Yesterday Tom announced his candidacy for the Illinois' Fifth District to fill Rahm Emanuel's vacant seat. With the special election primary on March 3rd, we have to move quickly. And yesterday couldn't have been a better start.

Thanks to this community and others, we received hundreds of new sign-ups and thousands of dollars in small-dollar contributions. Your energy and support were overwhelming. (If you have not already, please join us here).

And we received a lot of buzz. Among the highlights:

Illinois Secretary of state thinks so:

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said this morning he has been made "the fall guy" by the U.S. Senate, which he said is using him as an excuse to not seat Roland Burris.

"They could have seated him without my signature; my signature is not required," he told WGN-AM 720's John Williams.

The Senate barrred Burris Tuesday, saying he lacked proper credentials because his appointment was not signed by White.

But White said today, "My signature is mostly ceremonial, rather than a point of law."

"They played a little bit of a game with [Burris] yesterday," he added.

Asked by Williams if he had been made "the fall guy," White said, "You're absolutely correct."

(For the full interview, click here.)

White said he had pledged, shortly after Gov. Rod Blagojevich was accused of trying to make a deal for his appointment to the Senate seat, to not sign off on anyone selected by Blagojevich. And he said he will continue to honor that pledge unless ordered otherwise by a court.

Yet at the same time he said he thought Burris should be admitted to the Senate and said he had the highest possible regard for him. He predicted Burris eventually will be seated

Here is the Audio:
http://caster.wgnradio.com/news/090107je ssewhitejw.mp3

I am not sure that Harry Reid is the right choice to be our Senate leader. He bears the completely responsibilty for this fiasco. He seems to be constantly behind the eighth ball. As an experienced legislator he should have known the consequences of his actions.

This recent story came from Yahoo

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Sixteen years after Bill Clinton tried to end restrictions on gays in the military, the US armed forces under Barack Obama may be forced to give homosexuals the same welcome as non-gays.

This is great news, and a step in the right direction.  Of course, we cannot allow the fight to stop here.  Until we have 100 equality in marriage, adoption right, etc., this war is FAR from over.

Under president Clinton, the policy that once saw homosexuals discharged from US military service evolved to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," allowing gays to remain in the military so long as they did not reveal their sexual orientation.

"The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited," reads an entry on the president-elect's transition website.

I'm really excited.  You know that once Obama has it on his website, he is serious about it.  This is a signal to the gay/lesbianb/bi/transgendered community that we won't have to be less-than-full citizens anymore.

I'm so proud!

Obama will have to be firm in his commitment to ending discrimination against gays in the military, he warned, despite a full agenda of burgeoning crises.

"I take the president-elect on his word," he said. "I think he'll do it."

In a year!  I'll take Obama at his word, too.  This time we wont be disappointed.

YES WE CAN!!!!

By Lindsay Beyerstein, TMC MediaWire blogger.

2009 already is shaping up to be a year of surprises. Yesterday, we learned that America's favorite TV doctor, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, will likely be the next Surgeon General of the United States.

The latest death toll estimates range from around 700 to "might be close to 770." The Israelis have lost 7, all soldiers, three of them killed by friendly fire. When are we Americans going to ask that our tax dollars not be spent supporting state terrorism? I fully agree the U.S. should not support Hamas, but what about the state that has killed 195 children in the last few days?

195 children have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza: medics

UN: No gunmen in school at time of Israeli shelling

With all the changing positions in our party lately, from Harry Reid to Obama himself, I thought it necessary to make sure everyone stays on the same page.

This is important as we take the white house in 14 days, to make sure that we present a united front.

MEMO POINT - Roland Burris

I realize most of you are still under the impression that Burris will not be seated by Democrats in the senate, but that is no longer the case.

Harry Reid, who last week made it clear that Burris would not be seated, has now changed his mind as it becomes obvious that Burris will in fact be seated.

Those of you who have speaking out against the appointment will receive no punishment, as long as you now trumpet Burris' appointement as 'just' and 'democratic'.

Obama himself has gone from "dont seat him" to "no comment", so please, no more bringing to attention the fact that Obama opposes Burris' being seated.  This is not the case, and we at the DNC would appreciate you reacting accordingly.

Please tune in here for the next Democratic Party memo.  We'll keep you informed about what you must think.

DP

This headline appeared this morning on the site of the BBC:

Israel has agreed "on the principles" of a ceasefire proposal, raising hopes of an end to its conflict with Palestinian militants in Gaza.

"The challenge now is to get the details to match the principles," Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said. The Palestinian militant group Hamas said there were "positive signs but no agreement yet".

Cross-posted at Motley Moose

People on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including committed Zionists, have expressed horror at the carnage and humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza.  Among democrats and progressives, debates are taking place in an attempt to put history in context and assign responsibility.  Others argue about whether President-elect Obama should or could be more involved at this point.  But there is, I think, one thing upon which we can agree: what is happening now highlights another horrific failure of the Bush administration.  And though that might make it a moot point with regard to debate in this forum, it does not diminish the importance of broadcasting it.