(Oops, didn’t frontpage it! – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Go to: http://www.soapblox.net/blog/showDiary.do?diaryId=399

You can help pick our name!

In a report for the New Politics Institute, Matt Stoller (Blogging of the President) and Chris Bowers (of mydd.com fame) praised teh liberal blogosphere but pointed out its achilles heel: a lack of local blogs.

An edge among small, local, political blogs also means an edge in small, local, political races. While progressives may have a marked advantage in overall blogosphere discourse, it could also be argued that conservatives are taking a decisive lead in the sort of targeted blogging that will provide them with real, tangible benefits in the 2005-2006 elections and beyond.
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If they do not invest time, energy and resources building a local blog infrastructure superior to that currently possessed by conservatives, the comparative advantage of progressives’ overall traffic lead will be significantly reduced.

See the extended…

What nthis means for us:

SoapBlox California (or whatever we choose to call it) is perfectly positioned to fill this need.  By launching with a solid platform (SoapBlox rox!), we will be able to capitalize on a new progressive focus on the need for a community based in California.

Today’s LA Times has an article about the CA Coastal Commission’s ruling preventing a Malibu homeowner’s association from posting signs or patrolling public access to Broad Beach.

According to Sara Wan, a Coastal Commissioner:

“I think the results are to be expected,” she said after the vote. “The law’s very clear about the public right to access beaches. The fact that they’re fighting it tells me that if the commission didn’t [issue the order], you’d see signs up again, maybe not tomorrow but it might be five years from now.”

This diary’s really just a test of the system, etc, see how things look and feel.

Plus, the issue is I think important – public beach access rights must be preserved. The Malibu homeowners could not possibly be more wrong.

Yes, I know shocking news.  But I thought it would be a good first Front-page post. From the SF Examiner:

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco is the ninth most liberal city in America, trailing both Oakland and Berkeley on a list of more than 200 progressive municipalities, and the Bay Area as a whole is officially the most liberal region in America, according to a study released Thursday.

The study, conducted by the nonpartisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research, examined voting patterns in the 2004 presidential election of 237 cities with populations over 100,000.

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Well, I guess it officially went online at 11pm PDT on August 11, 2005.  I’m super excited.  If you are interested in helping to build a progressive community for California, shoot me an email at briancl719-pol (at) yahoo (dot) com

There won’t be much on this site until our official launch on September 1.  Check us out then!