http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121787787575610759.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

What Obama Values in Kansas

August 5, 2008; Page A2
by Gerald F. Seib
Wall Street Journal
Capital Journal

For a sparsely populated state that's often a political afterthought, Kansas has something close to a starring role in this year's presidential drama. Consider:

I think this is a fantastic event for progressives and for Kansas.

Kelly

Kansas Governor Vetoes Plan For Coal Power Plants

Published on Monday, March 24, 2008 by Reuters
by Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON - In a big win for environmentalists, the Democratic governor of Kansas on Friday vetoed legislation that would have allowed a huge coal-fired power plant to expand in the state and spew 11 million more tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

The bill, approved by the Republican-dominated Kansas legislature, would have allowed Sunflower Electric Power Corp to add two 700-megawatt units at a facility in western Kansas. (more . . .)

Tuesday, March 25, 2008, Noon, Wescoe Beach

On April 12, 1935, approximately 700 KU students joined 175,000 of their colleagues around the country – as well as thousands more in other parts of the world – in a one-hour strike protesting potential U.S. involvement in war. Meeting on the lawn in front of Fowler Shops (now Stauffer-Flint), student speakers addressed the crowd, denouncing war profiteers. Similar sentiments were heard that day on over 140 college campuses and in 31 countries around the world.

On March 18, 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy opened his presidential campaign with speeches at KU and K-State. The newspaper reported that Kennedy startled his audience by saying, "The more riots that come out of our college campuses, the better the world for tomorrow," a quote he borrowed from William Allen White, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the Emporia Gazette. Just weeks later, Kennedy was assassinated. Violent clashes over Vietnam and civil rights soon enflamed Mount Oread and the nation. (more . . .)

Body:
Friday evening, Feb. 29 and Saturday, Mar. 1 are the dates for this year's Washington Days conference in Topeka. Come join the Democrats of Kansas and the Progressive Caucus of the Kansas Democratic Party at the Topeka Ramada Inn as we gather together to talk politics, work on upcoming election year issues and elect new KPC Executive Board members.
The convention starts Friday evening and goes through Saturday night. The Progressive Caucus is at 11:10 Saturday morning.
More information can be found at: http://www.ksdp.org/WashingtonDays

I think Paul Street, from Iowa, is one of our most astute progressive thinkers. This article provides a nice summary of his thinking about how to make the best of the situation we find ourselves in as progressives who are out of power. I hope you like this as much as I did.

Kelly

http://www.zcommunications.org/blog/view/1328

On the Elections Tomorrow and Politics More Broadly

By Paul Street at Feb 4, 2008

I’ve been getting a number of e-mail messages pretty much along the following lines: “Dear Paul Street, you intrepid Left political analyst you, I live in a Super Tuesday Primary state and I just don’t know what to do tomorrow.  I know you follow along with Glen Ford and other writers over at Black Agenda Report in describing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as corporate-neoliberal and imperial-militarist look-alikes.  I know you describe yourself as left of Kucinich but that you and some other hard left writers and activists made some interesting and cogent arguments about why John Edwards’ more ‘populist’ (if ultimately bourgeois) campaign was worth supporting (without radical illusion) in the primaries.  Well, Edwards has already dropped out and Kucinich is long gone. I’m not a Republican, and for better or worse I insist on voting in the primary tomorrow. What should I do?”

Caucus Countdown -- 8 days
Watch party tonight;
Dinner with Democrats tomorrow

State of the Union Watch Party tonight, January 28th

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius will deliver the Democratic response to the State of the Union address tonight, Monday, January 28th. She was invited by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid to deliver the Democratic response to the State of the Union address.

Governor Sebelius will speak from Cedar Crest after the conclusion of the President's address to Congress.

Join Johnson County Democrats for a Watch Party at

The Lucky Brewgrille

From the website:

"On February 5th, the Kansas Democratic Party will be holding a Presidential Caucus giving Kansas Democrats an opportunity to select the 2008 Democratic Presidential nominee. Doors at caucus sites open at 6:00pm and anyone not in line by 7:00pm will not be admitted.

"The Kansas Democratic Party has used State Senate Districts and Congressional Districts as the basis for dividing the state into caucus districts."

Here is a link to find out where your Kansas Primary Caucus location is located:

http://www.ksdp.org/CaucusFinder

The Psychology of the Working Class Male

By Bruce E. Levine, AlterNet
Posted on December 21, 2007,
http://www.alternet.org/story/71046/

I have been a clinical psychologist in private practice for more than two decades in southwestern Ohio, a Republican stronghold in the state that broke Democrats' hearts in 2004. Three years later, it appears that most of the "blue team" remembers Ohio only for voter fraud, but I remember how Democratic candidate John Kerry failed to emotionally connect with the blue-collar blues sufferers here -- especially the younger men.

December 13, 2007, 9:51 pm

Krugman

You know you’re a serious wonk when you wait eagerly each year for the arrival of the CBO’s “Historical Effective Federal Tax Rates.” But it’s much more than a tax report — it’s the single best estimate we have of trends in income and income inequality. The tables (Excel file) are here.

Lots to parse in this report — which only gets us up to 2005 — but here’s one quick calculation. As you may know, for several years the Bush administration and its defenders did a lot of whining about the economy, wondering why they weren’t getting credit for what they insisted was a great economic success.