Karl Rove is in full hissy-fit mode, complaining about the anonymity of bloggers. I personally think this is knee-slappingly hilarious, considering that the current administration is the most secretive of any in recent memory. From who was on the plane with the info on Valerie Plame to who attended the meeting with Dick Cheney to write America's energy policy, we're never allowed to see the names. Rather than laugh at him (or rather than just laugh at him) I'm looking to throw down and make him a deal:
We'll trade you info on bloggers here for info on who is writing for you.
I've been working for a couple of weeks on a project in my hometown of Bakersfield, CA. There's a zoo there that is having a contest to name their new bear and I thought it would be fun to try to get the bear named "Stephen Coal Bear". It's now two weeks later so I'm posting up all that has happened so far.
After almost 2 weeks, I'm back with some news. For those of you who missed it the first time around: http://www.dailykos.com/...
As many of you know, I come from Bakersfield, CA. It's a great town though rather conservative. I'm always interested in bringing the town into the national spotlight and focusing progressive energy there when I can. Most of the opportunities that present themselves are negative though, which makes it a tough call since moving a town towards progressivism is best done by getting progressives to do something good rather than attacking the bad. As I was looking around today, an opportunity to do a lot of good, help a great cause and have some fun at the same time presented itself in the form of a black bear.
I'm looking to put together a collection of pictures for all of the food and farming writers here to draw on. If you've got a farm or are in a rural area, we need your pictures. If you're a city dweller like me, community farms, farmers' markets and even pics of your own small plots are welcomed.
I've been reading a lot of food and farming diaries lately. With the farm bill (still) coming up in the Senate, Presidential candidates talking about rural issues, and my preliminary work talking to folks in California's inland areas about how to turn those areas blue (or bluer), I'm reading as much as I can. I'm not alone in this. Unfortunately, it is a small dedicated group that reads and writes on these issues.
Now, we can talk about the quality of the writing or the name recognition of the authors, or even the titles of the diaries. But let's face it: all these things being equal, a picture is worth 100 recs.
As many of you know, I come from Bakersfield, CA. It's a great town though rather conservative. I'm always interested in bringing the town into the national spotlight and focusing progressive energy there when I can.
Most of the opportunities that present themselves are negative though, which makes it a tough call since moving a town towards progressivism is best done by getting progressives to do something good rather than attacking the bad.
As I was looking around today, an opportunity to do a lot of good, help a great cause and have some fun at the same time presented itself in the form of a black bear.
Good Morning, all. The premise is simple: post your pictures of food and farms, I'll tag them and store them in this photobucket account, and we can all use them for whatever we'd like.
There are plenty of picture resources for the enterprising Kossack. Renaissance grrrl tipped me off to a great collection of photos on the USDA website. You want food and farming? They got it. You want plants? They got those too.
So why build this collection of photos? Because we can.
I'm looking to put together a collection of pictures for all of the food and farming writers here to draw on. If you've got a farm or are in a rural area, we need your pictures.
I've been reading a lot of food and farming diaries lately. With the farm bill coming up in the Senate, Presidential candidates talking about rural issues, and my preliminary work talking to folks in California's inland areas about how to turn those areas blue (or bluer), I'm reading as much as I can. I'm not alone in this. Unfortunately, it is a small dedicated group that reads and writes on these issues.
Now, we can talk about the quality of the writing or the name recognition of the authors, or even the titles of the diaries. But let's face it: all these things being equal, a picture is worth 100 recs.
I'm frankly on the fence about whether I should go to Yearly Kos. I have my tickets/reservations: the whole works. I'm all set. I went last year in Vegas and had an amazing time. I went to the panels, met a ton of great people, both famous and not-yet-famous. I went to Mark Warner's party and Wes Clark's party. I'll never be the same person I was before I went.
YK06 was great, no doubt.
Before YK06, I went through the same period of doubt as well. I called some friends who gave me their opinions. My mom and family weighed in as well. Their advice helped me to decide but this year I'm stuck. But this year, I have to decide on my own.
However, this year is different. This year, I can't get advice from friends and family because I can't guarantee that our conversations will remain private.
We continue to talk about impeachment and removal from office for both POTUS and VPOTUS, but we've got to do more. We need to start people talking about who should serve out the last 12-18 months of Bush's Presidency. Rather than argue over the ground of whether or not they should be impeached, we need to start seeing polls about who you would support to replace them.
This accomplishes the impeachment in the mind before the first vote is cast. Let people begin thinking about life after Bush, and Bush recedes in the rear view mirror, losing power and moving the debate onto the next phase.
The calls for Pelosi in '07 seem counterproductive, simply because the Republicans probably won't vote to turn the Presidency over to Democrats, except as discussed below.
For those of you who don't know Melanie Morgan, she's the wonderful woman who got smacked by Spocko, Mike Stark, and a few of our other favorites. She had ads pulled, ABC supposedly apologizing, and people running for cover.
But just when you think they are in the ground:
The Marin Republican Party requests the pleasure of your company at our annual Lincoln Day Dinner
Special Guest Speaker: California State Senator Tom McClintock
Also being honored will be KSFO talk show host Melanie Morgan
As Marin conservative of the year.
Now, we mostly know that Morgan has no shame, so going after her is a waste. The Marin County GOP, in fairness, doesn't have a lot to choose from. I'm pretty sure that it was her or Michael Savage But Mr. Tom McClintock has a bit to lose here.
UPDATE: MsLibrarian posted a great diary on this last week that I missed. She's got a spot for mojo below.
UPDATE II: Bakersfield Paper is taking up the story again. Their blogs are going strong too. http://www.bakersfield.com/
Final Update: If you have another take on this, please post a diary on it. Stuff like this needs to be whomped. Steal what you want. Thanks.
By now, many of you have seen the Colbert piece on Bakersfield's Dr. Gary Merrill. For those who haven't...
I think a lot of us were shocked when doctors and pharmacists began to refuse certain services based on their religious beliefs. But now some have decided that they will only render services to those who they see fit.
I've gotten into chats with a few people here who are looking for other ways to reach beyond the "netroots" and into their local communities. LTEs always come up, as do local protests and gatherings. One thing that I (and I'm sure a lot of other people) are doing is using the small local media as your own megaphone via their blogs. Someone recently asked me to write this up, so here goes...
Though I'm currently living in Oakland, CA, I hail from the no-longer-so-small-town of Bakersfield. (In case anyone is worried about me being outed, my name is Tom Webster. There.) While it's all well and good talking to you folks here in Oakland or on dKos, I've spent a considerable amount of time talking to my fellow Bako folk over the last six months on the local paper's blog. Your local paper probably has one of these as well. You can check now. I'll wait for you on the other side of the break.
In an interview with the editorial board of the Bucks County Courier Times, embattled Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has equated the war in Iraq with J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." According to the paper, Santorum said that the United States has avoided terrorist attacks at home over the past five years because the "Eye of Mordor" has been focused on Iraq instead.
"As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else," Santorum said. "It's being drawn to Iraq and it's not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don't want the Eye to come back here to the United States."
Today, America faces a new threat. A dictator from North Korea, Kim Jong Il, has just tested a nuclear weapon. This is a real and clear threat to Americans. This has happened on my watch. It was a failure of imagination, a failure of our policy, like Katrina, like Iraq and Afghanistan, like 9/11.
Lots of love for Gore and Feingold today. Taking the early leaders from the frontpage poll, who are your top two picks for 2008?
It'll be interesting to see the second favorites among the supporters of other candidates. Also, the poll was structured in alphabetical order, and since I can't switch positions for each poll taker, we'll just have to assume that we're smart enough to figure it out.
I got a survey in the mail yesterday from a company called U.S. English (note the use of the .org extention despite being a lobbying group.) Basically they are asking for money to lobby for a few bills: HR 997 by Steve King (R-IA); HJ Res. 43 introduced by Tom Tancredo (R-CO), a constitutional amendment to make English the official language of the US and lastly S 557 from Tom Coburn (R-OK) to overturn Clinton's Executive Order 13166 which allows the government to spend money on translating ballots and other things. I also have a few more goodies and some of the questions after the flip.
