Some Friday Music

I've become obsessed with The Temper Trap over the past 24 hours. Here's my favorite song from them, the Science of Fear.

For those who aren't predisposed to listening to lyrics, the song is about the crippling ensnarement of fear. How much in life passed us by because we were afraid of action, or change? This can even apply to politics -- holding back early support for a candidate for fear they couldn't win, voting for a bad bill for fear of leadership retribution, etc. Thankfully, fear is only paralyzing is we let it be.

Musings: Stupak, Star Trek and Hulu

• The thing about Stupak: If it's okay to discriminate against women for one medical choice, why shouldn't it be okay to discriminate against men for ED? Or come up with other stupid ideas like "no tax credits for fat people." There are thousands of ways we could legislate morality into health care. What ever happened to coming up with legislation that lets doctors and patients decide what treatments are necessary together?
• I hate the new Hulu trend where you have to wait up to a week for an episode to go up. I realize it's not profitable yet, but I don't think it will become so by trying to get fewer people to use it. Ads may not get them to the promised land yet, but will eventually -- and probably soon. When it comes to media, companies always take a hit when starting out. Even in the good times, it used to take any publication 5+ years to to turn a profit. Hulu will get there... if they don't drive away their users first. Hello, Amazon.com.
• One of my hobbies is gaming -- yes, I am a geek -- so I was very excited today that the devs of an upcoming game I'm really excited about, Star Trek Online, took one of my questions - and actually gave an answer I found satisfactory.
  

Thoughts, Announcements and Casino Stuff

• There was literally tons and tons of casino info that came out today, but I was too busy to get to any of it. Look forward to plenty of news on polls and other items in the days ahead.
  
• I'm going to the casino forum at the State House tomorrow, covering it for United to Stop Slots Massachusetts (consider this my disclosure: I'm getting a very small stipend to help with costs - the first time I've ever done this and I'll always disclose if I do it again), so I'll have a lot to write about tomorrow night and the days ahead.
• Joe Lieberman is the worst excuse for a human being alive. People need to remember that when Republicans were in the Senate, he rarely, if ever, filibustered. Now that Democrats are in charge, he's leading the charge against the public option. He is not a Democrat. Why do the Democrats allow him to caucus with them? He gets all of the benefits of being a Democrat, while being able to totally undermine the party at every possible pass. If he wants to be a member of the GOP, let him be a member of the GOP: Strip his gavel and throw him out of the caucus. It's long overdue.
  
• Obama signed the Hate Crimes expansion bill today, which will cover GLBT people. This is one small step for glbt civil rights, but a giant leap forward in that it's the first time the federal government has done something to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as a community. More important things are yet to come (DADT, DOMA, ENDA, etc.), but this a good day for the movement.
• LeftAhead! interviewed City Councilman John Connolly yesterday on our internet radio show. It was a fantastic show that was wonky, interesting and entertaining (IMO anyway).
  

News and Notes

• Whew! In case no one noticed, took a few days off from blogging. My vacation mainly consisted of catching up with friends, going to see Jay Brannan in concert and watching (a lot of) cheesy Smallville episodes -- what a guilty pleasure! Hope everyone's having a nice summer, especially now that it actually feels like summer.
• I'll be going to this tomorrow:
  

  Just wanted to remind everyone that the Blogger Lunch event is tomorrow at 1:00pm at 185 Devonshire St., Suite 200.
  
  Several parking garages are located around the building, Zero Post Office Square and also at 60 State Street. The closest T stop is Downtown Crossing off the Orange line.
  All the Best,
  
  Michael Flaherty

  Want to come? Contact trturnbullATgmailDOTcom. More candidates should be doing this type of event.
  
• Also, don't forget to tune into LeftAhead tomorrow at 2:30 (or any day thereafter in mp3 format at Leftahead.com or itunes), as we have a special guest Ben Forman from MassINC, who specializes in research on Gateway Cities in Massachsuetts. You can catch some of his insightful posts (as well as others) at CW Unbound.

Going Global

• Fake News Alert: Globe can't get past Gov's finances in article about Governor House Hunting. Shocker. The guy hasn't considered his Milton home home since he built the Richmond estate. Swapping the Milton digs for a comfortable condo within walking distance of the State House is a no brainer -- and not a real money-saving move. Luxury condos in Boston by the Commons don't go cheap.
• How does Globe come by the following sentence in Menino charter school article?
  

  Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who for years has expressed deep reservations about one of the most fundamental innovations in public education, abruptly shifted course yesterday and said he wants to turn the city's poorly performing schools into new charter schools.

  What makes Globe writer Michael Levenson or his editors experts in "innovations in public education?" Stick to the facts -- Menino's robbing Flaherty's chief education proposal.
  

• Times taking bids for Globe. I hereby offer my official bid of $.01. Any higher takers?
  

Announcements

• It's that time again -- time for people to re-sign up as supporters of my scholarship request. I lost last time, but I finished in the top 5 in total supporters. If I can get that high again, I should win, as 10 scholarships are being given this time. All you have to do is click here, sign in/sign up to Democracy for America and click "add your support" under the "grassroots supporters" section of my page. Takes two minutes -- and I can't go without your help. Please remember that even if you signed up last time, you need to resign up again, as they wipe the original supporter lists for each round. Sorry, I don't make the rules!
• Tomorrow is the state convention. I'm going with a media pass. I'll be covering it instead of voting in it. Then, at the workshops, I'll be heading up the Social Networking group discussion breakout session at the electronic/netroots workshop. If you use social networking sites, please, please, please come. The more people who come, the more others can learn how to use these sites effectively in terms of campaigns and organizing. As usual, I have some of the answers, but not all of them! Your advice and input is desired! We'll be serving Peter-Pan styled entrees at the breakout group.
  

The Platform Podcast, HRC & Medical Bankruptcies

An open thread:

• Check out the LeftAhead Platform Podcast with Sabutai as our guest. We spent time on the blandness of the Democratic State Platform, as well as what delegates can do to stop it.
  
• Human Rights Campaign continues to prove that it's not only worthless, but counterproductive. If people want to donate money to them, why not flush it down the toilet? Or donate it to GLBT bloggers and organizers so they can continue to blog and organize?
• 62% of bankruptcies in this country are due to medical expenses, a 50% increase over 5 years ago. Of those medical bankruptcies, 75% had medical insurance.
  

Weekend Aural

From the new Fox show "Glee," which is free (legally, I swear) on iTunes and Hulu. Based on watching the pilot, I'm not sure I could possibly describe how excited I am for this show. After years of only watching BSG, Heroes and other assorted (good) sci-fi dramas, I think I'll look forward to the change of pace.

The Power of Youtube

Discovering new things I love everyday.


Continuing my thoughts from yesterday, why, exactly, haven't I seen Jay Brannan on the cover of Out?

---
P.S. Bonus points for the fact that he understands what's wrong with federal government.

and it's still government...and so full of checks and balances that even if things DO change, it will take ages.

Hot Love Drama Sunday...

Let's ignore the Globe's obituary for people who aren't dead yet today and listen to some good music instead.

Today's Headlines: Police Details, Russia, Lowell and P-Town

Today's headlines from around the state:

• Governor Patrick's standing up to police unions on the costly and unnecessary police detail system. "Governor Deval Patrick is planning to release new regulations this morning that will take on powerful police unions by limiting construction details on nearly all state-owned roads, say several people who were briefed on the regulations." More specifics in the link.
• OMG straight people go to P-Town too? Seriously, this story is just lame and recycled. Besides, if people want a bohemian atmosphere, with local art and restaurants, why not go to somewhere far cooler like Northampton? No Cape traffic, larger selection, cheaper and far more authentic.
• The Russian/Georgian war stops. Hopefully. Russia humiliated Georgia. Apparently, that's mission accomplished for Russia and its newfound efforts to maintain its regional hegemony.
• DeLeo "legislator of the year." Really?
• Things look bleak at the Tsongas arena in Lowell, where the Dem State Convention was held. Big public projects often don't make their money back. In many ways, they're not supposed to. The Tsongas arena is no exception. States and cities would do well to study the pros and cons of these sorts of projects before they build them, and consider whether money that could go into a certain project could be spent elsewhere, more effectively, in an effort to create jobs and revitalize an area. The Tsongas arena is certainly beautiful and seems worth it, but at the very least it isn't attracting the type of demand it deserves.

Friday's Important Things

Here's a list of all the things you need to know before you go home this evening:

• Don't vote for Jim "Idon'tknowski." David has two great posts on how the wannabe Rep won't be Repping the truth on children's health care, the S-CHIP program. Idon'tknowski says he wants children to have health care, just not undocumented immigrant children. Um, considering the program requires a valid ID, I fail to see how that's a problem. (Though, as David notes, the Globe's still confused.)
• Now Idon'tknowski says he just wants to rewrite the bill, which would effectively kill it (though you won't get that from him). The program would expire and hundreds of thousands of kids would lose access to health care. What a swell guy. Meanwhile, this was a completely bipartisan bill: no re-dos, Mr. Idon'tknowski.
• Why was this guy within 10% last poll? Expect that margin to increase, by a lot - and work for it too. Obviously, the kids can't afford Oganowksi Idon'tknowski in Congress (never mind the troops in Iraq).
• Meanwhile, for all those who were just dying to tear me a new one for being pragmatic on ENDA, you never can tell what will happen.

"Although Bush said during his 2000 election campaign that he does not support ENDA, neither he nor the White House has said whether the president would veto that legislation."

Now, I wouldn't expect him to actually sign the bill, but as I've said all along: we could send the blandest, worst ENDA possible to his desk and it would only help us in the long run if he vetoed it. I doubt most rational human beings know that glbt people can be fired from their job, in most states, simply for being gay, bi, lesbian or transgendered. There's no better way to put that issue on the map than a Presidential, George-W.-Bush veto, especially when the media can go on and on about how bland the actual bill was. Unfortunately, though, it's a lost opportunity: it seems we'll have to wait for a Democratic President to even have a chance on issues like ENDA, all because certain (loud) folks don't know how to be pragmatic and won't stand for anything less than a Titanic bill.

Friday's Musings: Ma-05, Ma-05, Ma-05

Here's some food for thought:

• Today is August 24th, the MA-05 primary is on September 4th. That means activists only have ten days to convince voters before the actual primary that their candidate deserves to win. Then, they don't have one day to rest - because that's when it's time to get out the vote.
• There are a lot of good candidates in the MA-05 race, but only one great one: Jamie Eldridge. He's the only one who stood up and declared he wouldn't vote to fund the war in Iraq. He's the only one who will boldly support Health Care for All. He's running the exact kind of campaign we want candidates to run, pandering not to corporate interests, but the people.
• BMG saw the light and has endorsed Jamie Eldridge. Now, the progressive netroots have overwhelmingly called for Jamie's victory.
• The most important aspect of this race is we have a golden chance here to actually elect a progressive. Whoever wins this primary will almost certainly win the general election - and serve for years to come. If we get a progressive in office, especially one like Jamie, who's proven to have the cajones to stand up to tough leaders within our own party before (Tom Finneran), we'll have a loud voice demanding action on Iraq and health care for all at the national level - not someone who will turn mute or give in, but will actually make demands and show true leadership.
• Even though Donoghue, Finegold and Tsongas aren't "bad" candidates or people, they won't be the change we want. We can't lose this golden opportunity because of a special surname. This election represents a chance to affect change in the entire country, Fifth Congressional District voters ought to feel as though its their duty to elect the type of person that would advocate for that kind change that could actually make America better.

Today's Musings: Cape Wind, Daily Show, Moving Mainstream?

• Cape Wind was on the Daily Show last night - and I must have had seriously good karma to catch it, because I just haven't been watching the Daily Show much lately. However, BMG has the clip, just be warned it'll be axed from YouTube in no time. Look for it at Comedy Central soon, though.
• Is the blogosphere moving mainstream? The quick answer is "of course." If the Ykos convention proves anything, it's that we're mainstream now. All the Presidential candidates coming for a debate we sponsored? Mainstream is a given. However, we have to be careful not to become a part of the Democratic establishment - as I talked about in my blog of the week, over at LeftAhead. It's one thing to move America to the left, it's another to watch the Blue Dogs give away our freedoms to Mr. 25%.
• Speaking of LeftAhead, catch catch this week's episode on warrantless wiretapping. We even had a pesky libertarian phone in to just talk about how angry he was with President Bush, then lecture us about why public schools are bad. Interesting conversation, it's just too bad Mike's the one with the 'end chat' button and isn't one to pull a Howe and toss people off the air.