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.

Wanna here a great song?

War is Not a Game

By Dr. Bill Durston

GrandmaJ #116 – I also came to dKos in the pre-Scoop days, and from the original DFA blog. We probably arrived at dKos about the same time.

I say we send a bunch of pumpkin loaves to RG Joe to coincide with our heroines arrival with the Kobester and his lady friends.Maybe they could chew a few things over.

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

Hey, let’s make it Chicago over a long weekend… and let’s have a 500 person Sunday spiritual breakfast on the last day, that outta get ol’ Senator Slippery’s attention.

KEEP THE FAITH AND YER LOVE SHININ’…FASCISTS ARE AFRAID A THE LIGHT!!!

Susan @ 113 — can you post a link for Jean Hay Bright? Thank you so much for the donation to Charlie Brown — yikes! I’m getting too slick, ha.

What a cool thread this is. I feel so plugged in, so . . . not hopeless.

Dog people nice, cat people nice, donkey people nice, fish people nice but elephant people s**t.

zennurse 95 – …mixed in with all the others showing only spines.

isn’t that precisely what we’re asking of the media and the beltway Dems? :~)

Thanks alot Jane! My kids are really mad at me now, because I refused to allow our dogs to come on our trip cross country.

and if you can, America’s Tuning Fork!

Cujo -

Does that mean zennurse’s actions were ‘doubleplusgood’?

;>

If you are interested in a couple of places to get more information on voting problems, these are places to begin.

http://www.voteraction.org
http://www.commoncause.org/SecureElections

I write from the voting-impaired and vote-tampered state of New Mexico. After the disaster of 2004, we were able to get a handful of state Senators and Representatives interested in the documented problems of missing votes, over votes and under-votes in New Mexico. We also had registration problems.

As a result of willing elected officials and the dogged work of countless citizens on this issue, we now will vote with paper ballots. We have gone back to having registration forms in triplicate, so the registered voter has some proof that their registration was filled out, if not filed. Registrars are now accountable to the voters. It is a crime not to turn in the form. We are now working on election-day registration. And we continue to fight the disenfranchisement strategies and other scams the Republicans are running in our state (and across the country of course).

If you are interested in the low-down, Greg Palast has it in “Armed Madhouse.” In Hispanic and Native American precincts on election day in NM, unprecedented numbers of voters went to the polls in large numbers and decided not to vote for President in 2004. Incredibly, voters in the same precincts who voted early or with absentee ballots always voted for a Presidential candidate, mostly Kerry. But their friends and neighbors, on election day, simply “could not decide or were uninterested” in that race. According to our Democratic Secretary of State.

Our SoS also happens to be the President of the national organization of Secretaries of State. And our Democratic Governor and aspiring Presidential candidate, Bill Richardson, joined with our SoS in 2004, and they ruled that the voters could not have our votes re-counted. WTF?

This issue of the machines is very real. Anyone who has followed the fine details knows it. It is not a conspiracy-theory. It happened. Using the “Help America Vote Act” provisional ballots is NOT GOOD. The ballots are thrown out in HUGE numbers. Because the signature of the voter is not exactly as it is signed on the ballot, missing a middle initial or the voter is registered as Mrs. John Whatever and signs her name Mary Whatever. Believe me, the HAVA is just another scam.

All you lawyers and others who read this blog should check into all of this in your state. Here, anyone can be a poll watcher. The Republicans challenged lots of voters. The scams, again in the Palast book, are outrageous. And they will be used again if we do not watch out. In fact, the fix is already in for 2008. But that does not mean we should not do everything we can to make sure our votes are counted. And can be recounted.

It is not just that the machines are bad, and the software proprietary. The VOTES themselves belong to the machine companies, not the voters. Because it is proprietary information. What a loop.

We have many very educated people here in NM who can talk about it much better than I. But it is a problem that everyone should get up to speed on. Because democracy, voting, is what we are killing and dying for in Iraq. Que no?

Prober 35

We have optical scan ballots here, too, and I thought it meant we were ok.

However, I believe I’ve read that in 2004 in Florida, the precincts that varied most widely from the exit polls were the optical scan precincts.

Seems there are central tabulators for those that are easy to mess with.

The only answer, as far as I can see, is for there to be hand counts AT THE PRECINCT LEVEL before the ballots are sent to the next level to be counted. Then if the number or allocation of votes is different from the precinct count, challenges and recounts can begin.

Just a few minutes ago, my local Democratic committee person brought a bunch of petitions to the door. One of them was for a verifiable voting system, which our local NY assembly rep has been pushing very hard. I was ever so pleasd to sign.

* DIRTY TRICKS ALERT *

Spoke with a local Dem within the hour, who said she was just asked if she’d put a yard sign up for Candidate X. She asked me if this candidate was a Dem. Hell NO, this guy is bad news and is definitely on record as a Republican, already holding office in another district for a different as a Repub; also said we believe their spouse shows up at Dem events to spy for the opposition since she’s only given to Repug candidates.

Apparently the person who asked her also got the same bullsh*t story when she pointedly asked if the candidate was a Dem; she took a sign because she was assured they were.

We’re going to change the canvassing script IMMEDIATELY for any identified strong Dem/lean Dem with a yard sign, asking them if they know all the Dem candidates for their district(s). We’re also going to publicize this trick when the opportunity is ripe…like just before the Repug primary.

Seems this particular Repug started late, has less money than the opposing Repug, and needs swing votes to carry the primary. This trick is not only against local Dems but against their own party.

Cheating, lying skank…make sure the folks in your district are aware the tricks are already well under way, gang.

LindaR, thanks for the link to Charlie Brown – I just sent him a little bit too.

OT:

check out The Hill’s round up of last night’s CT unions Lieberman v. Lamont primary contest. One comment:

Lieberman’s views, especially on Iraq, “will splatter our banner with the blood of innocent people,” said Bill Shortell, vice president of the Central Connecticut Labor Council. “No. No. We’ve got to go with Lamont.”

http://thehill.com/thehill/exp…..62906.html

ouch.

OT: The Sun-Sentinel’s retraction on Murtha

omg– delay on the tweetymeister. gonna barf. he is a pud. indicts wapo and nyt and atlanta journal constitution. ok with latimes and wsj.

sicko bug boy. why does anyone give him a forum?

and your little dog too,

Thank you for the update. I’ll check with our election clerk to see what we can do to minimize/eliminare these crooked sob’s.

John K- I agree with your comment. The fact that progressives have not spoken out more widely about the voting issues has made me very cynical. Especially after Ohio. I mean why donate time and money to any candidate when in take-back races it’s almost a given that the fighting Dem will lose at the last minute 49% to 51%? As for donations, the only exception I’ve made is for the Lamont campaign. And, otherwise, no. Unless the candidate promises to fight for these rights.

Leslie — thanks. What a kick.

BK, I’m always doublleplus good!!!

Grandma, I only found blogs last August and was pretty shy about posting, especially wherever I had to register. I honestly don’t remember how I found firedoglake, but I expect it was from Crooks and Liars. I had been participating in the NYT forums and one of the regulars linked something that was a blog; I moved on from there and pretty soon had stopped the NYT thing altogether. The forums there had zero etiquette and the “moderators” (if you could call them that) allowed outrageous troll behavior. Of course, I didn’t know what it was at the time, the folks on the Gay issues forum explained it to me, but it seemed no matter which forum I went to, there was a Fundie wanting to take on the world. So was pretty wary of blogs at first, and I’ve never really figured DailyKos out completely, in terms of the diaries and the stories and the ratings. Seems like a lot of work to me, really, but I get it more now than I did then.

Firedoglake felt like home from the start; I was warmly welcomed with responses when I finally commented and Jane and Christy write consistently about things I want to know and understand in a way that feels right to me. The community grew exponentially last fall during the Libby thing, and although I sometimes read that we are “clubby”, I think we are far less so than Kos or Atrios. I travel around a little, but only to about 10 favorites. I just wanted to get a little more involved with Kos now that I “get it” a bit more and our communities have overlapped to some extent.

Long answer, blah, blah, sorry.

Warning:

The Sun Sentinal link has an alligator story on the front page that I wish I hadn’t seen.

Chris Matthews never ceases to appall. He has the indicted and shamefully forced to resign former congressional crook, Tom DeLay on his “nutball” program. As if DeLay has a volumetric millimeter of credibility.

oh, zennurse 142, that’s how I feel too!

lotus—did you notice this at the Sun-Sentinal (thanks for the link, btw):
“Millions of long-distance talkers due to get refunds”
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/bu…..mailedlink
Everyone could take their refund and put it twds air fare or hotel room at YKos!

Valerie Plame was not an agent– she sat behind a desk at Langley– bugboy.

and your little dog, too . . . . :

It does?

Where?

Leslie in CA – I would have had a lower ID # at Kos if I had been able to figure out Scoop sooner. My early ‘puter skills were totally pre-school level. Well, in truth, not much better now. :-)

Bugboy is getting his last licks in (down, punaise) before he slides into obsurity. Can’t wait to see with extreme fundamentalist group he goes to work for now… He may be the next Pat Roberts, he probably hopes so.

lotus @ 4:08 pm (#137) – Interesting, what shows up for me is a link back to the referring page (this one), plus the retraction. I wonder if this will be prominently displayed in the dead-tree edition.

Thanks Zennurse for the story. I found it very intriging how we all got here. I found blogs by accident. My kids gave me a computer so I would stop yelling at the T.V. and them about the attacks on Clinton and then it really ramped up when Gore lost.

They turned it on, I typed in Howard Dean because I had heard the “What I want to know” speech and there I was. A community. I have always typed under the name of GrandmaJ. Both at the Dean blog and at Kos. It is who I am.

That is interesting, Cujo. Here’s all I see at that URL:

Corrections and clarifications for June 28

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Correction: An article in Sunday’s editions misinterpreted a comment from U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., at a town hall meeting in North Miami on Saturday. In his speech, Murtha said U.S. credibility was suffering because of continued U.S. military presence in Iraq ,and the perception that the U.S. is an occupying force. Murtha was citing a recent poll, by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, that indicates a greater percentage of people in 10 of 14 foreign countries consider the U.S. in Iraq a greater danger to world peace than any threats posed by Iran or North Korea.

So glad (thanks to zennurse!) that I can now come out of the dKos-feels-intimidating closet and admit that’s why I’m not registered there.

Have been a faithful lurker there for a very, very long time — somewhere around the whole debate about going to scoop software — and I’m always happy to read what’s up in the often fabulous diaries. But the whole system seems so confusing. My online time is limited, and this place (FDL) feels like home to me.

Had been at Eschaton for quite a while, but the snark finally got a little too rarefied for me. It was very funny, mind you, but I wasn’t good at participating. Not up on all the pop culture references, and also I like a place where I can be serious, and where people can think things through in full sentences and even paragraphs.

This place feels just right!

So Jane — please, please be careful traveling what with the rising flood-waters. We need you and the pupsters safe and sound!

Yea, I remember you GrandmaJ and Leslie in Ca.

And you know why I rarely post over there anymore, because it’s the same reason you don’t

GrandmaJ, my tech skills are pretty low, but I fumble along. *g* I remember signing up within the first few days of the switch to Scoop, but I’m told it must have been within the first couple of hours since my UID is so low, so who knows.

Either way, I am one of the lower user ID numbers still hanging around dKos. I love what it’s doing in terms of giving the grassroots/netroots a platform, but it’s changed a lot, and it’s not the same kind of community as FDL. This feels a lot more like the early days of the DFA blog, even though we have a lot of visitors here.

By there, I mean BFA

Jane documentary cross country, grass roots, drinking liberally and finally sending Ned to the Senate- may not seem so hot to you but the rest of us would dig it. It may even be a historic event as politics as we knew them take a change.

I just knew I wasn’t alone.

Mrs. K8, I remember reading one thread where there were not even sentences, just a bunch of single words or phrases whose meaning was an inside joke. I was reading the comments because the post was worth talking about, but it rapidly descended into gibberish. I open comments at some sites, but not many. The thread today at Kos about next year’s event was over 850 comments long when I looked at it. Unless it’s something like our “Sorrow” thread, I just can’t see it.

Just reading the flood stuff, they’re plucking people from rooftops in Wilkes-Barre? What’s happening with all of our folks around the country, everyone ok?

john in sac – I haven’t been to BFA for some time now.

We had 2 standard poodles when I was young
High maintenence indeed.
I now have a border collie.
Higher maintenence *well, until he got Addison’s disease – now the maintenence is monetary – $120/month for meds)
Three standards however….

Standards are oh-so-smart.

If I were Litton Industries I’d seriously contemplate re-tooling and begin building solar-powered arks for Republican fundies. Sorta like selling desert property in Florida.

I wonder if the number of curls in Jane’s three beasties amounts to a ‘Poodleplex’ ?

zennurse –

I’m waiting to hear how my family is. There are various folks near the Delaware River. In particular, one sister lives in the Washington Crossing area in Bucks County, very close to a little teensy bridge (one car at a time) across the Delaware.

Others, while not directly on the river, live in areas that get quickly overwhelmed when the ground gets rain-saturated. I was there for a visit during Hurricane Floyd, and getting around was next to impossible. So I just sat on another sister’s front porch watching the skies empty out onto the streets.

I’ll feel a lot better once I hear that everybody is safe. Thanks for asking! I’m sure I’ll have more to report tomorrow.

Leslie, I don’t want to run anyone over there but Greg Palast is guestblogging right now

VG – I sent you an email.

I work at the polls on election day. This year will be my third. It’s a gruelling day, for sure, with only donuts to eat (I swear, we were so busy the last two elections we didn’t have time to go out), but it’s also a primo opportunity to identify potential neighborhood allies ;-)

Uh-ruh, what is “BFA,” please?

zennurse -

My math skills never did get too far. But in my book you are all that; double, tripleplus good. And more.

hugs

The air must be thick w/salt out Cape Ann way. Lord, I miss that. Landlubber these days.
—–
And I registered at Kos about the same time I landed here. I’ll echo others…complicated, and whatnot. Never have posted a thing there.

But, entertaining as hell…informative…valuable…intriguing. Cheers and Jeers gets me.
—–

lotus @ 4:28 pm (#153) – I suspect there’s some badly written Javascript at work here.

No, it’s not the Javascript. It looks like they have some sort of server side dynamic page building doohicky that they licensed from the LA Times, or the LAT’s web service provider. Anyhow, it’s probably a bug that they display this rather than just note it in their logs.

Here’s the interesting bit:

I suspect they’re using JS to glean the referrer for some reason. This isn’t particularly troublesome, since the information is available via the HTTP transaction that you used to download the page.

Further on, there’s some other copyrighted code that seems related to e-commerce.

This, BTW kids, is why I turn JS off whenever I can. JS is a program that’s downloaded onto your PC to do who knows what. It may also come from many different places, including some that aren’t terribly trustworthy. One of the things it does is alter what you see on your browser’s display. Another thing it can do is look at cookies and other information in your browser’s cache. That can be good for some things, but it’s kinda scary from a security perspective.

That’s why I recommend to Firefox users that you download and use the NoScript extension. Set it up to block JS by default, then make specific exceptions for sites you trust (like this one if you use the “preview” function).

re: my last – Well, isn’t that interesting? The preview shows that code, but the “real” page doesn’t. That’s what’s in that blank bit that I found so interesting. Let’s try without the HTML comment field:

// BELOW REPLACE latimes WITH YOUR SITE’S DOMAIN NAME
var myRe = new RegExp(window.location.hostname, “i”);
if (!myRe.test(document.referrer))
{
window.location=’/news/custom/corrections/sfl-628correx,0,4239586.story’;
}


Lotus,

blogforamerica

Pop quiz:

Leibarack…or Leiberma-Chee?

‘You decider’

;>)

Hey KarenR,

I know this is EPU’d but I hope you come back for this link – if it works, I’m pretty hopeless.

[a href=http://www.jeanhaybright.us]

I’ve been worried about Jane today, hearing about all the bad flooding. My best to you and the doggies!

I went to a MoveOn organized demonstration at a gas station a couple of blocks from my house this afternoon. Gas had just gone up and our signs said, “GET OIL $$$ OUT OF CONGRESS” and more about Ney taking $$ from oil companies. Fun, met some good people.

darkblack lmao CHEE !!

susan—do you know how to copy and paste? That’s how I do links, and they seem to work.
:)

Has it been posted where Jane is going to be in New Haven and I missed it? Or hasn’t that happened. I work in New Haven and live in one of its burbs and thought I might screw the courage up to go meet her and the CT bloggers.

Or is she going there specifically to meet with the Lamont people?

If these questions sound uninformed, I just haven’t been able to keep up with everything written here lately, but I try. ;)

Lotsa nice dogs!

More muck tracking tools:
Abramoff page from ThinkProgress

SourceWatch

Oh, and lotus, I didn’t see the context, but BFA means Bachelor of Fine Arts, generally speaking. I should know, that’s my degree. :)

Lotus: wrt to the clarification: How come the Sun Sentinel didn’t say that they regretted the error?

SharonW at 178, No courage required, she’s a regular person, and she’s “asking for it.” Well, a superior kind of regular person. She let me touch her hem in Las Vegas.

SharonW, that doesn’t sound right – not that she thinks she’s superior, we do!

Reckon they were too busy fascinating Cujo, ccmask?

Thanks, john in sac’to!

Weeder @146: Did you notice these 2 lines at your link:

The federal excise tax was levied on telephone services in 1898 as a temporary measure to help pay for the Spanish-American War. Like many taxes in those days, it was meant to hit only the wealthiest Americans.

Ah, the good ole days……

Cujo –

Thanks for mentioning NoScript. I just LOVE it, because it gives you total control, easily changed for each website. You can even permit script temporarily for a given site. And the clickable NoScript icon is in a handy spot to call into service immediately.

It gives me a greater sense of security while surfing. Not that anything’s absolute, of course, but this computer has been clean — as far as any one of my (several) security programs has been able to determine.

new thread !!!

new thread – who loves ya, Joe?

ccmask –

Good point! Probably because the only thing they “regret” was getting *caught* peddling horseshit.

Yes, I did. And it reminded me of the time they said we would only pay tolls on the tollroad until it was paid for. When was that, 1960? ‘70? It’s been a looonnnnggg time.

Op99, I realize that while she may be a blog goddess that in real life no genuflecting will be required, but I’m sort of shy about meeting people I’ve only talked to on the net and I haven’t even talked to her. It’s like meeting one of your favorite authors. I just get unusually dopey and tongue-tied whereas ordinally I’m not, and it isn’t a question of status or anything else. Everything I’ve read screams that she’s “real people.”

That being said, does anyone know where in New Haven she’s going to be?

SharonW 178 — I’ll be in New Haven either tomorrow or the next day, I’ll be announcing it on the blog and I very much hope you join up with us for any and all of it. We’ll be having coffees, dinners, drinking, organizing, blah blah blah, I’ll be around so much you’ll get completely sick of me.

Jane is as charming as the Poodlez…

keep getting interrupted by our pup who is into protecting me by barking today …argh!

Yippee to all the Chicago votes – and there are ways to make Chitown affordable … I’ll be interested to see Nolan’s final list and then what offers we get. Nolan did the Site work for YKOS1 and knows his stuff.

Also some cool ideas came up in that diary – including scheduling a work day for a local org or cause.

Can’t remember who was looking at bully dogs – consider checking petfinder.org to see if there are any available via local shelters and rescues – often there are great breed dogs just sitting there waiting for good owners – lower cost and saves a life. I know there’s a bulldog rescue coz I looked at it when I was considering getting Omar a playmate.

1,181 DAYS AND THE KILLIN’ GOES ON AND ON AND…

Mrs.K8,

I hope all of your people (and all others affected) are safe…jeeze louEEZE, this last year’s weather has left an ominus feelin’ that someone er someTHING is tryin’ta get our attention. Maybe ‘cuz the world is shrinkin’ so fast but it’s hard ta find anyone who hasn’t been touched somehow by weather emergencies in the last year. You go Al Gore and stick it right up the New York Times’ ass!!!

KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T FEEL SORRY FOR ‘EM…THEY’RE TRYIN’ TA TAKE YER AIR FER GOD’S SAKE!!!

I’d like to second the Jane is good people vote – warm, friendly and wonderful! You’ll have so much fun!

Omar needs a buddy of the same species !

fwiw, my Bebecito Evo (over 50 lbs now) has picked up the cute habit of laying down and sleeping on my feet while I’m at the computer … damn! he’s heavy

LindaR at 42, you just raised another 500 for Charlie Brown. And why? Partly to encourage YOU and to thank you for jumping in.

Go for it!!!

Jane! Why, why, why, you spoke to me…directly. Holy Crap! Oops, forgot I wasn’t supposed to get all stupid and worshipful-like. *g*

Cool, I’ll look for your posting on place and time. Keep dry.

Leslie in Ca — You are so right. This does feel alot like those early days of the Dean blog. Remember when I couldn’t read the type and could not figure out how to make it bigger?

But it got really bad during the debates there and as Dean fame grew, all the fools showed up. Or so it seemed at the time.

I moved to Kos but now there is nothing that I could think of to say, let alone the time to type it, that hasn’t been said better, funnier, with links, faster than I. And the rating system? Who cares. And I was lucky enough to get a troll rating from DemofCt after Iowa.

So I read. And learn, and then come here for conversation.

And Jane and puppies, wish you good safe traveling. Nothing like the open road to air the mind and to see the bigger purpose.

*ilson – we go back and forth about same breed or something calmer (Omar is in high puppyhood at the moment so calm is appealing) – but definitely neutered female and definitely rescue when we make the move. My concern has been that at some point my dtr will move out with Omar (he is really hers even if I adore him!) and I wouldn’t want to separate him from a companion (even the thought of him losing the building pups is too much for me!) – all of which is way advance planning since she’s living at home the coming year.

If I picked a dog just for me, I’ve always leant towards Irish wolfhound but Omar has won me over to the amazing charms of pits! I cannot imagine another companion with such a glorious personality.

oh weeder, thanks you are so kind – I’ve tried C&P and egregious tried to help me too – I’ll figure it out.

You’re a dear though, thanks again

KarenR – here’s Jean’s link

Jean Hay Bright webpage

Finally – hot damn!

Eli made the point — and I agree — that GOP efforts to suppress the vote are quite extensive and start a long time before people actually get to the ballot box. As I’ve written before many times, I’m afraid these feelings of powerlessness and fatalism could have a very bad effect on GOTV efforts for November.

While it is too late for 2006, I think it is absolutely crucial that the national liberal/progressive blogger movement as represented by YearlyKos and the national liberal/progressive activist movement as represented by Take Back America coordinate their efforts to a greater degree than they ever have before.

Take, for example, the idea of Poll Watchers, which features prominently in the thread above. Nobody is as well situated to recruit progressive poll watchers in the thousands as the left blogosphere is. Nobody is as well equipped to organize, place, and train those poll watchers as the activists are. But it takes time, and it takes will. Please, please, please schedule next year’s YearlyKos and next year’s Take Back America in the same city at the same time…overlap them if necessary: M-W for one, W-F for the other. Offer two-fer registration deals, divide up the work, and get the work done. With the blog world providing the heralds and the activist world providing the cavalry, we create a one/two punch combination so much more powerful. Synergy is a mighty force.

Caveat 1. I know that street-level activism and blogger activism are combined in some people already. I’d like to see those people especially combine both their passions rather than have to choose between them.

Caveat 2. Yes, I know I mixed metaphors. I’m on vacation and I give myself that privilege.

Lotus 148

It got pushed on to the next page, thank goodness.

It was in the links to most emailed stories.

Hooray for Susan!

Now, howdya do that?

First off, thanks to all who commented on working at the polls. Now I’m inspired to go volunteer. Sure I’m in Maryland, but we have Michael Steele (Senate race) to worry about this year.

Jane, you’re not going around NYC by heading north through Wilkes-Barre, I hope? Just say no! I81 is always a mess, and the flooding may affect the interstate (locals would have a better idea than I do). Better to take 78 into NJ, then 287 up and over the Tappan Zee.

if anyone can kick lieberman’s ass, it’s kobe.

people should be worried about diebold.

skippy attended the voting rights townhall meeting in los angeles last night, hearing marcy winograd, actress/activist mimi kennedy (dharma’s mom), and hosted by bradblog’s brad friedman.

one thing brad said about the dem’s refusal to deal with this subject out of fear of making people too depressed to vote is that it’s awfully ironic: let’s not keep people from voting, even if their votes don’t count.

skippy’s reportage of the meeting is here.

Jane, if you let your dogs watch music videos, here’s one they might really like by Goldfrapp — check it out on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..=goldfrapp

My Saint Bernard, Daisy, says it’s pretty entertaining, although the cast isn’t diverse enough for her. No Saints.

Google ‘Democratic headquarters’ and the name of your city, county or state and you’ll start finding what you need.

It works for every county and most big cities in California and it ought to work for most of the country. Call and when you reach someone, be friendly, offer to volunteer, be mildly proactive if they don’t have anything for you or they’re not particularly imaginative, and go up the chain if you have problems. Most headquarters are eager for volunteers but they don’t always know what to do with you (psst, they’re usually volunteers just like you).

And if you have ideas, start early, so people have a chance to know who you are. Don’t wait until two days before the election. Now’s as good a time to start as any. County fairs and even flea markets are possible places to set up friendly booths and to find out what people really think in your community (they’ll mostly agree with you but not on everything).

I’m not an expert on any of this but I volunteered in 2004 and learned a few things. I suspect, by the way, that lawyers are needed again but I’m not sure what the groups are that are involved in this. But the time to jump in is now rather than later since lawyers probably need some time to help each other figure out what the latest cockamanie registration and voting rules are in each state and how to deal with them.

Prof at 20, this will my first time volunteering for poll duty.

I did engage the poll workers during the 2005 Cal special election…with “have you heard of the GAO 2004 election fraud report?”

…did anyone catch that clip of ED Hill, perpetuating

two favorite lies of the ill informed….death and taxes?

do these people pick up a book?……it must suck to be so angry :)

“Jesus Christ was a man that traveled through this land;
A carpenter, true and brave;
Said to the rich, “Give your goods to the poor”,
So they laid Jesus Christ in His grave.”

Woody Guthrie

In Georgia, poll workers can’t verify whether the election machines start at zero at the beginning of the day. That might be a good thing to check for in ither states as well.