I shouldn't be up this late because I'm working at a polling site tomorrow morning at 6 AM, but I went out to see Obama tonight and had to share!

I posted last week about the beginning of the election class I'm leading in our homeschool co-op. We do 6-week sessions so I'll post each week on how it's going.

I was really surprised to find some of the kids were so knowledgeable about the process. We had some "what do you know, what do you want to know about elections" time and one boy asked how many more delegates Obama needed! Obviously, some of them are paying attention. And there was a funny, "out of the mouth of babes" moment when one eight-year-old said in a candy-sweet voice, "Hillary Clinton is for keeping children safe and healthy," but then added in an undertone, "Or at least that's what she says."

There's more observations and info about this week's class after the fold.

I posted about this yesterday in C&J but I thought I'd expand because I'm awfully excited about it.

We homeschool and once a week we meet with a group of families for a co-op. We're starting another session tomorrow and I'm going to be leading a class on elections for my daughter's age bracket. I thought I'd share my ideas here, invite feedback, maybe get more ideas and perhaps inspire some people to share their political passion with younger folks

Welcome to my quite non-substantive diary. I'm a little embarrassed to write this as I'm totally not a celebrity-focused person (which will become apparent shortly) but I'm hooked on the "Yes, We Can" video and I was clueless about who appeared in it for the most part.

I figured out Will.i.am since he was one of the movers and shakers behind it and I recognized Scarlett and Kareem--that's how lame I am! I noticed other people wondering, too, who different people were. When I went to look for info on the rest of the crowd, I didn't find much so since I was avoiding a ton of my own work important to my life, I went in search of answers.

Mucho graphics below the fold:

then the terrorists win!

This is the crazy-ass email I received tonight from the AFA. I somehow got on their email list a while back and I haven't unsubscribed because they crack me so consistently up. It's also a good reminder of what to write my elected representatives about (anything opposite of what AFA is urging) or what to write a company about (no, Ford, I'm not boycotting you because you support gay organizations--I just don't like your shitty vehicles).

I saw the diaries on the rec list over the weekend, but I didn't realize the groundswell that was building until this evening when I read annan's diary all the way through. I've been so proud of my participation here at Daily Kos because of the ideas and enthusiasm I see here and this is another winner. It might even be crucial. That doesn't mean it's not a little hard to grok for a newbie, like me, to wiki and congressional committees. I gleaned some good advice from comments in annan's diary that I'll share after the break.

I noticed right away Tuesday night that election results were being spun to present 2006 as the "Year of the Moderates" or even as a conservative win. I thought this hilarious (talk about sour grapes! I'm sure we'd all heard on TV how elite and out of the mainstream our candidates were!) until I started hearing it repeated everywhere! If it was within my power, I corrected the misperception. I came up against someone on a local board, though, who insisted that conservative principles won the day Tuesday night. I set out to prove him wrong.

PBS' will start airing the groundbreaking documentary on the civil rights movement in America tonight on American Experience.  It will air over three weeks. This is really special since until recently, the series couldn't be aired at all because the filmmakers had lost the expensive rights to use the video footage, photos, music, etc. in the original.

How much do I love Boston Legal? On tonight's show, Alan Shore's secretary Melissa is arrested for not paying her taxes. Not only that, she sent in her form with a note that said, "Stick it!" Why? Because her grandfather fought in WWII and he related to her how proud he was of his country. She was very close to him and felt he would be totally appalled by what is going on with our government right now. Alan wants to plea bargain for her but she wants her day in court. She wants to stand up for what she believes in.

I know the WalMart movie came out this week and is a lot more pertinent to this blog, but I also know that a lot of HP fans frequent DailyKos. Have you seen the movie yet? What do you think? Let's discuss!

Warning: Spoilers may appear after the jump.

I didn't see this mentioned anywhere today so thought I would extend the good news. I know this case won a lot of interest here when it came out.

Parents can share Wicca with son
Ruling shielding child from beliefs overruled

An Indianapolis father can share his Wiccan beliefs and rituals with his 10-year-old son, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday in a unanimous decision upholding parents' rights to share their religion with their children.

Full story here, more on the flip -->

I'm agnostic on the subject of Hillary but reading the recent Salon article about the book, its author and the circumstances around its creation, I feel I need to shower. Amazon* says, "...Just as the swift boat veterans convinced millions of voters that John Kerry lacked the character to be president, Klein's book will influence everyone who is sizing up the character of Hillary Clinton."

Crawling out of the shadows where her ilk lurks, Ann Coulter showed up on the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight. I've been crushing on Ferguson (it's the accent) for a couple weeks and staying up late to watch the show. Imagine my displeasure to hear his guest list tonight and my utter horror as they hugged and kissed (on the cheek) when she appeared on stage. Squick! Where would this interview lead?

Two rallies took place in Indianapolis on Tuesday concerning a resolution which passed the state senate and will now move to the house. The resolution is supposed to prevent same-sex marriage in Indiana (there is already a law on the books stating that marriage is between a man and a woman) but its broad language encompasses civil unions and other arrangements between consenting adults. A good analysis of this can be found in a recent dKos diary by TheJohnny One rally was arranged by Advance America, headed by Eric Miller, a failed GOP primary candidate for governor. The other was a grassroots effort headed by a local activist, Pepper Partin.

I attended the grassroots rally. A report of the events and some photos are after the cut. I polled dKos members in the open thread last night on sign slogans; you can see those results as well.

A friend (thanks, Lisa!) sent me the link to a poll from Fax Daily this morning that asked if Dean was a good choice for DNC chair.

WASHINGTON --Tim Roemer, the only remaining opponent of Howard Dean in the race to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is bowing out of the race - but he offered a warning to Democrats. Dean, the former presidential candidate and governor of Vermont, is expected to win the DNC chairmanship at the election Feb. 12. Roemer, a former congressman from Indiana and a member of the Sept. 11 commission, said Democrats must be more inclusive in their outreach to fast-growing parts of the country, as well as stronger on issues of national security. Dean has said he will focus his efforts as chairman more on building the party at the local, state and national level, raising money and winning elections, while elected officials will be more responsible for policy positions. Do you think Howard Dean is a good choice for chairman of the Democratic National Committee?

How embarrassing!

Knowing that a firestorm would erupt in the LTE section of my local paper because of Evan Bayh's Condi vote, I wrote a letter in support of him. I've never been much of a Bayh fan, but I though it was important to stand up for the vote if not the person. I doubted that I would get any ink, but I hoped that my letter would put weight behind the sentiment and perhaps someone's letter would get printed.

Five letters on Bayh's vote were printed today, two for and three against. Mine is one of them. So, this Dean-backing, liberal, reform Democrat is on the record as a Bayh supporter. Sheesh!

More thoughts after the break.

I attended my first Dean meetup more out of curiosity than anything. I had never been 'political' before. When I got there, though, I wasn't given the option of not participating. I guess that's a strategy of a good leader: never question that others will follow.

As a result of that, I met Gov. Dean a few weeks afterwards when he came into town for the Jefferson-Jackson dinner. This solidified my support of him and gave me my first taste of how fun it could be, standing on a sidewalk and waving a sign.

Tonight is the Democracy for America meetup. You can find a location near you at the meetup.com website.

Although Howard Dean is the figurehead of the group, it has always been powered by the grassroots. And the aims of the group are quite similar to those I've seen expressed here: We seek fundamental change in the way our party and our country do politics and we believe that we don't have to move to the right and compromise our principles to win elections. No matter what candidate you supported during the primaries, you're welcome at the DFA meetup if you share these goals.