Jane!

What Cozumel said….

Kobe, Katie & Lucy !
oh, by the way, FITZY !

Joe-nertia is going to get a Ned-ucation!

Man, I’ll tell ya, Dog people just rock. Now, I know not all of them do, but as a general rule, if you have a dog, you are quite a few notches higher in my book.

*ilson! Did you get pics?

*ilson has the MOST fabulous hair.

The sequel: Hamsher’s over Harrisburg.

woohoo! Jane!

taking note … true FDLers always add a soupcon of mustard to their attire … got it!

watch out for the floods!

OT - FDL folks - get over to dKos and vote in the YKOS2 brainstorm:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/28/131258/195

(hehe - Chicago it leading!)

Three beautiful beasts (the dogs, people, the dogs) Sic em!

How does one get a gig as a poll-watcher?

All hail King Kobe!

My miniature schnauzer Mr. Popo would love Kobe!! What beautiful dogs, Jane!!!

Hey Jane — I was the guy in the Bucs hat who gave you the Drinking Liberally button. We didn’t get to talk more, but I’m glad we Pittsburghers were able to welcome you to town.

i don’t envy joe, poodles are spooky. especially the big ones…

So who’s in “poll position” for the Ned v. Joe race?

I’d say Ned has already lapped that lapdog. (NA)SCARy.

Joe’s in for a real long pit stop.

Snowe-Dorgan goes down, 11-11.

Hiya, Jane! It was great meeting you in person! Glad you liked the Kobe pic.

Hmmm, the Net Neutrality amendment “failed” (in Stevens’ words) on an 11-11 tie. It would have been better if it passed, of course, but from what I recall, that’s actually a better outcome than many were expecting. If Stevens had gotten all the R’s and a D or two on his side, it would have really been dead with no chance of getting in when the bill goes to the floor. As it is, it still has potential. Now it’s time for everyone to call their senators.

This could be a moment for the leaderless blogosphere — there are now more of us who can call as constituents, but the telcos have to spread their money and lobbying thinner.

I also support becoming a poll-watcher. I headed up the Democratic Vote Protection Project in my city, with a group of volunteer lawyers that I helped recruit. I set up schedules; had lawyer-observers rotating into poll-watching duty; had some helping voters cast ballots under challenge when there was some problem of address, etc.

Of course, there’s a lot more that one can do. But doing this sort of thing makes you feel a more substantial part of the democracy — and you just might be the one who sees the Repubs snipping the seal off the ballot box (or fudging the machine) and stop it.

Hi Jane! There is a great Irish bar in New Cumberland called Coakley’s. You might find some receptive types there. My family lives in the Harrisburg area. They are super, SUPER conservative evangelical fundamentalist wingnuts and there are a lot of scowling meanies in the area who hate liberals with a heat so fierce it will melt the smile off your face. Please be careful.
Pittsburgh is where my extended family is and they are as cool as the Three Rivers. Laid back, friendly and Deomcrats. Wish I were there. *sigh*

Kick some Joementum butt, Kobe!

I know some people are wary of the Drinking Liberally chapter here in Seattle but I’m sure each group has its own character and we should definitely be brave and go to these groups, plus your local Dem district meetings–that sort of thing–find the one that works for you and EXERT THE POWER OF THE BLOGS! :)

Anyone have links/info on how to become a poll watcher, please chime in.

And thanks for the buttons, Chance. You know I collect them (a vestige of punk rockiness).

Curious Jim at #11;

I’ve done it too. Contact your local Democratic party leaders.

Jane: I just Emailed you a zipped archive of the 21 pix I took — the originals are hugumongous (3Megs each) so I scaled them down a tad. I posted 3 of them here last night…

http://home.indy.net/~ctto/JaneH014.jpg

http://home.indy.net/~ctto/JaneH028.jpg

http://home.indy.net/~ctto/JaneH030.jpg

Wow Jane, that’s quite the possy.

Go get ‘em Kobe.

Curious Jim - in my neck of the woods (Virginia), you get to be a poll watcher by volunteering with your local party. The only poll watchers who are allowed inside the polling place are party reps who check off who’s voted (so get-out-the-vote can concentrate on the others) and watch for problems. We’ve also had volunteer lawyers the past two elections to handle any complaints, but they had to wait outside.

Of course, your state may vary, but it’s a good place to start. If you don’t have an active local party, sign up at the DNC’s volunteer page at http://www.democrats.org

I think poll watchers are appointed by the parties; election judges are hired by the election comission.

In 2004, I was a primary poll watcher for the Dennis Kucinich campaign here in Corvallis/Benton County, Oregon–yes, that Corvallis, home of the 2006 NCAA baseball champions! Even though here in Oregon we vote by mail–an approach that many have called to have adopted nationwide–I still found it very instructive to be in the rooms with the folks counting, sorting, and verifying the veracity of the signatures on all those mail-in ballots. Our presence reminded people to take what they were doing a bit more seriously because the very important right to vote and have one’s vote counted were at stake.

“Hey, Joe, where you going with pole in your …”

Texas - Poll Watcher’s Guide

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/ele.....cher.shtml

your local League of Womens Voters is also a good source of info about “poll-watching” procedures and activities …

In 1998, my cousin and brother founded an electronic voting company in which I was an initial investor. Our software was rigorously tested and deemed the most secure available. You guessed it, the Republicans (ie. Diebold) blocked us at every turn, including a huge contract for Pentagon absentee ballots in 2000. The worse news is, poll watchers won’t help. According to our tech experts, Diebold’s machines and others can be tampered with (ie. programmed to switch every third Kerry vote to Bush) without leaving any evidence whatever. The good news is, there are honest, secure voting systems out there, if enough of our guys can get into office to put them in place. Kind of a frightening Catch-22, but we’ll have to come up with a way to accomplish it or we can kiss what’s left of our democracy goodbye.

of course, the ultimate poll-watchers position is to be a precinct committeeperson. Your local Democratic Party is desperate for help!

Jane,

Thanks for the pep talk. Here in Calaveras County, CA. we have have paper ballots that work like scan trons used by colleges for tests.

While I’m happy that we have this type of system here. I’m worried about states that have diebold machines that techies have proven can be comprimised. California has went to extraordinary lenghts to stop their use until Diebold corrects this.

If there is any FDL friends in my area please contact me at prober@att.com. Its time to send congressman dolittle to Abu Grab er prison with “The Dukester.

Wow, Jane. You really are hot stuff.

In my eyes, you’re kind of a superstar, and although I’m not usually shy, meeting you would be a bit overwhelming. I’m (pleasantly) surprised at how approachable and down to earth you seem to be.

This “tour” is showing, once again, how special you are. Thanks.

I’ve done poll watching the last couple of elections here in my small (pop 3000) town.

It was very exciting in 2004 when the republicans had their poll watchers too, who were basically there to contest voters.

A good friend of mine, a Brazilian guy who had just gotten his citizenship, and was enobled to cast his first vote, was contested by the fucks. He was eventually allowed to vote but it was a harrowing experience for him.

I also spent time registering people before the election. You can register to vote on election day in Maine.

We encouraged people to vote absentee, what we found out about two weeks before the election was that absentee ballots require more than the basic (37 cents then) stamp. They shouldn’t require any postage !The big “THEY” make it really tough to cast a vote.

muchos poochos

this is what I’m talking about, this is what we have to do, organize the movement to insure the voting machines are valid

if we don’t begin that movement it won’t matter WHAT the American people vote, their vote will be flipped for whoever is in office

Will the tour hit San Francisco or New Orleans? I divide my time between both places, which, incidentally, have numerous drinking venues.

Those pup a doodles are sure fabulous looking!!

Jane, this thread is just so what I long to talk about right now!

John in Sacramento has inspired me to get up and do something, instead of blubbering about how hopeless it all is. (Not that he ever intimated anything so condescending; he has been nicely encouraging.)

The thing I find most depressing about living where I live is the fact that I am represented in congress by John Doolittle. The man is corrupt, etc. etc. So I’m taking steps to work for the election of Charlie Brown

I drove over to his office in Roseville this morning and gave them a little check, and I’ve spoken to a couple of people working on the campaign. I’m going to a house party to meet the candidate tomorrow night. I have volunteered to answer phones or whatever they need for the campaign.

Charlie Brown doesn’t seem to be on the hot lists for donations. I want to change that. (I know I am only one person, just a citizen, no big deal, so that might come off as an arrogant statement.) I want a statement —

Omigod.

Just as I was typing this post, I got a phone call from Jan Brown, Charlie’s wife, thanking me for my (small) donation. What a pistol! and gracious lady. They are in it to win. From the sound of her voice, she believes they will.

She said this reporting date, June 30th, is important because the next one in the cycle comes so late, at the end of September. If anyone would like to give anything, even $5, to help, you can use this link for a donation. It seems like such a long, long shot. But it would be great to show some Democratic life in this district.

By the way, the Browns’ son Jeff is a pilot in the air force just finished with his third rotation in Iraq and bound to go back for a fourth.

You go Janey! What great pictures of the family! Sophie’s got one of you all in the car, must figure out how to show and tell. BTW Chase’s Daily in Belfast ME has pumpkin muffins.

Fair Vote Weblinks

susan @26

That should be posse. Someone (punaise) might misinterpret your meaning (on purpose, of course…

:-)

http://www.verifiedvoting.org/

Dr. Bong 45 - utter restraint prevailed on that one. actually it led to a tangent, looking into posse comitatus, which is not entirely off topic…

Poodles are the most intelligent dogs (tho’ said by a cat lover). OT, we had a free airline ticket we couldn’t use so we transferred it into free magazine subscriptions. Some good, like Rolling Stone. Some not so good, like Time. The current Time has an article about Teddy Roosevelt by none other than Karl Rove. Stick your finger down your throat! Gee, there’s no connection between Time, Matthew Cooper, Viveca Novak and Karl Rove. Some commentators this morning were raising a hoax again about Rove being indicted. I think we should stay away from this because I think the great Goebbels reincarnation himself planted those seeds in Jason Leopold, David Schuster and others. Let’s not set up the blogs again for ridicule.

Thanks doc,

I know I have to watch myself ’round these parts

now punaise

OfT

“Not So Secret After All”
by Mimikatz
“Just a day or so ago the Right Wing was calling for the head of Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, on a pike after the Times published a story about SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) and it’s cooperation with the US Government in tracking terrorist financial transactions, and everyone else’s too. The usual overheated suspects were howling.

Tony Snow, when asked for evidence of the NYT’s putting lives at risk, said:

“I am absolutely sure they didn’t know about SWIFT.”

But now it seems that SWIFT is not so super-secret after all. Guess what. Via Froomkin,

SWIFT has a Web site, at swift.com ….”

Curious Jim

Each state has its own election laws. Here is how it works in KS: The chairmen for both the Republican and Democratic parties are authorized to appoint poll watchers. To find out who your Democratic party chairman is, call the county election officer, or for smaller counties (in KS) the county clerk, who acts as the election officer.

Then call your Democratic party chairman and ask to become a poll watcher. They will give you a certificate which you may need if you are challenged at the polls. In one county where I did poll watching, they also gave you a piece of string–I think it was three feet long–to measure how close you are allowed to be to the voter registration books, in order to verify that voters are registered.

Poll watchers are not to be confused with poll workers, also called election judges, who are also appointed by the parties but their job is to run the election at the polling place. In KS they get paid, minimum wage I think (poll watchers are volunteers). T

Poll workers or election judges may be in a position to prevent some kinds of election fraud. This is especially true where paper ballots are used, as the poll workers there count the ballots.

But if the Democrats in your area have a get out the vote drive, where poll watchers keep track of who all has voted while others work to get more people to the polls, you may be of more help as a poll watcher than as a poll worker. Poll workers here are often elderly folks who are free during the day and could use the few bucks that it pays.

Poll watchers can be critical in shutting down voter itimidation before it starts. Contact your local Democratic party to be a poll watcher.

Even more important, offer to serve as an election judge (Contact your local electoral board). It is a long day; in Virginia you arrive at 5 AM in the morning to open up and don’t leave until the votes are counted. That could be very late as anyone in line at 7 PM can vote, if there is a line the voting can continue to 8, sometimes even 9 PM depending on how long the lines are. But it is very important. Honest election officers can stop the more obvious forms of voter fraud. Honest election officers can also stop voter intimidation. If a party reprepresentative is making frivilous challenges to voters and otherwise impeding access to the ballot an election officer can order the party rep off the premisis, if they refuse to move the election officer can call the police. Had we had honest election officers in Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004 the voter intimidation would not have been possible.

It is true it is possible to steal elections without a trace, but I think the Republican plan cruder methods. We really need to fight both at the same time.

when the Poodlespalooza Tour hit Indianapolis, I got to actually touch the doggies. I was expecting the curly fur to be rough and wirey but all felt oh-so-soft! I swear Jane rubs them regularly with fabric-softner sheets and also uses good conditioner after the dogs shampoos ! Also the dogs tended to prance when out walking … they also seemed to be well-behaved with good manners. Thoroughly delightful canines !

susan 50 - is there a problem referring to this?

Poodles are the most intelligent dogs (tho’ said by a cat lover).

my family has one of the biggest animal providers for the entertainment industry

my sister tells me that when a handler auditions, they are not allowed to bring their border colly, they are too smart and anyone can train them to do anything

they only make good pets if you have as much time for them as a child, their inteligence makes them are very demanding

act globally, think low collie

Reading further in Time about the Connecticut primary, Lamont’s photo is identified as “Lamont, far left”.

oh, sweet puss

LindaR 42 - are you signed up with the Roots project? I just sent an email to the list, inviting Sacramento-area folk (John, you still around?) to come to next week’s Drinking Liberally so we can all meet each other and talk about campaigns, actions, etc.

siun, I voted for Chicago as my first choice; I just hope we can make it affordable for everyone.

Aaaah the ‘burgh. I grew up in the North Hills (North burbs) Pretty city no? One of the best skylines in the world.

After our cat of 18 years passed away, we decided it was time to take the plunge and get a doggy.

Mr. s has wanted an english bull terrier for many years, after having fallen in love with a friends bully (punaise) 20 years ago.

We’ve been going to dog shows, meeting breeders, and hope to have one in the fall.

It’s scary, almost like having a kid.

Leslie in CA @ 60

I am signed up, but it doesn’t look like the email has come. Did you just send it? I’d love to come to that. Would it be cool to post the time and place here?

well bully for you, susan!

LindaR, thanks for the confirmation - it didn’t show up in my inbox, either. Looks like I’ll have to re-send it.

Lou Dobbs CNN is going to have Specter on in a few minutes to talk about his signing statement hearings. I hope Lou asks Specter if he is going to actually do anything about this issue, or just posture for the cameras like he did with NSA illegal domestic spying.

Leslie in CA — I did find it on the website, and added it to my calendar. I will be there. How fun.

LindaR, uh-oh - I just re-sent the message! Oh well, no harm in having folk see it twice, but why isn’t it going out to their emails, I wonder?

LindaR - do you vote for the 7:00 or the 7:30 time?

Leslie in CA — well, I’d prefer 7:00 just because I’m an old fart, ha. But either works for me.

So what happens on Net Neutrality vis a vis Wyden’s assertion he would put a hold on the Stevens bill if it did not have adequate net neut provisions?

Punaise,

Bully for you,chilly for me, gotta get a raincheck on … pain ?

LindaR at 42,

Nice diary over at DailyKos by you. I didn’t realize (as shown in one of the comments) that Charlie’s wife was at YearlyKos. Now that shows something about the candidate!

neuro from below - I think you are right.

We could have a Decider Opinion that supercedes S. Ct. decisions, or he could start affixing statements to the opinions, but ignoring them and having Congress trail around after him with toilet paper legislation is probably what will actually happen.

uhh, you lost me there, susan….

The poodle bites!
The poodle chews it…

I can see where Kobe got his name– there is a resemblance.

Mary @ 3:20 pm (#71) - I’m guessing that depends on how much support Net Neutrality has in the full Senate. If it would pass given an “up or down” vote, then it seems more likely he’d try to hold the bill than if it wouldn’t. So I guess it’s time to write all the senators who weren’t on the committee to ask them to support it.

Of course, IANAP(olitician).

Hey Linda,

I know both Charlie and Jan Brown they are both fantastic people. Absolutely down to earth and honest as the day is long; wise and intelligent.

Leslie,

How do you sign up to the drinking liberally thingy?

siun at 9, I went over and voted for Chicago (for purely selfish reasons; I MUST finally see your Art Institute; and June would mest with your Ravinia Festival, and the tail end of opera season is June 2!)

Has anybody seen a breakdown of the NN committee vote yet?

punaise - The band…Insane Clown Posse should provide a kobecentric travels soundtrack. Poor lil Rosco

sorry punaise, david bowie lyrics.

Prof @ 73 Thanks. I don’t post or diary much over there, but it’s fun. I couldn’t find any diaries about Charlie Brown, so I figured I’d do it myself. I never know when I’m assuming too much or “doing it right,” but I guess I can take being flamed if I’m a jerk! We learn as we go.

For those of you in NYS:

I just got an email from the LI Progressive Coalition. They inform that NYS has given the local county elections commissioners until the end of JULY to pick their machines for this election cycle.

NYS had the glorious lever machines but they are not HAVA or ADA compliant. If diebold or any DRE machine gets picked (none, read me NONE have been certified b/c none can meet the lab standards) they will have a wedge in the door to be that county’s sole provider next year and thereafter.

This is it New Yorkers!!

The battle wil be waged county by county. Call your local Dem Election commissioner. Hell, call your locale Rep Election commisioner

Tell them you need, you want, you DEMAND PBOS (Paper ballot optical scan)

Do not be fooled if they tell you they have DREs with and auditable paper trial (Such a machine does not yet exist, even in prototype)

I have heard this lie a thousand times. it is not true.

You want, you need, you demand Paper BAllot Optical Scan.

Please make the calls

“fame, fame, fame, fame, fame
(what’s a name?)”

I get it now

1,181 DAYS AND THE KILLING GOES ON AND ON AND…

Jane,

Thanx fer the travellogue…the dogs look like they ken actually do some work, not barkin’ rats like I had pictured. Pleeze sic Kobe on Lieberman if ya get close enough…Kobe’s canine instincts fer attackin rodents should previal in that instance.

I don’t know if ya had a chance ta look at some a the earlier postings upstream, but the Obama post and the immediate leveragin’ on the corporate media tanight deserves a Hamsher campaign. I’d like fer FDL ta get some a the Chicago/Illinois bloggers er roots folks tagether ta maybe stick ol’ Baraka in the ass with some serious constituent sharp stuff…how about it Jane, ken you and Pach gin somethin up?

KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T WORRY ABOUT GETTIN’ TOO CLOSE TO ‘EM…STUPIDITY AIN’T CONTAEGEOUS!!!

Insane Clown Posse - strange stuff!

John in Sac — very cool. It will be great to meet you at Drinking Liberally. I’m thinking about hosting a house party for Charlie Brown now. It makes me nervous just to think about it; I think all my neighbors are Republicans, eek.

Siun - I voted for Chicago. DC will be perfect in spring ‘08 imo. Besides I want to taste those reccomended Siunazing chicken wings.

Norske!

another Chicago vote here

chicken in the car
and the car won’t go
that’s how you spell Chicago

LindaR, 7:00 sounds good to me too, though I just heard back from the DL coordinator, and she said attendance is usually lower in the summer. I was thinking that depending on the turnout, it’d be easier for all the Roots folk to meet each other beforehand, since we haven’t had a real-space meeting yet. But if there are only a few people there, our turnout might well match or exceed the “regulars.”

john in sacramento, if you want to sign up for the DL email list, you can do it at their website. But if you just want to rsvp for next Thursday, you can let me know here.

Prober @ 35,

If you’re still here?

Check out Dr. Bill Durston

Another Democratic COMBAT veteran running for congress

My city’s new website has an election inspector application posted. I went to City hall and spoke with the clerk about the qualifications necessary for becoming an election inspector. She said applicants must be registered voters and must live in the county. Also a Party affiliation must be designated on the form for the applicant to be considered.

The clerk said they are always looking for volunteers for their pool of election inspectors.

From the Website:
“Election Inspector’s Application

Being an election inspector is a very important duty. Fill out the form below or download the form and return to city hall to apply to become an election inspector…”

Hi, kids, just a reminder, the article on Addington is out in the New Yorker. Unfortunately, I don’t see it on the website, but it is pretty scathing (I subscribe). There probably not much there we didn’t know or suspect, but reading it gave me a pit in my stomach all the same.

Jane, you look wonderful, your road trip agrees with you. Our love to Pam.

Siun, I just signed up again on DK, can’t find my old password or username, so I can’t comment yet. I like the idea of NOLA with a workday, but the humidity would be an real issue for me. Folks were suggesting doing LV again and I would rather not, mostly because the travel was, I think, a barrier for lots of eastern-dwellers.

Also wanted to mention that Ron Suskind “The One Percent Doctrine” will be on On Point again tonight @ 8pm EST on wbur boston or you can hear it here:

Suskind on On Point

I heard most of it this morning and he is really spot on, doesn’t shrink away from saying what he means or thinks. Almost bought his book at B&N today, then thought better of it and am ordering it here via Amazon instead. I did turn Markos/Jerome’s and Glenn’s books out on the stands, where they were mixed in with all the others showing only spines. Not too aggressive, but there was no Coulter anywhere to be seen.

Oodles of poodles.

lotus,

It was apparently all 10 Democrats and Snowe.

Hi zennurse. What New Yorker issue is the BAddington article in? They pile up faster than I can read them.

Thanks, DB!

Leslie in CA — okay, I’ve put it on my calendar for 7:00. See ya!

orangejumpsuit 96 - great minds, and all that

OK, back to work now.

BREAKING LEIBERMAN NEWS:

A friend of mine, who lives in Connecticut, was not going to vote in the primary, having heard that Lamont’s campaign “was run by a Republican, and this just proves that these guys are all the same, anyway!”

Naturally, I gave him The Treatment… I explained the scam there, and I’ve been sending him stories and links to blogs, like there was no tomorrow. I was determined to WIN THIS VOTE.

I just got an e-mail from him. Here it is:

~~~

I just got called by a pollster — apparently paid by Leiberman — using some of the same accusations about Lamont’s background (when you tell a guy making $65k a year that Lamont lives in a 6-million-dollar Greenwich mansion, you don’t expect him to say “how nice!” — he was also a cable TV executive [everyone hates them] and voted to make Greenwich civil servants pay more for their health benefits when he served in town government [moral: never leave a paper trail].

You’ll be happy to know that I told them I was likely to vote for Lamont and was angry at the Senator.

LindaR, great! See you then.

Anybody, especailly lawyers who wants to get involved with election monitoring
Please see this repost of mine from previous thread:

looseheadprop says:

June 28th, 2006 at 2:08 pm

sufer @125

Have him call Anna Martinez at the Democratic National Committee 202-863-8132.

Tell him to tell her that he is interested in helping with the Democratic Lawyers Council Election Monitoring Program.

I do not know if we have a state chair for California yet. If we don’t, maybe he would like to start the chapter.

Anna can put him in touch with other state chapters for guidance and by late summer/early fall there will be a “how to” cookbook, “election monitoring in a box” type book out to guide the new chapters as they set up.

Fifty State project, babay!

Hi, neuro, it’s the July 3, just arrived today. Chinese laborers sewing American flags on the cover. Haven’t read anything else yet, went straight for Addington.

Rolling stone has a little squeak about the Kos/Zengerle thing. Meow.

Rolling stone- Dickinson

Siun, if you’re still here, was anyone from RS @ YKos?

I should be able to make it Leslie ;)

My vote for a city that has won my heart:

“Won’t you please come to Chicago
Just to sing
In a land that’s known as freedom
How can such a thing be fair
Won’t you please come to Chicago
For the help that we can bring
We can change the world—
Re-arrange the world
It’s dying—to get better”

lyrics, or course, by Graham Nash

And, it’s in the middle-ish of the country (not too far for anyone?) You can fly into O’Hare or Midway, or take Amtrak. And, it has an excellent mass transit system. Not to mention food, live music, drinkin’ liberally, etc.

O/T -I’ve been surfing around reading accounts and looking at photos of all the latest flooding. Starting to look like NOLA after Katrina. What a mess.

Global warming, folks. Severe weather episodes are gonna get more frequent and damaging.

Those in willful Convenient Denial can mock Gore all they want, maybe someday soon from a FEMA trailer next to a mountain of stinky, moldy rubbish.

1,181 DAYS AND THE KILLING GOES ON AND ON AND…

Pacachutec,

If yer out there, how about the idea of generatin’ a rapid response roots effort on ol’ Baraka. Could the roots folks come up with some serious constituent shit ta hit the Senator between the eyes before his ego getz too full of the national spotlight? That guy is slicker than greased owl shit so the effort would hafta be swift and well-planned.

Also, is there anyone out there from the Chicago area that knows first hand about Obama’s early political history and his takedown of a local black activist in a campaign in south Chicago?

KEEP THE FAITH AND HAVE PATIENCE…THERE’S ENOUGH OF ‘EM TA GO AROUND!!!

john, great - if you didn’t see my invite, please take note that the Roots folk are planning to meet a half-hour early, at 7:00 rather than 7:30, so we can have our own mini-meetup before the other DL attendees arrive.

zennurse

Thanks.

Re: Rolling Stone0–Eric Boehlert was on a panel at YKos. He is the author of Lapdogs, and the book jacket says he is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. I don’t know if he was covering YKos, though.

john in sacramento,

Thanks, for the heads up. I’ll be at the DL next week.

LindaR,

I’ll donate some cash for Charlie Brown, your efforts are appreciated !

We’re beginning to campaign for Jean Hay Bright. She’ll be running against Olympia Snowe in the midterms.

She hasn’t shown up on the ActBlue page, but I’m hoping she generates more than regional interest.

I’m not sure how the ActBlue funding works.

Anyone know how candidates end up there?

Prober, see my note at #110 about the time. See you then!

I’m shocked, shocked, I tell you, at all this rampant plagiarism!

Zennurse — am a bit surprised that you are not currenty signed up at dKos. I found dKos before he went to Scoop from the old Dean blog. Subsequently, I found FDL through a link I believe over there. How did you come to find FDL?

I know that both Jane and Christy were there, but sometimes it is interesting how we all met at this circle of friendship just when it was needed by so many. Great karma?

I do not comment much over there but have been active recently because Kos had a post up about my natural born incompentent Bushbot Mark Kennedy.

And I voted for Chicago, even though Kansas City would be good for me too. Prices are important, but I can drive from the Twin Cities. I have stayed in Chicago several times with a friend and we toured all the sites. The Science Museum would take one a week to go through and the Aquarium is super. And it was in Chicago where I saw the King Tut (can’t spell the whole name) exhibit But alas, I do not walk well anymore so tours are definitely off the schedule.

Mathematically, I would have to conclude: poly-poodle noodles.

zennurse -
Good work on moving Glenn’s and ‘Gates’ faceout. That’s good book retailing.

Thanks Leslie,

I’ll be there at 7pm also.

Blank Kludge @ 3:53 pm (#118) - Glenn’s book is especially hard to see if only the spine is visible. Good job, zennurse.

Jane,

Very much enjoying the poodles’ heartland tour.

Regarding that sense of fatalism among voters that you’re worried might gain traction if there’s too much talk of hacked Diebold machines, and so on…

I would turn the thought around and say “What do we have to do to have confidence that elections are conducted fairly?” Meaning solving not just the electronic voting issue (at minimum, a paper trail for each vote, please!), but also reining in the other sorts of dirty tricks that have emerged from the last few elections. From scouring African-Americans from the rolls in Florida to shorting Democratic precincts on voting machines in Ohio, to worse abuses.

I think folks would be more inclined to vote if they knew progressives were actively encouraging measures to ensure honest elections, but maybe I’m being naive.