Kentucky Summer

Since our senior Kentucky senator, Mitch McConnell, became Senate Majority Leader, the whole world has discovered what we knew here in the Bluegrass for two decades--he's the ultimate Republican rubber stamp. Despite his massive campaign war chest, Mitch has become the target of outraged activists who are ready to expose his blatant disregard for will of the people, and is now drawing a challenge from Attorney General Greg Stumbo, who is organizing an exploratory committee (not that Stumbo is baggage-free, but he's got the name-rec to command some big money). As part of the Americans Against Escalation in Iraq's "Iraq Summer" campaign, folks were camped out at Mitch's house in Louisville over the weekend, as documented over at DitchMitch.com. It's all working up at a national "Take a Stand Day," scheduled for August 28. Learn more here.

New film for anti-war organizing

The Media Education Foundation's new documentary, War Made Easy, premiers in a couple of weeks. Based on Norman Solomon's 2005 book by the same name, War Made Easy provides a video history of the ways in which presidents and pundits have sold America on war throughout recent history, and how the media has happily tagged along. The producers are hoping that activists will use the film to organizing screenings as a launching pad for new anti-war activities. I ordered my copy just now.

Purplenecks

Todd and I started this blog two years ago this month as a way to vent our fury over the Iraq War, and to give voice to a seemingly long-forgotten segment of the American electorate--Southern progressives. Bob Moser over at the Nation shows how under the leadership of Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee's "50-State Strategy" is meant to rebuild not just the "solid South" but to create a meaningful capacity for progressives to win elections even in notoriously red states, and so far it's working--that is, if the Democratic party insiders don't eviscerate the strategy. Whole thing here.

Blogs to Watch

Jen over at Little Lost Country has a great speech about why you should watch CSPAN even when it's a bit dull. It's no surprise that my favorite blog Huffington Post is plugging the debate big time. Over at The Smirking Chimp they point out that blogger Bob Geiger broke the story of the filibuster yesterday. And Air America is taking credit for the whole thing.

And, um, am I the only one expecting Lieberman's face to split open and a crab person to emerge and take over the Senate?

Our Message to Republican Filibusterers

Background on Filibusters

While I try to find the USB cable for the camera, let me post this email correction from my friend John Stewart, who served on Hubert Humphrey's staff and is quite the progressive political veteran:

"Todd: Actually it’s 3/5ths (60 votes) not 2/3rds (67 votes). It used to be 67 votes and it was in 1964 when we broke the Southern Democratic filibuster against the Civil Rights bill. But Rule 22, that governs the cloture process, was changed in 1976 (I believe) and now it’s 3/5ths. Your idea of a slumber party for peace is terrific. We will check it out. Cheers, JohnS

P.S. These all night sessions almost never work because the filibusterers have to keep only a couple of senators on the floor talking, but the other side has to produce 51 senators when there is a quorum call to keep the Senate from adjourning due to the absence of a quorum. That is, all the pressure is on the good guys and it is very difficult to keep them within reach on quorum calls. LBJ, as majority leader, tried all night sessions in 1960 during a civil rights debate and failed miserably. It will be interesting to see how Harry Reid does 37 years later. JGS"

Welcome to the Slumber Party!

It's been a long time since I've posted here, but the excitement over tonight's filibuster got me off the couch. It looks like the Levin/Reed ammendment might have a chance, forcing Bush to get most of our troops home by April '08.

My family and I decided to stay up late to watch it all on CSPAN. Actually, I decided, but the kids were sent off to bed just now by the Chainman of the Board, my wife Karen. But not before we shot a photo of the family holding a "Slumber Party for Peace" sig. I'm planning to send a link to the pic to Alexander and Corker, who have just voted No in the first of probably several votes tonight.

We've heard some good speeches, including my favorite for righteous indignation by Senator Mikulki of Maryland, and the most persuasive so far (in my opinion) from New York's Senator Schumer. Check Think Progress for live blog coverage of the floor votes, and check back here if you stay up late.

Oh, and leave a comment.