Why You Should Come To Netroots Nation

If you've been following the Netroots Nation group at Daily Kos (and if not, why not?), you'll have seen several longtime diarists post a million reasons why you should attend this year's NN in Minneapolis from June 16-19...and if you can't make it this year, you should absolutely come in the future.

I know many readers and community members are already regular attendees, but for those who are on the fence, or skeptical of how much they'll get out of Netroots Nation...well, I have my own story to tell about why Netroots Nation is so important to me personally, and why I've attended each of the last three, why I'll be in Minneapolis, and why I'll attend next year's convention no matter where it is or how much it costs to get there.

Netroots Nation changed my life, completely and for the better.

No, I didn't meet my girlfriend in Austin in 2008, like Dante Atkins did. But my professional life changed forever in 2008, and my experience at Netroots Nation is one of the biggest reasons why; along with the day Markos Moulitsas extended his offer for me to become a contributing editor, Austin was responsible for launching me into a career as a political professional.

I arrived in Austin a broke 25-year-old, still kicking around a cheap apartment in New York City and figuring out what he wanted to do with his life. By the time I was on the plane back to New York, I had dozens of new friends, new contacts, and a sense of purpose. I'd listened to brilliant speakers, interviewed political candidates, consumed a whole lot of Shiner Bock and barbecue, and my team won the pub quiz to boot. It was ridiculous fun and a terrific political education.

I knew right away that Austin had changed my life, and I wrote that. I just didn't know how, at the time. Now I do.

What makes Netroots Nation really special isn't the politicians who visit, or the parties, or getting a chance to meet the big-name bloggers you've idolized from afar in the past (I was completely speechless the first time I met Digby), or watching a blogger stand up and challenge the former President of the United States and watching Bill Clinton deal with the question directly.

All of that is great fun. But what's truly unique?and intoxicating, even more so than the Shiner Bock?is the feeling you get from being in the same room as a thousand people who all want to change the world. Some of them are bloggers, some of them are political operatives, some are United States Senators, and some are just ordinary activists or members of the Daily Kos community, who do their part in their own way in their own community or state to help make this country greater and stronger.

It's a very empowering feeling. Before Austin, I'd never really believed that I had it in me to make a difference in politics or public life. Going to Netroots Nation gave me the courage to pursue those things professionally, because here were a thousand people just like me, from all over the United States, who were knocking doors for Barack Obama or registering voters in Georgia or running for Congress in South Florida or working for a terrific U.S. Senate candidate in New Mexico - people who had committed their lives to their ideals and were working every day to realize those ideals.

I don't know of any other single place where there are so many people like that, from such a diverse set of backgrounds, to inspire your own activism. And if you're fortunate enough to already be a person with a sense of purpose about their activism...well, there's no better place to meet like-minded souls.  

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/rRz6KzBriRk/-Why-You-Should-Come-To-NetrootsNation

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Focus on the family, translated

They're focusing on your family. (Credit: wikimedia)

The President of Christianist organization Focus on the Family, Jim Daly, recently had a sit-down with a journalist at a Christianist magazine. The interview was particularly noteworthy because it appeared that Daly had conceded defeat on the topic of the legalization of same-sex marriage. But the interview was just as noteworthy for its responses to some of the other questions. What follows below is a transcript of selected questions and answers, with a helpful "translation" after each response.

What's the current perception of gay activists about Christian marriage? I sat down with one. He said, "You guys haven't done so well with marriage. Why are you upset about us having a try?" We've got to look at our own house, make sure that our marriages are healthy, that we're being a good witness to the world. Then we can continue to work on defending marriage as best as we can.

Truth is, we suck. We love to claim the moral high ground as an excuse to tell other people how they can live their lives, but we don't really have a moral high ground to claim. Still, we have a pathological need to tell people what to do. So given that, we need to really do something drastic. Maybe if we ban divorce and keep a whole ton of oppressed people in marriages they hate, we'll be able to have enough of a statistical edge to legitimately claim that people we don't like shouldn't be able to get married.

Some European governments, noting the costs of having children, are providing large child subsidies, in essence paying couples to have children. . . . But on the back end you have to tax families to pay for that. This then creates the need for both parents to have salaries.

Yeah, see, we believe in that whole Demographic Winter concept. And the truth of the matter is, government subsidies allow all those icky brown people and Muslims to take advantage of them to have their own babies, and we really can't have that. So, no government subsidies. Not to mention, the taxes, the taxes! Doesn't matter if we help fund children or not if a husband doesn't have enough take-home pay to support his family; and I say HIS family we can't have any two-income families. Women shouldn't be working; they should be sitting at home! Or standing. Or lying down and thinking of England, as they saying goes. Ahem. Anyway, at least there's one thing a husband will know he'll never have to get for his wife: a watch. You know why? Because there's a clock on the stove, and she doesn't belong anywhere else but where she can see it.

Where are we? We've got to look at what God is doing in all of this. . . . Have we done such a poor job with marriage, is He so upset with our mishandling of it in the Christian community, along with our lust of the flesh as a nation, that He is handing us over to this polygamy and same-sex situation in order to, perhaps, drive the Christian community, the remnant, into saying, "OK, there's no no-fault divorce in our church"?

That God guy. He gets to me sometimes because he's such a stark raving masochist. Here He is, taking such a strong stand against things He obviously abhors like this...same-sex situation. Or polygamy, which is clearly rampant. It's a side note, really, but haven't you seen all of these compounds springing up everywhere? No? You haven't? It's just me? I could have sworn! That dream seemed so real. Whatever. My point is, God has this habit of filling creation with things he obviously abhors just because he knows that we abhor them worse and is trying to punish us for not eliminating fast enough the very things that he's putting back on earth just to punish us. That makes sense, right? Because clearly, once our church has eliminated no-fault divorce regardless of what's legal in an actual courtroom, gay marriage will have no choice to disappear. Why? Not sure. Because I said so? That usually works on my wife and kids, so I figured I'd try it here.

The ultrasound initiative is designed to help crisis pregnancy centers. . . . That started in 2006 or 2007. We've placed about 515 ultrasound machines. The great news about this is that technology is on our side. Ultrasound has allowed us to look at the development of the human being?and the culture is beginning to say, "Wait a minute, abortion feels immoral." We don't need to pound anybody over the head with it. Let's ride science and technology and allow people to come to that conclusion.

When is technology good? When we can use it to help browbeat a scared, possibly abused teenager who's obviously not ready to have a child into having a child as opposed to taking advantage of the availability of a safe, legal and private medical procedure. When is technology evil, vile and sinful? When it proves that Adam and Eve might not have used Stegosaurus tail spikes as doorposts and frolicked in the fields with vegetarian Velociraptors.

Can't we just print more money? Seriously, do you recommend some non-financial ways for governments to help marriage? Make divorce more difficult. Have mandatory waiting periods. Have 90-day mandatory counseling for people so it's not just "we don't like each other any more." There are different things to do that do not involve taxing other families to pay for them.

Did I mention that I want to ban divorce? I'm just checking, because that's been my answer to just about every single question and I wanted to make sure that you heard it, in case you didn't hear it the previous three or four times. What we really need to fix this country is one-income households, with a ban on no-fault divorce. Because if I can't trap a woman in the kitchen, I should at least be able to trap her in a marriage from which she has no economic or social opportunity to escape. For the children, of course.

Any thoughts on President Obama? I may not agree with any of his policies. I do appreciate that he's married to his first wife and raising his two children. We need more men like that.

He may be a radical socialist Muslim, or whatever they call that religion. But he hasn't been divorced! Seriously. That's, like, the most important thing in the world right now. But between him and Gingrich, I'd still probably take Gingrich. Because of his moral values, you know.

All kidding aside: the interview is very instructive precisely because it provides a strong insight into what the foci of the Christianist movement will be once the debate over marriage equality is over: they will concede that ground and seek to replicate the 1950s. They may be losing the war on LGBT rights, and they know it; but they feel that they still feel they can win the war on women.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/u9DlmwFAL0o/-Focus-on-the-family,-translated

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'Tequila Party' seeks to get Latinos voting

By now, people in the United States and elsewhere in the world are familiar with the Tea Party, but there's a new social movement on the political block -- it's called the "Tequila Party," and its leaders say the group is serving as a wake-up call to the Latino voting bloc.

Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_allpolitics/~3/JELYTQgTVpg/index.html

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Rep. Peter King's hearings on radicalization among American Muslims: Details and background

The Rep. Peter King helmed hearing on radicalization among American Muslims began on Thursday:

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031002930.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Obama picks Russian adviser for Moscow job

President Barack Obama plans to nominate Michael McFaul, his top adviser on Russian policy, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Moscow, an administration official said Sunday.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43209764/ns/world_news-europe/

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Heritage Turns Farm Subsidy Reform Into a New Regressive Tax Cut For Rich Landowners

By Matthew Cameron Most of the attention that has been devoted to the federal budget proposals that six think tanks presented at this week?s Peter G. Peterson Foundation?s Fiscal Summit has been focused on big ticket issues such as taxes, Medicare and Social Security. But all six plans also tackle the question of farm subsidies, [...]

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/05/27/201142/heritage-turns-farm-subsidy-reform-into-a-new-regressive-tax-cut-for-rich-landowners/

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Military Industrial: Should Pentagon Budget Be Cut?

As Congress mulls budget cuts, defense spending is coming increasingly under scrutiny.

Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=963527a77fd2ba781c82eb44f66738d5

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The Fix: What will Sharron Angle do?

That's short for "What will Sharron Angle do" and it's the question on the minds of almost every political operative in Nevada in the wake of Sen. John Ensign's (R) retirement announcement on Monday.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/08/AR2011030804440.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Tears, shouts as terror hearing becomes political

WASHINGTON -- Congress pushed deep into a raw and emotional debate Thursday over American Muslims who have committed terrorist attacks in the name of religion, in a hearing punctuated by tearful testimony, angry recriminations and political theater.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031000343.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Kelly Moore: Memorial Day: Remembering Marty

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-moore/military-suicide-_b_868723.html

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Obama picks Dempsey to lead Joint Chiefs

President Barack Obama moved Monday to complete an overhaul of the national security apparatus, selecting Army Gen. Martin Dempsey as his new Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43215434/ns/politics-white_house/

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Doctors Inc.: As Physicians? Jobs Change, So Do Their Politics

As more doctors abandon practice ownership and take salaried hospital jobs, their priorities are changing.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1760a4aaaf434f03cd8796f325c75e94

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Rep. Weiner: I did not send Twitter crotch pic

Rep. Anthony Weiner's spokesman claims his Twitter account was hacked when a woman allegedly received a nude photo from it

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsMain/~3/G7Cj5n8MJdo/main20067242.shtml

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Get Out Of Jail Free Card?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/_SKLuRmOt-4/get_out_of_jail_free_card.php

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Lisa Arie: Can Admitting Vulnerability Make Us Stronger?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-arie/spirit-hope-survival_b_868501.html

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Palin Set to Launch Bus Tour of East Coast

Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Sunday will launch a tour of the East Coast, including a stop in the politically important state of New Hampshire, a development likely to roil the GOP presidential nominating contest.

Source: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/politics/~3/jPYzi0ZP9vw/

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Federal judge overturns ban on corporate political contributions

Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge James Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia issued an opinion declaring unconstitutional the century-old ban on direct corporate contributions to federal candidates. This decision is the logical next step after Citizens United, but don't panic ... yet.

First, some background: the litigation in question involves an alleged criminal scheme through which two wealthy individuals were alleged to have recruited donors and reimbursed them for contributions to Hillary Clinton?s 2006 and 2008 Senate and Presidential campaigns, in part by using corporate dollars.  The defendants moved to dismiss the indictments on various grounds, one of which being that the federal ban on direct corporate contributions to candidates was unconstitutional under Citizens United.

So let's remember what Citizens United held: that when it came to independent expenditures?speech on behalf of a candidate which was not coordinated with the candidate?there was insufficient basis to bar corporations from doing what individuals already could do, because speech done independently from candidates had no corrupting effect. But as for direct contributions, even Citizens United noted the strong precedent on point:

With regard to large direct contributions, Buckley reasoned that they could be given ?to secure a political quid pro quo ,? and that ?the scope of such pernicious practices can never be reliably ascertained.? The practices Buckley noted would be covered by bribery laws if a quid pro quo arrangement were proved. The Court, in consequence, has noted that restrictions on direct contributions are preventative, because few if any contributions to candidates will involve quid pro quo arrangements. The Buckley Court, nevertheless, sustained limits on direct contributions in order to ensure against the reality or appearance of corruption....

[This] Court in NRWC did say there is a ?sufficient? governmental interest in ?ensur[ing] that substantial aggregations of wealth amassed? by corporations would not ?be used to incur political debts from legislators who are aided by the contributions"; NCPAC, supra, at 500?501 (NRWC suggested a governmental interest in restricting ?the influence of political war chests funneled through the corporate form?). ... Citizens United has not made direct contributions to candidates, and it has not suggested that the Court should reconsider whether contribution limits should be subjected to rigorous First Amendment scrutiny.

(Never mind, of course, that the Court almost simultaneously held in Caperton that massive independent expenditures on behalf of a West Virginia judicial candidate were sufficiently corrupting that it violated due process for the judge not to recuse himself from his sponsor's case.)  

There's plenty of Supreme Court precedent on this point. Rick Hasen points to FEC v Beaumont, a 2003 Supreme Court opinion which upheld the ban on corporate contributions even when it's a 501(c)(4) making the contribution.  So now let's take a look at the decision, with the key parts being on pp 42-46.

The Supreme Court?s logic [in Citizens United] was that because Buckley found that independent contributions by human beings do not corrupt, and because Bellotti held that ?the First Amendment does not allow political speech restrictions based on a speaker?s corporate identity,? corporations cannot be banned from making the same independent expenditures as individuals.

That logic is inescapable here.  If human beings can make direct campaign contributions within FECA?s limits without risking quid pro quo corruption or its appearance, and if, in Citizens United?s interpretation of Bellotti, corporations and human beings are entitled to equal political speech rights, then corporations must also be able to contribute within FECA?s limits.

[F]or better or worse, Citizens United held that there is no distinction between an individual and a corporation with respect to political speech.  Thus, if an individual can make direct contributions within FECA?s limits, a corporation cannot be banned from doing the same thing.  So because individuals can directly contribute to federal election campaigns within FECA?s limits, and because � 441b(a) does not allow corporations to do the same, � 441b(a) is unconstitutional and Count Four [of the indictment] must be dismissed

As I've noted before, such direct corporate contributions to candidates are already legal in about half the states, and the rise of "SuperPACs" already gives quite a bit of latitude for corporations to become involved in federal elections should they so choose.

So why did I say "don't panic ... yet" up top? Because the existence of contrary, direct Supreme Court precedent on point means that this decision is not going to become operable anytime soon. The existing ban will stand, for now. It's when this (or some similar case) reaches the Supreme Court in 2-3 years, calling into question government's ability to take any meaningful steps to rein in the influence of amassed corporate wealth on politics, that you should worry.

And then they'll go after disclosure laws.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/Ba4mmQYxev4/-Federal-judge-overturns-ban-on-corporate-political-contributions

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Dems Spin NY-26 and Media Plays Along

Mary Kate Cary, US News & WR
The New York Times’ Gail Collins calls it the “Democratic Happy Dance”—that breathless, gleeful coverage of the Democrats’ win in the special election held this week in New York’s 26th Congressional District. Charlie Cooks suggests that perhaps some decaf would be in order, and I couldn’t agree more. The left is trying to portray the win as a repudiation of the Ryan Medicare plan that puts Democrats back in the speaker’s chair by 2012, but let’s take a look at what the mainstream media is not...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/05/28/dems_spin_ny-26_and_media_plays_along_256294.html

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Pawlenty says he supports House GOP budget

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty says he supports House Republicans' budget outline that makes cuts to the federal deficit as well as federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43185746/ns/politics-decision_2012/

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Running on Empty: Drilling Ban 1 Year Later

Thomas Pyle, Wash Times
It was one year ago when the Obama administration imposed a deep-water drilling moratorium on new oil and gas wells in response to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico. For all practical purposes, the ban continues today - despite the administration’s pre-election announcement in October that it had lifted the moratorium.In the 12 months since the moratorium was imposed, gas-pump prices and consumer anger have risen precipitously. “My poll numbers go up and down depending on the latest crisis, and right now gas prices are weighing heavily on...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/05/28/running_on_empty_drilling_ban_1_year_later_256286.html

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Boehner Responds to NY-26 Defeat

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/tP73gUGe4SM/boehner_responds_to_ny-26_defeat.php

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Senate Republicans Block Potential Elizabeth Warren Recess Appointment

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/27/no-senate-recess/

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NJ: Is this Paul Ryan's finest hour?

Paul Ryan, in essence, intends to be Churchill and Thatcher as the debate over Medicare's future intensifies. And the House Budget Committee chairman thinks this is his moment.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43197174/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

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Andrea Paine: It's Never Too Late

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/andrea-paine/breast-cancer-survivor_b_867162.html

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Gallup: Romney 'weakest front-runner' in recent GOP contests

The post-White Knight survey is in from Gallup this morning, and at the moment, with (see chart) or without Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney's name recognition is carrying him to the top of the list, where he can work to hold off Herman Cain.

In the short term, Romney and Palin seem to have benefited most from several prominent potential Republican candidates' decisions not to run for president. Should Palin follow suit and not enter the race, Romney would be the clear front-runner, but arguably the weakest front-runner in any recent Republican nomination campaign.

As such, the race remains wide open, which is underscored by the fact that one in five Republicans currently have no preference.

Without Mitch Daniels, a slumping Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Ronald Reagan, Oprah or Justin Bieber in the race, Republican primary voters can't decide who to dislike more. That makes the race not only wide open, but rife for Palin-mania and stories dropped in the news by her loyalists about an upcoming movie (see hilarious titles suggested by Balloon Juice, if you missed it) that will Change Everything ? and make her some more money that she can rip off from her adoring fans (which is the point, isn't it?)

I'd love to think Palin is actually running, but we couldn't be that lucky.

In the meantime, just catch that Pawlenty wave. He's tearing up the field in a fan feeding frenz ? okay, okay. He's not.  And the main thing Palin offers this week is the contrast between how the GOP base feels about her and how they feel about Pawlenty (who runs behind Herman Cain, making Pawlenty something of an afterthought.)

In fact, Gallup quantifies it with what they are calling a "positive intensity score", a fancy way of highlighting how unpopular the weak field is among the party activists. The leaders there are Cain (by a lot), Bachmann, and Palin. Everyone else needs to look for another date for the prom.

Cue Sarah to make some noise about that. Oh, and by the way, someone needs to ask her about where she stands on the Ryan budget (after first explaining to her what it is.)

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/MGMM5KydcBI/-Gallup:-Romney-weakest-front-runner-in-recent-GOP-contests

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Pope?s Pedophilia Adviser?s Priest Arrested For Pedophilia

Has the Pope stamped out the organizational problem of pedophilia, yet? Umm … check back in a few years, maybe, when all these creepy hundred-year-old child diddlers have died and gone to heaven? GENOA – The latest sex-abuse case to rock the Catholic Church is unfolding in the archdiocese of an influential Italian Cardinal who [...]

Source: http://feeds.wonkette.com/click.phdo?i=66d2ff4f90665c39408d67c161668960

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