is too expensive and leaves 46 million Americans without insurance and millions more under-insured, causing thousands to die needlessly.

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate who is not beholden to the corporate interests, who has taken no monies from corporate lobbyists.

Kucinich is the only candidate who voted against the Patriot Act, and wants to restore basic constitutional rights.

Kucinich is the only candidate who supports gay marriage.

This isn't far left stuff. They are simply moderate Democratic positions. This is what the Democratic Party is all about. So why won't the Democrats vote like Democrats?
[...]
Kucinich is not running to win the nomination. He knows he is not going to succeed... He is running to influence the political discourse within the Democratic party --- which is critically important. He is running to show the frontrunners what the full spectrum of Democratic opinions might be...in a real debate.

[emphasis mine]

No surprises here.
And, hey, Viggo Mortensen supports Kucinich, too.

99% Dennis Kucinich
97% Mike Gravel
81% John Edwards
78% Chris Dodd
78% Barack Obama
75% Joe Biden
74% Hillary Clinton
70% Bill Richardson
29% Rudy Giuliani
27% Ron Paul
20% John McCain
14% Mitt Romney
13% Mike Huckabee
13% Tom Tancredo
5% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Be the Beacon of Hope and Light Up Black Friday!

Hi, I'm Asher Platts, a volunteer intern for Dennis Kucinich and I have an idea I'd like to share with you.

Every year at this time we sit around the table and celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a time we share with family and friends and each reflect on what we are most thankful for!

Then Friday the madness starts! Millions of American's flood the malls and super-stores to spend money on presents that might eventually be forgotten or misplaced. It's known as Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. 

So let me make a suggestion, do something different this year. When you sit down this Thanksgiving, remember our fore fathers who gave us this great nation. Then on Black Friday be a "Beacon of Hope" that shines on our future. It's your chance to purchase a gift that we can pass on to our children: a better America. A free America. The protection of our democracy!
 
Be a "Beacon of Hope" - please make your contribution.

If we can get 10,000 people to contribute $100, we can meet our goal of One Million Dollars in one day!

Imagine, this Black Friday, when you are out buying presents, you can get one for your country too!

Ask all of your friends and family to contribute $100 to the campaign and leave a legacy of enduring freedom and democracy to the next generation.

Please be a Beacon of Hope and help me Light Up Black Friday! Contribute $100 to the campaign and tell all of your friends and family to do the same this Friday, November 23!

It's the greatest gift you can give!

Asher Platts
Volunteer Intern
Strength Through Peace
The Kucinich Campaign

http://www.dennis4president.com

Kind of annoyed this morning for several reasons.
- The world is going to hell in a gift-wrapped handbasket covered by American flags. I cannot even articulate all the reasons I am upset at my "elected" representatives in Congress.  Are you upset, too?  The toll-free number for the Congressional Switchboard is 800-828-0498.  If you have achieved coherency, why not give your representative or senators a call and remind them that they're supposed to represent YOU? 
- There's a media conspiracy to keep Dennis down, and he's practically the only candidate running for office with any personal integrity left.  Not to mention he's actually running for the people, not for the corporations.  I can't believe they can get away with just ignoring him when he's running fourth in some of their polls.  Damn, get it together people.
- I am stuck on a scene in the writing, and of course it's Nano so the scene will stay stuck indefinitely because I am not deleting anything.  The scene is difficult because of the subject matter and the characters involved (Luna and Draco again, plus a cameo by post-Azkaban Xenophilius), and maybe it's more difficult for me to write constructive, healthy dialog instead of angst and despair.  Plus I'm not sure Luna would actually shout at him - what would it take for Luna Lovegood to actually scream and throw things?  She's, like, canonically the most ridiculously serene character ever.  Even when she's cursing people she's serene.  Bah.   I am going to leave it and move on to Potter and Weasley, International Aurors of Mystery, and their collection of rude sign language signals.   And maybe I will draw a little tonight. 

On the up side, this weekend promises lots of Quilting Adventures with my new sewing/quilting machine. Mom wants me to try thread painting, and I want to test the sewing-at-angles feature.  And of course, try out all of the free-motion quilting feet. 
Also on the up side, despite the stalled scene, I am doing better this Nanowrimo than I ever have before (current word count 19,034) and writing fanfiction has had a very freeing effect.  I hope that this will continue to be a positive influence on my productivity into the next year of working on original projects.  I can do this, and dammit, I write well. 

It's a beautiful day. There is a blue jay right outside my window.  I'm going to take that as a sign of hope.