progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital
Over the next few days I’m going to be blogging at the Take Back America conference. After looking at the material I had from last year’s conference, I thought that what would be interesting is podcast coverage of some of the breakout sessions. Because it takes a bit of time to put together a finished product, I figured the best approach was to find some excerpt from the day, and post that while I was editing together other stuff.
I occupy an unusual niche in the blogosphere. While this isn’t a blog that attracts a huge number of hits, aside from the occasional reference on wonkette, or in the Express (free paper from the Washington Post), I know a lot of people from coordinating DCDL, the DC chapter of Drinking Liberally. I was also a figure on the comedy scene in Cambridge, and know a number of people from that.
So, my point of view for blogging at the conference, is kind of like how Kathy Griffin started her wildly successful “Life on the D List” show. More from the outside, looking in. But with a history that includes a little bit of the “in.”
Take tonight’s event.
The Yearly Kos benefit tonight was the unofficial start of Take Back America 2007. It wasn’t an official TBA event, but a number of the folks that you might want to meet were there tonight.
I finally met Bill Scher, who’s been overseeing blogger’s row. I didn’t know that Bill’s out of Northampton, MA, not so far away from my old stomping grounds. Northampton is a classic New England town, as close to style and form as Cambridge as you can imagine, but set in rustic Western, MA. The Boston Underground Film Festival, part of my close circle of contacts, ran a festival out of Northampton.
I asked Bill about the blogging heads episode he’d done a few months ago with Jonah Goldberg. He shared some insight over the episode, which would be difficult to summarize in a short post, but mentioned an interesting bit of trivia: that Michelle Malkin was an editor of his at one point, and that he had appeared on Hot Air. Which makes him one of the few people to be on both Politics TV and Hot Air. That is pretty interesting.
Duncan Black, Atrios to you and me, was there with his wife. I teased him a bit over things he’s said over the years regarding DC, which he attributes to the company town nature of the District. His wife asked how come she’d never run into me at the Philly Drinking Liberally, which I’ve attended a number of times. Duncan suggested, tongue in cheek, that she wasn’t there because she had advanced warning.
Finally I got to meet Jane Hamsher. A delightful and thoughtful person, and I’m glad to see that Firedoglake has become as successful as it has. She mentioned that she’s going to be moving here in July through the election. I’ll try to work out a FDL night at DCDL.
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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.
95. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
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On a muggy Florida evening in 2008, I meet Iraq War veteran Forrest Fogarty in the Winghouse, a little bar-restaurant on the outskirts of Tampa, his favorite hangout. [Link]
The Labor Department announced this morning that new applications for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 542,000 last week. It also revised the figure from the previous week down to 515,000. [Link]
A team from IBM has spent the past several years constructing a virtual-world version of China's Forbidden City. [Link]
Following confirmation that Google intends to open its virtual world Lively to games developers, creative director Kevin Hanna has revealed the long-term goal is for the service to become an online games platform. [Link]
CHIBA, Japan (AP) -- Video game rivals Sony and Microsoft are going head-to-head in virtual worlds for their home consoles later this year. [Link]
a) He was paid by Dick Cheney's henchwoman Mary Matalin to write a book on Obama [Link]
One bunch of guys is getting up and saying, "we hafta." Another bunch of guys is getting up and saying, "nuh-uh." [Link]
To be able to say to folks, "You can keep what you have" is a big political selling point. [Link]
Here, based on 16 years experience watching Bill Clinton campaign — and interviews with a half-dozen veterans of his political teams — is a reasonably safe bet about his campaign advice to Barack Obama: [Link]
WASHINGTON — Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties improperly engaged in sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday. [Link]
We are going to have a new administration. Do we want these policies continued or not? [Link]
You can try Counter Culture coffees at: - Baked and Wired, 1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, 202-333-2500; www.bakedandwired.com [Link]
In sum, we concluded that the evidence showed that Goodling violated both federal law and Department policy, and therefore committed misconduct... [Link]
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June 18th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Yes, but what were they wearing???
If you have time, please visit the Coalition for Voting Integrity’s booth. That’s the group I work with on election reform and voting rights. You won’t find a more dedicated and informed crew. Ask them about Feinstein’s Ballot Integrity Act of 2007, a horror show if ever there was one.
June 23rd, 2007 at 3:46 am
Hey, thanks for the insight into Northampton. My daugher will be there next year. None of us have been there, so it’s nice to hear someone’s opinion who isn’t trying to get her to go to Smith.
June 23rd, 2007 at 10:24 am
My daugher will be there next year.
Your daughter should love it there. There’s also some classic places to see in Great Barrington and Stockbridge. Let me know before you go to visit, and I’ll point out some must-sees.