Saturday Night Mixed Bag

I'll tell you right now, there *is* no unifying theme for this post, except that these are all diaries or stories that I felt should get front page attention. If there's something you'd like me to add to the links here, just let me know in the comments and I'll try to update this post as I get the chance.

Tickets for Democracy Fest '06 are now available. Click here for more information.

A Comment Becomes a Diary by Militarytracy

The comment had been in response to the Pouring Herbicide on the Grassroots diary I excerpted a couple posts ago. This new diary by Militarytracy is about Kos and the Alito non-filibuster.

There's another diary at Booman called A Radical Call to Civil Disobedience! by Arminius. He posted in the Open Thread at Booman that I've been looking and looking for four days now, and aside from the little diary here, as far as I can tell this has attracted exactly ZERO attention in the left blogosphere. I'm really amazed how that could be.

I commented that his was one of those many diaries I'd been *meaning* to look at, but somehow hadn't quite gotten to it, and could he give me the "in a nutshell" summary of it. Here's what he told me:

Nutshell: Last December the House of Representatives passed an "immigration reform" bill that will make it a FELONY for any person to "assist" a person who is not in valid immigration status. That includes thousands of people who entered legally and have done everything possible to comply with the law and are technically out of status due to government errors and delays. The law would make it a felony for church groups, lawyers, and private citizens to help anybody who is out of status.

The U.S. Senate just started debate on the bill. It is considered to be quite likely that it will become law.

The Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles just called on all Catholics, priests and lay people alike, to devote every day of Lent to opposing this legislation, and he called on them to actively disobey the law if it is enacted.

I definitely agree that the story deserves more attention, for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that people in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church are often the object of criticism by many in the "liberal blogosphere". I feel that we should be just as willing to praise and support them when they do something we approve of.

Then there is this article at Democratic Underground called Good Neighbors.

The right-wing says that there is a "Liberal Agenda." This agenda is chock full of evil. Liberals want to make Christianity illegal, kill babies, abolish the military, and advance the other agenda--the oft-cited "homosexual agenda"--onto our nation's innocent and impressionable children.

Too often the left responds by saying, "There is no liberal agenda," and calling it quits.

But guess what campers--there is a liberal agenda. Oh yes, there really, really is.

The great liberal agenda, the object of the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, is to make life better for every individual in this country.

The Liberal Agenda is based on a truly simple concept, one that every American can understand with no interpretation whatsoever.

We're good neighbors.

Click for the rest.

Oh, and remember Bush thinking that attacking Iraq was his "mission from God"? Apparently Tony Blair has similar ideas about the whole thing being divinely blessed, according to this diary by Oui.

In the comments to this thread, Anne from Vermont pointed out this diary at Kos, VT Democrats to push Impeachment at the State Legislature. Vermont really does sound like a cool state. Too bad it's also such a *cold* state.

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