I'm going to let you in on a secret.  This is a diary that's been percolating in my brain for almost a year.  I know, Bush just now went to the Baltic states, but follow me for just a minute and you'll understand.

This diary really started a few weeks ago when I was thinking about our energy problems.  I know that the present administration is in bed with the big oil companies and there's about a snowballs chance of an honest, real energy policy coming from the top down.   But I started thinking about what I can do - how can I make my own personal energy policy?  The more I kicked around the idea the more it sounded like a good discussion point for the Kossaks.  So here it goes.

Here's a notice from the Obama Senate campaign.  I know there's a lot of Illinois KOS readers out there.  If you can please come down to the city tonight at 6pm at the WLS Studio at 190 N State St.  

See you there!

(text of email follows)

I was having a conversation with my girlfriend about this year's election.  Believe it or not she's almost completely apolitical.  So I decided to find the best way to highlight the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.  Being I'm a registered, card-carrying Democrat naturally I wanted to make my party look its best and to show the Republican party for what it is - a party filled with anger, hate and malice.  

Here's the idea I came up with:

Let's make sure the Republican Spin Doctors don't spin this to a win for W.  

http://volunteer.johnkerry.com/speakout/tv/

A quote from the web site follows:

If you haven't already visited the Kerry web site and signed up to volunteer please please PLEASE head over to http://calls.johnkerry.com and sign up!!

It's easy to be passive.  It's easy to even be "active" here at DKos.  If you're like me it's hard to know what the next step is. To really make a difference in this election take just a few minutes to really change the course of this election.

And now for some words from our "sponsor" the John Kerry campaing...

President Bush is correct, we are turning a corner.  But not the corner he wants us to be turning.  The on I'm talking about is the gentleman's agreement between the Press and the Prez.  It's an open secret that Bush is a little, um, less bright than Clinton.  But thanks to careful handling and a tightly managed press the president has escaped public ridicule.  He's also been able to pull off a lot of things a Clinton could not.  For example he opposed the creation of the 9/11 commission.  If this were a Clinton move you can bet your last dollar the press would have run this on page 1 for a week.  But it was Bush and the story kind of died after he flip-flopped and backed the creation of the 9/11 commission.