Markos is off his nut

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Sunday February 08, 2004 · 12:27 AM PST

2004/02/08 · 00:27

Kos, from the front page..

Another reason to get these goons out of office. Another reason those "if not Dean, then Nader" idiots make my blood boil.

What in hell does this have to do with anything?

As if Dean supporters are in favor of egregious miscarriages of justice and violations of civil rights?

Gore won in 2000. Fast-forward to the present day and apologize, Markos. This is WAY out of line, I don't give a good goddamn if this is yourt blog or not. My respect for you just took a big hit.

Grassroots Radio for Dean still going strong ! Ads launch in VA & TN..

Randomtask

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Sunday February 08, 2004 · 12:13 AM PST

2004/02/08 · 00:13

Truthandhope.org

Here's where we stand with our fundraising efforts & our goals:

Considering the ad costs on the ratesheets I have for Virginia & Tennessee, I believe a good run of full saturation for Monday through to Tuesday afternoon will be $15,000 per state. We only switched to raising funds for these states directly a few hours ago & we are off to a good start so quickly:

Virginia $967
Tennessee $970

We have $5,000 additional to spend in Maine, which I am going to make every effort to get out tomorrow. Anything left over we will carry over & add to the Virginia & Tennessee totals.

Maine raised $7,280
Washington raised $16,200

I am going to set up our ad space for Virginia & Tennessee as much as possible tomorrow, depending on how many stations have salespeople in the office to talk to...

..It is remarkable to think that only Wednesday night Joanie emailed me, having raised some funds & secured time to record an ad. 2 days later we have raised over $25,000 via blog posts & word of mouth & are now running ads in every state caucus or primary that comes up. This is an incredible example of what can be done when people with a common vision each do their part, no matter what that may be. We are making history. Most 527's or PAC's I am aware of are funded by large contributions, just to circumvent the contribution limits. We are a independent grassroots organization inspired by & supporting the greatest US grassroots movement in memory.

On that subject, I am going to endeavor to update the site Sunday night & make the donation page easier to access, among other things. The site is an ongoing project, evolving as the group does.

And thanks to all of you for all that you do. You make this work.

Eugene Hedlund
Founder
TruthandHope.Org
eugene@truthandhope.org

Dean is Being Treated like a Black Man !

Randomtask

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Saturday February 07, 2004 · 2:59 AM PST

2004/02/07 · 02:59

He's angry, militant, passionate, speaking truth to power, and is being treated accordingly - that is, marginalized - by the media and by the Democratic Party Leadership.

A Black American Woman expat living in Tokyo pointed this out on tonight's WDFA broadcast, and I wholeheartedly concur.

Dean is a Brother. That's all there is to it.

Grassroots Radio Ads for Dean thru the roof!

Randomtask

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Saturday February 07, 2004 · 2:11 AM PST

2004/02/07 · 02:11

Wow is all I can say. The latest from truthandhope.org:

You are all absolutely tremendous!

Thanks to your efforts we are on the air in Maine all day tomorrow, through Sunday morning.

In Seattle we have $14,456 in ads up right now and on through 10am tomorrow!

I am trying to increase the buy in Maine, or add stations, as more money has come in these last couple hours. We could spend another $2-3,000 in that state.

It looks like we will carry a balance forward for our efforts in Virginia & Tennessee. A new ad is being cut at this moment with the term 'going to the caucus' being replaced by 'participating in the primary.' ...

...Now, back to our work: I could use help in contacting stations in Virginia, Tennessee, even Maine if still possible. What I need is someone in sales ready to talk & make a deal. Email me with their contact information or give them mine, and I will place or at least set up the ads for those areas. I trust the people on the ground to determine which stations are the best for us to target, as there is not the time to acquire & page through demographics of various stations.

Eugene Hedlund
Founder
TruthandHope.Org
eugene@truthandhope.org

Gay Hate Crimes, 2004

Randomtask

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Friday February 06, 2004 · 2:44 PM PST

2004/02/06 · 14:44

Just a quick observation, based on the push-polling diary below this one.

We can safely assume the GOP will be flogging the gay marriage issue all year long in order to fire up the base.

The smart campaigns would do well to lay the blame for any increase in Gay hate crimes at the feet of the GOP.

Do you think we'll see a surge in hate crimes? Is this going to be a tough year for gays living outside of urban gay enclaves? God forbid we see any more Matthew Shepherd incidents.

www.truthandhope.org

Randomtask

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Friday February 06, 2004 · 2:15 PM PST

2004/02/06 · 14:15

Grassroots radio ads for Howard Dean are being produced and funded by truthandhope.org.. they are raising funds now and airing ads in Washington State, California, Maine and elsewhere.

Listen to Ad #1
Listen to Ad #2

make a donation

A clip from today's email:

The awesome power of this movement & the will of it's members continues to humble & amaze me:

TruthandHope.Org will be running radio spots tomorrow in Washington. We have 20 ads going in Seattle and 28 in Spokane. The 2 ads are available on the homepage for your listening pleasure.

First for the thanks of which a lions share goes to Joanie Benoit & her group in Seattle for proposing the idea, kicking off the fundraising & cutting the spots. This is another powerful example of how an idea when combined with some effort has an incredible ripple effect.

Secondly I need to thank all the contributors. Your generosity & belief in this project has made it possible, and what was begun today is building onto itself & now spreading into other states...

Randomtask

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Friday February 06, 2004 · 1:26 AM PST

2004/02/06 · 01:26

Volvo Liberal may not like this, but who cares? We're not a bunch of volvo-driving, latte-sipping... well, you know the line.

The Dean Bat has been broken.

Now we're going for $1.4 MILLION

10,197 distinct contributors so far.

In other news, I think I may be swaying my Dad over to the Dean camp. As my Dad goes, so goes Portland, ME. Go Dad, you rock!

This is far from over, people.

The Anti-Bush

Randomtask

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Thursday February 05, 2004 · 7:09 PM PST

2004/02/05 · 19:09

Thanks tunesmith for framing this debate... and from talking with my father, a diehard Democrat who just wants Bush gone, I think your observations are exactly right.

People (that is, middle-class Democrats with jobs and health insurance) want someone they think can beat Bush. That's all. They don't want someone they percieve as an insurgent, someone they're heard crazy rumors about, someone offering a healthy dose of uncomfortable truths.

So I will modify my previous statements:

Kerry is the "anti-Bush" in that he is nothing BUT "anti-Bush"
This is what the rank and file Democrats want, and there's nothing inherently RIGHT or WRONG about that.
Kerry will get tarred and feathered, I think he'll be awkward in fending it off. But he will survive the GE because people will vote for a wet dishtowel over Bush, and a wet dishtowel WOULD be a definite improvement.
However, Dean still represents MY interests and the interests of a great many people, whereas Kerry does not. Kerry is not really about CHANGE or really trying to address the problems in the electoral system and society that give us people like George Bush .. he's just a band-aid who stole Dean's fire.
The Dean campaign's message and priorities are still valid, still powerful, and sooner or later, still must be dealt with. Universal health care, sound fiscal policy, sound markets and returning political influence to the people, defanging the special interests and media conglomerates, creating a national politics of unity rather than division by class, race, gender and geography.

If the nomination goes to Kerry, so be it, I'll do my duty as a Democrat. the push-pollers and the corporate media will have spoken.

But a band-aid is not a cure for what ails this nation. This time the grassroots has the internet and if Dean goes down, a martyr. We will be back and we will be more highly organized.

Governor Dean?s Statement on Massachusetts Court Ruling

Randomtask

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Thursday February 05, 2004 · 4:41 PM PST

2004/02/05 · 16:41

Governor Dean commented on the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision to support same-gender marriages:

"I believe firmly that we must do everything in our power to assure that all citizens of the United States are afforded equal rights under the law -- and that includes gay as well as straight couples. As Governor of Vermont, I was proud to sign the nation's first law establishing civil unions for same-sex couples. Today's decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court represents a different approach to the same goal. One way or another, states should afford same-sex couples equal treatment under law in areas such as health insurance, hospital visitation and inheritance rights.

"Some in Washington will use this decision to justify the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This would be the first constitutional amendment to authorize discrimination, and I oppose it. Marriage is a matter of state law, and gay bashing has no place in the Constitution."

It's funny..

Randomtask

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Wednesday February 04, 2004 · 3:21 PM PST

2004/02/04 · 15:21

it's funny how legitimate questions about Kerry's record always devolve into either "go vote for Nader" or "Dean has you fooled, you idiot".

I think Kerry is TOO liberal to be a serious contender for the White House.

Dean, on the other hand, has a great mix of socially-liberal, fiscally-conservative positions with a NRA rating that's through the roof. He's a much better candidate to run against George Bush because the GOP can't pin him down.

But here's a disclaimer to my Kerry Kompatriots in the house. Yesterday I was worked up. Today I'll vote ABB but I'll work like hell to make sure it's Dean in November.

In the meantime, you would do well to work on your defenses on Kerry's record. "Go vote for Nader" is not a valid defense. And please, locate some civility someplace.. perhaps you might borrow some from the Dean campaign, since you're borrowing everything else anyhow... :)

Dean is in this till the end, and so am I.

Randomtask

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Wednesday February 04, 2004 · 1:54 AM PST

2004/02/04 · 01:54

Wouldn't you agree that voters in delegate-rich states like California and New York should have as much a say as Iowans and New Hampshirites?

The primary system is completely screwed. Since it's all we have to work with, then let it work until the candidates run out of momey or drop on their own volition.

I agree, there are an awful lot of nasty buggers on here doing a hatchet job on Dean supporters like me. They even robbed me of my Trused User status this afternoon.

Ah well. If those are the tactics they must resort to, they can go right ahead. Clearly they are unarmed for a battle of wits.

FWIW, I've said plenty of disparaging things about Joe Lieberman and his campaign tactics in the past. But giving up one's aspirations for the highest office is not easy, esp. for one who came so close four years ago. My hat is off to Joe and his supporters tonight, no hard feelings.

That said... IT AIN'T OVER, BABY! Count every vote.

Dean 'superdelegates' holding firm

Randomtask

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Tuesday February 03, 2004 · 6:17 PM PST

2004/02/03 · 18:17

Dean 'superdelegates' holding firm
Despite daunting prospects Tuesday, Dean loyalists see hope ahead
By Tom Curry
National affairs writer
MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Although the odds of Howard Dean winning the Democratic nomination look long as voters cast their ballots in seven states Tuesday, some of Dean's allies in Congress continue to voice support for him.

"My guess is the race is far from over and it won't be wrapped up" in Tuesday's round of contests, said Rep. Rush Holt, (D-N.J.) "I think as long as Howard Dean is going someplace and doing something constructive, I'm with him."