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One of the things that struck me about YKos is that, in effect, it was a conference for and about writers. Each blogger’s style is different. Some write like novelists, some like journalists but all are effective communicators or people wouldn’t read them.

So we already have a big leg up on the competition, who, from the few comment threads I’ve been able to stomach at some of the better known sites, are mostly incoherent when challenged to think. We can think and write at the same time.

I read Robert Parry’s plea for funding at Consortiumnews.com. He’s absolutely right. We need to build the infrastructure NOW – think tanks, media resource centers, etc. – or it will be too late for ‘08. I urge y’allo to go read his post and do what you can. He’s one of the few reporters around long enough to have a Bush Dynasty institutional memory.

I wear my Firedoglake button everywhere now, hoping some fellow FDLer will notice.

I’m a middle-aged mom, soapmaker and aspiring writer. I’ve been around the liberal side of politics all my life (Thanks, mom and dad, for teaching me so well). My dad was press secretary to one of the great California Govs., Pat Brown. He was editor of the National Journal many years ago, when we lived in DC. He told me just before he died that he was glad he didn’t have to live through the Bush years and that Condi was in way over her head and she was gonna do something stupid and to watch my back. He also told me he stole $2 million in “meat substitute” from the LA Times and buried it under an overpass in a town near SF and that I should go dig it up, drive it to Arizona and throw it over the fence of his former boss, who would know what to do with it, so I didn’t pay enough attention to him then. I thought he was channeling Carl Hiassen.

In my town of 35,000, nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley (Dreier is my rep), we few (we thought) stalwart Dems started a Dem club in our mostly Republican town. within a year we had almost 200 members, as they came pouring out of the closet to proclaim the need to turn things around.

Our town has a history of non-partisan citizen activism. A few years ago we put together a coalition to pass a tax measure so we could buy property in the foothills that was slated for development. It passed overwhelmingly – 75% – and was the talk of the state. During this whole push there was not much talk about political parties though when it comes to state and national politics, we’re overwhelmly red.

I’m greatly encouraged that probably 25% of our new club members are former (soft)Republicans
who pay attention to the world and are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

I’m writing my first novel, which takes place in West Virginia (I was thrilled when I found out ReddHedd was from WVA) and involves mountain top removal mining. My husband and I met white water rafting (he’s the best guide ever) and had a rafting honeymoon. In three years, our permit for rafting the Colorado
through the Grand Canyon will come up.

Now, here’s a recipe guaranteed to clog your arteries:

Preheat overn to 375

Nan’s Mexican Pepper Casserole
Custard:
beat together
4 large eggs
1.5 cups sour cream

Peppers:
6 med. green & red bell peppers
1.5 cups thinly sliced onion
2 TBS. each olive oil, butter
3 med. cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp. each salt, cumin, coriander
.5 tsp dry mustard
.25 tsp each black and red pepper
2 TBS. flour
.5 lb. med sharp cheddar (Cojack is nice)shredded or thinly sliced

Slice peppers into thin strips. Heat butter and olive oil together in heavy skillet. Saute onions, garlic with salt and all spices.

When onions are translucent, add peppers. Saute over low heat about 10 mins. Sprinkle in flour and mix well, saute until there is no extra liquid.

Butter a deep casserole. Spread half the saute topped with half the cheese. Repeat layers. Pour custard over all and sprinkle wit paprika. Cover with foil, bake 40-45 minutes, uncover for the last 15 minutes.

I grew up in the south – it seems so long ago.

Allow me to suggest the invincibly ignorant Dixiecrats embrace of Rethuglican Congressman Westmoreland’s last name most likely benefited him…confusing him with U.S. Army General Westmoreland.

Sigh.

And reporting is burdened by those forces. How many times does a story not get followed up, or a follow-up question not get asked, because the reporter either gets censored, because someone’s been upset by a story, or self-censors because he or she knows it will upset someone–particularly a source of revenue, such as an advertiser.

That’s always been with us, to a degree; it’s just worse now than it was in the past, precisely because of the vertical integration Robert Parry describes here:

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/061606.html

And, it’s what bloggers are upset about. Most people blogging about politics depend upon MSM reporting. They don’t like it, but they don’t have much choice–they don’t have the resources–either in terms of money or sources–in many cases, to do reporting themselves, although there are notable exceptions.

Progressive bloggers are exceptionally sensitive to reporting that smells bad, and they aren’t afraid to say so, and this is what has gotten a lot of names in the news upset. Leaving a lie, for example, to stand as counterpoint to the truth without noting it as such seems to be the sin most commonly complained about, and yet even the likes of Jim Lehrer won’t admit that reporting should point out the obvious lie, if the object of reporting is to fully inform the public.

That’s how far the non-commercial public model has drifted from its original charter, precisely because of the intrusion of commercial interests and the dependency of that model on government funding which has been subject to Congressional whim.

Parry’s complaint is worth reading, because he does get to the crux of the biscuit. You can’t report the news without money.

I think most bloggers, even if they don’t understand the details of it, still intuitively understand the problem. They want the news providers to change their ways, but also know they won’t. That’s frustrating. They know the news is incomplete and full of shadings meant to avoid conflict–particularly with this administration. They know it, because they can figure it out from what is reported.

Maybe what I’m getting at here is that bloggers may simply be wasting their time in trying to get commercial news to do the right thing. I’m not saying that they should simply give up on taking news outlets or individual reporters to task for sloppy or disingenuous work. That ought to go on, as usual. Places like MediaMatters.org are essential to the process.

But, what they should be doing, if not on a day-to-day basis, then week-to-week and month-to-month, is developing ideas amongst themselves and the people they know in their communities about how to create effective competition for the news sources which now dominate, and how to fund that competing news source.

In a way, what’s happening now in the blogosphere is addressing the symptoms, along with some efforts to promote better candidates. But, if the problem is systemic, all that is just treading water. At the heart of it all is a badly-informed public and a news media that intends to keep them uninformed. Fix that, and a lot of the other systemic problems go away.

shiso/watercress/pecan pesto

2 cups shiso leaves
1 cup watercress leaves
1 or 2 garlic cloves
2/3 cup pecans
1/4 cup pecan or walnut oil
1/2 cup olive oil
salt to taste

(I’ve done this recipe with pistaccio nuts and sesame oil instead of the pecan stuff)

My variation on Bobby Flay’s Tequila-soaked salmon recipe:

1 Copper River Sockeye fillet
2/3 cup salt
1 cup honey
1 &1/2 cups fine tequila (agave)
1 can smoked chipotles
black pepper to taste

Mix the salt, honey and tequila until the salt is dissolved and a mixture created. Blend or chop the smoked chipotles. Spread 1/2 of these on the bottom of a glass bread loaf dish or 8″ x 12″ glass baking dish. Lay the fillet on the paste. Spread the other half of the paste on top of the fillet. Pour the tequila mixture over it. Place a ceramic or stone weight on top of the fillet to assure it gets permeated with the mixture. Refrigerate for 36 to 48 hours.

Take the salmon out of the refridge and rinse the fillet in running ice cold water until all the goop is removed. Pat dry and slice paper thin.

Serve with whatever salsa you like (goes best with Flay’s black bean & mango salsa) on 1/2 of a deep fried taco, with my cilantro/avocado guacamole.

Well there’s the perfectly safe stuff to say about Iraq, It was a big mistake, it has been mishandled, thousands of lives and billions of dollars have gone down the tubes- etc. I’m surprised that dems didn’t include some of that.

Of course if they start talking about Iraq- the Rove question will be: “Are ya gonna cut and run?” and they don’t have an answer to that question.

If they come out as a national party in favor of immediate withdrawal- they will undercut their own candidates in many congressional districts. Many will run on “give em a deadline”- but many are in districts where that’s too radical.

Of course there’s always the question of what’s really the best thing to do- but that’s pretty much and academic question since no one is going to do the best thing for the next two and a half years anyway.

By the way- what is the best thing to do?

My gut tells me that we’re making things worse by our presence and the sooner we get out- the sooner the Iraqis and the middle east community can put out the fire- but I couldn’t really argue that point convincingly- and neither can the dems.