President of Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles, I am running to replace pro-war incumbent Jane Harman in California's 36th Congressional District.  I run with a great sense of urgency, for we stand on the precipice of losing our democracy, of sinking a trillion-dollars into Iraq, of launching another war in Iran, of developing over 100 new nuclear bombs each year, and of shredding the Constitution.  Everywhere I travel in the 36th District, a 30-mile urban stretch from San Pedro up through Venice and Mar Vista, a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 40,000 votes, people stop me in the street, in elevators, at meetings to ask, "Where are the Democrats?  Why aren't they speaking out?" 

I assure them this Democrat, Marcy Winograd, is speaking out passionately, challenging the leadership of the Democratic Party to stand for the possibility of peace, for the rule of law, and for a brighter day when we reject pre-emptive war and, instead, engage the world community in tackling illiteracy, AIDS, and poverty, all the while engaging our own citizens in redefining security as universal affordable health care, quality education to close the achievement gap, and environmental protection to cool the threat of global warming.

Some ask, "Have you ever been elected to office?" and I tell them, "No, isn't that great?  I have no investment in the status quo, in the power of the Beltway." Quite the contrary.  I have spent the last three years on the ground, knee deep in the grassroots, organizing town hall forums and congressional lobby delegations to end the US occupation of Iraq.

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In one of the diaries someone posted a comment that the netroots can't define for themselves what it is that we want from the Democratic party and its elected officials. It was with that in mind that I put together this brief list, er, wish list. Please feel free to add anything you'd like to see coming from the Democratic party and its candidates.

Policies

• National commitment to the Energy Apollo Project, to curtail, if not end, our dependence on fossil fuels -- I'd also like to see more exploration on alternative energy sources
• No US forces in Iraq, no permanent basis the country
• Rebuild and regain the trust of our nation's military after the catastrophic abuse of the past six years
• As an aside, and as someone that served in the military, I'd like to see a mandatory -- yes, mandatory -- military service period for every American after completing high school for a two year period. (Conscientious objectors could serve in non-combat units that are not required to undergo any direct weapons training -- our nation must commit to an ideal wherein war must be a shared sacrifice, across the board, period.)

(Of course there's more...)

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This is pretty upsetting... unfortunately, if it were up to social conservatives and to the republican party, ideally (from their point of view), one day the United States will exist under a similar anti-privacy regiment as El Salvador:

Ever imagine what it might be like to live in a place that voted to thoroughly criminalize abortion? A place that sent abortion providers to jail? That policed hospitals? That investigated a woman's uterus? Welcome to 21st-century El Salvador, the state of anti-abortion.

This is how a New York Times photo gallery introduces us to a series of dramatic black and white shots, with equally dramatic and even more moving captions. For example:

The Incarcerated: Carla Herrara, 11, clutches pictures of her mother, Carmen Climaco, who was given 30 years for an abortion that was ruled a homicide.

There's more...