DNC: State Chairs revolt against DC consultant culture

DNC: State Chairs revolt against DC consultant culture

According to Oregon's new DNC Committeewoman Jenny Greenleaf, it isn't only bloggers who are unhappy with the "consultant culture" in Washington, D.C. Jenny attended the ASDC (Association of State Democratic Chairs) meeting over the weekend and came to this conclusion:

"The states are revolting against the Washington consultant culture..[ ].. Most of them are just as frustrated with the DNC as bloggers. And they are ON the DNC."

Jenny offers this view for bloggers who believe there's an intent to shut certain people out of the big tent:

"The Democratic Party not a monolithic organization. I guess what bothers me most about many of the diatribes against Party that I read on the ‘net is the sense that there’s a deliberate attempt to exclude people. I don’t think it’s intentional."

See Jenny's entire entry at today's American Street.

Jenny's accounting of DNC Chair candidates' backgrounds and positions is here.

At the Blogging of the President (BOP), D.C. got "killed" in an informal exit poll of DNC members who were at the state chair event:
Howard Dean 26
Wellington Webb 26
Ron Kirk 24
Donnie Fowler 14
Martin Frost 9
James Blanchard 7
Simon Rosenberg 4
Harold Ickes 3.

Leo Hindery has dropped out.

(*poll taken by Jerome and Matt at BOP. Matt likes Simon Rosenberg for the position, and explains why he thinks you should get to "know him" HERE. ).

According to Jerome Armstrong,

"There's something wrong when DNC Chair candidate Donnie Fowler, during his 5-minute presentation on his candidacy, singles out Matt Stoller as an example of embracing the technological ideas that are going to bring this party forward, and then some DNC staffer walks up to Stoller and tells him he's got to leave the room, because he's a blogger..[ ]..Nevermind the bizarre disconjunct of their kicking us out while they eye the DNC coffers from the internet's small donor with greed. Put aside their praise for Terry McAuliffe having figured out how to hook up 2 million new activist small donors, while they kick out the activists that help make it happen. We want to hear what they are going to do to reform the DNC inside the states, because it's inside the states, not just in DC, that this reform needs to happen."

So I took this test...

So I took this test....

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convincing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Brownstein: Beinart Analogy Off-Base in Light of Current Realities

Brownstein: Beinart Analogy Off-Base in Light of Current Realities

Ron Brownstein explains how Peter Beinart's recent TNR article fails to address current realities when suggesting that today's Democratic leaders have been weak in coalescing behind a "fighting faith" against radical Islam.

Beinart is a smart and serious student of political history, and his lengthy argument (published in the Dec. 13 issue) is intriguing. But his analogy to the 1940s is imperfect for explaining the situation Democrats face now. In fact, his argument shows how difficult it will be for Democrats to set a new course on national security until they regain the White House.

Beinart may lament Democratic reaction to Bush's mistakes in Iraq, and it may be true that the Democratic party has been recently defined more by its opposition to Bush's choices than by its own alternatives. As more of the grave errors in the Bush administration's judgement regarding Iraq are exposed, however, I think the public will begin to more easily understand that there was valid reason for protest all along. In my mind, if we agree with Peter Beinart, we are agreeing to help the Bush administration cover one of the biggest blunders in U.S. history, which will only serve to further diminish our nation by prolonging a wrong-minded foreign policy. It's important that we move on, but we must move on with dignity, righteousness, and a political mindset that encompasses honesty, respect, and social justice. The Bush foreign policy has done little to forward such notions.

Brownstein speaks about the impotency and futility of Beinart's argument about Kerry's failure to develop a positive post-9/11 Democratic national security agenda. The simple and inescapable fact was this: Bush was the incumbent.

"In American politics, the party out of the White House is defined mostly by its reaction to the president's decisions, especially in foreign policy. Beinart is wise in counseling Democrats to highlight ideas for the war on terrorism that extend beyond criticizing Bush. But Kerry's experience shows that even when they do, the president will still set the terms of debate because he sets the direction for national security policy."

Stephen J. Williams--The Teacher Behind the Cupertino Lawsuit

"..Some parents criticize Williams for taking the extreme step of filing a lawsuit. He should have taken his discontent to parents and school officials rather than creating negative publicity for the school, they say....."

"..Parents' coping strategy: Try to keep things normal for the children's sake..."

Stephen J. Williams--The Teacher Behind the Cupertino Lawsuit

San Jose Mercury- Teacher's suit puts uneasy spotlight on Cupertino

Excerpt:

"Williams was born in Madison, Wis., according to a biographical entry in a school yearbook. He grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., and his family moved to San Jose in 1978. He attended Lynbrook High School in San Jose, where he played trombone in the marching band and performed in a school production of ``South Pacific.'' He swam competitively while attending the University of California-Berkeley, where he earned a degree in economics.

He entered teaching, according to the yearbook, after working for an economic consulting firm. While completing his teaching credential, he began working as a substitute teacher in the Cupertino district in 1995 and landed a position at Stevens Creek Elementary in 1998.

Two years ago

Williams began injecting religious references into his daily lessons about two years ago, according to parents and teachers. He had joined New Hope Peninsula Church in San Carlos, where he met his wife. The couple live in Mountain View, have a 5-month-old daughter, and are expecting another child this summer.

``I went through a long process of investigating things, looking into the meaning of the Bible, and asking questions about a higher order,'' he told the Mercury News. ``I was not a Christian most of my life. I was not raised a Christian.''

According to the lawsuit, his handouts came under scrutiny last year when a parent complained that Williams brought religion-based materials to class to elaborate on a discussion about the inclusion of ``under God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Other parents say they've complained on several occasions about other aspects of Williams' teaching over the past two years....

....Armineh Noravian, whose son was in Williams' class last year, said, ``Nobody has any qualms about him personally,'' she said. ``He's a very nice man. But he is shoving his agenda down people's throats. It's indoctrination.''

See Iddybud- Mr. Williams' Battle Over Jesus, 9 December

Who Is Clinton Curtis?

Who Is Clinton Curtis?

Who is Clinton Curtis and what was his election-related programming job in September 2000? Learn about his prototype computer voting program (technologically undetectable, operable with hidden keys) that could flip the vote so a losing candidate could become an election winner. What's the story that has been broken at Brad Blog all about? I'm just learning, and I think it's worth further investigation.

LISTEN TO THIS INTERVIEW (Air America)

Justaflyonthewall.com has the computer program.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics has met with Clinton Curtis.

Raw Story has good coverage.

I'm sorry to report that Mr. Curtis' German Shepard was allegedly shot and killed a few hours after Brad Blog published the original story. According to Brad Blog, this is the second time that Mr. Curtis has been the apparent victim of intimidation through such tactics. Another one of his dogs was killed in 2002.

The 12 Days of Rummying

The 12 Days of Rummying

A new Christmas classic by Maureen Dowd.

Peace On Earth

Kerik's Out-Who'll be next choice for Homeland Security?

Kerik's Out-Who'll be next choice for Homeland Security?

I wonder who'll be nominated as Homeland Security secretary now that Bernard Kerik has decided to drop out? My bets are on Asa Hutchinson (unless he has gubernatorial aspirations). I'd be surprised if Bush were to choose Thomas Keane (a Republican who chaired the 9/11 panel), although he may wish to pay Mr. Keane back for being pretty soft on him in the final 9/11 Commission analysis, knowing Bush ignored all those pre-9/11 memos, warnings, and signs.

I guess he didn't like it!

'Tis the season....



I guess he didn't like it!

So....what does your kid do when he fails to get a present he really wanted?

~~~~~~~~~~~~



And seriously, the next time you give a cold steak and cheese sandwich to a public works employee on his lunch break, prepare ye the way for the most unpredictable of reactions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Meanwhile.....

SANTA1: "I'm gonna kick your ass."
SANTA2: "Oh, yeah? I'm gonna kick yours."
SANTA3: "Look out, I'm gonna take both of you with one Santa-hand tied behind my back!"

Introducing: A Blog Novella Army

Introducing: A Blog Novella Army

Christina has written CHAPTER ONE

Eric has penned CHAPTER TWO

Rob took good care of CHAPTER THREE

Jack---you're up next!


If you'd like to know a bit more about how this has come to pass, see Boudicca's blogpost or Christina's thoughts.

Kos: DLC's irrelevance

Kos: DLC's irrelevance
An important discussion at Daily Kos

Mr. Williams’ Battle Over Jesus

Mr. Williams’ Battle Over Jesus
by Jude Nagurney Camwell, American Street, 9 December 2004

Mr Williams is no sudden stranger to controversy

I am building upon Dave Johnson's latest American Street entry (and Seeing The Forest blogpost) More Mush Journalism as New Lies Spread. Dave's article spoke of the legal case, which the media is erroneously calling a "banning of the Declaration of Independence" in a California school because it contains the word ‘God’. This is not true and Dave has shown you that it's not true.

The more I investigate the case, the easier it is for me to suspect that the teacher at the center of the case, Stephen J. Williams, may not be telling us the whole truth. The cable news media hasn't bothered to tell us, either. Mr. Williams says he's surprised at the reaction of the nation over the recent controversy surrounding his use of Jesus-and Bible-filled handouts in his classroom. What the facts of the case say about Mr. Williams seem to reveal a personal agenda with defiant disregard of his public duty as teacher of 5th grade history students at Stevens Creek Elementary School in Cupertino, California.

On a Fox News live broadcast of Hannity and Colmes at the Flint Center in Cupertino, Mr. Williams stated he was "blown away" upon seeing what a controversial issue this has become in the press. Yet, Mr. Williams is no sudden stranger to controversy.


Mr Williams rides the legal Jesus rodeo

Williams recently sued the Cupertino Union School district, saying his civil rights were violated when he was told by a school administrator to refrain from using supplemental teaching materials on colonial history that had contained inappropriate religious references. Among those religion-bloated handouts were excerpts from the US Constitution. Williams had distributed a handout to students titled "What Great Leaders Have Said About the Bible", which included mixed quotes from U.S. Presidents.. .and Jesus Christ.

Parents of past students of Williams' state that "he goes overboard" in the classroom, making a heavy-handed case for Christianity. There have been many past complaints about his decidedly deliberate classroom agenda. One parent, Mike Zimmers, has said, "My daughter came home one day and said, 'Mr. Williams talks about Jesus 100 times a day."


All the 'blah-dee-blah' you hear on cable news may not tell you the whole story

The cable news media, as Dave Johnson has duly warned you, is not telling you every relevant thing you need to know about the case. Jordan Lorence, who is an Alliance Defense Fund attorney (representing Williams) has called the school's position an "allergic reaction" to the mention of God in schools. What they don't tell you is that Mr. Williams is not simply "mentioning God" to his students. He's laying Jesus Christ on them - as thick as molasses in January. Admitting to using hyperbolic rhetoric "for effect" (aka "exaggerating without conscience"), Lorence is blaming it on what he calls "blue-state" hypersensitivity.: "Anyone who disagrees is just an ignorant rube from a hayseed red state", said Lorence.

Williams, by defying his school district authorities, is acting as a de facto public school classroom advocate for Jesus Christ. He's willingly pushing the buttons with full knowledge he's ignoring well established public protocol in the classroom.


If teachers won't abide by state standards, send them on their way to play religious advocate somewhere else.

As a parent, I believe that teachers who cannot (or refuse to) abide by the public school district's standards and California's State Standards should be removed from the classroom and sent far away from our children. As American citizens, I do not feel that parents should have to subject their children to becoming a fanatical religious advocate's guinea pigs or political tools. It clearly puts the goal of true education last and political goals first. Whether you're from a "red" state or a "blue" state, you can be a Christian and abhor political abuse of your children. When teachers stop caring about finding common ground for all students in their public classrooms and cross the line of good judgement, they should not be surprised when there are consequences for their willing and deliberate defiance.


The Red state/ Blue state lie turns Jesus rebel into folk hero

I call upon all journalists who claim to be fair and balanced to give us a full accounting of Mr. Williams and his activities within his classroom. Cupertino is not a "godless" school district made up of evil Jesus and rube-hating "blue state" pagans. It's far too easy for the mainstream cable squawkers to broadcast the fact that the fundamentalist advocacy groups label school districts as such, and then never present another all-important side to the story. That's a deliberate withholding of available truth...also known as a lie in many circles. Those lies only serve to make a fundamentalist folk hero out of a man who may simply be a defiant and one-track minded teacher who is more dedicated to an agenda than to his students or to a code of professionalism. That's a disservice to history, to intellect, to our Founding Fathers, to the understanding of our Founding documents, and to the truth of who we are as Americans.

Dwelling on the theological history surrounding the disparate religious views of the Founding Fathers is not a healthy or appropriate way to teach 10-year-old about their nation's birth. I could talk to you all year about the varied theological views of the Founding Fathers. Overconcentration of these Christ-laden opinions is going to skew a 10-year old's understanding of the very nature of the freedom to worship, which the Founders sought to protect while, at the same time, keeping religion at safe length from a properly balanced and sane civic government.

Williams' attorneys are claiming he's not on a "religious crusade" to indoctrinate his pupils. That will be up to the courts to decide. The school district obviously does not agree, because Williams is the only teacher in the school who has had to submit his lesson plans in advance. While we don't have all the facts, we can only hope the mainstream media will do their job and get some of them so we may make a reasoned decision for ourselves. My most fervent hope is that the media will start putting more reality and truth into their headlines when they talk about the case.

_________________

In fairness, I want you to see the accepted standards placed upon California's education system for History/5th grade level:


California State Education Standards: Grade Five History-Social Science Content Standards.
LINK


United States History and Geography: Making a New Nation


5.4 Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era.

--Understand the influence of location and physical setting on the founding of the original 13 colonies, and identify on a map the locations of the colonies and of the American Indian nations already inhabiting these areas.

--Identify the major individuals and groups responsible for the founding of the various colonies and the reasons for their founding (e.g., John Smith, Virginia; Roger Williams, Rhode Island; William Penn, Pennsylvania; Lord Baltimore, Maryland; William Bradford, Plymouth; John Winthrop, Massachusetts).

--Describe the religious aspects of the earliest colonies (e.g., Puritanism in Massachusetts, Anglicanism in Virginia, Catholicism in Maryland, Quakerism in Pennsylvania).

--Identify the significance and leaders of the First Great Awakening, which marked a shift in religious ideas, practices, and allegiances in the colonial period, the growth of religious toleration, and free exercise of religion.

--Understand how the British colonial period created the basis for the development of political self-government and a free-market economic system and the differences between the British, Spanish, and French colonial systems.

--Describe the introduction of slavery into America, the responses of slave families to their condition, the ongoing struggle between proponents and opponents of slavery, and the gradual institutionalization of slavery in the South.

--Explain the early democratic ideas and practices that emerged during the colonial period, including the significance of representative assemblies and town meetings.



Other references:

RAW STORY, 11-24-04

Battlefield Earth by Bill Moyers

photo credit: http://www.seizmicactivity.co.uk/Copyright Richie Bond

Battlefield Earth
By Bill Moyers, AlterNet. Posted December 8, 2004.
LINK

The environment is in trouble and the religious right doesn't care. It's time to act as if the future depends on us – because it does..

Excerpt:

"..I not only read the news but the fine print of the recent appropriations bill passed by Congress, with the obscure (and obscene) riders attached to it: a clause removing all endangered species protections from pesticides; language prohibiting judicial review for a forest in Oregon; a waiver of environmental review for grazing permits on public lands; a rider pressed by developers to weaken protection for crucial habitats in California.

I read all this and look up at the pictures on my desk, next to the computer – pictures of my grandchildren: Henry, age 12; of Thomas, age 10; of Nancy, 7; Jassie, 3; Sara Jane, 9 months. I see the future looking back at me from those photographs and I say, "Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do." And then I am stopped short by the thought: "That's not right. We do know what we are doing. We are stealing their future. Betraying their trust. Despoiling their world."

And I ask myself: Why? Is it because we don't care? Because we are greedy? Because we have lost our capacity for outrage, our ability to sustain indignation at injustice?

What has happened to out moral imagination?"

Meet The Beast

Meet The Beast
The Christian right and the Christian left are engaged in a debate over who 'owns' Jesus—and whether Dubya is a force for good or evil.

Excerpt:

"Evangelical churches have a sense of urgency about the doing of 'good' in the world that the mainline church has lost. If the church can't show a positive, enticing, seductive vision of the future, where people fall in love with God and fall in love with this community, then it really doesn't have anything to say." Revelation teaches us what happens to lukewarm Christians.

It won't be easy. The political and religious left are not organized. "And part of the reason it cannot organize is that the people in the pews benefit from the system as it is," says Lang. "They can't work up any kind of passion to change it. As those benefits stop, we'll see the left arise. But it might be too late."

Ultimately, despite his despair, Lang is a man of faith. "I really do believe that we're in for several decades of a very dark time. But that's not the end of the world."

LINK

The First European Weblog Awards

The First European Weblog Awards

How exciting! A blog contest for our European friends.
I plan to nominate The Yorkshire Ranter for best UK blog (and other categories).

Announcing The First European Weblog Awards
by David/Fistful of Euros

Today is a good day because I get to announce The First European Weblog Awards. The purpose of the awards is to recognize the efforts and contributions of Europe’s many talented bloggers, to maybe help build a sense of community among us, and, more than anything, it’s a chance for people to discover lots of new good blogs.

Also, awards are fun.

Rules:

You can nominate as many blogs as you like. Please don’t be shy about nominating your own blog.

There’ll be a post for each category. Nominations should preferably be in the form of comments or trackbacks to the relevant post.

Only European blogs are elegible. By that we mean that the blog should be written by Europeans, or else focus on some European issue. (Czech, Catalan…)

This weblog is not eligible for any awards, but our contributors’ other blogs are.

The nominating phase will go on for several weeks. The finalists will be determined by the number of nominations and our discretion.

We’ll introduce categories gradually during the day, and maybe tomorrow. I will update this post with links to the nomination posts.

The Satin Pajama Award for Best European Weblog
Best Political Weblog
Best UK Blog

Ohio election fraud uproar blasting to new level

"...the call for a re-vote as in Ukraine has become a consistent theme among disgruntled Ohio voters."

Ohio election fraud uproar blasting to new level
by Steve Rosenfeld, Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
December 7, 2004
LINK

Nagourney Slashes Away at Howard Dean

Nagourney Slashes Away at Howard Dean

I think Adam Nagourney can do much better than writing a "factual" article about Howard Dean while using Bob Kerry, who is supporting Dean's DNC chair contender Leo Hindery, as a primary source of opinion for the piece. SHEESH! Where's the fairness...the balance? From some of Nagourney's first lines

..."What precisely Dr. Dean is running for is not entirely certain during this period of transformation for the Democratic Party and its better-known leaders...."

I could smell the establishment bias. It's rank.

I'm disappointed. I expect much better journalism from Adam Nagourney.

Rhetoric and the Spiritual Life

Rhetoric and the Spiritual Life



"About the rhetorical use of words nothing much need be said. There is rhetoric for good causes and there is rhetoric for bad causes-rhetoric which is tolerably true to facts as well as emotionally moving, and rhetoric which is unconsciously or deliberately a lie. To learn to discriminate between the different kinds of rhetoric is an essential part of intellectual morality; and intellectual morality is as necessary as a pre-condition of the spiritual life as is the control of the will and the guard of the heart and tongue."

-- Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy


Photo credit:Channel14.com

One of the many reasons I love Arianna

"Welcome to the Great Democratic Party Identity Crisis of 2005."

One of the many reasons I love Arianna
1. Her latest column..

*..for those in my family reading this, I don't mean my niece Arianna, although I do love that little wondergirl dearly.*

Arianna Huffington writes, in her latest column THE NEXT DNC CHAIR: WHY YOU SHOULD CARE:

Last week’s meeting of the 21-strong Democratic Governors Association was similarly an orgy of centrist groping, best summed up by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who said, “This, for us, is our moment to push an agenda . . . that is centrist and that speaks to where most people are.”

If Gov. Granholm, a rising star in the party, really thinks the center is where the majority of people were located this past election, the Democrats are in even worse trouble than we think. Have these people learned nothing from 2000, 2002 and 2004? How many more concession speeches do they have to give — from “the center” — before they realize it’s not a very fruitful place?

......cognitive psychologist George Lakoff told me: “Democrats moving to the middle is a double disaster that alienates the party’s progressive base while simultaneously sending a message to swing voters that the other side is where the good ideas are.”

....The party needs a chairman able to drive a stake through the heart of its bankrupt GOP-lite strategy and champion the populist economic agenda that has already proven potent at the ballot box in many conservative parts of the country.

Copyright 2004 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON

My companion piece from yesterday: DNC: Stop eating your own best candidates

Howard Dean Speaks at GWU

Howard Dean Speaks at GWU

Former Gov Howard Dean spoke at GWU today and made what I believe are some very important points. The transcript is not yet available, so I'll share a few of them with you:

--Four years ago, the President won 49 percent of the vote. The Republican Party treated it like it was a mandate, and we let them get away with it. Fifty one percent is not a mandate either. And this time we're not going to let them get away with it.

--There are no red states or blue states, just American states. And if we can compete at all levels and in the most conservative parts of the country, we can win ... at any level and anywhere.

--The GOP has abdicated their responsibilies to America in the areas of economic, fiscal, civic, personal, moral, and social responsibility.

--Health care, education, a sense of community..these are all moral values. HONESTY is a moral value. IF this last election had been decided on moral values, the Democrats would have won.

--Democrats have to learn how to say what we believe, to be proud to say what we believe, because we ARE what we believe.

--How can we be worthy as an example for the world's aspirations for freedom if we've failed to insure electoral reform within our own nation; for our own people?

--As a party, we need to learn to "punch our way off the ropes" and WE should be setting the agenda.

Governor Dean assured us that he'll be speaking about the reforms he believes will be necessary within the Democratic party in days to come.

UPDATE: Transcript is now available