What question would you ask Ambassador Joseph Wilson today?
Wed Oct 26, 2005 at 09:41:48 AM PDT
There is a specter haunting the White House.
With Fitzoween approaching and scary indictments floating about, Ambassador Joseph Wilson is going to speak in Seattle at 7:30 tonight. Now, if you were sitting in the front row (as I will be), what question would you most like to ask of him?
Present your question in comments below. Also, if you like any of the questions already submitted by other people, indicate so by rating their comments up. Please don't repeat questions that have already been posted. I'll try to ask one or two of the best questions tonight, and I'll report back.
Should I wear a Santaween hat when I go, or would that just be too tacky?
Q&A with a servicemember stationed in New Orleans
Sun Sep 11, 2005 at 11:28:56 AM PDT
Last Wednesday 8/31/05, I emailed my partner's brother who had been sent to New Orleans as part of the military effort at rescue and recovery. I asked him about several of the biggest concerns people have discussed here at dKos -- the recovery and identification of bodies, the "snipers" that were reported, people being prevented from leaving, etc... On Friday, he finally had time to reply. Here's our exchange, relayed with his permission.
Seattle paper SLAMS the Bushes for being callous, inept!
Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 01:51:43 PM PDT
From
Suburban Guerrilla, I saw this
editorial from my hometown paper, the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Does anyone else feel like storming the Bastille? It's hard not to, when faced with how the Bush family has responded to the devastation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
In a serious let-them-eat-cake moment, first lady Laura Bush said that mothers must get their kids to school, as doing so gives children "a sense of normalcy."
(more slamming below)
Is it safe to publish emails from military servicemembers?
Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 11:05:42 PM PDT
I'm corresponding with a member of one of the military services. Right now, he's in the middle of a rescue/retrieval operation somewhere in the Gulf area.
Is there likely to be any retaliation against him if I post excerpts from his emails here? It's not damning stuff, although it gives a new perspective. Certainly, the communications haven't been "approved."
Update: I should point out, I'm not planning to reveal the guy's name. I'm more concerned about whether outgoing emails of servicemembers are likely to be monitored and compared against quotes that are published on a blog like this.
I'll take this diary down once I get an answer, unless there seems to be some value in keeping it up.
Wherein I explain it to somebody who hates politics
Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 11:16:56 AM PDT
My letter to some politically inert family members...
The confusion of the truck drivers could be heard on the
live scanner feed early Friday morning, shortly after midnight. They were driving into New Orleans, intending to deliver their emergency relief supplies at the Superdome, where more than 20,000 people had waited for days without water or food. The drivers wanted to know where to put their trucks, and who would assist in distributing the emergency relief supplies.
They were made to wait. Although many elderly victims and babies were dying from dehydration at the Superdome and the nearby convention center, the people with relief supplies were not allowed to approach the area. The administration wanted to have cameras in place to catch footage of George W. Bush on location as the first supplies reached the hurricane victims. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush didn't arrive until much later Friday morning. So they were made to wait.
Congressional policy response to BOTH disasters; a letter to electeds
Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 02:27:58 PM PDT
Our little group of progressive Seattle Democrats has developed the following letter to send to our congresspeople. The list of recommended policy steps has been well received by other groups around here, so I thought it might be helpful to make it available to dKos members for you to consider in your own communications with Congress. Thanks especially to Stirling Newberry, whose diary entry included many of the ideas that we worked into the first nine recommendations.
Dear ___:
We the undersigned members of the Progressive Democratic Caucuses of Washington, 46th Legislative District, wish to express our grave concern with the two disasters that have befallen Gulf States this week. The first disaster was the hurricane, a calamity of nature that demands immediate action. The second disaster was the tragically inadequate response by federal and military agencies to save lives in communities along the coast and to save the city of New Orleans from flooding.
What should I tell a Senator about what progressives want?
Mon Aug 08, 2005 at 01:59:58 PM PDT
I want to convey your ideas to a U.S. Senator. Please read the instructions below, and then reply to this post with your suggestions.
I'm part of a group that gets to meet with a Democratic Senator sometime during the next week. The "vibe" I have been getting from the Senator's staff is that they are pretty wary of progressives, and that they think we're all about protesting, or screaming, or whatever. (I have no idea how people could rise through the levels of Democratic staffdom without noticing that progressives make up a large part of the party, but there you go.)
I want to leave the Senator with a clear understanding of what issues are important to progressives, and what we want our Senators to do about them. That's where I want your help.
Ugly (purging dKos)
Fri Jul 08, 2005 at 04:14:15 PM PDT
I may not be as smart as Markos. I may not be as politically savvy as some of the people at Daily Kos. Certainly, I don't get asked to appear on radio and TV shows. But I have put in my few-thousand hours toward building the progressive movement, and getting candidates elected, and working in political advocacy. I earned my first college degree by studying the behavior of presidential administrations. I'd like to believe that experience gives me
some basis for commenting on politics.
I guess I might not be qualified to do it it here, though.
The tone of Markos's declaration and so many of the responses was just, well, vicious. And tribal. And, although I was enthusiastic about being part of a community where I could contribute, and expose my ideas to criticism, that enthusiasm died this morning when I learned I must be careful about my ideas causing me to be "banned."
{cont.}
Updated: Congresspeople who have posted at Daily Kos
Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 07:18:32 PM PDT
Count The Votes -- A Resolution passed by grassroots Dems
Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 01:12:08 PM PDT
Below is posted the approximate text of the resolution passed by Washington's 46th District Democrats last week. It calls upon the Democratic Party to investigate and prosecute any instances of voter fraud or vote supporession, and it calls for tallies of the votes of ALL eligible voters before results are certified. Perhaps it can serve as a template for other groups/other locations.
See also the related thread, Our Party Urges Congress to investigate voting irregularities, posted by Lestatdelc.
A pointer to story about possible Republican snitch
Mon Dec 06, 2004 at 12:01:04 PM PDT
I am pointing folks to this story so people may evaluate it critically. (No hair on fire here.)
... A Florida computer programmer has now made remarkable claims in a detailed sworn affidavit, signed this morning and obtained exclusively by The BRAD BLOG!
The programmer claims that he designed and built a "vote rigging" software program at the behest of then Florida Congressman, now U.S. Congressman, Republican Tom Feeney of Florida's 24th Congressional District.
Of Mollusks and Men: A Brief Opportunity
Fri Nov 26, 2004 at 06:38:08 PM PDT
Luis Toro at
Colorado Luis explains exactly how Kerry's decision to become an invertebrate since the election has, unsurprisingly, narrowed his ability to take Ohio's electoral votes.
Kerry apparently thinks that Al Gore's mistake in 2000 was fighting for the recount in Florida, and if Gore hadn't have done it, he would have been a viable candidate in 2004. So he has sat back, letting the Green and Libertarian Parties do the heavy lifting, not expressing more than the faintest hope that a recount in Ohio will change the result.
That seemed like a plausible strategy until a federal judge refused to speed up the recount, ruling that there is no reason to get the votes counted before Ohio names its electors on December 7 because there is no reasonable chance either the Green Party's David Cobb or the Libertarians' Michael Badnarik will end up the winner...
(more below...)
Berkeley election study reported in mainstream newspaper
Thu Nov 25, 2004 at 06:58:32 PM PDT
Up here in Schenectady, NY, where I'm spending the holiday with my partner's family (ugh.), the
regional newspaper picked up a story today about the
study done by U.C. Berkeley's Survey Research Center. They put it on the front page of the National section with the headline,
Study questions 130,000 Bush votes in Florida. (The study points to unlikely numbers of Bush votes in three urban Florida counties.) The story originally ran in the San Francisco Chronicle on November 19.
Has anyone else seen this story in the mainstream media, other than in Wired magazine and some computer publications?
Are journalists aware of election fraud? Help solve a mystery.
Wed Nov 24, 2004 at 02:53:43 PM PDT
At the blog
Political Physics, I read a very interesting article purportedly written by journalist O.T. Tewes of The American Press. It describes a widespread understanding among journalists and others in the DC political establishment that large-scale election fraud occurred and is likely to be reported eventually. An excerpt here:
... Meanwhile, reports are circulating in Washington that President Bush and his campaign officials and state co-chairs are under investigation for conspiracy to defraud voters, along with a host of local, state and federal elections and civil rights laws that have been broken.
"I'm not going down with them," said one Republican high-official who asked not to be named. "This thing is very, very serious and I cannot see them getting away with it. There's no way in hell I am going to be charged with violating the constitution. Even the President has to know he is not above the law of the land.
(more below)
