Open Letter to Howard Dean

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Thursday May 19, 2005 · 3:57 PM PDT

2005/05/19 · 15:57

Dear Governor Dean,

I'm writing you today with a request for help. Last Saturday, I was a delegate to the Massachusetts State Democratic Convention. I came to help figure out what our party stands for and take part in the democratic process, and I was excited that we would get to hear your vision for the party. What I got was very different.

You may not be aware of this, but there's serious trouble in the state party here in Massachusetts. You see, while you were up there talking about inclusiveness and building up the grass-roots, our state party leadership was taking precautions to ensure that the grass-roots are excluded. Read More

Religion, Abortion, and Democratic Values

Jake Beal

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Monday October 11, 2004 · 2:22 PM PDT

2004/10/11 · 14:22

In the New York Times today, I ran across an op-ed piece by Bob Herbert which puts very clearly why Catholic voters following their religious values are closer to Kerry than Bush.

Much of this, like the importance of caring for others, came as no surprise to me. But I hadn't realized that Democrats are objectively better from the pro-Life point of view as well as pro-Choice:

Second, politics is the art of the possible. During the eight years of the Reagan presidency, the number of legal abortions increased by more than 5 percent; during the eight years of the Clinton presidency, the number dropped by 36 percent. The overall abortion rate (calculated as the number of abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44) was more or less stable during the Reagan years, but during the Clinton presidency it dropped by 11 percent.

The article goes on to conclude that while Republicans yell and scream against abortions, Democratic policy actually reduces demand for it. How interesting... Update [2004-10-12 8:51:18 by Jake Beal]: Mea culpa: The article is by Dean Roche, not Bob Herbert (who wrote the article I read just before this one).

Sliming Massachusetts Courts

Jake Beal

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Tuesday October 05, 2004 · 8:10 PM PDT

2004/10/05 · 20:10

Cheney said something very peculiar with respect to the Massachusetts Supreme Court in the debate tonight. He said
that the court "ordered the state legislature to change the Constitution."

The entire room I was in gasped when he said that. (Granted, it filled with members of the Somerville Democratic Party.) It's a very slick distortion, following the "activist judges" attack line.

Dammit, the court ordered them to enforce what was already in the Constitution, and then the Republicans decided they had to change it!

EPZs in America

Jake Beal

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Thursday September 02, 2004 · 7:30 PM PDT

2004/09/02 · 19:30

George Bush just declared his intention to create "Opportunity Zones" in poor areas of the country to allow the US to compete with the rest of the world. My roommates & I all sat bolt upright and swore: that sounds like he wants to create Export Processing Zones here in the US.

For those not familiar with EPZs, they are regions of 3rd world countries in which the labor and environmental regulations of the country are suspended for the benefit of foreign (generally American) corporations. (Check out "No Logo" by Naomi Klein for lots of details on how EPZs work)

These people continue to scare me.

In all seriousness, a story about the President flinging feces.

Jake Beal

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Monday August 09, 2004 · 9:40 AM PDT

2004/08/09 · 09:40

This is, unfortunately, a secondhand story, but one which I think bears repeating. The chain of credulity is fairly good, but as I haven't yet asked permission from the original source, I'm going to omit names to obscure his identity. Read More

Trip Report: Cambridge Gay Marriage

Jake Beal

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Sunday May 16, 2004 · 10:47 PM PDT

2004/05/16 · 22:47

Myself, my wife, and one of our housemates just got back from the excellent street party going on in Cambridge, MA. The beginning of gay marriage was attended by thousands of cheering people, young, old, straight, gay, whatever: anybody who is anybody in Cambridge was there. Read More

Wierd blog behavior

Jake Beal

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Wednesday April 07, 2004 · 3:30 AM PDT

2004/04/07 · 03:30

Something odd seems to have happened to the blog... my work computer accesses a version which is dead since Sunday, with only a few other people around, wondering what happened to everybody. But my home computer accesses the normal busy blog. Interacting with both works normally, but the two diverge following the open thread on Sunday night (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/4/4/64218/14846)

Kos, any idea what's going on? Did you change the blog on Monday in some strange way, or are you being subjected to a MITM attack?

But... but... aren't they Freepers?

Jake Beal

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Monday January 05, 2004 · 11:36 PM PST

2004/01/05 · 23:36

I feel dirty, but I really have to recommend this thread over at Freeper Central. There's a bunch of people talking about voting 3rd party as a protest against Bush --- maybe even try to throw the election to Dean because Bush has betrayed them so badly.

Cogent arguments? Facts, figures, calculations and linked sources? Smacking down the content-free party-liner?

Say it ain't so! If this keeps up, we might have to listen to them occasionally!

And I even like the "Republicrat" meme that shows up late in the thread --- I think it describes well both BushCo and the Republican Lites in the Democratic party. I think we should spread the meme --- it'll help our candidates against Bush, as well as helping Democrats be Democrats and Republicans be Republicans, as opposed to what we've got now.

...

shudder

OK, now I have to go wash myself repeatedly...

What I just sent the DNC

Jake Beal

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Friday December 12, 2003 · 11:36 AM PST

2003/12/12 · 11:36

I got an email this morning from the DNC in the standard "donate for wholesome tote bags!" model. This seems to me to be a capsule version of everything wrong with the current vision of "Political Activism" --- wholesale politics where the citizenry is just a consumer base, not a participant.

I went looking around the DNC site, seeing what other sorts of involvement were encouraged. What I found was:

"Contribute" is, of course, highlighted. No surprise there, and entirely reasonable.
The "Take Action" sections are form letters on chosen issues only. Some don't allow you to even add commentary.
The "Get Local" section doesn't have organizing tools or much in the way of contacts. If you drill down several layers, through the individual state sites, you can find local contacts, but it varies widely by state what you can find.
I can't really tell whether the Blog is doing well or not.

So I sent this letter to the DNC:

I just got an email from the DNC inviting me to get involved in the "Public Radio" style --- giving cash and getting goodies through the "DNC Rewards" program.
I don't want to get involved like that! I want to be an active member of the Democratic party, here in my town and state! I want to canvass and do GOTV and support my candidates in more than just the voting booth and the ATM.
Please, please, please set up "Get Local" tools that direct me to party organizations by town, by precinct, by ward, etc. Please send me emails inviting me to get involved with my local officials, not just to give money!
Thanks,
-Jake Beal

I'd encourage other people to do the same --- and we can figure out if they listen. So, whaddaya think? Is the DNC embracing or rejecting net-age tools? Are they doing well, going slow or just uninterested in the populace?

Earnings Potential: Dean vs. Bush

Jake Beal

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Tuesday November 11, 2003 · 8:33 PM PST

2003/11/11 · 20:33

Bias Disclosure: I'm a yellow-dog democrat, solid ABB, and presently backing Dean.

Just for fun, I did some back of the envelope calculations on fundraising capacity, spurred by thinking about the subscription donations on Dean's site. The big news? Predicted earnings of $240.8 million for Bush and $117.7 million for Dean.
Read More

Jessica Lynch accuses Pentagon

Jake Beal

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Friday November 07, 2003 · 6:17 PM PST

2003/11/07 · 18:17

(I wish there was an appropriate place to post this besides a diary: more open threads, Kos!)

"Saving Jessica Lynch" is still a fraud... and she's not happy about it either.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3251731.stm
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/7201846.htm
http://www.nbc5.com/news/2619087/detail.html

Curiously, ABC, where the interview in question occurred, buries the accusations at the end of their story:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Primetime/US/Jessica_Lynch_031106-4.html

Measuring Grassroots via Blog Participation

Jake Beal

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Wednesday October 29, 2003 · 8:16 AM PST

2003/10/29 · 08:16

Bias Disclosure: I'm a yellow-dog democrat, solid ABB, and
presently backing Dean.

There's a lot of speculation in this campaign about grassroots
and its effect. Indeed, this election cycle may be viewed as a
critical turning point in the power dynamics of American politics,
due primarily to uptake of new technology by the various campaigns.

It would be nice, however, to be able to experimentally measure a
candidate's grassroots, particularly with regards to candidates such
as Clark where there has been much debate as to the nature and depth
of his grassroots.

Some questions that have been asked, which would be useful to answer:
How large is candidate X's grassroots? Will candidate X's grassroots
actually vote? Do candidate X's grassroots have depth? Ethnicity?
Regional breadth? Are they insiders or outsiders? How effective is
their community? How much does the campaign listen?

I propose that analysis of participation in an official blog is a
good indicator of grassroots participation, and that answers to these
questions based on blog traffic may reflect ground truth accurately.
My hypothesis is that these blogs are serving as the key new
mass-listening technology which is enabling the new grassroots seen in
this campaign.

As a test, I summed the number of blog comments for all 10
presidential candidates on 10/28/03. In addition, I chose an
open thread on each site and read the tone of the commentary to
try to get a sense of the depth and vigor of the grassroots.
Read More

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