One of the progressive blogosphere's founders, Jim Capozzola, of Philadelphia's own Rittenhouse Review, has passed.  To give you some perspective, Jim started Rittenhouse Review about two weeks before Duncan Black (aka Atrios) started Eschaton.

I met Jim at Drinking Liberally here in Philadelphia, and while I did not know him as well as Susie or Duncan, I will miss his wit, humor and intelligence.  

As with Steve Gilliard, I find myself once again asking, why do the good die young, while the evil stay to further poison the world?  

Fred Hiatt in the Washington Post:

As the Bush presidency implodes, some of its worst policies mercifully will go, too -- including, we can hope, the torture and unregulated detention of alleged enemy fighters that have so discredited the country throughout the world.

But valuable strands of policy also may end up strewn in the wreckage, victims (in varying combinations) of President Bush's ineptitude, inconstancy and unpopularity. Among these are what Bush called compassionate conservatism, now moribund; American promotion of democracy abroad, now flailing; and accountability in elementary and high school education, losing ground as it approaches a major test in Congress.

From the Washington Post:

Your hunch is correct. Your cat decided to live with you, not the other way around.

Yes, science has now proven what we have already known.  Your cat does not care about you.  The only reason it tolerates you in the slightest is that you provide food.

So who is going?

I shall be arriving in the great Second City around noon, and heading to the nearest bar.  

Are you coming?   If so, please vote in the poll and post a comment a la my other Roll Call diaries.

Check below for the latest YKos Schedule

Just a quick poll.  While you may have a preferred candidate at this time, who is your second choice?

You've got a secret.

One that has been burdening you for a long time.   And as you get more involved with the community here, you become ever more terrified that a fellow Kossack is going to discover it.

CNN:

After some six years as a Republican, the 65-year-old former CEO announced Tuesday that he has left the Republican Party and become unaffiliated in what many believe could be a step toward entering the 2008 race for president.

Bloomberg has fueled those notions with increasing out-of-state travel, greater focus on national issues and repeated criticism of partisan politics, all the while vowing to leave public office at the end of his term in 2009.

Or so says Isaac Newton, the late great scientist that laid the groundwork for modern day physics astronomy, and math.  

CNN:

Three-century-old manuscripts by Isaac Newton calculating the exact date of the apocalypse, detailing the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem and interpreting passages of the Bible -- exhibited this week for the first time -- lay bare the little-known religious intensity of a man many consider history's greatest scientist.

There is a lot of sympathy for Hamas here.  I cannot grasp it.  It is as if people choose to show their support the Palestinian people and opposition to Israel by embracing, or at the very least, showing sympathy towards a terrorist organization.  

The term 'Progressive' is commonplace nowadays, used by liberals and Democrats and left-leaning activists to describe themselves.  As I have said, if we are to move on and build a governing Progressive majority in this country, it helps if we first understand what being a Progressive means today, and it would also be helpful if we all agreed on common goals.  For how can you have a movement if you have no destination?

But first, we must turn to the past.  

Eugene:

It is time to build a progressive majority.

To do that we must begin work to build infrastructure, organizations, and ideas that will recast this party as a party not just of Democrats, but of social democrats. We must be willing to pick fights with Dems when they fail us, and above all else, we must be willing to primary bad Dems.

It is not always clear who is a good Dem and who is a bad Dem. Someone like Rick Boucher, who wants global warming to happen, is also a strong ally on net neutrality. The Congressional majority is full of such examples, ranging from the good folks who occasionally fuck up to the Bush Democrats (aka the Blue Dogs) who are our outright enemies. How we deal with them must be the subject of an open and honest debate amongst our movement. But we must never accept that there is nothing we can do about them.

Seriously, you people need help.

You tear each other apart over Israel and Palestine, like our troll rating each other into oblivion will somehow bring about peace in the region.  Rather, all you are doing is fighting their war here, in the comments.  

The I/P War has hit such a fevered pitch that once respected Kossacks have now become trolls.

Let's say you are President for one day.   And you had all the power in the world and you could do anything you wanted.

To sweeten the pot, anything that you would do that would constitutionally require an act of Congress, then rest assured that whatever you propose would be passed by acclamation that day.

What would you do?

If you are a Sopranos fan like I am, you are eagerly awaiting this Sunday's blockbuster finale, and you secretly took pleasure last Sunday when Tony grabbed a sniveling A.J. off his bed and piled clothes on him, telling him to pack.

You see, A.J. needs to grow up.  Any fan of the show realizes that A.J. is just using depression and therapy as a crutch, as and excuse to continue his lazy do-nothing existence.  And now, in a moment of crisis for both of Tony's families, Tony needed A.J. to grow up.  

I long for the day when lazy do-nothing America is pulled from its bed.   I long for America to grow up.

John Connor looks at two small boys as a play fight between two toy soldiers leads to some real fighting between the two boys operating them.  

"We're not gonna' make it, are we? People, I mean,"  he asks the half man half machine Terminator.

The Terminator pauses from his task, that of repairing an automotive engine, looks at the mother of the two boys, who is now leading the fighting boys away by promising violence if they do not comply, and says "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves."  

"Yeah. Major drag, huh?" replies John.

This is just an poll.  I believe a campaign supporter's words and actions can impact the campaign very significantly.  Sometimes, hopefully in a positive way.  But often times the impact is negative.

This is why robocalling exists, for the point is to annoy a person so much so that they will never consider voting for a particular candidate.

The last Roll Call was done in March, and I was set to do the next installment next week, on the first of June.  But since we are experiencing high traffic right now, and since I think we are all in need of a little diversion, I am posting it early.