Progressive Blogs Roundup

furthering the effort to provide a little balance -- and a weekly reminder that the blogs on the left end of illinois' political spectrum are intellectually diverse and highly spirited. some of the posts from this past week include:

* rob nesvacil mocks the republicans' hypocrisy for criticizing the "seal" at a recent obama event. if you think about it, the only thing republicans can do to prevent barack from becoming president is to keep him from looking presidential. which it appears they will go to extraordinary lengths to do.

* SCAM has a piece about Fear of a Black Planet President. he asks, "And if voters really want to cast their ballots based on fear, they should try this on for size: "Ninety-five more years in Iraq.""

* josh kalven writes about david plouffe's presentation on the obama campaign's strategy for winning the electoral college this fall.

* josh kalven chimes in on McCain's Chicago Mess: "Unfortunately for him, Illinois Minutemen leader Rosanna Pulido was present at the meeting and has been publicly expressing her "disgust" with McCain's private comments in the days since."

* ccdem notes that dan seals is the 50 States, 50 Candidates for illinois.

* the candidate himself, dan seals, wants Help Electing the Government We Deserve. we do deserve better representation than mark kirk in congress, so give dan a hand.

* ellen of the tenth live blogs mark kirk's campaign call on your tax dollar.

* josh kalven once again points out mark kirk's hypocrisy, this time about kirk's bogus china drilling claim.

* ellen of the tenth writes about mark kirk opposes Oil Drilling Lease Use it or Lose it Policy in the week after the american petroleum institute's red cavaney admitted that there is no idle drilling equipment out there so the oil companies can't even explore the lands they have a right to drill on, let alone add new capacity from ANWR or the ocean shelf.

* hiram wurf posts about scott harper's campaign against the increasingly out of touch judy biggert, who's got some 'splaining to do about her vote against recession extension of unemployment benefits.

* jeff berkowitz wants you to tune in to his interview with scott harper tomorrow.

* mose buchele writes about how the Legal Troubles Deepen For marty Ozinga.

* josh kalven asks if steve sauerberg is ready for prime time.

* david ormsby writes that gov. blagojevich wants to cut hiv/aids testing and drugs to balance the budget. he observes that, if you couldn't afford rod's high-priced fund-raiser this week to make your views known, you can try the gay pride parade on sunday. i suppose it's possible the governor will come out of his shelter.

* congresswoman (and indefatigable obama surrogate) jan schakowsky posts a diary about dan biss' bid for the illinois house seat in evanston.

* josh kalven looks into Sen. Durbin Creating Parallel Party Apparatus In Illinois

* adam doster finds Medill Reports' clearinghouse on all things Con-Con.

* mose buchele notes what is going on in the cook county state's attorney race. am i the only one who doesn't think peraica wants to be state's attorney, he just wants to have his name on the ballot to set up a 2010 rematch?

* ellen of the tenth posts that her mom wants you to know that "medicare is not free:" In fact it's kind of expensive and at risk of getting even more expensive and/or more difficult to use. As this country cannot seem to get a reasonable health care plan opting to throw the federal treasury down the Iraq toilet, the issue has been whether to decrease physician payments and increase the Part B premium paid by seniors or let the doctors scratch and keep premiums as they are.

* the inside dope blogs about why newspapers are struggling to adapt to the 21st century.

* UMRBlog asks what were people's experiences with the recent flooding.

* josh kalven wants to start a conversation about affordable housing.

* will reynolds writes about Green Tuesday in central illinois.

* carl nyberg wonders why we teach our children to love the war.


typical disclaimer: none of these blogs (afaik) are currently represented on illinoize, which is why i chose to write about them here...