We took delivery on our first shipment of heavyweight duck blanket lined jackets, made by UFCW local 1541 workers. The boxes piled high in the photo give an indication of what the rest of my house looks like at the moment.

If I’ve been a bit AWOL from the front page lately, it’s because everyone at the FDL Membership Program has been workingnon-stop to secure OccupySupply goods and training members to be liaisons to distribute them. Glenn Greenwald has a great piece up on OccupySupply this morning, featuring Ryan Cook in his OccupySupply shack (with great photos by Jon Walker).

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes for the past few weeks with FDL members on the OccupySupply program. So far the FDL Membership Program has raised $83,583.88 and spent $42,833.96 on supplies, and we are proud to report that union made hats, scarves and socks are now on their way to 40 Occupations across the country.

Dr. Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, two of the principle organizers of the October2011 protest in Washington DC, discussed their plans for the upcoming occupation of Freedom Plaza with FDL members at our recent webinar. The demonstration will start on Thursday October 6, and continue until they believe the government responds in a meaningful way — “symbolic gestures” are not enough.

Kevin Gostzola has been tirelessly liveblogging the Occupy Wall Street protests each day since they began on September 17, and we want to bring him to DC on October 6 when the Occupy Wall Street protesters make their way to DC to join the October 2011 protest in Freedom Plaza.

It’s almost the end of the FDL membership drive. I know you’ve put off actually signing up. Yeah, I’ve been there. So now, when the fight to protect civil liberties, to tell the truth about war and torture and corporate attacks on the poor, working, and middle classes, only comes down to pennies a day, why put it off any longer? Becoming a member of FDL carries some nice benefits, sure. But it also is a statement, an intervention in and of itself, joining a community that cares, and is not afraid to put itself out there for what is right.

Become a member of Firedoglake now.

I’ve been blogging at FDL’s The Dissenter for just over a month now. Covering issues ranging from government secrecy, the right to dissent, torture, location tracking and drones, it has been a pleasure to be able to write and publish to a website that takes civil liberties and digital freedom seriously. It has been a privilege to write and publish to a site that allows encourages writing that focuses on what it is at stake if certain liberties and freedoms are lost and doesn’t simply ask for coverage to go through some filter that requires attention to so-called national security interests or giving power benefit of the doubt.

Become a member of Firedoglake now.

Yesterday Ryan and I were making (and taking) calls on the livestream. I was calling FDL members to thank them for signing up, and also following up on requests that many had made to get more involved as volunteers. We tried to clone the fabulous Brian, but that didn’t work (though we did wind up with some rather singular sheep). So I’m calling people today who indicated they have graphics skills to see if we can get Brian some help doing graphics and layouts for our campaigns.

If you’d like to volunteer but can’t afford a membership, we have some really generous members who have offered to donate scholarships. So if you’re interested, give Ryan a call at (202) 506-3917.

This Sunday the FDL Membership Group will be holding a DIY 2012 virtual town hall with Daniel Ellsberg of the Pentagon Papers fame, and Josh Koster of the digital media firm Chong and Koster.

Josh is an online advertising expert with extensive experience in “nanotargeting” online ads for political campaigns. I’ve worked with Josh before and he’s brilliant. Even in the political world, most people still aren’t aware of the way in which Facebook and Google ads can be inexpensively deployed to target specific audiences, and the impact you can have on an issue or a race with very little money when you reach the right audience with the right message. Josh recently wrote about nanotargeting for Campaigns and Elections magazine, and he will be giving a presentation to FDL members and answering their questions this Sunday starting at 3pm ET.

Following Josh’s presentation, Daniel Ellsberg will be talking about potential third party strategies. How do you run a third party race in a two-party dominated system? How can a third party avoid playing the role of spoiler and putting somebody even worse in office? I generally don’t hold much hope for 3rd party viability without systemic change, but I actually think Dan has come up with a very interesting long-term plan that is worthy of community discussion.

This is an extremely important moment not only in the fight to preserve the social safety net, but for the future of the country. Nancy and Eric are both critical figures in this fight, and have bravely led it in the face of incredible opposition, at tremendous personal sacrifice. I cannot say enough good things about them, their courage and their moral integrity.

If you’re an FDL member, you should have received an email invitation to the webinar. If you didn’t, contact Ryan Cook at (202) 506-3907 and he will make sure you get one.

If you’re not a member and would like to become one, you can join here for as little as $45/year and we’ll send you an invitation.