I listen to DLC loving Bill Press in the morning only because his show is the one playing on our local AAR station.  Many mornings I get pissed off because of his constant self promotion and kissing up to "conventional" Democrats with whom he has formed relationships over his many years of pandering to them.

I am so glad to see Howard Dean getting his props from the blogging community as well as Berman's piece in the Nation.  Without Dean, there might very well not have been a Kos, or an Armstrong, or a Marshall, or a Digby, or an Avarosis.  Maybe there wouldn't be a Kid Oakland, or a Jerome de Paris or Hyperpolic Pants Explosion or plutonic page or teacherken or bondad or Renee in Ohio or jaysea or donna in evanston.  The list goes on and on. Maybe Arianna Huffington would still be sleeping on the conservative side of the bed on Politically Incorrect.

The Dean nation has grown beyond one amazing run for President by one amazing small state governor.  We have opened our eyes and our minds to this nation that had nearly become unrecognizable as the hope and ideal in the world.  We have combined mousepads and shoeleather to become more than a movement. We have run for office and we have won.  We have supported progressive candidates and they have won.   We are America today.  We are America tomorrow.

Howard Dean speaks for me.  And I hope he always will.

Update:  It has been suggested to me that I put up a tip jar.  I would if I knew how.  I may be people-powered, but in some ways I remain unenlightened.  

The Kos and DFA communities have lost a friend.  On Mother's Day Kos diarist and incomparable graphic artist jaysea passed away.

Her wit and her ability to whip up just the right design were really special.  On the DFA blog if you were talking about it, jc came up with a design about it.  If there was something you wanted to know, she was a world class googler.  She had the answer before you could get the question out.  

I just thought y'all would want to know.  And to get a glimpse of her graphic talent, here's a link to her blogs.  Who knows how long they will continue to exist?

http://jcdesignslive.blogspot.com/

http://jcdesigns.blogspot.com/

Update: I was just reminded that jaysea, or jc as she was known to the DFA community, designed the DFA logo.  Her legacy lives on.

I just wanted to share the good news.  The trumped up charges against Charlie Grapski have been dismissed.

"A judge on Thursday granted a motion to dismiss a felony wiretapping charge against Charlie Grapski, who was charged with taping Alachua City Manager Clovis Watson Jr. against his will in May.

Senior Judge Aymer "Buck" Curtain on Thursday dismissed the charge of illegal interception of wireless communications, a felony, against Grapski on the grounds that as a public official in a public office, Watson had no expectation of privacy."

http://www.gainesville.com/...

Charlie Grapski's trial is set for tomorrow in Alachua, Florida.  For those who have been following Charlie's case, you know that Charlie will be representing himself in court, because he cannot come up with the $40,000 required by his defense attorney.  I know the situations are different, but I am reminded of these famous lines from John Steinbeck's THE GRAPES OF WRATH:

Ma Joad: "Rich fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people."

Tom Joad: "I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look, wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be there in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be there in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they built, I'll be there, too."

GRAPSKI TURNS DOWN STATE ATTORNEY'S SETTLEMENT OFFER,
TRIAL STARTS MONDAY ON BOGUS "WIRETAP" CHARGE

Gainesville, FL - Former University of Florida instructor Charlie Grapski will face a third degree felony wiretapping charge in Circuit Court on Monday November 13. The trial is already steeped in local politics, and Grapski's prosecution stems from his May 1 arrest at Alachua City Hall. Grapski was there attempting to inspect public records related to a city commission election that is being challenged in a citizens' lawsuit.

On Wednesday November 8, Grapski turned down an offer by the State Attorney to settle the case out of court, and as a result he will be going to trial on Monday November 13 in Circuit Court in Gainesville.

"Their offer would have been reasonable had I done something wrong," Charlie Grapski said of the settlement offer made to him by State Attorney Bill Cervone and Assistant State Attorney Geoff Fleck during a meeting in the State Attorney's office on Wednesday, where the defendant met with his prosecutors to discuss his case.

Just received this e-mail from Charlie's Defense Committee.  This is dire.  I know that y'all have the elections on your mind, but if someone can be arrested and arraigned for openly criticizing a vote count, than elections are just a futile gesture.

"Dear friends of Charlie,
Things are heating up here for Charlie, and for those in the Defense Committee. It turns out he is going to be defending this criminal case PRO SE on a aggressive very fast track schedule.. We will need help with two things: We need to raise $$$ for DEPOSITIONS (they have to be set NOW due to "speedy trial" timetable) of Clovis Watson, APD Chief Robert Jernigan, Mayor Jean Calderwood, and two others, as well as other legal expenses. And we need help with PUBLICITY from bloggers and folks who know how to get the story into the media. Anything you can do will be greatly appreciated. I welcome your advice and suggestions, and please use this information however you can (editing or re-writing is fine).

Thanks,

Michael Canney
Alachua
352-871-1991
chicoverde@cox.net

Also: Carol Thomas 386-418-3791
Email Charlie Grapski: grapksi@grapski.org"

I have been out all day, but when I checked phone messages, there was an urgent message from Carol Thomas, who is working hard on behalf of Charlie Grapski's defense.  She is part of an ad hoc committee to raise funds for Charlie's defense.

I know that many of us are tapped out from election donations, but Charlie has about three days to come up with $40,000 for his defense of the trumped up charges against him.

If you can possibly help, go to:

http://grapskidefense.org/

or send a check to:

Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Charlie Grapski
P.O. Bos 190
Alachua, FLA 32616

Charlie's situation is truly an abomination. He has been arrested for daring to question the integrity of the vote in Alachua. I truly believe that if Charlie can be made to disappear, than it can happen to any activist, anywhere. Even us.  

For more information regarding the Alachua project, go to:
http://freealachua.org/

Sometimes you just want to live your own life.  In just the past week I've been petitioning, I visited my Congresscritter, I met with my steering committee to plan our next DFA Linkup. Sometimes I just want to stay home on my few free days and catch up with...me.

So last Friday I stayed home and baked a cake and my famous noodle kugel for Rosh Hoshona. Had to make them a week and a half early because I'm too busy next week to cook. I've ordered the rest of the holiday dinner from a local Foodstuffs, because I'm working on the day before the holiday.  Happy birthday, world.

Sunday I will be learning how to conduct surveys of likely progressive voters. On Sunday evening I will go to work. I work part-time now; if you consider more than 40 hours per week part time.

So yes I'm tired, and yes I'm kvetching about it. I have a dog that needs brushing, a carpet that needs vacuuming, and an essay that needs writing; not to mention that great American novel I've been putting off producing.

I admit that I'll probably still listen when I'm getting ready for work.  I've listened for so long that it's kind of like brushing my teeth as part of my morning routine. But they'll get no more bucks from me until they start reporting real news.

 In keeping with "the media can only focus on one story at a time" meme, this morning's Weekend Edition was all Rita all the time, including a first person report from a woman who left her hurricane threatened Texas home along with her two elderly cats in tow, and scurried along to Mother's, where there was no rain and no hurricane; just a pleasant gust of wind once in a while.

He made it clear in his New Years message on BFA.  His message?  "Stay and fight."

"Our message has to be about rebuilding community. The community we want to rebuild is one based on mutual respect. The community we want to rebuild is one based on fiscal prudence, where a dollar saved is a dollar earned so that our kids can have at least the same, if not better, opportunities than we have. Our community will be one where Americans who work hard, no matter what their wages are, have a basic standard of living which includes adequate health care. Our community will be inclusive. Our community will not turn its back on those who are members of minority groups, on American Indians, on single women with children, on people with disabilities, on public employees, on gay Americans, or on working people who make minimum wage.

Bush supporter Terry Moran is at it again.  On World News Tonight he managed to not only attack Eugene Hedland's Truth and Hope ad in which Eugene connects Bush's "Nope, not over there" WMD joke with actual footage of war death and injury with lies coming out of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth.  

Not only that, but they showed a portion of Bush giving the finger at the camera when he was the goveror of Texas.  According to Moran, it was a "purported obscene gesture."  I guess that Bush's laughter and reference to his act as "the one finger salute" was purported too.

Maybe there really is no war in Iraq.  Maybe it's just purported.

I received a rethuglican flyer today fom Ed Koch and the Republican Jewish Coalition.  I am apalled.  On one side is Ed Koch's ugly face and comments that conclude with:

"I am a lifelong Democrat, but the security of our country is too important not to speak out and say plainly, John Kerry's comments [which are not quoted in the flyer] are naive and just too risky to our nation's security."

Did I mention that the entire back of the flyer is a picture of the tower ruins and the back of a NYC Fireman?

I am a Jew, albeit a secular one, and I don't know how I wound up on Koch's mailing list.  Everything about this mailing is offensive to me, right down to having received it at all.  

I feel dirty.  Any ideas about how I might respond to this smear on not only John Kerry, but the victims of 911 and Jews everywhere who are part of the reality based community?

This is posted on the Kerry blog:

"9/11 Widows on Rice Campaign Travel

Five widows of 9/11 victims, Kristen Breitweiser, Patty Casazza, Monica Gabrielle, Mindy Kleinberg, and Lorie Van Auken, released the following statement today regarding Condoleezza Rice's travel to battleground states:

"At a time when terrorism is on the rise and American troops are dying every day in Iraq, we are disturbed that National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is giving speeches and press interviews in battleground states. Her time would be far better spent tracking down Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda terrorists - the people who killed our husbands - and pushing for full adoption of the 9/11 commission recommendations."

I hope this statement gets broad coverage.