1/31/09

Class War coming to neighborhood near you?

How the heck can we fight for a better America in this very real class war when the evil and criminal CEO masterminds of America's failure turn tail and run like the weak-kneed American breed of foolish elitists that they are?

Don't they understand that there are going to be less and less places on this earth where they can hide? And if they find somewhere new to hide? We will take it to them there.

We are not amused by their actions.

The 1 percenters of the world, and their hired yes men, are so far removed from reality and will never get it until they are kicked around for real. They cause all of the problems and reap windfall profits from it. And playing on the other side of the street on TV for a week will never teach them what it is like to look at a child as a poor parent, a child wanting and needing just the basics in life. And knowing that child will not get that, the most basics, which, just as every other human being, they have a right to.

Food.
There is a hidden epidemic in the United States. All over this country it is striking Americans of every age group and ethnicity, whether they live in cities or rural areas. And so, despite the diversity of targets, those suffering in this silent epidemic have two things in common: they are poor or low-income, and they are increasingly going without enough food. Although politicians talk about “poverty in America,” decision-makers avoid specifically mentioning the growing, and often deadly problem of hunger. George McGovern said in 1972, “To admit the existence of hunger in America is to confess that we have failed in meeting the most sensitive and painful of human needs. To admit the existence of widespread hunger is to cast doubt on the efficacy of our whole system.” Three decades later, evidence indicates that the existing system is failing a vast number of Americans. This Fact Sheet documents the epidemic.
A home.
Although single men constitute about sixty percent of the homeless population, families constitute about one third of all homeless and are the fastest-growing group of homeless. The homeless elderly will also be an important group as America ages in the next decades (Rosenheck, Bassuk, and Salomon*; Burt, Aron, and Lee*). Although about seventy percent of the homeless live in central cities, rural homelessness is a hidden problem. The rural homeless are more likely to be families that are homeless for shorter periods of time, often as a result of domestic violence (Singleton et al.*). One of the hardest groups to reach, however, is the one fourth of homeless who have been homeless for at least five years (Burt*).
Some basic medical help when they are sick.

Dodd and Larson Get an Earful on Healthcare

Via Mark Pazniokas of the Hartford Courant, 675 angry and frustrated people showed up to this healthcare forum at Goodwin College:

On the first day of a listening tour on health care, an issue pivotal to the new Congress and his own re-election, U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd got an earful Friday.

The first comment came from a furious homeless shelter manager: He and his clients have no coverage, yet insurance giant American International Group got an $85 billion federal loan.

Over 90 minutes, the Democratic senator heard from a string of constituents, who waved their hands, hoping for a chance to describe a struggle to hang onto middle-class lives after losing jobs and affordable health care. A few were angry, others just scared.

On the way out, Dodd embraced one woman who burst into tears as she described losing health coverage for her disabled 2-year-old. Dodd held her until she stopped sobbing.

Dodd says that Tom Daschle, Obama's pick to guide healthcare reform, will be coming to Connecticut to discuss the issue. I say that they better be prepared to get another earful because the incremental changes being proposed will not answer the massive problems we are facing.

Problems like this:

"[the forum] included the president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a reassuring signal to Connecticut's insurance industry."

Yep! Dodd and Larson think that these people are supposed to be our allies on this issue.

MA regulators: Did Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Partners HealthCare collude to fix prices and raise rates 75%?

Partners, insurer under scrutiny

Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation into whether the state's largest health insurance company and its largest healthcare provider may have illegally colluded to increase the price of health insurance statewide over the last nine years, according to several legal and government sources.

The attorney general sent formal demands for information to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Partners HealthCare late last week, the sources say, calling for a detailed account of their contract negotiations in recent years.

Since 2000, Blue Cross has boosted the rate it pays for medical care by Partners doctors and hospitals by 75 percent, dramatically more than the increases given to most other Massachusetts hospitals. Blue Cross now pays $2 billion a year to Partners, parent company of Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals.

Why do we put up with this?

I don't want these insurance industries' input into my healthcare in any way, shape or form. This is the kind of health care the insurance giants have provided us thus far:



H/t nyceve for the video, where I encourage you to go read the entire piece and watch all the videos:

We all know that during the Bush regime, American citizens never saw the coffins of our fallen heroes coming back from Iraq.

Americans are also shielded from the brutal ugliness of our collapsed healthcare system. The traditional media is ill-informed (what else is new?), and rarely, if ever, give us frank and candid reporting about the grotesque realities of the U.S. healthcare catastrophe. So the BBC picks up the slack.

One last quote from Dodd:

"I hear people talking about a single-payer plan and the like," Dodd said. "That isn't going to happen. It's going to be a combination of public, private."

Why might Dodd hold the view of "hearing" what we are saying but not listening?

Jackie M. Clegg Dodd serves on the board of health care, pharmaceutical, and financial services companies.

Here's a list:

Director , Brookdale Senior Living Incorporated
Brentwood , TN
Sector: HEALTHCARE / Long-Term Care Facilities

Director , Cardiome Pharma Corporation
Vancouver, B.C. , CN
Sector: HEALTHCARE / Drug Manufacturers

Director , CME Group, Incorporated
Chicago , IL
Sector: FINANCIAL / Diversified Investments

Director , Javelin Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated
Cambridge , MA
Sector: HEALTHCARE / Drug Manufacturers

Through these directorships she's earned more than $1 million for the Dodd family.

You want to stay in Congress with these kinds of answers, Senator Dodd?

"That isn't going to happen."

Not only will all of you hear us, but you will start to listen...


Are you starting to get the picture concerning exactly what we are up against? And it goes beyond just the little people that are really losing this war.
As the one percent of the planet that holds the preponderance of wealth and the other 99% of the planet wake up to the fact that we ARE in a Class War, things are about to get interesting. Especially IF the 99% wake up to the fact that the 1% is killing the planet we all share ...unnecessarily... just so that they can make even more money.

As if money will save them.

1/30/09

McConnell Exits Stage Right...

When he says this:
"We're all concerned about the fact that the very wealthy and the very poor, the most and least educated, and a majority of minority voters, seem to have more or less stopped paying attention to us. And we should be concerned that, as a result of all this, the Republican Party seems to be slipping into a position of being more of a regional party than a national one," McConnell told the gathering.
And this is part of why you are not only a regional party, now, but your regional party is in serious jeopardy of becoming the 3rd party in this two party country. A country that no longer needs nor wants neoconservatives, far right wing authoritarians, obstructionists, childish name calling mud slingers, warmongers, haters, the criminals and the corrupt. We are done with all of the epic failures and political theatrics that the GOP brings to the political stage.

The problem is not that people stopped listening to you.

It is that they started listening to what you say and comparing it to what you do. And it is because they started looking at those actions and matched them up to the actual results that they are living through right now.

The real problem with your party is that people actually started paying attention. And it will continue to be the problem with the GOP as long as the the GOP continues to do what they have already done before. And, so far, they are.

Take a bow Mitch McConnell...

This could very well be the GOP's final curtain call on the national stage. And you, Mitch McConnell, had a grand part in it all...

[update] The Existentialist Cowboy gives a great rundown of some of the many reasons for the GOP's problems. But, as you can see, the GOP just does not get it..

An Economically Created Health Care Disaster

And your state is sure to be suffering:

Medicaid rolls are surging, by unprecedented rates in some states, as the recession tightens its grip on the economy and Americans lose their employer-sponsored health coverage along with their jobs.” In many states, Medicaid rolls grew by 5 to 10 percent in the last year, often double the growth the previous year. Congress is likely to extend Medicaid aid to states in the upcoming stimulus package.
And, as early as March, Obama will be moving forward on health care reform, according to the Politico:
The move signals Obama’s intent to keep one of the most ambitious and politically crucial campaign promises at the top of his agenda. On the campaign trail, Obama pledged to provide universal health care by the end of his first term, but the severity of the economic downturn has raised doubts about how quickly he can deliver on that promise. Obama and his point person on health care, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, have staffed up like they plan to push forward with it, lining up a roster of communications and policy strategists to assist in the effort.
I wrote last week on a Tom Daschle statement that could be taken as a signal of which way Obama wants him to go:
Be still my single payer heart...

Via DCblogger at Corrente and emphasis mine:

Mercury News
Daschle, the point man for Obama's campaign to revamp the health care system, supports the concept of "a government-run insurance program modeled after Medicare." It would, he says, give consumers, especially the uninsured, an alternative to commercial insurance offered by companies like Aetna, Humana and WellPoint.

But the proposal is anathema to many insurers, employers and Republicans. They say the government plan would have unfair advantages, like the ability to impose lower fees, and could eventually attract so many customers that private insurers would be driven from the market. "The public plan option is a terrible idea — one of our top concerns in the health reform debate," said James Gelfand, senior manager of health policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Why would employers object to a public plan that would be better and cheaper for their workers?
Here, not only do we have the right wing Chamber of Commerce health care Czar telling you flat out that the for profit health care providers can not compete in a free market with Medicare, a government run single payer program... But the fact that it starts with a Tom Daschle hint of things to come that damn near made me have a heart attack.
If this is the starting point of the health care debate than it is already over... (And, for a change of pace from the last 8 years, America wins!)
Anok, over at identitycheck, expanded on what this looked like to herself. And President Obama has this up at the White House website:
HEALTH CARE

On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes -- government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe both of these extremes are wrong, and that’s why they’ve proposed a plan that strengthens employer coverage, makes insurance companies accountable and ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference.

The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing health care system, and uses existing providers, doctors, and plans. Under the Obama-Biden plan, patients will be able to make health care decisions with their doctors, instead of being blocked by insurance company bureaucrats.

Under the plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much as $2,500 per year. If you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options.

Make Health Insurance Work for People and Businesses -- Not Just Insurance and Drug Companies.


  • Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.

  • Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees.

  • Lower costs for businesses by covering a portion of the catastrophic health costs they pay in return for lower premiums for employees.

  • Prevent insurers from overcharging doctors for their malpractice insurance and invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.

  • Make employer contributions more fair by requiring large employers that do not offer coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of their employees' health care.

  • Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health coverage.

  • Ensure everyone who needs it will receive a tax credit for their premiums.

Reduce Costs and Save a Typical American Family up to $2,500 as reforms phase in:

  • Lower drug costs by allowing the importation of safe medicines from other developed countries, increasing the use of generic drugs in public programs, and taking on drug companies that block cheaper generic medicines from the market.

  • Require hospitals to collect and report health care cost and quality data.

  • Reduce the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees.

  • Reform the insurance market to increase competition by taking on anticompetitive activity that drives up prices without improving quality of care.

The Obama-Biden plan will promote public health. It will require coverage of preventive services, including cancer screenings, and increase state and local preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

A Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility: Barack Obama will pay for his $50 - $65 billion health care reform effort by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year and retaining the estate tax at its 2009 level.

In the boldly reddened part the key part of the plan is the opening up of the plan available to Congress members. The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) offers many different choices for people that all include prescription drug benefits. While wildly varying in co-pay costs depending on the plan, the FEHBP offers no savings over a plan such a Medicare.

Another problem is the fact that NOWHERE does Obama's plan address the serious issues with private plans that create "Death by Spreadsheet", clearly the most immoral aspect of private plans.


  • No indication of how they would address insurance workers being paid bonuses for depriving clients - patients - of services that they have paid for in their premiums. Some have suffered for long periods of time battling for their rightful services to be paid for. Other people have died under these scenarios. That is a fact.

  • No indication of addressing caps on services - either over single delivery of a service, a short period of time (a month? a year?) or over a lifetime. I.E.: Last year I had some dental surgery done. That one procedure maxed out my benefits allotted for the year for surgical procedures. I have had to wait for January to roll around in order to schedule work that I needed done because I could not afford the costs out of pocket above the severely low maximum.
Similar problems are seen in all private plans.
A "maximum annual cap" on a health insurance policy is actually the total amount that the insurer will pay during a year. If you see this on your policy benefits sheet, you'll want to pay attention; a low maximum annual cap makes the policy nearly worthless. After all, the idea of insurance is to protect someone from high medical costs.
The black ink in the ledgers is being balanced by the red blood of those that die in the name of profitability.

I discussed Daschle's previous statement that would, IMHO, begin the end of private health plans that prey on its victims through their various uses of "Death by Spreadsheet." It is the long road plan to single payer and will expose the fact that the for-profit plans can not compete on a level playing field with any single payer program in the free market. The far right wing knows this and, considering the fact that 65% of Americans want single payer health care, the rest of America knows this as well.

Sixty-five percent of those polled said the United States should adopt universal health insurance that covers everyone under a program such as Medicare that is run by the government and financed by taxpayers. Fifty-four percent went where politicians dare not tread, saying they supported a "single-payer" health system whereby all Americans would get their health coverage from a single government plan financed by taxpayers.
To be clear, Medicare is a form of a single payer program.

But the republicans have so polluted discourse on this subject in the past that some Americans think that Single Payer is socialist. A blatant lie that the majority has seen through as they became better educated on this issue. Hell... There is even a Republican group for single payer, now. That is how mainstream this demand is becoming.

Via DCBlogger at Corrente, America has changed a lot in the last few years:

Let me explain where we are right now, it is like 1989 in Moscow. Glasnost is in effect, the old regime has lost what ever legitimacy it ever had and ordinary people are losing their fear. It still looks very formidable, but it is about to crumble.

That is where we are with health care. Everyone is still refighting 1994 without noticing that the entire political landscape has shifted. We didn't have anything like HealthCare-Now, Physicians for a National Health Plan, or California Nurses in 1994. We didn't have a National Day of Action with picketing in cities across the country. Single payer activists are playing the same role dissidents played in the fall of the Soviet Union. We are saying the unsayable and we keep saying it until it becomes obvious.

Specifically how do we get a bill passed? Given our support in the House of Representatives, I am confident that we can get a bill to pass. So how do we win the Senate? Well, to switch historical analogies, we need a Republican Senator to play de Klerk to Conyers Mandela. Someone needs to break ranks, and if we maintain pressure, someone will do so.

Which Republican Senators do you think we have the best shot of winning over?

The people want single payer and we need a strategy on how we can go about getting them one or two Republican Senators to support a plan like H.R. 676. The most popular single payer health care solution and one that will be a direct route to the holy grail of health care and eliminating the need to wait for the free market to prove what everyone already knows and aknowledges on all sides, as evident even by the other sides arguments.

It is all the cover the Democratic party needs to pass single payer and that is what it may come down to if we want to get what we deserve.

Which Republican Senator is really bi-partisan or, at least, bi-partisan enough to walk away from the insurance company Astroturf groups and the far right wing corporatists to support what the vast majority of Americans want and really do need if we are going to weather the shitpile created economic shitstorm?

Arlen Specter and the women on the Republican side of the aisle have shown a more reasonable record of supporting women's rights issues (Equal Pay - Pro-Choice) in the recent and distant past. Is it possible to exploit this for our important issue? I honestly don't know if the statistics of women's support for single payer would make this a feasible avenue to explore?

A good healthy portion of the information linked here is unashamedly and liberally taken from Corrente, though, this piece is written/assembled by myself (blockquoted text excepted) for my Blog and to share in ePpluribus Media's ongoing health care discussions - I believe that Corrente deserves a lot of props for the great work they are doing FOR YOU right now. You could thank them by financially supporting their efforts. Or even just stopping by their site and saying thanks. We need to kick the tires on all of the proposed health care solutions so we know what, exactly, they are trying to sell us.

Previous ePluribus Media pieces:

by Carol White:


  1. An Addition to the Discussion on Health Care Coverage

by Connecticut Man1:

  1. Be Still My Single Payer Heart

  2. How do you know Obama's health plan is bad for YOU?, Tue, 01/13/2009

  3. All That I Want..., Wed, 12/24/2008

  4. Single Payer Health Care Would Help Auto Industry, Tue, 11/18/2008

And a MUST-MUST read by DrSteveB:

  1. The Most Complete & Honest Comparison of Health Proposals...so far, Tue, 01/13/2009


[ed note] 1. 12:44 A.M. Jan. 23rd, 2009 - Extensive edits from the White House information on down to the end. 2. 4:32 P.M. Jan. 30th, 2009 Bumped to the top for more views - originally written 1/22/09 2:05 PM. CM1

Note to Jim Amann

Up is not down...

Via ctblogger at MLN, Jim Amann appears to be a slow learner:
Jim Amann on supporters of Ned Lamont August 2006:
"Shame on all of us if we allow a shrieking minority to hijack the primary."
Amann today:
"That's all in the past. During this campaign, I have met many supporters of Ned Lamont who now support us."

As ctkeith notes in the diary:
"Jim Amann, like George W Bush, Makes his own Reality"


The Jim Amann for Governor 2010 campaign song:



Just come back where I came from,
Looks the same as something's wrong.
And all my friends that used to be,
Have gone and turned their backs on me.
Everyone's got different views,
Now I'm all shook up and all confused.

East is West, left is right,
Up is down, and black is white,
Inside-out, wrong is right,
It's back to front and I'm all uptight.

I've just come back from fantasy,
Right back to reality.
Stayed away too long but now I've found,
My world is turning upside-down.
I don't fit in but I don't stand out,
I should stay cool but want to shout.

East is West, left is right,
Up is down, and black is white,
Inside-out, wrong is right,
It's back to front and I'm all uptight.

No one knows where I come from,
(Who the hell are you and what do you want?)
You've thrown away all that we had,
It's down the drain, it's all gone mad.
The word is out, I've seen the sign,
So you go your way, I go mine.

East is West, left is right,
Up is down, and black is white,
Inside-out, wrong is right,
It's back to front and I'm all uptight.
East is West, left is right,
Up is down, and black is white,
Inside-out, wrong is right,
It's back to front and I'm all uptight (alright).
It's back to front and I'm all uptight (alright, alright, alright, alright).

Are you listening?
(NO!)
Well then, I'll have to do it all over again!


The Kinks, Back to Front

1/29/09

I just stole from Blue Gal...

And I feel B.A.D. about it.


I wonder how long it will be before she notices that I did a panty raid while I was there?

B.A.D Blogger... Very B.A.D. Blogger.
this upcoming weekend we will be celebrating the second anniversary of blogroll amnesty & blogroll bloodbath anniversary remembrance day!

this year our partner in this endeavor, jon swift, will join us in celebrating this blogtopian-wide holiday all next weekend beginning on saturday.

update: we will officially start on saturday, jan. 31. the original blogroll amnesty day is february 3, but we're calling for a four-day weekend! huzzah!

as you may remember, the modus operandus of blogroll amnesty day is to link to 5 blogs smaller than your own, thus introducing your readers to new voices.

and may we stop all the stupid jokes right here, right now: yes, there are blogs smaller than yours, no matter who you are.

mas update: ok, so we can't even stop the jokes before they start. ergo, we will ammend the parameters: if you really don't believe there are blogs smaller than yours, then in lieu of making the stupid joke that there aren't any, ha ha, please link to five blogs with traffic equivalent to yours (or in the same ball park). as long as they represent new voices (new to your readers, at least), you will have satisfied the requirement. just please don't do the stupid joke!!
The moral of the story? Link up, link sideways, link down... And never trust a guy like me anywhere near your knickers...

[update] Other Blogs that participated in B.A.D.:

BLKDGRD
Reconstitution 2.0
Mahatma X Files
Peace Arena
Just an Earth-Bound Misfit
Corrente
Simply Left Behind
Outta the Cornfield
Mock Paper Scissors
Vagabond Scholar
Blue Herald
Drinking Liberally in New Milford
Virtuous Skeptic
Cheyanne's Campsite
A Blog Around the Clock
Tangled Up in Blue Guy
The Hackenblog
WTF Is It Now?
Ornery Bastard
Moue Magazine
Newshoggers
Readin
distributorcap ny
Talking Dog
Welcome Back to Pottersville
Rip Coco
Comrade PhysioProf
Mike the Mad Biologist
Rotus
Chuck for...
The BoBo Files
William K. Wolfrum
From Pine View Farm
That's Why
Clark's Picks
TwoTonGreenBlog
The Aristocrats
Darkblack
Life's Journey
Just My Little Piece of the World
Kiko's House
That's Right Nate
Politickybitch
Kittywampus
Slobber and Spittle
Upper Left
Saying Nothing Charmingly
Carolina Naturally
NYC Educator
Barking Rabbits
Bark Bark Woof Woof
I'll Never Forget the Day I Read a Book!
Third Estate Sunday Review
Thrilling Days of Yesteryear
Rawrahs
Thorne's World
Madam Miaow Says...
Right Wing Wiz Kid
The Great Endarkenment
Brilliant at Breakfast
At Home with Books
Graphic Truth
ThePoliticalCat
Zen Yenta
Stop the Press!
Ramblings
Brass and Ivory
Capitol Annex
Mahablog
Liberal Values
Miriam's Ideas
Watergate Summer
Steve Audio
Rubber Hose
J-TWO-O
Greg Laden
Pushing Rope
Badtux the Snarky Penguin
Mikeb302000
Pajama Pundit
Media Bloodhound
Some of Nothing
Liberty Street
Foma
Tin, Steel and Rust
Crooks & Liars
Onyx Lynx
Diary of a Heretic
Southern Fried Science
Scriptoids
Lost in the Ozone
Phil Nugent Experience
Jobsanger
Liberal Journal
Meta Watershed
When Will I Use This?
Divided We Stand, United We Fall
Scribble City Journal
Zaius Nation
Oooh, Hecky Nawl; That Guhl is Raw
Bifurcate in the Road
Left in Alabama
Buzz Twang
The Moderate Voice
Thinking Outside
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Asian Conservatives
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My Saturday Evening Post
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Evil Mommy
The Impolitic
True Blue Texan
Drifting Through the Grift
The Quaker Agitator
Blogroll Amnesty Day Blog
Democratic Daily
Howard Empowered People
Ken Levine
Sciencewomen
Redlady's Reading Room
Social Seppuku
Slothropia
Evolving Complexity
That's Why
driftglass
Naked Opinions
Miss Cellania
Frieddogleg
The Reaction
Today's Sermonette
League of Ordinary Gentleman
Dinosaur Trader
Chawed Rosin
Wetmachine
Kirmalak
By Neddie Jingo
Johnny Pez
Republic of T
Sma' Talk Wi' T
Rob Singleton
yikes!
eTrilobite
American Street
The Garlic
Political Byline
Heresy Today
Evolving Complexity
Scientiae
GOPnot4me
Gone Like the Wind
Suzi Riot
Two Ton Green Blog
Over the Cliff, Onto the Rocks
Pushing Rope
Cookiesinheaven
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Inverse Square
Truth, Justice & Peace
News Hounds
Connecting.the.Dots
Unspeak
Bug Girl's Blog
Indigo Journal
Byzantium's Shores
Balloon Juice

Link Madness

[update, February 28, 2009] Just re-reposting these links to get a new edge on the right:

Just a major tip of the hat to the left side of the Blogosphere with a free link out to your site to end this political silly season. I gacked them from blogrolls of many of my favourite sites. There is a good chance that this could be viewed as an annoyance to some. But this is what it is all about... Hope it helps your rank on the search engines at this critical time of the election campaign!

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- Nutmeg Grater
- Saramerica
- Students for Lamont
- Spazeboy
- Without A Purpose
- Yale Democrats

CT Campaigns
- Ned Lamont
- Chris Murphy (CT-05)
- Joe Courtney (CT-02)
- Diane Farrell (CT-04)
- John DeStefano (Gov)
- Dan Malloy (Gov)

CT Sites
- Caucus of CT Dems
- Clean Up CT
- CT Citizen Action Group
- CT For Lieberman
- DeStefano for Gov
- Dump Joe
- Judith Blei Government Relations
- Lamont Resource (unofficial)
- MLN Facebook Group

SoapBlox:
The Software Blog
MLW is a SoapBlox Blog!


The Albany Project

American Liberalism

AustinInfo

Below Boston

Blue Forests (WA)

Blue Hampshire

Blue Jersey:
SoapBlox NJ

Blue Mass Group

Blue Oklahoma

Burnt Orange Report

Calitics:
SoapBlox California

Colorado Confidential

Colorado Pols

Daily NFL

Fireside 14

Florida Politics

Florida Workforce Housing Network

Green Mountain Daily

The Howling Hex

Interestingness

LiberIL View

Mass Revolution Now!

Michigan Liberal

Muckraking Mom

My Left Nutmeg:
SoapBlox Connecticut

My Left Wing

Netroots Movement

OhioWatch

Pam's House Blend

Progressive Historians

Raising Kaine

Ringside Blast

SoapBlox Chicago

Square State: SoapBlox Colorado

Swords Crossed

Texas KAOS

Truth and Progress

USAbroad

WA's 36th District Dems


The SandBlox:
Test Drive SoapBlox,
Vanguard of Blogging

Daily Kos:
Front Page


Daily Kos:
Diaries Page


IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

Angry Black Bitch

ANTI-WAR.COM

Be-Think

The Bonddad Blog

Cage Prisoner

Frederick Clarkson

Maple Leaf Politics

The Musings of a New Millenium Nigga

Patterns That Connect
(Paul Rosenberg)

Progressive Wave

Stop the Drug War

The Strange Death of Liberal America

Stregoneria

Surf Putah (wu ming)

Maryscott's
MUST
READS:


SoapBlox:
Moving Blogs Forward

Baghdad Burning

The Blogging Curmudgeon

Booman Tribune

Culture Kitchen

The Daily Pulse

Kid Oakland

The Next Hurrah

DAVID PODVIN

RUDE PUNDIT

Stories in America


KIVA MicroFinance
~~~~~



There is another blogroll in the left column, y'know:
"Blogroll Part Deux" and "Other Interesting Sites."

BLOGS OF NOTE


2 Political Junkies

3rd Rail Thoughts

10,000 Monkeys &
A Camera

The 10,000 Things

Acephalous

Ad Nausea

Afterschool Snack

The Agitator

The Agonist

aintnoonesbusiness

Air America Links

akou: a blog by georgia

Alas, A Blog

Alliance Forums

Allies Of Evil

The Alna Erratic

Alternate Brain

American Agenda

American Liberalism Project

American Street

Amor Mundi

Angry Black Bitch

The Angry Buddhist

An Angry Yank in Kent

Ang's Weird Ideas

Annatopia

Annie's Annals

Anonymoses

The Anteater

The Anti-Sam

Anti-Wal
Mart Links

Apostate Windbag

Arblogger

are you effin' kidding me?

A View From A Broad

Banality Fair

BarBlog

Bartcop

Batemania 365

Beggars Can Be Choosers

bellatrys

Michael Berube

Be-Think

Better Bad News

Beyond Political Center

Big Brass Blog

Bildungblog

The Billboard Project

Billmon's
Whiskey Bar


Cantankerous Bitch

Capitol Annex

chandrasutra

Channeling Durrati

Chronic Campaign

C & J Cafe Blog

Clark Community Network:
Securing America

Clear Thinkers for Truth

Clusterfuck Nation

Code Pink

Coffee House Studio

Juan Cole

Collective Interest

Comments from Left Field

Complete Control

Joe Conason

Confined Space

Connecticut BLOG

Consider the Boot

Cooperative Research

David Corn

Counterpunch

Crimes & Corruptions
of the
New World Order

Crimethink

The Crolian Progressive

Crooked Timber

Crooks & Liars

Cuddlefish

Culture Kitchen

Curly Tales of War Pigs

Cut to the Chase

The Daily Background

The Daily Gotham (liza)

Daily Granola

Daily Howler

Daily Mendacity

Daily Moonbat

The Daily Pulse

dameocrat

The DCF News

DC Media Girl

D-Day

Dean's World

Debsweb

Defense Tech

Dem Bloggers

Democratic Underground

The DemoProtestant

The Digest of Opinions

Digital Media Tree

Disciples from the Left

Discuss It

Disenchanted Idealist

Disgusted in St. Louis

The Divided States of Bushmerika

Dog-gone Springs

Echidne of the Snakes
Eternal Hope

Econbrowser

Electronic Darwinism

Elko Underground

ePluribus Media

The End of the World

Enemy of the State

Eternal Hope

European Tribune

Evil Liberal

Explaining Liberal Principles

Expostulation

Faboo Mama

Fact or Myth

A Faerie's Farthing

Fafblog

Faithful Ohio

Far-Shooting Politics

Fatcat Politics

The Fat Lady Sings

Feminist Blogs

Feministe

Feministing

firedoglake

flatearthscience dot com

Flogging the Simian

FluWiki

folkbum's Rambles & Rants

Frameshop

Frederick Clarkson

Freedom's Fire

Freeway Blogger

The Fringe Element

Fuzzy & Blue

The Gaelic Starover

The Galloping Beaver

George W. Bush:
The Officious Forum

Georgia10

Gideon Starorzewski

Steve Gilliard's The News Blog

Global Media Insight

Gordon Coale

The Gore Portal

Grassroots Democrats

Grassroots for Gore

Grateful Dread

Gray Does Matter

Greater Democracy

Hammer of the Blogs

Happening Here?

Bob Harris

Heathbar's Crunch

The Heretik

herodotus jr

Historical Footnotes

History News Network

Hoffmania

The Hollywood Liberal

Hotline's Blogometer

Howard Empowered People

Hullabaloo (Digby)

Humanist News Network

Hypnocrites

I Blame the Patriarchy

I Can't Believe It's Not A Democracy!

If Then Knots

Ilyka Damen

Impeach Bush Coalition



The Impeach Project

Impolitical

In An Alternative Universe

In Flight

Information Clearinghouse

Informed Dissent

In Search of Utopia

Inside Truth

Interesting Times

Intrepid Liberal Journal

It's Intuitively Obvious

Molly Ivins

Jaded Reality

Jesus's General

Jon Swift

Journeys with Jood

Kankakee Kindling

Kid Oakland

The Kentucky Democrat

Kiko's House

Mark A. R. Kleiman

Lassiter Space

Last Left Turn
Before Hooterville

La Tejedora

lawnorder

Lawyers, Guns & Money

Left Coast Breakdown

The Left End of the Dial

Left in the West

Le Speakeasy

Less People Less Idiots

Levity in Action

The Liberal Avenger

Liberal Common Sense

Liberal Catnip

A Liberal Dose

The Liberal Girl Next Door

Liberal Kudos Corner

Liberal Oasis

A Liberal Stance
On Politics

Liberal Street Fighter

Libertarian Common Sense

Liberty Street

Librocrats

Lindberg Web

Linkmeister

Little Wild Bouquet

Low & Left

Lyssa Strada

Mad Cow Morning News

Madeleine Begun Kane

Mad Melancholic Feminista

Magpie

Mahablog

Maine Women Authors & Progressive Politics

Main & Central

Mainstream Baptist

Majikthise

Making Conservatives Cringe
Since 1977

Maple Leaf Politics

Marisacat

Taylor Marsh

Matters of Spirit

Maxspeak

Mark Maynard

MCCS1977

Kate McKinnon
Meat Eating Leftist

Media Girl

Media Needle

Medulla Noodle

Mend It Don't End It

memeorandum

Mia Culpa

Michael Moore

Michigan Liberal

MigraMatters

Milhouse's Glasses

Mockingbird's Medley

The Modern Patriot

Moment of Triumph
(Grand Moff Texan)

Mongrel Cat

Moondancer Dreams

Moon of Alabama

The Moon's Favors

Moral Questions

Mushtown Media Corp.
(Tony Seybert)

Musing's Musings

The Musings of a New Millenium Nigga




MyDD

My Floating Worlds

My Right Wing

Mystery of the Haunted Vampire
(Carnacki)

My Three Cents

My Vote Is My Voice

Namaste

The Narcosphere

David Neiwert

Neocontext

New International Times
Nathan Newman

New Millenium Nigga

News Hog

News Hounds

News Rack Blog

New Worlds Blog

The Next Hurrah

The Next Left

Night Bird's Fountain

Norwegianity

NYCO's Blog

The Obfuscation Report

Oh Well

ok, Ok, OK ALREADY

Keith Olbermann

Old American Century

Oliver Willis

Omir the Storyteller

Online Blog Integrity

ONLINE INTEGRITY

On the Left Tip

Open Your Mind's Eye

Orange Gearl

The Osterley Times

Our Word

Out of Iraq NOW -- Act Blue Page

Outside the Beltway

Overseas Vote

Pacific Northwest Portal

The Pacific Tribune

Pacific Views

Pam's House Blend

Pandagon

Pandas Thumb

The Paper Tiger

Paperwight's Fair Shot

( ... parenthetically speaking)

¡Para Justicia y Libertad!

Pastor Dan

Patriot Daily:
Economic Class Warfare

Patterns That Connect
(Paul Rosenberg)

peace, order & good government, eh?

Peace Takes Courage

Pen and Sword

Penndit (Newsie8200)

The Pennsylvania Progressive

A Perfectly Cromulent Blog

Philobiblon

phronesisaical

The Pioneer Exchange

Planet Hilker

Plunderbund

DAVID PODVIN

POLITICAL CORTEX

Political Physics

Political Sapphire
(shanikka)

Political Strategy

Political Theatre Blog

Politics, Sex, Humor, Complete Dysfunction & Assorted Other Musings

politizine

Politology
(Tunesmith)

The Poor Man

Possumworld (lupin)

Press Is Sedated

Progressive Gold

Progressive Historians

Progressive Islam.org

Progressive Lyceum

Progressive Pols

Progressive Puritan

Progressive Society

Progressive Wave

Progress, Youth

The Psychotic Patriot

PTSD Combat (ilona)

Public Resistance

Pursuing Tzedek

The Quintessential Negro

Quizlaw

random_speak

Range Against War

Rational Disturbance

Raw Story

The Reaction Blog

The Real Religious Left

Reasonably Ascertainable Reality

ReBelle Nation

refinish69

Remove Republicans

Rhode Island Law Journal

Rigorous Intuition

Rittenhouse Review

Robyn's Perch

Rock and Roll Means Fuck

Rook's Rant

Rosee's Rest Stop

Rox Populi

RUDE PUNDIT

The Ruth Group

Sadly, No!

Sargasso

Sasha Undercover

The Satirical Political Report

Satiric Mutt>

Science & Politics

Schmoo On the Run

Schweitzer for President

Scrutiny Hooligans

Seeing the Forest

Semiquark

Sepia Mutiny

Neil Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Sister

Shabbat Shalom

Sideshow

siclik

The Sideshow
Sideways Mencken

Sirocco

Sisyphus Shrugged

Six Degrees of Aaron

skippy the bush kangaroo

Slant Truth

The Sleeper Cell

The Smack Dog Chronicles

Smashed Frog

Snafu Principle

Southpaw


Spiiderweb

Spittle and Ink

Spot-On

State of the Qusan

Station Charon
Steven Berlin Johnson
Stop John McCain 2008

Stop Me Before I Vote Again

Stop the Drug War

Stories in America

Straight Not Narrow

The Strange Death of Liberal America

Street Prophets

Stuffed Monkey's Lounge

Andrew Sullivan

Swing State Project

Suburban Guerilla

Swerve Left

Swords Crossed
Talking Points Memo
Talk to Action

teacherken

Tennessee Guerilla Women

Tequila Mas Fina

Texas Kos

That Colored Fella

There Is No Blog: Bending Left
Thomas Paine's Corner

Thong Speed

Those Bastards

Thought Theater

Thou Shalt Not Suck

Three Cents

Tikun Olam

Tim Wise Commentaries

Tom Paine

Too Stupid to Be President

Torture Awareness

Town Called Dobson

TPM Cafe

Truespeak

The Truffle

Truth, Justice & Peace

tsuredzuregusa

Turbodog Blog

Twisted Chick

Two Steps Left

Uggabugga

Unclaimed Territory
(Glenn Greenwald)

Uncorked / Medley

Under the Lobsterscope

Unfutz

Unpaid Punditry Corps

The Unrepentant Individual

Unscrewing the Inscrutable

Vast Left Wing Conspiracy

Voice For Change

Votescam

Waiting for Dorothy

Waiting for Vizzini

Wampum

Washblog

Washington Beltsider

Wash Park Prophet

Watching America

Wayne Madsen Report

Wee Hours

Welcome to Pottersville

What She Said!

The Whole American Hog

WHY ARE WE BACK IN IRAQ?

Wiz Bang
James Wolcott
Women's Autonomy...

Working Life

Working Title

World O' Crap

Worldwide Sawdust

Writer Ross

Writing On the Wal

WTF Is It Now?

YEARLY KOS

You Forgot Poland!

Zen of Eller



IRAQ & MILITARY BLOGGERS

CENTCOM - U.S. Central Command

Cigars in the Sand

Common Cause:
Eye On Iraq

A Family
In Baghdad

IAVA: Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans

IAVA Blog

Iraq Casualty List

Iraq Occupation Watch

I Should Have
Stayed Home

Lieutenant C

Major K

One Pissed Off Veteran

Range Against War

The Sergeant Major's
Thoughts On That

Soldiers for Truth

SOLDIERS PARADISE II

This Fucking War

Thunder 6


* Air America Radio

* Alcoholics Anonymous

* All Things Democrat

* All Things Motocross

* Aquarius Papers -- Astrology

* Art Crit

* The Art Experience

* Auld Manhattoe

* Award Speculation

* Awful Plastic Surgery

* Bane of Monotheism

* Lewis Black

* Blogebrity

* Brick Brick

* Buy Blue

* Capture the Clinton

* Chronic Babe

* Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

* Church Sign Generator

* Colbert Nation

* Comedy Central

* Current TV Blog

* Daily Kitten

* The Daily Show

* The Daily Zap

* DC Lagniappe

* despair.com

* Downing Street Memos

* Dynamics of Cats

* Egotastic

* The Far Manor

* Feminist Sex

* Gallery of the Absurd

* Give Me My Remote

* Go Fug Yourself

* Goldfish and Clowns

* Grassroots Democrats

* Grendel's Kitchen

* Hex-O-Gram.com

* The Holy Hand Grenade

* Hypersphere

* I Don't Like You In That Way

* Jack E. Jett

* Kate McKinnon

* Keith Boykin

* Lobal Warming

* Manolo Men

* Manolo's Shoe Blog

* Taylor Marsh

* Maxi the Marvelous Make-Up Artist

* Moby

* Michael Moore

The Onion

* PAJIBA***

* Parvum Opus

* Pink is the New Blog

* Pink Tea

* Pop Sugar

* Pretty on the Outside

* Remove Republicans

* Ringside Blast

* Rosenberg Radio on WJFK

* Secular Sobriety

* Shoutboy (audio)

* The Simon

* Slowly Going Bald

* A Socialite's Life

* Soulforce

* Subvert Society

* Television Without Pity

* Temple of Bush

* Theology & Geometry

* This Isn't Writing, It's Typing

* Thong Speed

* Torrey Pines Reflections

* Unitarian Universalist

* Village Blue

* Votescam

* Weber Blue

* White Trash Mom

* Zod for President 2008


* Air America Radio
* BBC
* Bloggermann
* Chicago Tribune
* HeroicStories
* Humanist News Network
* L.A. Times
* London Times
* N.Y. Times

* NewsHounds

* OpEdNews

* War Times

* Washington Post

Altercation | Conason | DailyKos | DonkeyRising | Eschaton | Gadflyer | JuanCole | JamesWolcott | Kausfiles | MattYglesias | NewDonkey | TNR | WashMonthly | WashingtonNote


European Tribune

THE TRAIL BLAZERS
Daily Kos
MyDD

FELLOW KOSSACKS
Billmon
DragonballYee
E Pluribus Media
Eat4Today
Kid Oakland
The Left Coaster
Liberal Catnip
Liberal Street Fighter
Matters of Spirit
My Left Wing
The Next Hurrah
Political Cortex
Rosee's Rest Stop
Street Prophets
There is no Blog
The Underground Railroad
Village Blue
Yearly Kos

FROG STALKERS
Aging Hipsters
The Agonist
AllSpinZone
Americablog
Antiwar.com
At Largely
Atrios/Eschaton
Attytood
Baghdad Burning
Lindsay Beyerstein
Black Commentator
Blankbaby
The Blue State
BOP News
Bull Moose Blog
Buzzflash
Juan Cole
Cooperative Research
Crooks & Liars
Culture Kitchen
Daily Howler
Defense Tech
Dem Bloggers
Digby/Hullabaloo
Donkey Rising
Eteraz
Driftglass
Echidine of the Snakes
Empire Burlesque
Feministing
FireDogLake
Garnet Donkey
Bob Geiger
Steve Gilliard
Howard-Empowered People
Huffington Post
Interesting Times
Intrepid Liberal Journal
Just Between Strangers
Kiko's House
Lawyers, Guns, & Money
David Neiwert
Nathan Newman
Keith Olbermann
No Quarter
Our Word
Overseas Vote
Pandas Thumb
The Paper Tiger
The Party
Philly Future
Pollyticks
Politics Philly
Raw Story
The Reaction
Rigorous Intuition
Rowhouse Logic
Rubber Hose
Sadly No
Shakespeare's Sister
Sic Semper Tyrannis
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Southpaw
Swing State Project
Suburban Guerilla
Talking Points Memo
Uggabugga
Washington Note
Wonk About
World O' Crap

LOCAL BLOGGERS
Left in the West
Turn Tahoe Blue
Young Philly Politics

SCLM
BBC
Chicago Tribune
Los Angeles Times
New York Times
Washington Post

TRIBBER BLOGS
Andrew C White
bayoustjohndavid
Boran2
Carnacki the Activist
Carnacki the Vampire
Captain Future
Cedwyn
ddjango
dove
DuctapeFatwa
Duke1676
ilona
James Benjamin
jimstaro
katiebird
liberalelite
Man Eegee
Mi Corazon
KansasNate
meagert
mole333
olivia
PDiddie
refinish69
Rick B2
SallyCat
S2
shari
shermanesque
Sirocco
supersoling
XicanoPwr
zesty grapher

Other Kos Sites

Mother Talkers
Sports Blogs
Street Prophets

Kos Blogfather

MyDD

Kos Alumni

Billmon
Steve Gilliard
Steve Soto
Swing State Project
The Next Hurrah
dKos reader blogs

Blogroll

The Agonist
America Blog
ArchPundit
Atrios
BAGnews Notes
Booman Tribune
Burnt Orange Report
Juan Cole
Joe Conason
Crooks and Liars
Brad DeLong
Democratic Underground
Digby
Echidne of the Snakes
Emerging Democratic Majority
Firedoglake
Glenn Greenwald
Huffington Post
Iraq Casualty List
Jesus' General
Kid Oakland
Lefty Blogs (very cool)
Liberal Oasis
Majikthise
Taylor Marsh
My Left Wing
Nathan Newman
David Neiwert
Off the Kuff
Pacific Views
Political Cortex
Political Wire
Rude Pundit
Seeing the Forrest
Skippy
Talk Left
Talking Points Memo
Tapped
Tbogg
Tom Tomorrow
Unbossed
James Wolcott

Dems and Allies

ePluribusMedia
From the Roots (DSCC)
Kicking Ass (DNC)
The Stakeholder (DCCC)
NDN Blog