I went to the Merrimack County Democrats Annual Barbecue and Potluck Picnic today, mainly to hear invited guest Bernie Sanders.

Besides the speech by Sanders, there were speeches by state Democratic chairman Ray Buckley and by former US House Rep and 2012 candidate Carole Shea-Porter.  There was also a speech by Sylvia Larson, former New Hampshire Senate President.   Annie Kuster – who is running to unseat Charlie Bass for the other House seat - couldn’t make it due to a competing family event.   (Bass narrowly defeated her in a close race in 2010, notable since Democrats were trounced in the other two big races.)   I believe there were a couple of other speakers, but I left a little bit early because a wave of thunderstorms was beginning to move through.   And I had really only come to hear Sanders.

Following are excerpts from Dagbloggers on the Libya intervention from March through 1 June. Who got it right? Who got it wrong? What do the naysayers of a few months ago say now?

A friend, not usually one to be overtaken by excessive enthusiasm,said, during the few days after the 2008 election, that it meant that the United States was finally entering the post-racial period we thought might come about after the end of the civil war, after Brown v Board of Education, or, at the very least, after the enactment of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the mid 1960s and the abolition of the poll tax. We may be on our way there but, at least so far, we have not come close to that day, despite the election of President Obama.

Stories of the successful interposition of bodies between the law and its intended victims are few and far between.

To encourage the valuable practice of civil disobedience, and to commemorate a 16 year old girl's astounding poem let us pause and pay our respects to 

Common Law.

Mary Lee Ward is 82.  She was the victim of a classic predatory lender Delta Funding.

My Fellow American is an online film and social media project that calls upon concerned Americans to pledge and spread a message that Muslims are our fellow Americans. It asks people of other backgrounds to pledge, and share a real life story about a Muslim friend, neighbor, or colleague that they admire.

This started out as a response to a blog about how Democrats should campaign in a purple district or state.  As one might expect, the general consensus is Dems need to focus on jobs (and its companion the economy). 

A significant key for the discussion which I don’t think is adequately addressed is that we are dealing with a purple region of the country, whether district or state.  We can get into whole debate about what makes such a region purple, but I will use the 30-40-30* explanation.  By this I mean that 30% of the population will vote Republican pretty much no matter what and 30% will vote Democrat come hell or high water for the most part.  This leaves us the middle 40.

The author turns out to be an ex-priest by the name of McClory.

Father Pflegert looked up one day and saw billboards that he had not really thought about before.

That is, we all go by billboards every day without really seeing them.

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/2805446,michael-pfleger-robert-mcclory.article

And Father Pflegert became mesmerized by these cheap attempts at advertising and noticed that on the Southside (or the cheapside) of Chicago all those billboards advertised the positives of booze and cigs.

Rick Perry has just warned Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke not to come to Texas because "we would treat him pretty ugly".

Economics Professor Nouriel Roubini tweeted: "This Texas thug is making murder threats on the Fed Chairman."

I wonder what the good Republicans think of Perry's threat? It's an ugly threat. The 2012 election is only going to get worse. Will good Republicans, in the name of a 3% tax hike, help put Perry in the White House. Or will some of them say enough is enough!