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March Madness, Democratic Style
Yep, it's that time of year again -- March Madness, when the playoff process winnows down the pack to a final few vying for the big win.
Only in this case, we're not talking about college basketball playoffs. We're talking about something more important than a mere spectator sport.
We're talking about the real deal here, the ultimate game, where who wins and who loses can affect the lives of millions of people for years to come.
We're talking about a game called politics.
You may recall that right before the '06 elections, a certain senator from Massachusetts wanted to use his powerful fundraising abilities to help worthy Democratic candidates win in close races for vulnerable seats.
The goal was to raise large amounts of cash for those candidates to use for extra advertising and other expenses in the final days of the campaign season. The problem was selecting which candidates would be best able to put the funds to use.
The senator's staffers came up with a novel way to pick the final recipients. They put together a "Three for the Buzzer" program, in which a small group of candidates would be listed on his website and supporters would be urged to go there and vote for their own favorite three of the lot.
Not only did that build a lot of buzz for the candidates who were in the running, it also got a lot of people engaged in the process who would otherwise have been passive observers at best.
The "Three for the Buzzer" program was a big success. Response was high among the netroots audience, and the funds raised were put to good use by candidates who had the largest base of voters cheering them on.
That innovative concept worked so well last fall, in fact, that the senator and his staff are doing something very much like it again this weekend... and they want to hear from you.
They're calling it March Madness this time. And as you can see, the playoffs metaphor is quite apt:
Is your basketball bracket looking grim? Has your go-all-the way choice already been eliminated and you’re completely out of the running? Here’s one you can win.
Starting Wednesday, March 21, John Kerry kicked off his own March Madness. His target audience is not hoops fans but political donors who may want to help Democratic candidates boost their first-quarter fundraising totals.
It’s time to fill out your first bracket of 2007 to decide which great Democrats the johnkerry.com community will rally behind this spring.
Go select 2 Senators and 2 Representatives that you want to win.
Voting extends through midnight ET, Sunday, March 25th.
Sorry to be OT, but I posted a link to this video quickly on the last thread, because I had to run to teach.
Please watch it; I think you will be glad you did:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zAMEZsmwMDY
It is Congressman Lewis getting his Backbone Award. I count this day as a highlight in my already-remarkable encounters on the Hill.
Here at Karen's, lobbying to amend the Holt Bill. Hopefully to ban DREs, a very uphill effort, but there are aspects that make electronic more permanent, not less. More on that later.
I just saw the Congressman Lewis video, and it is something to see, a man of principle, modest, quietly saying amazing words. A pure moment. Yes, tears.
Please watch.
That was great! Really great! Bravo to Congressman Lewis, The Backbone Campaign, Karen!! This made my week (& I'm exhausted) I will pass it on.
O/T here. Sorry. But this is the important - 1st US Military trial(?) to be held at Guantanamo on Monday 26th March. The Major Michael Mori has done such a brilliant job in his defence of David Hicks that he has left no stone unturned. Even though there's only one charge left to be answered, Major Mori has let it be known world-wide that these military trials have been set up to guarantee convictions.
We've heard of the confessions(?) made by Guantanamo residents lately and no doubt David's confessions(?) will be presented as proof positive to his guilt.
I'm pretty sure that David is coming home to "serve his sentence" (seems like an assumption of guilt to me) - AND that the 5 years already served will be subtracted. The trial is just a charade so that we, who are so dumb that we will believe that he got justice. Even so. I'm glad that this leg of the David Hicks story will be over very soon.
Oh yeah - the above agreement was for David's plea bargain. So, if he wants to come home he has to plead guilty to the one charge that hasn't been tossed out, and bargain for transfer to Australia. That happens in civil cases all the time, so I guess this kind of injustice permeates throughout our systems. Only the wealthy and strongest can pursue justice without being punished for so doing.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-sidelined-by-legal-brawl/2007/03/23/1174597890568.html
O/T again. But again, it's important given the noises being made about Iran lately.
Iran seizes British sailors
Tehran
March 24, 2007 - 9:39AM
Iran said it seized a group of British sailors today after they illegally entered its waters, threatening a full-blown crisis in already tense relations between the West and Tehran.
"British charge d'affaires Kate Smith was summoned to the foreign ministry to receive a firm protest from Iran against the illegal entry of British sailors into Iranian territorial waters," said a statement from Ibrahim Rahimpour, director general for Western European affairs.
"This makes a number of times that British sailors have illegally entered Iranian territorial waters at Arvand Roud. They were arrested by border guards for investigation and questioning," the statement added, without saying how many personnel had been seized.
Arvand Roud is the Iranian name for the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran from Iraq.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/iran-seizes-british-sailors/2007/03/24/1174597929903.html
Oh well. It's the middle of the night for you and here I am, alone. I had no idea that Gates was against Guantanamo and wanted it closed.
Gates 'lost battle to shut Gitmo'
Thom Shanker, Washington
March 24, 2007
IN HIS first weeks as US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates repeatedly argued that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had become so tainted abroad that legal proceedings there would be viewed as illegitimate, according to senior Bush Administration officials. He told US President George Bush and others that it should be shut down as quickly as possible.
cont. .....
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/gates-lost-battle-to-shut-gitmo/2007/03/23/1174597885851.html
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN THE HEARTLAND:
Rep. Mike Rogers district office is "vandalized" with anti-war graffiti:
http://www.wlns.com/
(feature clips)
From DU:
Mary Capin Carpenter pens tribute song to the Dixie Chicks and it kicks ass!
Edited on Sat Mar-24-07 09:42 AM by La Coliniere
Her new CD "The Calling" contains the song "On with the Song"
This isn't for the ones who would gladly follow
Everything their leader would have them know
Bowing and kissing, while the truth goes missing
Bring it on he crows, putting on his big show
This isn't for the man who can't count the bodies
Can't comfort the families, can't say when he's wrong
Claiming I'm the decider, like some sort of a messiah
While another day passes, and a hundred souls gone
WOW
Other songs on the CD are just as profound:
"Houston" is a moving account of Katrina displacement.
"Why Shouldn't We' is a testament to hope for all of us.
Don't think any of these tunes will make it to country radio, they've not played any of her new stuff in years. Their loss.
Anyways, thought DUers might want to know about these great new songs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/24/opinion/24zizek.html
Knight of the Living Dead
{{{This is a brilliant Op-Ed piece and deserves to be read in context in its entirety.}}}
Time and Numbers
It is so nice to get articles posted from Australia while we sleep!
I also like to read the Guardian before bed when those in the UK are getting up to go to work. & the sun has set on the day in the middle east long before we are even thinking about it. When we hear how many were killed and wounded, we have to remember that their yesterday is our today, and to multiply by 10 the number of civilians. For example, 7000 asylum seekers will be admitted to the US this year (a more than ten-fold increase) - that would be 70,000 in Americans. A truck bomb that kills 100 would kill 1000 here. We used to average 1-2 US soldiers killed per day, then it became 7-8.
A peace activist here sent me this photo and it speaks for how many of us feel sometimes. (Click on my name)
Well this stinks!
Today in the Seattle Times , there was a sidebar article "Reichert will get early GOP boost". The Hill, a newspaper about Congress, got a copy of the list of Republicans who will benefit from the House GOP's Regaining Our Majority Program (ROMP). The Hill said ROMP was created by former Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas. Surprise, surprise.
A friend wrote the following about a week ago without any knowledge of ROMP:
The Republican-controlled Congress for the last 6 years was all too willing to help them achieve this powerful executive branch. Delay's goal was to create a Permanent Republican Majority. No doubt, he is still feeding that beast steroids to bully America and anyone that stands in their way of getting all the money, all the power in order to have total control.
two people notified me of this - I'm going to read the rest
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/24/111246/489
Cronyism and the FEC
by AllDemsOnBoard
On Friday, the Washington Post reported that Bush’s 2004 campaign exceeded legal spending limits to the tune of $40 million. The Carpetbagger Report dissected the story here, exposing the crony roots of one of the current commissioners. Following Carpetbagger’s links and piecing together more information, Bush cronyism and the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) failure at oversight can be traced back to 2000, the hanging chads and the organization created to oversee election reform.
AllDemsOnBoard's diary :: ::
First, here is Carpetbagger on current FEC Commissioner Hans A. von Spakovsky and the Bush campaign-finance violation:
A ‘doozy’ of a campaign-finance violation
It’s fairly routine for big campaigns to run afoul of some campaign-finance measure. A campaign may miss a deadline, or misreport a donation, or exceed a spending limit. In general, the Federal Election Commission notices, the candidate in question makes amends, and nary an eyebrow is raised.
But a $40 million excess in campaign spending isn’t just a clerical error.
For REST OF THIS EXCELLENT DIARY, see URL ABOVE.
Bill Maher - good
http://tinyurl.com/yq7dc9
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/24/18632/9638
For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews.
From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami, undercover New York police officers attended meetings of political groups, posing as sympathizers or fellow activists, the records show.
A peace activist here sent me this photo and it speaks for how many of us feel sometimes. (Click on my name)
Posted by: not my president at March 24, 2007 01:13 PM
NMP - That photo and placard are brilliant! Thanks. Those of us in the latter half century of our lives feel like that always. Precious little to smile at these days, but that placard certainly raised a smile.
Posted by: NonnyO at March 24, 2007 10:56 AM
Thanks for that excellent article NonnyO. I've sent it to lots of our govt ministry plus their counterparts in the shadow ministry who will hopefully take over governing from the next election. Surely Howard couldn't claw his way back from the deep hole he's dug himself into.
Posted by: karen at March 23, 2007 11:23 PM
Going backwards here - well, we are "Down Under" and daylight saving just ended. I didn't know till I thought my computer clock had broken. I could have had another hour in bed!
Back to the point, Karen, the video was great. What a truly wonderful person he is. Backbone. Definitely. It must be really hard to maintain that quiet and gentle strength under this administration.
Posted by: sparrow at March 24, 2007 09:53 AM
Thanks for the tip. I've been a MCC fan for a long time, back to the days when I lived in DC & she used to play at the Birchmere. I'm on a Thelma & Louise road trip now with my daughter & I'll find a music store to pick up the CD.
On the road again...
Opus on the 2008 presidential race
http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/wpopu/
(date is Sunday, March 25, 2007 in case current comic doesn't come up)
Posted by: madame defarge at March 24, 2007 10:35 PM
I've had my share of Thelma and Louise type road trips and even some more like Driving Miss Daisy.
Either way, I hope your road trip is going well and that you'll enjoy the new MCC cd. It's good to hear a resurgence of peace songs. Some have even made the mainstream.
Most American Untouched by War
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003635013_iraqhome25.html
What does it take? the draft?
PETITION CALLING FOR A.G. GONZALES TO RESIGN:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/271776124?ltl=1174845992
What does it take? the draft?
Posted by: not my president at March 25, 2007 01:12 PM
@@@@@@
That or a tax increase... to pay for the war...
Read the rest at the link: (It's also on front page of Seattle Times)
City Police Spied Broadly Before G.O.P. Convention
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/nyregion/25infiltrate.html
From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami, undercover NewYork police officers attended meetings of political groups, posing assympathizers or fellow activists, the records show.
They made friends, shared meals, swapped e-mail messages and then filed daily reports with the department's Intelligence Division. Other investigators mined Internet sites and chat rooms...
These included members of street theater companies, church groups and antiwar organizations, as well as environmentalists and people opposed to the death penalty, globalization and other government policies. Three New York City elected officials were cited in the reports.
**new thread**