The latest Shockwave Radio Theater podcast is up.  More reporting from Minneapolis as the RNC comes closer.

Saturday Aug. 23rd, was the first annual FDL SD61 Family and Fun Fair, and I live in MN Senate District 61.  I hopped over to Powderhorn Park on a beautiful day and talked to several politicians... and also talked to the kids who danced as part of the festivities.  While the politicians were intelligent and articulate, the kids are the fun interview.  LiveJournal entry with pictures.

I will also brag:  Back on May 31st, I posted a DKos Diary Make all FL and MI delegates uncommitted.  What I suggested has come to pass:  the disputed delegates are all seated but have been released by Hillary.  (I assume the same is true for the other candidates; if not, it doesn't matter much since Hillary won the two in question.)

I spent the first day of the Minnesota State Fair going to all the political booths I could find and talking to as many people as possible before I keeled over.  I put them all into a podcast on the Shockwave Radio Theater Podcasts.

I'll be doing more political podcasts in the next few weeks, as the Democrats promised to talk to me (we'll see) and I'm covering the Republican National Convention down the road in St. Paul as well as the ancillary demonstrations taking place all over the Twin Cities.

LoLoLaLa's DKos Diary, RNC fundraising email: "From the White to the Courthouse" printed the full rundraing letter from the RNC.  For the full text, go there.

I spent a little time digging, just to see how close the RNC was playing to the chest.  I looked into this statement, which she bolded:

According to the non-partisan FactCheck.org, the RNC receives 98.9% of our funds from voluntary contributions of grassroots leaders

First, FactCheck.org is funded by the Annenbergs.  This is the same Annenberg who bought TV Guide circa 1980 and ran an editorial supporting Ronald Reagan, the first such political propaganda for the Guide.  Factcheck.org cannot be described as "bi-partisan" with any credibility.  A rundown of the headlines and investigations shows their spin; some support Obama's claim but most are just nasty jabs at Obama and poorly done support for McCain.

Just an idea to float.

Florida and Michigan broke the rules and don't deserve to have the results of their primaries as part of the DNC.  The results of the primaries do not reflect the actual race, as most candidates didn't even campaign and the voters were pretty sure it was just a preference poll.

However, those states need to be represented on other issues, such as platform.  So... give them their delegates (or half or whatever), but ignore the primaries.  Make all the delegates the equivalent of Superdelegates:  Representing the state and none of them are committed to a candidate.

Just a reminder that the Phoenix Mars Lander is happening NOW.  NASA channel coverage starts at 6:30pm Eastern (and is trickling in as I type).

Forget politics for just a moment, and watch another world.

The US Space Program is the most successful endeavor in human history.  A reaction to the cold war, it's spinoffs include the internet (funded by the same people), computers, weather satellites, hospital equipment, food packaging, metallurgy research.  The space program has literally touched almost everything you wear, see, hear or are transported on.

Not all Mars Missions are successful.  Let's see what the Martian Resistance Movement has in store for Phoenix.

Are you coming to protest the GOP convention in Saint Paul, MN in August?  Do you know people who are?  I'm a local reporter/podcaster/occasional Kossack who wants to provide Fair and Balanced coverage of the convention itself and the events surrounding it.  There will be much local doings, I'm sure, and I'd also like to be on top of the people coming in.

By some source's estimate, the number of protesters could be around 50,000.  Is that you?  Let me know.

I won't be live blogging the convention, but I will be taking pictures, providing reports for KFAI-FM, Fresh Air Radio, and doing Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts.

In April, Sen. Barack Obama said,

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising, then, that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

He was, of course, entirely correct.  He was pilloried by people who deliberately added the word "all" to his characterization of some people in desperate circumstances.

I don't know the lead time on tv programs, but Numb3ers, airing on CBS on May 2, had this exchange between Seeker of Truth Dr. Larry Feinhardt (Peter MacNicol)  and Father Figure Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch):

Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday does not have long tradtions of picnics or fireworks or parades.  If they do anything, people read his speeches and reflect on his times.  This is fine, as far as it goes, but I would like to start a tradition, beginning today:

Go to a racist/conservative blog or website.  Post, in your own words or by quoting Dr. King, why America is a stronger nation when we all pull together, and when all citizens are equal under the law.  Be gentle but firm; treat your readers with respect, even if they don't respect you at first.  For god's sake don't sink to their level.  Ignore the worst responses and, if you desire, engage the reasonable people.  Yes, there are reasonable people on the right.  Use your example to cajole and inspire.

We have rhetorical tools Dr. King could not dream of.  Let's use them to spread his word.

Just a quick note to thank perryanda and friends for a nice netroots meeting with great food!  I don't know many of you all that well, and it was very nice to attach names to faces, even if DailyKos is so large we get lost in the mix.

A picture can be found on Baron Dave's LiveJournal.

Bruce Schneier asked me to repost this blog entry from Nov. 1 on DailyKos.  The original can be found here.

The War on the Unexpected
We've opened up a new front on the war on terror. It's an attack on the unique, the unorthodox, the unexpected; it's a war on different. If you act different, you might find yourself investigated, questioned, and even arrested -- even if you did nothing wrong, and had no intention of doing anything wrong. The problem is a combination of citizen informants and a CYA attitude among police that results in a knee-jerk escalation of reported threats.

The reason blogs such as DailyKos have achieved importance in today's political discourse is because the traditional news media has fallen down on the job.  In some cases, it's deliberate partisanship.  In others, it's just an utter lack of journalistic standards.  I've said this before, but I want to point out an example from today's Minneapolis Star Tribune and from Fox "News":  

The border security spending, especially money to construct 700 miles of fencing to keep illegal immigrants from Mexico from crossing into the United States, is so popular among Republicans that they would vote to override Bush's homeland security veto if necessary.

Did you notice the Republican talkng point that slipped in?  People in Mexico, whether they are about to commit an act which is against the laws of another country or not, are not "illegal immigrants".  They are Mexican citizens.

A few things have come together, so let me connect the dots.

Earlier today, Rook has a DailyKos Diary, GOOD NEWS: Bush Rangers Switch to Democrats in 2008! about Texans who gave lots of money to Bush in 2000 and 2004 now supporting Hillary Clinton.  I don't trust anyone who backed Bush to do the right thing politically, but business people are not stupid for long or else they're not in business.  Why? I asked myself.

And found the reason on my brother's blog Climate Progress, which always has a lot of good information.  Today he links to Must Read Climate Report From Lehman Brothers (page with links to Feb. 2007 and Sept. 2007 pdf reports).

Inscriptions in The Book of Life: 5768

Rosh Hashanah, New Years Day, began on the first of Tishrei, 5768 (evening of September 12, 2007CE).  This marks the beginning of the High Holy Days, culminating on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on the tenth day of Tishri (English spelling varies), evening of September 21, 2007CE.

The High Holy Days, and Yom Kippur in particular, are a time of reflection, and a time when Jews celebrate G_d's goodness and atone for all sins realized or not.  We are also supposed to cleanse our spirit and make things right here on Earth; you can't apologize to G_d for an injustice to a fellow human.  It's one of the great things about Judaism.

As much as the sleaze, the coverup is continuing problem for conservative Republicans

This is my Bartcop-E column for Labor Day 2007.  Much of the individual bits of information will be familiar to DailyKos readers, as this site commented on breaking stories.  Thanks to everyone who posted and especial thanks to everyone who linked to primary sources.

The Right Wing Rules of Engagement

Watching the downfall of Sen. Larry Craig gives me no pleasure, but it restores my faith in a higher power.  Karma at work!  Sen. Craig voted for the impeachment of Bill Clinton and ran on "family values".  He did not vote on his conscience and he did not stand on legal grounds.  He was and is a scumbag who preys on gullible conservatives for political power.  Like so many of his sleazy comrades, he has been caught with his pants down.

Okay... it gives me a little pleasure...  Just like the Gingrich, Livingston, Vitter, Foley etc etc etc, some of the most disgusting human beings are finally being shown for what they are in such a way that even Fox "News" watchers have to admit they were wrong.

I was alerted by Farhad Manjoo:  The U.S. Senate says the Internet is very dangerous salon.com June 7, 2007 (requires Premium membership):

Did you know that June 2007 is National Internet Safety Month? No joke, it is. Turns out that in the middle of May, Joe Lieberman, Barack Obama, Ted "Tubes" Stevens, and 15 other U.S. senators got together to warn the country that the Internet is very dangerous. Mostly they were worried about the children. Eighty percent of kids in the U.S. spend more than an hour online each week, they pointed out. That's quite scary, because "there are more than 1,000,000,000 Internet users worldwide" -- meaning there has to be a weirdo in there somewhere. What's more, the senators say, "61 percent of students admit to using the Internet unsafely or inappropriately," 20 percent have had real-life meetings with folks they first met online, and at least a third of our kids possess "the skill to circumvent Internet filter software." And 41 percent of parents feel that their "ability to monitor and shelter their children from inappropriate material on the Internet is limited."

An open letter to Evangelicals

We're laughing at you.

We are not laughing at your religion or how you practice your faith.  We are laughing at the stupid things you cling to in the name of your faith.  The Creation Museum is simply the latest example.

Faith can be a wondrous thing.  Faith can carry you through hard times and lift you during good times.  Faith can build families, communities, temples, schools, governments.  Faith can bring you closer to G_d.  And faith can convince you to kill doctors and fly airplanes into buildings.  When you use your belief in a loving G_d to to justify hate, killing and actions that would be a sin for others, then your faith is misplaced.   Faith inspires individuals to pull together to create civilization.  Misplaced faith inspires Inquisitions and Jihads.