I know there have probably been lots of diaries on this subject.  But over the weekend I made some comments on a diary regarding Obama's position on late-term abortions.  I expressed concern that Obama had discounted the importance of mental health when he discussed exceptions to the ban on late-term abortion and stated that he didn't think "mental distress" should qualify as such an exception.  And I worried that this was part of the "rush to the center" and evidence of Obama backing off from previous pro-choice positions.  
                                          I was wrong.
Since my comment, two things have happened that have changed (and corrected) my view on this subject:

1.  There is a longer quote from Sen. Obama on the subject

2.  My husband, who is a child and adult psychiatrist, weighed in on the side of those who say "mental distress" shouldn't be an exception.

Like many other people, I've been taken up with the arguments pro & con on Obama's statement regarding the FISA bill (and also his statements about the 2 recent Supreme Court decisions).  
One moment I'll be furious with him, the next I'll feel resigned, and the next I'll wonder if (and hope) he's doing some things behind the scenes on the FISA bill that we don't know about.
But I was just reminded of why I need to keep strongly supporting him, even though I will still express my dismay if he makes statements or takes stands I don't like.
A man just came to the door -- very friendly African man (from Ghana, not an African American!) collecting checks and signaures for Progressive Maryland. And he was proudly wearing an Obama button.

Been lots of diaries here about people's disappointment, sense of betrayal, complete outrage with or justification for Obama because of his statement regarding the House-passed FISA bill.
My suggestion is that we stop complaining or arguing with each other and do something.  

So, after the jump are a couple of things I know about that we can do: one that's better for those who are merely disappointed, and another for those who feel betrayed.  (I don't have anything for those who are completely outraged or those who feel that Obama was justified).
I'm hoping that many of you will know of other actions we can take and will put them in comments to this diary.

Talk about talent!  This guy has been able to simultaneously alienate gay marriage advocates, the Mormon Church, and the fundamentalist polygamous Mormon sects unaffiliated with the current LDS church; not to mention any people who have been troubled by the recent news about these polygamous sects.

It all started on June 11 with Gordon Smith's answer to a question about his position on gay marriage, DOMA, etc.:

Part of what I fear, as you start defining marriage -- we have a long history of doing that in this country, and my Mormon pioneer ancestors were the victims of that. They were literally driven from the United States in the dead of winter for following their religious beliefs. I don't want that coming back.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpoi...

No, I have nothing to say about anything that fraud has written since I make a point of not reading her.  Why read something that you know is short on facts, long on fabrication, and devoid of journalistic ethics?
But there's a good post over on TPM by another "citizen-journalist" who writes for Off the Bus on Huffington Post.  She tears into Mayhill Fowler's ethics.  Deanie Mills is much kinder -- doesn't even mention Fowler's name -- than I would be.  But she (I think Deanie is a she?) does a good job of thoroughly criticizing Fowler's behavior and ethics.

The new reporter-blogger on Talking Points Memo, Andrew Tilghman, wrote a very interesting piece today on Condi Rice in which he quotes her ridiculous statement to AIPAC

The real question isn't why won't the Bush administration talk to Iran. The real question is why won't Iran talk to us.

This became the jumping-off point for Andrew to discuss Scott McClellan's assessment (in his book) that Rice has the ability to somehow evade any responsibility for the disasters in this administration that she was directly responsible for.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...

And that got me thinking about who she really is and how she ended up in a position that is both powerful and shielded from censure.

Here on Daily Kos, if we don't like what's going on we can diary about it.  If we still don't like it, we can end our involvement. This site is not a journalistic one -- it's a place for the exchange of opinions and information, and alerts to relevant news and events among people with similar interests and often similar views.  And it belongs to one person with strong opinions, no matter how involved the rest of us are.  We all know that, accept it if we want to stay and, at least in my case, enjoy interacting with this strongly biased and passionate-advocate community.  
Huffington Post is similar in that it's the progeny of one person, and her views and preferences are what count.  However, it differs greatly from Daily Kos in that it presents itself much more as a news site (though a liberal one), and has journalists and supposed journalists reporting and running certain sections.  One of those supposed reporters is Mayhill Fowler.

Watched one of my favorite shows last night, House.
In one scene "Thirteen" (a doctor in training with House who's struggling with her genetic potential to develop Huntington's Disease) is sitting in a bathroom stall wrestling with the life and death issues of a patient she knows personally, and with her own life and death issues.

Very visible, on the wall behind her, is a bumper sticker in red, white & blue saying:
               

VOTE FOR CHANGE 08

I read DEFuning's diary saying that Obama & the media had wronged Dr. Perez by accusing her of encouraging misdiagnosis of soldiers returning with PTSD.  While I found the diary offensive, I'm no expert on the topic so I turned the information over to my husband who is board certified in both child & adult psychiatrist with over 25 years of experience.  He read the memo and DEFuning's diary.  The following is his response to DEFuning's diary:

I know there have been a couple of other diaries complaining about Mayhill Fowler on Huffington Post and her "citizen-journalism" coverage of the Obama campaign.  She claims to have given more money to Obama than Hillary (and also contributed to Fred Thompson just to support her home state!), and claims to be somewhat of an Obama supporter, but what she writes are without a doubt hit pieces on Obama and she's even fabricates stories to make him look bad.  If that's citizen journalism, it's no better (and maybe even worse) than the MSM.
Today when I logged onto the Huff Post site, Fowler's newest headline jumped out at me, and I decided I couldn't take it any more.  So I wrote emails to the addresses I could find for Huffington Post.  Here's what I wrote:

I heard the end of a report on network TV -- the report was on the results of a test on "character" among school children in Fairfax County, Virginia.  The controversy that made the story news was that the results were reported by race.  Black and Hispanic children (and special ed children) scored lower than did White and Asian children.
As a researcher I was curious about what questions were asked of the kids, how "character" was measured, was the test anonymous so that children would tell the truth, was this done on a sample of students or the whole population; the sorts of questions researchers think about when assessing the validity of a study.  
What I found was disturbing beyond belief -- not about the children but about the school system that produced this report.

Bill could have written Patraeus's testimony for him.  In today's Cheers and Jeers he predicted what Patraeus would say in his testimony.  Yes it was snark (Bill's prediction, unfortunately not Patraeus), and yes our beloved Bill entertains us by taking things to the absurd.  But when you're talking about the Bush administration and the Iraq war, the absurd is the reality.
So here's Bill's statement from this morning's Cheers & Jeers:

We'll be told that things are going well enough in Iraq that we can talk about drawing down forces, but not so well that we can actually draw down forces.

And here's Petraeus's statement:
(via TPM  http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...)

I wonder if they'll ever get it.  This political analysis by Michael Cooper and Larry Rohter in tomorrow's NY Times is about the effect of the increasing violence in Iraq on the presidential campaign.  http://www.nytimes.com/...

While I might not agree with their political analysis, it's their basic assumptions about the Iraq war that almost sent part of me (the part containing intelligence) exploding through the roof of our house. Here's the sentence that blew the top of my head off:

The reporters said that the heavy fighting in Basra (they seem to conveniently forget the stuff going on in Baghdad and elsewhere) has

raised anew a host of politically charged questions about whether the current strategy is succeeding, how capable the Iraqis are of defending themselves and what the potential impact would be of any American troop withdrawals.

still something we Obama supporters should think about.  I'm referring, of course, to Alegre's diary about her decision to stop reading and posting to Daily Kos.
While this is not a strike in the real meaning of the word, I think people on this site need to take a step back and look at the behavior that prompted Alegre's decision.

There was a diary earlier on this, but I wanted to present my views as an Obama supporter, as a "white" American, and as a woman.  
First, for those who don't know about this or haven't seen the video of Rev. Wright's sermon, here's a link (embedded in Ben Smith's blog on Politico):
Video of Rev Wright Sermon on Politico
Watch it and see what you think.

Last week in comments on a diary unrelated to this topic, DKos sherlyle wrote that her daughter in Illinois had been told by her insurer that immunizations for her children were considered "elective" and therefore the insurance company would no longer pay for them.  It cited waivers in the Illinois state laws that allow parents to opt out of immunizations usually required for school entrance and attendance. http://www.dailykos.com/...

My daughter's insurance company no longer pays for regular child immunizations - says they're "elective", not required by schools anymore, since you can sign a waiver.  Is that true for where you are, too?  Sounds to me like a medical disaster waiting to happen.  (this is in IL)

About an hour ago I went to the website of Alcalde & Fay, McCain's probable paramour's lobbying firm.  I clicked on "Meet the Firm" and perused the alphabetical listing of names of the staff.  Since I'm pretty familiar with the alphabet, I knew Iseman should appear between Charlotte Hrncir (I kid you not) and Maurice J. Kurland.  But wait, there was no name between those two.  Maybe Iseman doesn't work there any more or maybe she's such a minor player that they don't list her?
Nope -- she was there earlier in the day.  TPM has a link to her page on the firm's website.  
http://web.archive.org/...

Last night we celebrated the Chinese New Year by having dinner with two of the families who traveled with us in China in 2001 when we all adopted our daughters.  We decorated our house with banners and lanterns.  We had a whole chicken, a whole fish and a platter of dumplings (and lots of other food).  The girls were dressed in fancy Chinese dresses or jackets and played non-stop (and without a single argument).  And the adults talked for hours about family and friends and life.  Out of the blue, one of the other mothers said "I've decided I'm supporting Obama."  And this was a major surprise since both of these families are Republican.