lotusmedia 2.0

I’ve been invited to speak about OrangePolitics at a conference I’ve never heard of, in a city I would rather never visit in my entire life. I looked at the conference website and saw an all white-male lineup of keynoters (they’ve since added some Asian males).

Why did I say yes? Three reasons:

1. I was invited by Tish Grier. Tish and Lisa Williams of PlaceBlogging are working to support and connect local bloggers and bring more attention to the good work folks are doing around the country.
2. I saw the names of some fantastic women bloggers on the speakers list, like Pam Spaulding, Cheryl Contee, Elisa Camahort, and Erin Kotecki Vest. Plus my old friend, Doc Searls (old in time, not in age ;-)). Their presence legitimizes the conference for me, plus I hope I’ll run into them there.
3. The conference is paying for all of my travel costs, and it’s on a weekend so I don’t have to miss work to go.

There are a few related events going on at the expo including GodBlogCon, MilBlogging, and a citizen journalism training. That should be… interesting. I’ll find out next month whether I made the right choice about attending the Blog World Expo.

Is there anything I should make sure to do (or not do) in my 48 hours in Las Vegas?

At work we recently received an invitation to submit an event for a regional “green” calendar that is e-mailed to subscribers monthly. This is an excerpt from the instructions:

Please send all listings in calendar format (10 pt. Arial font, black ink — NO color or other formatting) to ******@aol.com: Day of the week (abbr.), Date (abbr.), Time, Name of Event (IN ALL CAPS), BRIEF description. Sponsoring group, Location, Contact person, Phone (specify area code), Email, URL, Cost. No more than 3 lines, or 50 words, TOTAL.

The formatting requests are burdensome but fair, but FONT? Really?

My friend Cy was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor last month. He’s on chemo and radiation now, but he doesn’t have insurance. His parents’ church has set up an account to collect money to help with Cy’s medical expenses. You can learn more about Cy at the blog his friends set up when he was diagnosed: cyrawls.blogspot.com.

I’ve set up an online donation tool so people can fundraise all over the internet. Here it is, I hope you will give and pass it on:

Update: Added link to Cy’s blog per Susan’s suggestion.

Sorry I’ve been neglecting this blog. Between Twitter, OrangePolitics, and FORpeace, I’m getting my self-expression fix pretty effectively I guess. Here’s a post I just wrote for the work blog.

The repercussions of last week’s shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville are echoing around the country. Is this the inevitable conclusion of decades of intolerance preached from conservative pulpits (both literal and figurative)? And do open-minded people of faith now need to live in fear - as many abortion providers already do - of the one unbalanced so-called Christian seeking vengeance for our sins?

Upon hearing the news, I immediately became concerned for my mother’s UU congregation. They are located in a small beach town on the coast of North Carolina, surrounded by rural communities in Down East NC - not especially known for modern social ideas, but quite likely to have access to hunting rifles. As we observe Americans trending toward living more in safe, homogeneous communities, we can see both the cause and effect of this increased ideological segregation.

My friend James Protzman blogged about his daughter’s reaction to the shooting. She had met several teenagers from the Tennessee Valley congregation at a UU retreat and was grief-stricken at the irony of a house of peace being attacked so violently. "She wonders about all the other deaths that can be laid at the feet of right-wing political hate. Abraham Lincoln. Martin Luther King. John Kennedy. Robert Kennedy. Will it ever stop? she asks."

Keep reading I’m pretty sure Jesus wouldn’t do this »

Keep reading I’m a new phenomenon »

A lot of folks are asking about the fabulous little laptop that fits in my purse, has no moving parts to break, and comes with Linux and other open source software installed. It’s called an Eee PC (stupidest name ever) and ranges from $300 to $600. You can buy it on Amazon. (If you use their links to buy it, I will get a small kickback from Amazon. Thanks.)

Just when I was starting to warm up to the the idea of a Clinton vice-presidency, she comes out with this crap that reminds me why I will never (again) support her for any elected office.

Hillary Clinton suggested Wednesday that “White Americans” are increasingly turning away from Barack Obama’s candidacy.
[...]
Clinton cited an Associated Press poll “that found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”

“There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said.
- CNN.com: Clinton touts support from ‘white Americans’, 5/8/08

Not only is the implication quite racist (that white people won’t vote for a black guy), it’s also wrong (millions of us have). Since I don’t think she’s stupid enough to not understand the facts of this, I can only conclude that she’s lying. Yet another reason that she can’t be trusted and shouldn’t be supported.

Very sad about the demise of the NPR News Blog, which was slowly restoring that institution’s credibility for me.

Here’s a great comment that was posted on their final blog entry:

‘We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme. it was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are concerned more with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today. Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive.

“We are sorry if this impression has come across.”

-Monty Python’s Flying Circus

Video below…

Update: Greg Greene points me to this story in the Washinton Post: NPR Leader Out After Board Clash - Ken Stern’s New Media Forays Rankled Public Radio Affiliates. Which is especially stunning because during the last full week before the N.C. Primary, I have been getting more news from that little blog than from my local NPR affiliate, who amazingly chose that critical week for a pledge drive. This is bad, bad, news for NPR.
Keep reading Goodbye authenticity at NPR »

I just learned that the suspicious and misleading robocalls from “Lamont Williams” to North Carolina voters, were actually the work of Women’s Voices, Women Vote. WVWV is an organization that works to empower single female voters, and which I used to support. Turns out they have a habit of sending poorly-timed voter registration information, causing thousands of voters to mistakenly think they are not registered to vote!

WUNC’s Laura Leslie posted the audio of the robocall on her blog on Monday, but as far as I can tell has not actually done a story about it. (She’s probably too busy begging for money. Way to schedule a pledge drive at the height of our primary, WUNC!)

Today I read a long investigative piece by my friend Chris Kromm at the Institute for Southern Studies that shows that WVWV was behind this, and that they have been confusing voters all over the nation with their automated phone calls and voter registration packets. “Women’s Voices’ questionable tactics have spawned thousands of voter complaints in at least 11 states and brought harsh condemnation from some election officials for their secrecy, misleading nature and likely violations of election law.”

WVWV claims that their campaign in North Carolina was designed to get unregistered, single, female voters to register to vote in the November general election. However, there is overwhelming evidence indicating quite the opposite. For example:

• The voice on the calls is a male calling himself “Lamont Williams.” Not exactly ideal for the supposedly female target audience.
• Many of the people who received the calls are married, male, and/or already registered.
• WVWV is no newcomer to politics. They have been operating since at least the 2004 election. They are a well-funded organization with a savvy staff. The two top leaders each have at least two decades of political experience a piece. (One as Congressman David Price’s ‘96 campaign manager - the one year Price lost.)
• In fact, many WVWV staff and advisors gained experience working for the Clinton Whitehouse. For example, board member John Podesta (President and CEO of the Center for American Progress) served as President Clinton’s Chief of Staff for over two years.
• There is no way that these seasoned political operatives could have missed the fact of our prominent May 6 primary, or that anyone with experience in voter engagement wouldn’t be fully aware of the timing involved.

I can only logically conclude that they are either intentionally suppressing voters (in an Obama-friendly state, hmm) or are criminally negligent and unable to carry out their stated mission of “Improving unmarried women’s participation in the electorate and policy process.” Either way, the only responsible step I can imagine is immediately cease operations and consider whether to reorganize or disband this organization.

WVWV’s President Page Garder re-posted her press release as a blog entry over on Huffington Post. Let’s let her know what we think of it.

More related links & discussion: NPR News Blog, BlueNC.