Updated: Original title: Netroots 101 for Democratic Women of the Desert 

By request of Sandra Stone, president of Democratic Women of the Desert, and George Zander, president of Desert Stonewall Democrats, I took my fellow Democrats down the rabbit hole with me.  Many of our best Democratic activists here in the desert are still unfamiliar with a lot about the blogosphere, and I hope to bridge the gap a bit.  Word got around after Howie Klein’s visit with Democrats of the Desert last May.  These are politically savvy, experienced Democrats who show up, fundraise, canvass, and phonebank.  Time to join forces more effectively.  I want them in here. 

I’ve pulled some notes together and collected pertinent links.  The goal is more Democrats from the CA-45th active in the blogosphere.  Follow below the flip for the working outline of Netroots 101, a friendly introduction to the blogosphere:

Crossposted to Calitics

Netroots 101 – An introduction to the liberal blogosphere

Short version:  Read TalkingPointsMemo, DailyKos and Calitics (links below), and be an online advocate for your community.  It’s really, really fun in here, and worthwhile for any citizen.

“Some of you in the DNC may see us as barbarians at the gate. Some of us see ourselves as the cavalry.  The truth is, we are fresh horses.” — Miles Kurland, a grassroots DFA activist speaking directly to a large group of DNC members at the DNC Western Regional Caucus, 1/22/05

What is the Netroots Community? 
What are blogs?  Not necessarily journalism, nor literature, nor punditry.  Just free speech on the internet, homespun, in the best American DIY (Do It Yourself) tradition, with all of its potential consequences.  And pootie pics and ponies. 

Excellent example of campaign blogging:  Kid Oakland on why Howie Klein is a netroots hero

Daily Kos & Calitics
Click the sitemeter.  Review the blog reader survey.

Structure:  Login, Frontpage, Diaries, Comments. 
  Importance of rules, especially copyright issues, and wisdom of lurking at first. 
Daily Kos has an extensive FAQ

Types of Diaries/Posts: Recommended, rated, rescued, campaign round ups.
  Getting crossposted, evidence that someone else found merit in your posting.  Google always knows.  If Calitics front posts your diary, you will be read by the California political media. 
  Example of a comment on Daily Kos  – in this case, I’m adding Mary Bono’s latest gaffe to a posting about astronomic GOP stupidity.  Comments in front page postings are more likely to be read than your extensive diary on your candidate.  Participate in the conversation, and add your candidate’s POV where it’s pertinent to the conversation.  Include a link to the campaign webpage.

Database/Info Mgmt elements of blogs:  Links, tags, ratings, trusted user status, hidden comments.  Posting is relatively simple on most blogs, with handy buttons to add boldface, italics, links & pics

Community Features:
The Scotty Show, Sunday Talk, BlueAmerica interviews, Cheers & Jeers.  Digby Revealed at the Take Back America Conference, June 07.  This was the first time her millions of readers got a chance to see or hear the person behind the brilliant words.

Jargon:   snark, trolls, concern trolls, flame wars, meta, DFHs, WATBs, WTF?
  wingnuts/moonbats, Sockpuppets (Lee Siegal example)  Bwahahahaha. 
For your reference, the Lexicon of Liberal Invective. 

Netroots ethos:  Transparency is mandatory, though real names are not.  Why.

Commenting Policy for Crooks and Liars 

The Debased Mainstream Media – now part of the Beltway elite, often worse than useless
Media Matters, working the refs, corporate takeover, stenography
The Deborah Howell re Abramoff Affair, Judy Miller, Broder, Klein, Hiatt, Tweety, Timmeh.  Cocktail weenies.  HuffPost’s Russert watch.  We want professional journalism, and we react to bad work.  Remedies applied:
*Firedoglake and the Libby Trial  Legal expertise, and giving a damn about outing a spy made the difference. 
*TPM and the US Attorneys issue – Having some regard for the role of the Justice Dept. made the difference.  Document dump teamwork.
NB:  You will be held to the same standards when you post a diary or comment.  Expect feedback on style and substance.  Do Not expect it to be uniformly flattering. 

Flip side:  The netroots give proper support and attention to writers like Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, Sy Hersh, Dana Priest, Dan Froomkin, Murray Waas,  Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, etc.  We have their backs. 

Issues with Democrats – The DLC’s sticky fingers and why centrists are perceived as tools, not pragmatists, in the current political environment-  Buying into RW frames and media fatuousness.  Lieberman, the Fox News Democrat, Short Ride Joe.  The whole Rahm v. Dean tension.  Shrum/Consultants, feh.

Venting:  YouTube of Jim Mora, linked in blogs everywhere after the last Iraq funding vote to voice the disgust:

Beloved Democrats – Howard Dean, Russ Feingold, John Conyers, Al Gore, Barbara Boxer (except for CT primary, which just proves that no one rides for free, not even Boxer.  Ruthless scrutiny of Democrats, by Democrats.) 

Netroots Campaigning –  Earning More and Better Democrats
Resources:  Progressive Punch, Sunlight Foundation, WaPo Database.  Campaign bloggers tell the story of the campaign and coordinate with other Democratic activists online on behalf of their districts.  Act Blue.  Viral media.  Bird-dogging for macaca moments.  Pushing back.  Thanks to online activism, many races that no one thought were competitive added to our majority:  Webb, Tester, McNerney, Hall.  Don’t mention it, it was our pleasure.

Will the netroots get behind my guy?  Depends.  Some parameters:

Blue America (Crooks and Liars, Down With Tyranny and Firedoglake)

Howie Klein: “Blue America doesn’t ask much of our prospective endorsees. On GLBT issues, for example, we don’t ask them to promise to support a gay marriage bill; we just ask them if they will fight for gay equality, even if they have to exhibit some leadership in a tough environment.  If they can’t do that, we may still root for them to beat a much worse Republican, but we don’t raise money for them.  We expect the candidates we endorse and raise money for to support a woman’s right to choice, to support serious campaign finance reform, to favor serious proposals to end the occupation of Iraq, to support gay equality– and, like I said, to be willing to exercise leadership on difficult issues.  I mean, sure, we want candidates who are for the minimum wage and who oppose the dismantling of Social Security, but those should be the easy issues for Democrats”.

Blue Majority (Daily Kos, MyDD, and Swing State Project):

The litmus test
by kos

Wed Aug 03, 2005 at 06:33:01 AM PDT
My candidate litmus test, with edits, from James Powell’s excellent comment on Gilliard’s blog:

*Does candidate ‘distance himself’ from the party and/or its leaders, or is he proud to be a Democrat?
*Does he talk like a bureaucrat or like a regular person?
*Does she make it clear that she opposes Bush and the Republicans?
*Does she back down when the corporate press/media or Republican pundits attack him, or does she stand by her words?
*Does he sleepwalk through the campaign, or does he act like he wants to win?

Notice the complete lack of ideology. And if that bothers you, just remember who would control the committees if Democrats took charge. 

Miscellaneous:

Wikipedia. Google basics.  Note:  YouTube (owned by Google) and its growing influence (Google is competing with MySpace, which Rupert Murdoch just bought.)  Pathetic RW spin offs:  QubeTV and Conservapedia.  Check the blogrolls of writers you like.  Follow the links, or you’ll miss the whole point half the time. TalkingPointsMemo is rapidly becoming a daily requirement. 

Endnotes

The blogosphere serves to amplify the best of journalism and commentary, and to fill in the gaps.  It’s a networking godsend to activists.  There is a RW blogosphere, but it has nowhere near our creative energy and has been repeatedly spanked with the facts.  Wingnuttia, as it is called, is just another outlet of the Norquist/Rove media machine, it features foot soldiers repeating talking points, monolithic and unified; whereas the liberal netroots challenge orthodoxy and grow from below, collaborating or not, independently. 

Sideline: Guns, Germs and Steel analogy: 
Why didn’t China conquer the Americas?  Why was it Spain? China had one emperor to ask, Europe had multiple royals.  Columbus got lucky with the third monarch.  A Chinese adventurer had no such option.  Similar dynamic here:  This is the drawback to total control, it rewards mediocre talent and punishes innovation, and it’s isolating.  Again, this is the netroots’ primary complaint of the DLC, its chief weakness and largest similarity to Rove/GOP, this top-down myopia.  This is where “the Democratic wing of the Democratic party” is still alive and kicking.  Local Democrats are demanding more say. 

What was a Dem weakness is a strength here – our cranky, insubordinate, in-house talent pool.  The grassroots are successfully re-branding the Democratic Party partly because the internet levels the playing field.  Money and access aren’t neutralized by any stretch, but they’re less omnipotent.  It’s a start. 

Highly Recommended: Crashing the Gate by Markos Moulitzas Zuniga and Jerome Armstrong, and Anatomy of Deceit by Marcy Wheeler

Remember,

• Lurk first, and if you have to think twice about posting that comment, don’t.  Not everything has to be expressed in print for global consumption, and there is no taking it back.  Revise & extend, yes.  Erase, no.

• Real names aren’t necessary, but absolute transparency is.  Note your conflicts and associations frankly.

• Follow the rules, cite your sources, and know your facts.  Give us a link.  We love a link.

• Don’t feed the trolls.  If an emotionally stunted creature goes after you, ignore it.  Veterans will deal with it.

No law says you ever have to post a thing.  The majority doesn’t  (I think).  I didn’t for over a year at first.  But there’s excellent reading in here, and a nourishing fellowship of liberals.  Your candidate will benefit from your browsing alone.  Some of the writers in here are breathtakingly good.  It’s a tonic.

Appendix

Some Handy Hyperlinks (please note – you don’t have to read all this to keep up.  Just dKos and Calitics to start will cover quite a lot, as everyone reads everyone else and quotes their favorite bits):

These first three are unfailingly appropriate for genteel eyes and ears:

Hotline’s Blogometer  http://blogometer.na…

Dan Froomkin of the WaPo  http://www.washingto…

Scott Horton’s No Comment/Harper’s Magazine http://harpers.org/s…

Some profanity may occur (most likely in the comments) but it is usually merited:

Daily Kos  http://www.dailykos….

Firedoglake  http://www.firedogla…

Down With Tyranny  http://downwithtyran…

Crooks and Liars  http://www.crooksand…

Hullaballoo  http://www.digbysblo…

TalkingPointsMemo:  http://www.talkingpo…

Americablog:  http://americablog.b…

Atrios:  http://atrios.blogsp…

Calitics  http://www.calitics….

Hotline on Call  http://hotlineblog.n…

Local talent! Elle’s Blog http://www.desertdem…

Glenn Greenwald  http://www.salon.com…

Blog Reader Survey  http://www.blogads.c…

Daily Kos FAQ  http://www.dkosopedi…

Calitics Rules  http://www.calitics….

Crooks and Liars Commenting Policy http://www.crooksand…

ActBlue Formatting Guide  http://www.actblue.c…

Blue Majority  http://www.actblue.c…

Blue America 

Firedoglake Archive – Plame 

New York Times regarding the Firedoglake Libby Trial Liveblogging  http://www.nytimes.c…

Jane Hamsher on Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Matt Stoller of MyDD on what’s wrong with Dem consultants 

Gilliard after the 2004 elections 

YouTube – Have You Had Enough of Mary Bono?  

YouTube Jim Mora, proxy of choice for liberal bloggers after the Iraq funding vote

Now go forth and find your own favorite links!

Updated at 12:20pm Wed. June 13 to add links and some features (Cheers & Jeers, ponies, Lexicon, copyright issues)

Updated for clarity and tidiness on July 6, again on July 14, 2007

(cross-posted from Courage Campaign also in orange)

“Mistakenly deported.”

That’s the phrase the LA Times uses to describe what happened to Pedro Guzman, a 29-year old developmentally disabled construction worker from Lancaster, CA (and American citizen) who was taken from his L.A. County jail cell on May 11 and dumped in Tijuana by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. According to a lawsuit brought by the ACLU this week:

the Sheriff’s Department identified him as a non-citizen, obtained his signature for voluntary removal from the United States and turned him over to federal authorities for deportation.

To this day his family doesn’t know where he is or if he is even still alive.

More…

After being arrested for misdemeanor trespassing, Guzman was sentenced to  120 days in Los Angeles County’s Men’s Central Jail, a sentence that he began serving in April. A month later, he called his family from Tijuana telling them he’d been deported and was in Mexico but the call was interrupted before he could tell them exactly where he was.

The ACLU has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in Los Angeles federal court to demand that the US government help find Guzman.

Up until now, Guzman’s mother has been searching Tijuana on her own without help from either US or Mexican authorities.

While searching for her son in Tijuana, she lived in her car at a banana warehouse owned by a man from her village of Jalcocotan, in the Pacific Coast state of Nayarit. Immigrants from Jalcocotan often use the warehouse as a way station.

Each day, Carbajal said, she would set out through the city’s chaotic streets, asking people about her son, but returning to the warehouse alone each night.

She said she left fliers bearing her son’s image at the morgue, hospitals, cantinas, churches and shelters for poor immigrants.

“I’ve gone places where I know I shouldn’t go. I’ve gone down into the rivers alone,” she said, referring to riverbeds and ravines in Tijuana where people live and sometimes where bodies are dumped. “No one tells me anything. They just say, ‘I don’t know.’ “

So how can this happen in the United States of America in this day and age?

Under a cooperative program by state and local law enforcement, sheriff’s deputies trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel conduct immigration checks at Los Angeles County jails. The ACLU and immigrant rights groups opposed the program.

“The deputies who interviewed Mr. Guzman are poorly versed in the complexities of immigration law and were bound to make this tragic error,” the suit states. “Additionally, the deputies are pressured to process inmates through the (jail system’s) Inmate Reception Center as quickly as possible with little regard for his rights, because there are so many inmates to process.”

Shorter Sheriff’s Department: “not our fault!”

Steve Whitmore, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman…denied that deputies act as federal immigration agents. He said deputies interview foreign-born jail inmates before their release and turn the information over to the immigration agency.

“ICE makes the decision” on whether a person stays in the country,” he said. “We don’t know how that occurs.”

Shorter ICE: “we did nothing wrong.”

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said in a statement that the agency partners with the county jail “to ensure that criminals, who are identified as aliens, are screened for removal from the U.S.”

“ICE only processes persons for removal when all available credible evidence suggests the person is an alien. That process was followed here, and ICE has no reason to believe that it improperly removed Pedro Guzman Carbajal,” she said.

Except you f**king deported an American citizen who is lost in Mexico.

The ACLU has confirmed that at the time of booking, Guzman declared that he was born in California but his family says that, in addition to having difficulty reading and writing, he is “unusually prone to the suggestions of others, due to his diminished mental abilities.” The ACLU’s suit also charges that local and federal authorities

failed to identify Guzman’s disability and improperly obtained his signature for deportation from the United States.

Pedro Guzman is the victim of the sort of perfect storm that can develop when you merge the worst of California’s broken prison system with the worst of our broken federal immigration system.

Much credit to the ACLU for getting involved although it never shoulld have taken a lawsuit to get the federal government involved to correct a wrong that their incompetence clearly caused. Hopefully because of the ACLU’s efforts, Mr. Guzman will return safely to his family and this mistake can be avoided in the future.

(cross-posted from Working Californians)

The legislature really aught to have issued a proclamation making today Michael Moore day to celebrate the California release of his new film Sicko.  The Capitol is practically ringed by satellite news trucks, in town to cover an almost constant schedule of press conferences, rallies, photo-ops and screenings.  I stopped by to pick up my ticket for tonight’s screening hosted by Fabian Nunez and snuck into the press conference he was holding with Moore.

Moore supports single payer health care to cover all Americans and get the profit motive out of the equation with regards to health insurance companies.  To this end he is holding a rally with CNA and press conferences with Sen. Kuehl today.  However, during the press conference with Nunez, he was supportive of legislative efforts to revise the current private industry model.  They did joke about Arnold’s current opposition to SB 840, with Nunez saying “Who knows, maybe he watches and…” Moore quipped “Well, he likes movies.”  Moore is looking for California to lead the way on the issue, as we have done on issues like the minimum wage and the environment.  He sees his film working on concert with legislative efforts.

Moore addressed the current Blue Cross campaign to destroy reform efforts, expressing his concern about the advertising campaign that they had already begun.  It his goal, with the release of the film, to aide a grassroots campaign to reform health care.  That is why he is spending so much time in Sacramento, to tie in his movie promotional efforts with a legislative push in California.  He wants reform, not just movie ticket sales.  Documentary activism.

The press conference covered a great deal of ground, despite the limited question time.  One of the more interesting tidbits was about Moore’s insurance costs for the film itself.  He paid about $40,000 for what I believe is libel insurance for Fahrenheit 9/11, but had to shell-out $800,000 for Sicko.  The pharmaceutical firms were the biggest trouble.  They were on red alert, warning all of their employees to not talk to him and Pfizer even created a toll-free number for staff to inform management if they were contacted by Moore.  Of course, Moore was forwarded all kinds of emails and documents from the companies by their employees.

Evidently, Sicko has footage of some of the LA hospital dumpings that have made the news here.  I am looking forward to tonight’s screening, as the progressive Sacramento elite all gathers in one room.  Check back tomorrow for a write-up of the premiere.

(picture is from my cell)

Awesome.  The Speaker’s office got video up from the press conference.  Here is the Q & A, which I thought was the most interesting bit.  Also up are Nunez’s comments and Moore’s.