Author: Emmett O'Connell (Page 149 of 177)

Mr. Ballard of Vashon/ King County reminded me of something here, that we should double check to see if our favorite local blogs are on Lefty Blogs. I’ll admit, I’m lazy, and even though I use the Thunderbird reader at home, I check Lefty Blogs instead of updating all of the blogs on the reader.

It is just easier, and I’m assuming most folks who want to plug into the local Washington/Puget blog scene will use it as well instead of setting up blog subscriptions on a reader.

To that end, I noticed that The (liberal) Girl Next Door wasn’t listed at the blog roll at LB, so I added it. Anyone else we’re missing?

Also, SLOG is one of the best blogs, do you think it qualifies?

UPDATE: Oh yeah, and Sightline’s Daily Score. The old Cascade Scorecard is there, but no one ever added the new Daily Score.

In the past couple of days I got two emails about the IsThisMikeOn.org website. One from Dwight Pelz, the other from a staffer at the DSCC back east. The website, by the way is a great idea, super even.

Check the emails out though:

In case you haven’t seen it yet, I just wanted to give you a heads up about a new website launched by the Washington State Democratic Party, IsThisMikeOn.org. McGavick’s touring around the state in an RV but Democrats, led by the grassroots “Mike Check Squad”, will attend his events and ask him the questions that he continues to dodge.

The site has a place to submit questions you want Mike to answer and share your stories of encounters with the Mike’s gimmicky tour. Thanks and let me know if you’d rather not get emails like this in the future.

Link to the Press release

Link to Is This Mike On?

Weldon W. Kennedy
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Internet Communications Staffer

and…

Dear Friends,

As Mike McGavick gases up his campaign RV and hits the road, he continues to duck the issues and avoid answering tough questions. It’s understandable that McGavick would be less than “open” about where he stands, because when he does take a clear position he’s right in line with President Bush and out of step with Washington state.

Mike McGavick talks about being straightforward with Washingtonians, but he hasn’t offered a single plan for how he’s going to help Washington’s working families deal with the real issues they face every day.

Washington state deserves better. Mike needs to turn his mic on and come clean about where he stands.

With that in mind, we’ll be responding to Mike’s empty rhetoric by joining him on the road with the “Is This Mike On?” tour. The “Mike-Check Squad” will tag along with Mike, making sure “Mr. Transparent” answers voter’s questions about the issues they care about and that Mike tells the truth about his positions. We’ll be right there, wherever Mike is, checking to see if Mike’s mic is really on.

For more information about Mike McGavick and the “Mike-Check Squad”, check out our new website at:

www.IsThisMikeOn.org

Sincerely
Dwight Pelz
Washington State Democratic Party Chair

While Dwight sent his email out to every Democrat who has signed up for the state party’s email list, Weldon seems to have searched out the Washington blogosphere and found email addresses for local bloggers.

Does it bother anyone else that a DSCC staffer seems to have a better idea of the Washington bloggers than the Washington Democratic Party?

That the state party didn’t (and for all I know doesn’t) send emails to bloggers seems have been born out in that only three bloggers (now four) are linking to IsThisMikeOn.org, and one of them is “Respectfully Republican.”

IsThisMikeOn.org is a great idea, it needs great promotion too. I’m not saying that I’m so special, someone should email me every time someone moves up in Seattle, but what is so hard about writing a Washblog diary or emailing some of the bigger bloggers around?

Related to a very fun Washblog thread, Gerrymandering will be the topic on Radio Open Source on Monday.

For the record, Washington state has a bi-partisan redistricting commission that takes the job of actually drawing the lines away from the legislature. The leg of course approves the lines, but they don’t have to get their hands dirty actually drawing them.

Just having a separate commission doesn’t make a perfect system though, as the partisans on the commission can still make deals with each other not to create a competitive district in an area where there could simply be safe ones.

Cross posted at MyDD

The difference between the Bad Boss contest sponsored by Working America (AFL-CIO) and the SEIU’s Since Sliced Bread contest redoubles my already heald impressions of both organizations. It also reinforces the two ways liberals/Democratics/Progressives are approaching things these days.

The AFL-CIO represents bad politics: bitter, tearing down, win at all costs (also represented by the DSCC and the DCCC).

The SEIU represents a positive, constructive, win as much as we can, but make it all good, type of politics (also represented by the DNC’s 50 state strategy).

UPDATE: Darryl at Hominid View says it better than I.

Just to say it again, let us make it about protecting communities, not about red tape or costing government or writing an unclear initiative, because all we care about is our own lives, not how unclear things are. Because, boy it sure sounds good.

Amen brothers and sisters:

Horseman’s Trail is a proposed 116-unit subdivision that would be located on 23 acres of steep, environmentally sensitive property in the Picnic Point area between Mukilteo and Edmonds. Many local residents are asking Snohomish County not to approve the subdivision. Under I-933, the county would have only two choices: allow the development, or pay the developer what the subdivision would be worth — potentially millions of dollars.

In Mill Creek, many residents are concerned that a proposed 24/7 Wal-Mart store will have significant adverse impacts on traffic, public safety and the environment. I-933 would leave the community no choice but to approve the development, because the cost of paying the value of a huge Wal-Mart store would simply be too high for local taxpayers.

Little Bear Creek, and the rural land around it that protects the sensitive chinook habitat and headwaters to Lake Sammamish, is under heavy pressure for urban development from some of the largest developers in the area. The county is hoping to adopt and implement a low-impact-development ordinance in an attempt to protect Little Bear Creek when urban development is allowed in the future. It will do little good if I-933 passes.

In the Maltby-Clearview area, motocross tracks in the old Rinker gravel pit and rural cluster subdivisions south of Highway 522 in Echo/Paradise Lakes’ aquifer recharge areas will continue to jeopardize the drinking water of existing homeowners if I-933 passes. No one will be able to stop the rural area turning into a myriad of mega-home septics and noisy racetracks, which will not only disrupt peace and quiet with more cars on the winding rural roads, but will potentially destroy the water quality and character of these rural neighborhoods.

Those are current examples. Voters should reject I-933 in November or the number of similar cases will increase exponentially. In fact, I-933 would allow irresponsible development to occur almost anywhere, regardless of neighborhood standards. The result will be “open season” on neighborhoods across the state. Farmland would be up for grabs, too, as poorly planned growth leapfrogs into rural areas, creating more traffic.

I-933 is a bad idea for Washington. It takes local communities out of the discussion and takes away a neighborhood’s right to decide how it will look in the future.

A job ad from the Olympian (found again the TNT) this morning:

ROLE PLAYERS NEEDED Arabic

ROLE PLAYERS NEEDED Arabic speakers $20 HR DET/OP $13.16 DD214 COBs M/F $11.70 Call SMI 253-588-7529

The SMI in the ad is SMI Global Mission Support, an outfit with two locations, each right next to a major Army facility. Apparently, what they try to do is create real world scenarios for soldiers before they deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Some of their services include:

Civilians on the Battlefield

Leaders are trained to consider the presence of Civilians in areas of operations and their potential impact on tactics, maneuver, logistics, cultural and language barriers; thus differentiate the various categories of people commonly encountered on the modern battlefield.

Role Players (both native language speakers and non-FLS) portray:

• Civic, political, religious and academic leaders.
• The media
• Noncombatants, including local residents and refugees.
• International organizations, non-government organizations, contractors.
• Potential intelligence sources.

Realism Enhancement

SMI provides a wide variety of props to enhance training realism by creating the “touch and feel” of the AO. We provide:

• Regionally specific attire, signs, posters, flyers, jewelry, etc.
• Loudspeakers broadcasting culturally authentic music.
• Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES)Capable, simulated air soft rifles, AK-47, M-16, and 9-mm simulated military grade arms with blank firing adapters and the required number of blank rounds per training day per unit.
• Simulated RPG-7 missiles, explosive vests, PKM machine guns.
• Simulated improvised explosive devices (IED), such as: booby traps, roadside bombs, pipe bombs, coke can bombs, cigarette bombs, artillery rounds, trash bag bombs (inflated, fuel-air explosives filled with air and wired to simulate detonators), anti-tank mines, rockets, TNT, C-4, baby doll bombs, and football bombs.

and,

Detainee Operations

Soldiers are trained in handling EPWs in a fair and humane manner in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Proper handling of EPWs is critical to securing intelligence leads crucial to military survival.

• Initial Point of Capture and Screening Process
• Utilization of non-lethal methods of apprehension and control
• Conducting proper search techniques
• Detainne Role-Play

In case you missed it. We should all be more like Sam.

It was strange today, I was going to write two blog posts which basically came down to what I thought about color choices, so I figure its better to do them all at once than spitting them up.

First, what is going on with the new wa-democrats.org. I take Dwight seriously when he says “is a work in progress . We will add features so that it continues to meet your needs,” so I can not be disapointed when I realize they took the RSS feed down and didn’t do much of anything new at all. Suffice to say, not cluetrain.

(At least it isn’t a cut and paste of the national party’s website.)

Worst of all, they seemed to have added a strange shade of green. Very strange shade. Reminds me of… some kind of soup. Anyway, the colors were better on the old site.

Despite lacking any interactive features, such as a blog or a calendar with tags that anyone can contribute to, there are some entertaining parts of the site.

For example, since I’m not using a Microsoft browser, it takes me a bit longer to navigate the site. When I mouse over one of the drop down menus on top, the menu appears half way down the page, and disapears before I can reach it.

There is also a what-we-need list for all of the coordinated campaign offices. Some are very specific about food:

* Food
o Snacks
o Bulk Pretzels and Trail Mix
o Dried Fruit
o Nuts
o Sweets of any kin
* Drinks
o Coffee
o Soda
o Juice
o Bottled Water
o Energy Drinks
o Creamer

On to McGavick: Why do you think the McGavick campaign chose the Safeco corporate colors? Seems a bit odd.

I didn’t realize this until I was in Oregon for the holiday and we drove by a Safeco corporate office and in the corner of my eye I thought I saw a McGavick sign. “In Oregon??” I thought, but no, just Safeco.

Are they hoping to evoke some kind of connection between Washington’s deep love for their home grown insurance company? Becuase, I’m not sure we have a deep love. Are they simply Mike!’s favorite colors?

At Gnomedex in Seattle, Edwards says what other 2008 donkeys should all be saying, knowing and putting into practice. It isn’t about the technology, it is what the technology does to the conversation. It opens it up, calls for more acoutability, accesability and authenticity.

Seattle PI:

“I’m trying to retrain and recondition myself when I get asked question to actually answer it — to not say what I’ve been trained to say, to not say what’s careful and cautious,” said the former U.S. senator from North Carolina

…

One recurring theme mixed the two areas. Several in the audience stressed the importance of authenticity in politics, and the potential for blogs and other technology to give Americans a more accurate view of campaigns and the legislative process by getting closer to what’s really going on.

Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, are already blogging, offering digital videos and using text messages as part of the anti-poverty initiatives they’re now leading. Other politicians and campaigns also have embraced blogs, following Howard Dean’s early success with that strategy in the 2004 presidential primaries.

But one Gnomedex attendee pointed out that the human voice so fundamental to blogs contrasts with the practiced messages delivered by many politicians.

Edwards agreed, and acknowledged his own shortcomings in that regard, saying that he can often sense when he is slipping into that mode.

“The problem is that we’re so trained and so conditioned over a long period of time that being normal and real and authentic requires you to shed that conditioning,” Edwards said of politicians. “It is not an easy thing to do.”