It's been an emotional week for dKos pets and their humans. I thought a week ago today that the toughest thing I was going to face in the next 24 hours was a brain surgery to remove a benign adenoma on my pituitary. (I'd set aside hosting a statewide theater conference and discarded directing duties on the school musical already earlier in the week). Of course, my light reading for distraction was DailyKos, but the recommended list featured sweet Madison, so the pet owner in me ached.

But by 6pm, I was in a vet's OR holding my own sedated dog's feet as the vet closed up a massive incision where exploratory surgery had revealed the massive inoperable hemangiosarcoma that had invaded his abdomen and slowly involved every organ except his kidneys over recent, symptom-free months.

CHEERS - to High School Theater!  750 of Oregon's finest are at MY SCHOOL this weeknd, workshopping, one acting and showcasing for the State Thespian Conference. I got to see Little Shop of Horrors on Thursday night, before going off to surgery... bummed I missed And Then There Were None. AND one of my guys won the state playwriing contest!!
JEERS - to Pituitary adenomas! Which are impacting my optic nerve forocing surgery and forcing me to me the State Thespian Conference (and 4 weeks of work, and Fiddler on the Roof)
CHEERS - to Veterinarians! Who do everything possible to make it better when our sweet dogs have huge tumors
JEERS - to huge tumors in dogs! Particularly when it hey are in the sweet, wonderful, huge, "stupid" (meaning, we just don't understand the importance of their objective at a particular moment) dogs who share your bed most nights and play bally in the hall way all by themselves and who make you smile even when you have a pituitary adenoma and are going in for surgery in a few short hours.

Hey all - this is the final note before I head off into my surgical procedure tomorrow morning.

For reference, my other post related to this is Here from last weekend.

If you wanna make me super feel good, you could make little bitty donations to my ActBlue candidates - not big $$$, but lots of "Supporters" would be cool to see when I wake up :)

Since my recovery window is 4+ weeks, my job is on hold and thus, I am going largely miss out on the spring musical (Fiddler on the Roof), which is making me a bit sad.

Schedule for the day and weeks to come below the fold:

I am exercising 2 digit UID priv (34) and posting this minimal diary to say "Thanks" for giving me something to read every day for several awesome years.

Whether it's Rimjob's Irrelevant Crap, the TDS/CR Threads, CnJ (which I am a proud underwriter of), Friday Night Movies, Pooties (even though I prefer dogs.. or as some insist 'wozzles'), or actually substance (MB, ko, KO, Eve), science from DarkSyde or Moonbat's history, this place rocks.

I am about to test the waters of our health care system. I went in Tues for an eye exam and am now (after 4 frenetic days) scheduled for surgery on Fri next to remove a pituitary adenoma larger than a golf ball. It is impacting my optic nerve, causing symptoms that prompted my visit to the eye guy.

Most times, the procedure goes fine, but not always, so I thought I'd drop a quick note here and let folks know I was going under the knife. I've been around a long while and most here don't even remember a time when I was a frequent poster or commentor... let's just say Dean was stil a frontrunner. I do one of our Fantasy Football leagues. I occasionally chime in on something. I hope to do all that some more very soon.

I'll post from post-op, if they let me bring my laptop to the hospital. Assuming all goes well.

Vote D in Nov, guys. Peace!

Related story front paged earlier this week - the DSCC had been pushing Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley to run against Gordon Smith... in email that came to me at 8:12 am:

This morning I took the first step on an exciting journey for a better future for Oregon. I filed papers with the Secretary of the Senate to formally begin my campaign for the United States Senate.

I'm running for U.S. Senate because I believe we need to make some big changes in our country. And I believe George Bush and Gordon Smith are leading us in the wrong direction.

Merkley's entrance makes him the second Dem who is 'really' in the race (Steve Novick being the other). Southern Oregon-based State Senator Alan Bates officially is NOT going to run (from the Mail Trib).

Merkley has an ActBlue donation page linked thru from mine here.

Take a break from Bill v Mike, console yourself for not going to yKos (even if your MOTHER is), and step into another annual dKos tradition - the dKos Pacific League - a Yahoo Fantasy Football Autodraft League (for the lazy or time poor)

Details: a 14 team league with (updated) THREE spots left,  Team ID 273920, Password whatIwannaknow

Generally a fun time (though moreso during election years). Talk smack about sports, politics, and enjoy watching games on weekends even when the networks give you 5 crap matchups (cuz, that Detroit Arizona game will mean the difference, if the Lions kicker can just manage one FG and a PAT)

Clickee here :)

Daily Kos is a great place to go for political discourse, and snark, and occasional home improvement advice... it is also the home, for four years now, of multiple Yahoo Fantasy Football Leagues. Markos is a great supporter of Sport - look at the other blogs he operates...

Earlier today, Danno11 posted a diary with slots in two Live Draft Leagues, both of which have filled up. I noted in that diary, an Autodraft League (the dKos Pacific League) is also open, with a 14 team limit and a commissioner-imposed decision to keep the league divisible by 2 (so come draft day, the last team to join will be booted, if we are at an odd number).

Two of us are in already, both multi-season veterans, and we are looking for more!

League ID: 273920 Password: whatIwannaknow

We here at dKos (and others who watch congressional possibilities) were all abuzz when there was chance of a DeFazio challenge to Gordon Smith for US Senate seat coming up for Oregon in 2008...but that died an early death when Representative DeFazio made his intentions known, and a senate race was not in the cards.  There are two declared Dems in the race and primary noise coming also from the GOP side.

When I last put my ear actively to the ground, the name that drifted to me was an interesting one, but also one that is not in the actual running : former R-turned-I (now-apparently-turned-D) Ben Westlund... the name dropped, but not apparently in the right statewide race (more on that some other time).

Two Dems are in but no jelling of progressive energy is united behind PDX-area activist Steve Novick nor businessman Ty Pettit... and that means other murmurs are not yet stilled about other possibilities. One that reached me unbidden is one that def piques MY interest and may get pulses beating for some of the rest of you - State Senator Alan Bates. More on Bates and why I think he's a likely and viable entrant below the fold...

So ABC News and Prevention are running a thing on women's health, and it is kinda sad to see that in a national participation poll on women's health, tied into nationally televised segments (I think on GMA), the total participation of voters is under 1000 (the leaders are seperated by a handful at 236 and 233 as of my vote).

One of my collegues in the Medford (Oregon) schools is being considered, and this link is to the spotlight on her, but in interests of women's health, I'd encourage folks to look at the whole slate and take part in the voting for whomever they wish, driving participation and awareness on a more meaningful topic than where American focus usually goes... like to Sanjaya.

Once again, we are into the post season. Yesterday's playoffs thread was modestly attended, which is cool... I expect today might be more involved games, with the PATS and JETS coming up momentarily, and the GIANTS and IGGLES later today.

We had two 'eh' games yesterday:

The Colts roughed up the Chiefs, yet still looked lackluster, with Peyton's picks.. .the upside for the Colts: They seemed to have gotten their defense. Good a time as any for that to arrive, eh? I don't think the Colts get past Baltimore next week.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks dodge repeated bullets, some misfired, rather than evaded, and found a way to win. The stop short of the first was tremendous work for the 'Hawk defense, but I don't think Hasselback was going to bring them the length of the field to get back after the Dallas FG...oop. Too bad no Dallas FG. Tony Romo prolly didn't sleep well last night (which, by the way, is what you're supposed to do after a collosal, outcome-effecting screw up, ehem, GEORGE). Seattle can get past Chicago, but not New Orleans... so let's root for Philly :)

Go 'Hawks! (thus Iggles!!) and Go Pats!!

Hey all - the regular season is over, now it's win or go home. I know there are dKos-er's who follow sports, as Rimjob and others have brought sports diaries into regular circulation, not to mention dKos has managed to fill up multiple Yahoo fantasy football and NCAA Tourney groups each of the past several years.

So with the Colts up at half, and the Seahawks/Cowboys still upcoming later this evening, let this be the first of two post season NFL threads this weekend (two more games tomorrow)! We have not only the post-season to ponder, but also the off-season moves for the teams who are done - coaching firings and hirings, trades, free agency, etc... plus, we can use this as the place to wear out sports metaphors applied to politics as we analyze the first quarter from the new Dem Congress.

So... Go 'Hawks, Go Pats... still waiting for a Super Bowl where both of 'my teams' made it (something that wasn't even possible until the realignment put Seattle into the NFC).

So, for three years now, we've had dKos Fantasy Football on Yahoo...usually three or four leagues worth. So tonight (and possibly twice more this week if the league doesn't fill), I announce the DKos Pacific Football League. Yahoo League ID 596002. The Password is whatIwannaknow.

This is a 16 team league. How does this relate to dKos and politics? Team naming clearly takes on a political theme, and we've done it for three seasons, so it is officially a Tradition.

Back to your regular programming.

Might be a bit early, but we can start the discussion early with the final minutes of the Ghana upset of the Czechs, as the African side leads 2-0 in the 90th, having scored early in the second minute, and hung on...

US lineup is announced

Cherundolo, Onyewu, Pope, & Bocanegra in the back; Mastroeni, Reyna, Donovan, Dempsey, & Convey in the middle; up top McBride (and I assume Keller in the net)

Lewis and Beasley out from last match.

A "Here and Now" edition of the popular game MONOPOLY is coming out, and the makers (Hasbro) are letting Americans vote on what the most popular landmark location is (and thus gets the "Boardwalk" square). New Orleans makes the ballot with the Garden District, Bourbon Street, and the French Quarter.

Now, given the overall list of choices, I was very inclined towards voting for Independence Hall in Philly, and I wouldn't suggest you not at least cast some votes for your "true favorite"...but since you can vote EVERY DAY, I'd suggest a campaign to get New Orleans into that prestige square and add one more straw to the camel back concerning how loved this city is and how UNADDRESSED the ongoing catastophe is. Use this thread to coordinate which NOLA landmark should receive a dKos bump.

Of course this isn't to take the place of substantive grass-roots efforts on behalf of NOLA - those need to continue, but this is one more 15 second slice of your day that can payoff as another nail in a coffin lid or straw on a camel's back, or, or, or.... whatever it takes to push the Bushies past the tipping point in the public eye.

I missed getting this up in time for you Eastern and Central folks (our Into the Woods rehearsal ran long and there's a powerpoint thing I have to build using a SINGLE FREAKING SLIDE for State Thespian Conference this weekend GAHHH!!).

Tonight Jon has Ricky Gervais and Ed Helms does "This Week in God". Over on the Repor(t), Stephen gets truthy with Michael Smerconish.  Of course, I don't think ANYthing can top Thursday' s F@#K.

Filling in for PsiFighter37, who's daily diary allotment was used earlier today to chronicle Penn College Dem stuff, leaving the bullpen to cover TDS/CR OT. Tonight, Jon has Newsweek International's Fareed Zakaria and Stephen welcomes* former FEMA Director Michael Brown.

Will Brownie get nailed? Stay tuned, Heroes! Looking forward to truthy goodness.

.* definition of "welcomes" subject to change without notice.

Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the peopleto peacably assemble and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.

Southern Oregon University is hosting this event now for four (? I don't know and will update as I find out) year now. A couple of years back, it garnered national attention as Portland-based wingnut radio host Lars Larson made an issue of the conflict between laws concerning firearms near schools and his concealed carry permit.

This year the featured guest is former CNN anchor Aaron Brown. He will speak shortly. I arrived at 6:55 for the free, scheduled at 7pm event to find a standing room only crowd, though part of that was because not all the space had had chairs put into it... it has now, so I am seated to the back, rather than leaning over a food service cart (the room doubles as a campus dining space). I will update in the extended entry as Mr. Brown and the other panelists speak.

Aaron Brown, who we all know from his days as "the good one at CNN" (A role now shared kinda by Cafferty and A. Cooper), will be at Southern Oregon University Wednesday evening (March 1) keynoting the 1st Amendment forum and then moderating a panel featuring the local TV news directors (ABC, NBC, & CBS affiliates...our local PBS and FOX channels don't do local news). The event is at the SU at 7pm and is free. Fellow SoOR Kossacks are encouraged to attend and I will try to laptop and live-blog it tomorrow.

In the morning, Brown will be on the Jefferson Exchange (regional Public Radio public interest show). The show starts at 8pm Pacific and runs two hours...1st hour is usually open phones and guests w/callers in the 2nd hour), which has a streaming feed accessible via www.jeffnet.org. It would be quite cool if a caller or two were listening on the web, rather than just from the listening area (Cape Mendicino, CA north to Eugene, OR). Brown will also do a news conference at 4pm.