Dave Cline, I never knew you.  I never met you, and I don't remember hearing about you until it was too late.

But Dave Cline, I assure you, even though we didn't know each other, I felt your presence like a guiding hand.  I felt your commitment, your courage, and heard your voice in every courageous man or woman who spoke truth to power.  I saw you, and those who followed your example, in the refusal of individuals to follow where injustice led. I saw you in the names of your brothers in arms on black granite in the early morning sunshine, in the paragraphs of the textbooks that first taught me that war answers nothing.

Saturday's march in DC was my first large-scale political protest, and like other first-timers there, I was amazed by the depth and the sheer diversity of the crowd.  It seemed like all ages, all races, all walks of life were represented, and represented in a massive way.

I suppose this isn't a diary so much as a photoblog post.  My thoughts on the whole thing are still too jumbled--the weekend's been a series of really long days, and I've only just had time to sit down and put this diary together.

All that being said, the march was an incredible experience, both for having been there, and for having seen people's reactions when I've told them about it.  Being in such a huge crowd without people getting nasty with each other over the waiting was inspiring in and of itself!  I'm so grateful to RenaRF for organizing, and for all the other bloggers for coming along--it was great to get to Starbucks at 10 and see so much orange, and even better to march along with you all (once we finally got moving, anyway!)

The story of my family's marathon race with chronic illness (pt 1 here) began when I was six, when my father was diagnosed with acute kidney failure.  He was given ten years to live when he started on dialysis, a year after he was diagnosed, after a failed kidney transplant.  Ten years of ups and downs and challenges later, he was still, within the confines of his disease, going strong.

I have a story to tell you.  It's not about what insurance should cover.  It's not about what insurance should do.  It's about what insurance doesn't cover and what insurance can't hope to fix.  Still, it's about why universal health care is so important:  medical bills aren't the only result of chronic illness.  They're just the easiest part for society to fix.

This isn't a story of good health, or necessarily one of good cheer.  It's not a story of quick fixes or miracle cures.  There aren't any magic pills, there aren't any good fairies with sparkly wands who reach down to tap anyone on the head and make them all right again.

My family plays an important role in it, but it's not the story of my family.  That is a much larger story than the one I'm telling here.  My dad is the main character, but it's not really his story either.  His story began long before this one, and continues on though he's no longer here.

Virginia's a battleground state.  That's nice to hear, because I've lived in Virginia for 6 years now, and I've been watching the changes rolling through the polling places.  It's been a long haul, and it's due not only to hard volunteer work but great candidates who are willing to stand up for what they believe in.

The Commonwealth probably isn't a place where the far left is ever going to have more than a tenuous (read, "parts of Northern Virginia") hold.  It's got a lot of work to do, as far as gay issues, and many others go.  It's a state in flux, and we've got an opportunity to continue steering it in the right direction here with Jim Webb's campaign.

Below the fold is the start of the Virginia Senate campaign in cliff notes, big issue by big issue, starting with Iraq.

In some ways, I think that Virginia's Allen(R) - Webb(D) may be one of the two most crucial races coming to the finish line this fall. It's both the candidates--Allen's Bush-alike persona, and Webb's in-your-face, converted-to-Democrat style--and about the state. Virginia's turning purple, if the 2004 presidential election and its last two gubernatorial races are any indication. I think that Webb's challenge for this Senate seat--which as few as 2 years ago would have been a virtual lock for Allen--is going to be a key indicator of how far toward the blue Virginia might turn.

Thanks to both of them, I am who and what and where and why I am.  Thanks to them, I'm strong enough to stand up for what I believe in, to act against injustice, and to work in the hope that some day everyone will truly be equal.

Happy Mothers' Day to both of my mothers, who made choices that helped make me who I am.

That's because they don't know what they're talking about.

Adoption is not the "solution" to the abortion-rights problem.   In fact, as a solution, adoption has the potential to destroy many more lives, for a number of reasons.  This diary elaborates on what I see as the main counterargument to adoption as the Magic Pill That Will End All Abortion.  I also see it as the main danger to adoption as a solution to anything--that adoption in this country tends to be run as a business, not as a service.   And kids aren't its only victims.

Once upon a day so dreary, while I waited, weak and weary,
Over many a sharp and spurious network show of spin and bore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone rudely rapping, rapping at the Chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "rapping at the Chamber door;
Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was after bleak December,
Aft' each separate aye-vote Member wrought Alito 'pon the Floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow
Filibuster votes--no! Sorrow! Sorrow for the losing score.
For the rare and radiant cloture which we had the losing score,
Splitting here forevermore.

He's highly intelligent, highly principled, very concerned about almost everything I consider a big huge deal when it comes to voting for someone to represent me.

I love him, but he's wrong.  There's no constitutional crisis going on here.

Though if saying it would make a filibuster of ScAlito more likely...

It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that he wasn't too bright.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

The chamber lay waiting
For action to start,
For the pros and the cons to
Their wisdom impart

And Frist in his big chair,
Spector on defense,
It was no wonder the
Feeling was tense

Approved by House We'n'sday
By seventy-some votes,
Patriot Act Renewal
Had caused no few gloats

From Washington Repubs
Who liked it just fine,
And White House insiders
Who found it divine.

The soldiers were squeezed in,
Tighter than sardines,
All dressed in defiant
Bright reds and bright greens.