Some of you may have heard of Mark Schauer, although if you live outside of Michigan (like me), chances are that if you have heard of him, you don’t know enough about him – because there is a lot of good things to know.

If you are looking to take a brief break from the Presidential candidate wars, you can hear thereisnospoon and I interview Mark today at 1PM Eastern/10AM Pacific on our BlogTalkRadio show.  

Mark’s website is here, and you can find out why he has a lot to offer the people of his district as a Congressman, what he plans to do differently in Washington as he is doing now in Michigan, the issues facing his district, and his other thoughts on how he will serve his constituents if you listen to him in his own words at 1PM Eastern today.

Please don’t take this the wrong way, Senator Schumer.  I lived in New York for the first 35 years of my live before moving to New Jersey in 2006.  You were my Senator for a good number of years and you were a damn fine Senator.  As are a good number of your colleagues.

Generally speaking.

Many of us, myself included, know the value of “more Democrats in Congress”, and I have personally been preaching the value of getting involved with Congressional races, some of whom we have had the opportunity to hear talk about in their own words how they will help make Congress more progressive.

If we are to be forced to swallow the latest “it isn’t illegal if the President ordered it or if his flunkie Attorney General says it isn’t illegal” line of crap, then I have a few questions.

When will we see Mister Bush, Alberto Gonzales, Dick Cheney, Michael Mukasey or any of the other torture enablers and apologists volunteer for this entirely legal technique?  After all, if it is only a dunk in the water, or just like swimming, then these brave defenders of torture, er “legal” interrogation techniques should be more than willing to assuage the doubts of millions of Americans as to what they make sound like a trip to a waterpark.

I live in New Jersey’s 5th District, home of one of the worst Congressional members, Scott Garrett. As I said in a diary a couple of weeks ago:

I live in New Jersey’s 5th district – my Congressman is Scott Garrett. He is one of the most odious members of Congress. When you see bills that pass the House with a vote of 390-35, he is one of the 35. Consistently. He has around an 85% voting record with George W. Bush. On the other 15%, his position is more extreme than Bush.

There is at least one, possibly two progressives running in my district on the Democratic side. Scott Garrett will never vote with Clinton, Obama or Edwards on anything that I want to see passed. But the Democratic candidates in my district will. As will many other progressive Democratic candidates – some of whom are members of the progressive blogosphere.

For those of you who missed Downtowner’s diary last night on what is happening in Dennis Hastert’s old district, it is a good run down of what Daily Kos member, progressive, patriot, military veteran and Democratic Congressional candidate John Laesch is up against.

In addition to tomorrow’s primary, there is a special election on March 8 for the seat that Dennis Hastert retired from and progressive John Laesch is up against a “DC insider choice” who is described as new to politics and a wealthy self funding individual who has contributed hundreds of thousands to a primary challenge.

You can check out what is happening on the campaign trail from the Laesch for Congress diary series, and we are happy to have John on our BlogTalkRadio show today at 3PM Eastern/noon Pacific.  

The other night, I posted a diary about a series of interviews  that thereisnospoon and I will be doing on our BlogTalkRadio show with various Democratic Congressional candidates.

Not only do I think this is a great opportunity to hear these candidates in their own words talking about their district, their campaign and the issues they hold dear, but also to keep some focus on Congress, because without more progressives in Congress who are willing to stand up and fight for the ideals that we discuss here daily, it really won’t matter if Clinton, Obama, Romney or McCain is in the White House because a progressive agenda would not even begin to be seriously discussed, nor would a right wing agenda be able to be thwarted.

This past weekend, I posted a diary talking about the progressive movement and how we needed to have more progressives in Congress in order for either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama pass anything progressive, as well as to fight for progressive causes, and against any agenda that a (gasp) President McCain or Romney would be pushing.  In that diary, I said the following:

None of the three Democratic candidates can really accomplish much with a Congress that is as divided as this one.  That may not be completely their fault, but it could also serve as a convenient excuse (as it has for both Reid and Pelosi).  And without more progressives in Congress, our movement will not continue in any meaningful way.  

—snip—

There is at least one, possibly two progressives running in my district on the Democratic side.  Scott Garrett will never vote with Clinton, Obama or Edwards on anything that I want to see passed.  But the Democratic candidates in my district will.  As will many other progressive Democratic candidates – some of whom are members of the progressive blogosphere.  From Charlie Brown to John Laesch to Darcy Burner to Barry Welsh to Ron Sheptson to Gilda Reed to Dennis Shulman in my district, and many others (I apologize if I forgot a few).

These are the people that we need – without them, NOTHING that Clinton or Obama or Edwards wants will happen.  On the flip side, it is these people who can not only stop the agenda of McCain or Huckabee or Romney but can also plant the seeds for the progressive agenda – one that can last for a generation or even longer.

this past weekend, I posted a diary talking about the progressive movement and how we needed to have more progressives in Congress in order for either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama pass anything progressive, as well as to fight for progressive causes, and against any agenda that a (gasp) President McCain or Romney would be pushing.  In that diary, I said the following:

None of the three Democratic candidates can really accomplish much with a Congress that is as divided as this one.  That may not be completely their fault, but it could also serve as a convenient excuse (as it has for both Reid and Pelosi).  And without more progressives in Congress, our movement will not continue in any meaningful way.  

—snip—

There is at least one, possibly two progressives running in my district on the Democratic side.  Scott Garrett will never vote with Clinton, Obama or Edwards on anything that I want to see passed.  But the Democratic candidates in my district will.  As will many other progressive Democratic candidates – some of whom are members of the progressive blogosphere.  From Charlie Brown to John Laesch to Darcy Burner to Barry Welsh to Ron Sheptson to Gilda Reed to Dennis Shulman in my district, and many others (I apologize if I forgot a few).

These are the people that we need – without them, NOTHING that Clinton or Obama or Edwards wants will happen.  On the flip side, it is these people who can not only stop the agenda of McCain or Huckabee or Romney but can also plant the seeds for the progressive agenda – one that can last for a generation or even longer.

So the breaking news banner on CNN (online and on TV) is touting the fact that the House has passed a stimulus package which includes tax rebates for individuals and families.

While I haven’t seen the final numbers that are in the bill, nor do I know if the Senate will pass a similar bill, NOR do I know who will be eligible for these rebates, I can tell you that the whole idea of tax rebates are no different than putting a band aid on a gaping chest wound.

I don’t want to hear about what Bill Clinton thinks anymore. I don’t want to hear how McCain “wants to be in Iraq for 1,000 years”, that Romney may have wanted a withdrawal date, that any of the candidates is more or less pure on whatever issue or any other chest thumping drivel.

I want to know what each candidate really thinks or if they haven’t actually thought beyond tough talk, suck up platitudes and bumper sticker slogans, when it comes to addressing the extremely fucked up foreign policy path that this country has taken over the past decade.

No more “would you take anything off the table”.  No more “they may be able to restart a nuclear weapons program”.  No more “we have to kill them before they kill us”.  No more “we will not allow [X] to occur, under any circumstances”.  No more “we must be strong and we must also be flexible”.  No more “we must always stay on the offensive”.  No more “we’ll smoke them all out”.  No more “nothing short of victory will do”.  No more “either you are with us or you are against us”.  No more “spreading democracy and freedom”.

No more fluff.