On the off chance you noticed I haven't been around lately it's because I spent the last week in the hospital. Don't worry, I'm ok and haven't been in any pain (except for some of the tests they ran, especially the bone marrow aspiration, which I'll be glad to never do again)... it was just a complication from a medication I've been on for about 2-3 years to combat a disease I have called ulcerative colitis. I went to my doctor and got a blood test last Friday and ended up getting called to the ER the next day because the results said my platelet count was "dangerously low". I went in to my doc again last Monday and they decided it wasn't safe to send me home and .. 7 days later, here I am. I've never been hospitalized before, so everything was a new experience to me. I am SO lucky to have a great support system, both in terms of actual coverage and my family. My doctor is excellent and I'm confident I'll recover.

One of the things about being in the hospital was I didn't have Internet access but I did have TV. And a TON of time that needed passing. My roommate watched the news a lot, both local stuff and the cable networks. If you've read me before you know how I feel about TV news and ... well, I've had this rant brewing in my head all week and have been dying to get it out so here goes.

I'll make this brief. I didn't watch the debate last night. Judging by the reaction, I'm glad. Honestly folks, what did you you expect? To hear fair, interesting questions about issues like poverty and social security and the environment followed by long, insightful answers?

No, that's SUBSTANCE. Substance don't SELL.

The fact is ABC does not exist to inform voters. ABC exists to make its shares go up. And every time you watch, you help.

But it's not just ABC. It's ALL OF THEM.

We have to break the law in order to save it.

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday.

Invoking the two legal waivers – which Congress authorized – will cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267 miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about it.

More below the fold...

Great minds discuss ideas.
Average minds discuss events.
Small minds discuss people.

-Eleanor Roosevelt

I submit the following two part argument.

If you haven't heard, there have been protests in Tibet the last few days marking the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising. These are some of the biggest demonstrations the country's seen since the 1980s. The Chinese government has clamped down hard.

Two news reports and two action items below the fold.

I saw a comment this morning with 18 recommends and 17 donuts. If that doesn't symbolize Daily Kos right now, I don't know what does.

I'm not worried, though. I think it makes a whole hell of a lot of sense, actually. It's not that there's something wrong with the community. No, the community is reacting to this election exactly as should be expected.

So rather than rail against the division and nastiness, I've compiled a list of explanations.

Don't like candidate diaries? Read something else then.

Everyone has their own reasons for supporting Obama, but here are mine. I was skeptical about him for a long time but I came around a few months ago. He appeals to my senses of idealism, cynicism, desperation and anger all at the same time. As a millennial, I've grown up watching hideous, bitter partisan deadlock, rampant during the Clinton years and now so much worse under Bush. But somehow I still picked up ideals and taught myself to try hard even when others tell me it's pointless.

As I read arguments against him from destructive cynics cracking snide phrases like "hopeful hopiness", I'm reminded of all the times I tried to hand someone a flier and they refused it or sneered at me. Yeah, fuck you, too, dude. But I didn't give up, I grew thicker skin, and now for the first time it looks like there's a chance help might be on the way. Tuesday is the first election I'm actually looking forward to voting in. I wasn't expecting this. As late as three months ago, I thought I'd merely be casting a vote against somebody.

1.19.09, you're invited. I know a lot of people are already celebrating on Inauguration Day (1.20) but that's only a half day of Bush in office (weak!). His last full day is 1.19, so really, if we want to show our appreciation for the man and his genius, we owe him the justice of doing it the day before. And then that way when it's Inauguration Day, we're already in celebration mode. But hey, since the 19th is a Monday, we should really just make it a whole weekend. That's what I'm going to do, at least - a Friday-Tuesday thing. That should be enough time to pay tribute to his legacy.

Have you seen this man lately?

Of course you have --- "straw man" arguments have completely taken over Daily Kos! If you're not familiar with the term, a straw man is "an argument or opponent set up so as to be easily refuted or defeated." In other words, it's when instead of honestly debating something, one party misrepresents the opponent's argument and defeats that instead of engaging the true representation of the opponent's argument.

Before I start, some standard dislaimers... I'm not a Ron Paul fan. I wouldn't vote for him. I don't like his policy positions. I find some of the stuff he's said extremely offensive. However, I like his campaign for its peoplepowered-ness and creativity. Despite being on the Republican side, their organization perfectly exemplifies how insurgent campaigns can use the Tubes to level the playing field.

Thursday, he took 10% in Iowa. It wasn't the 3rd place finish the pundits were looking for, but he smoked Giuliani and was very close to McCain and Thompson. Yet...

[...] The press also did its best to black out Ron Paul. Though CNN's pie chart of the Democratic candidates dutifully recorded Bill Richardson's fractional crumb of support, its pie chart of Republican candidates carefully shut out Paul's 10 per cent, a respectable performance for an anti-war candidate running in a pro-war party.

In a stunning move sure to shake up Capitol Hill, yesterday the Jedi Council voted unanimously to endorse the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The text of the resolution accuses the unpopular leaders of torture, illegal domestic spying and repeatedly lying in order to start an unnecessary war.

Jedi Master Yoda did not rule out the possibility that he might use the Force to put impeachment on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s table.

"Against the Constitution serious crimes committed have been," he told reporters. "Impeach we must!"

Full disclosure: If Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, I’m an undecided voter.

Does this mean I have to go???

I’ve done voter registration, voter education, and get out the vote for Dems and Dem-sponsored initiatives in previous elections. I was a loyal, active member of UCSB Campus Democrats for my whole time in college, including as an officer during my senior year. I’ve convinced a great many people to open their minds and rethink the old GOP propaganda about the Democratic Party. I’ve posted here often and come to love this community dearly --- it’s one of the things that kept me going through these dark ages we call the Bush years.

So when the top of the reclist tells me I shouldn’t voice my opinion about what I think the Democratic Party should stand for, that if I won’t accept a certain person as the nominee of this party I’ve worked my ass off to help that I "don’t belong here," it royallllllllly pisses me off.

h/t to Mike Connery at Future Majority

There was an article in Sunday's Washington Post that accused young people of not knowing much about politics, not caring much, being too cynical, you know... all the usual scolding. There are grains of truth to it, of course, but the overall argument is simply BS. Admittedly, I say a lot of the same stuff sometimes, but always with the implied asterisk that there's a growing movement composed of beautiful, beautiful exceptions.

To a large degree, we are a cynical bunch. And on the whole, it's true, we don't hit the streets to protest very much. And yeah, there are definitely a lot of idiots in our ranks. But all those things can be said of any generation. It's not fair to single us out for what's really a much, much broader problem.

Please forward to students. The U.S. Campaign for Burma is organizing a day of action for this Friday. Here's the description:

We are asking every student in the country to organize their campus this Friday, October 5th in support of the people of Burma!

Wear a red shirt, organize speakers, booths with information, concerts- whatever you want this Friday to show support for the half a million peaceful protesters in Burma (Myanmar), a country in Southeast Asia ruled by a ruthless military regime. Burma’s monks, who wear red and maroon colored robes, have led the protests this past week.

The military has responded by massacring hundreds of monks and civilians, as well as brutally torturing and arresting them. With the monks being killed and detained, the students in Burma are standing up now to lead the fight.

Speak out to stop the massacre! We are asking you to wear red to demonstrate that students everywhere care about the situation in Burma.

What if, in congressional district X, a core of organizers start recruiting for a general strike to occur when a certain number of people have signed a pledge to participate? Say, 100,000. When 100,000 people sign, the date is set for a week later, giving people time to prepare and to recruit even more strikers and to plan events (flashmobs, informal rallies, vigils, concerts, whatever other meetups).

The early waves of recruiting could be focused online using social networking websites, blogs and email. The idea would be to make enough online buzz that offline word of mouth would take over at some point. Providing an email address should be part of the pledge so information can be distributed quickly and directly. For example, a weekly email update on how many people have committed would useful.

Action Diary Rescue is a weekly roundup of activism opportunities for anyone looking to make the easy jump from blogger to doer, highlighting the efforts of other Kossacks to mobilize. This is the sixth installment. If you run out of stuff to do with this one, check out last week's edition; many of the actions outlined there are still current enough to make an impact. Thanks and hugs to everyone who does something.

This week's featured actions:

Amnesty International petition for Darfur (h/t Atomchik).

Care2 petition calling on presidential candidates to forget the posturing for a minute and commit to a world free of nuclear weapons.

Avaaz petition to show solidarity with protesters in Burma.

This is the 5th installment of Action Diary Rescue, a roundup of action-oriented diaries by Kossacks and other random actions I've stumbled across. Please add more in the comments.

For the featured action this week, most of us are familiar with the Jena Six, a group of young African Americans facing prison time for daring to defend themselves against racism. Tomorrow, thousands of people all over the country will be wearing black and/or green to show solidarity with thousands of others who will be protesting in Jena.

More activisty goodness below the fold.

This is the fourth edition of Action Diary Rescue, a roundup of action-oriented diaries by Kossacks from the last ...  since the last one. Sorry this one’s so late, I just moved (trading Isla Vista for San Diego) and was on a road trip for a week (Sierras = awesome). I’m going to try to get on a regular schedule of releasing them Tuesday nights starting next week, so keep an eye out if you like what you see.

Featured action:

Diarist pat208 covers TNT’s decision to continue airing Law and Order episodes with (finally announced) GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson and provides contact info (phone, email and snail mail) for TNT and Time Warner. The (few) comments in the diary were surprisingly unsupportive and only one indicated taking action. C’mon, we can do better than that, Kossacks.

Many more delicious activism opportunities below the fold, with a whole section of antiwar stuff...