For those of you who are interested in learning more and better ways to use technology to support your activism, there is an excellent conference taking place in Lowell, Massachusetts next weekend:

Grassroots Use of Technology

It is the 9th annual event sponsored by the Organizer's Collaborative.

The agenda has something for everybody, from geek to guru to the technologically challenged:

Ha...gotcha with that one, did I? But it's true...women have an opportunity to take over the state this year. If all the women running for office get elected, North Carolina's gonna be a danged matriarchy:

The 1968 convention and general election has been the subject of much discussion this primary season. Given that the majority of people here weren't around during the 60s, I thought a brief review of some of the events that led up to the 1968 convention and the 1968 election, along with the outcomes, might be of some interest. Or at least give us something else to talk about tonight...

Here is what independents Jacqueline Salit and Fred Newman had to say about Obama recently:

Salit:

There was talk today about Obama's vulnerabilities. What are the steps that Obama has to take, do you think, to address them and what does he have to project to bring the country together and to pursue the goals of his candidacy?

Newman:

He's already doing that, don't you think? He has to simply continue the campaign that he's set in motion.

What he's going to do, obviously – and he's done this already – is to say that McCain is simply a third term of Bush and the last thing in the world the American people want is a third term of Bush. It turns out, in retrospect, that they didn't even want a second term of Bush.

[Full disclosure: I still don't like John Edwards, and I'm still not even a Democrat.]

Watching Edwards supporters struggle with the question of whether or not to still vote for their candidate takes me back to the spring of 2004, when us Deanaics were faced with the same decision. We had it harder in some ways. The pressure that was put on us to switch was far more intense than anything I've seen so far this year. We also had it a little easier, in that Dean specifically asked us to keep fighting for delegates.

What each individual Edwards supporter should do, I can't say....

Watching Edwards supporters come to terms with his recent withdrawal from the race, and thinking back to the reaction of Dean's supporters when he quit, I decided it would be interesting to hear from Clinton and Obama supporters on this topic now, before either candidate had reached a point where they might start to consider dropping out of the race.

One of the best books I have read about the civil rights era is Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story by Timothy Tyson.

Tyson grew up in Oxford, North Carolina, the son of a Methodist minister. The book is built around the murder of a young black man in Oxford when Tyson was a child, but it tells the story of the civil rights movement along the way.

Of all the accounts I've read of this era, this one comes closest to the way I remember it. I'm sure that's mostly because it is told from the perspective of someone who, like me, was a white Southerner, and, like me, saw much of it through the eyes of a child.

I think maybe it's also because, like me, Tyson was not actually involved in the movement himself. That is another shared perspective, but it also eliminates what I think is a common bias in first-person accounts of historical events and eras told by those who were involved in them. In telling the tale, they are laying down their personal legacies.  Tyson's book undoubtedly has its own biases, but this is, first and foremost, a story of his childhood.

Book review excerpts on the flip...

Instead of everybody bashing everybody else's candidate or making grandiose but unsupported claims about their own, I'd like to hear more from supporters about their candidate's positions.  But I don't want to hear their intepretation of their candidate's positions. So here's what I'm challenging all you well-informed, true-blue candidate supporters to do:

Post a direct quote from your candidate..with a supporting link..that best articulates their position on an issue of importance to you.

I see it's already started, but I expect it will get worse. How bad, time will tell.

Very soon now, various destructive personality types, in and outside of the blogosphere, are going to decide that those who support a candidate who has fallen behind or has dropped out of the race should "get over it" and "move on" to supporting the "presumptive" nominee. They will then take it upon themselves to "persuade" those supporters to their point of view.

I would like to say that I think these people mean well, but I don't. I don't think anyone ever means well when they appoint themselves as the decider of what other people should or should not do, and even less so when they set about to force others to their point of view.

As someone who had a front row seat for some of the most appalling behavior I've ever seen, in or out of politics, in 2004, I have a few things to say on the matter, now, before it really gets bloody...

As we all wait breathlessly for the results of the 2008 Iowa caucus, I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking back to Iowa 2004.

After the dust settled, everyone had a theory as to why Dean lost, and every single one of these theories was argued and discussed across the blogosphere and wherever Democrats and Deaniacs gathered long after the primaries were over.

I thought that it would be interesting to find out how everybody sees it now, from a distance of four years.  I didn't much want to include a poll, because I know many people put a lot of thought into this question, and I'd like to hear some of those thoughts. But hey, this is DKos...gotta have a poll!

So, while we wait for the big show to get under way, please share with us your answer to one of the burning questions of the 2004 election cycle:

WHY DID DEAN LOSE IOWA?

I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on how the Iowa 2004 experience affects your view of today's caucuses, either...

Just want to remind everyone that the 4th Annual Democracyfest is coming up soon!

You don't get many opportunities to hear folks like Howard Dean, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Greg Palast, Carol Shea-Porter, Mark Crispin Miller (and more!) "live and in person" at the same event. With YearlyKos still several long months away, this is a great opportunity to avail yourself of a good dose of progressive politics to get you through the summer. Democracy for New Hampshire is the Presenting Sponsor for this year's event, which will include a strong emphasis on election integrity.

Democracyfest is Education by Day, Celebration by Night.  It includes speakers, trainers, and entertainers:

[Full Disclosure: I don't like John Edwards, and I'm not even a Democrat.]

Just came across this recent NC poll that may or may not have been diaried here already.  If it was, I missed it. And I'm around a good bit, so it seems safe to assume that others missed it too.

The poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling, a group I know nothing about. The article about the poll is posted on WRAL-TV's website. Their filename ends in FredThompsonPoll, and their misleading headline reads, "Thompson Gaining Support Among State Voters," leading me to wonder if the poll wasn't sponsored by the Thompson camp. (Misleading because 'state voters' weren't polled about Thompson, only state Republicans.) Regardless, the poll included voters from both parties, asking NC Democrats about the Democratic candidates and NC Republicans about the Republican candidates.

Given that NC is one of Edwards' home states, I consider the Democratic results to be of most interest....

Over the past week, I've published four diaries on the impact the upcoming increase in postal rates may have on our troops, most recently this one:

http://www.dailykos.com/...

I've asked all of you to take some action to support the troops before the new rates take effect. Seems only fair I should explain what I'm doing with regard to the actions I'm recommending:

On May 14, the price of a USPS Priority Flat Rate box will increase from $8.10 to $8.95. That's a 10% rate hike.

What does this have to do with our soldiers?

It turns out that the troops really do need our support, and in a very tangible way. The PXs never seem to have enough supplies to meet demand, and a lot of soldiers are located in places that don't even have a PX.  They rely on the folks back home to send them shampoo, soap, toothpaste, sunscreen, flashlights, alarm clocks, food, clothing, books, and lots of other items.

Our soldiers are far from home, working long hours in triple-digit heat. It's dirty and it's gritty. There are bugs, lots of bugs...ugh. At the end of the day, our soldiers just want a few basic comforts from home. Their food choices are limited...ain't no Mickey D or minimart on the corner, as are their options for entertainent when they finally get some time off.

Their families, friends, and other supporters rely on the Priority Flat Rate box as the most affordable way to send a number of things to our soldiers. This rate increase is likely to pinch some budgets.

How can I help?

Glad you asked! Because that's what this diary is about....

This is the third in a series of daily diaries I'll be posting this week about the impact of the upcoming USPS rate increase on our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. For those of you who missed them, here are links to the first two:

http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...

I am hoping to get some assistance with this action on DKos, especially from the vets here.

This is the second in a series of diaries I'll be posting this week about the impact of the upcoming USPS rate increase on our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. For those of you who missed it, here's a link to the first one:

http://www.dailykos.com/...

I'm trying to get the word out to everyone who relies on the Priority Flat Rate service to send items to soldiers at an affordable rate. I'm also trying to encourage people who've never sent a package to a soldier to do so before the rate goes up.

I send out packages almost every week, and, most of the time, the cost of the postage exceeds the cost of the items I'm sending.  True, that's mostly because I'm a skinflinty shopper, but still.  The cost of the postage isn't trivial, especially to military families who are on a tight budget as it is.

This is an update on my progress...

On May 14, the United States Postal Service is going to raise its rates. The price of a regular first class postage stamp will increase a few pennies.  The price of its Priority Flat Rate Box will increase from $8.10 to $9.15.  That's 13%.

But who cares, right?

Anyone who cares about our soldiers, that's who.

The Priority Flat Rate Box is the only (somewhat) affordable service that the family, friends, and other supporters of our soldiers can use to send them a number of things many of them desperately need: toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, sunscreen, pop-top canned goods, microwaveable soups. All of these items are heavy. Fill a medium-sized box with these items and see how much it will cost you to send it to an APO address via regular surface mail. The postage is much more than the cost of the items themselves.

Think about what it's like to be stuck far from home, working 12-hour shifts in triple-digit weather and filthy conditions, with very limited food choices and little to do during your rare hours off, feeling forgotten, and not knowing when it is all going to end. Some days, little packages from home are all that keep our soldiers going.

So...I'm going postal. Care to join me?

Part 1:  http://www.dailykos.com/...
Part 2:  http://www.dailykos.com/...

I had the cab let me out at the building where I had my first appointment. (US Senators have offices in one of three buildings...Dirksen, Hart, and Russell, joined by a confusing maze of hallways.  Bring bread crumbs.)

I encountered my first challenge as soon as I walked in the door... the security gate. It was the same set up they have in airports.  Filled with three-ring binders, my "office on wheels" was too heavy for me to lift onto the x-ray belt.  Not a problem...the guy behind me obliging helped me lift it and turn it in the one orientation that would go through the little tunnel.  And someone on the other side helped me set it back down on the floor.

I smoothed out my jacket and brushed back my hair after the tussle with my office on wheels.  There! I was ready!