Category: Uncategorized (Page 25 of 49)

Cross posted at Better Donkey

A while back I had an idea of creating a school based civics/democracy program using a social network like Myspace (withouth the iritating music though). My thought was that while kids aren’t familiar with the how to be a citizen (who among us is?), they do know how to work in an online community.

But, the difference between being a citizen and a member of a good online community isn’t all that different. The skills learned at MySpace, how to make friends, how to communicate and discuss, are all skills needed to be a good citizen. We can teach these skills by holding on to what is working right now.

Anyway, looks like Tom Regan has the same idea:

Twyman says the idea that understanding the rules of association online can help you understand the rules of association in the real world has more potential than reality at the moment. But as 13- and 14-year-old members of social-networking communities and MMORPGs grow up, we could see that start to change. These young people may relate back to what they learned online.

In England, the government has decided that all new citizens must take a course in what it means to be a British citizen. The idea is to fight the alienation that many immigrants feel – young Muslims in particular, but all young immigrants in general.

Lectures, videos, and classes are one thing, but what if an MMORPG or online community could be developed to help young people learn more about British history and their duties as citizens? I’m not talking about some Pollyanna version of history: I mean a real game that young people would not see as a chore to play, a game that would also tell the story about Britain and how it came to be.

Twyman agrees that this could be done – he points to a highly successful game developed by the US Army to show young people what it’s like to be a soldier – but he says the determining factor would be the quality of the game.

“Most people in the industry tell me that motivation is really not relevant to young people,” he says. “What matters is how good the game is. The Army game was successful because it was fun to play. You could create a game to help young people learn to be citizens, but it would have to be a high-quality game.”

Take that Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick.

When I wrote about Senator Cantwell not having comments on her blog, which she should, I didn’t write that she did have a tool that allows folks to get together and show her love. Pretty neat, folks over at wa-democrats.org should check it out.

I’m going to be a standup guy and host myself one of these in the next few weeks, but I can’t decide whether to make it a morning coffee or afterwork thing…

From the chairman’s blog:

We had a tremendous turnout at our meeting yesterday and we accomplished a great deal.

First, we approved Kyle Taylor Lucas as our State Senate candidate. That means she will have access to all our services, except funding, for her campaign.

If you look at our Bylaws, we have to approve a candidate at one meeting before we can endorse anyone when there are two Democrats running. We could approve Tim Sheldon at the August 6 picnic, but we can also endorse Kyle at the picnic, which will release funds to her campaign.

Many political organizations do not have an endorsement that allows funding until after the primary.

Service is up since 9-11, despite deep federal cuts in volunteer programs.

Young folks are engaging politically at a higher rate than generations before, and they’re doing it online.

And, yes, this means civic republicanism should be the overall theme for the Democratic Party, because “You’re in this alone,” and the “Opt Out Society” needs an enemy.

I’ll write more about this later.

The new Maria Cantwell site is up, and boy does it look pretty. It even includes one of those blog thingies, and I’m no kidding you, it is Shiny. But, it doesn’t take comments, and it doesn’t even pretend to.

Well, crap. I’m honest enough to say when I’m wrong, or that the person I’m going to vote for is wrong, but Tim Goddard, you win this round, you stinker. Mike McGavick, that hack, has a better blog than Maria.

There is some interesting stuff going on out there otherwise on the Maria vs. Mike blog wars:
Tim get’s his licks in, can’t help himself (I’m bloggy! Yes, Tim, you’re very bloggy)
An Open Letter to Maria Cantwell
Follow up on my open letter to Senator Cantwell
Postman: McGavick may be ahead in battle of the Web

Go to the bottom of this post, but Doug Dobbins and Tim have a contructive conversation in the comment thread.

If I seem to be harsh on this post towards anyone, it isn’t personal, it is only because I am mad that Republicans are out-doing what we should be better at. Anyway, for a much, much better example of a Democrat who blogs, check out Dave Upthegrove’s Uptheblog and my reasons for liking it. Wheew… breath out.

Much like in Thurston County, Tim Sheldon doesn’t get the support of his local Democratic Party:

The battle for a state Senate seat continued Sunday between incumbent Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, and candidate Kyle Taylor Lucas of Shelton.

At the 35th Legislative District Democrats quarterly meeting at the North Mason Timberland Library in Belfair, the executive board and about 50 members present voted to approve Lucas. Three members voted against the approval.

“I’m deeply gratified by their support collectively,” Lucas said. “They’re so eager for a change in the 35th District.”

The committee said they did not approve Sheldon, who has held the seat for nine years, because his questionnaire was not received before a scheduled board meeting. Under the group’s new by-laws, candidates seeking endorsement must return a form to the board for them to consider approval, said district chairwoman Fran Moyer.

According to Sheldon, he did not receive the form until late last week before he left town. At the meeting, Sheldon said he learned the executive board held its meeting to discuss the candidates before he received the form in the mail. The group e-mailed the form to him, according to Moyer, although Sheldon indicated he did not receive it.

“They absolutely dislike my bipartisan approach to politics,” Sheldon said after Sunday’s meeting. “I don’t take it personally, it’s politics as is from a very small vocal minority.”

Moyer, who is also the co-chairwoman of Lucas’ campaign, said the committee supports Lucas because Sheldon does not represent his Democratic constituents in Olympia.

“When Republicans identify Tim Sheldon as a Republican,” she said, “I think that is very telling.”

Sheldon was criticized for his support of George W. Bush in 2004, as well as his other votes that have sided with Republicans. Sheldon contends that when he votes, he represents his constituents — Democrat or Republican — first and his party second.

The board is scheduled to make a recommendation to the central committee to approve or not approve Sheldon for office during a scheduled Aug. 6 meeting. Because two candidates are running for the 35th District, the committee’s by-laws states the “executive board shall serve as a screening committee and shall then recommend to the Central Committee approval (when there is more than one candidate) or endorsement or non-endorsement when there is only one candidate.”

“Approved” candidates may receive any “non-financial aid, such as walking lists from the 35th Legislative District database.”

Earlier this week, he referred to himself as an infidel:

State Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, is sure his own party leadership is out to get him.

“They want to purge the party of infidels like me,” said the lawmaker, who is considered a renegade for his voting record.

When 35th District Democrats meet Sunday in Belfair, Sheldon faces the prospect that party members will endorse Kyle Taylor Lucas of Shelton for the Senate seat Sheldon has held for nine years. He previously served seven years in the House. Lucas has never held elected office.

So far, they’re the only candidates of any party to register their intent to run with the Public Disclosure Commission. Candidates officially file for office during the last week in July.

This will be the first time that Sheldon, 59, has ever faced a primary contest in which only voters who identify themselves as Democrats could cast ballots for him. Sheldon has broken party ranks many times, including endorsing George W. Bush for re-election in 2004. If they are the only two candidates to file for the seat, a Lucas victory in the September primary would send Sheldon out of the Legislature.

It was time for a change.

One of the things I couldn’t reconcile from the Tim Sheldon time at the TCD meeting a few weeks ago, is the way he begged off questions on his votes by saying something to the nature of “I voted the way my district is.” This implies that while he himself may be a fairly liberal kind of guy, he had the duty to represent his district.

No word though on the duty of his district to vote for people that actually believe in their own votes.

This “blame the district” excuse is lame and dishonest. If it were true, the 35th wouldn’t elect both Kathy Haigh and Bill Eickmeyer. I’ve been looking for examples of the difference between Tim, Kathy and Bill and this morning I ran across the Washington Conservation Voters’ new scorecard.

Both Bill and Kathy score in the 90s, while Tim is way down at 25 percent:

Senator Sheldon lives in a district that not only values our natural habitat, but also depends upon it for jobs and economic benefit. Therefore, it defies logic that he continuously attempts to block legislation to protect Hood Canal and the Puget Sound, a significant part of his district’s livelihood. Comparing his 25% score with the 92% and 90% scores of his seatmates in the House suggests clearly that he can and should be doing more to protect the environment.

Even Dan Swecker, who represents the neighboring and way more red 20th District, got a better rating than Tim:

Senator Swecker represents a conservative district that has not historically produced pro-environment legislators, so it is with pleasure that we applaud him for his record this past biennium. His work on transportation issues, along with his efforts to fix failing septic systems and to ban toxic flame retardants, are commendable.

Would Sheldon say that Dan is out of touch with the 20th?

We just wouldn’t say that during the signature gathering part:

The lack of signatures, Fuiten said, tells him that “Tim Eyman has a knack for messing stuff up. He’s kind of an interloper on this whole thing in my opinion. Part of the deal is resistance to him.”

Fuiten said, “There are millions of people in the state of Washington who don’t want to see that become law. It’s not a question of lack of support. It’s really a question of organization and getting the work done.”

…wonders Anonymous comments at the Faith and Freedom Network blog. I was looking for some other side perspective on what happened in Olympia yesterday (it sill makes no sense to me), and stumbled upon these comments:

At 2:19 PM, Anonymous said…

We have allowed our Christ filled message to be co-opted by a moron

Darth Vader represents the “dark force.” Tim Eyman show disrespect for the Christian view by wearing a satanic outfit.

We should distance ourselves as soon as possible.

At 4:31 PM, Anonymous said…

well, there still was some good left in Darth Vadar. He did kill the emporer in the end. Maybe there is some good in Tim Eyman. Somewhere. In a gallaxy far, far away. Wow, that was just too easy

Yes, it is possible you sided with a jackass to get to your goal of total straigt-Christian domination. Or, like any scam artist, he saw you as a perfect mark and took you.