As Lincoln weeps

The morning after the Illinois Republican primary, I was running on a treadmill at my gym watching the morning news.  I just can't stomach Morning Joe on MSNBC anymore, particularly after watching Scarborough pander to the sociopath Grover Norquist while Norquist shamelessly peddled his new book entitled "Poor Children Deserve to Die."  Ok, the book is actually called "Debacle," which is a wonderfully fitting title for a book by the guy who somehow convinced countless politicians to sign a pledge that he conceived when he was twelve years old.   Therefore, I grudgingly settled on CNN to accompany my morning run.  The lead story at the top of the hour was Mitt Romney's win in the Illinois primary.

One year later

What an amazing time of reflection and hope this past weekend was in Madison, Wisconsin.  The sneak preview of We Are Wisconsin was shown to a sold out crowd of over 1,300 at the Orpheum Theater.  Unfortunately, hundreds more were turned away, but the movie is sure to return after the film festival circuit and before the summer recall.  Amie, Kathryn, Melissa and the entire team truly captured the very essence of what occurred in Madison a year ago, and the power of the film has lingered with me for days.  On to Toronto in May for the Canadian International Documentary Film Festival.  This weekend also saw 65,000 Wisconsinites gather together at the State Capitol for a truly inspiring anniversary rally.  The speeches were a tremendous mix of reflection and looking forward to a better future.

Right turn only

In my prior post titled "Not your average liberal," I discussed how the incessant compromise on the part of the political left in this country has assisted radical, corporate conservatism in dramatically pushing our political discourse to the far right.  One of the premises of that piece is that we are at the point in our country where positions which were once considered extreme are now considered moderate, and positions which were once considered moderate are now labeled as socialist or communist.

Rachel Maddow did an extraordinary job of explaining this phenomenon a few nights ago on her show on MSNBC.  She validated, with research and facts, the reality of this political shift in a way that leaves little room for argument to the contrary.