There's a silent majority of you out there who read this blog daily who never leave a comment. When you delurk, occasionally, you often say something like, "I don't have anything to say that other people don't say better, or have not already said." You also say things like, "People here are so informed and they talk about things I don't understand, using special terms and language: it's intimidating!"
But you are the best of this site. You've given almost half a million dollars to great, progressive candidates this cycle through our Blue America page. You make phone calls, talk to your friends about politics, write letters to the editor, etc.
Bit by bit, person by person, you are changing this country for the better. The only reason anyone pays any attention to what Jane or Christy or TRex or I or our other site writers say here is because you read the site, and because we share common values together. If and when we are able to pressure the establishment to change, it's because the establishment knows you are here with us, behind us. This home made musical video above comes from JayClew, one of you, who wrote and performed it. I love it. You guys are fantastic, talented people.
I just want to use tonight's post to thank you, to recognize you and all you do. I also want to invite you lurkers to feel free tonight to ask any question on your mind about the coming election season. We in the community will be extra careful tonight to answer questions anyone has, even if they seem to experienced commenters to have been asked and answered a while ago in the community. Not everyone has been here with the community a long time, and many of us continue a conversation forgetting we have many new potential friends joining us in midstream.
As I've mentioned before, I'm just a commenter plucked from the comments by Jane and Christy last Spring to help with some spot front page duty, when the blog was really just the two of them 24/7, and they were worn out. Every front pager here started out as a commenter somewhere, and I have no doubt some of you will spin off other blogs in the future, perhaps local political blogs for your state the way the Connecticut crew has done, or the Montana crew, or the Colorado crew. . . you get the idea.
We welcome you, and tonight, I salute you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
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hmmmmm
awwwww….thanks.
Shoot. Dial up is slow.
Bush political career looks like a loser sandwich.
-GSD
Hi folks. Just wanted to bust in here and say “DC Dogs, Patrex (me), liberal blogger eponymous and my father are running the Marine Corps marathon together tomorrow.”
If you’re coming out to cheer for anyone, look for us. I think we may have our names on tape across our chests: Patrick, David and Chuck.
I may put some sort of Firedoglake reference on my shirt too.
This is my sixth marathon. TRex came up two years ago and cheered for us. Wish he was here this year.
Pach, don’t you love in DC?
Thank you and good night!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsy0E0RRTPA
This is probably one of the most offensive ads of this campaign season. A Republican named Delores Brewer compares her Democratic opponent in the runoff, Jacques Roy, to her rapist. Just watch the video, and notice the lugubrious music, the backlighting that creates a halo, the production of self as martyr, and her conflation of self with community. It is disgusting.
As one of your readers noted, the Republican party has hijacked the strategy Ann Coulter accuses us of deploying. And this at the local level of an Alexandria, Louisiana, mayoral runoff.
sorry, Pach…
don’t you LIVE in DC…?
I love this place!
patrick rex @ 5
WOW! Good luck!
if you ever do NYC, let me know, I’ll come and cheer.
Patrick,
I used to run, but the ice cubes kept flying out of my drink.
I would hope that Pach could both live and love in DC…
I certainly did for many years.
Oilfieldguy @ 11
You need to run like I do…
MORE SLOWLY….
Great one Pach.
Wow, half a million dollars, that’s staggering.
TRex – wanted you know that I sent Rodriguez $100.18 this morning. The 18 is so they know that it’s in your honor. (18 is a ‘fortunate’ number for me).
gotta go and do some late night chores – love to all peace to all
patrick rex @ 8
I do, but I can’t make it tomorrow.
:-(
Run in good health!
It’s certainly not my intention to hijack this thread, by the way…
I just wanted to share that. I think FDL is the BEST SITE EVAH, and I really enjoy it when the lurkers come out to play.
I shouldn’t stay up too much longer, since I have to run nearly 30 miles tomorrow. I am blogging it, btw. (Before and after, of course, not during.) (Well, unless someone shows up on the race course with a laptop! Now, there’s a project TRex and I should coordinate some time…. )
UptownNYChick-
you have to run really fast to do the NY Marathon. I don’t know if I will ever qualify. I do this with my dad every year because it gives us about five hours to just hang out and talk (for the first twenty miles) and then grunt at each other (for the last 6.2).
LOL. You just need a go cup and a straw.
Pachacutec @ 16
Hey, no worries. Maybe next year!
Oilfieldguy @
11
I bought a book on Feng Shui today, but then I got it home and couldn’t figure out where to put it.
Anyone watching SNL? They are micking repug ads.
err mocking
Heya Pach – okay, I’m game. As an almost entirely lurker-type person, but one who cares here’s a question. What do you suggest to people who would like to “help the cause” but are kinda turned off by some of the traditional organizing stuff (i.e. call banks, door-to-door get out the vote stuff, etc). Perhaps I’m just a little anti-social, but in the spirit of “don’t do unto others that which you find distasteful” I really can’t seem to make myself cold-call or cold-knock people for any reason, cause I really detest it when people do it to me. I’m also fairly shy and introverted (perhaps part of why I’m a lurker – I’m much better in text or small groups of familiars than in person with strangers or large groups of anything). I do have some energy and spirit and free time (42 year old bachelor with one doggie, hey) but its also irregular due to work committments and a peculiar mind. Any thoughts on how someone like me can help, perhaps in more creative ways than giving a little money here and there? I kinda feel underutilized and perhaps even a tad guilty, but somehow feel the traditional political organizing stuff just isn’t my cup of tea…
One of us! One of us!
Gooble gobble.
JayClew – great!!!!
I’m posting the link to the video on the Lamont blog. How appropriate. It should be the Lieberman theme song.
I only run if someones chasing me. Like Joe.
Hey, TRex.
Wish you were here. Dad is great. Been an interesting day, or actually, couple of days. Check my blog for details (and cute dog pics).
I hate to fly. You knew that.
tell me what you think of this ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsy0E0RRTPA
Okay, I’ll bite. This whole discussion of why Bush and Rove seem so confident intrigues me. Maybe they can’t mess with the code of every voting machine everywhere, maybe they can. I’m pushing paper ballots. But my take is, with their idea of the unitary executive behind them, why do they need to be afraid? Don’t they think they can ignore subpoenas, hearings, even legislation passed by the houses of Congress? They seem to think that they have all the power (so far they do).
I was telling my Italian houseguest today that I thought if they really ignored the Congress, we would finally rise up. Would we? I have thought this many times before (habeas corpus, warrantless eavesdropping, to name but two).
Thanks for giving the lurkers an invite to the party!
TRex @ 20
I would supply a rim shot here, but I never know how to behave around a gay guy.
Poem on Blaming the Pages (it’s ironic)
Blaming the Pages
Ravening children, predatory
little beasts pursue their Congressman
as they lurk in the Senate cloakroom, leer
from toilet stalls, prowl down the gilded corridors
of Congressional power–slender youths
with puzzled and uneasy expressions,
crafty, despite their center-parted hair,
studious glasses, well-tailored jackets
and red-white-and-blue tie pins
affixed by conniving and power-hungry moms
pushing them to prey on closeted Congressmen
vulnerable to their ploys, their geekish allure.
Foley, at his computer, leapt for the bait,
snapped up email addresses, promised
dinners at Moreton’s, connections, and booze
to the greedy teen predators, most of whom
said sick, sick, sick and refused to reply–
a clever facade to mask their machinations.
Behind the scenes, the evil media plotted,
pulled strings and gloated as the children
lured the tormented hero, child molester
Foley, helplessly to his anguished doom
and flight into rehab, while his lawyer
proclaimed his client’s deep remorse–
and the real villains, a Catholic priest,
ABC news, the dastardly Democrats,
and cunning George Soros got off scot free.
END
*onderdog:
Take a look at this list and see if anything grabs you. Not everyone is made for the stuff you mention, but everyone has their own talents and everyone can do something.
Isn’t it amazing that none of these guys run on the theme of fixing the vote?
We are out here… and we thank you for being there – and we do what we can to bring an end to this long nightmare.
Wendy:
I think a large part of the confidence game is, well, a confidence game. It’s one of their first principles of politics: always project strength, never admit error or doubt. I think they are very afraid of our rising power, and we can see it in their actions. That’s my take.
*onderdog: I too hate phone calls, hate people knocking at my door with pitches. But I gritted my teeth and did it anyway this year – and it wasn’t so bad. Awkward at first, sure, but I just told people: I’ve never done this before.
But if you can’t stand to do that – there’s always a letter to the editor of your local paper. But quick! Time is running out on that. Or, call a local progressive candidate and see if there is any dogsbody type stuff they need someone to do – running errands, dropping stuff off, whatever, that doesn’t need social polish. They really do need bodies. Even to answer the phone for a few hours. Go for it. You’ll feel better if you do.
OFG: ah, you did fine in my presence in Vegas.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Alright, firedogs…
I have to run a Very Long Way tomorrow. Hope to see some of you at the race.
I am gonna turn in.
G’night, and have fun!
patrick rex @
27
Somehow in all of this, I had forgotten that you were going to DC before London. I have been wanting to call you and forgetting that you were still in the US. I will call you tomorrow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsy0E0RRTPA
Thanks, Pach – forgot about this but remember seeing it before. Sometimes its hard to keep up with all the stuff in teh internets, even with teh Google! I’ll try to dig into some of those, and keep reading FDL of course…
Pachacutec @ 32
So Pach,
I’ve listened to your advice and am giving my blog a decidedly more local flavor. I found a “news” site for political info for my own home state, only to find it is merely a tweeter in the mighty right wing wurlitzer. Bummer. I smell a major blog fight coming on.
I felt it was a necessary change, since so many blogs are doing such a bang-up job on the national deal, I cannot neglect my own red state–whose very name means red man–Oklahoma. We have several very good lefty blogs, hopefully I can hook up with them and encourage Democratic State congresscritters to utilize us in constructive ways.
TRex @ 39
Between 8:40AM EST and about 2:00PM EST I am gonna be a little busy. Any time before of after, I should get the call.
Wish me luck.
Bobbles – Wow
I’m an Australian, born and bred and have never been to the U.S. But I have donated money to the Blue America Fund.
Because, I, like so many people across the planet, am very concerned at the United States foreign policy and it’s shameful, absolutely disgraceful invasion if Iraq (along with my own country’s Prime Minister {coalition of the willing indeed, give me fucken strength!) not to mention the litany of Lies, Hypocrisy, Corruption and just plain Incompetence.
The current White House Administration not only needs to brought down, but needs to be brought down HARD!!!
George Bush (the POTUS) Dick Cheney (the Vice President), Donald Rumsfield and Karl Rove (Plus others) should be arrested and tried for their collective Crimes against Humanity.
If these people are going to arrest Saddam Hussein, then they should be held account for their own Crimes.
I applaud the effort by the people who spend their time (and money, I’ve donated myself even though I’m not working from a broken back and have very little money)) in helping to bring this government down.
The World needs YOU.
Thank You FDL.
OFG: Sounds great. I have no doubt that when the day comes Oklahoma turns purple and then blue, as Colorado is trending, as farmers in NE-03 are trending, you will be right in the thick of it, the spokesmodel for the future of the state.
Here’s something else. Go to your Secretary of State’s website and find that section that covers methods of voting. I was flabbergasted to find that Vermont uses Diebolds in – something like 73 towns which will comprise 50% of votes! These are optical scanners, and luckily in VT we have passed law requiring paper verified votes.
However, these are of no use unless there are RANDOM AUDITS which are fully TRANSPARENT. You can email your Secretary of State and find out what he/she is planning to do to safeguard the election; and you can pressure them to conduct random audits. There’s still time for pressure! If you don’t have a paper trail, your state might be like VT: a downloadable file disclosing what towns use the optical scanner. Bev Harris of Black Box voting says it is crucial to document any irregularies with video or audio. There are some great links to this I’ll try to find – you can google the Brennan Report to find out what the vulnerabilities of Optical Scanners are.
As Wendy mentioned above, not every precinct is as vulnerable. Combine close races with electronic machines, and throw in a questionable Sec of State, and there will undoubtedly be problems. Theft. It’s not to late to organize citizen watchdogs at the most vulnerable precincts. Two or three to a team, video, tape recorder and cell phone.
Wess, thank you.
UptownNYChick @ 48
Ditto
OFG- you need one of those camelbak thingies with a straw…The last 10k I ran all the hashers had them- you just have to pace yourself!
Louisiana girl…that is a nasty ad; unfortunately typical repubuglican slime.
It looks like the House is likely to go Democratic. The Senate is a lot tighter. Get Out The Vote is critical now. The talking is over. Even the ads don’t matter so much anymore.
If you can — if you’re close enought to drive, or if you can phonebank from home — get in touch with the McCaskill, Ford or Webb campaign and ask how you can help. And if you’re in New Jersey give a hand to Bob Menendez.
You don’t have to love these candidates or their positions. But you’re gonna love having a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.
Balrog @
24
Offend one, and you offend them all.
;>)
Great post tonight Pach, delurking on the old Blogspot version of FDL summer of ‘05 was one of the best decisions I ever made. This community in the comments, yourself and the ladies of the lake have all been a bright spot in an otherwise very tough year for me. I honestly think the FDL family saved my sanity this year.
Wess – it helps to know that people around the world are on our side. It makes a big difference.
I think it explains the international interest in the Lamont primary race. Now the progressives have skin in the game in many states.
November 7th is going to be a roller coaster ride, I’m sure.
Thanks from me too, Wess! Make sure you tell your friends and family not everyone in America has lost their minds. Everyone here at FDL knows what’s at stake.
DarkBlack, you are a worthy foe.
-balrog
She’s dead, wrapped in plastic.
carolyn urban @
3
Stop the presses!
(sorry Carolyn)
Here’s that link to the Brennan report. I’ve been harrassing my own Sec of State. She says she’s going to be conducting random audits, but it’s not quite clear. I’m hearing different things. Still looking into it.
http://www.brennancenter.org
Scroll down to to “Machinery of Democracy”.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 53
You’re part of the family.
Thanks, Pach. Delurking briefly to thank you all profusely for maintaining this little oasis of sanity. First place I go in the morning or when anything happens, and I’ve recommended this blog to anyone who’ll listen.
Balrog @ 56
I’ll send you a love letter straight from my heart, balrog.
;>)
Balrog @ 57
Yeah, but I saw it first, Balrog. And I RACED, but with this hookup, it’s like wading through molasses. I can’t even watch YouTube. Pitiful.
Hey, the Chicago media has noticed our very own John Laesch (IL-14)!
WLS-TV
How cool!
its is I who am thanking you and all of the incredible people who make this place happen.
keep up the good work!!!
Well, thank-you. Yes I AM a “lurker” and have found you people pretty awesome. When I took over the job of running our local Democratic Club site, I expanded it and frequently link to your material. Don’t sue! We have no money!
carolyn urban @ 62
I’m sorry, Carolyn, I was being an ass on the ‘dial up is slow’ riff. No offense!
watch this video, and let us engage in a deep analysis of it in this thread.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsy0E0RRTPA
bakerds: Good for you for taking on that responsibility. We can onlyhope any time we write that people find our work of use, so what you say is music to our ears. Thanks!
No offense taken.
I came to FDL for the Fitz, and stayed for the politics. And humor and wonderful people and because there’s so much to learn from the brilliant posters and commenters.
Has anyone else realized today is exactly one year since Scooter Libby was indicted?
*onderdog @
41
Pach–thanks for reminding us about 50 Simple Things. It’s a great resource for finding unique ways to contribute.
One of my all time favorite comments here at FDL was from someone who, as part of her weekly shopping, rearranged the magazines in her local drug store so all the progressive stuff was in front. I’m sorry I don’t remember who made that comment, but I’d like to personally thank them for the part they’ve played in helping to take back our great country.
Night all. Remember, you should not drink and bake. DB.
Louisiana Girl @ 67
Lord Almighty.
First – has she been called on this?
Second – how did her Dem opponent “disrespect” her? Discuss her record? That seems to be a sore point with incumbents these days.
Third – when can her opponent expect an apology?
Pachacutec @ 59
That’s what makes this place so wonderful. It feels more like a family than just a web community. Darkblack, TRex, Punaise and many others have the same sense of humor my older brothers have. RevDeb, Donita, Siun, Jane and Christy all have the same common sense funny bone my real sister has and that Mom had.
This place reminds me of home a little too much at times. I’m even partly responsible for the loud band that sets up every Friday afternoon in the FDL family room here. The late night crew here is as hilarious as it gets anywhere in the TOOBZ! I love this place, I want all of you to know how much you all rock!
I have posted here before, but I have been lurking quite a bit lately. I first started lurking on FDL when the Fitz show was my daily obsession….’when will he indict?’ etc…, but since then this site has inspired me to get involved and help create change in the local political community. I have been busy at the Dem HQ, volunteering at the site, phone banking, fundraising, attending meetings.., then becoming a precinct member and now am nominated to be on the exec committee. It has been such a rewarding experience getting involved and meeting my like-minded neighbors. So, I have to say, Thank You to Christy, Jane, T-Rex, Pach, and all the other contributors and posters to this blog who have motivated me to do something tangible every day to do more than vote! :)
Sleep the sleep of the gods, balrog.
:)
I don’t believe it really matters if the Dem’s take control of either house. Bush is not going to change a thing he does no matter who has control.
Speak out against him and you will be labeled an enemy combatant who is Hostile to the United States. No Habeas Corpus for you….tough luck.
Rise up he implements the Sedition Act.
Than you get to visit one of the Fema Work Camps [or as I call them, Concentration Camps] for a long long time.
FDL has done a very good job of trying to take back America, however insane madmen don’t give up power once they have tasted it. Why do you think we have career politicians, they do live above the law. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t believe I am. Just my two cents for what its worth.
Wendy @
29
The problem, to date, is largely one of failure of oversight. Congress hasn’t done its job (its Constitutionally-mandated job). That’s purely a party consideration–and this Congress, in particular, has put party before its own institution and obligations. That’s why the mess is so obvious.
Yes, the Bush White House undoubtedly stonewall, would refuse subpoenas, would resist. Nothing new there. But, when that’s happened in the past few years, the `pugs in Congress have said, “oh, well, if that’s what they want….” 9/11 didn’t help that attitude, either. What everyone is hoping, with at least a Dem-controlled House, that acquiescence will be absent, that Congress will persist in doing its job. When, for example, the oil execs and Alberto Gonzales were brought before committee hearings and not even sworn in, there was a moderate amount of outrage. Everyone’s hoping that sort of thing stops, at the very least, and that a Dem-controlled Congress begins to investigate the past six years.
Does everyone rise up if it doesn’t? Probably not. The one certainty is that if the `pugs continue to control both houses, nothing will be done. Congress hasn’t been doing its job, not just because it doesn’t want the public to know what Bush has been doing–it also doesn’t want to the public to see what it’s not been doing.
A few days ago, my brother got stuck in traffic (dead stopped for nearly a half hour) on the I-94 north of Detroit. It turns out that the I-94 and the I-696 were closed and all the overpasses were closed and guarded – because of a Bush motorcade going to a campaign appearance in Warren MI. A large number of people were clearly p*ssed off.
Is this happening everywere Chimpy makes an appearance?
I’ve technically delurked, but I haven’t posted much. I live in Canada with my (Canadian) husband. I’ve often felt very isolated up here as I’ve watched my country deteriorate under this regime. My Canadian friends are great, and we tend to agree on values, but they feel neither the same anger nor despair that I do. FDL has helped me feel less alone over the past several months. Thank you for that.
Linking to FDL is a very good thing, it promotes FDL traffic, sitemeter4firedoglake
Thanks for delurking.
jmba: that’s awesome!
George A.: if it comes to that, from my cell in Gitmo, I’ll be able to say I went out fighting, if only for my own ears to hear it. But we can change things, if we accept what is, in my view, the responsibility that comes to us from our consciences combined with our collective power.
Jeebus, I sound like Adlai Stephenson.
A short answer: Yes
hpschd @ 79
Oh, yes… been going on for years. I recall a similar situation during the 2004 campaign, where police had blocked off parts of virtually all major arteries in and around Philly, because Bush was doing a campaign stop. One gets the feeling that if Bush would just campaign more, he’d lose a lot more votes–from drivers.
hpschd @ 79
It always happens when he’s traveling. When he was here for the UN opening, it was a mess.
He’s already very unpopular here (I am proud to say he got like 16% in NYC, most of it in Staten Island) and people get really pissed.
George A. @ 77
And we all know how insane power-chuggaluggers end up, don’t we?
;>)
Pachacutec @
82
Well…since you mentioned him:
I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends… that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.
Adlai E. Stevenson Jr., Speech during 1952 Presidential Campaign
*onderdog @ 23
I here ya. Force your hand to call the local Dem number of your choice and see where it goes. It’s as simple as that ; )
You bet I read this blog on a thrice daily and often more basis. I lurk, occasionally have something to say, and count on this bunch to make me laugh and give me great hope about changing the country.
The thanks really needs to go in the writers directions: all of you. Main page posters and those who post in the comments.
If we all make it to the election with some sanity remaining (or with some nails remaining on our fingers) it will be because of the constant energy and conviction of this group.
Many, many thanks for providing perspective day in and day out.
No questions at the moment, just a grateful heart.
Wendy, thanks for delurking, just riffing off of Montag’s excellent comment. Even if we just get the House, we get subpoena power. With that comes exposure in the Traditional Media. Bush and the GOP really wanted to protect Abramoff and they couldn’t, the evidence was too good and the media coverage too extensive. That’s imo, where FDL and other progressive blogs really have had their impact, the Traditional Media knows there are going to be consequences if they fail to adequately cover a story. Sadly, Lieberman shows how far we still have to go, but we have made enormous progress imo since January.
Please give JayClew a bit of a hand. I really like the way he made full use of a theatrical presentation with his face and the gusto of his performance, though he had no other bells and whistles to offer by way of video gimmicks.
darkblack @ 86
On the good days, at least.
So, here is a question from a lurker from CA. How come there isn’t more discussion of governors’ races? Are they just completely local affairs that don’t interest anyone outside of that state?
I guess part of the reason is that checking the Bush administration is job #1, but it seems like there is lots of interest in obscure House races and little discussion of people who actually wield a lot more power (and are more likely to become president some day).
Connecticut Bob strikes again.
http://ctbob.blogspot.com/
His take on Joe’s “bottom line” jingle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIDx7DUKgb4
Cujo359 @ 92
Darkness before the light…Time is their enemy
JayClew, that was awesome. I really enjoyed your a cappella YouTube.
darkblack @ 86
Yes, when the world rises up against us to remove him from power. That is if it’s not a Nuclear War started by us. At that point say goodbye to the Earth. He is mad and would push the button to spite everyone while all the time saying “Stay the course”.
That’s the only way he’s leaving office. World removal of him or Nuclear War destroying everything and everyone.
John Casper @ 90
Yes, but there’s a bill in one of the Dakotas to make it possible to prosecute judges for ruling the way a tiny little group of people don’t want them to. And who’s to stop them from deciding Nancy Pelosi is an enemy combatant if they are the “unitary executive”? What if we won’t rise up no matter what happens?
I’m really not a conspiracy nut or anything, I’m just seriously jaded.
Just watched JayClew’s video- that was a fine performance-((((applause)))
I wish I could write like that; excellent choice of tune too!
dab from CT @ 83
And they leave feckin’ peanut shells all over the place!
bakerds @ 9:19 pm (#65)
I’ve looked around the site, and couldn’t find a copyright notice. Is there one? If there isn’t, you might want to post one. Many sites like this use a Creative Commons license. That link leads to a form you can fill out to define the copyright you want to use.
Having a clear copyright notice can help folks figure out what they need to do regarding publishing works here, etc.
For my part, I assume that anything I write here in the comments can be used by anyone else as long as they give credit or link back to the comment.
DC:
That’s a good question.
We often get some version of a questions asking why we don’t cover some particular story more, and I’m guilty of frequent impatience with that kind of questioning, which really doesn’t help anything.
There are probably a few answers to your specific question. Let me see how I do.
First, we can’t cover everything. We run the site by posting new content every two hours or so, on average, starting at about 6AM PST through about 8 PM PST. That gives us a finite number of slots.
Many of those slots are occupied by regular features we’ve integrated into our schedule. For example, every Tuesday night, Jordan Barab gives us an update on some labor issues. We’ve been doing introductions to Blue America candidates twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We have Donita’s music column on Fridays and Book Salon on Sundays.
That gives us remaining slots to cover news of the day, election stuff now that it’s election season, and areas where this blog and its writers tend to specialize, such as Plamegate or the Lamont/Lieberman race. It may seem like we have a lot of slots, but they begin to run out pretty darn quick. I wrote a post today on a subject that we did not have time to run all day. It’s saved as a draft and I don’t know when we’ll run it. This happens.
With all the work that we do to research stories and develop niche areas of expertise, we can’t cover everything, and we don’t try to. There’s a lot I think to be written about doings in the CA-Gov race, and we just have not been able to do it. We always hope others can and will cover the many great subjects like this so we can learn from them and link to them.
On a related note, a lot of people ask why we spend so much time on the Lieberman Lamont race, and the short answer is, it represents the front line in the effort to occupy and take over the Democratic party, in order to make it the people’s party, for real. It’s also one helluva great story.
I hope that helps.
I freaking love the off stage rant about Cheney at the end of JayClew’s clip.
I like the bandana and all, but how about an early 90’s rap version with 2JayClew singing “Pop that Crony”
woop pop that crony…pop, pop that crony…
DC @ 93
Umm, the short answer would be: yes, Schwarzenegger’s an asshole, but he’s never going to be President.
The longer answer is that governors aren’t in the White House with a few thousand nuclear weapons and a huge mechanized military at their disposal. They do exert control–especially with their state parties–but they aren’t job #1 for most people, right now. Congress is a pig sty, and it’s got to be cleaned up first. And what Bush and this Congress does has a lot more effect on individual states than governors do. Congress cuts Medicaid funding? States have to figure out a way to cover that. Bush and the Congress send off 10,000 National Guard to Iraq while the state’s being burned up by wildfires or drowned by hurricanes and broken levees?
That’s why governors get a second look, right now, I think. In other years, yeah, the local races would get more notice. But, a repug Congress is really doing a job on us. It’s just triage–gotta go after the most badly wounded first. :)
RBG @ 87
Of course, they’re not going to stop telling lies about us, and we’re for damn sure not going to stop telling the truth about them.
Wendy, wrt who would stop them, I am confident if they tried it with Pelosi, the Courts would strike down the Military Commissions Act as unconstitutional. Others without the means to afford competent counsel, however, might not fare as well.
I think a lot of us share your concern. I think most of us know how critical it is to repeal the Military Commissions Act. The problem is it takes 2/3 of the Congress to overrule the anticipated Presidential veto.
From Slashdot
Bush Signs Bill Authorizing Martial LawBush Moves Toward Martial Law
Apparently this was snuck in the same day as the ‘Military Commissions Act’.
DC @ 93
Here in the fairly red outskirts of the Oregon coast we have a hot governors race between Kulongoski (D-incumbent) and Saxton (R). This evening he actually finally (oops…do I sound bitter :{…)came down to our sleepy town and spoke for a few. He needed to show up down here and it was a nice turnout. He is certainly no presidential hopeful, but he needs some love from the Dems to keep him in office. Ballots came in the mail on Monday and there is a big GOTV campaign here. Ted got slammed early with negative ads by Saxton, but he is now rallying to a marginal lead. Although I am confident that he will retain his seat :)
dab from CT @ 73
Many have commented on it, and she did hold a press conference, where she defended the ad’s content or lack thereof.
The Democratic opponent simply campaigned on the issues facing Alexandria: he said nothing personal; and he focused on the incompetence of the Republican party. Let it be noted that Republicans only captured 29% of the vote in the open primary, making a Republican win in the runoff nearly impossible.
Did she apologize? No, she did not.
My comment above is in reference to the following ad that is probably one of the worst Republican smears of a Democrat in recent Louisiana history:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsy0E0RRTPA
I am not a lurker.
I am just lazy. Especially tonight.
How to respond to Swiftboating?
Jim Webb gives a good demonstration. Rovian tactics of character assasination need to be swiftly attacked and ridiculed. Jim Webb’s top three priorities are a) bringing stability to the Middle East and Iraq b) bringing back econmic fairness and opportunity to the working Americans c) standing up and holding Bush accountable. A few reasons why he will be the next senator from Virginia.
Louisiana Girl @
108
Personally, this seems like a pretty despicable way to play the sympathy card while simultaneously smearing your opponent. Have you forwarded your link to Media Matter, Factcheck.org, Crooks and Liars, or MSNBC?
This is my opinion and preference only and by no means standard for everybody, but I personally like the coverage in-state blogs give to races like governors, state legislatures, mayoral bids and other local offices. Kinda like you watch the local TV news for local news and then watch CNN or a network news program for national coverage.
Blogs like FDL are like the new CNN. Or maybe more accurately, they are the 21st century replacement for Time or US News & World Report. Find a good local blogger in your area for FDL type local coverage. There are several local blogs I follow here in Indianapolis right along with FDL.
Another thing, I don’t know how many of you all come to the site directly and how many come to the site via feed readers. For those not yet aware of these handy as hell tools, a feed reader such as Google Reader or My Yahoo or others, these things are fantastic for keeping track of multiple blogs that you like to keep track of.
They allow you to add as many blog feeds as you like to them and will automatically keep you updated on the latest articles published on your favorite blogs so that you don’t have to manually visit every single one of them individually to check for fresh stuff. If you don’t know how to use one and would like to ask me questions feel free to ask me here or email me at finifinito (at) gmail (dot) com
DC @ 93
You raise a couple of excellent points! State govs and legislatures are the folks who do all the
gerrymanderingredistricting for Federal congressional seats.This is one of the great unnoticed and unmentioned results of 30 plus years of grassroots Repug money-fueling and power politicking.
For all we grouse about the Repugs, they have had an enormously successful local and state ground machine that the Democrats can only envy.
If the Democrats are really interested in long(er) term success, they’ve got a lot of work to do in building or re-building the “Take Back The State” organizations.
I think Howard Dean is one of the very few Democrats in a leadership position who recognizes that in the long-term, the party that controls the state, controls the nation.
Democrats cannot affort to fuel just one fire. They must fuel both the local and national fires. Not one or the other. Both!
Sorry, meant Insurrection Act. He will do it. All the good Generals have retired and all the ass kissers are left.
But if you look at the wording of the Torture Act he signed it clearly says anyone who does anything considered to be Hostile to the United States. That includes U.S. Citizens and also mimics the Sedition Act on speaking out against the Government.
In fact didn’t Lieberman recently say that maybe the Insurrection Act ought to be enacted?
Our troops are under the impression that there suppose to protect the President first, but I believe their oath says protect the Constitution first.
That’s it for me, I’m outta here. I don’t believe I’m wrong and if I am I’ll apologise, but don’t be surprised if it turns out I’m right.
MASSACRE IN OAXACA: Indymedia Video Journalist Killed
Right now, in this very moment, state policemen dressed
in civil clothes are attacking the barricades maintained
by the Oaxacan people and their teachers. They are
shooting them with machine guns and the teachers and
the people are defending themselves with stones and
machetes. It is a real massacre organized by the
ulises ruiz administration (Oaxcan Governor). There
are many teachers hurted and at least one American
reporter from New York City (Indymedia), killed by the
State police. The local Red Cross is not caming to
attend the urgent help calls because they have got
orders from the state goverment not to do it. Please
help all concerned.
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/77757.html
http://www.democraticundergrou…..15;2502968
.
It won’t be against us. It’ll be with us.
UptownNYChick @
85
Yep. I was late for work when The Decidererer was in New Orleans. My husband got caught in traffic just in the last week or so when Dead Eye Dick was in town.
News stories on the killings are available on the web sites of Indymedia
(http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml ), NarcoNews
(http://www.narconews.com /), the Mexico City daily La Jornada
(http://www.jornada.unam.mx:8080/ultimas ), El Universal
(http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/noticias.html ).
This Will Set Off All Of Mexico and don’t expect it to stay south of the border.
I’m also convinced the Iran Attack is going to happen
Latest news that Israel thinks negotiations are going too slow
The world is a powder keg!
No wonder Smirk and Snarl want Martial Law Powers.
Folks, it’s gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.
If it ever does
—
Okay, YOU CAN DO THIS:
1) Email the American Embassy in Mexico City.
embeuamx@state.gov
Our so called Ambassador is Antonio Garza. He is a Bush TX crony. Please let him know the world is watching Oaxaca and on his watch.
2) Email the Red Cross.
martinc@usa.redcross.org
This is the email address for MEDIA with questions for the CEO. If they get enough mail, they will have to respond.
Ask the RC if it is true that they are under orders not to help wounded strikers. Or, whatever better question you come up with. ASK THEM A QUESTION — don’t just go off on them, please.
3) Email or call the news desk at the biggest paper in your area. Ask them WHO is covering this. WHO not IF.
EDIT: PLEASE USE ‘MASSACRE IN OAXACA’ in your Subj line.
I’ve gone silent for the past few months, because things were starting to look good. But the last few days I’m starting to get that old deja vu. Guess what? In just a few days there will be a BIG election, and by God it’s just too close to call! That’s right. It’s down to the wire. Plus, the Democrats are struggling to match the Republican’s established GOTV machinery, which Karl Rove has been running perfectly for the past three, four, five cycles. It’s unbeatable. Just look at the numbers, folks. That’s why Karl is smiling. And this morning in the Times, there’s Bush in Indiana. The picture shows him reaching out to his people, who are screaming with joy that the Great Leader has graced them with His presence. Roars of applause at every one of Karl’s talking points. You’d never know, would you?, that he’s down to 37 percent. Or is it 40? Depends on which poll you like. Actually, it’s too close to call. Lame duck? He sure doesn’t look like one in that photo.
Now, time for me to go to the bathroom and puke my guts out.
RBG @ 112
No, I have not, but I will consider doing so immediately. But will anyone focused on national politics really consider an ad for the mayoral race in Alexandria, Louisiana?
George A. @ 97
You give him far more credit than I.
All the combined might of the United States military, the complete capture of the political infrastructure, the debasement of the judiciary into a political tool, and (for years) the unquestioning goodwill of the American people at his beck and call…And what have he and his henchmen accomplished?
Do they bestride the world as Colossus,the populace cowed by their terrible majesty?
Do the weak seek their shelter, the strong their wise counsel?
Do the evildoers tremble at their very name?
No, I think otherwise…Their legacy is naught but stale fear, inept excuses for incompetence, and the blood of innocent humanity spattered across Liberty’s visage by antidemocratic vandals.
There is no endgame to be played, a final blaze of Oedipal glory that will rescue his soul from eternal ignominy…Only dishonor and punishment, and one long overdue.
How does one respond to the lawless men who suborn justice so that they may escape punishment?
E pluribus unum.
Hi all,
I’m a daily (if silent) reader and I’ll delurk briefly to ask a question that I know has no simple answer –
What are impoverished younguns like myself (early 20s) to do if we want to be involved long-term in democratic politics, but just can’t afford to spend even more hours volunteering? The blogs write often about how the republicans fund their kids and put them in cushy jobs, and seeing as there just ain’t the money yet on the liberal side of course we’re not expecting that. But does anybody have other ideas for people like me? What can we do to be involved but not starve?
I love FDL – run by women, gay people and cool people of all persuasions, I feel right at home ;)
Thanks Pachacutec! (#102)
I didn’t mean that question in a “why doesn’t your blog talk about my pet subject!?!” sort of way. It just seemed interesting to me that the sites I read were covering a lot of local House races that in some ways would normally be seen as less important than governor of NY, TX, or CA.
To this point, Montag in 94 may be my answer. The thing I too fear the most is two more years of unfettered Bush “leadership.” Right now winning back the House seems like our surest way to reversing(or just slowing down) the terrible abuses of government power.
I’m also just wondering if there are any interesting new Dems out there. What governor is going to be the next Howard Dean? (Hint: not Angelides, bless his heart.)
Good night, gang. My laptop is acting cranky and anyway I need to crash.
Have fun til the mornin’. Don’t do anything TRex wouldn’t do.
Here is the link for those of you interested in the Republican use of rape to smear a Democratic opponent while proleptically quelling debate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsy0E0RRTPA
John Palcewski @ 120
John, easy man, easy. I have a good friend that is a stagehand that actually worked that rally today for the PA contractor. He told me about the Secret Service doing very thorough pat downs on everybody coming into the building and the fact that every single person at that rally seemed to be a small town or county GOP aparatchik with their wives and children.
We were laughing about one young couple he saw who were decked head to toe in Mike Sodrel bumper stickers and tshirts who reminded him of the kind of people who audition for American Idol that they film who go out of their way to get on camera. Its all an act.
These appearances are DESIGNED to look like he is Our Great and Glorious Dear Leader for a reason. It makes for fabulous propaganda that rallys the base thats left and strikes fear into the hearts of nervous Democrats like you. It’s gonna be ok, just remember its all kabuki theater.
Lethe @ 123
Having spent a lot of time impoverished, I have to say, you have an obligation to take care of you and yours first. Without doing that, you end up sick, tired and easily fed up.
You’ll probably never turn the tables on the guys with money–that situation won’t reverse itself so that you’ll be in their position in the future (that’s not just contemporary politics, but the nature of the beast for more than a hundred years). But, pressing the real issues and downplaying the faux issues with everyone you meet, maybe doing phones during elections and keeping the faith is enough. :) As you’re more secure in your own career, you can then use that to influence local party organizations to seek, and find, candidates who are best for your aims politically.
Lethe, it’s tough to know where to start. But if you can give even a couple of hours in the next week and a half, answering phones, or putting leaflets around, it’s a start. Starting’s the hardest part. It just flows after that.
I don’t consider myself a lurker. Rather, I don’t like to post AMEN because it would be redundant.
Good stuff.
LJ
Welcome delurkers! What really struck me when I was checking out the Blue America page for totals in the contribution to Tony Trupiano’s ad campaign http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..nks-howie/ is that the totals kept going up and up, way beyond the “I gave” totals that folks were posting in comments. So, there seem to be some pretty generous lurkers out there!!! Thanks!!!
And, this one is of special note, though none of the rest of us are in this $$$ category!
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..ent-352540
~~~Howie Klein says:
October 27th, 2006 at 5:59 pm *
Earlier I e-mailed Jane because I almost passed out when someone stuck $9,475.00 into our page. I looked him up on google and it looks like he’s related too a really out there fascist who’s running for office in Tennessee. Maybe he wants to make up for his relative or something!~~~
Louisiana Girl @
126
Louisan Girl—I’ll try to help address your concerns, but you need to understand that repeatedly posting the same comment or link is frowned upon on this, and many other, blogs and can results in moderators deleting your comments. I’d sugest you not post your link again on this thead.
Having said that, has the local media covered the story? If so, I’d use those links to forward along to their parent companies. If the local NBC affiliate has run it, then MSNBC might well cover it. Send it separately to each of the MSNBC political shows.
Are national rape victims’ advocaacy organizations aware of this video? Each of them have websites as does NOW. Let them know how one woman has trivialized the trauma of rape by comparing it to a political debate.
Whatever I say, please know that it’s your state, and your city…and therefore, your legwork.
Lethe @ 123
I was an impoverished 20 something involved in Dem politics once myself. Now I am an impoverished 35 yr old involved in Dem politics, but I will be happy to throw some ideas at you.
The biggest issue facing Democrats long term is getting people (especially young people like your peers) to pay attention to the political world in the first place, you are uniquely positioned to singlehandedly change that one friend at a time.
You don’t have to spend hours upon hours volunteering for campaigns to get your friends interested in the political world all around them and thinking about Democrats. Just talk to your friends and coworkers, hold political conversations on a regular basis with people you know, make them think about real issues for a change.
Another thing you can do is turn people you know onto these blogs like FDL, MyDD, DailyKos and other progressive blogs. Link to FDL in every email you send via your signature line. Start a local politics blog and link to stories in your local newspaper’s website about local Dems. When you have time, go to local Democrat Club events, or even go sit in on a City or COunty council meeting and afterwards introduce yourself to the Democrats on the council.
More importantly, since you are of the tech savvy generation, use places like MySpace and Facebook to promote Democrats you like and blogs you read. We got to get more non political people turned into political people like us. Thats how you can help with no money in the pocket.
Oh, BTW, the generosity of lurkers is most often due to/ apparent in large the number of small contributions, not the huge amounts given by any individual. $5 is a good amount- don’t be shy about “giving too little”. A lot of folks giving $5 has made a huge difference- sorry I can’t find the link right now, but the $5 donation campaign that Howie instituted went way beyond expectations in terms of $$ raised.
JayClew,
I love that video. “Don’t Fence Me In” has always been one of my favorites, but man, good job!
G’night everyone.
I hope everybody get some rest, spend a few minutes with your loved ones and take a few minutes of peace today or tomorrow, because this next week is going to be a big one.
I’m excited.
Peace.
RBG @ 132
And, I would add, that when contacting those networks (of whatever affiliates in Alexandria that are running this pie-faced shitheel of a `pug’s political ads) that they should be reminded that money is being taken for this while CBS (via its off-network) and NBC are denying ads from the Dixie Chicks because they’re disrespectful to George W.(anker) Bush.
By all means, write to the local affiliates and their parent networks about this ad. But, there’s no point in hammering us. Hammer them.
Larry Johnson @ 130
And yours is mighty fine too!
Larry Johnson @ 130
AMEN to that! You do some damn fine work at your place, sir. Good to know there is some illustrious company amongst the silent readership.
Larry Johnson @
130
Sir, you are a true patriot and we are honored by your presence. Your own most excellent site must keep you just a tad occuppied, now doesn’t it?
Hey RBG, no fart jokes tonight, company’s over, we got to play nice. Hehe j/k bro, how you been?
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 141
Company never stopped Junior, so, why should it stop RBG? :)
Cujo 101:
For my part, I happily gave up on attribution long ago:
========
Had Enough?
========
Other “lurkers” are disadvantaged by time zones, whether it’s Daylight or Standard. Here it is 7:53pm, and there are already 140 comments. The non-commenter might figure a) somebody’s probably said this; b) I don’t have time to read the previous 140 comments; or c) it’ll get lost in the volume.
So some of us don’t comment, although we read and find the site very useful and thought-provoking.
I have to admit I’ve been lurking . I haven’t posted in a while and have been busy actually working here locally for a candidate for our state Legislature. I’ve been trying hard to get rid of the Repug incumbant and this is the second time this young Democrat has run against him. Last time he came real close but this time Kevin is ahead!! It is looking good and as Christy says Politics is local, so I have been working where I feel I can make a real difference.
Thanks for the welcome, all! I’m a very frequent reader/lurker here and recommend the site all the time. But now I must go to bed. Sweet dreams of congressional oversight!
Linkmeister @ 144
Where are you located? There are “delurkers”/ regulars from AL and HI (now in CA)…
Valley Girl @ 147
Not to mention a few from NZ who show up in the early morning and throw in their two cents on occasion.
When have time zones ever stopped free expression? :)
Dang…I forgot which company was coming over tonight. Last night we were graced by the General’s presence. He’s more open to hearing that crass stuff.
Kathi Taylor @ 145
Excellent! We’d rather have you working hard for a local Dem than anything else so if that means less time for comment section goofonomics with us then so be it. Who’s your guy? If he has a site give us a link, maybe some of us could whip out the credit card for him tonight.
Same goes for any other lurkers or commentors working for local Dems, post your links for the men and women responsible for your time away from FDL comments. Maybe we could do a Howie Klein style $5 campaign for tonight.
BigTime’s trips are much more inconveniencing (I’m told), because the Secret Service also blocks off all roads to hospitals along his route. Just in case the MASH unit traveling with him is overwhelmed by any unforeseen emergency.
RBG @ 149
Damn, thats like twice in a row I missed Jesus General in the comments section. I keep wanting to meet him here sometime, he cracks me up to no end.
Kathi Taylor @ 145
Who’s the candidate and where is he running?
H/T for making a difference!
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @
152
It was pretty dang cool watching TRex and the General trade one liners. It’s worth a quick peak at last night’s Late Night. As I recollect, he joined us about 11:00.
John Casper @
105
Have you read this diary at DK? He says that he is a college professor and he has been working on Jack Carter’s campaign. He blogs at DK as “Major Danby” also and tomorrow will post a diary revealing his plans to fight Bush’s plans to declare Martial Law.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/28/155911/22
patrick rex @
43
Best luck, dude.
Have fun in Europe, email me and let me know how the drums worked out.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @
152
Dude!
Hi Fini, long time no see (I miss the Friday Spin nowadays). Hope you are well….
Hello voyagers! That’s my term for lurkers, since I find it a prettier word, and they are on the blog-voyage along with the chatty ones like me and others, but quietly.
To return to Pach’s post-idea, are there questions that need answering, or issues that need raising, or things we’ve overlooked in our attempts at discussion (and entertainment)? If so, please be sure to let us know.
I don’t know if this has made the rounds here at FDL. It’s by Terry Jones, welcoming GWB to the World Despot League. In any case I recommend it. http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm…..07,00.html
SteveAudio @ 157
Duder!
TeddySanFran @ 158
Hey TSF! I’m doing as well as I can under the circumstances. Been a rough couple of months but the smoke is clearing now and all is returning to what passes for normal in my world. We did a podcast yesterday for the first time you should check it out.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @
161
FF–I don’t think I took the time yesterday to say that was one mighty fine podcast. TSF should check out the TeddyBears.
TY RBG, Donita did a fantastic job for her first time out. Its hard to come up with things to say to an audience you can’t see so you kind of have to just wing it. She’s off to a great start and will only get better as time goes by. It’s a privilege to work with her on it.
I have been lurking for a long time, and watching with hope as the progressive blogging community gradually grows in influence and scope. What seems critical to me is the need to accelerate the delegitimization of the corporate media and really change the average person’s viewing habits. I am amazed by the number of high-functioning, educated people I know who still rely on the dumbed-down and distorted version of tv news pumped out by the corporate media every day.
What can we do to spur a popular transformation in the way people get information, and I’m thinking of something on the scale of a major ad campaign. (We need to get them off the drug of corporate media so they can get well again.)
Have bloggers ever coordinated a massive effort to contact family and friends with a list of alternative online press sources and blog sites to speed up the inevitable shift that’s taking place? There are so many people who would be open to the truth/personally transformed if they knew where to get good information without too much hassle, but I think they need to be encouraged to get over the hurdle of using the internet and discovering new sources for their news.
I took the step about a year ago of sending all of my family and friends a list of the best blogs and alternative online news sources. I think people are less resistant to change if there’s a wave out there they want to catch.
And obviously, the sooner people wean themselves from garbage news, the sooner they get smart and change their voting habits.
OT, but, for the Harbinger Of Things To Come Department:
at MSN.com they have misspelled Bush’s name: Busj ……
Once and awhile. But I love you still. As a person of colour, I am profoundly disturbed by the attack ads against Harold Ford. This is wrong. Period.
OT:
“RNC Chief Ken Mehlman accepted political contributions from gay porn king?”
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
4commonground @ 165
You bring up an excellent point that has a complex set of answers. Let’s break your comment into two questions to go through this.
Well, this is already kind of underway, sort of. It’s happening in a really disjointed and haphazard kind of way really. The BlogAds network you see on so many progressive blogs I believe lets sites participating in the program put ads for their site in the rotation that then appear on other blogs in the network, or maybe they get a discount or something. I’m not sure of this though so don’t quote me or anything on this point, I just think I heard thats how it works.
The second part to this question though, is a real quandry. First of all, a major ad push in that same corporate media world is muy expensive. Secondly, said corporate media will probably decline the campaign ala Dixie Chicks’ current trouble advertising their documentary film that is critical of the Preznit. Can you see ABC greenlighting a Read the Blogs campaign financed by the DailyKos, FDL, MyDD, et al communities? Me neither.
This is again, is probably taking place but in an unorganized way. You may be onto something there. Thats a major project though and one that would require massive coordination and effort to carry out. Keep in mind not everybody in the blog world does this full time, and volunteers are scarce and better used doing other things for candidates and organizations making a difference.
The shift is taking place at its own pace and in an organic way. It really cannot be forced onto people. Folks have to WANT to change their habits. The best advice I can give you is to evangelize to everyone you meet about the great blogs you read and send everyone you know links to the best of the best when they post something brilliant.
I got some of my friends reading blogs just by sending them links to great posts I read and repeatedly doing so until they started reading the things I sent them and got hooked. One of my friends now has more than 250 blog feeds in his feed reader. He spends more time reading blogs than I do now, but before he couldn’t conceive why I spent so much time on the blogs. Patience, grasshopper, if you build it they will come.
Does anyone know anything about a bill that supposedly makes it easier for the president to declare martial law: http://politics.slashdot.org/p…..4208.shtml
Here is the URL of the bill in question:
http://www.govtrack.us/congres…..=h109-5122
Pachacutec @
46
Atrios had a fantastic video clip on by “Gogol Bordello” friday night. i You Tubed them and found a song called “Start Wearing Purple”. Maybe that would work …….
I thank you. This site has been a Godsend to me. I cared for my mother at my home for 4 years before she died. I was more or less confined at home. This site is how I stayed connected to the outside world and learned about Ned, Scooter and so much more. Thank you all so much!
three cheers for the voyagers
(nice term, TSF!)
Jinny–that’s a great link. Wouldn’t you know, it’s TRex’s night off. He’d have so much fun with that one.
Wigwam @ 170
I just found out about this tonight and the more I am looking into it the more I feel compelled to check Canadian real estate listings. From what I can tell we are one decision away from the Decider from the death of the Republic. I’ll see you all in Gitmo.
Pachacutec @
82
Patch, i think that’s Stevenson ………
4commonground @ 165
Here’s something no one–right, left, center, indifferent–wants to admit. The blogosphere depends on mainstream news-gathering, no matter how much they may individually hate it for its lapses. No one of us has the time and money to develop our own news service.
What gets our noses out of joint is the continual spin put on the news gathered–that what is considered news (the missing nubile, blonde girl syndrome) and what is not analyzed as prominent and important are failings in the traditional news outlets.
The truth is, however, that the news junkies, with no mainstream news outlets available, would be sitting around wondering, “what happened today?” If they had nothing but the web to depend upon for news, they’d be trying to get astrologers into office.
The problem isn’t the mainstream media. The problem is that they’re scared shitless of losing money and will kiss the ass of anyone in power who has regulatory control over their industry. The bigger problem is that they’ve taken sides, without telling their readership or viewership that they have.
But, suggesting that they can be completely dispensed with is probably not truthful, or wise.
What good blogs and independent media sources do well is attempt to keep the traditional news sources honest–and honest in ways they don’t particularly like. When someone like Deborah Howell at The Washington Post starts whining about people hammering her for defending the indefensible, one knows she’s sat in shit and can’t get up–time to put on the pressure. That’s the only way to make `em honest. They won’t do that on their own. Neither can the bloggers produce the news on their own.
Gotta look at both, in other words. Gotta keep both honest.
Thanks, Fini FiniTOOBZ!, for your reply. Yes, I hear you. When I suggested something on the scale of a major ad campaign to turn people on to alternative progressive media, I didn’t really mean we would use the mainstream press. It’s true that they would never carry it. But what about other avenues, like YouTube? I watch my son tap into YouTube everyday now, and wonder what would happen if a talented blogger produced a “Hurry up and Switch to the Real News” infomercial and a group of the blogs launched its own campaign to go viral with the message to “friends and family” out there.
I do realize that haphazard messaging is happening informally all the time–and I do it myself–just wondering about a coordinated effort to BLAST the message out there.
I guess I just worry that the transformation underway is too slow to staunch the bleeding we have right now. We can’t afford to wait years for the majority of Americans to get smart to the disinformation peddled by the corporate media! I sometimes feel that it is truly a race against time…
4commonground @ 177
Well see, now you’re talking about something with some THERE there. That is maybe a killer concept that should be considered. Do me a favor and send me an email so we can take this discussion further, you’ve got an idea some people I know might be interested in.
4commonground @ 165
One of the most serious concerns I have about the “Blogosphere vs MSM” debate is centered on the “elephant in the room”.
No, I’m not talking about Repugs here. :-)
The elephant I’m talking about is MONEY!!! MSM has it and the Blogs don’t.
As far as I can tell, almost all Blogs are run at a loss, done as a “labor of love” by their creators.
I can’t speak for Jane Hamsher (heaven forbid that I would ever think of doing so *g*), but in a number of her rare comments over many moons about the subject of the financing of FDL, I gather that she gets some minimal bucks from the Ads here, and that the funding is primarily coming out of her own pocket.
As I look down the road past the 2006 mid-terms, I wonder how many of the top Blogs creators/authors are going to continue to be able to devote large amounts of their own time to sustain their Blogs?
Money pays the Blog bills and if you ain’t getting enough, where is the money going to come from?
Glenn Greenwald has recently brought up this topic, and I’m sure we’ll all be seeing it fervently discussed more. He devotes 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week to the effort of Blogging, and his question is again: “where is the money going to come from?”
When Bloggers are basically working full-time blogging, how does one pay to keep a roof over one’s head and food on the table? Blogs ain’t doing it!
One of my fears about the future of Blogs is that once the MSM gets over their hatred of us, they will wake up and smell the money!
And in smelling that which feeds their addiction, they will attempt and in some (many?) cases co-opt Blogs.
Put simply, they’ll buy us out! Advertising, “partnerships”, out and out ownership, you name it, they’ll try it!
The future of Blogs is just around the corner, and the answer to financial sustainable Blogging may not be the one you want.
So, what say ya’ll?
Jan @ 172
Jan, props to you! If you haven’t heard it recently, you’re pretty special!
Proud to be a lurker. Gonna be even prouder on Nov. 8th, by the music of the wailing and gnashing of wingnut teeth.
One week to go, let’s all kick some ass!
Mad Dogs is absolutely right, these sites cost major money to run and the financial benefit is minimal from the ads. Thats why you see so many fundraising drives in the blogosphere. Greenwald’s points on this subject are very articulate and excellent.
More readership would mean more ad money but the ad money really isn’t that great. Wingnut welfare from think tanks and foundations support the reich wing blogs and there is no comparable system in the left end of the political spectrum.
Many smarter people than I have tried to come up with ideas for financing the blogs of the left view and failed. Subscription models dont work, ads dont work and short of being absorbed by lefty think tanks and non profits who share our values I am stumped for an answer.
Thanks, montag. Yes, you’re right that we can’t dispense with the mainstream news, but as long as it’s a for-profit enterprise and the Republicans are pro-consolidation, the battle by the public to keep them honest will always be an uphill one. I guess that, for me, the whole system is poorly designed and needs a complete overhaul so that we get the profit out of it and turn it into a public service, as it should be. That’s another ball of wax, I know (paging McChesney).
For now, I agree that the public has to look at both sources. You remind me that the blogging world is not yet equal to the huge task of providing the whole landscape of news and so, people can’t just write it off. However, most average people don’t have the habit or the desire to devote long stretches of time getting their daily dose of news from different sources every day, and just rely on the tv news pumped out by the mainstream media. It seems to me that we really need to challenge them to reevaluate the legitimacy of that information and turn to other sources, even if it’s just for ADDED info. What really bothers me is the assumption that too many people hold about the longstanding credibility of mainstream media. So many have NO IDEA that they’re missing something–they are the ones we have to reach. (How many even know the Judy Miller story?)
Mad Dogs @ 179
M’self, I think, that blogs are way past the corner already. The bloggers that have been savvy about advertising and promotion are already at the top of the heap, and almost none of those are doing their own reporting, separate and apart from the MSM. They’re making their nut commenting on what the MSM reports and thinks. We have almost no straight-up reporters in the blogosphere and a surfeit of H.L. Menckens and Dorothy Parkers of the 21st century remarking on the news (that’s not a bad thing, mind you, but, it’s not gathering the news and reporting on it).
Maybe there’s a whole new model out there, waiting to be devised or discovered. But, as long as one has to pay the bills, there’s only two ways at the moment to do it–advertising and subscription. Advertising puts one into that realm where one is at the mercy of advertisers’ fickle natures and heartless number crunching, while subscriptions lock out the poor who need info and commentary even more than those with money.
It’s a conundrum, and one not easily solved, I think. Even costless blogging, as democratic as it seems, is exclusionary–there are still many, many people without computers at home or easy and cheap access to the internet. As long as profit motive lurks behind anything, there’ll be inequities. Bill Gates will throw some money at AIDS amelioration in Africa, but he won’t fund a thing that might compromise M$oft’s profitability….
Cheers.
would we, the blog trogs, be enough to make a significant difference, doing for jane and redd what many of us have been doing for the candidates?
there is this snail mail address to make contributions for marcy’s book. can contributions to FDL’s needs be sent to the same address? i’m up for that if that’s a good channel to go through.
on a completely different subject, after seeing larry johnson’s comment above i felt prompted to go to his site, which i haven’t done for a while. i found a very important bit of information there:
the number of african american house committee chairmen will increase in a very important way if the democrats gain the majority. not only will they probably be appointed but the committees they will be appointed to are among the most important in Congress. i was aware of this to some extent but now much more so. it should be a tremendous incentive for african americans to vote this time. GOTV should really make this a spotlight issue to african american voters.
Just home from a concert. The Anchorage Symphony did their best job in years. Russian music – Glinka’s “Russlan and Ludmilla” Overture, Stravinsky’s Symphony in C, and Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto with Olga Kern as soloist. She got about ten or more minutes of ovations, plus her two encores.
Hey, lurkers, Pach’s description of how you might feel fits the way I came out of lurkdom here to a “T.” Even though I’m sometimes regarded as a pain in the butt here, I’ve learned more by posing questions and contributing to dialogue than I ever would have by only reading the posts and comments.
4commonground, you bring up great points, but I feel a need to remind you of the monumental task you speak of just for perspective. Let’s start with voters for one thing.
In 2004 we had an eligible voter turnout for one of the hottest elections ever of 60%. Of those eligible voters who voted, half went to Bush, half went to Kerry. This means we have a President elected by 30% of the eligible voters in this country.
Americans are vapid, superficial people. We lead extraordinarily shallow lives as a whole. Many of us cant be bothered to watch the news because we would miss American Idol on our Tivo machines. The only people who read blogs in the first place are the politically active amongst us. We have to get people to start thinking, and until we clean up the educational system in this country there is little hope of that happening anytime soon.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 187
Word. (as the kidz say)
Sad, but true.
SteveAudio,
blogs are to the brain what AM talk radio is to the lizard brain.
4commonground @ 183
But, then, none of this is new. It’s a problem as old as or older than the country. William Randolph Hearst, for example, took his share of the family fortune and made another through a newspaper chain that, in large part, came to notoriety by virtue of yellow journalism and aiding and abetting McKinley’s Spanish-American War. Hedda Hopper came later. :) The New York Times was just as supportive of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in 1964 as it was of Bush’s Iraq invasion.
What is different now, I think, is that people are interacting less today–they are talking to one another less frequently, and therefore have fewer opportunities to bounce opinions and ideas off of one another. Think the “cocooning” phenomenon that began in the late `80s (now almost a generation ago).
Media consolidation has had its effects, too. That can’t be denied. But, that consolidation has indisputably given those near-monopolies more strength through finances. Their advertisers have been consolidating, too, and have more power to exert on the ways in which news appears and is presented. The only counter to that is hefty money and a pure heart–and even George Soros doesn’t have both of those–otherwise, he would have sunk a couple of billion into a progressive CNN analogue already.
It’s not an easy nut to crack. I’ve been banging my head up against the problem for years now, and I keep coming back to advertiserless news programming. That’s either government-sponsored or subscription. We have government leaders who so little trust the public that they can’t help but fuck with public broadcasting, diluting its potential impact through commercialization and politicization (remember that, almost from its start, Richard Nixon wanted Congress to defund NPR and PBS because they were making him look bad). Because of that, public broadcasting is barely keeping its head above water, thirty years later, even with a combination of commercialization, government funding and subscription, because government won’t make it absolutely independent and free of all influence by funding and charter, though doing that would be simple, and relatively cheap (in comparison to the current total budget).
If a free press is anathema to politicians, what does that say about a publicly-funded, free and independent government broadcasting service? But, who else has the resources to mount a sufficiently large and effective (and expensive) service?
Cheers.
I would opine that since Media has demonstrated a lack of impartiality (due to their dire financial straits ;>) ), that the worst-case rationale for the ‘fairness doctrine‘ has come to pass, making it essential that such legislation be revisited so that the public can better be informed.
The new ’scarcity’ (once due to a limited set of choices, now a mass control of access to ideas) that we see being perpetrated took decades to stealthily accomplish, but it never would have happened if these so-called ‘public trustees’ placed people above personal profit, whether through their own initiative or from external pressures…
darkblack @ 191
In complete agreement with that. Never should have been dispensed with.
Government funded news already exists in Voice of America broadcasts. Worldwide our propaganda is heard exactly how Bush minions are instructed to inform the world and we are mocked daily in countries that receive that signal.
Please don’t tell me you’re serious about a government news agency for domestic purposes. Bad idea, very bad idea.
The MSM was liberal at one time when liberal ideas held sway over the marketplace of ideas. Those ideas fell out of favor amongst the electorate and so the MSM has slowly over time become more conservative.
If our progressive ideas and values do not click with Americans, we should keep coming up with ideas until we find some that do, like we have done in recent years concerning privacy, civil liberties and core values of democracy. You know, the basics of our nation.
We on the left have a major problem on questions of what role government should play on issues. We tend to reach for the government hammer for every issue when sometimes you need a more subtle and nuanced regulated market approach every so often.
I will never support government media, that is a sure fire way to propagandize the American people who get enough of that from the regulated airwaves. I know it bums us out a lot but the First Amendment allows this sort of thing to happen, we just need to put our game face on and show people our ideas are better. The answers lie in innovation and presentation of our ideas.
Delurking for matybe the 3rd time here. I live in Jane’s district, OR-10. This race is quite close, perhaps we could get some of the FDL love coming our way for Darlene Hooley?
OT, some stuff I’v wanted to say for a while:
What’s your excuse?
Is the american way of life really so non-negotiable that we couldn’t say, imagine a life where every consumer choice would NOT enable our corporate overlords?
Ed*ard Teller @ 189
Well said!
montag @ 193
I suspect that its dissolution was part of a long-term strategy, but this might become a thoughtcrime, so ;>) …And we have Reagan (and later Bush 41) to thank for vetoing attempts to codify it into U.S. law.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 193
And, who runs–and subsidizes–VOA and RFE? The CIA. Real independence is possible. But, assuming that it isn’t, how do you propose to fund a system which isn’t as affected by corporate interests and its advertisers as the VOA or RFE is by the CIA?
If you can’t fund that, how do you ever expect “progressive” ideas to reach the general public. If they never find out about them, or candidates supporting them–because of current commercial dominance in the news market–how will those ideas come to prominence?
Remember what I said–public broadcasting was fulfilling its mandate–until it went after Richard Nixon. It was after all, PBS that broadcast every goddamned hearing on Nixon’s government for a year, every day they were in session. By 1980, that impetus to scrutinize the government was pretty much gone–largely by threats of defunding. Make that impossible, by law and by charter, and we might get back to the situation as it was in 1973, or some better approximation of what exists today.
Cheers.
SteveAudio @
196
I picked a night when TRex is outta here to say that.
Ruprecht,
stick around. Your candidate is doing well. If you make yourself a perpetual nuisance around here like I do, you’ll drum up some $!!!
montag @ 198
And now we have come full circle in the debate back to the answer to this question – the blogs that need funding. Independent media via YouTube and podcasting sites like Odeo. Online digital distribution is quickly replacing but not totally displacing MSM.
I have full faith that a funding system will become apparent. I think the way lies in grassroots funding in some way. Folks that frequent blogs like this love what they get and are willing to pony up when asked for a donation for a myriad of causes that promote progressive ideas.
We need to harness that generosity and goodwill to finance this new media architecture being built online, but a critical mass of support needs to be reached which is only just now beginning to come into view. I would cite examples of book publishing such as How Would a Patriot Act? and Crashing the Gates and the upcoming FDL Books releases are positive signs of growth in this area. Publishing is a great way to make a few bucks for a cause oriented organization such as FDL.
Progressives are talented and creative people. We should rely on that creativity and talent to provide a way to provide for our bloggers. Buy those books, purchase those DVDs and download those songs created by and for progressives for the causes they become attached to. Keep Uncle Sam out of the equation, he will just screw it all up.
Love the video!
you would think that a contrarian, somebody not unlike ted turner, would figure that a new MSM entry – or an old one retooled – could do well, financially i mean, moving back to the center (god forbid left of center!). is that just out of the question?
Hi Pach,
Just a quick note about Ned’s “Seniors Playing Cards” ad. I know it’s their campaign shtick where Ned grins and says “I’m Ned Lamont and I approve this message”. “And so do we”, chime in the ad participants. By doing this he walks all over the message of the ad and the punchline delivered by the seniors. It makes the ad “gimmicky” and erodes its effectiveness.
Medicare D and Social Security are major issues for Seniors. There are a lot of seniors who live on social security as their main source of income and they’re scared that they could lose it or see it reduced. They worry about paying for their prescriptions and some seniors are having to make the awful choice between eating and taking their pills every other day instead of every day. For these people and other seniors who know about seniors who are having a tough time, the “gimmickiness” won’t warm them up to Ned Lamont.
I’m written about this issue before in another one of Jane’s Lamont ad posts (the one about the fear ad). I still believe that the Lamont team is misreading the political environment. One reason humor is not used more often in political ads is because it’s very difficult to do it right. There is a fine line that’s tough to judge. One may want to make a serious point in a funny way to cut through the clutter but the fine line that one risks in crossing is in alienating the very voters you are hoping to reach b/c they may not find it amusing. It’s tough to use humor to talk about serious issues of life. You run the risk of coming off as, at best, diminishing or, at worse, mocking the real life problems of seniors instead of speaking to them about their concerns. Where humor does work effectively was when Paul Wellstone used it to point out he didn’t have a lot of money, he was a political outsider, etc. This is a very effective way to use humor against an incumbent. It’s also important to remember the tenor of the times in which he ran. This is a far different political environment. The ad would have been more effective if Ned Lamont had started it by saying that he approved the ad because Seniors deserve a Senator in Washington who will fight for them. That way he comes across as caring, serious and knowledgeable about the problems of Seniors while the “ad participants” deliver the message and the punchline.
One other point, in the closing days of the campaign, Ned Lamont will have to try to close the sale with voters. One very effective way to do this is for him to run a series of ads that coordinate with his campaign stops where he talks to real voters about their real problems. For example, he should address seniors about their issues … talk directly to them in his ad. A good example of this is Ronald Reagan in the 1980 campaign against Jimmy Carter. Look at the closing weeks campaign. No shtick, just straight talk about each of the issues and what he’s going to do about them. Reagan looked Presidential, people could see him as their President. Ned could take a similiar approach, in a series of ads, Lamont talking to real people about real life and his solutions to their problems. Real People. Real Life. Real solutions. This shows that he understands their issues, their problems and their concerns and he’s also acknowledging them. This provides a great way for him to connect his message of change to the real problems of real people. The reason I suggest this is because it appears that Lamont is not closing the sale and I also think he needs to leave the image of a young, energetic Senator in the minds of voters in the closing days. At this point, he’ll be trying to reach the undecideds, the fence-sitters and moving the weak supporters to vote for him. When voters go into the booth, you want them to have the image of a tired, worn-out and out-of-touch Lieberman versus an energetic young man with fresh ideas who can make a change in Washington … someone who stands up for them for a change.
Just my two cents. ;-) I hope Lamont wins!
fahrender @ 202
Again, its a critical mass thing. When progressive ideas are accepted as equal to or greater than conservative ideas, guys like Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch will see the value of selling those ideas for fun and profit. But do you want corporate dickheads to co-opt our ideas? Grassroots and independent funding is the better route.
I think a better example to look at would be the Studio vs Independent film fight. Indie films have made great inroads into the movie marketplace in the last ten years by scruffy determination by indie filmmakers, indie distributors and indie studios. Even with corporate influence, the indie film marketplace is doing quite well these days alongside the mainstream movie biz.
Indie filmmakers have developed their own sources of funding, their own studios and distribution and built up all this infrastructure out of pure love of film. There is a different pay scale in indie world, and budgets are far tighter. Sacrifices are always made and expectations tempered accordingly by the average film goer. But indie film fans and film makers alike work well together to support these films and ensure that more will be made in the future.
De-lurking to say thank you for this site & all you do. It’s been one of the two sites that have kept me sane the past year (DU being the other).
And with that last rant, I bid you all a good night. I have droopy eyes happening.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 199
Well, I think this notion that the government is incompetent is a conservative one, encouraged by the Reaganites, in particular. Government does badly when it’s instructed to do so and isn’t funded adequately.
That said, the discussion came up because of two things–there isn’t enough money for bloggers to become news sources themselves and those that have reached prominence (and enable a small living for their owners) depend upon commercial advertising to do so (and watch what happens to a lot of that advertising money when the election has passed).
Progressives are resourceful people, yes. But, they aren’t wealthy because of it, by and large. But, it’s a matter of numbers. Right now, for example, CNN’s annual budget is about $950 million, and that’s for a lot of talking heads, no investigative reporting and damned little international news.
That’s about three bucks a head for every man, woman and child in the U.S. If you asked all those people to chip in three bucks apiece, would they do it? Not bloody likely.
But, if you told them, with some changes in the law, they could have a completely independent news service with comprehensive national and international news for fifteen bucks a year, paid for by their taxes, would they be more likely to say, “sure.” It’s not that the people don’t want it–corporations and politicians don’t want it.
Now, who else can do that, and reach those numbers? What, 80,000 people cruise by this blog each day (and that’s pretty hefty–no lightweights writing here). That’s 0.04% of the population. I read twelve blogs daily and regularly, and more, sporadically, so I’m figured in all their statistics.
What’s the real game plan to turn 0.1% of the population into 35% of the population? That’s how one moves public opinion. The right wing has most of the bases covered–they don’t even need to own the networks to get their news out–the networks call them for opinion. Maybe, the answer is in funding think tanks and PR firms, not blogs. I don’t know for sure, but I do know that without an effective funding model equal to or better than that of the commercial networks, honest news will still flounder around in the backwash.
Cheers.
Hey, everybody. I just arrived here. I’ve been busy trying to finish my master’s thesis, which is due on Monday. Anybody still here?
fahrender @ 201
Ah, well, Turner could have done that at any time he wanted. Instead, he sold out, and now he has some vague seller’s regret. :)
Turner isn’t the bodhisattva of news any more–if he ever was. :)
neurophius @
208
Sorry, amigo. About to pack it in here, but good to see you alive and well.
neurophius @ 207
My commiserations… this must be a really crappy time in world history to have to be working on a thesis. :)
montag @ 211
That is so true. I would really like to be devoting all my energy to the elections right now, I can’t think of a time it has been more important. I have really been torn, but have had to force myself to stay on the track I have chosen. I do derive a lot of energy from hearing what other people are doing, the staffers in TRex’s virtual campaign tour as well as many commenters here. I urge them all on to greater efforts and wish I could join them.
neurophius @ 211
I guess I was lucky–I did mine in 1975 (after Watergate was a fait accompli) and found a program where I could do either a thesis or oral exam and an article of publishable quality). The latter got me out in 30 hours’ class time.
Having just briefly cruised the comments, I wish PatrickRex (long gone to sleep, I’m sure) a good run tomorrow. I have a bit of a run to do tomorrow myself. Best wishes to lurkers, and I look forward to being here more often after Monday. Good night, all. I’ve Had Enough!
Oh, by the way, I keep forgetting. “Tomorrow” is today.
I’m puzzled why I only lurk here, because I comment quite frequently and at length at several small, fringe blogs where I am the sole liberal voice (troll?) among a small group of rabid conservatives. I’ve found a few that won’t ban me and who engage me in relatively civil discussions. I guess at FDL I’m just humming along with the choir.
Thus, I use an opportunity to de-lurk here just in time to be EPU-ed.
arc parser @ 215
Well, then, it was still a well-used opportunity, yes? :)
I guess, so. Particularly since its seems that there are others out there who are still conscious on an early Sunday morning.
arc parser @ 217
Conscious in a barely literal sense, in my case.
arc parser… an astronomical or geometric reference?
Sorry for the inattention. I was out practicing what I preached on another righty blog.
arc parser was just a random name for a character in a science fiction short story I wrote in college. Somehow, it just stuck with me.
montag @
209
montag, if you haven’t dozed off yet, i don’t think of ted turner in that way, but he did lead the industry into the cable era, and he has highlighted the urgent need for concern for the environment. and it seems to me that bill paley was a good steward of network television.
i don’t think there’s anyone out there like him now and it’s very obvious that there needs to be.
Why have the blogers not stress that if the
Rep.stay in power the DRAFT IS COMING?
Our military and national guard forces have
been depleted they need bodys.
Good morning! I see that wordpress did not “fall back.” My son was up early (under any circumstantial time framing) so we will be able to have a lot of fun today.
I hope y’all do too.
I enjoy the luxury of walking the trail along Town Lake every morning for 30-60 minutes before work. Over the years I’ve developed nodding “Mornin’” relationships with several people. Last week, when a bright idea hit me about how I wish my voting precinct would be set up, I stopped the next trail buddy I saw and told him about it. He thought it was a great idea. Encouraged, I stopped the next pair of trail buddies and told them about it. Walking back to my car, I passed the first guy. He had a group of three or four people around him and was telling them the idea! They smiled and nodded in agreement as I went by!
The idea: I want my precinct to have electronic machines that will spit out two receipts that I can check for accuracy. I will keep on and the other will go into a sufficiently large, locked, guarded, transparent plexiglas box (fish bowl.) If, based on exit polls, the vote count is contested, the fish bowl will be opened and the receipts counted in an open space that can be watched by anyone who cares to attend.
Further fantasy: The receipts should be counted by the local middle school civics/history classes under the supervision of their classroom teachers and any local college or university government, political science, history professors who care to be involved.
Each time I told a person on the trail about this I asked them to tell all their friends if they thought it was a good idea.
I wonder if the idea is growing legs. I intended to delurk that day and offer the idea to FDL, my favorite political/social/psychological/spiritual well-spring. But life took me away and I didn’t do it. So, thanks for the invitation! Even if it is perhaps the last comment on this post and will die in the EPU, it’s out there!
The GOTV efforts MUST include measures to prevent/end vote suppression and vote count manipulation. I would love to see a post (or maybe I’ve missed it) on all of the places to look for suggestions about how to keep our precincts safe and the count honest.
i don’t know about anybody else but i think we need the draft to come back. the chances are pretty good that if we had it in 2001 fuckwad wouldn’t have gotten us into iraq, or not as easily as he did. it’s also a pretty good bet that we would already be out. another possibility is that we would’ve had enough troops to send in when we went in that the situation could’ve been stabilized, at least a heck of a lot better than it was.
i think there needs to be a no exemption draft. people would be a lot more politically involved if there were, and that’s one of the secret reasons that the bush administration isn’t for one. too many people would be paying more attention to what he is doing.
fahrender — I have long espoused that position on the draft. It democratizes military commitmet decisions and, even with a non-military service option, it supports as an object lesson the value of pluralistic society.
I am definitely in the “yes” column.
LeftinTexas:
usually nobody gets EPU’d on late night until ’bout 06:00. least not on Sunday morning. I think you’ve got a great idea. hope it has legs. another thing it would provide: a way to check and see if all of the Repub complaints of “illegal” voting are true or not.
immanentize @ 226
imma:
well heck, i guess it’s settled then. since i’m a non-sexist kinda guy, we’ll put jenna and not jenna numbers 1 and 2 on the list, jonah goldberg and sean hannity at numbers 3 and 4.
Waist Deep In The Big Muddy :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ummKvnnltr4
good morning firedogs -
Webb Ad -
30 seconds
dead solid perfect !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..&eurl=
my standing apologies if prev. posted
Immanantize:
Do you possibly have a link or other info on Project Innocence? If all goes according to plan, within this coming week I’ll once again be jayt, Atty at Law, and looking for some place to do some outside volunteer work. Most likely, I’ll be looking at local LSO, but the crim work is kind of near and dear, so…
If so, would be much appreciated.
Okay, I’ll leave a comment.
This has bothered me awhile. In August 2001, GWB said he would only dip into the Social Security Trust Fund in the event of a War. So is the Social Security Trust funding the Iraq War? I don’t know, but an ad based on the press conference video would be powerful. I don’t have the tools to make such a video, else I would myself.
You can verify this information yourself at the White House Website.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news…..10824.html
Check out the video starting at 23:00 and see the emphasis on the word “war”
Q Mr. President, to follow up on that, the administration’s budget projections show these fairly thin surpluses outside of Social Security for the next several years, and the budget that you’ve been discussing, of course, does not include missile defense, does not include a number of the conventional weapons, transformations that your team that you’ve introduced here today is going to be working on.
Would it be reasonable to dip into Social Security and into the Social Security funds to pay for missile defense and to pay for military transformation, or is there any other contingency you can imagine that would make it worthwhile to go into the Social Security funds?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’ve said that the only reason we should use Social Security funds is in case of an economic recession or war. Secondly, our budget does call for missile defense expenditures. If I’m not mistaken, I think it’s to the tune of $8 billion. And you might recall, as we left town, there were some members of the United States Congress saying that that was way too much expenditure on a missile defense program and they would like to divert that money to other programs, some within the defense budget, some outside the defense budget.
Haven’t left a comment in a long while, but I am still here, reading every day and I still love this blog. It’s my favorite. Thanks to Jane and ReddHedd for bringing in so many good writers through the comments section.
Good On Ya, Pach.
I’ve never commented but check in every day. Thank you for helping me stay informed.
jayt,
is this what you were looking for ?
http://www.innocenceproject.org/
there’s always this:
http://www.sentencingproject.org/
or this
http://www.naacpldf.org/
these last two joined forces to fight in the now infamous Tulia, Texas sting tragedy. Sentencing Project receives some of their funding from estate of the late William Kuntsler
thanks cbl!
4commongood:
I’ve already begun talking about how to do this offline. I’m thinking after the election, we can sponsor an “FDL Open House” series ot some such thing, where our readers can bring a friend to their computers and the main post will invite people to make intorductions and ask questions. The series can be kind of a “what are blogs” intro course. What do you think? This would start sometime after the election, maybe in the new year.
Jayt –
Jayt, Sorry I missed you — I was making blueberry buttermilk pancakes for the family (and eating them!!)
Here is the main Innocence Project website:
http://www.innocenceproject.org/
This is Barry Scheck’s organization at Cardozo Law School in NY.
There are others all across the country — give me an idea where you are and I will try to hook you up with the nearest and/or nearest and best.
Imm
Ooops, sorry CBL — I duplicated!
Also, you might want to look at NACDL (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers)
http://www.criminaljustice.org…..enDocument
and NLADA (National Legal Aid and Defender Association)
http://www.nlada.org/
Hey cbl, I saw that you’d asked about me earlier this week, but I was running out the door and couldn’t write a response then. I’m between rounds of surgery and had a couple of projects hit just before then, so commenting time has been limited.
I really appreciate your concern; it means a lot. I’ll be fine, the cutting-and-pasting that’s going on is fairly low-intensity outpatient stuff, but the recovery times are inconveniently long.
Meanwhile, I hope all’s well with you and yours!
cbl – I left a thank you earlier – it’s gone now – the comments seem a bit wonked today.
Rawr! ^.^
oohh…another lurker here…with my cat and cup of coffee…thanks to all of you “regulars”…besides knowing where to contribute my hard earned $$$ to get rid of the facists…I run this info to my coffee group at the local lefty bookstore…most are blog illiterate…they appreciate you too…keep up the good work…maybe later I will have something else to contribute(LOL)
PECTOPAH (#235):
you’ve got to use capitals for your handle to be authentic. when were you in Russia?
This is my first comment. I’m a “lurker” from the Dallas, Tx area. I read this blog daily and enjoy it immensely. I wish there were liberal, progressive, Dem, etc. blogs in my area. But I don’t know of any.
Peggy V. @ 249
that’s the beauty of the technology, peggy, we’re as close as your keyboard. i’m in germany, by the way …..
guess you folks should be prompted. a new thread started a while back. i think most people are already over there. i’m going to push the refresh button and head over there myself, even though i like me a good EPU now and then …….
Thank you Pach and all the FDLers. There’s a tendency to feel we are in a bubble here in my liberal corner of Vermont. I was fighting dismay and hopelessness after 2000 and 2004. Then I found the blogs!
I spent primary day in Connecticut thanks to all of you and it brought back the hope I’ve given up on the last few years. I brought that energy back to my friends and co-workers and many of us are now involved in regional campaigns.
Now I’m on my way to the NH-02 to see if we can help it happen there too!
Cyndi in VT
I don’t feel like a ‘lurker,’ but thanks for the shout-out, and thanks for the work you do, here.
Thanks for this post, truly. I often don’t have much to add, but I love reading this blog.
Hard to add anything new or original, but I appreciate that you notice us out here!
All the best to you guys too.
Better reread that…slowly. Cuz you might not love it when you realize that Rahm Emanuel is running a ton of fairly conservative Democrats for the house. Being the Clinton disciple that he is, Rahm’s desperatly trying to pull the party back toward the center. A lot of these candidates shares Bush’s views on not setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, in addition to other positions- anti-choice etc. Unless Pelosi can keep them under control, it could turn out to be a victory of the pyrrhic kind.
Thanks for the thanks!
I’m sorry. Can I post again now? I once had a problem with one of Trex snark and said so in a snarky way. I promise I won’t do it again, honest. I love this site, work for Dems and send money. Please let me post again. I’m rather new to commenting and didn’t know the rules. Please, can I, huh, please? :-(
Wow, look at all these silent friends at the end of this thread. Just in the last 20 comments there’s a new bunch of you. Thanks, welcome, and it’s great to hear from you. razorboy, geewhizpat and all the rest, this means you!
Wow, Wow, Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That was STUPENDOUS!
and by the way,
Thanks so much for providing all of us a wonderful blog to enjoy!
I am definitely a 2-4 times a day lurker. I come to FDL first always. I send money when asked. I am petrified that Lamont is going to lose. I live in MD, I vote democratic and am a retired, disabled senior citizen. As a mom, g/mom, g/gmon and military mom I know how critical the election is to our future. But I am afraid the dems are not up to the job. FDL keeps me sane.
fahrender @ 244
You are right, it should be capitalized, but then everyone would think I was shouting. In cyrillic it is pronounced RESTORAN, meaning restaurant. And right again, it betrays several visits to Rodina, all pre-Yeltsin.
I like the handle because it has an Innocents Abroad quality to it. All the Americans in Russia would ask if you eat at the PECK-TOW-PAW yet, not realizing their misprounciation. Sort of sums up our mess abroad in general — all the result of ignorance.
A bit of unsolicited advise: Don’t refer to people who read the site but don’t comment regularly (or at all) as LURKERS. It has a heavy negative implication. They are READERS. To say someone is lurking implies some malign intent. Invite your READERS to be WRITERS or participants. Accusing someone of lurking imputes their motives and manner. It’s a particularly unpleasant term that has lodged itself in the heads of people who run blogs. This is a great site, with great readers and great bloggers. I would say the great majority of people who stop by are not lurking, any more than people who read the newspaper and don’t write letters to the editor are lurkers.
Just my two cents worth.
Signe by a regular reader and occasional commenter.
p.s. the spell check function here doesn’t know the word blog.
I’m a lurker. Some might remember me from the Daily Kos, where I got kind of tired of it (it turns out some liberals like to give “big tent” way more lip service than actual practice), and I mostly just read the articles here to find out what people are saying. I don’t agree with some of it, but I’m all for anything that will get Bush out of office, so I’m all for your efforts, and I’ve even got my little MoveOn.org bumper sticker on my car.
Good luck, guys. I’m doing what I can. But after we’ve kicked bush and his cronies (well, at this point, it’s more realistic to say just his cronies) out of office… we might be talking to each other again from different sides of the divide.
Thanks for your efforts, though. On one thing we agree – Bush is an incompetent, poor excuse for a leader. And that is enough for now.
I’m a reading, non-writing participant. And love this site! Thanks for all you do.
there was a pertinent Dilbert strip yesterday that kinda sums up Pac’s comment about lurkers who are afraid to jump in with the smart people who post:
http://www.unitedmedia.com/com…..61027.html
On the mark.
VJB @
261
lol…I saw that one over breakfast yesterday. Truer words were never spoken.
Ich bin ein lurker.
I lurk, therefore I am.
Remember me? I use to post comments. Now I do not (except for now). Now I am one of the “lurkers”, except I have chosen not to support anyone financially this round of elections. Why? Well, my words have been excluded too many times, here and elsewhere. Yes, I do see the world in a different light, but it is a light and not darkness. Yet, I have been shut out. And though it is only in one way, I have read it as such to mean in all ways, so in all ways I have and in all way I will.
You’re welcome, and thank YOU for the great blog. I read daily but rarely comment. I’m out and about trying to turn Arizona blue. It’s a tough row to hoe. I don’t really expect Kyl to be defeated on Nov. 7, but if he loses, you’ll know that Bush really IS vanquished.
Every day I read:
Firedoglake
Needlenose
Kos
I don’t even bother with the “traditional” news outlets anymore.
patrick rex @
43
Good luck Patrick….have a good run and enjoy the company!! :) If you ever run the Boston
Marathon, let me know and I will come cheer for you. My husband ran it long ago (Late 50’s)
and came in 72nd out of about 5000…not bad!
Have a good day!
Pach, I’m glad that you brought this up. I’m a long time reader of this blog. I usually come in late and it takes me a while to read and think about all that I have read on the front page and the links and comments. By that time the snark and online discussion is over and everyone is going to bed. Be assured that we (the lurkers – damm, I hate that term) appreciate what you and Jane and Christie and TRex have given us. If there was a better way to express it than saying thank you I don’t know what it would be. And one final favor, could you please consider referring to me and the other lurkers as occasional contributors, thanks again.
Ray Mann
Thank you for inviting our comments. The best thing about the blogs is hanging out with such smart people.