kossack kainah created this display with the handwritten names of all the fallen service men and women in Iraq. Powerful stuff, especially when you think about how much longer of a hallway they would need if all the casualties from this war-of-choice were able to be quantified.

After I spent a few minutes there, I walked outside where chaos was ensuing Texas-style. A live country artist was performing for a growing crowd of people, awaiting the arrival of Gov. Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic Party. I joked earlier that today is Howard Dean Appreciate Day at Netroots Nation, and really, that's the truth. He's like the pied piper for many of these bloggers, they'd follow him straight out to sea.

Dean is a great speaker, and I think he's doing worthy work to transform the Democratic Party; but I also see the need for party bosses to do more to craft their message in a way that doesn't make White America the default mode of operation. His comment that they have different sets of pictures available in case an activist is walking a neighborhood that doesn't quite look like the photos they were given, made me bust out in laughter at the ridiculousness of the way it sounded to my ears.

Lordy, lots of work to do!

Coming up: Blogs United Caucus and the Latino Caucus (which, incidentally, is scheduled for the same time as the Black Caucus; we may have to do some political jujitsu and combine the groups to show some solidarity)

More Later...