Back in 2004, when Meetup.com decided that they would start charging for their services, DFA launched DFA Link to help our members connect with each other and organize at the grassroots level.  When Howard Dean moved from DFA to the DNC, he had a new set of these networking tools developed and launched.  Senator Barack Obama grabbed the same set of tools, literally from the same vendor, and built My.BarackObama.com to help his supporters organize in order to win the Primary.  Now we're going to use them to win the General Election, and we're going to keep organizing after November to continue to build our movement.  No more pendulum swings back and forth.  We're headed into the future, damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!

What I had not seen yet is a way to bring these tools together.  There is a wall between DFA and the other two groups because we are a PAC, but there is nothing preventing links to all tools coming from a single page.  Now there is.

Find more Democrats!

The links on this page will take you to all of the websites around the Web that have been designed to help Democrats and Progressives self-organize.

I listen to the Ed Schultz Show in the noon-3 timeslot on AM1090 in Seattle.  He announced today that the Jones Radio Network has been bought out by Triton Radio Networks.

• Press release from Jones
• Triton Media Group has their press release embedded into their flash pages.

So I did some research and edited some articles on Wikipedia, and got worried.

Thank you for your speech about ANWR.  The Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.  About drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.  Oil that we will drill using methods that pollute the environment.  Oil that we will convert into gasoline by processes that pollute our environment.  Oil that we will burn to produce electricity, gasoline that we will burn in our vehicles to help us commute to work, putting the exhaust into the atmosphere.

You raise an interesting point in claiming that OPEC and other oil producing countries would lower their prices if they suddenly see that they have "competition".  And so I ask you, sir, how long it would take to bring the oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to the market?  How long would it take to bring the oil that is potentially along the continental shelf to the market?  I am hearing 4 years before we see anything that could even potentially pull down oil or gas prices.  In the meantime, we will see those prices continue to go up and up and up.

So, the Climate Change legislation is on the floor.  sort of.  They are debating an amendment, actually a complete rewrite, of the bill supported by Boxer (D), Liebermann (I) and Warner (R).  The vote two days ago was for cloture so the Senate could debate the bill.  Some good speeches yesterday on both sides.

Today, the Republicans have decided that they want the Clerk to read the entire amendment/substitution.  It's probably 200+ pages, being read word for word by the clerk(s).  Whenever one of the sponsors request to dispense with the reading, an R on guard objects, forcing the clerks to continue.

The Republicans are doing this delay of debate because they are objecting to how slow things are going on Judicial nominations.  We'll be able to do nothing for at least the rest of the day.  It's the equivalent of a filibuster, but without the Republicans from having to do anything themselves.  They've figured out how to make the clerk do all the work.

I'm watching CSPAN2, and I'd be interested in reading comments from others who might be watching as well.

Did Sen. Sessions (R-AL) just say that we have "dominion" over the Earth?  Crazy.

Everyone is saying that the environment is important, and nobody wants to hurt the economy.  This is looking like the movie "The Day After".  Crazy stuff.

Post your comments on what you hear.  Let's talk about it.

I don't know what the Official Campaign is going to be doing to turn the National Delegates for Obama into a community, but we're launching a website of, by and for the grassroots that might start us on that path.

http://obamadelegates.org

Please visit, please join, and please spread the word.

My mother sent me a link to a Politico article about an article written by Senator Barack Obama's father, Barack H. Obama in 1965.  The title of the article is "Problems Facing Our Socialism,"  and is a review of a Kenyan government paper from earlier in that year.  I've posted a copy of the article (PDF) on my own website.

No, I'm not kidding.  A safe blue seat in the heart of Seattle needs all the help that we can give it, today, now.  What's this about?  John Boehner.

Dear Friend:

I woke up Tuesday morning with some bad but not unexpected news.

An earlier decision was expected, but the Judge stalled for two months before releasing his final fee decision in the Boehner v. McDermott legal matter late Monday afternoon.

Short version . . . the Judge ruled that I must pay $1,111,388 in legal fees and interest. As of today, my committees have $996,871 on hand. I need to raise:

$143,717.43

A "demand" letter from Boehner's legal team is on its way. I have been advised that the money is due immediately. Payment is needed to clear this matter up once and for all.

There is a way (maybe the only way) for me to get from here to the $143,717 that is needed to end this long costly legal battle.

It is with your help! Your support today is vital.

Please contribute now!

Did anyone else see the US Supreme Court ruling that came out this morning?  I heard about it on the Radio this morning, and paid very close attention to the subject all day, actually reading the 33 page decision.  The article in the Seattle Times stated Secretary of State Sam Reed's reaction.  He was surprised and delighted that "the people of the state of Washington are going to be able to control who gets elected through this process."

Mr. Reed has evidently never attended a meeting of his local Republican Party.  If he ever had, he would have seen that there actual humans at those meetings, not automatons.  The people have always had control of the process of who gets elected.  The General Election in November is where our elected officials actually get elected.  The primary is a different purpose entirely.

Please, if you can spare $5 or $10, please help me boost the candidate running in OH-08.  The current holder of that seat is John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House.  The challenger is Nicholas Von Stein.  His email to use in Paypal is votevonstein@yahoo.com.

Why do I, an activist in Seattle, care about this particular race?

The White House branded Pelosi's request for a federal grand jury to enforce the House subpeonas "truly contemptible." Pelosi's House Republican colleagues dismissed her request as "a partisan political stunt." White House spokesman Tony Fratto played the fear card and denounced Pelosi for trying to investigate loyal Americans instead of passing legislation that makes Americans safe by allowing the executive branch to spy without warrants. House GOP leader John Boehner's spokesperson accused Pelosi of making Americans unsafe by "pandering to the left-wing fever swamps of loony liberal activists."

Longshot, yeah.  But it still feels good to send my money to the campaign going against the guy who doesn't give a darn about the law.

I'm listening to Ed Schultz, and he caught my attention about the new 527 that Clinton's supporters are forming to help her beat back the Obama support around the country.  I've read a little bit, but the first thing that came to mind is how far the mighty have fallen.

The second thing that came to mind is anger.  The Democratic Party is coming back from the dead.  The 1980's really hurt us, and the response from the people in power was to reach out to the high level donors and ask for help.  The result was the DLC, which won the 1992 election by moving the party towards those money interests, closer than it ever has been before.  Campaigning as a progressive, Bill Clinton got into office and tried to implement some progressive ideas.  But during the 1992 election he had failed to build the party from the bottom up, and thus when he needed the help of the grassroots, we were not there.  Heck, I was in the Navy, ignoring everything political at that point.

What a day.  At Barbara's at 10:30 to get things set up, at the caucus site at 11:45, and the staff person at Northgate Community Center showed me the two extra rooms that would be available if we needed them.  We already had a few people sitting in the comfy chairs waiting for the room to be available.  I think they all helped set up the chairs, asking for direction, and generally super-helpful.

We got the sign-in tables set up, and the sign-in sheets out.  By 12:10, people were starting to arrive, and by 1:00 we had a full house.  And I mean full.  429 people showed up for 6 precincts.  I have no idea what the fire code said.  (At Olympic View Church up the street, the fire code on the lower room said the limit was around 200 people, and Larry Smith had 510.  They sent the largest precinct (123 people) up to the chapel.  And that wasn't the largest in the district.)

Back to the story.  What does this have to do with John McCain?  Read on!

I got this from a friend and DK supporter who has not gotten permission from the Kucinich campaign to post it with their name.  So they asked me to post it without.

I was at a meeting last night brainstorming ideas to get some visibility for my candidate here in Washington, and someone came up with the idea of doing a fundraiser and visibility event in Lewis County because of the mine closure last year and the flooding.  I contacted the admin for the Lewis County group, and then contacted the county Chair.  I got the following answer:

(Warning, if you haven't heard how bad it is, like myself, this may be a bit of a shock.)

Chad,

Sorry, this is so long - I am exhausted and wordy.  The combination is not always a good thing.  Maybe I am hoping that someone in the campaign will take this to heart... maybe I am just hoping for one more volunteer or one more new pillow to be donated (take that as a heavy handed hint ~smile~)

More after the fold...

Ok, this is probably minor for most people, but I'm raging against the machine here.  Kent Jones announced Monday or Tuesday that he was being sacked by Air America and was leaving the Rachel Maddow show.

I really appreciate the sports reports and other quack-pot news that he comes up with, and I'm going to be really sorry to see him go.  It's probably too late to change the decision, but let's give him a roaring goodbye from the Netroots.  And lots of luck in whatever wonderful thing he is planning on doing after he achieves his freedom from the corporate juggernaut.  Maybe Olbermann or Stewart will give him an opportunity to try television!

Good luck Kent!  We love you, even if Air America corporate doesn't!!!

Townhall.com has put out a letter by John Campbell describing the "The Top 10 Things Democrats Don't Want You to Know, and it's time to fight back.  Can someone help me find the talking points on each of these points?

HillaryCare, EdwardsCare, will you talk to Iran, where did you get your hair cut, what's your plan for energy, what do you think of your opponent's plan for infrastructure.

It's all a damned waste of time.  Know why?  Because it extends the notion that the President is the decider, and that Congress is out of the picture.

News flash:  The President doesn't write the laws.  The Cabinet doesn't write the laws.  According to the way I read the Constitution, Congress writes the laws, and the President and Executive Branch executes those laws.

Am I wrong?

Is anyone else on Kos following the fires that are burning in half the country and that have killed 63 people so far?  Reports are that several of them were started by developers who want to clear land one way or the other in order to build.  I don't think they meant to clear the land around Olympia, but who knows.

Anyway, I haven't seen anything, and wanted to put it on our radar.  Greece is an important ally, and we need to do more to help.  Donations to the International Red Cross of money and material goods to help those who have lost their homes (a lot of people have), or whatever.

One of the fires is in the outskirts of Athens, the birthplace of Democracy.