New Year's Eve Homework

I have been home all week. That meant I have had a lot of time online. Here are some good stories that I found...

• I have been meaning to link to this post from John Deeth for a long while and now finally get a chance. Deeth writes about the Iowa Caucuses in The Caucuses Greatest Hits: The 1976 -2004 boxed set.
  
• A new Iowa blog, Popular Progressive discusses the progressive agenda in Congress.
• Here is a Daily Kos diary about the Employee Free Choice Act and the right to organize unions.
• Jim Hightower takes a look at the 2006 midterm elections and what it means in Throw the Bums out and Change Direction. Hightower is funny and provides some good insight about the decline of Republicans and the progressive victories around the nation.
• Chris Bowers from MyDD takes a look at the post election discussion and explains Why Progressives the Post-election Narrative. Bowers concludes...

"Creating a solid, long-term progressive majority means we have to go beyond just organizing around elections and move toward greater organizing efforts within non-elective ideological and legislative power structures. Our current deficit in many of those structures will inevitably cause a lot of problems for our new majorities, no matter how well conduct ourselves in terms of message, crafting legislation, conducting oversight, or maintaining a unified caucus. Even in a democracy, much of the basis of political power comes from non-elective sources. We overestimate our current power, underestimate the work that still needs to be done to forge a progressive America, and set ourselves up for massive disappointment and disengagement as a result, at our own peril."