Welcome to the Unruly Mob and the launching of our Million Can March! This all started with a vague notion that we should do something more than just have a good laugh at the next round of tea parties scheduled for July 4th. I thought that if teabaggers are so afraid of socialism, maybe we could show 'em socialism on a national scale. And what is more socialistic than sharing our food with others. Food banks across the nation are struggling with shortages as increasing demands meet head on with decreasing donations. But bloggers also reach across the nation - and the world - and we could make a real difference for our neighbors and make this a memorable 4th of July.
THE CHALLENGE: To collect one million cans of food for our nation's food banks, food pantries and shelters by July 4, 2009.
WHO: Progressive bloggers with a special invite to conservative bloggers.
HOW: Act locally. Here are some examples:
• Take a bag of food to a local pantry • Organize a food drive where you work or play, your church or motorcycle club, etc. • Organize some friendly competition amongst a group of blogs • Challenge your Facebook & Myspace friends and your twitter followers • There's no one right way to get involved. Look around you, see the need and do something about it.
They have more information on what you can do over there. I have lots of experience with can drives from doing this for Cubs Scouts with my son. Also, our family regularly donates to our local food bank so I already have a good idea of what they need. The best way to be sure is to call your local food bank and ask them what they need at this time. Often, they have a list of their shortages already.
Please consider joining in on this effort. I have always loved the motto: "Give what you can and take what you need." Right now, there are a lot of families that are in need.
Even if he does try to clumsily word his polls to drive answers towards the one he wants — we're smart enough to see through that and boldly click where we want. Let's surprise Congressman Duncan Hunter with the vigor of our response.
After the killing of a nine year old girl gets linked to one of the Minutmen groups' leaders the others are scrambling to distance themselves from Shawna Forde's M.A.D.. But their past words betray them. They are all linked and they are all lunatics and deserve to be scorned for their radical movement that has endangered the security of this nation. And, surely, they all need to be investigated thoroughly to discover the extent of their movements radical and violent actions. Via ctblogger at MLN:
a group known for patrolling the border, and is dedicated to "Defending America's Borders" was arrested for home invasion and the double homicide of a 29 year old male and 9 year old girl.
An act of unspeakable violence from a leader of a xenophobic group? Why am I not surprised?
Three people have been arrested in connection with last months deadly double homicide in Arivaca that left a nine-year-old and her father dead. One of the people arrested for the homicide is the National Executive Director of the Minuteman American Defense group (M.A.D.), a group known for patrolling the border, and is dedicated to "Defending America's Borders" according to their website - http://minutemenamericandefens...
Jason Eugene Bush, 38, Shawna Forde, 42 and Albert Robert Gaxiola, 43, were all taken into custody and charged in connection with the murders of 29-year-old Raul Flores and 8-year-old Brisenia Flores. Both were killed during an alleged home invasion. According to authorities, Bush, Forde, and Gaxiola broke into the home of the Flores family just after midnight on May 30th. At the time, the mother, father and daughter were home. The invaders reportedly shot the three members of the Flores family, killing the father, Raul, and the daughter, Brisenia. The invaders then left the scene.
The mother survived the shooting, called police, and found a gun. Sheriff Dupnik says the three returned moments later to make sure everyone was dead. At that point, the mother shot and injured Bush, and the three fled the scene.
The trio has been charged with two counts of First Degree Murder, one count of First Degree Burglary, and one count of Aggravated Assault.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik says, "Jason Bush was in fact the shooter of all three of these people under orders from Ms. Forde."
[...]
Sheriff Dupnik adds, "To just kill a 9-year old girl because she could be a potential witness, to me, is one of the most despicable acts I have ever heard of."
[...]
"If you look at her history closely, and you know what we know, she is at best a pyschopath," says Sheriff Dupnik referring to Forde during a press conference Friday.
The group's Web site, which does not appear to bear any mention of Jason Bush, places the group as actively involved in the "tea parties" which swept right-wing media around tax day.
Hmm, an anti-immigrant xenophobic, described by police as a pyschopath, was involved in a despicable act of violence AND is a leader of a anti-immigrant group that's actively involved in tea-parties?
Hmm, let me think...didn't an anti-immigrant/hate gorup just hold a "teabagging" party in Danbury this weekend. Well, yeah BUT "those folks" would NEVER EVER advocate any form of violence around here...I mean Elise Marciano, her deranged ilk/supporters are such peace-loving people and all...
Even up north in Connecticut they are a radical group and, as ctblogger notes, they are the same radicals that support the Teabaggers movement.The backbone of what is left of GOP support. But the bigger problem with these crazies is the fact that as they practice their right wing ideology of hate and preach to direct it at undocumented workers, it spills over easily into a general hatred of all minorities in the USA:
A new Southern Poverty Law Center report finds that low-income Latino immigrants in the South are routinely the targets of wage theft, racial profiling and other abuses driven by an anti-immigrant climate that harms all Latinos regardless of their immigration status.
When Newt Gingrich's knee jerk reaction is to call a Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sotomayor, a racist or the right wing in general attacks her nomination to the Supreme Court, understand that this a spillover effect from an an ingrained hatred of all things latin that started with a more focused hate of what they like to call "illegal immigrants". And as other insane Minutemen groups scramble to distance themselves from M.A.D. because of Forde's cold blooded killing of a 9 year old girl remember these words, via stef in comments, not long before the murders:
I talked to Shawna Forde yesterday about the story written by journalist Scott North of the Everett Herald and she opined that the newspaper story was reasonably fair and balanced and covered most aspects of her life since she was born.
Forde and I both think the newspaper did exactly what it is supposed to do: report facts based on investigation and interrogatories. The story is neither a “hit piece” against Forde, nor a supportive propaganda piece. Simply, it is newspaper reporting at its best and within the professional canons of journalism.
Despite Shawna Forde’s checkered past, here is a woman who really has been a “victim” throughout her life, perhaps willingly, perhaps unwillingly. To have come through the trials and uncertainties of adolescence and young adulthood with odds stacked against you, and to have overcome those odds, is a statement of her willingness to ultimately do the right thing.
Few of us do not have a skeleton in our closet, especially some of Forde’s harshist critics. The harsh critics have managed to hide those skeletons, unlike Forde, who is willing to face up to her mistakes as an imperfect mortal and then to face down demons from her past.
In my experience with Ms. Forde I conclude that she is no whiner. She is a stoic struggler who has chosen to put country, community, and a yearning for a civilized society ahead of avarice and self-glorifying ego.
The Minuteman Project is proud to be a supporter of Shawna Forde’s Minutemen(women) American Defense (M.A.D.)
Jim Gilchrist, Founder and President, The Minuteman Project, Inc.
You pwned yourself, Gilchrist. You cannot hide from your support of M.A.D.'s lunacy and violence, feigning that "they are not us." Clearly, there can be no delineating between one Minutemen group and another, regardless of infighting over control of each group.
My old friend Scott North, who has been around the block with reporting on the activities of the far right in Snohomish County -- where Forde is from -- reports this morning that Forde may have been involved in another violent home invasion in California already:
On Saturday, Arizona detectives were pursuing tips that members of Forde's group may have staged a home invasion robbery in Shasta Lake, Calif., on Monday.
The victims, friends of Forde's mother, reported being robbed at gunpoint of nearly $12,000 by two men who showed up at the door and presented badges claiming they were U.S. Marshals.
Truck driver Peter Myers, 48, said he recognized one of men who robbed him after he saw news reports about Forde's arrest and photographs of her co-defendants.
He said the man who directed the robbery in his home was Jason Eugene Bush, 34. The ex-convict from Eastern Washington is a Forde associate now accused of being the gunman in the Arivaca killings.
"That is the guy. He pointed a gun right at us," Myers said.
***
Arizona officials have said Bush is recovering from a gunshot wound received during the home invasion there. Myers said that description fits the tall man who bound him with zip ties and then took cash from the family's lock box.
"He was moving real slow," Meyers said.
Forde's mother, Rena Caudle, said her daughter recently visited the area. After Friday's arrest, Caudle said she made certain that Arizona officials knew about the suspected link to the California robbery.
This may just be the tip of the iceberg with this gang. Already Jim Gilchrist, the Minuteman leader with whom Forde has had a long association, is making the signs of the cross in her general direction and declaring he had nothing to do with her:
Jim Gilchrist, president of the California-based Minuteman Project and a longtime Forde ally, made it clear Saturday that his earlier support of Forde should in no way be construed as approving the actions now attributed to her.
"Am I going to come to her support at this time? Of course not. How can I?" Gilchrist said.
Forde ran her own organization, Gilchrist said.
"Unfortunately, some people in this Minutemen movement have used this movement to carry out sinister agendas," he said.
We'll see. Investigators may not be done making arrests yet.
Indeed, it's starting to look as though Forde may have been organizing basically a low-rent version of The Order: an ideological army turned into criminal moneymaking operation. Only this time, anti-immigrant nativism instead of white supremacy is the ideological driver. And when The Order crumbled in flames, it exposed all kinds of criminal dealings on the far right.
Senator Dodd asks: Is your health care working? What changes would you like to see? Add your ideas at YouTube's Senate Hub at http://youtube.com/senatehub
Democratic Senators are writing a major health reform bill. Rising costs are hitting families and businesses and now 46 million Americans live without health coverage. We need reform. Respond now with your ideas as the Senate writes health care legislation. You can help.
This is just a comment I dumped into a great diary yesterday at dKos, by Karen Wehrstein, setting the record straight on Canadian healthcare, that grew into what really really is near diary proportions.I tweaked it a bit and and brought it here:
I lived in Canada for about 28 years.
I can't begin to list how much better everything is in Canada compared to the health care disaster we all suffer from south of the border. Cradle to grave, there is never any question about whether they will do everything they can to treat you in a reasonable amount of time.
I could walk in to my primary care physician any time he was open. If it was his golf day or something like his vacation time? I would go a couple of blocks down the street to another doctor. I chose those doctors based on my level of comfort with them.
My primary would even do house calls (probably still does?) if you or your kid were too sick to make it in.
If you had something so severe as to need more than what your typical primary could provide? Walk into the emergency room (or take the ambulance - they don't ask if you have insurance first because that would be inhumane). It is my understanding that they now have CLSCs in Quebec to cover the less severe emergencies like breaks, sprains, stitches, etc., that might just need the basics or to use when your primary caregivers office might be closed. This alleviates pressure on emergency rooms at hospitals so they can concentrate more on the serious emergencies.
My father was diagnosed with cancer not too long ago and given about six months to live.
He was treated by the best medical staff he could find for his specific problems. He also had a good backup for second opinions. He chose them based on how he wanted and needed to be treated based on consultations with many caregivers. He lived 3 more years after that original dead end diagnosis and died in his 70s.
No healthcare or treatment is perfect but had he lived in the USA he very likely would have been uninsured because of previously existing health conditions. In the USA he wouldn't have even had that "six months" diagnosis.
And never, not even once, did he have to make any healthcare decisions based on whether or not he could afford the treatment. He decided (as do all Canadians) in conjunction with and on the advice of his doctors. There was no insurance company in between them to turn him down.
The American system is as cruel to the poor and those that really need the medical help as it is profitable to the insurance companies.
Those are just some of the things I can say about the Canadian system.
Americans, in surveys, appear to be "more satisfied" with their healthcare providers than Canadians do. Maybe you don't understand this, being that you have had a crappy healthcare system all of your life...
That is because Canadians expect a lot more from their healthcare system than Americans do.
Never mind that the polls I have seen always point to satisfaction with providers BUT rarely address the cost and the mode of payment directly. Why? Because the few times we hear the voice of the people on this, for the most part, they say they hate their medical insurance companies.
My primary doctor in the US is great. He supports Single Payer. Most of the hospital people I have dealt with are great at their jobs, too. I always ask them and they support single payer by a large margin. My children have a great pediatrician and, yes, he supports single payer as well. Nothing to complain about the actual service providers. That side is pretty much equal to the Canadian providers. Some are better and some are worse, but competent and caring nonetheless. They want to give you the best service possible. And, for the most part, the majority of those providers want to give you single payer.
I am among the few that has half decent insurance. For how long, who knows? In this economy corporations are stripping workers of higher quality insurance for less costly junk plans. Our family's plan was changed to add higher co-pays and more restrictions on usage AGAIN, this year. And that is if these cash strapped corporations and small businesses aren't laying people off people all together so they have no insurance at all. If our family lost our source of health insurance we know that our budget would eliminate any possibility of keeping coverage regardless of government's provision of the costly Cobra plans. On unemployment, we would struggling to keep a roof over our heads and the kids fed. Regardless of that, I expect more from my healthcare AND I expect it to cost a hell of a lot less. But that is because I have seen and lived with a better healthcare system than the one we have here.
"Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, is organizing healthcare reform house parties to support President Obama's health reform plan on June 6th.
It's likely the Obama administration is using these parties as cheer leading sessions for their plan. So we're asking that you--single-payer supporters--attend or host a party near you. You can find parties, or set up one, at www.barackobama.com.
According to Organizing for America, "This moment is so critical that President Obama will join registered hosts and attendees on a live conference call next week."
This is a perfect opportunity to meet others interested in healthcare reform, but are not yet part of the movement for single-payer healthcare. There's also the possibility that you'll be selected to participate in a conference call with the President.
A great list of resources as tips for organizing a party can be found in our House Party Packet. This was intended for showing a film, but can be used for this purpose as well.
This is the best way to move President Obama in the correct direction. Participate directly in and take control of the movement to ensure that there is real change.
The argument is this: after the employer exclusion is repealed, employers will convert the money they spend on your health care benefits into higher wages and you’ll be able to use that increase and the ($2,290 per individual or $5,710 per family) refundable tax credit to purchase health care coverage in the new State Health Insurance Exchanges or the existing individual market.
Since everyone would have “universal access” to coverage, greater government involvement in health care would be counterproductive. Government rots the system, and Americans know this, they argue:
In solving our health care crisis, Americans already know that government will not work…Patients should be able to choose from a variety of private insurance plans. The Federal government would run a health care system — or a public plan option — with the compassion of the IRS, the efficiency of the post office, and the incompetence of Katrina.
Therefore, greater government involvement must not only be avoided, but existing government involvement should be phased out. Low-income families with dependent children should shift out of Medicaid and into “higher quality private plans through direct assistance that will be coupled with a tax credit.” Medicare Advantage — the program that contracts with private insurers — should be “reformed” and possibly expanded.
But today, the Commonwealth Fund released a new survey indicating that “elderly Medicare beneficiaries reported greater overall satisfaction with their health coverage, better access to care, and fewer problems paying medical bills than people covered by employer-sponsored plans.” “The findings bolster the argument that offering a public insurance plan similar to Medicare to the under-65 population has the potential to improve access and reduce costs,” the organization concluded:
- Medicare beneficiaries report easier access to physicians. Ten percent of Medicare beneficiaries’ physicians did not accept their insurance, compared with 17 percent of respondents with employer-sponsored plans.
- Medicare beneficiaries are less likely to report not getting needed services. Twelve percent of elderly Medicare beneficiaries reported going without care, such as prescribed medications or recommended tests, because of cost restraints. Of individuals with employer-based plans, 26 percent reported experiencing these cost/access issues.
- Medicare beneficiaries are sicker and poorer but report fewer medical bill problems.
Medicare beneficiaries were less likely to report a medical bill problem than those covered by employer plans.
Within our hybrid public-private system of coverage, public plans compliment private insurers — providing services to vulnerable populations more efficiently. Today, talk of “government-takeover” conjures up images of health care rationing in Great Britain or Canada. If, however, Democrats are able to shift the frame of reference to an expansion and improvement of Medicare, then they may very well win this debate.
The overcomplicated answers republicans try to offer are simply a distraction from the really easy, inexpensive solutions that Americans want. It would be too easy and make too much sense to simply open up Medicare to anyone that wanted it. An even more common sense solution would be a single payer solution.
You know? The government pays the bill for healthcare, nothing more and nothing less from Uncle Sam, and everything else is between you and your doctor.
No insurance companies to mess it up by denying you care, or offering so many different levels of care from the poor man's death plan to the elites Cadillac plan (generally reserved for politicians), or making a 30% cut from your paycheck to buy a new yacht for their CEOs - the very people that caused this healthcare disaster.
Just you, your doctor, making medical decisions... And a medical bill that you (and any company you work for) never have to see again for the rest of your life.
Some basic and indisputable facts in this debate:
The majority of Americans want a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of Americans are willing to pay more taxes for a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of doctors want a single payer healthcare system.
Special interests and lobbyists are the only ones that are trying to force insurance companies into the middle of the Doctor patient relationship. And politicians are obliging them like their special-interest-life-after-politics-retirement-funds depended on it.
Join us in making Medicare For All a reality. Sign up to receive important information and alerts. Help spread the word about Medicare For All -- full health care access with free choice of doctor, no deductibles, no pr...
Join us in a 'CyberMarch' on Washington on May 30, 2009. We want Medicare for All -- health care for every American! Sign Up today and choose your avatar who will go to Washington for you on May 30. Your avatar will j...
Scientists have unveiled a 47-million-year-old fossilised skeleton of a monkey hailed as the missing link in human evolution.
The search for a direct connection between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom has taken 200 years - but it was presented to the world today at a special news conference in New York.
The discovery of the 95%-complete 'lemur monkey' - dubbed Ida - is described by experts as the "eighth wonder of the world".
I want to see what some of the many science Bloggers out there have to say about this because I am pretty sure this only plugs one hole in the links.
When Laelaps says, "I have the feeling that this fossil, while spectacular, is being oversold," I think he's being spectacularly understated.Wilkins also knocks down the whole "missing link" label. The hype is bad news, not because Ida is unimportant, but because it detracts from the larger body of the fossil record — I doubt that the media will be able to muster as much excitement from whatever new fossil gets published in Nature or Science next week, no matter how significant it may be.
A “town hall discussion” on health care reform held at Griffin Hospital Saturday became contentious when advocates of a single-payer health insurance system shouted at U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd to put the plan back “on the table.”
A group of Yale School of Medicine students also challenged Dodd and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, on the issue, but they didn’t repeatedly shout their questions without being called upon. And so, unlike the earlier advocates, they were not taken out of the building by security guards.
At least 200 people jammed the hospital cafeteria for the session, which gave the public a chance to ask questions of not just Dodd and DeLauro, but also Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform.
Some basic and indisputable facts in this debate:
The majority of Americans want a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of Americans are willing to pay more taxes for a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of doctors want a single payer healthcare system.
Special interests and lobbyists are the only ones that are trying to force insurance companies into the middle of the Doctor patient relationship. And politicians are obliging them like their special-interest-life-after-politics-retirement-funds depended on it.
Yeah... We get it. For your viewing pleasure, a series of YouTubes from the event and of others that get it:
singlepayeraction.org 5/16/09 A group of doctors, lawyers, Yale medical students, and universal health care activists called on Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), and Obama health care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle to put single payer health insurance back on the policy table.
ctblogger interviews "Juan Figueroa (President, Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut) and talked to him about the importance of HB 6600." Figueroa is pushing for a universal healthcare solution on the Connecticut state level.
Below is a list of the Top 12 contributors to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign that took away marriage equality in California. Click on the names for more information.
The bill also would increase the borrowing authority for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to $100 billion from $30 billion, a move that will save banks billions of dollars by reducing the extra premiums that they would have had to pay to shore up the deposit insurance fund.
The new Senate bill does not include additional money to aid mortgage borrowers, but it does draw $2.3 billion from the Treasury’s $700 billion financial bailout fund for various provisions.
This is a joke:
Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the banking committee, said at a news conference after the vote. “The bill does other things, but certainly, a major target is to deal with peoples’ housing issues and try to stem the tide.”
Another $70,000,000,000.00 giveaway to the banks and measly 2.3 Billion dollars taken from the already pissed away 700 billion is about helping homeowners? And no cramdown either.
Note to the NY Times and Sen. Chris Dodd: A fine fuck you to you two, too!
The little pieces of nothings that I have done pale in comparison to some of the greats out there. The amount of time that I have to put into doing just a crappy photoshop amazes me and has given me an even greater appreciation for what some these artists do. Some of the Bloggers that I read regularly (near daily, If I have the time) are darned good at snark, humor and playing with internet scissors.
I have 4 kids but I am going to introduce you to my youngest daughter (Connecticut Kid3 - she is 5) in a video I took a few months ago... I figured that since dickday has sound, well, now he can enjoy video:
I think she may turn out to be just like Daddy...
And I hope that this was meaningless enough of a post to satisfy my debt to dickday...
What an example of skewed priorities. Mayor Bloomberg raised two taxes to ensure there will be 500 new cops on the streets of New York this year. There are 5.3 police officers for every 1,000 New Yorkers but there is only one World of Darkness and many of the inhabitants are endangered species. Thanks to Bloomberg's thirty-three percent cut in city funding to the zoo, children will no longer learn that "when the sun goes down most of the world's animals wake up."
...snip...
Why does the zoo deserve special treatment in these harsh times? In a city that claims there is no money left for adequate mass transportation or even food stamps for that matter asking for special consideration for a living museum may seem unreasonable but the zoo preforms a far more important service than the storage of a few animals. They are devoted to educating generations that will understand why we should make our responsibility to endangered species a priority and work to protect wildlife.
A big reason New York is the number one city on the planet is its cultural institutions. Those institutions, including the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium, provide:
a top visitor destination
education for millions of children
employment for New Yorkers, and
vital support for the New York City economy
You were the difference in helping our institutions get their State funding restored-but we still need your help with City funding! This is a critical time to make your voice heard during the budget process.
Just note what Sanders says near the end about the fact that it is Democratic party members that want to make it a 60 vote healthcare debate virtually guaranteeing to keep the most conservative Democratic party members in conjunction with the near extinct gopasaurs in the right wing in the drivers seat on the healthcare debate. Via PNHP:
Our last weekend was a great success. We shut down fax machines in the offices of Sen. Baucus, Rep. Pelosi (Washington and DC offices) and the White House. We sent over 7000 faxes in those three days.
it's time to do this again, because single payer is still being ignored at this critical time. The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Baucus, is holding 'roundtable hearings' in the next week to hear about health reform. Guess what. Not only is there no single payer advocate invited to testify -- there has not even been an invitation to a doctor!!! Donna Smith tells me that the only medical person testifying is a nurse from AARP; we know what she is shilling for -- more overpriced insurance policies AARP can sell to rip off seniors with. Unbelievable!!
So let's give them a pile of faxes to count.Send yours today. It's Free. It's Easy. That makes it Free and Easy. Just put your name, your email, where you are from and any comment you like, then hit the SEND YOUR FAX NOW button. If you like, you can send one to each of the Senators on the list. Have fun and let's see how many fax machines crash this weekend.
Just a reminder, from the archives, concerning what a big part of Blogging is all about. Also, it is a reminder that every day is Blogroll Amnesty Day:
"Speaking of Jon Swift, the start of 2008 seems like a good time to have another Blogroll Amnesty Day. If you're not on my blogroll, and I'm on yours, leave me a link below and I'll add you (note: racists, creationists, and flat-out weirdos won't be accepted). Instructions below the fold.
Please put your blog name on one line, and the url on the second line, like so:
Mike the Mad Biologist http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/
Same goes for this Blog. If I am on your Blogroll and you notice that you are not on mine, tell me! I will fix it. Heck... Add me to yours and I will add you to mine. Just drop a note in comments here.
For me, it doesn't matter whether you are covering local Connecticut stuff, national politics, and or pretty much anything else. And if you click around you should be able to get a link from Mike, John Swift and skippy as well as from here! Four Blogroll links just for being astute enough to add 4 links from your Blogroll... Does it get any better or easier than that? [ed. note: Of course, for the cost of a few comments once in awhile you might be more likely to get links?]
"and who are we to limit political discourse diversity? what's going on here? it's as if the major blogs are trying to emulate the democrats in washington who suddenly forget about their constituents.
(ok, it's not. our metaphors suck tonight. but we're pissed. so cut us some slack.)
ergo, we here at skippy are planning to retaliate by offering real blog amnesty. and here's how it goes:
many smaller blogs link to skippy for one or more of a few reasons: out of politeness, out of a hope that we might notice them and link back, or simply out of the imitation of what it takes to make a good blog. it's the second reason that interests us (we really should have put it as the last reason to be more clear with sentence structure (on the other hand, using less parenthetical phrases in a paragraph would go a long way towards grammatical clarity (too late now))).
to wit: any blog that has linked to skippy and has not received a reciprocal blogroll link will now be included on our roll! all you have to do is notify us in our comments section or email us, and we will happily include you! that will show those big shot elitists too good for the little guy blogs! ha!"
At a time when the bigger Blogs need to be doing more to help build the left community some are, and some aren't. I find it ironic that I posted just last week on Chris Bowers argument that we need to link more effectively:
If everyone on the left works a little harder on this we can turn the tides on on the Google Wars and win. We have already made a lot of inroads since this 2004 picture:
The graphs represent the aggregate linkage going on leading up to the 2004 election. Reds (them) are the Republican bloggers, and Blues (us) are the Democratic bloggers. The full expanation of the graphs particulars are on page 9 of the PDF paper. Basically, the first graph connects dots (blogs) when there is strong linkage between them (+25 during the period), the second one where there is less stronger linkage (+5), and they've a 3rd map that includes all linkage that I've not included.
Between blogs then (not taking into consideration that diaries on #8DailyKos and #17MyDD serve to allow massive coordiantion and spreading of message), there's just a lot more coordination through linking among Republican than there has been with Democratic bloggers, at least on the surface of particular URL's. The other interesting thing I noted was that the blog by George Bush's campaign didn't even make the top 40-- now that's pitiful.
We were less coordinated in '04. But in '06 we did little things a little better. I am sure the more recent graphs would look a lot better. But you know that we can still keep on improving on this.
Remember that every time you link to any site you are, over time, creating a kind of GOOGLEBOMB effect on that site when it comes to site rankings, search results, etc.. Tagging and choice of words that are used to link are important in these cumulitive effects as well.
"We innovate more than you, we hired people to help us, and because we did that there is no place for you lone bloggers anymore -- because WE decide who makes it and who doesn't."
Oh, you really have to read this self-congratulatory drivel to believe it. It's truly amazing to see one blogger fellating the entire Big Name Blogosphere in one post, while at the same time consigning the rest of us to the ranks of the MySpacers.
Kool Kidz Klub indeed.
It's funny how Bowers uses a quote by Jeffrey Feldman to illustrate his point, because as I've mentioned before, I had a very nice conversation about blogging just last week with Mr. Feldman, who seems to be in no way a blog snob. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is at least one Big Name Blogger who isn't puffed up with his own self-importance.
But with Kos and Atrios making a big show about "culling the blogroll", and Chris Bowers playing "Mine's Bigger" with the rest of the blogosphere, is this really what it's come to? Is this the Revenge of the Nerds come to fruition? Is this the guys who DIDN'T get laid on prom night finally staking their claim to coolness?
If so, are we going to sit by and take it? Are we going to just toil away while guys like Atrios and Kos and Chris Bowers define the rules and brand the rest of us as useless?
I adopted this policy in a spirit of both self-interest and altruism. In the blogosphere links are like capital. By offering links to others, others would be more inclined to offer links to me. But I am also very grateful to those who helped me out by throwing a link my way or adding me to their blogroll when I was just starting out. Now that I am a Large Mammal, according the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem, I have tried to return the favor by helping out those further down the food chain.
Links are capital! It is the foundation of bringing views from fellow bloggers out of obscurity and into the top of search engine results. And just how much does it cost any blogger to spend some of this valuable capital?
ZIP. Zilch. Zero dollars.
Not even one penny to use the most effective marketing tool that Blogtopia has to offer.
All you have to do is put a few seconds into the act of cut'n'paste into your Blogroll or into a post... And you make a huge difference for everyone in our fight.
We should all work together to fight the good progressive fight and not be so critical in terms of other people's sites. I read CTBlue, Ed's Daily Rant, CT Local Politics, and the watch sites everyday and I learn something new from all of those guys which I incorporate into my site and that's the way it should be. Learn something from me and I learn something from you.
2006 is going to be a HUGE election year and Connecticut will be ground zero in terms of who controls Congress (2nd, 4th 5th district races). The faster we can all work to get this site up to full-speed, the more national attention it will receive.
He also called me out for not having links to his sites... Which I quickly fixed. lol
2006 is behind us but there are still a lot of common causes that we all share, and we can all help each other in achieving our goals. Linking is the first, easiest AND cheapest way to start.
For more background on all of this: Boston Joe has a Meta diary up x-posted at BooTrib and at MLW covering a bit more of this Meta discussion in a thoughtful way. Both have generated a lot of comments. I usually hate Meta... But this topic is the foundation of what Blogging is all about.
We can do better than we have been doing. And if we keep building on what we already have our numbers (and the fact that we deal in reality) will easily overcome the right wing echo chamber's lies and propaganda.
Start the new year off kicking Blogtopia (y!sctp) up a notch! BAM!
[update] Many Bloggers chose to participate in Blogroll Amnesty Day, but did it work?
Rotus correctly deduced that Technorati and the like don’t recognize blogrolls when they calculate how many times your blog has been linked to. They do count if the links are in a post so, like Rotus, I’m going to make a post of our blogroll so everyone can get a Technorati hit. It is alphabetical and leaves out the retailers.
As always, we have an open blogroll policy so if you want on, drop us a line in the comments. Blogroll after the jump:
this year our partner in this endeavor, jon swift, will join us in celebrating this blogtopian-wide holiday all next weekend beginning on saturday.
update: we will officially start on saturday, jan. 31. the original blogroll amnesty day is february 3, but we're calling for a four-day weekend! huzzah!
and may we stop all the stupid jokes right here, right now: yes, there are blogs smaller than yours, no matter who you are.
mas update: ok, so we can't even stop the jokes before they start. ergo, we will ammend the parameters: if you really don't believe there are blogs smaller than yours, then in lieu of making the stupid joke that there aren't any, ha ha, please link to five blogs with traffic equivalent to yours (or in the same ball park). as long as they represent new voices (new to your readers, at least), you will have satisfied the requirement. just please don't do the stupid joke!!
The moral of the story? Link up, link sideways, link down... And never trust a guy like me anywhere near your knickers...
blogrollamnestydaysmall.jpg. My good friends Skippy and Jon Swift are calling on bloggers to join in and celebrate Blogroll Amnesty day this weekend: today marks the three-day weekendcelebration blog-burst of bad, or blogroll amnesty ...
Brewed by Pamela Leaveyat February 02, 2008 3:40 PM
blogroll_amnesty_day_cake.jpg. About the only thing besides a martini-soaked foot massage from Bjorn the Houseboy that can get me out of bed when I’m not feeling well is a modest request from the very modest Mr. ...
Brewed by Myrna the Minxat February 02, 2008 1:52 AM
the number of blogs celebrating the diversity of the smaller sites is growing! our favorite crankpot, maru, over at wtf is it now???; liquid daddy at zippidy doo da; chuck at chuck for...; david at the art of peace; ...
From the day I started this modest blog I have tried to follow one simple rule, the Golden Rule of Blogging: Blog unto others as you would have them blog unto you. I don't call people nasty names because I don't like being called nasty ...
stephen herron at drinking liberally in new milford reminds us that february 3 is the first anniversary of blogroll amnesty day, which was once one of the darkest days in the blogosphere, but has now been turned into a celebration of ...
this blogging alert brought to you by: Swiffer Reactions 8 Plastered Amnesty Mad on the Mike Biologyst frum Ze Swiffer: "have reminded me that this February 3 is the first anniversary of one of the darkest days in the blogosphere, ...
drinking liberally in new milford and mike the mad biologist have reminded me that this february 3 is the first anniversary of one of the darkest days in the blogosphere, blogroll amnesty day, the day that atrios of eschaton intitiated ...
skippy reminds us that Jon Swift reminds us that Drinking Liberally in New Milford reminds us that Mike the Mad Biologist reminds us that the first anniversary of the terrible blogroll amnesty day blogroll bloodbath will be upon us ...
Brewed by The Barefoot Bumat January 09, 2008 7:50 AM
The sudden move, coming as the veteran lawmaker already faces a fierce 2010 primary challenge from the right in the Keystone State, all but gives Democrats and Obama a roadblock-free Senate, putting them on the cusp of a 60-vote majority.
"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," Specter announced on his campaign Web site.
I really thought he would become an independent...
From Twitter, Erick Erickson of Red State - which is truly the base of the GOP these days - had this to say about Arlen Specter’s move to the Democratic Party:
Guess now that Larry Craig is gone & Specter realized there was no teabagging at the #teaparty, he had to go Dem for Frank to fondle him.
Today’s conservatives - if someone upsets you, call them gay.
Truly dealing from the bottom of the deck on a sinking ship of fools...
The hypocrites of homosexuality are, of course, already preparing to answer these statements by accusing me of homophobia, gay-bashing, bigotry, intolerance; but nothing that I have said here -- and nothing that has been said by any of the prophets or any of the Church leaders who have dealt with this issue -- can be construed as advocating, encouraging, or even allowing harsh personal treatment of individuals who are unable to resist the temptation to have sexual relations with persons of the same sex.
Not Card - He isn't homophobic... And he isn't advocating harsh treatment of them. Is he?
After blabbering on about how homosexuals must admit that they are sinning according to the rules of Card's personal lifestyle choice, his own personal religious views that he is trying to force on everyone else, he later goes on to discuss appropriate punishment for homosexuals:
This applies also to the polity, the citizens at large. Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.
And he has the gall to title the piece "The Hypocrites of Homosexuality"... You see, this has and always been about equality. The loonies at FIC, NOM and other anti-marriage equality groups are truly radical wingnuts that advocate Christianist hate and for treating others as second class citizens.
The latest face they have added to their stable of hate at NOM proves that it is all about equality.
But these days they know that they have to hide that fact because their real views are about as radical and un-American as it gets.
When we're tempted to dismiss the anti-marriage equality crowd as a bunch of passe cranks who are losing their battle against civil rights and who will soon disappear to lick their wounds, we need to remind ourselves that their organizations harbor a lot of seriously deranged people. Family Institute of CT on a local level, and the National Organization for Marriage on the larger stage have the potential to be much more dangerous than they appear at first glance.
People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch has noted that the science fiction writer Orson Scott Card has joined the board of NOM. PFAW shares an interesting quote from Card, which appeared last July during the Prop 8 battle, in the Mormon Times:
How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn. [...] American government cannot fight against marriage and hope to endure. If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die.
NOM has put a man who advocates overthrowing the American government on their Board of Directors. One can only assume that NOM and their followers either agree that the government is their "mortal enemy" and that the Constitution is "insane" or at least have no problem with people advocating that the government of the United States be destroyed and brought down.
But these people at NOM aren't the radicals.
We are. Because. we. preach. real. equality.
And they aren't homophobes preaching violence, either...
"About half the energy we use in America is wasted," says Dean Allen, the company's chief executive.
Half? That is an astonishing amount in a country that consumes as much as the US does.
"When it's free or cheap we tend not to focus on it."
The problem is how to divert the oil supertanker that is the US economy onto a more sustainable footing.
For many years there was not the political will to change. Now though more people here believe energy sustainability is important, either for the good of the environment, or to reduce America's dependence on foreign imports of oil.
Five members of Congress and two Darfur activists had themselves arrested Monday outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington, D.C., to draw attention to the continuing humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Uniformed Secret Service officers put plastic handcuffs on Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), along with Save Darfur Coalition president Jerry Fowler and Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast after the group stepped behind yellow police tape in front of the embassy.
Before being taken into custody, each of the arrestees addressed a small crowd of reporters and other activists who had been tipped off about the event. Each speaker called on the Obama administration to do more to stop the conflict in Sudan.
Five members of Congress, including Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) were arrested today when they blocked the front entrance at the Embassy of Sudan in Washington, D.C. Their protest and civil disobedience was designed to embarrass the military dictatorship's ongoing genocide of its non-Arab citizens.
All told, 11 people were arrested outside the Sudanese embassy on Massachusetts Avenue, including six activists as well as representatives Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston), Jim McGovern (D-Worcester, Mass.), Jim Moran (D-Virginia) and John Olver (D-Massachusetts). They were held in a jail cell for about 45 minutes and then released.
"If you're looking for lack of international morality, Darfur encompasses all aspects," Lantos said before his arrest. "Here we see the slaughter of innocent black women, children and men by a monstrous regime."
The eleven people were arrested and hauled down to a D.C. police station to be charged with "disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor."
[UPDATE] as Tengrain noted, the article I originally posted was the wrong one...
Since there are so many over qualified candidates for this job in the Nutmeg state and so few good jobs available anywhere, I thought I would pass along this Think Progress opportunity:
ThinkProgress is hiring a reporter/blogger to join our team at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. We're looking for enthusiastic applicants who slave away at a keyboard have strong research/writing experience, don't sleep have a desire to consume large amounts of news, beat the media at their own game have a passion for researching and reporting online, and don't mind being stalked by Bill O'Reilly's crew. Our new team member will produce content for ThinkProgress and our daily e-newsletter, The Progress Report. This is a full-time salaried position with benefits and requires the candidate to work out of our Washington, DC offices. A full job description can be found here. If you're interested, please email us your resume and a cover letter.
In a MSNBC appearance moments ago, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) gave a strong denial that she in any way intervened in the AIPAC case or sought to make a deal to intervene in return for support for her becoming chair of the intel committee.
--David Kurtz
Trying to turn yourself into a victim of illegal spying is not going to change the fact that you are busted.
Also, AIPAC is not an advocacy group. They are a faux political arm spying on our country and helping American neoconservative traitors in a coordinated effort to spread propaganda for a foreign countries' interests.
The indictment of the two senior AIPAC staffers follows the indictment in may of Feith's footpad Larry Franklin. Franklin worked in the Office of Special Plans, run by then-Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, who reported to then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. The OSP functioned as a "shadow" intelligence service on Iraq, and provided much of the information to the White House that was used to justify the American invasion of Iraq. Some wags have called it "Feith-based intelligence", since much of that intelligence and information has now been proven to be utterly false. At the beginning of May, Franklin was arrested by the FBI for the passing of classified documents to two AIPAC staffers, who were then to pass them to Israel. The documents in question concerned Iran.
One of the two newly-indicted AIPACers isn't just anybody. Steve Rosen, 63, is the man who built AIPAC into the $40 million dollar Capitol Hill powerhouse it is today. Buried in a Washington Post profile of AIPAC from May 19 is the skinny on Rosen as the power behind the scenes at AIPAC. Said the Post:
"For more than two decades, Rosen has been a mainstay of AIPAC and the architect of the group's ever-increasing clout. Though Rosen was listed below Executive Director Howard Kohr on AIPAC's organizational chart, people familiar with AIPAC's history say that Kohr is a protege of Rosen's and got that job with his help. Kohr declined to be interviewed about Rosen. 'He [Rosen] is a quiet guy,' said M.J. Rosenberg, director of policy analysis for the Israel Policy Forum, another pro-Israel group, and a former AIPAC employee. 'But everyone knows he's the brains behind the outfit.'"
Now, just what is AIPAC, you may well ask? AIPAC is the enforcer of the knee-jerk support for the Israeli government which characterizes the political and governing classes in this country, -- Israel is the real third rail of American politics: touch it with criticism, no matter how carefully couched, and you die. Both the Democratic and Republican parties fall all over themselves to kiss AIPAC's boots -- because AIPAC and its well-filled war-chest helps make sure they toe the line on Israel, and has been responsible for the defeat of a significant number of politicians over the years who dared to criticize Israeli policies. Earlier this year, AIPAC played a major role in destroying the candidacy of Tim Roemer for chairman of the DNC. There's an in-depth, critical profile of AIPAC by RightWeb's Michael Flynn that gives an in-depth look at AIPAC's arm-and-leg-breaking political style. And the newly indicted Rosen is The Man Behind the Curtain. Even though he formally resigned from AIPAC, the organization is paying his legal bills, and Rosen is still pulling the strings.
The reason for putting some daylight between Rosen and AIPAC is that the puissant political arm-twister is deathly afraid it will be forced to register as a foreign lobby, as the Jewish weeily The Forward reported earlier this year. Americans don't like the sight of their elected officials pocketing campaign cash from foreign governments, and AIPAC fears being forced to register formally as a lobbyist for Israel would thus diminish their clout on Capitol Hill. Bush won't make AIPAC register, and the spinless Democratic Congressional leadership won't lead the charge to make them do so either. But today's indictments of string-puller Rosen and his AIPAC colleague for spying on the U.S. gives progressives who want to see a peaceful, two-state, land-for-peace solution between Israel and Palestine a strategic opening to press loudly for AIPAC's formal shil registration as a shil for the government that built the Israeli Wall of Shame. It's a measure long past due.
Yesterday, the Blogosphere erupted with Jeff Stein's CQ article suggesting that Jane Harman may have interfered in the prosecution of alleged Israeli spies in exchange for a committee chairmanship in the 2006 congress. The information was based upon leaks from wiretaps, according to the CQ article, of a "suspected Israeli agent". Today the NY Times adds new information that should send a chill down everyone's spine. The wiretapped "suspected Israeli agent" was working closely with California Billionaire, Haim Saban, a Major Democratic Donor. This whole affair is starting to smell rotten....
[update] I think that this Think Progress headline says a lot about the stupidity of Harman's position:
AN SUSTEREN: Even if it's -- first of all, is waterboarding torture?
LIEBERMAN: Well, I take a minority position on this. Most people think it's definitely torture. The truth is, it has mostly a psychological impact on people. It's a terrible thing to do...
Why do I think it was a mistake to give it out? I wasn't necessary. It just helps our enemies. It doesn't really help us.
Again, the president can decide what tactics he wants the CIA or the military to use on people we capture, suspects of terrorism. But to let our enemies know what we are going to do or not do, that's not a good idea.
Bullshit, Joe!
The President of the United States of America is subject to every single law and treaty that every single other American citizen is subject to. If his decisions are not legal within the framework of the law then he should be tried and found guilty of the crimes.
And those of you that participated in engineering these decisions to carry out these crimes of torture and rendition and/or participated in the cover up of these crimes are accomplices and just as guilty as the CIA officers, contractors and soldiers and prison guards that did your dirty deeds.
And it is no longer some BS debate about whether or not it was torture.
It was torture.
There are guilty people in both political parties.
There are guilty people in the military, the CIA and many other government agencies.
There are guilty people on the civilian side.
And there are even guilty people in other countries.
And you will all be served your just desserts at the end of the criminal investigations.
The one and only way to ensure that this never happens again is to prosecute every single one of the criminals and to ensure that they all do their time in jail.
And moving forward is impossible without looking back.
And Obama, the media and others can stop lying to yourself about bullshit catchphrases of "enhanced interrogations."This was torture.
Clearly torture. There is no rose on your bloomin' piles of BS.
Since both the White House and Congress no longer consider prosecuting torture as a crime, it is safe to assume that we can begin to legally use these methods as legitimate tools to lobby our Congress and White House for the real changes we expect from our government. These methods that I document will be equally applicable to those who lobby against the interests of average American citizen on these issues.
Making them face their own inner demons that are, often times, based on a self loathing because of repressed feelings concerning their own confused sexuality might begin to arouse their interest in equality for all as founding documents clearly defines it.
Since both the White House and Congress no longer consider prosecuting torture as a crime, it is safe to assume that we can begin to legally use these methods as legitimate tools to lobby our Congress and White House for the real changes we expect from our government. These methods that I document will be equally applicable to those who lobby against the interests of average American citizen on these issues.
The symbolism of turning their mythical clean energy into a tool for lobbying for real clean energy solutions ought to shock them into doing the right thing.
But I can't help but wonder if the same logic can't be applied to your daughter, Mr. Heath?
"I don't agree with what he's doing right now," Heath tells Us of Johnston's press tour. "It's not right. He's broke, so he's trying to capitalize on this. I wish he’d take some of this money he’s making and buy some diapers with it."
But Sarah Palin appears to be too busy trying to stay in the celebrity spotlight, as well, for her 2012 campaign and seems to use all of her money for legal defense funds.
Palin was born Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, the third of four children of Sarah Heath (née Sheeran), a school secretary, and Charles R. Heath, a science teacher and track coach. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin)
Up in the northwest, it's well known that Sandpoint, Idaho has a huge Aryan Nation/white supremacist background. My dad had lived there at one point, and we're not white. One of the more prominent family names there in the Aryan Nation is HEATH.
There is a price to the power, fame and fortune your family seeks and that is the loss of a typical citizens' right to privacy. Welcome to the beginning of your 15 minutes, Mr. Heath.
As far as Levi paying for diapers, I can sympathize with the mother expecting him to help support the kid because he should be if the child is his, but they both should have thought about how poor high school kids are when they both decided to do something that could lead to a dependent.
VIDEO: Protesters crash Summers talk Two protesters from the activist group Code Pink jumped on stage during a speech by White House National Economic Council Director Larry Summers Thursday, calling Summers a “toxic mess” and demanding his resignation.
The disruption marked the second time in a week the group has interrupted a financial gathering. On Tuesday April 7, protesters from the group interrupted a speech by Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.
Sibel Edmonds - Where is the US media on this one?"For the last two weeks --- one could say, for years --- the major American media have been guilty of ignoring entirely the allegations of the courageous and highly credible source Sibel Edmonds, quoted in the London Times on January 6, 2008 in a front-page story that was front-page news in much of the rest of the world but was not reported in a single American newspaper or network. It is up to readers to demand that this culpable silent treatment end."
Blogrolling Policy - This is a liberal blog and I have a liberal Blogrolling policy. I will add anyone to my Blogroll who adds me to theirs, whether conservative, liberal, moderate, libertarian, or even non-political, with the exception of spam blogs... If you Blogroll me and notice that I have not returned the favor, nudge me in the comments here until I notice!
Larry Craig and David Vitter — “two United States Senators implicated in extramarital sexual activity” — have named themselves as co-sponsors of S.J. Res. 43, the Marriage Protection Amendment. If passed, the bill would amend the Constitution to declare that marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”
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