PSoTD

If you're attending a combined James Carville - Mary Matalin speaking engagement, please feel free to email me comments concerning your experience during that engagement. I know of four organizations at this point at which they are scheduled to speak at their annual events this year:

National Association of Housing & Redevelopment Organizations

American Health Care Association

I've watched these two on various political talk shows, and I really find it uncomfortable to watch them. So, I'm curious as to why national organizations book them as opposed to the myriad of other options they have for their event scheduling. Please feel free to review their "presentation" as well as indicate any other activities at the same event that they may have participated within.

What will be the world's first country to allow voters in a national parliamentary election to cast their ballots over the Internet?

(answer in comments)

I've seen a lot of state legislature activity, and many of them operate their conference committee process beyond public attendance. In some states, the conference committee process makes a mockery of the rest of the public legislative process - work that occurs in public meetings of standing committees, for example, gets changed in the dark by conference committee members from both chambers. I know there are arguments that this allows work to get done by the Legislature that might not normally be accomplished.

Still, non-public conference committees are a cowardly venue for this process, and besmirches any "real" publicly-visible legislative process that occurs prior to it. Conference Committees should operate in open public scrutiny.

So Rasmussen wastes theirs, and anyone who pays attention to them, with a poll about how Giuliani and Clinton would fare if the election was held today. I won't link to it. I might link to a poll by Rasmussen on the following question: Do you think the election will be held today? Because that, at least, is based on some semblance of reality.

Eventually, somebody will recommend something like this...

Vilsack drops out.

That's where the IRI Summit will be next week...

IRI Summit 2007 is a world-class conference for visionaries and passionate senior leaders in the consumer packaged goods (CPG), pharma and retail industries. It's a broad-based, high-level forum designed to address and attack the major challenges facing CPG, pharma and retail through the application of cutting-edge content, technologies and best practices.

Who's gonna be there, and what will they say?

Mary Matalin and James Carville

"Collaboration: All's Fair."

In this joint presentation, Washington's best-loved couple will give audiences an entertaining look at today's important political collaborations, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Washington politics.

Questions:

"Best-loved couple?" Is Washington really that dysfunctional?

WTF do they mean by "all's fair?"

And hey, do you think Carville's snaking for Hillary contributions?

Check out this list of Presidential endorsements, courtesy of Cup O' Joe.

The Boy Scouts are taking a hit on funding because of their policies barring gay and/or atheist leadership.

I think it's best for the Democrats to let him do it. Say goodbye to Joe and let him join the Republicans. Yes, it will hurt to not hold the Senate, but it hurts more letting people like Joe Lieberman muddy up the public reflection of what Congressional Democrats should do. Think he won't whine about Republicans once he's one of them? Think again. So let him.

I wrote yesterday at Suburban Guerrilla about a similar situation in Florida.

It's a trend, though, so this story is in Michigan.

Ever wanted to put your name on a park bench? How about a jungle gym, soccer field or baseball diamond?

Break out your checkbooks, Novi. Now you can do just that.

For as little as $100 a year for a meeting room or up to $15,000 for a ball field or beach, the Novi Parks Foundation is offering individuals and corporations the chance to purchase naming rights to the city's recreational venues for three years.

"As money keeps getting tighter and tighter, with more money going rightfully to services like police, fire and roads, we started thinking of ways to generate revenue to keep up our parks without increasing resident taxes," said Dave Staudt, president of the Parks Foundation, a nonprofit established in 2004 to raise private dollars to enhance parks and recreation programs.

Parks officials hope to raise about $200,000 annually once the program reaches full speed. The money will be used to supplement the parks and recreation department's budget for park maintenance projects that might otherwise go unfunded. The parks department has a $3.8 million annual budget, of which $1.2 million comes from a parks millage, $800,000 from program fees and the remainder from the city's general fund.

Novi's first donor is Telcom Credit Union, which purchased $2,500 naming rights for the playground at Power Park behind City Hall, said Cindy Tschirhart, Telcom's director of community and business development. New signs will go up in about a month.

There are no plans to rename anything that's already named for a person, such as the Tim Pope Memorial play structure, which honors a former council member. But some residents are concerned about commercializing the city's parks system, which includes seven parks encompassing 936 acres.

"It's an innovative idea, but I worry that things could get excessive and everywhere you look there will be a company sign," Mitch Greene said.

And I have the same concerns as yesterday:

Probably the biggest problem I have with this is that the determination of "client" gets blurred in this process. Yes, there is still the "play client", but now there is the "advertising client" as well, and eventually what happens is that future development goes to meet both. Are community parks destined to go the way of "amusement parks", where every moment of fun also serves to upsell another item? Is that what we want our community parks to be? Do kids have to be bombarded with advertising everywhere they go? Will parks eventually only be situated in areas which are literally surrounded with shops and fast food places that are meant to sell to kids? We're heading towards Disney here, on the public dime.

She has a blog.

One of the things I wish candidates that have blogs would do is to allow their traffic numbers to be publicly visible. I think many would find it of interest - where references come from, whether traffic increases or decreases, what drives spikes, etc. I think the interest in a particular message or issue, or what drives interest to a candidate, is something that bloggers discuss, and that candidates can add to that discussion - and they should.

There's too much emphasis on the electability issue. Any polling company that spends time polling on this issue as a general news item is unpatriotic and uncaring for the direction of our country. I'll say it every time I see the bastards do it.

Natasha explains why she doesn't plan to back a primary candidate for the Democratic Party Presidential Primary. That's my expectation for 2007 at least, as well. I know that I'm not going to commit to anyone this year - nobody has locked me up with a platform yet, and I'm going to be a patient shopper for 2008. I want a platform I generally believe in, and I want a candidate with a biography that encourages the belief that there will be strong effort on that platform. I'm not seeing enough of either at this point.

What is not going to be a key concern to me in the primary is the issue of "electability". Any candidates that run primarily on that account are not going to have much of a chance with me.

Interesting post by BooMan.

Melissa leaves also.

And now we find out that Amanda and Melissa were threatened due to Donohue's attack by those who follow Donohue. Not surprising, there has been so much violent talk in the blogging of the Republican noise machine. But Lane Hudson is wrong about this:

Bill Donohue must immediately rescind his hateful comments against these two young women and call on the hate-mongers, which he is responsible for inciting, to cease their threats against Amanda, Melissa, and their families.

Donohue's attacks on junior staffers are completely unprecedented. It is a new low. His actions have the effect of putting their lives in danger and he must not be allowed to get away with it.

Allowing just an "I was wrong" message and an apology isn't enough. Donohue has to lose his access to the news media. He is a fraud. He is a hater. He must be removed from the Rolodexes and the Palm Pilots of the media. He must be the pariah he so richly deserves to be. And the news media needs to explain what credentials, what credibility, what factors go into the determination that a person such as Bill Donohue deserves to be on a national news program, or reported in a national news story. Just who the fuck is Bill Donohue, and why is he on my television? The news media owes us that explanation.

I'm sure there will be another week as this all is shouted up and then winnowed, but two things I suspect:

This probably is going to be pretty bad for the Edwards campaign; and

Blogger pelt season is now open.

A followup about the story from a few weeks ago about Catherine McLin and her husband, who are protesting the Iraq War with signs on their property in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Now they are being terrorized and labeled as terrorists for exercising their right of free speech in their beliefs.

(02/09/07 — FAYETTEVILLE) - An Army couple in Fayetteville is upset about the war inIraq and says they are being terrorized.

Last night, someone spray-painted the word terrorist on their home and tore down anti-war signs in their yard. The couple says it's not the first time someone has tried to silence them.

Fayetteville police are investigating the incident. Catherine and James McLin say they knew their signs would draw attention, but they did not imagine someone would take it so far. And on the same day N.C.'s copy of the Bill of Rights went on display at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville.

"We are super angry that someone would infringe upon our right to free speech," said Catherine McLin, soldier's wife.

McLin said after someone tore down her signs last month she put up more and added American flags. Capt. James McLin, Ft. Bragg soldier, said the vandalism is an insult to the uniform he wears.

"This is sort of like the heart of America right here where we are all...you know, about defending the constitution of the U.S.," said Capt. McLin. "So we we're a little shocked but not totally surprised."

The McLins consider the act intimidation, not vandalism and says it will not work on them.

"I am not going to let them silence me cause they obviously have no concept of what terrorism is," said Catherine. "They are actually terrorizing us by trying to make us live in fear for what we believe in."

At this time, police are not commenting on any suspects. The McLin's haven't decided if they will clean of the paint or leave it up as a sign that free speech in their military community comes with a price.

So this is where we are - some people equate freedom of speech and opposition to the war - peaceful opposition to the war - with terrorism. And they trespass and defile another's personal property in order to do that.

I hope when they catch the coward(s) that vandalized the McLin place, and that they're hauled in front of the public, regardless of age, position, rank, status. I hope their names, their address, their educational history is published. We need to know where the hopelessly stupid who commit criminal activities in the dark of night under the cheap paper mask of patriotism are. They need to be pointed out. And they need to be remembered so that everyone else knows why they shouldn't be listened to ever again.

Ow. Mary Matalin has public perception problems. Big ones. Even fans aren't buying it...

Imus asked Ms. Matalin about the story that she told Libby that Tim Russert (story about Russert testifying) hates Chris Matthews. She clearly lied to us this morning. Using words like, the prosecutor mischaracterized what was in my mind. I usually like Mary Matalin, but this morning in my opinion she showed herself to be a liar.

And how did it make you feel?

It was sickening to hear Mary Matalin talk this morning. She complained that the press has a duty to tell the truth. What about people in government who are actually paid by the tax payers? I don’t believe a single word Mary Matalin said this morning. If you go with her premise that if Chris Matthews lied about the Vice President, how can we believe anything he says. Well, how can we now believe anything Ms. Matalin has ever said? She has lost all credibility she ever had. This is coming from a life long republican who is in the 32% that still supports the President.

When your job is selling public message, and the public message is that you lie - well... you're pretty much done with selling public message.

It looks like the National Popular Vote movement is well on its way to being rejected this year.

The Montana Senate rejected a proposal to bypass the Electoral College and award the presidency of the United States to the winner of the popular vote Thursday - the same day a similar proposal was rejected in North Dakota.

The Senate voted 30-20 against a bill by Sen. Laible, R-Darby, that would award all three of Montana's electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate won the most popular votes nationwide.

It joined North Dakota's House of Representatives as the first legislative bodies to reject the measure this year, according to the nonprofit organization, National Popular Vote. Similar legislation is being considered in 44 other states.

You know what would be interesting? If someone would ask Carville what he thinks of his wife's activity in the Libby case. Or ask Carville what he thinks of the reporting about his wife in the Libby case. How does his allegiance check out, anyways?

Friday/Feb. 9

Winter Soiree. 6:30 p.m. at Belle Haven Country Club. Mary Matalin and James Carville are the featured speakers. $125/person includes reception, dinner and presentations. 703-799-2293 ext. 20.

I think Balloon Juice was spot on...

I am no fan of John Edwards and am, at this point, not inclined to support his candidacy, but this action, while perhaps risky (who knows what they will say in the future), shows a lot of character. It is also clear that I was very much enjoying the whole scenario as it unfolded, if for no other reason than the past viciousness of Amanda. But loyalty matters to me, and I think people who are willing to stick their neck out to defend their employees, particularly younger ones, deserve some praise and some credit. John Edwards has also done every blogger a favor- your past comments will not be a litmus test for your ability to do your job in an unrelated field. We all should support that.

My opinion of John Edwards is a little higher today than it was yesterday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday she believed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was destroying his country economically and politically.

Venezuela's Congress on January 31 granted Chavez powers to rule by decree for 18 months as he tries to force through nationalizations key to his self-styled leftist revolution.

"I believe there is an assault on democracy in Venezuela and I believe that there are significant human rights issues in Venezuela," Rice told lawmakers at a congressional hearing. "I do believe that the president of Venezuela is really, really destroying his own country, economically, politically."

Judging from Iraq, Condi knows all about destroying countries. Really, really.

Now everybody get back to work...

Oh, and btw - I think Bill Donohue has been determined to be a hijacker.

Why would anyone put any stock in the comments of Bill Donohue? Isn't he the guy that said: "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it. That's why they hate this movie. It's about Jesus Christ, and it's about truth. It's about the messiah."

I mean, now there's a guy that the New York Times ought to be questioning as to why he crosses the line. The Times shouldn't be wasting effort pushing the neocon bloggers campaign against Amanda and Melissa. Where is their sense of story?

US sets up Iraq refugee taskforce

THE United States set up a task force today to tackle the mounting Iraq refugee crisis, after Washington came under criticism for not doing enough to help millions of people displaced by the war it unleashed nearly four years ago.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the creation of the task force, to be headed by Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky and including the State Department's top Middle East and Iraq officials.

The team will coordinate US assistance for Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons and "devise strategies for Iraqis at risk because of their work with the US government,'' spokesman Sean McCormack said.

According to the United Nations, about two million Iraqis, some eight per cent of the pre-war population, have fled the country to escape the war and mounting sectarian violence.

Typical. Bush waits until the rest of the world practically decides the United States is morally bankrupt before setting up a task force.

Here's one way to look at the race for President: Six former state legislators are running...

Good idea.