Care of KingOneEye at dKos

The NEW & IMPROVED Maryscott O’Conner Action Figure, with pull string obsenity ridden responses!

This is a trial to write a diary. From reading on Kos and other sites, I have become aware that this world situation is taking a toll on most of us. I guess we all can agree that we would like a better world and most of all peace for all. But what can we do? Well, this morning after talking with a friend on the phone, I decided maybe one thing I can do is to write a diary about this topic.

My friend and I talked about how before the fall of the wall in Berlin, there used to be all those demonstrations for peace and maybe not known to all, there was a world-wide meditation circle, where at 12 noon local time, people where meditating, praying, visualizing or using whatever techniques they had available to them, for peace – just a few minutes. Did it help? Who knows? Fact is, for a while the world seemed to be more peaceful. Maybe it is time to reactivate such a circle again. We have nothing to loose and only to gain. Even if it does not help the world at large, it can help on an individual level to calm a little and deal better with the stress .

In this connection I always think of Gandhi who lived in this world, but never was willing to give up his inner peace and calm, and still, or maybe because of this, became such a powerful force in this world.

Two things I would like to achieve with this diary. Maybe to get this good “force” flowing stronger again and to start a discussion and sharing, on how to best deal on the inner plane with the political situation in this world. We will need some inner strength and endurance if we want to effect a change in this world.

I have been a “New Age-Freak” for many decades now (oh, my God, how time passes) and have learned a few things along the way on relaxation techniques, meditation, yoga and more on this line. Would any of you be interested to learn more about these things in future diaries?

I’ve wanted to write a (sort of) diary for a while at dKos but have been a little discouraged at my own writing/communication skills compared to so many great writers there.  But since there’s a smaller audience here at the moment, I’ll give it a shot.

When I was in high school, I had a friend who used to laugh at me because, as she used to say, I “philosed” too much.  She was right.  I have a tendency to want to know every aspect of a situation, think of every possibility, learn every factoid – in short, I have a hard time keeping it simple.

I find that it really is a liberal’s problem.  Not just intellectualizing, but emotionalizing, too.  There’s no question that this played a part in Kerry’s communication problems.  And while the framing debates go on, and the weight of the Republican propaganda machines obscure, the simple fact is that we need to go back to the simple facts again, and work from there.  All human beings have common needs, and all human beings have common desires.

The recent bi-partisan objections to the Bankruptcy bill demonstrate that there really are commonalities that most people can agree with.  By identifying those needs and desires and then going one step beyond to the level that we can all agree on, perhaps we can redefine and come to a general consensus as to who we are as humans, and as Americans.

For example, some basic needs:  Food.  Water.   The next step:  Food – no child should go hungry.  Water – everyone should have clean, drinkable water.  

It’s the step after that we all have problems with.  Who provides or guarantees that every child has enough food to eat?  What about the quality of the food?  Now we’re into class and politics.  Complexity upon complexity.

But it would take an obviously heartless, inhuman, and un-American s.o.b. to deliberately eat in front of a starving child.  That is something that anyone who isn’t a sociopath can agree on, no matter the politics.

Some basic desires to bandy about:   Fire departments.  Education.  Transportation.

Too simplistic, perhaps.  But until we start again with defining the things that we can all agree on, it seems that we’re all just “philosing” too much for any country wide agreement.

cross posted at dKos

I really couldn’t come up with a better title than the headline of this insane AP article.  Apparently, Americans have this insane idea that the coverage of the Iraq War is/was biased.  And now everything’s okay; it must have been something we just imagined, because some think tank just said the coverage was not biased.

A study of news coverage of the war in Iraq fails to support a conclusion that events were portrayed either negatively or positively most of the time.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at nearly 2,200 stories on television, newspapers and Web sites and found that most of them couldn’t be categorized either way.
—
Twenty-five percent of the stories were negative and 20 percent were positive, according to the study, released Sunday by the Washington-based think tank.

I can’t say I agree with the conclusion, but the project director for the think tank has made some stunning conclusions.

First, this gem:

Americans are now “news grazers,” the study said.

The image of bovine compliance and mindless consumption to define many American’s use of media has never been more apt.  But thank goodness, there are many folks at places like dKos around the country.  The tide will turn.

Despite the exhaustive look, the study likely won’t change the minds of war supporters who considered the media hostile to the Bush administration, or opponents who think reporters weren’t questioning enough, said Tom Rosenstiel, the project’s director.

Say Tom, maybe you would know someone named Judith Miller, one of the war’s biggest media supporters in a place that used to have credibility?  She and known criminal Chalabi were force feeding lies to the public, giving Bushie his plausible deniability when the WMD’s never showed.  Yeah, I sure as hell think someone needed to be questioning her a lot more throroughly.  Like her goddamned editor!  See, its not really about whatwas reported, but what wasn’t reported.  Or what was reported that backed up the anti war position and then was summarily minimized and discredited by a myriad of other sources.  So I guess its not really what was reported.  Its the opinion pieces that were accepted as fact by an electorate unable to discern bullshit from reality.  And the editors.

[Project Director] Rosenstiel said most people understand the complexities of what is going on in Iraq, how continued suicide bombings can happen at the same time as a successful election.

Well jeez, can you explain it to me?  I can’t understand how forcing democracy onto a country we just invaded and pillaged could ever be considered a success.  I guess most people must have greater capacity to understand these kinds of things, huh?

Tom, I’m not convinced.

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Well, maybe it IS time for me to move on… my HUSBAND just posted a diary on dKos…

I kid. I kid.

This is a test diary, really — I have lots to say but no time to organize my thoughts into words right now.

But I DO have GMAIL invites. Drop me a line and I’ll shove one your way.

Incidentally, I am supposed to be a front page contributor here, but HELL if I know how to do it.

I guess that will work itself out eventually.

Here we are in the closing days before the Democratic primary in the special election for three vacant seats for state representative.  Along with the snow, there is a blizzard of last minute Get Out The Vote activities. Since I first wrote about the special elections in January, I have tried to underscore how these are not routine elections: they signal an historic shift shift in state politics.  Following House Speaker Tom Finneran’s announcement last Fall, that he would retire, two Finneran allies also resigned.  In November, the only incumbent to lose his seat in the House was Finneran ally, Vincent Ciampa, who lost to a young progressive, Carl Sciortino. The likely winners in the three special elections will also be far more progressive than their predecessors, and signal a strong, clear trend in Massachusetts politics.  
One of the remarkable features of this set of special elections has been the emergence of progressive democratic bloggers.  No one knows for sure how large or little a role we played, however we can certainly say that three blogs played prominent roles — at once as partisan supporters of candidates, but also providing otherwise hard-to-get information about the candidates, the races, the media coverage and more that would be useful to everyone. My fellow progressive democratic bloggers Blue Mass Group and NoHomissives have written about these races with insight and humor, as well as providing links and commentary on breaking news. We have all provided an additional dimension to news coverage and to information from the campaigns themselves, and engaged and encouraged citizens to participate in these important races. As I have noted previously, candidate Tim Schofield linked to blog coverage alongside clips from the mainstream press on his campaign web site, a first to my knowledge, in Massachusetts politics. But there was more. I personally received emails from Democratic activists trying to research the candidate fields, because information about many of the candidates was often hard to find. And although I clearly had my preferred candidates, in my main round-up on the races, I provided links to every campaign that had a web site that I could find, and shared what information I had with anyone who asked. [UPDATE: Candidate Chris Speranzo has posted a web site since I last checked.]

In the closing days, its worth checking in with my fellow bloggers:

NoHomissives has several recent posts on the 3rd Berkshire race in Pittsfield, and highlights how to help candidate Rhonda Serre in Pittsfield.

Blue Mass Group is worried about progressives splitting the vote (in this four-way race) between Schofield and Michael Moran — and urges progressives to go with Schofield.

In the same post, BMG also underscores the oddness and difficulty voters — or anyone — faces in finding out about the candidates:  “I tried to learn more about Moran, but his website is a disaster — in particular, if you click on “News & Views,” you bring up blank page.  Nor does his site list his endorsements or, really, anything about him other than the fact that he is running for state rep and the most barebones biographical information.  Everything I could learn about Moran was from Googling him and coming up with media reports (mostly in the Phoenix) covering the race.”    

Here is a sampler of some of the kinds of the end-of-the-campaign efforts I am hearing about — to get activists to help with the canvassing, visibilities, lit drops, and phone banking.  I know that my sampler is far from comprehensive (hey its just the info that has come my way) but it is particularly interesting to me to see how some of the progressive organizations are helping the three candidates that have emerged as the progressive choices:  Linda Dolcena Forry, Tim Schofield and, Rhonda Serre.  (This is not to say that any of these groups are necessarily opposed to such candidates as Stacy Monahan, Michael Moran, Pam Malumphy and Chris Speranzo, its just that these were the choices that most — but not all — progressive groups and activists agreed on.)

Boston area activists from Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM) are helping Tim Schofield while PDM members in Western, Mass, such as Governor’s Councilor Peter Vickery, have been helping Rhonda Serre.  Berkshires for Progressive Change is also mobilizing activists for Serre.

Democracy for Massachusetts has sent out emails to members encouraging members to help in specific GOTV activities posted on their web site on behalf of Serre, Schofield, and Forry. DFA nationally has also emailed members in MA with similar information.

All of the candidates in all of the races are undoubtedly doing similar such traditional GOTV activities in tandem with their most active supporters.  For example, the AFL-CIO, in its weekly Labor Reader email to activists  has called for help for its three endorsed candidates, Speranzo in Pittsfield, Monahan in the 12th Suffolk District, and Moran in the 18th Suffolk District. The Boston Central Labor Council is also doing phone banking for Moran and Monahan, and a labor lit drop for Moran.

Its all as it should be. Democracy in action. On Tuesday, we will have three Democratic candidates for the three vacant seats for state representative.  The general election will be April 12th, and while the races will not be uncontested, the winner of the primary in each case will likely be the victor on April 12th.

They will be the fresh faces who never served with, or rather under, Tom Finneran. They will epitomize the post-Finneran era.

[crossposted from FrederickClarkson.com]

Booman Tribune is open for blogging.

Imagine if Daily Kos was devoid of users. No comments, no diaries, no trolls, and no Cheers and Jeers.

That pretty well describes the current situation over at BooTrib where all the architecture is in place and no one has had a chance to deflower her.

If you are tired of going through life with a 5-digit user ID, now is your chance to remedy the situation.

If you are frustrated that your diary scrolled off the screen in an hour…you can be sure that won’t happen at Booman Tribune.

more below the fold…
Booman Tribune is brand spanking new. It is a SCOOP site.

As everyone here knows, the greatest of all SCOOP sites is Daily Kos. The site is designed to be familiar to regular visitors to Daily Kos. It shares many features in common with dKos.

Some immediate differences between the site and dKos need to be explained.

World Recommended Diaries

During registration users are divided into ‘Americans’ and ‘others’ in order to allow a separate ‘Recommended Diary’ category called ‘Recommended World Diaries’.

‘World Diaries’ are those diaries submitted by non-American registered users. They are judged according to a different standard in order to compensate for the general tendency of Americans to show more interest in domestic issues. It also helps compensate for the fact that this site will have more American users than users from any other single country.

All diaries, irrespective of the residence of the diarist, are eligible for making the ‘Recommended Diary’ list. This will sometimes result in a diary being listed in both the ‘Recommended Diary’ list and the ‘Recommended World Diary’ list. This is anticipated and not considered a problem.

Automated Regional Open Threads

Another feature of this site that is not shared with dKos is the regional open threads. The regional open threads are accessible by clicking on the ‘Midwest’, ‘South’, ‘East’, ‘West’, and ‘World’ buttons at the top of the Home page.

[We are still tinkering around with these a little. But essentially, they will refresh after 250 comments. Markos tried something similar with his Open Thread for a while.]

Anyone can participate in these open threads, but they are intended to promote coordination among users from similar regions. They are open threads, so anything can be discussed on them.

What’s The Site All About?

The site is not affiliated with the Democratic Party. However, the Democratic Party is the only institution in this country that is capable of combatting the Bush administration’s agenda, or of offering a realistic alternative to the GOP’s control of both houses of Congress.

Therefore, the site is committed to building the Democratic Party, raising money for the Democratic Party and its candidates, finding and promoting promising candidates for state and local offices, helping to shape the Democratic Party’s agenda, and holding all office holders to account for their votes and their ethics.

The site is also committed to doing some of the investigative work that is so desperately needed with the GOP in control of the oversight committees.

Are you trying to compete with Kos?

Nope. I’m a long-time Kossack who loves this site and what it stands for, and how it works, and many of the members that I have met here.

There is no competition for Kos, because this site is the best, and it will remain the best.

I will be forever indebted to Kos for creating this community and inspiring me to get off my duff and start fighting back.

It was this web site that motivated me to drive to Florida and help organize Sarasota and Manatee counties in Florida, and then to come back and do GOTV for Delaware and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania.

It was this site that showed me the power of what I call ‘Collaborative Open-Source Investigative Journalism’ and made me want to create my own web site.

So, no I am not competing with this web site, I am adding my voice to a movement and trying to help that movement grow.

What’s with the Frog?

“It’s of keen interest to me, to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.” – Joseph C. Wilson IV.

To learn the etymology of the term frog-march you can read this column by Bill Safire. He may have spent his career shilling for the Republicans and our intelligence services, but he is a reliable source on language.

In any case, Booman Tribune encourages its users to band together to do the investigative journalism that the mainstream media has forgotten how to do.

The frog is a reminder that politicians do occasionally get drummed out of office for corruption or unethical behavior. And we would like to speed that process along.

In fact, our motto is “We Won’t Rest Until They’re Frog-Marched Out”

So, even if the amphibian is a criminal, you must learn to love the frog.

Some other notes:

Please be forgiving if you encounter problems, or if you find that all the bells and whistles don’t work right.

One thing I have gained as a result of creating this site, as though it were possible, is even more respect for Markos than I already had.

He has made dozens of technical decisions on how to configure and develop his site, and they are almost all dead-on correct decisions.

He has been developing this site for years and creating all kinds of neat features like dKosopedia. I can’t compete with dKos for sophistication and ease of use.

If you find something broken or just have a suggestion for how to make something work better, there is a Suggestion Box Diary.

We will eagerly consider all the feedback we get.

Lastly, we are still running on our developmental server. I don’t know how well it will hold up to an influx of new visitors. We’ll be flipping over to a more powerful server tomorrow or the next day. If you encounter problems accessing the site, please make a note of it in this diary and make sure to visit BooTrib again in the coming days.

So that’s it. That’s my introduction. Feel free to get started and post away! ;o)

This is just to provide a first international diary for testing purposes. Maybe the title will generate plenty of traffic for this site…

Booman Tribune is brand spanking new. So, I haven’t received any questions yet. However, this is a SCOOP site, and many of the questions I anticipate are common to all SCOOP sites.

The greatest of all SCOOP sites is Daily Kos. This site is designed to be familiar to regular visitors to Daily Kos. It shares many features in common with dKos, and it may be useful to examine the dKos FAQ web page (especially for HTML related questions). Just remember that a lot of the information there is specific to his site.

I will be developing a community guide for BooTrib soon. In the meantime it will be helpful to refer to Pastor Dan’s dKos Community Guide. If you have a question about what Trolls are, Pastor Dan explains it well.

Some immediate differences between this site and dKos need to be explained.

During registration users are divided into ‘Americans’ and ‘others’ in order to allow a separate ‘Recommended Diary’ category called ‘Recommended World Diaries’.

‘World Diaries’ are those diaries submitted by non-American registered users. They are judged according to a different standard in order to compensate for the general tendency of Americans to show more interest in domestic issues. It also helps compensate for the fact that this site will have more American users than users from any other single country.

If I become convinced that an American has registered as a non-American in order to try to game the system, I will banish that user.

All diaries, irrespective of the residence of the diarist, are eligible for making the ‘Recommended Diary’ list. This will sometimes result in a diary being listed in both the ‘Recommended Diary’ list and the ‘Recommended World Diary’ list. This is anticipated and not considered a problem.

Another feature of this site that is not shared with dKos is the regional open threads. The regional open threads are accessible by clicking on the ‘Midwest’, ‘South’, ‘East’, ‘West’, and ‘World’ buttons at the top of the Home page.

Anyone can participate in these open threads, but they are intended to promote coordination among users from similar regions. They are open threads, so anything can be discussed on them. However, if you want to talk about the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race you should probably not do it on the southern thread. And PLEASE don’t waste time fighting over whether Kentucky is in the Midwest or Colorado is in the West. Let people decide where they live.

What’s the Deal With the Rating System?

There are only two differences between this site and dKos for the comment rating system and they are minor. He calls serious idiots ‘Super Trolls’ and I call them ‘Mega Trolls’. I just like ‘Mega Trolls’ better.

The other difference is that he calls the (2) rating ‘Marginal’ and I call it ‘Warning!’. I discourage people from using the (2) rating as an indication of disagreement. Use it to tell someone that they are nearing the line of offensive, impertinent or trollish behavior. If you disagree with a post, but do not find it offensive or trollish, just don’t rate it at all.

…more on the flip

What’s This Site All About?

This site is not affiliated with the Democratic Party. However, the Democratic Party is the only institution in this country that is capable of combatting the Bush administration’s agenda, or of offering a realistic alternative to the GOP’s control of both houses of Congress.

Therefore, this site is committed to building the Democratic Party, raising money for the Democratic Party and its candidates, finding and promoting promising candidates for state and local offices, helping to shape the Democratic Party’s agenda, and holding Democratic office holders to account for their votes and their ethics.

The site is also committed to doing some of the investigative work that is so desperately needed with the GOP in control of the oversight committees.

If I don’t consider myself a Democrat, am I welcome at the site?

Yes. You are. Everyone is welcome at the site regardless of political self-identification. I don’t care how you are registered to vote, who you have voted for in the past, or who you plan to vote for in the future.

The only restriction on non-Democrats is that they be respectful of the mission of this site, that they don’t post Bill O’Reilly-like talking points, and that they don’t engage in trollish behavior. Again, if you have any doubt about what is acceptable behavior, seek Pastor Dan’s pastoral advice on etiquette.

If you are pro-life or anti-gun control, no one should down-rate your posts or make you feel unwelcome at this site, or in the Democratic Party. This site is not for the enforcement of any orthodoxy on its members. Principled disagreement is always allowed. Just don’t act like Sean Hannity and be an idiot.

What’s with the Frog?

“It’s of keen interest to me, to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.” – Joseph C. Wilson IV.

To learn the etymology of the term frog-march you can read this column by Bill Safire. He may have spent his career shilling for the Republicans and our intelligence services, but he is a reliable source on language.

In any case, Booman Tribune encourages its users to band together to do the investigative journalism that the mainstream media has forgotten how to do.

The frog is a reminder that politicians do occasionally get drummed out of office for corruption or unethical behavior. And we would like to speed that process along.

In fact, our motto is “We Won’t Rest Until They’re Frog-Marched Out”

So, even if the amphibian is a criminal, you must learn to love the frog.

[Note to MSM-types: I understand the difference between real investigative journalism conducted by trained professionals, and whatever it is that partisan online communities can do. That is why I call it: Collaborative Open-Source Investigative Journalism]

So what about cross-posting diaries from other web sites?

I don’t care if you cross-post. If you want to add a note that you have done so, go ahead.

Some other notes:

Please be forgiving if you encounter problems, or if you find that all the bells and whistles don’t work right.

One thing I have gained as a result of creating this site, as though it were possible, is even more respect for Markos than I already had.

He has made dozens of technical decisions on how to configure and develop his site, and they are almost all dead-on correct decisions.

I have attempted to create an atmosphere that is familiar to Kossacks for a very simple reason. I am a Kossack myself, and I like how dKos works. But he has been developing his site for years and creating all kinds of neat features like dKosopedia. I hope to develop this site too, but for now, it can’t compete with dKos for sophistication and ease of use.

If you find something broken or just have a suggestion for how to make something work better, there is a Suggestion Box Diary.

Please keep in mind that andyschm is a contractor and not a paid employee. He is under no obligation to respond to your suggestions. However, he will read them, and we will eagerly consider all the feedback we get.

So that’s it. That’s my introduction. Feel free to get started and post away! ;o)

“We ought to make the pie higher.”

-G.W. Bush in South Carolina Republican Debate, Feb. 15, 2000