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.

AlterNet
(with shocking photos)
By Antrim Caskey, AlterNet

Big coal's Dirty Plans

Posted on December 14, 2007, Printed on December 14, 2007

Just as the American people and the world are beginning to recognize the necessity of shifting to renewable energies, Big Coal, in collusion with an out-of-step administration, is pushing their dirty fossil fuel as the solution to our nation's energy crisis.

Big Coal and its cohorts envision a "clean coal technology" future fueled by liquifying and gasifying coal, capturing the carbon emissions and injecting them underground. By 2030 the West Virginia Division of Energy -- a nascent state agency formed in July, 2007 -- wants to oust oil and exalt coal by displacing the 1.3 billion gallons of foreign oil the state currently imports every year.

Body:
Come join the Kansas Progressive Caucus board for a General Members meeting in Emporia on December. 8th 2007 from 10:00am until 3:00pm to meet with one another, and discuss issues important to us all.
The meeting is open to all KPC members and to those who want to become members (memberships can be purchased for $10.00 at the door).
We'll be meeting in the Emporia Public Library.

This article shows the significance of the state progressive caucus in California. They are working within the party in California to act against non-progressive votes by their state delegation to Congress. There is much we can learn here in Kansas for applying to our own delegation to Congress.

Kelly

Max Follmer
The Huffington Post
Feinstein Faces Dem Censure After Backing Mukasey
November 12, 2007 11:50 PM

One day after voting to elevate a divisive conservative judge to the federal appeals court in New Orleans, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein was the president's guest aboard Air Force One. She had been invited to survey the damage from the recent spate of Southern California wildfires.

Hello Fellow Progressives,

The Breaking the Silence conference event this week provides a great opportunity to grow our progressive movement in general and our Kansas Progressive Caucus in particular. The fee for this conference is $1 for each event: Cultural event Friday evening, November 2; and the all day conference on Saturday on November 3. People can financially sponsor the event with $50 and get a lunch on Saturday, November 3.

The intent of this event is to connect people from multiple cultures—young and old; multiple places; and especially people of color and progressive groups—so we as a progressive movement here in Kansas and Missouri, can unite, help one another, and break the silence about whatever divides us. And author David Korten is speaking.

The dark truth about Blackwater

By P.W. Singer
Outsourcing the war to private military contractors such as Blackwater has shattered the United States' moral authority and its ability to win the nation's wars -- including Iraq.

Why Does Everyone Bow Down to the Health Insurance Industry?

AlterNet

By Barbara Ehrenreich, Barbaraehrenreich.com
Posted on September 24, 2007, Printed on September 24, 2007

Bow your heads and raise the white flags. After facing down the Third Reich, the Japanese Empire, the U.S.S.R., Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein, the United States has met an enemy it dares not confront -- the American private health insurance industry.