This past Wednesday I met up with several contributers to this site in Washington DC for a day of protests and passionate discussion about what we as individuals can do to stop the war.  Obviously, being people that attend protests, we believe that physically and tangibly expressing our opposition to the war is critical in influencing the powers that be (if there are still any that will listen).  

I am sorry to be writing what will likely be classified as a flame diary, especially after laying low for such a while.  I want to start by saying that I understand completely that it imperative that we elect a Democrat – the best Democrat as President next year.  At this point I believe this person to be Obama, and I’ll be voting for him tomorrow.

That said – I ask you – is he what the grassroots have been working for?  Please don’t ask me to get over it and campaign for a corporate Democrat in the primaries.  I promise to write letters until I drop come summer and fall, but please don’t tell me that it’s my responsibility to do it now.

Hello fellow DKos readers.  I don’t usually diary because as working mother of young children I am quite busy.  But I really want ask this -  is stopping the war a priority?  I know there is a lot of compelling news today, but hope you will give this subject a moment of your attention.  

There are protests in 11 cities this Saturday and, on behalf of everyone who is planning to attend, I want to tell you  - WE NEED YOU THERE!  

http://www.oct27.org/

Today I feel exactly like I felt when Kerry conceded the election in '04.  All that work for nothing.  All that energy, for nothing, and all that enthusiasm and faith for nothing.  I am thankful to have this forum to share my thoughts and to commiserate.

The Democrats likely supported the war because they know that no matter what is done now, things will get worse in Iraq.  They fear that being blamed for escalating civil war in Iraq would will cost them the election in '08.  We are no different from them.

I want to ask your help, because sometimes I receive neocon emails like the following one from my boss.  My first instinct is to ask how such an intelligent person can fail to see the faulty logic, but then I start feeling kind of pissed off while trying to counter the specific claims, and never finish, and never say anything.

Looking through my bills this month, I noticed something peculiar.  Verizon is charging us for services we canceled (after at least 8 hours of tech support, and many more on hold), the gas company is charging us almost $300 to heat our 900 ft2 apartment for March (which wasn't that cold, with thermostat set to 68 max), Cingular did not apply my last payment (made by a rebate "credit card" provided by Cingular).  

The list goes on - there is a problem with every single one of my bills, all erring on the side of overcharging.

I know that there is a lot of compelling news these days, but I've been meaning to write this diary for a while, because I just cringe every time I see the word "Kossack" on this site.  "Kossack", which sounds like "Cossack" (Казак), which might conjure images of rough wild rebels to some, or political outlaws to others.  Well, I just wanted to let you know that anyone of Ukrainian Jewish ancestry associates Cossacks with the murder and robbery of Jews.

An action alert was sent out by Bev Harris of Black Box Voting to counteract emails  suggesting that individuals should urge their congress person to support the quick passage of the Holt Bill.

The message, given below, details a number of problems with the new Holt bill HR 811, which was introduced on Tuesday 2/6/06, by Rush Holt (D-NJ), and is an updated version of his original election reform bill.  

I am against the Iraq war, thought I had gone through the looking glass when I first heard it was a possibility, and attended my first anti-war rally in October 2002. I was the only person I knew that was against the first Gulf war.  I have been called a liberal, a communist, a socialist, and a traitor (and this is only by my mother), but never a Republican - until I expressed doubts about whether Jane Fonda's appearance at the peace rally on Saturday would help the movement.

Ok, so the FDA has preliminarily approved cloned meat and milk, and every article I read about it says that the FDA determined that they are safe to eat: (www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01541.html):

"Based on FDA's analysis of hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and other studies on the health and food composition of clones and their offspring, the draft risk assessment has determined that meat and milk from clones and their offspring are as safe as food we eat every day," said Stephen F. Sundlof, D.V.M., Ph.D., director of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. "Cloning poses no unique risks to animal health when compared to other assisted reproductive technologies currently in use in U.S. agriculture."

So it is as safe as any other meat and milk products out there right now.     Since no one knows how safe products are from factory farmed, antibiotic, growth hormone, and GM corn/animal product/crap fed animals, this says exactly nothing, doesn't it?By the way, the actual cloned animals are very expensive to produce, so their offspring, which will presumably share their desirable qualities, are primarily what will be consumed.  But since the the FDA has preliminarily approved clones for consumption, that is what this diary is about.