Category: Uncategorised

Cancelling Elections

The Nation is reporting that several states cancelled their Republican primary elections. Why? Because Bush would “obviously” win. Except that instates that did have Republican primaries, up to 30% of registered Republicans voted for Bush challengers. Even a lot of Republicans hate Bush. How do you win an election when every body hates you? Get the voters to stay home. Swing voters hate Bush. Leftists hate Bush. Center-right people hate bush. Only neocons and the far-far right still like Bush. So all you have to do is make sure that only super-conservative people vote. Luckily, the more negative your campaign is, the more likely that folks will stay home. And the more centrist – center-left people are, the more likely they are to stay home. If you go negative enough, only the ultra right wing will show up to vote. Except even that might not work (although I’m sure Fox will be encouraging folks to vote). So why not just cancell elections? They did it in the primaries. Clearly democracy is not that important anymore.
We cannot let them cancell the elections. Alas, they could. The constitution only stipulated that the electoral college must cast ballots. Direct election of the president came from an act of congress, not the constitution. If congress passed it, they could suspend it. What sort of actions should we take to raise aweareness and communicate our rejection of this idea?

More on Daily Issue and how it would work

This is a hypothetical case-study
The issue of the day is posted a few days in advance to a blog dedicated to letting other bloggers know about the issues. One of the editors of that blog learns that Americans for Healthcare Reform is planning to protest in five cities about the sorry state of the health insurance industry in the US. She contacts the activist group and gets their talking points and a press release and posts those as an upcoming issue of the day. Bloggers check the website and find the issue of the day, do a bit of reasearch and post their opinions on it and some links ot the website of Americans for Healthcare Reform and a few related groups. This takes place maybe the day before the protest, maybe a few days, maybe the day of, which ever is going to have the most impact. Then more people go to the protest than would have and folks suddenly become aware that we’re the only country in the industrialized world that doesn’t have national healthcare. Thus, the issue of the day works in concert with an organized event and the two work to reinforce each other. It’s synergy.

Talking point of the day

So everyday, the RNC publishes daily talking points, or rather the daily point. Senators get up in congress and talk about it. Rush Limbaugh harps on it. Other talk radio types talk about it. Fox News does a special report on it. Everyday they take one issue and hammer on it though out the GOP media.

Contrary to what it may seem, there is left media. We’ve got blogs. We’ve got Air America Radio. We’ve got Indy Media. We’ve got the Pacifica Network. It’s not a huge media, but it’s enough to create an echo chamber. If we start talking up a point of the day, it will seep into Blue State news and some mainstream news outlets.
However, we cannot rely on Democratic National leadership to orchestrate this. They’re too busy meeting with business leaders, soliciting donation and trying to argue with the RNC on terms and conditions the RNC has defined. In other words, we should trust the DNC as much as Greens should trust Nader. They’ve abandoned us. They know we want Bush out of office to put up with all sorts of shit, so they’ve got all sorts of shit for us. We need to set the terms of the debate to progressive causes. (Green State causes, if you will)
What needs to happen is some media hound who is on top of what’s going on needs to come up with a point for every day and publish it in some accessible location. The RNC uses GOP.com. We could set up a blog or something and publish the points a few days in advance. Then, on the day a point was the issue of the day, progressive bloggers would post about the issue. Say for example the point of the day is that we’re the only country in the industrialized world that doesn’t have nationalized healthcare. If you were doing a political blog, you could write about the insanely high number of uninsured americans. Or how forcing poor people to wait till they’re about to keel over dead and go to an emergency room is inhumane, violates their rights under the UN Human Rights document and costs more. Or you could write about how expensive medicines are only available to some while others can go just die. Or you, know, maybe the talking oint would be more narrowly defined, but progressives could just say whatever they have to say about it. So it would just be a topic to talk about. And the progressive media could do a story, etc.
The idea is that people will become more aware of these issues. Things people say about them will echo around. More mainstream media will become aware that suddenly all sorts of people are talking about healthcare issues. We will be bringing Green State issues to the public’s attention on our own terms and be setting the debate for Blue State media. If we lead, the DNC will follow. This is already going on now. This is why people are talking about Diebold. This is why people are talking about disenfranchised voters in Florida, because of grassroots Blue media, like the Democratic Underground. I’m suggesting that these guys keep up the good work, but also that grassroots types coordinate a bit, to make sure our issues are heard. We don’t need to all speak in unison, but if we’re all suddenly talking about the same thing, somebody is going to listen.

Site Feeds

Table of Contents

  1. What is it?
  2. Why you really ought to go set this up, really, it would make me happy
  3. Set-up instructions for blogger users
  4. How to read Feeds
  5. Set-up instructions for LiveJournal Users
  6. How paid members of LJ can add feeds to their friends page
  7. How unpaid members of LJ can add feeds to their friends page
  8. Favors I’d like from LJ users

What is it?

Ok, you know how you go to Google News and you see a bunch of AP News Stories and then you go to Yahoo News and see the same AP news stories? It’s because the AP publishes just the content of it’s news stories. Then Google and Yahoo can go get just the content and put it into their web pages with their “look.”
In this great age of personal publishing, you too can publish just the content of your blog! You can tell your journal to create an Site Feed. The feed contains only the content of your blog posts and none of the graphics or look of your blog’s web page

Why you should set this up

Publishing a site feed allows your readers to view your blog posts with a program called a “news aggregator.” This program will show the reader all the new posts on their favorite blogs. This is handy for folks like me who read many blogs. Instead of having to view every blog separately, I can see just new posts. If I want to look at your actual blog, I can sill do that and will if I want to leave a comment. But it’s very handy to be able to see everything that’s new on a single page. This is a lot like the friends page on Live Journal
If you have a Site Feed, it’s likely that more people will read your blog regularly. People will check it every time they check the rest of the blogs that they read. Also, some news aggregator programs not only track your blog for the users, if it’s a web-based service, it tracks references to your blog. This means that when I read your blog (or mine, as I’ve got an Atom feed), I can see if anybody has linked to a particular post. This is interesting, as I can see what people are saying about my favorite blogs and if anybody is saying anything about me.

Setup instructions for Blogger users

  1. Log into your blogger account
  2. Click on the name of your blog from the dashboard page
  3. Click the tab at the top of the page called “settings”
  4. Click the sub tab called “Site Feed”
  5. Select “yes” next to “publish site feed” (this may already be selected)
  6. If you don’t see anything else on the page, click on “save settings”
  7. Select “full” next to “descriptions”
  8. Click “save settings” (even if you already did it)
  9. Copy the site feed url, so you can tell people about it
  10. If you feel comfortable with HTML, click the “template” tab and add a link called “Atom feed” that links to your site feed url. People generally put this someplace on their side bar
  11. Otherwise, click on the “posting tab” and post that you’re doing a site feed now, and include a link to your site feed url.
  12. Check out Blogger’s help files on syndication if you have any questions

How to Read Feeds

You need a program called a news aggregator. A Google search will give you a list of possibilities. I use Bloglines because it’s free and kind of handy. To use it, you set up an account. Then, you add the site feed urls of your favorite blogs. For blogger blogs, the site feed url is almost always http://[blogname].blogpost.com/atom.xml .   Most blogs with site feeds will tell you their url, usually in the sidebar someplace. Their link may say “site feed” or “syndication.”

Setup instructions for LJ users

Yes, even Live Journal users can publish site feeds. In fact, you already do! If somebody asks you about it, point them at http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=149

How paid members of LJ can add feeds to their friends page

You’ve got some real-life friends who are not on Live Journal. They’re on Blogger or some other service. You know the publish a site feed, because they’ve got a link to it on their blog. (The link is called something like “RSS Feed”, “Atom Feed”, “Feed”, or “Syndication”.) But you tire of having to go look at their blog every time you want to read it. Why can’t they just show up on your friends page like all you LJ-using buddies? They can. You need to create something called a “syndicated account.” Fortunately, there exists a Live Journal help-page on how to create a syndicated account. It’s very easy. Just go to http://www.livejournal.com/syn/ and type the site feed url into the text box on the bottom of the page.

How unpaid members of LJ can add feeds to their friends page

Unpaid members cannot create syndicated accounts, however, they can add existing syndicated accounts to their friends page, at http://www.livejournal.com/syn/. It works for them just like paid members, so they should consult the same Live Journal help-page. If you are an unpaid member and want to read a feed which nobody has creates a syndicated account for, you will need to talk to somebody who has a paid account and ask them to create one for you. Tell them read the Live Journal help-page and then give them the feed url for the blog you want to read.

Speaking of which….

I wouldn’t mind reading all of my blogs on the LJ friends page, as it has a nice interface. So, would a paid user mind adding:

  • http://www.euplastic.com/blog/index.rdf
  • http://myrss.com/f/b/l/blogspotGt6mg02.rss
  • http://silversand.blogspot.com/atom.xml
  • http://ethnicallyambiguous.blogspot.com/atom.xml
  • http://ltloink.blogspot.com/atom.xml

also, you know if you wanted to add
http://celesteh.blogspot.com/atom.xml , that might be cool….

Catching Terrorists

Of course, we don’t have to delay the election if we can just catch the evil doers ahead of time. I mean, then terrorists can’t, um, interfere with our democratic processes and Bush gets major props from fearful voters. Wouldn’t it be great if Pakistan caught some important bad guys soon, like during the democratic convention? A July Surprise! Or right before the election? Why, we might reward them with a bunch of stuff, like say, maybe there could be scenario like: “Powell designated Pakistan a major non-nato ally, a status that allows its military to purchase a wider array of U.S. weaponry. Powell pointedly refused to criticize Musharraf for pardoning nuclear physicist A.Q. Khan–who, the previous month, had admitted exporting nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea, and Libya–declaring Khan’s transgressions an “internal” Pakistani issue. In addition, the administration is pushing a five-year, $3 billion aid package for Pakistan through Congress over Democratic concerns about the country’s proliferation of nuclear technology and lack of democratic reform.” Actually, this already happened.
Pakistan wants stuff, so they can be more of a threat to India. We want them to catch some bad guys. We’ve got some good dates in mind.

Delay the Election???

In case you missed it, the Depart of Homeland Security is deciding whether or not to delay the presidential election. (see CNN Article) The election day, a highly inconvient Tuesday, instead of across a few days including, say, a weekend day, is set in the constitution. You vote that day or you vote absentee before that day. This was what our “founding fathers” decided. To change the voting day ought to require a constitutional amendment. But the supreme court has been voting straight party line sometimes, regarding elections, and had no problem simply appointing our president before, so hey, why not let him delay the election?

Um, cuz it would scare ths shit out of people and effect the outcome of the election. And also, an election is like the day your final paper is due. It’s a snapshot of that moment. On that particular Tuesday, everybody who wants to and is elligible can stand up and be counted. Your state goes with whatever the most people in your state say. Woot. Democracy in action. Apparently Bush feels he’s going to be unprepared for that day. He wants to take an incomplete this term. Have some more time to do his research and work on his final project. Our constitution set an election day to prevent this. A sitting president isn’t allowed to delay an election until he feels ready for it. This would be unthinkable. Election are what seperates us from a feudal monarchy. And with our current state of things, elections are the only thing seperating us from a feudal monarchy.
The Administration has been planning on delaying the election for months. As soon as that bombing in Spain happened right before their election (thus letting the Socialists win), Republicans have been claiming that Al-Quaeda will want to interfere in our elections. On May 2, 2004, the article on the cover of the New York Times Datebook contained an aside by Condeleeza Rice that terrorists would certainly try to interefere in our elections. Is there actual data on this? Is it speculation? Is it wishful thinking? With our current state of “intelligence,” is there really any difference between data points, speculation and wishful thinking? I’m still waiting for them to find the WMD in Iraq.
It seems obvious that any attempt to move elections is an assault on democracy itself. Bush says things would be easier for him if this were a dictatorship. He had no problem getting into office through massive election fraud. But even then, he barely made it. why have the election at all? Or why not use federal resources to scare the shit out of people and delay thigns until he knows he can win?
Right now, they’re just preparing us for it. Talking about the eventual “possibility” to see how people are going to react. will we sit quietly at home watching thigns unfold on TV like we did while he stole the election? If so, then why not go for it?
you know all that patriotic stuff? We’re the World’s Oldest Democracy. We invented a new system of government. Liberty and Justice for All. All that nice sort of fuzzy stuff about our government and the ideals of democracy that we’re supossed to represent. Those ideas are ideals. We’ve never reached those ideals. But they’re ideals worth having. Throwing them away is throwing away America. We cannot allow this to happen. Jefferson envisioned that freedom would periodically be threatened by corrupt men. He imagined that we would need to periodically have new revolutions, to protect our democratic ideals. In the Declaration of Independence, he wrote, “. . . in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them . . ..” If Bush tries to delay the election, if he decides that constitutionality no longer applies to him, that he is entitled to lead us not because of our laws, but because of his own will and political might, he will have broken the contract we have with our government. It will “[become] necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them.” We will have revolution.
We must, as citizens of this nation, pledge that we will do whatever it takes to save our country. We must all stand together and say that we will not allow this to happen. We will not go to work. We will not go to school. We will be in the streets. We will not disperse. We will not follow the orders of a police that is defending a state no longer based on laws, but based on the whim of powerful men. We will not back down. If Bush’s people are seeing how we’ll react if he tries to destroy our democracy, we need to let them know that we will not take it lying down. We will not sit at home and watch it on TV. We will shut down the machinery that makes the economy and the country run. We will sit down strike in our office dorrways, in our factories, in our streets.
It is therefore necessary to put this position forward, so that those who would destroy our country know that we are willing to defend it. It must be blogged. It must be written to the editor. We need chatter saying that this would be a very bad idea for them.
would it be bad for us, though? I have no question that we would win. Citizens would again have power. Our “leaders” would be reminded that they rule at our consent. Huge strikes in the 30’s yielded results that were very very good for the people. We have nothing to lose but our chains.

whining

Yesterday was the first day since getting the cold from hell that I’ve been able to stay awake all day without a nap. I feel sleepy right nw, but I’m fighting it. So there ya go. Go topless at Dyke March, get sick for a week and a half! bah. damn it all.

I keep having dreams about death and about my parents and especially about my mom. Ok, I’m ready to stop having those dreams now.
Yes, I feel all stressy right now, for no particular reason. Let me say to you, “grrr!” and also “grrrrr!”
Finally, I don’t pretend to know the ultimate meanings of things in the universe, but I suspect that the relationships that we have with each other are ultimately more important for ourselves than any other factor. There are many things that are very important on a macro level, but on a micro, personal level, it’s about getting along well with others. Which is why having flame wars with your friends is a stupid, bad idea. Yeah, there are somethings that you can’t “agree to disagree” on: I think it is my duty to save you from eternal damnation by getting you to drop your silly life style choice. You have declared your love of Beanie Babies to be an intergral part of your identity. As long as nobody but the Beanie Babies are being harmed, we ought to part company. However, most things aren’t worth ending friendships over.
Some people in the world are good writers. You can read some folks and laugh till you cry. You can read other folks and cry till you … um.. laugh. Most of us are more verbal than literary. That means that when we communicate, we tend to rely on cues that do not come across on the printed page. It is possible for a good writer to convey tone. But most folks, alas, are not good writers. (Before you get offended, let me note, that you are good writer. I’m talking about other people. (also, some people are bad readers.)) What is my point here? People end up typing arguments that they would never have in a face to face conversation. And sometimes people end friendships over that.
I mean, hell, friendships and relationships in general don’t last forever. But if you’re going to end them, end them over something worthwhile. That’s all I’m saying. Don’t end a friendship because you can’t convey tone well in your writing. That would be stupid.
Also: grrrrrrrrrr!