PastorDan of DailyKos and Street Prophets has graced my blog with his comments and offered the following useful information with respect to my diary about the political ramifications for the Democratic Party when our atheists and agnostics come out of the closet to advocate for a counter-religious political agenda:

Uh, the least you could do if you're going to go on the attack is get your facts straight.

Street Prophets is not Daily Kos, but a part of the same family of sites. The editorial staffs and positions are separate.

So separate, in fact, that Street Prophets was formed around consideration of religion and politics from a progressive perspective. Given that many progressives are in fact atheists or agnostics - some, like Pete Stark, are even Unitarians - it seemed only fair to let them have their say as well . . . See PastorDan's full comments at the Francis L. Holland Blog.

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Is one's atheism or agnosticism strictly a personal issue, or can it also become a political advocacy issue within the Democratic Party?  At  DailyKos, atheism/agnosticism has become a new political activism, with some people seeking to normalize atheism/agnosticism in the public consciousness by making the public more aware of its presence within the Democratic Party.

Now, I can just hear you politically-minded Democrats wondering, "How many votes can we pick up and how many will we lose by starting a highly-public atheists' caucus within the Democratic Party?" Some of you are asking yourselves, "Is this analogous to the Gay Rights Movement, and will this become a wedge issue that we should be aware of?" Still others are urgently demanding, "Don't we all have a right to be who we are, regardless of the political consequences?"

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Some leftward "progressive" Democrats revile Hillary for the very characteristics that have made her like stainless steel, "impervious to Republican attacks and durable to the finish."

"Anonymous", who posted a comment at my blog, says the following about John Edwards, Hillary and Obama, and while I don't agree with the part about Hillary, I nonetheless post the whole unedited comment here prominently because I think it's worth discussing.  Anonymous said:

I saw this blog and remember you from some of your posts at mydd.

For me, Edwards is bland. True white bread. Just a bland man looking for an indentity. And, he is staying in 3rd place and falling behind every week. a few points down here or there and I see him as getting to nowhere . . . Anonymous

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Barack Obama is increasingly seeming like the more strategically astute choice for those who want a viable alternative to Hillary Clinton.

First posted at the Francis L. Holland Blog.

Polling information reported a couple of weeks ago by the Washington Post indicates that Hillary's approach on Iraq has not hurt her with most Democrats.  The Washington Post reported that:

Her position on the war in Iraq does not appear to be hurting Clinton among Democrats, even though she has faced hostile questioning from some voters about her 2002 vote authorizing President Bush to go to war. Some Democrats have demanded that she apologize for the vote, which she has declined to do.

The Post-ABC News poll found that 52 percent of Democrats said her vote was the right thing to do at the time, while 47 percent said it was a mistake. Of those who called it a mistake, however, [only] 31 percent said she should apologize. Among Democrats who called the war the most important issue in deciding their 2008 candidate preference, Clinton [still] led Obama 40 to 26 percent. WaPost

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Hallmark:  "A special kind of genius is needed to grab off about 30% of a $288 million market."

Cross-posted at the Francis L. Holland Blog.

Dana Milbank criticizes and chides Hillary Clinton in today's Washington Post for bringing the "sensibility of Hallmark Greeting cards to the 2008 presidential race." 

Are you "in it to win"? Would you regard civil rights as the gift that keeps on giving? Do you believe in the American Dream, stupid?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you might consider supporting Hillary Clinton, the person to send to the White House when you care enough to send the very best. More than any other candidate, Clinton has brought the sensibility of Hallmark greeting cards to the 2008 presidential race. 

But, even Hallmark's biggest critics admit that, "Since its early beginnings in 1910, Hallmark has grown into the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the US . . . the privately-run business, headquartered in Kansas City . . . has a retail network in over 100 countries around the world, publishing greeting cards in over 30 languages." 

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Cross-posted at the Francis L. Holland Blog
and Culture Kitchen.

Because I have repeatedly criticizedMarkos Moulitsas (Kos) and DailyKos at Culture Kitchen and Daily Gotham, the publishers and responsibles at those two blogs, including Liza Sabater, "Mole333" and Michael Bouldin are actively considering banning me from these associated publications, censoring my opinions, unless I cease my criticisms there of Kos and DailyKos.  To be fair, they also claim that my advocacy has been "rude" and "unscrupulous".

With all due respect to all parties:  To me, fighting for the opportunity to share opinions with which others disagree, on issues of importance to me and others in the "progressive" blogosphere, has become an unwelcomed yet fundamental fight in the effort to engage in a discussion of who should be our next President and what policies our government should pursue.  

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Cross-posted at the Francis L. Holland Blog and Blue Mass.

Recently, for doing battle with Kos and his minions over their attacks on Hillary Clinton, and for slamming the (white male) candidates once favored by the "progressive Left", Jill Tubman of Jack and Jill Politics and MyDD characterized me as "a bull in a China shop". 

Jill said,

Francis L. Holland is the uninvited guest. He is the bull in the china shop. He says the things that people don't want to hear. That other people are afraid to say. And people are noticing.  Jack and Jill Politics

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Cross-posted at http://francislholland.blogspot.com.

I am very pleased to see this discussion continuing about the need to make strides for gender and color justice in 2008.  So much so, that I have excerpted heavily from your diary and cited you at my Francis L. Holland Blog, where Blacks who feel excluded from the "whitosphere" go for information about the ongoing debate within the whitosphere over equality.  http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2007
/03/no-we-cannot-stop-talking-about-colo
r.html

Silence always favors the status quo.  I am certain that the time has come to name and end 43-consecutive term white male monopoly of the American Presidency.  

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Cross-posted at http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2007 /02/hillarys-energy-plan-is-excellent-fo r.html

This evening, I watched Hillary Clinton's webcast outlining her energy plan for America's future.  http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2007 /02/hillarys-energy-plan-is-excellent-fo r.html

Hillary plans wise and sound investments in energy, growing the economy by investing in new ways to produce fuel with less global warming, providing tax breaks for Americans who adopt more fuel efficient alternative fuel cars, offering tax incentives for cleaner energy production and, best of all, paying for these efforts by discontinuing subsidies for super-profitable oil companies and levying new taxes on their windfall profits. Hillary's plans will make America more competitive, and we - the working class - will not get taxed more to pay for it.

In her webcast, Hillary says:

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Candidates and supporters who believe we can win the presidency on a wave of apologies should learn the lessons of history.

Cross posted at the Francis L. Holland Blog.

NEW YORK - Democrat

John Edwards said Tuesday that honesty and openness were essential qualities for a president, and that he was proud to acknowledge his 2002 vote authorizing the invasion of
Iraq was a mistake . . .

"If you asked me what I think the most important personal characteristics of the next president are, I would say honesty, openness and decency," he said. "There's not a single voter in America who doesn't understand that their president is human, and their president will sometimes makes mistakes."http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070227/ap_o n_el_pr/edwards2008

In the September 30, 2004 debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry, the word "mistake" arose 13 times in the context of Iraq, offering Bush ample opportunity to admit that he had made at least one mistake.  Kerry admitted to having made significant mistakes while George Bush admitted to none.

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