(This is also posted at Growing the Garden)

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:02 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

July 24, 2009

Making It In America

Take a look at the project I am working on at Campaign for America's Future: Making It In America | OurFuture.org

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

July 21, 2009

Progressive Infrastructure Being Built Before Your Eyes

Take a look at The Commonweal Institute Blog: Uncommon Denominator, and scroll down.

LOTS of good stuff there from the Progressive Op-Ed Program. You might recognize some of the names because you mightalready read their blogs: Brad Friedman, Jill Richardson, Brad Reed, Nezua Limon, Allison Arieff, Michelle Mustonen, Joanna Guldi, Chris Bowers, Kyle Gillette, Mary Ratcliff... Go see them all.

This is progressive infrastructure being built before your eyes.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:51 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

July 16, 2009

Seven Years Blogging

Seeing the Forest is seven years old today.

This is one of my favorite posts:
The Retirement Plan of the Unemployed Man

Another one:
Who Is The Crazy Person In The Room?

skippy, too!

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:42 AM | Comments (2) | Link Cosmos

July 15, 2009

I'm Over At Open Left

I'm blogging over at Open Left for the next two weeks. My first post, Open Left:: Ideas, is up now. I'll cross post some of my posts here as well.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:48 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

July 14, 2009

Personal News

Beginning tomorrow I will be blogging at Open Left for two weeks, sitting in for Chris Bowers while he is off getting married and taking some time off. See Open Left:: Going To The Chapel.

Also, Monday I will begin as a Fellow with Campaign for America's Future, writing there twice a week.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:35 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

July 9, 2009

been There?

Have you visited The Left Coaster lately?

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:36 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

May 19, 2009

Working At The Polls Today

I am working today as an Inspector at a polling place for California's special election. It's a long day and I am not likely to be posting.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:57 AM | Comments (1) | Link Cosmos

May 12, 2009

Moving Day

The house we rent was sold and we got 30 days notice, so we are moving today.

I hate moving. If I post anything it will be an angry rant. Watch your backs.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:48 AM | Comments (1) | Link Cosmos

February 12, 2009

California Readers

If you live in California you should check in at Calitics California Politics Blog every day.

And, of course, check in at Speak Out California every day. Please sign up for their email list.

ALSO be sure to do the same at the Courage Campaign!

Send this post to your California friends and family.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:56 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

February 1, 2009

Blogroll Amnesty

Please go read skippy the bush kangaroo: b.a.d. days are here again!

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:42 AM | Comments (1) | Link Cosmos

January 28, 2009

It Wasn't The Republicans

Quick thought: It wasn't the Republicans who didn't put restrictions and controls into the $700 billion TARP Wall Street/bank bailout bill. Democrats wrote and passed that bill.

Now the money is being used for union busting, lobbying, bonuses, dividends...

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:23 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

December 24, 2008

Holiday Greetings From The Johnsons

Here is last year's card.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:59 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

Comment Spam

Seeing the Forest is getting a flood of comment spam all of a sudden, so I am turning on the requirement that you be authenticated before a comment is automatically published. If you are, your comment will immediately appear. If not I have to approve it. Sorry.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:02 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

December 12, 2008

Talking Progressive Infrastructure

I'll have a post up, and will be sticking around to talk in the comments about progressive infrastructure at 11am PDT (2pm EST) Saturday over at Firedoglake.

Update The post is up, and there is a lively discussion, come leave a comment.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:33 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

December 8, 2008

Dancimals

Go see Dancimals over at Smelling the Coffee:

Just in time for Christmas!

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:45 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

November 26, 2008

The Government Must Bail Out Blogs

I just came from a briefing by leading economists who explained what is about to happen to the country because there are so few advertisements and donations coming in to the blogs. You would not believe the hush that came over the room as they described the effects on working people as they get laid off, thrown out of their houses, their cars and clothes taken from them, they are denied food except for oatmeal and small bugs, and their children are taken from them to work in government mines.

It is imperative that the Congress come up with a bailout plan, and it must happen within 48 hours, or the very worst will happen -- and it will be the Democrats' fault!

The blogs require an immediate infusion of $300 billion dollars, and it must happen right away, or things beyond your imagination (and mine, apparently) will happen to all of us. We absolutely must avoid this. Immediately, within 48 hours at the very latest, this money must be allocated and provided.

Update - about 5 minutes after posting this I came across this post by Sirota.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:23 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

November 19, 2008

Oilver Willis

Everyone should read Oliver Willis every day because I said so.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:28 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

Taylor Marsh

You should all read Taylor Marsh every day because I said so.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:22 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

November 7, 2008

Oprah "Mystery Man" is Seeing the Forest Blogger Sam Perry

It can now be revealed that Oprah's "Mystery Man" -- or "Hanky Man" at CNN -- is Seeing the Forest blogger Sam Perry. He will be on the Oprah show today.

A recent post by Sam from the Democratic Convention: From Denver - two concerns

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:33 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

November 4, 2008

Obama Will Win

Maybe I can go get a job now.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:19 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

October 20, 2008

EP Wiki Working

I haven't been blogging as much because I am working on the Election Protection Wiki.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:05 PM | Comments (1) | Link Cosmos

September 28, 2008

I'm Back

A day of airplanes (Delta's a good airline) and now I am home. Jet-lagged, but home.

Did anything happen this week?

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:18 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

September 25, 2008

CGI Post - What It Is

I have a post explaining what the Clinton Global initiative is about over at the Social Edge Blog.

But after McCain's moving speech this morning I am thinking about suspending my blogging.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:26 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

September 24, 2008

New CGI Posts

I have two new posts from the CGI, over at the Social Edge blog.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:45 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

Wednesday Morning CGI

I have my first post up from the Clinton Global Initiative. This is at the Social Edge blog.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:59 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

September 22, 2008

Travel Day

I'm flying across the country today. I don't know where and when I might have access to the Internets.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:53 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

September 20, 2008

Next Week I Blog From The Clinton Global Initiative

Next week I will be in New York to blog from the Clinton Global Initiative, as I have done from two previous CGIs. I'll be blogging for Social Edge. Take a look at my first post there, and stop in there to see what's up. I will also be updating Seeing the Forest.

This will be a VERY interesting event, as it takes place with so many world and business leaders attending during the current turmoil in the financial world -- and at the same time as the annual United Nations General Assembly.

I received this in my email:

The following are among those who have confirmed their attendance at the 2008 CGI Annual Meeting: Queen Rania Al-Abdullah (Jordan), Prime Minister Gordon Brown (UK), President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa (Mexico), President Leonel Fernández (Dominican Republic), President Armando Guebuza (Mozambique), President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia), President Paul Kagame (Rwanda), President Hamid Karzai (Afghanistan), President Shimon Peres (Israel), Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (Australia), President Jalal Talabani (Iraq), UN Secretary Genereal Ban Ki-moon, former Prime Minister Tony Blair (UK), former President Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico), former Vice President Al Gore (United States), Senator John McCain (Arizona), Senator Barack Obama (Illinois), Mayor Bill White (Houston), former Senator Bill Frist (Tennessee), Jacques Aigrain (Swiss Re), Muhammad Ali (Athletes for Hope), Bradbury Anderson (Best Buy), Lance Armstrong (Lance Armstrong Foundation), Craig Barrett (Intel), Maria Bartiromo (CNBC), Bono (ONE), Tom Brokaw (NBC News), Lester Brown (Earth Policy Institute), John Chambers (Cisco), Peter Chernin (News Corporation), Former Army General Wesley Clark (UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations; Emergya Wind Technologies, BV), Ian Davis (McKinsey & Company), Paul Farmer (Partners in Health), Bill Gates, Bob Geldof, David Gergen (Harvard University), Neville Isdell (The Coca-Cola Company), Wyclef Jean (Yéle Haiti), Ashley Judd, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Riverkeeper Alliance; NRDC), Anne Lauvergeon (Areva), Wangari Maathai (Green Belt Movement, Kenya), Amre Moussa (League of Arab States), Dikembe Mutombo (Dikembe Mutombo Foundation), R.K. Pachauri (TERI), T. Boone Pickens (BP Capital), Victor Pinchuk (The Victor Pinchuk Foundation), Carl Pope (Sierra Club), Judith Rodin (Rockefeller Foundation), Robert Rubin (Citi), Joseph Saunders (Visa Inc), Josette Sheeran (World Food Programme), Dominique Strauss-Kahn (IMF), Barbara Streisand (The Streisand Foundation), Myron Ullman (J.C. Penny’s), Ann Veneman (UNICEF), and Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank).

Both United States presidential candidates will have a role in the Annual Meeting. Senator John McCain will deliver the opening remarks live at the “Integrated Solutions: water, food and energy” plenary session. Senator Barack Obama will address meeting participants via satellite.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:50 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

September 18, 2008

If you Twitter

If you Twitter my ID is dcjohnson, or http://twitter.com/dcjohnson. Seeing the Forest posts are automatically posted.

If you don't then you don't know what I am talking about.

ALSO, take a few minutes to explore all the stuff in the left and right columns here. There's a lot of great stuff. And let me know about any dead blog links in the blogroll. Also about blogs that should be in the blogroll...

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:54 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

September 16, 2008

Seeing the Forest STUFF!

Take a look at the Seeing The Forest store!

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:39 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

September 7, 2008

Reddit Button Question

Question for web developers. Why is the Reddit submit button below putting the wrong title in? Try a few of the Reddit buttons on posts below this one to see what I mean.

Here is the script I am using. NOTE I am substituting left parenthesis here for left brackets so the blog software doesn't think I mean to put the code here:

(script>reddit_url='($MTEntryPermalink archive_type="Individual"$>'(/script>
(script>reddit_title='($MTEntryTitle$>'(/script>
(script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.reddit.com/button.js?t=2">(/script>

WHY is it putting the title of the first post into every reddit button on this main page? Other buttons with similar code are NOT doing that and are putting the correct title in.

UPDATE - I have a clue. I changed the title of the Palin post, took out the hyphen, so it now reads "Palin Is Not Even On Fox or Rush". Yet several of the reddit buttons below still contain the OLD title. So this is a Reddit server-side error with their script I think.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:30 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

August 25, 2008

Twitter dcjohnson

If you know what Twitter is, I'm http://twitter.com/dcjohnson

If you don't know what Twitter is, never mind.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:56 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

August 23, 2008

Seeing the Forest on Facebook, Email, Etc.

You can sign up for seeing the Forest on Facebook by clicking the "badge" in the right column, or the one here:

While we're at it, you can email any post out to others by clicking where it says "Email this" at the end of that post.

While we're at it, if you like any post, click where it says Digg at the end of the post. Also where it says Reddit. The Thumb This Up is for StumbleUpon. And you can Bookmark on Delicious.

Where we're at it, take a look at that Buzz It button. This is a great one to use because it places the post on BuzzFlash.net. Go take a look at BuzzFlash.net! This is a place for progressives to get news and interesting article links. It's part of the BuzzFlash progressive news site.

While we're at it, that Spotlight link takes you to the Spotlight project.

The Spotlight Project enables the progressive blogging community (bloggers, commenters, and lurkers) to quickly and easily forward blog posts, along with their own comments, to nearly anyone in the media.

And always, always, always visit Seeing the Forest's advertisers. Also visit advertisers at other blogs. This helps all of the bloggers develop an ecosystem that will bring jobs, news, contributions to candidates and a progressive future to the contry.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:29 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

Please Help Fund My Dem Convention Blogging

Next week I am heading to Denver to cover the Democratic Convention! I will be taking my camera, and just as I did four years ago I will be writing and posting pics for you all day, every day from the convention hall as well as the "Big Tent" that progressive bloggers are setting up.

Of course this involves expenses. I have to cover plane fare, lodging, meals, local transportation and my ticket into the Big Tent.

So I am asking for help to cover these expenses.

Please consider donating to help me cover the costs of this trip. I use PayPal to take donations, and they take credit cards. If you already have a PayPal account, just click. Otherwise after you click there is a simple signup procedure.

The PayPal button is down a ways in the left column and I am including it here for your convenience:

This is a secure online payment method which accepts major credit cards. Please help me meet expenses.


Thanks!

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:18 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 17, 2008

Two Millionth Reader

Hey, I just noticed that Seeing the Forest had its two millionth reader.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:41 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

August 14, 2008

Great Blog

Go visit one of the great blogs out there.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:10 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos

August 9, 2008

Warning - Facebook Password-Stealing Scam

I received an email that tricked me into giving up my Facebook account and password. I figured it out and changed it immediately, but not I have to also change the password everywhere else I used that combination... I get an email that someone has written on my wall. I go to see what is written about me, and it is exactly like the Facebook login page...

Here is the email:

Janis wrote on your Wall:

"Somebody wrote something really funny in their blog about you. everybody see it here http://evangelinafofipap.blogspot.com" [THIS TAKES YOU TO THE SCAM LOGIN PAGE. DON'T ENTER ANYTHING HERE]

To see your Wall or to write on Janis's Wall, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?profile.php&id=XXXXXXX

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 5, 2008

On Democrats Reshaping Themselves As Republicans

I was thinking about how Obama squandered the enthusiasm and good faith of the activist "base" when he decided to "move to the right" to "appeal to the center." I am not quoting the Obama campaign, I am describing what happened to so many Democrats over the years who have helped move the goalposts ever rightward. In the face of an ongoing corporate propaganda campaign the "realists" and "pragmatists" have concluded they need to "go where the votes are" rather than fight back and work to counter that right-wing messaging and explain to the public why progressive values are better for them.

(NOTE - I think this is really more the fault of the funding base than the politicians. They just don't get it about building organizations capable of countering the messaging. And I am including everyone who is not giving all they can, even if that is only $20 a week, to progressive infrastructure organizations like Commonweal Institute and Speak Out California.)

All of this made me think of one of the great blog posts, from just after the 2002 elections. RENDEZVOUS WITH LUNACY

It begins with this picture:

From the post,

Why would voters choose a phony right wing Republican over the real thing? What made McAuliffe and Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt believe that rural conservative whites would choose warmongering Democratic slaves to Corporate America over warmongering Republican slaves to Corporate America? When I want to vote for a warmongering corporate slave, I always vote Republican.

[. . .] I am not an astute observer of the political scene – I am merely an embittered observer. Yet despite being a rank political amateur, I am able to understand that the path to power does not consist of alienating people who are willing to vote for you in order to ingratiate yourself to people who are unwilling to vote for you. The current Democratic leadership just can't seem to comprehend this most important concept.

[. . .] Abandonment of stated principles and unilateral surrender have now officially been discredited as tactics for regaining Democratic control of Congress. It is time for new party leaders to try a different approach, like treating their voters with respect. Bush and the Republican base have a symbiotic relationship – he attends to their concerns, and they respond by faithfully supporting the G.O.P. This intriguing arrangement might well serve as a useful model for the Democratic Party.

When your supporters don’t vote for
you, then you

LOSE.

And we bloggers out here in the non-beltway wilderness keep trying to explain this message over and over.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:57 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Daou Report is Back

Hey people - The Daou Report is back, with a different format. Go see - and bookmark it.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 24, 2008

Netroots Nation Report

This post originally appeared at, Speak Out California.

I thought our readers might like to get an insight into how last week's annual Netroots Nation convention went, and how it keeps the blogging world energized. Here is an inside look at the event. ('Netroots' stands for the online, networked, "bottom-up" grassroots of democracy.)

First of all, Austin is like a big, very very very very very very hot Santa Cruz. The daily high temperature was between 96 and 104 each day I was there. The convention facilities were great, and are located right downtown, surrounded by restaurants and the entertainment district. The hotel was next door to the convention center with several other hotels nearby. It's also near Austin's famous "bat bridge" from under which hundreds of thousands of bats emerge each day just after sunset.

Two thousand people attended the Thursday through Sunday event. The crowd and speakers were much more diverse than previous years. This is a gathering of all ages and demographic groups, centered around the progressive blogs.

Netroots Nation used to be called YearlyKos. This event sprang up from the large community that had grown up around the DailyKos website, but the gathering itself is a larger Netroots gathering not just associated with that particular site. Hence the change to Netroots Nation.

The first day, Thursday, was set aside for caucuses. There was a labor caucus which really wish I could have attended. There were a few state caucuses. There were caucuses like Native American and GLBTQ, and even a Geek caucus. There were caucuses for websites like MyDD and Firedoglake.

The evening Keynote on that first day was Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic Party, introduced by General Wesley Clark.

Friday the panels and workshops started. Friday and Saturday were arranged with two panel slots before lunch and two after. Each of those slots had THIRTEEN different panels to choose from! And of course everyone wanted to attend at least tow, more likely four of those at any given time. For an idea of what one of these panels was link, here is the description of The Next President and the Law:

Fri, 07/18/2008 - 9:00am, Exhibit Hall 4

A new Democratic president will take office on January 20, 2009, facing a federal judiciary stacked with Republican appointees in 20 of the last 28 years, and a Department of Justice that has been more tied to the President’s policy interests than the impartial enforcement of law. What should the next president do with the courts? What should the priorities be for his attorney general? What legislative initiatives are needed to restore fair access to the courts?
PANELISTS: Cass Sunstein, John Dean, Adam Bonin, Michael Waldman

Harold Ford and Markos held a discussion on stage at lunch here at Netroots Nation. I didn't catch all of it, but at one point Ford was talking about FISA and telecom immunity, along the lines of "If you have a company, and the government comes to you and says 'If you do this for us it will help national security' then what can you say?"

I'll tell you what you can say. You can say, "DO YOU HAVE A WARRANT?"

And then there were the parties... Parties and parties. There were lots of parties. And there were parties.

Saturday kicked off with "Ask the Speaker". Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was on stage taking questions that had been solicited in advance from blogs all around the web, as well as live questions from people attending. Then there was a surprise. One of the questions that came over the speakers was from Al Gore! And Gore walked onto the stage to give a brief talk about climate change and the nature of our politics, and took questions as well as Speaker Pelosi.

Then more panels ... The lunch keynote was Lawrence Lessig who talked about the destructive nature of money in politics -- whenever money is involved you can't trust the results, just like with medical research funded by pharmaceutical companies. So of course you can't trust money in politics.

Then more panels. I put on a workshop titled, "Blogging and the New Green Economy," described as follows,

This workshop will discuss how bloggers can support and organize around the efforts of environmental justice activists, union leaders and city government officials to help create a new green economy.

Saturday wrapped up with a keynote speech by Rep. Donna Edwards. This is significant because the Netroots supported Edwards in a primary race against another Democrat who was supporting a corporate agenda. She won, and it has sent a signal to other Democrats that they can start to change their behavior. And now the SEIU and others are planning to run at least ten primary challenges in the next round of Congressional elections. This is a very important development which I wrote about in my post SEIU's Accountability Project -- Making Politicians Do The Right Thing. I wrote,

First, it finally gives politicians whose hearts are with us a reason to vote with us. Second, it tells politicians who don't agree with a progressive agenda (of reducing corporate power over our lives and restoring democracy to the people) that their time is past, that we will run candidates against them in the primaries and these candidates will have strong support.

And parties.

Finally, Sunday began with a multi-faith service led by "Pastor Dan" who posts at the DailyKos-associated blog Street Prophets. Following that the keynote speaker Van Jones was introduced by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Newsom was great but Van Jones gave a memorable talk that will be available in video online soon.

A tremendous amount of networking happens at this event. I once called it the largest gathering of people who know each other but have never met. It is events like this one and the Take Back America conference where a new progressive movement is being built. One this that was significant this year was the exhibits, where organizations involved with the Netroots have booths to show off what they are up to. There were quite a number of these this year, which shows that an ecosystem is starting to develop.

Someone caught a photo of me speaking to the California Caucus:

(That's a really bad shot of CA-46 Congressional candidate Debra Cook in the front.)

There are several blogs (here, here) and diaries at DailyKos with pictures, (here, here, here, here), and a Flickr album I located.

Ckick through to Speak Out California to join our discussion there.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 16, 2008

Six Years!

I was at the Burnt Orange Report party at Netroots Nation, and realized that today is the sixth anniversary of this blog!

First post: Ralph Nader is a Scab

In the union movement we learned the hard way that the only way to fight the moneyed interests is to stick together. It's called SOLIDARITY. It's what "union" MEANS.

When unions are in a fight the members stick together, and those crossing the lines are called "scabs".

In the 2000 election it was the usual fragile Democratic coalition fighting the usual moneyed interests. Ralph Nader broke the solidarity, divided the coalition, and lost us the election. Ralph Nader is a scab.

Recent polls show that the public is blaming Clinton for the business scandals, and Bush's popularity remains astronomical. That's a tree.

Let's see if we can see the forest. Look back to the 2000 election. Step back and look at the candidates. The Democrat's candidate was a well respected, well liked, extremely experienced, Vietnam vet, former seminary student, character beyond reproach, faithfully married family man, foreign policy expert, with many accomplishments including being the person in the Congress most responsible for advancing the Internet... The Republicans ran a foul-mouthed thoroughly inexperienced scandal-ridden (Harken oil, Rangers stadium, recipient of bribes directed at his father) failed businessman, continuously bailed out of jams by his father's connections, draft-dodger (worse, he got into the Nat. Guard through connections and then played hooky!), former drunk, probable drug-user, kids constantly in trouble, with a campaign entirely financed by large corporations obviously looking for favors.

But by election time the only issue was “character”, and the character in question was the Democratic candidate’s! That's the forest.

Issues like the "Love Canal story" and "I invented the Internet" were trees. The forest was how they pulled it off - the smears, the propaganda blitz, the way they spread their message and the way people hear messages these days.

With this weblog I'll be writing about this issue, seeing the forest for the trees.

Note - any typos are due to burnt orange party.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Travel Day

I'm flying to Austin this morning to attend Netroots Nation so probably won't be posting. Maybe tonite.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 3, 2008

The Campaign To Improve Assisted Living

Next week I'll be writing about The Campaign To Improve Assisted Living.

To get you ready, here's your homework assignment.

First, read this: Open Left:: Socially Irresponsible Investing

Then go to The Campaign To Improve Assisted Living and study up.

OK, go and get ready for this one. You can have tomorrow off but you are expected to work over the weekend.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 23, 2008

Speak Out California Is Back Up And Running!

This post originally appeared at Speak Out California.

One day your website is yours, and the next day it is someone else's. Organizations, businesses and regular people are at the mercy of a confusing deregulated system.

A little over a week ago the Speak Out California website suddenly disappeared, and viewers instead saw a website full of advertisements.

We had no way of even knowing what had happened. It was just a surprise. One day typing "speakoutca.org" into a web browser took viewers to our website, the next day it took viewers to an ad site that someone else managed.

Some of us are more sophisticated and internet-savvy than most citizens so we were eventually able to track down some information. I'm not going into details here, except to say that no one at Speak Out California received any notice that this was going to happen. It took several days to even track down where the domain name (this is what internet addresses like speakoutca.org are called) had been registered, who had registered it, and contact info for the registrar. Then it took several more days to restore the domain name to us and get it working again.

Here's the thing: the only way we were able to get this name back and get the site operating again is because some of us are much more internet-connected than most people. Most people would have no idea where to even start to look for information and help solving a problem like this.

This is certainly not an uncommon problem. My wife had a business named Dancing Woman Designs with a website at dancingwomandesigns.com, and then one day she didn't. She received no notice, nothing. It was just there one day and gone the next and if she wanted it back it was going to cost her. It was going to cost her a lot. And so she doesn't have dancingwomandesigns.com anymore and that address takes you to an ad site. A whole business that took years to get going and build is history now. It was wiped out in a minute because someone was able to get the web name.

A larger business is more likely to have the resources to hire the necessary experts to fight something like this. But it can be an expensive proposition and it can take time.

This is the difference between regulation and deregulation. Regulations protect regular people. Deregulation enables and protects scammers, schemers, and cons. The Internet is largely unregulated and is full of scammers, schemers and cons. Most of the businesses and organizations on the internet are good, honest, credible and legitimate but regular people are also left completely at the mercy of numerous cons, scams, schemes and rip-offs and the burden is on us to find a way to tell the difference.

We got Speak Out California back up and running. It only took us a week and a little money. But we are sophisticated, internet-savvy and connected -- and lucky. Hmm ... maybe some new legislation is warranted.

Click through to Speak Out California

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 20, 2008

Down With Tyranny

Have you been to the great site DownWithTyranny! lately?

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:36 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 9, 2008

Today's Obama Smear Attempt -- See Update

Here's one of the ways the right's smear machine works. Far-right blogs post something. Then a site higher up their food chain picks it up, like NewsMax, CNSNews, WorldNetDaily or Politico. Then the Drudge Report or Moon's Washington Times gets it from there and spreads the story further. Somewhere in there Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity talks about it on the air. Finally the corporate media picks it up and uses the excuse that "the story is circulating."

Here's an example today. "Someone" posted an anti-semitic comment at the Obama blog. (See if you can guess who posted a comment that a right-wing blog knew about a few minutes later.) A few minutes later the hate site Little Green Footballs wrote a post saying that the Obama blog says so-and-so. (If you don't know about this site, spend a few minutes there and you'll get the picture. No, it is not a parody of right-wing nuttiness.) Then dozens of far-right-wing sites quickly echoed the "story." It rapidly turns into a great big right-wing hissy fit.

Soon the right's Politico has picked it up. (Which shows they're spending time reading hate sites.) And then Rush Limbaugh talked about it on his show.

You see, someone (guess who) leaving a comment at the Obama site proves that Obama is anti-semitic. You'll be hearing about it from every direction very soon.

Here is what Politico wrote:

Little Green Footballs finds some eyebrow-raisin stuff on Obama's site with the search term "Jewish Lobby." Of course, it's not fair to hold Obama responsible for the occasional crazy post. But it seems reasonable to try to characterize the community, something I haven't seen done, and it's interesting to see what gets taken down and what doesn't -- inevitably a community and moderator choice.

Update - Little Green Footballs is sending people over here to saturate us with nasty comments. This one is an example of what to expect from that site (And I do have the IP address proving who it came from): "It's pretty obvious that Davey is so blind queer for 'the boy with the
pickaninny dick' that he is willing to tell any lie necessary 'for the
cause'...even if it's laughably false on its face...maybe he's bucking to
be Barky's personal bitch faggot....if so,he's doing a good job of it"

Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:39 PM | Comments (183) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

May 29, 2008

Democratic Convention Credentials

I just found out I have credentials to cover the Democratic Convention in Denver this summer.

In 2004 I was the first person ever to post a picture of his dog from a national convention. What will I do this time?

In this post I have a picture of "reporters covering reporters interviewing bloggers while bloggers interview the reporters."

Balloon drop.

(It's the old Blogger site so you have to wait and wait while it loads and then scrolls to the right post...)

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

skippy Calls For Boycott Of Dunkin Donuts For Appeasing Right-Wing

Right-wing bloggers recently went nuts because a woman in a Dunkin Donuts ad wore a scarf that, if put on her head, might look like a Muslim woman with a scarf on her head. (No, I'm not kidding.) The called for a boycott of Dunkin Donuts.

Dunkin Donuts promptly gave in and canceled the ads. By doing so they demeaned women who wear scarves, not to mention supporting the right-wing blogger claims that a woman wearing a scarf (not even on her head) is a terrorist.

See actual photos here: skippy the bush kangaroo: time to stop buying the donuts - an action alert!,

we say, what's good for the batshit insane is good for the logical.

here's dunkin' donuts contact form. why not email them and let them know that you will no longer be buying their donuts or coffee or any product because their actions, at worst, in effect condemn all who wear scarves, and at best, are just plain looney?

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:32 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 19, 2008

Post A Sign

"If you just had one person in every city doing what I do you wouldn't be able to drive anywhere without seeing a protest against the war."

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 11, 2008

Go Visit

Have you been to BAGnewsNotes lately? What a great site!

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

March 18, 2008

Shame

This diary at MyDD, calling Michelle Obama a "welfare queen" is actually on the site's recommended list: MyDD :: Michelle Obama: "Give Us Something Here". This is beyond outrageous and must be condemned, rejected, repudiated and any other words you can find. It shames all of us.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

March 15, 2008

Overnighter

I'm flying overnight to DC for next week's Take Back America conference. Maybe see you there.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

March 5, 2008

Let's Have A Comment War

Note - This is an insider post, for people who spend a lot of time at other blog sites. If you don't spend a lot of time at other blogs, especially reading the comments, you won't get this and should iignore it. I apologize.

Let's have a war in the comments here. The vote count in the Democratic primaries so far is:
Clinton 13,521,832
Obama 13,497,175

OK, go at it.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

March 3, 2008

Been Away

A sudden urgent job came up that I have been working on about 20 hours a day so posting here has been light. Don't worry I'm not dead. More to come...

Meanwhile for tomorrow's primary, take a look at a couple of grassroots video sites, Hillary Speaks For Me and YouBama.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

February 4, 2008

Make Them Accountable

Have you visited Make Them Accountable lately?

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:32 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 7, 2008

New - Sustain newsladder

The Sustain newsladder is the newest addition to the Newsladder family. This newsladder focuses on sustainability, environment, ecology, etc. Go take a look.

The way the newsladders work is you sign up, then add and recommend stories. The top recommended stories appear in the newsladder feeds - there are a few in the right column here.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 6, 2008

Comments

Comments MIGHT be working. Please leave a comment and we'll find out.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

December 27, 2007

Best of 2007

As I wrote earlier, Jon Swift put together a roundup of best blog posts of 2007 from a number of bloggers. So I looked through all of my 2007 posts and picked out a few.

It turns out that I co-wrote the one I submitted to Jon, The Boy Who Cried Terror, with James Boyce. Oops.

So here is a collection of the Seeing the Forest Best of 2007, not in any order:

Did Spitting 'Victim' from DC Protest Cry Wolf?

If Iran And Islamofascists Are A Threat: What Bush Must Do.

How the “Pelosi 757” Lie Was Spread.

The Media Does Not Act In The Public Interest.

The Reach Of Progressive Blogs.

While Progressives Talk To Each Other, Conservatives Talk To The Public.

Five Years of Seeing the Forest.

The First Problem in Iraq is BUSH.

Why Don't Democrats Have "Courage?"

A Bad Ad In A Teachable Moment.

What I Expect In 2008.

All of the Housing Bubble Post archives are here.

And of course everything I wrote with James Boyce, which is archived at Smoking Politics.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Best Blog Posts Of 2007

Jon Swift has a roundup of best blog posts of 2007. I recommend taking a look: Jon Swift: Best Blog Posts of 2007 (Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves).

Submitting something prompted me to look at the last year's blog posts, and I'll put up my own Best Of Seeing the Forest 2007 soon.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

December 23, 2007

Happy Holidays

Espresso left us this year, but now she has all the muffins she could want.

Buddy still has to suffer indignities...

Happy Holidays from the Johnsons!

Here is last year's card.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:38 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

December 21, 2007

How To Reform The Democratic Party

Every Democrat should read this: Daily Kos: This is it. This is the way to change our party,

As we've learned this year, Democrats in DC are more afraid of David Broder, Joe Klein, and Mr. 24%, than they are of their constituents. They are more concerned with Beltway opinion than they are with the national consensus. They are happier dealing with lobbyists than they are dealing with real people. They are more concerned with avoiding criticism than they are of delivering campaign promises.

So what can we do about it?

[. . .] Well, we have one tool at our disposal, our only way to influence the behavior of our elected officials:

We can primary them.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

December 11, 2007

Comments

I tried again... Because of problems with the authentication system I changed the commenting system to make it easier to just leave a comment. And WHAM, this morning I had to clear out almost 275 junk comments, mostly for pharmaceuticals and porn.

So the authentication system is back. Sorry. Blame the spammers.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

December 6, 2007

Newsladder News and Newsladder Widgets

The Newsladders are a project to help the progressive blog community reach a wider audience. The Newsladders give readers a quick look at the top things being discussed on the progressive blogs at any given moment.

Newsladder News

I have some Newsladder widgets over in the right column. Click the title at the top to go to the Newsladder, or the headline to go straight to the story.

Here is how the Newsladders work:
The Newsladders give you a quick look at what is going on in the progressive blogging community. Each Newsladder is an aggregator of current blog headlines on a given topic. Users, bloggers and editors add stories, and also recommend them. Stories rise up in rank based on recommendations and click-throughs. Daily top-ten lists will be mailed to relevant editors and other opinion/policy leaders after the Newsladders develop. This helps us with blog outreach, bringing in new readers. And progressive bloggers get new traffic as people discover this resource and click through to read the stories. (For example, the Burma Newsladder is already able to generate new traffic of up to hundreds of click-throughs per day.)

Take a look at California Newsladder, Iraq Newsladder, Our Troops Newsladder, and, of course, never forget that there is a Burma Newsladder. And while you are there, sign up and then recommend posts that you think should rise up in the rankings. You can also submit posts.

Bloggers - you can add Newsladder widgets to your own blogs now. They list the top stories at a given Newsladder. To get the code for a given Newsladder's widget, go to the bottom of that Newsladder page and click the Tools link. (You can also get the LadderUp tool there to make it easy to add posts to that Newsladder.)

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

December 5, 2007

Nerd Of The Week - The Blogger Nerd

I'm in it in a few places, including in the BlogTalkRadio booth as well as interviewing Markos on the show (I'm asking the questions, he's wearing the earphones), the Smelling the Coffee blog screen, and talking.

And I'm not wearing any pants.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

December 3, 2007

Taylor Marsh

Do you read Democrat Taylor Marsh often enough?

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

November 9, 2007

California Newsladder Coming Soon

Coming soon: California Newsladder, related to Burma Newsladder Our Troops newsladder, Iraq Newsladder, and there are other newsladders coming.

You can see what stories are interesting or important to lots of people, and click through the headlines to the sites. Once you have signed up you can submit headlines and recommend the stories that you see there. The stories that more people click through or recommend rise up the ladder.

Under "tools" you can get a "LaderUp" tool that lets you just click to submit a post you are looking at on any blog or news site.

If you are a blogger submit your best posts so others will see them, and increase your own traffic.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

October 20, 2007

Newsladder For Our Troops

Another new Newsladder: Ourtroops.newsladder.net

Do you know anyone serving, or family & friends of anyone serving? Send them over.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

October 19, 2007

California Newsladder Preview

I'm working with a project that will be launch in a few weeks, called California Newsladder. California Newsladder is a news aggregator for progressive California blogs and news sites.

It is running now, so go take a look. Here is what it is about: If you have signed up, you can add links to stories that you think are important or interesting. If you click a link you can read the entire story at the site where it came from.

You can also recommend links that you see there. As the stories are recommended they climb up the ladder. After Newsladder's launch, each day the top ten stories be sent to legislators and their aides, reporters and editors and TV and radio stations around the state. This will help expand the reach of progressive blogs and news sites like California Progress Report and Calitics.

California Newsladder is part of the system that also has Burma Newsladder and some new sites coming up.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

October 16, 2007

California Newsladder

Starting up soon - California Newsladder. Take a look, open an account. If you open an account you can submit and recommend stories that are about California.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

October 9, 2007

RW Bloggers and Conservative Philanthropy

Here is an interesting post: The Triumph of Conservative Philanthropy: <em>Powerlineblog</em> and conservative philanthropy,

Every now and then you get a glimpse of where the true power is over at Powerlineblog. Today Scott Johnson has a post up titled "Coming attractions," that publicizes two upcoming conservative movement events.

In their own way the conservatives have setup an institutional supply-side structure for getting their message out. First they create and subsidize hundreds of institutions like Claremont and CAE; next they find reliable Republicans to staff them. These institutions then create content for media dissemination, which is taken care of by blogs like Powerline and columnists like Kersten.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

October 4, 2007

Burma Newsladder

Today the bloggers are promoting awareness of the events in Burma. Take a look at Burma.newsladder.net for headlines.

You can participate in Burma Newsladder. Join up, submit stories that you see, vote on the ranking of stories, and tell others.

You can go to the page to submit stories, but there is aneasier way. At the bottom of the page click "Tools" and get the "LadderUp" tool that makes it very easy to submit a story you are currently reading on any web page.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

October 1, 2007

Introducing The Burma NewsLadder

The situation in Burma is tragic and the result of decades of horrific military rule that has reduced one of the most beautiful places on earth to a tragic ruin where monks in robes flee from soldiers with Chinese-made automatic weapons.

One of the tragedies of the situation is despite the efforts of groups who have been trying to expose the situation on the ground in Burma. Groups like WITNESS and US Campaign For Burma have been fighting against the apathy that is our current corporate media culture.

If Britney was driving a young monk without a seatbelt, there would be a chance to get some coverage but sadly, young monks are smarter than that.

If Anna Nicole Smith's baby's father was one of the generals, well, they would be building permanent tv stations.

NewsLadder is something that I have been working on for the better part of the year. Actually, longer. In my experience with the Huffington Post, and watching the progressive movement grow and change how we communicate and advocate, I am very convinced of not only the need, but the power of, the concept of aggregation online.

Here, with the Burma NewsLadder, and as you will see, this is the first of many community / state ladders we will be launching, all the news, from all around the world will be aggregated on the ladder.

Links / Posts / Video will all be voted up or down, by both a broader public - all visitors can sign in - but also by a group of editors - you can see news as ranked by editors, by all visitors, by what's new, however you like.

NewsLadder will work for the bloggers because it will drive traffic to their sites. You can't read the posts on NewsLadder, you can just see the links and the comments and the rankings of the posts. All bloggers can post links to their sites, and other people's sites too. The circle of traffic creates energy, and more traffic. It also puts a blog post on equal basis with a NYTimes newspaper article. All news is created equal on NewsLadder. The good moves up, the bad news go down, regardless of source.

NewsLadder should also be helpful to bloggers as a resource because it lets them stay on top of an issue that any given NewsLadder is dedicated to: in this case, we will have, hopefully, hundreds of people posting and linking to and looking for the best stories on the situation in Burma.

Ironically, we will then have "democracy" in action because everyone can vote stories up or down, so the best stories, the best writing, the best video, the best articles, the best blog posts move up the ladder.

Anyone can post a link. Anyone can vote something up or down.

I also believe that NewsLadder will work for readers because there is a single site with the best thinking and writing of a community, sorted not only by editors, but also by their votes and comments. Close to 40% of all folks voting Democratic last fall still don't go to blogs. A lot of time, it's because they don't know where to go. NewsLadder will help with that.

It will work for the corporate media because they can take a short cut and go to one site and see what's up. Or someone running for office, they can take the pulse of the community by stopping by.

But it will only work if people like you go post, add comments and bring attention to

So why Burma?

Well, the tragedy is that, perhaps, with more interest and more focus. Perhaps with a place for everyone interested in Burma to gather. Perhaps with a site like the Burma.Newsladder, we would have been able to draw more attention to the situation earlier, rather than later.

So please, take a moment and swing by www.burma.newsladder.net.

It still is in development, still a few bugs here and there. (email me anything you run into if you can at jamescannonboyce@gmail.com)

Sign up, sign in, add your comments and post / link to anything you wish. Editor's Choice is ranked by Editor Recommends (There will be more editors added to Burma NewsLadder over the coming days, if you know anyone, send them my way.)

What's Up is ranked according to comments, reads and a complicated formula that Trei understands. What's New, that's easy, that's the latest stuff added. You can search by tags, by Editors and more.

Finally, everything aggregates up into the primary NewsLadder. My goal is make this the ranking system of the community online. I have done what I can over the past 24 months to help elevate and integrate the community; I hope this helps.

And yes, there will be advertising and in the future, hopefully profits, 10% of the profits from each ladder will be donated back into the community the ladder serves. More if I can afford it.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for visiting. Thanks for the help. And there's one more reason, why Burma?

My father was in the State Department in Burma in the 1950s after he graduated from the Fletcher School. He got kicked out by the Communists and wasn't allowed back in the country until 1984. While he made it back to his beloved Burma, he never made it home from Boston from that trip. So I am trying to do what I can to help the country and a people he loved so much.

I appreciate comments and suggestions and if there is a NewsLadder you would like to edit or help with, please email me. California is in soft launch right now, while Texas, Veterans, Iraq, Green, Massachusetts and Virginia are all in development, but we could use more help.

Peace.

James

(Hat tips for their help to: Nate Wilcox, Lowell Feld, Dave Johnson of this great site who has been my partner on the side of good in many battles already, Trei, Pablo, Jerome, Seth, Owen, Ned, Joe, Julie, Arianna, and many more....)

Posted by James Boyce at 4:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 26, 2007

Where I Am

I am in New York blogging for Social Edge from the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 25, 2007

2007 Clinton Global Initiative

I am in New York where I will be blogging, beginning tomorrow, from the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative. I will be blogging for Social Edge, and you can read my posts there. I have an introductory post up already - and last year's posts are still up. I'll be cross-posting some of my posts here, but visit the Social Edge blog for the rest.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 9, 2007

skippy on the big bloggers

skippy writes about "big blx blogs" linking to each others in skippy the bush kangaroo: paging mr. principle...mr. peter principle, you're wanted at the big box blogs

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 6, 2007

Noon Comments from Atlanta

Remember that I am posting more frequently over at the Social Edge blog.

Some comments from the Carter Center Human Rights Conference:

Earlier when UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour was just about to speak, her phone rang. So there she is sitting next to Jimmy Carter who just spoke, looks at her phone and it's Koffi Annan. She took the call, excused herself, and went out of the room with her phone to her ear. She came back a few minutes later and spoke.

At lunch I asked her what he said, but she said she couldn't tell me.

Advice to travelers: if you use your cell phone as a backup alarm clock, remember to turn the ringer back on. I had it on vibrate but somehow woke up fifteen minutes before the bus. I made it.

Rosalyn Carter is still as beautiful as ever.

If you ever have lunch with Jimmy Carter, be sure to try the peach cobbler.

It isn't the famous Presidential White House coffee. Maybe I'll send down some Peet's when I get back.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

From The Human Rights Conference

So I'm standing around in the lobby, drinking a coffee, waiting for things to start, and Jimmy Carter wanders over to say Hi...

I always wanted to say that.

I'm at the opening session of the 2007 Human Rights Defenders Forum, Faith and Freedom Conference, and President Carter is being introduced. I'll try to summarize what he is saying:

The rest is over at the Social Edge Blog.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 5, 2007

Blogging from the 2007 Human Rights Defenders Policy Forum

I am at the Carter Center in Atlanta to observe the 2007 Human Rights Defenders Policy Forum. The Carter Center brings together leaders of the world’s human rights effort for discussions to try to find policy solutions that can help lessen the problem of human rights violations and atrocities that occur again and again in the world. In the next couple of days former President Jimmy Carter will be speaking, as will Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Karin Ryan, Director of the Carter Center’s Human Rights Program writes,

“Why does the international community fail again and again to respond to these crises before they take on catastrophic dimensions?”

This year’s conference brings together human rights defenders of different faiths, to discuss ways that the common traditions of faith in the struggle for human dignity can be utilized to provide new channels for approaching these problems. Karin again,

“What might be accomplished if the reawakening of faith that is taking place throughout the globe were accompanied by a heightened commitment to put a stop to human rights violations in many places where they are ignored?”

So I find myself in Atlanta to observe and write about this conference. Today's discussions are off the record as the participants work to find common areas to discuss in the public conference of the next two days. This gives me a chance to write about what it is like to be here.

What is it like? The Carter Center is a very nice facility, with excellent conference amenities. It includes the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum. (The museum includes a replica of the Oval Office and I hope I get a chance to sneak over and see it. I'll let you know.) The conference takes place in an auditorium, with a horseshoe-shaped table for the approx. twenty international Human Rights Defender participants and ten or so organizational representatives. (There will be more over the next couple of days.) There are two rows of observer tables at the edges of the room, which is where I am. I have an earpiece for translation as people speak if needed. During the coffee break I spoke to a man who showed me the places where agents of his government cut him with a machete.

And that is what my first day as an observer is like. I flew here from California and landed in a nice airport. I am staying in a nice hotel. I am typing on a computer in the hallway of a very nice conference center. I carry in my head what is probably a widely-shared image of an ideal modern, civil life. I might not live that life (or even want to or think it is sustainable) but I feel that many of us reading this probably do share the image, because you are probably reading it on a computer in a modern society. In this Ideal Modern Life we have our jobs. We drive around in cars and go to shops. We consume and have our brand attachments. We watch TV shows and are entertained. We have houses and gardens. And somewhere else in the world these things are happening.

It is the 21st century and these things are not only happening, but the world's ability to confront such problems seems to be diminishing. The forces of racial, religious, national, ethnic, ideological, economic and environmental division seem to be gaining the upper hand. This is a conference where Human Rights Defenders struggle to find ways to help keep them from continuing to happen. The people here come from places where these things happen, but part of their message is that these things can happen when the world does not make it enough of a priority to keep them from happening.

Over the next two days I will be blogging at the Skoll Foundation's Social Edge blog, and cross-posted at the conference's own blog. I invite you to drop in. I'll post summaries here as well, when I can, but mostly I'll be posting there.

Blogging is a conversation. It is interactive. So please join this discussion and leave comments here - or better, leave them over at the Social Edge blog as the conference unfolds.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 4, 2007

This Week From The Carter Center

Today I am flying to Atlanta to blog this week from the Carter Center's 2007 Human Rights Defenders Policy Forum

Human rights activists from all continents are meeting with leaders of faith communities and policymakers to discuss how we can overcome inaction in the face of human rights violations before they escalate into mass crimes.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:18 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 26, 2007

Who Is Our Economy FOR, Anyway?

THIS looks interesting!

THE "WHAT'S THE ECONOMY FOR, ANYWAY? CONFERENCE!!!

What’s the economy for, anyway? Is it just about having the biggest GDP or the highest Dow Jones Average? Or is it about providing for a healthy, happy, fair and sustainable society? If you think quality of life matters, and wonder how the United States compares to other countries when it comes to providing for its people, then the WHAT’S THE ECONOMY FOR, ANYWAY? conference is for you!

Dozens of prominent experts and activists will offers parts of the answer to the big question and offer out-of-the-box ideas about what we can do to make our economy serve us instead of vice-versa. Three tracks include FINDING HAPPINESS, SEEKING JUSTICE and SECURING SUSTAINABILITY.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:25 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 25, 2007

Bloggers Suck Up To Dems - Trying To Destroy Dems

Booman is giggling over this, and it is pretty funny.

There is something strange going on in the progressive blogosphere these days: instead of uniting against Republicans, progressive bloggers like Matt Stoller have decided to declare war on every Democrat who they consider not to be progressive (read anti-war) enough. Seemingly frustrated that there are actually Democratic Congressmen that do not necessarily always vote along party lines - but make up their own minds - they have decided to ask their readers to make profiles of so-called “Bush Dogs” (Blue Dogs and New Democrats) as to be able to target them in the coming years, and to replace them with progressive, left-wing Republicans.

... Once one pays attention to what is happening, one also sees that they are targeting Hillary Clinton. Obviously not to replace her, but instead to make sure that she does not win the nomination. Besides attacking Hillary straight on, the left-wingers of the Daily Kos, Open Left and MyDD, also seem to have declared Bill Clinton their enemy. Their new best buddy? Al Franken.

[. . .] Make no mistake about it however: once these people get their way regarding Iraq, they will target politicians who they deem not progressive enough on other issues.

And so, slowly but surely, these people are destroying the Democratic Party. The average American does not favor truly progressive policies nor does the average American think highly of the anti-war crowd (led by Kos and Stoller). They might have their fair share of groupies, but so did other totalitarians in the past. These people are totalitarians because they do not accept any dissent.

Except usually I hear complaints that the progressive bloggers have sold out to "The Democrats" whatever that means.

MoveOn and many of the leading left-wing blogs have become nothing but appendages of the Democratic party

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 18, 2007

Dave on TV

During YearlyKos I did a local interview for a Chicago ABC station.

Go read and see the video.

P.S. Actually, it was ME who said YearlyKos is the largest gathering of people who know each other but have never seen each other. I said that to the reporter about last year's YearlyKos.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:16 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 5, 2007

YearlyKos

At the YearlyKos Blogger Brunch someone in the audience said something worth quoting:

This is a place where you meet your best friends for the first time.

This year they're treating us like we thought of ourselves last year.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 2, 2007

James' Day at YearlyKos

This is hilarious: Daily Kos: My Day At YearlyKos With Radical Hate Mongers.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

YearlyKos Day 1

I woke up about 6 local time (4 my time) so I could get registered and scope out the convention center and the room for my first panel, titled Connecting Major Donors to the Netroots. Right away it's clear that this pace is vast. YealryKos is in a new convention center attached to a Hyatt hotel, part of the McCormick covention center complex. (The cab driver told me that driving around the perimeter of the whole complex is seven miles. Is this true?)

The registration was set up, but my first panel was upstairs somewhere, and no one I talked to knew how to get there. Eventually I found it, and it really was about a quarter mile from registration. The air condition was not on yet, and it was HOT, even at 7am. But the projector was set up and the room was laid out.

Having a panel at 8am on the first day of a conference is not a recipe for high attendance, so I had located and raised money to hire a camera and operator so we can get this onto the web later. He showed up at 7:30, and got set up, but we could not locate a way to plug into the sound system and the AV person we called never showed up The operator had to use the camera's microphone so the sound probably won't be great when you hear it.

The panel started relatively on time and went very well. I will put my opening remarks in a separate post. I found out last night that Joe Trippi could not make it to my second panel, Creating a Culture of Grassroots Giving, and asked Patrick O'Heffernan, Commonweal Institute Senior Fellow, to fill in. He did a great job. Colin Bishop, a fundraiser, also joined at the last minute and did well. That panel went really well.

Walking around YearlyKos this year is very different from last year. Last year it was a mass of faces that few recognized - I described it as the largest gathering of people who knew each other but had never seen each other. This year is was lots and lots of familiar faces. Lots of people saying hi.

Today was really "workshop" day. The real opening of YearlyKos was tonite, with Howard Dean gicing the opening keynote. He was, of course, great. He announced a new voting iitiative by the Democratic Party, working with every single county in America, down the the precinct level, to identify voting problems NOW, for the 2008 election, and starting to solve them now. Right down to which precincts do not get enough voting machines.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Made It to Chicago

Posting to let you know that I made it to Chicago, my first two panels went well this morning and the wireless at YearlyKos works.

YearlyKos is sharing the hotel convention facilities with a Shriner convention!!! Yee-HAAA!

Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 1, 2007

The American Aviation System No Longer Functions

After sitting in San Jose for a few hours, then missing my connection in Las Vegas while the plane sat out on the tarmac... I am stuck in Las Vegas. maybe I'll get out in a few hours and arrive for YearlyKos in the middle of the night.

Sheesh. Las Vegas has free wireless, so I might rant more later...

Oh yeah, corporate jets don't have to pay to use the air traffic control system, but commercial jet passengers DO.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Typical

Flight problems... takeoff delayed over an hour. Might (probably will) miss my connection. Etc.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:31 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Travel Day

OK, I am off to Chicago. Here is what I will be doing.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 30, 2007

YearlyKos

I will be leaving Wednesday for Chicago to attend YearlyKos.

Thursday at 8am I am moderating a session titled Connecting Major Donors to the Netroots. The panelists are:
Chris Bowers
Lisa Seitz Gruwell
Michael Lux
Rob Stein of Democracy Alliance, who will give his famous (in certain circles) presentation on the right's infrastructure and funding.

At 9:30 I am moderating a session titled Creating a Culture of Grassroots Giving. The panelists are:
Joe Rospars, now of the Obama for America campaign
Joe Trippi, now of the Edwards for President campaign
Shai Sachs of MyDD

I am also a panelist at the following sessions:

Reaching the Public
Think Tank Resources for Bloggers
Smoking Politics

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 25, 2007

Steve Soto Endorses Hillary

Over at The Left Coaster Steve Soto is endorsing Hillary. Steve says Hillary can

·Most capably deal with the biases of the corporate media;
·Most capably fight the right wing smear machine;
·Ruthlessly battle the GOP’s likely 2008 campaign tactics;
·Obtain the nomination and,
·Most importantly, step into the job in January 2009.

The other day I wrote that I am not endorsing anyone for now. I do not dislike any of the major candidates.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:17 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 24, 2007

While Progressives Talk To Each Other, Conservatives Talk To The Public

Progressive bloggers talk to each other. Conservatives talk to the public.

For example, Bush and the Republicans recently renewed their claim Iraq attacked us on 9/11 and that is why we invaded that country. Their politicians, pundits, talk-show hosts, bloggers, news anchors, op-ed writers, letter-to-the-editor writers and others all said it, using largely the same "tested" words and phrases, on the radio, in the newspapers, in their blogs and on their TV channels. Progressive bloggers responded with the truth, but who did they reach?

The right talks to the public, and it works. Support for Initial Invasion Has Risen, Poll Shows,

Americans’ support for the initial invasion of Iraq has risen somewhat as the White House has continued to ask the public to reserve judgment about the war until at least the fall.

[. . .] However, the number of people who say the war is going “very badly” has fallen from 45 percent earlier in July to a current reading of 35 percent...

[. . .] The poll’s findings are in line with those of one conducted last week by The New York Times and CBS News.

While WMD were not found, some may have been moved to Syria in the convoys of hundreds of trucks that crossed the border just before the U.S.-led intervention and during the first few weeks of fighting.

[. . .] If the U.S. pulls out of Iraq before it has a stable government capable of defending itself, the likes of bin Laden will have a safe haven from which to attack the U.S. again.

[. . .] If we stand back and allow al-Qaeda's terrorists to succeed, they will turn Iraq into a base for attacking us, just as they turned Afghanistan into a base for attacking us. The Clinton Administration decided that the U.S. had no stake in the civil war in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Only after the Taliban allowed al-Qaeda to operate from its territory did we discover—too late—that we did have a stake there.

Progressives need to start reaching the general public with the truth as well as each other. We need to start working together to fund and build the organizational infrastructure to develop and test messaging, then coordinate the use of messaging, train speakers, employ pundits, develop media channels, etc.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:11 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 19, 2007

Five Years of Seeing the Forest

This week is Seeing the Forest's fifth anniversary.

The first post ("Welcome" doesn't count.): Ralph Nader is a Scab,

In the union movement we learned the hard way that the only way to fight the moneyed interests is to stick together. It's called SOLIDARITY. It's what "union" MEANS.

When unions are in a fight the members stick together, and those crossing the lines are called "scabs".

In the 2000 election it was the usual fragile Democratic coalition fighting the usual moneyed interests. Ralph Nader broke the solidarity, divided the coalition, and lost us the election. Ralph Nader is a scab.

Recent polls show that the public is blaming Clinton for the business scandals, and Bush's popularity remains astronomical. That's a tree.

Let's see if we can see the forest. Look back to the 2000 election. Step back and look at the candidates. The Democrat's candidate was a well respected, well liked, extremely experienced, Vietnam vet, former seminary student, character beyond reproach, faithfully married family man, foreign policy expert, with many accomplishments including being the person in the Congress most responsible for advancing the Internet... The Republicans ran a foul-mouthed thoroughly inexperienced scandal-ridden (Harken oil, Rangers stadium, recipient of bribes directed at his father) failed businessman, continuously bailed out of jams by his father's connections, draft-dodger (worse, he got into the Nat. Guard through connections and then played hooky!), former drunk, probable drug-user, kids constantly in trouble, with a campaign entirely financed by large corporations obviously looking for favors.

But by election time the only issue was “character”, and the character in question was the Democratic candidate’s! That's the forest.

Issues like the "Love Canal story" and "I invented the Internet" were trees. The forest was how they pulled it off - the smears, the propaganda blitz, the way they spread their message and the way people hear messages these days.

With this weblog I'll be writing about this issue, seeing the forest for the trees.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:42 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 14, 2007

Asking Readers - Help Support My Work

Please help support the work I do here at Seeing the Forest, at Smoking Politics and at Commonweal Institute. None of these are paid positions.

You can contribute using the PayPal donation button, which is in the left column, partway down. You can also use the Amazon payment method.

And, there is a new option. BlogPatron allows you to support this blog, other blogs, and to do it on a recurring monthly basis.

I believe that my work is contributing to making this a better country. My reports and articles on the funding, organization, strategies and tactics of the right have helped people to understand what is happening to us, and have helped lead to development of strategies for pushing back.

I believe that my work with Patriot Project and Smoking Politics has helped people understand the fear and smear tactics of the right, and to start to come up with ways to back up our leaders and begin to counter this.

And I think that my writing has helped articulate ideas like Progressive Infrastructure and the need to reach the public to promote the benefits of progressive values and a progressive approach to issues. This has all been done for minimal pay -- $100 here and there -- and most often for no pay at all. I would like to at least make enough to cover my health insurance, which is $600 a month. So help me keep this work going.

Like I said, it is not easy to ask others to help out and like so many of us, it is not usually in my nature to do so. But if I am going to continue to do this work I do need to know that others are behind it and willing to be part of it by supporting my efforts.

Have a look at the collection I put together of links to articles, reports and resources for learning about the right-wing movement, its history, how it is funded and how it operates. You can look at my reports, The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law, and Responding to the Attack on Public Education and Teacher Unions. I have done election research like The Swiftboaters Are Back in the Water and John McCain 2000: The Swiftboaters' First Mission; exposing front-groups and their tactics.

These are just a few examples.

I would like to be able to keep doing this work. You can help me out by donating $100, or even $10. I am able to accept credit card contributions through the PayPal button in the left column, part way down or you can use Amazon.

THANKS!!!!

Also, if you would like to make a more substantial and long-term donation to support my work, you can click here to make a tax-deductible gift to the Commonweal Institute, which is a 501 (c) (3) tax-deductible organization, and let them know that it is to be used to support my work. A donation like this now will have the effect of a donation ten times as large to a political campaign, because it will help lay the groundwork for real change. It will help build public appreciation of progressive values, which will create demand for all progressive candidates and for progressive policies.

Thank you for your support.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 9, 2007

Open Left: Welcome To The Blogosphere

Matt Stoller, Chris Bowers and Mike Lux have launched a new website: Open Left

Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 3, 2007

Do You Read Cursor?

Cursor is a pretty good summary.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Something To Try

Suggestion, try clicking the "Sphere: Related Content" link at the bottom of all the posts here.

Except, apparently, the top one... Got to figure that out...

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 2, 2007

NewsMax Gets It Wrong As Usual

Far-far-right wingnut outlet NewsMax writes about last week's blogger conversation with Speaker Pelosi about impeachment. Being newsMax of course they got it wrong, and didn't provide links sl readers can check for themselves...

ePluribus Media bloggers Mike Stark and Dave Johnson had a June 28th conference call with the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on the subject of impeachment.

... Stark followed up with, "Respectfully, the question is whether or not the Constitution is worth it.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 29, 2007

When Drudge Links...

The Drudge Report linked to Seeing the Forest yesterday and of course the server went down... And of course I get the e-mails from the well-informed wingnuts. My favorite:

Subject line: the fairness doctring

you liberal are such hypocrits, you can't win the debate so you have to make laws to stop it. i guees Hugo Chaves would be proud. you liberals all pieces of shit who should be hung for treason. thank God we have republicans that love this country. you bunch dumbasses.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:23 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 28, 2007

Hosting Problems

If you are reading this at all, you are lucky.

The Drudge Report linked to the Pelosi Call post below, and the current hosting company, Living Dot, just was not up to the task. The site was completely down, and even now a few hours later only one in ten visitors is getting through. They still don't have things working. And they charge a very high price for what they describe as "premium bandwidth."

So I will be finding a new hosting company soon. I don't think any readers will notice the change.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 27, 2007

Cigarett Century on Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio Show Today At Noon EST

Today at noon listen live and call in at (718) 508-9604

The Smoking Politics, BlogTalkRadio show interviews Dr. Allan Brandt, author of The Cigarette Century. This is an important book, and Dr. Brandt tells an important story about how the tobacco industry shaped the 20th century.

So tune in. And if you miss the show you can always listen to it later.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 22, 2007

Digby's Speech at TBA

Here is the text of Digby's speech the other night at the Take Back America conference: Digby: Bloggers Are Part of a Revolutionary Participatory Democracy. Excerpts,

...Then there is the criticism that we are fascists or Stalinists demanding that everyone march in lockstep to the edicts of our leadership -- generally assumed to be Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos -- who apparently directs us with secret signals deeply embedded in the code of the Daily Kos web site while we carry on an elaborate ruse of spirited political debate and disagreement in public.

...We are passionate about politics, and in this era of Republican corruption, excess and failure, that passion sometimes manifests itself as anger. But how can you not be angry? So many institutions have failed us in the last decade that being vitriolic seems the only sane response.

...So ... the netroots is ... a revolution. A revolutionary participatory democracy. And, in this way, the left is more effective than the right. Whether by temperament or philosophy, we are simply better suited to the free-form, constantly changing nature of these new political communities.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Max Blumenthal Films Take Back America Conference

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 21, 2007

Airplane Day

I'll be on the road today.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 20, 2007

Great Interview With Joe Wilson

On this morning's Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio show we had a great conversation with Joe Wilson. It was a great show and I recommend listening. Also, Rick Perlstein was great.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 19, 2007

Who Is Digby?

Who is Digby?

Find out tonite.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Nader

I'm at the "bloggor row" but I heard that Ralph Nader is introducing Senator Mike Gravel.

Ralph Nader is honored as the subject of my first post (after "Welcome.")

I'm posting this under the topic "Iraq War." Thanks, Ralph.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 18, 2007

I Am At The Take Back America Conference

I am at the Take Back America conference in Washington, DC. I'm on "blogger row" so come by and visit if you are here. I'll also be doing some Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio, over at "radio row."

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 16, 2007

Right-Winger Sues Blogger And Wins

Lee Kaplan writes at David Horowitz's far-right, anti-Muslim FrontPageMag.com. A college student set up the blog Lee Kaplan Watch to expose what the guy is writing. He was sued by Kaplan in small claims court for "business interference," and Kaplan won $7500. because it was small claims court the judge was not required to explain his decision.

The blogger writes,

I hope that sufficient attention is paid to the great danger that what has happened to me poses to all of us. It is by all means a serious issue. My first amendment rights have been subverted with support from the courts, which only shows that everybody is in danger of facing these abusive small claims court defamation suits. My speech has been punished by a ruling with no opinion explaining why or advising me what not to do in the future. My credibility has been tarnished by a trial with incredibly low standards for admissible evidence and a messy, inconsistent court procedure. And, for me, worst of all: I will never know what element of Kaplan's claim, if any, the judge agreed with, though Kaplan will certainly continue to claim that all of them were accepted, though he knows well that this is not the case.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:39 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Formatting Fixed in Internet Explorer

If you use Internet Explorer, you can see that the appearance problem is fixed. I didn't even know there was a problem until someone called me, but apparently it had been there for a few weeks!

I use Firefox, so I didn't see it. I don't know if it was a problem in versions earlier than version 7.

Anyway, it's back to normal. Sorry.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:17 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Appeal For Funds To Attend Take Back America

I would will attend and blog from the Take Back America conference in Washington DC. I'm in California, and airfare, room, food and transportation will come to around $1200. I have rounded up a bit of help so far, but I am hoping to raise the rest of the money from the readers of this blog.

So can you help out? I have not asked for much from my readers, even in hard times. I have been posting here continuously since July, 2002. It's a lot of work but I manage. I certainly don't do this for money, but sometimes money is required, like now, to pay for things like travel and lodging. Asking like this isn't easy for me but I am asking for some help from you.

PayPal donation button is in the left column, partway down
or Amazon.

Beyond just this trip, I believe that my work is contributing to making this a better country. My reports and articles on the funding, organization, strategies and tactics of the right have helped people to understand what is happening to us, and have helped lead to development of strategies for pushing back. I believe my work with Patriot Project and Smoking Politics has helped people understand the fear and smear tactics of the right, and to start to come up with ways to back up our leaders and begin to counter this. And I think that my writing has helped articulate ideas like Progressive Infrastructure and the need to reach the public to promote the benefits of progressive values and a progressive approach to issues. This has all been done for minimal pay -- $100 here and there -- and most often for no pay at all. So help me keep this work going.

Like I said, it is not easy to ask others to help out and like so many of us, it is not usually in my nature to do so. But I think it is time to change this. If I am going to continue to do this work I do need to know that others are behind it and willing to be part of it by supporting my efforts. Take a stroll through my "Best Of" over in the left column, or have a look at the collection I put together of links to articles, reports and resources for learning about the right-wing movement, its history, how it is funded and how it operates. You can look at my reports, The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law, and Responding to the Attack on Public Education and Teacher Unions. I have done election research like The Swiftboaters Are Back in the Water and John McCain 2000: The Swiftboaters' First Mission; exposing front-groups and their tactics. These are just a few examples.

I would like to be able to keep doing this work. You can help me out by donating $100, or even $10. I am able to accept credit card contributions through the PayPal button in the left column, part way down or Amazon.

THANKS!!!!

Also, if you would like to make a more substantial and long-term donation to support my work, you can click here to make a tax-deductible gift to the Commonweal Institute, which is a 501 (c) (3) organization, and let them know that it is to be used to support my work. A donation like this now will have the effect of a donation ten times as large to a political campaign, because it will help lay the groundwork for real change. It will help build public appreciation of progressive values, which will create demand for all progressive candidates and for progressive policies.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 15, 2007

John Emerson's Post

If you were sent by Digby or DeLong or Perlstein, the full post by John is here: Seeing the Forest: The "Honest Conservatives" should shut the fuck up

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 14, 2007

HillaryHub

Take a look at HillaryHub - a news aggregator, covers the blogs and news headlines.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 12, 2007

Smoking Politics Takes On Bozell's Media Research Center

Join Dave Johnson and James Boyce tomorrow at noon Eastern for Smoking Politics on Blog Talk Radio. Dave and James will be talking about the Media Research Center, the far-right media watchdog founded by right-winger Brent Bozell.

Tune in to Smoking Politics on Blog Talk Radio to hear more about the MRC and Brent Bozell and their role in the rise of the right-wing smear campaign.

And, as always, you're invited to call in to the show and talk with Dave and James about smears, fears, and the politics of attack-and-distract. The call-in number is (718) 508-9604.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Post Formatting

I do not know why this blog has started to randomly center text in posts. I have not changed anything - especially not the css stylesheets. Does anyone have any ideas?

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:15 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 6, 2007

Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio Show Today Noon EST!

Noon EST TODAY! The call-in number is (718) 508-9604

The Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio show with James Boyce and Dave Johnson will be live Wednesday at Noon EST, 9am Pacific. Give us a call! The call-in number is (718) 508-9604

Click this to listen live online:

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 5, 2007

A Blog Recommend

Matewan - Journal and Haymarket Square.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Things To Explore

There's a lot going on at Seeing the Forest.

If you look down the left column you'll see a list of News Sources. These are sources I recommend, like AlterNet and BuzzFlash. Below that is a "Best Of" section. The blogroll is again disabled while I find an alternative to the Blogrolling service, which seems to be having perpetual server problems that hold up this site being worked on.

Down the right column you'll find a lot of great info. You can SUBSCRIBE - receive a daily summary of Seeing the Forest posts, or use the buttons to subscribe in your own blog reader service. You can PLACE AN AD -- they don't cost much and reach thousands of people. Further down you'll find category and date archives.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

June 3, 2007

Blog Reader Survey

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

May 26, 2007

The Blogroll

The blogroll is back - Blogrolling seems to be working again. (The blogroll is the list of blogs that go down the left column, beginning part of the way down the page.)

Let's see if we can clean it up a bit. You can help out by clicking several of the links and if they are not current please leave a comment here and I'll remove the listing. In the meantime you will likely discover a GREAT new place for information or entertainment.

And of course if you know of good blogs that ought to be on the blogroll, leave a comment about that, too.

My philosophy is that we are all in this together, and the more of us that link to each other the better. This helps people discover new ideas.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:26 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

May 23, 2007

Smoking Politics Radio Show - Wednesday May 23 Noon EST

Please join James and Ime today at Noon Eastern, live on BlogTalkRadio, as we discuss Tony Snow's attack on Al Gore and the irony of the Bush Administration asking something to be "fact checked." We also will continue our coverage of John Edwards's hair cut story - the smear that just won't die. We will be taking calls at (718) 508-9604. Of course, if you miss the show live, it will be archived here and you can listen at your convenience.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:12 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

May 16, 2007

bad skippy

ouch

and read the comments

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio Today At Noon EST

The Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio show with Dave Johnson and James Boyce will be live today at Noon EST, 9am Pacific. Give us a call! The call-in number is (718) 508-9604

Click this to listen live online:

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

May 15, 2007

Media Transparency Needs Some Bucks

Media Transparency: The money behind conservative media is the SOURCE of much of the understanding that many of have gained about how the right operates. The work they have done is basic to tracking the flow of the money from the funders to the think tanks to the pundits and operatives...

But it takes money to keep an organization going and it's time to send them some money. Their parent is Cursor.org, and that is the 501 (c) (3) that keeps things going.

This is the contributions page.

Go help.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

We Guarantee Al Gore Will Be Attacked Next Week. We Absolutely Guarantee It.

By Dave Johnson and James Boyce of Smoking Politics

All too often, Democrats are swiftboated, ozoned, attacked and smeared and after the attacks happen, sometimes they respond - sometimes they don't.

We have had enough.

Here's what we know and here's what we're going to do about it.

On Monday, Al Gore has a new book coming out next week, titled, "The Assault On Reason".

Because he is standing up, telling the truth and because he simply is a Democrat and Progressive leader, Al Gore will be smeared mercilessly by the right-wing smear machine. He will be ridiculed, made fun of and mocked. They will tease and make fun of him.

They will rush to say that he is bitter about 2000, crazy, insane, pontificating and out of touch.

They will bring up his utility bills and the boards he is a member of. They will talk about his kiss with Tipper, her crusade against vulgar rap lyrics.

They will bring up his weight and the beard. And say it's all about 2008.

But what they will not do:

TALK ABOUT WHAT'S IN THE BOOK.

Why are we so sure?

Because this is the core of the Right Wing tobacco-driven strategy. You distract. You create doubt. You sell fear and mock those that are not cool.

You have to do this if you are them because you simply can't talk about the facts. Smoking kills - how are you going to sell that little fact? By ignoring the facts and selling smoking as 'Marlboro Country' clean healthy outdoor living. Right Wing programs and policies are not good for the average American. So how do you sell them? Same way. Ignore the facts. Instead, try to kill the messenger.

In this book, Al Gore is going to go straight up against the Right Wing smear and noise machine - the one that we have been writing about at Smoking Politics. And we know what that means.

Over at Amazon you'll find this description of Gore's upcoming book:

A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degradation of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason

... We live in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate's thinking, and America is in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the truth with the citizenry. Related to this and of even greater concern is this administration's disinterest in the process by which the truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning-first among them an embrace of open inquiry in which unexpected and even inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.

How did we get here? How much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason shows us, we have precious little time to waste.

You stand up and say this, that's courage. Just like Al Gore was right about the Iraq War back in 2002 when Democratic Senators were falling all over themselves to vote FOR THE WAR, and Al Gore was against it.

So at Smoking Politics we are going to try to be ready in advance this time. Imagine that - not on the defensive, not surprised at the smear that shows up, not scrambling around trying to figure out what to do about it.

We're going to respond the minute the first attack shows up. We're going to be researching the apparatus that transmits the smear. We're going to explain the mechanism of the smear. We're going to expose those behind the smear. And we're going to launch a pushback against the smear, into the press.

At Smoking Politics we think that going into the 2008 election cycle - whoever the candidate is - nothing matters as much as this issue - the first thing we have to defeat is this Fear and $mear strategy that has been so effective at destroying our leaders and building up their own.

For the Democratic Party, the Progressive causes it supports and for the country, taking dead aim against the Right on this issue is critical to future success. A most important but often overlooked first step is just to be able to spread the news of the existence of this system and highlight how it impacts public debate. Some of the suggested tactics may seem basic and simplistic, but they are the building blocks we need to execute in order to stand up and defend ourselves, our candidates and our values.

While many feel that the Right's power and influence is diminished by the 2006 election, and that the Republican Party is waning, nothing is further from the truth and the stakes in the next election are extremely high.

Will the party and the leadership that ozoned Al Gore, race-baited John McCain, destroyed Max Cleland and swift-boated John Kerry lay down their arms and play nice? Absolutely not. Why would they?

The famous Chinese warrior Sun Tzu says:

Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.

Al Gore is ready to fight and he understands the battle and what's at stake.

We are at peace as you can only be when you know what you're fighting for.

Are you ready to stand up and fight with us?

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:09 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

May 9, 2007

Smoking Politics

By Dave Johnson and James Boyce

There was a time when this country worked to solve its problems.

There was a time in this country when political campaigns were about issues and solutions and ideas.

There was a time when our legislators honestly debated, and minds could be changed, and bipartisan laws could be passed.

There was a time when America was seen as an honest broker for peace, even in the Middle East. And there was even a time when there were solar panels on roof of the White House.

Ronald Reagan - the "Marlboro Man" - took office as President in 1981 - 26 years ago! That means that people under 40 today don't even remember a time when America "worked" and took care of its people and paid its bills. They don't remember a time when the people rather than the corporations and the rich made the decisions. And it especially means that they don't remember a time when campaigns were about anything other than cheap psychological tricks and smears.

Since then liberals and progressives and Democrats of all kinds and colors have been looking back in shock and awe and wondering what happened to them, and what has been happening to the country. Why have we been getting meaner and uglier and greedier and more violent?

Smoking Politics is about what has been happening to us and our country. Smoking Politics is about looking into and exposing the techniques and the tricks and the scams and the sophisticated psychological persuasion methods that are used on us. Smoking Politics is an organization and website and radio show and campaign to get ahead of this attack politics and restore America's ability to make decisions and solve problems and take care of its people again.

Why the name "Smoking Politics?" In our post announcing Smoking Politics, we wrote,

Why do we call this project "Smoking Politics?" Because the origins of the conservative strategy of Fear and $mear come out of the golden age of the tobacco companies. The tobacco companies learned that with the right combination of psychological persuasion tactics and media budget that literally anything could be marketed to the American public.

They were so good that they could persuade people to kill themselves - and to hand over their money while they did it. The right saw the success of this strategy - and noted the total lack of facts and morals involved and decided - if people will pay to smoke, maybe they could be convinced to support a right-wing agenda which was equally deadly. Maybe they could actually convince blue-collar workers to accept the right-wing agenda that asked them to give up their health care and pensions so CEOs could buy bigger jets? So they took these tactics into the political realm.

...the tobacco strategy of Fear and $mear, combined with the psychological persuasion tactic of "Marlboro Man" appeals to self-image and its counter-image of ridiculing and humiliating the "wimp" became America's politics.

What is Ronald Reagan's image, hat askew on his horse, if not that of the Marlboro Man?

And how did they cast Jimmy Carter to prepare the country for Reagan's campaign, if not the ineffective wimp and an object of ridicule - despite the fact that Jimmy Carter was a Navy man? Sound familiar? Fear and $mear.

The most recent example? At the request of the Port of San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi added a $25 million in waterfront improvements for her city, San Francisco, to a water redevelopment bill passed by the House in April. The Republican Party issued a press release accusing her of corruption, falsely stating that Pelosi had inserted the "earmark" to benefit her husband, who owns property "very close" to the waterfront. AP, without checking any of the facts, wrote a story echoing the Republican Party statement, which was immediately pushed by the Drudge Report.

The right-wing amplifier kicked into action. A few examples:

Investor's Business Daily: A New Pelosi Pigout?

Judicial Watch: Pelosi Earmark Helps Enrich Husband

Greg Sargent of TPM'S Horse's Mouth actually bothered to check the facts, and found that there was nothing to the story, that the Port had requested the improvements, and that Pelosi's husband's property was actually three miles away from the proposed improvement.

Media Matters also has details, in their post AP ran false headline on story reporting baseless GOP allegations against Pelosi

So here we are again, with the so-called "conservatives" using another lie and smear to try to sway people. How long will this continue? Until the public is made aware that they actually do just lie.

And that's what smoking Politics will be working to do - expose the lies, expose the tactic of Fear and $mear. Stop by and say hi. Or listen in today at Noon Eastern as we have our weekly BlogTalkRadio Show, "Smoking Politics Radio Show."

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:07 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

May 8, 2007

Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio Show Live at Noon EST Wednesday

The Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio show with Dave Johnson and James Boyce will be live Wednesday at Noon EST, 9am Pacific. Give us a call! The call-in number is (718) 508-9604

Click this to listen live online:

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

May 7, 2007

More Mike Gravel - "Left-Wing Fringe"

I came across this New York Magazine interview with Mike Gravel, and it is one more example of why mainstream, grassroots people are turning away from the "traditional" media. Many are turning to blogs.

We Do Not Understand What the Hell Mike Gravel Is Talking About - New York Magazine's Daily Intelligencer,

The star of last week's Democratic presidential debate was a fringe contender Mike Gravel, 77, a former Alaska senator, who became a blogosphere sensation for saying that it should be a felony for Dubya & Co. to stay in Iraq.

We need to find another way. I really would like to sit down with Pelosi and with Reid, and I would hope the other senators would focus on, how do you get out? You pass the law, not a resolution, a law making it a felony to stay there. And I'll give you the text of it.

And if you're worried about filibuster, here's what you do tactically. They can pass it in the House. We've got the votes there.

We've got the votes there.

In the Senate, let them filibuster it. And let Reid call up every -- at 12:00 every day to have a cloture vote. And let the American people see clearly who's keeping the war going and who's not.

Do you think Dennis Kucinich is angry you're stealing his thunder as the left-wing fringe candidate?
Stop that. I'm not the far-left fringe candidate, and please don't write that. We've had somewhat of a testy conversation in this interview, and now we've got to end this.

So there's a Neiman Macrus ad and a Delta Airlines ad on the page. Their media kit says they have 90,000 unique visitors per day. (yeah, right.) Their rate card says there is a $20,000 minimum to run an ad there. The Neiman Marcus ad has a $40 CPM which means they pay $3600 each day so those supposed 90,000 unique visitors can hear about how Americans who oppose the Iraq war are the "left-wing fringe".

I don't charge nearly as much for an ad, and I don't insult readers. Except certain ones. You know who you are.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Why People Read Blogs

Through Atrios: Firedoglake - Firedoglake weblog ｻ Zombies,

I don't know what it's going to take to kill the "teenagers in their pajamas" stereotype but I suppose I should be grateful. If these people were any less lazy and stupid we wouldn't have a readership.

In the above-referenced post, Jane quotes from the 2006 Blogads Readership Survey:

The median political blog reader is a 43 year old man with an annual family income of $80,000. He reads 6 blogs a day for 10 hours a week. 39% have post-graduate degrees. 70% have contributed to a campaign.

The only way to change that is to mandate that the media act in the public interest.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Governor Bill Richardson Interview

Heading Left's Blog Talk Radio show interviews Gov. Richardson. If you're interested this is a good listen. Just click the link, and it will start playing. (I am not on the show.)

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

May 2, 2007

Listening to Recent Shows

Speaking of the Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio show, in the right-hand column I have added a media player, that will always play the most recent show.

It looks like this: (click the right-arrow in the left side of the media player to hear the show)

The most recent show:

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Links From Today's Smoking Politics Show

Here are the links we promised from today's Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio show:

Psychology Today : The Ideological Animal,

"In one study, they exposed some participants to the letters WTC or the numbers 9/11 in an image flashed too quickly to register at the conscious level. They exposed other participants to familiar but random combinations of letters and numbers, such as area codes. Then they gave them words like coff__, sk_ll, and gr_ve, and asked them to fill in the blanks. People who'd seen random combinations were more likely to fill in coffee, skill, and grove. But people exposed to subliminal terrorism primes more often filled in coffin, skull, and grave. "The mere mention of September 11 or WTC is the same as reminding Americans of death," explains Solomon."

Fear of death may factor into who we vote for

Fear as the driving political belief

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:44 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 25, 2007

Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio Show Live at Noon EST

The Smoking Politics BlogTalkRadio show with Dave Johnson and James Boyce will be live today at Noon EST, 9am Pacific. Give us a call! The call-in number is (718) 508-9604

Click this to listen live online:

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 24, 2007

Blog Comments

The press likes to write about comments at various liberal/progressive blogs, and how "uncivil" we are.

But never about the comments at right-wing sites.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 21, 2007

Saturday Cartoons

BobGeiger.com: The Saturday Cartoons

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 18, 2007

Smoking Politics Radio Show Live at 9am PDT

I'm hosting the Smoking Politics show today at 9am California Time, Noon EST TODAY! The call-in number is (718) 508-9604

We're going to talk about Mitt Romney's Dirty Money and other subjects on our "Smoking Politics Radio Show" a.

Taylor Marsh, of www.taylormarsh.com will join us with her wonderful and unique perspective.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 11, 2007

Introducing Smoking Politics. And Our Mission To End The Right Wing Strategy Of Fear and $mear.

By Dave Johnson and James Boyce

Today, we are launching a new web site, and a new radio show, and continuing a passion and partnership that has been developing over the past year. The site is Smoking Politics and on it we will track, expose and fight back - hard - every single day against the right's strategy of Fear and $mear. We will also host a weekly BlogTalkRadio show, The Smoking Politics Radio Hour, with our first show today at noon Eastern, 9:00 am Pacific. We will be taking calls.

Why do we call this project "Smoking Politics?" Because the origins of the conservative strategy of Fear and $mear come out of the golden age of the tobacco companies. The tobacco companies learned that with the right combination of psychological persuasion tactics and media budget that literally anything could be marketed to the American public.

They were so good that they could persuade people to kill themselves - and to hand over their money while they did it. The right saw the success of this strategy - and noted the total lack of facts and morals involved and decided - if people will pay to smoke, maybe they could be convinced to support a right-wing agenda which was equally deadly. Maybe they could actually convince blue-collar workers to accept the right-wing agenda that asked them to give up their health care and pensions so CEOs could buy bigger jets? So they took these tactics into the political realm.

Look at how much of the right's political agenda is aligned with the needs of the tobacco companies. There's deregulation, especially in the area of protecting the health and safety of the public, or of regulating toxic substances. There's "tort reform" - the attempt to prevent victims of corporate malfeasance from using the courts to hold companies responsible for their actions. And, of course, there's tax cuts for corporations - and the government looking the other way as the tobacco industry continues to spend $35,000,000 a month marketing their product.

There's another critical link between the far-right and the tobacco industry. Few people know that Karl Rove was a tobacco company advisor. Even fewer know that the heads of the "political consulting firms" like DCI that set up Republican-connected 527 front groups like the Swift Boat Vets came from tobacco companies as well. Tobacco funds supported the right. Tobacco consultants sold the agenda.

The recent Union of Concerned Scientists report on the efforts to discredit global warming science describe an in-place infrastructure of organizations that had aided the tobacco companies in their strategy of discrediting the science that said cigarettes were killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. The report describes how Exxon basically took over this infrastructure of science-denial organizations and used it to muddy the waters about the science that shows global warming is occurring.

And look at the ridicule that Al Gore is enduring from the right. Why? Because he is trying to save the planet - he is the object of humiliation. We even saw it just this week when a "charity" who recently gave Rush Limbaugh an award for "media excellence" and accepts $50,000 a year from ExxonMobil attacked Laurie David and Sheryl Crow's Stop Global Warming tour.

So the tobacco strategy of Fear and $mear, combined with the psychological persuasion tactic of "Marlboro Man" appeals to self-image and its counter-image of ridiculing and humiliating the "wimp" became America's politics.

What is Ronald Reagan's image, hat askew on his horse, if not that of the Marlboro Man?

And how did they cast Jimmy Carter to prepare the country for Reagan's campaign, if not the ineffective wimp and an object of ridicule - despite the fact that Jimmy Carter was a Navy man? Sound familiar? Fear and $mear. And how have they cast their politicians and policies since? As variations on the macho Marlboro Man. Do we need to say how our Democratic leaders have been portrayed since? $meared as effete, ineffectual clowns.

And then there's the Fear Factor - we spend more on military than the rest of world's countries combined, but we need to live in fear. Fear of a man in cave. Fear of a country that doesn't even have nuclear weapons. Fear of fighting them here if we don't fight them over there. Fear of 9/11.

At The Patriot Project last fall, we explored and exposed this pattern. We were able to begin to bring awareness of this tactic into the media. Many of those posts are here.

Now we are bringing all this experience to Smoking Politics, where we will fight this fight on a daily basis - exposing the lies and smears and sell strategies that the right uses to win elections and destroy our leaders.

We will show, as Swiftboater-financing Sam Fox's recess appointment, and the ongoing US Attorney scandal clearly showcased - that there is a circle of corruption. Right-wing donors pay for the $mears of our leaders and reap financial benefits and appointments and a government that looks the other way. They win elections through fear and $mear. They make money from their victories and the cycle repeats itself.

We think that going into the 2008 election cycle nothing matters as much as this issue - the first thing we have to defeat is this tobacco Fear and $mear strategy that has been so effective at destroying our leaders and building up their own.

We have plenty of time to lay the groundwork on this effort before the 2008 campaign is in full swing. But we don't have sufficient funding to hire the researchers and writers we need. Stay tuned as we will be announcing fundraising events and online fundraising efforts.

And don't forget to tuned to tune into our show today. We look forward to hearing from you.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 10, 2007

Smoking Politics Hour

Tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9am California time, come listen to the Smoking Politics Hour's first talk show, with me and James Boyce, through Blog Talk Radio - and call in. Or you can listen to it later. Click here or on the Blog Talk Radio icon below to join in.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 4, 2007

skippy

what has skippy the bush kangaroo been up to lately?

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

April 2, 2007

YearlyKos In August

It's time to be thinking about going to the YearlyKos Convention this year. It is going to be August 2-5 in Chicago.

Visit the website, and maybe drop them a dollar or two to help make it happen!

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

March 23, 2007

Today's Show

Today's Heading Left Blog Talk Radio show which I guest-hosted with Nate Wilcox, with guests Gina Cooper of YearlyKos, McJoan of DailyKos and Matt Bai of the New York Times Magazine is now available for listening.

You can listen to the show here.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Today's Heading Left Blog Talk Radio Show

Today at 11:30am Pacific Time I am again guest-hosting this week's Heading Left Blog Talk Radio show. The details are here.

This week we are talking to Gina Cooper of YearlyKos Matt Bai of the New York Times Magazine and McJoan of DailyKos. The show is titled "Where the Blogs Meet the Mainstream." From Heading Left:

Matt Bai of the New York Times Magazine and Gina Cooper of YearlyKos, and DailyKos front-page writer McJoan will be the special guests on Heading Left’s Blog Talk Radio show. This should be a very interesting show. Aside from his upcoming book on Democratic politics, Bai and McJoan will be moderating “an unprecedented forum featuring potential 2008 presidential candidates during the second annual YearlyKos Convention on August 4th in Chicago.” Bai’s book, “The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics”, is scheduled for release in early September 2007. Also, “Dr. Jeffrey Feldman, author and blogger at Frameshopisopen.com, will ask questions submitted in advance from tens of thousands of blog readers and will facilitate questions from convention attendees.” Tune in tomorrow and feel free to call in at (646) 652-4803 to speak with Matt Bai, McJoan, and Gina Cooper. This should be an exciting show, hosted by Nate Wilcox of HeadingLeft and guest host Dave Johnson of SeeingtheForest filling in for the vacationing James Boyce.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

March 20, 2007

The Reach Of Progressive Blogs

What do people "know?" If you are reading this you are probably a hyper-informed citizen. But what about the rest of us? What information reaches the public?

Progressive blogs reach progressives. Right-wing blogs are part of a noise machine that is designed to reach and influence the general public.

Right-wing blogs are tied into the conservative movement's larger "noise machine" information apparatus. This is why we see successful results when the right launches an information campaign. They echo or are echoed through every channel through which the public receives information -- by Limbaugh, Fox News, Drudge, and funded outreach into other channels, and their politicians are part of the coordinated process. So their message gets out there and the public "knows" what they want them to know. A very good example is what happened to Dan Rather. The public "knows" that Dan Rather "tried to smear President Bush" with "forged documents." In fact the origin of the documents is still unknown, and forged or not, the underlying story was factual.

It would benefit us to keep in mind that progressive blogs have a limited reach and that we need to keep looking to extend that reach. There is no progressive noise machine. There is no coordination. There is no funded outreach to the general public. Democratic politicians likely as not fear blogs and tend not to join in a coordinated messaging efforts. Yes, progressive blogs are read by media figures, informed opinion leaders and public officials, and that is very important. But we have very little effect on what the general public "knows." Only after shrill repetition for several days or weeks across the entire blogosphere does an important story even begin to reach into the traditional corporate media.

Current example - the prosecutor scandal. On the Heading Left Blog Talk Radio Show last week Nate mentioned that there was wide coverage of the scandal over firing US Attorneys who wouldn't play ball and drop investigations of Republican corruption or wouldn't falsely accuse Democrats of crimes. But in my own local paper there was only a short article on page 6, and it repeated verbatim White House talking points that the firings were "handled badly," that the President "has the right to hire and fire prosecutors," and that "Clinton fired all 93 prosecutors while Bush fired only 8."

Older example: What is the current percentage of Americans who think Iraq attacked us n 9/11? It's probably still very high - considering that Iraq didn't. What is the percentage who think we found the WMD?

Older example: The Downing Street Memo received constant, ongoing attention in blogs but I don't think it ever really broke through into the traditional corporate media.

So yes, progressive bloggers have an effect, but let's not get ahead of ourselves in our understanding of the effect we have.

The beginning of a solution lies in joining with progressive politicians to carry the message to a wider audience. Then a story can begin to be driven into the corporate media. Recent example: The Fox News Nevada Democratic Presidential Debate. Visit MyDD and scroll backwards through the history of Matt Stoller's effort to get the Democratic candidates to back away from Fox News. It worked. But more than that - much more - when Democratic political leaders joined with the blogs to drive the message the result was much bigger than just another intra-blog discussion. Fox News was exposed as little more than a Republican Party mouthpiece. Their credibility and brand suffered and the public began to get a glimpse into the nature of this propaganda network.

Homework, read about The Daou Triangle, and check out this illustration and an updated one.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:28 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

March 16, 2007

Yesterday's Heading Left Show

Yesterday I co-hosted Heading Left's Blog Talk Radio show, sitting in for James Boyce. Nate Wilcox and I talked with Bobby Muller of Veterans for America and John Aravosis of AmericaBlog.

Here's the page to look at.

GO GET YOU SOME DAVE! Click here to listen to the show now.

Click here to download it as WMA. Click here to download it as MP3

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:07 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

March 15, 2007

Republican Blogs Support For Death Plot Against Carter and Clinton

Do you remember the recent national media flap over supposed "liberal" commenters at Huffington Post supposedly being sorry that a suicide bomber missed Vice President Cheney during his visit to Afghanistan? Never mind that the Huffington Post immediately deleted the comments, and never mind that there were suspicions that the commenters were actually right-wingers setting the Huffington Post up for the story.

Well the very same blogs that drove that story into the national news are chock full of comments today praising al Qeuda terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for plotting to kill former Presidents Carter and Clinton. And those comments are not only not deleted, they come from regulars, and remain.

Will this also become a national media story? Of course not - IOKIYAR!

In the post Support for al-Qaida plots on large right-wing blog, Glenn Greenwald has the story.

But commenters at Little Green Footballs have not only expressed surprise, but outright support, for Mohammed's assassination plot against a former U.S. President. They are out in droves expressing sorrow that Al Qaeda did not have the opportunity to carry out its plot.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Right Wingnuts Back On Vince Foster, Clinton Murders

I'm not kidding, this US Attorneys scandal has them so desperate that they're back on that stuff.

4/93 - Waco
5/93 - Travel Gate
7/93 - Vince Foster shows up dead - shot in the head - in the park (much more here).

All of which were easy to sweep under the carpet as the DOJ had a completely freshman class of US Attorneys (especially in Arkansas).

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Guest-Hosting Headling Left's BlogTalkRadio Show Today

I will be guest-hosting the Heading Left BlogTalkRadio show today at 11:00AM PDT / 2:00PM EDT.

Heading Left's Nate Wilcox and guest host Dave Johnson talk to Bobby Muller, of Veterans for America and John Aravosis of AmericaBlog.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

March 11, 2007

Mary Ratcliff New Commonweal Institute Fellow

Mary Ratcliff, who blogs at Pacific Views and The Left Coaster, is now a Commonweal Institute Fellow.

Mary writes about this in Pacific Views: Commonweal Institute And Building The Progressive Infrastructure

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

February 28, 2007

Presidential Candidate Forum at YearlyKos

Last year's YealyKos convention made history. This year's YearlyKos convention is looking better and better!

YearlyKos Netroots Convention announces unprecedented forum for 2008 presidential candidates and progressive leaders,

Today organizers of the YearlyKos Convention announced an unprecedented forum featuring potential 2008 presidential candidates during the second annual YearlyKos Convention on August 4th in Chicago. Organizers touted the forum as an opportunity to use technology to empower regular citizens and grassroots activists to engage, vet and evaluate America’s potential leaders, both face-to-face and online.

...Organizers are also asking the candidates to spend time in individual, unscripted “citizen dialogues” with convention attendees, encouraging substantive discussions that transcend the competitive nature of most joint appearances on the campaign trail. The events and conference are open to media and blog coverage.

You can register here. It's in Chicago, August 2-5.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

February 24, 2007

Comments

My logs show that I am getting several spam comments per minute right now. I imagine this is going on across the blogosphere...

I have the blog set to only publish comments from authenticated commenters so you don't have to see the "webcam casino poker viagra" crap that the spammers are trying to post...

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:41 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

February 23, 2007

It Really Is This Simple - Bloggers Are About The Real World

I glanced at "The Note" this morning to get the Washington Insider view of things.

"See the Democrats in Congress not falling into the Republicans' trap (yet) and avoiding a stop-the-war strategy that will (fully) open them up to charges of abandoning the troops. As they tinker with various legislative efforts to achieve their goal of bringing American troops home, Democrats have three main goals: (1) appease their base; (2) keep their coalition together; and (3) most of all, pressure enough Republicans to demand that the President change course. Oh: and: as a political matter, is the surge working?"

The DC media perspective is about the politics. The blogger perspective is about what is happening in the real world. A lot of people are content to argue about politics and positions. I guess it's easier, emotionally, than thinking about the real world.

Here are some things going on in the real world:

Those people in Iraq are D.E.A.D.

That national debt is Money. That. We. Owe.

Houses and buildings Will. Be. Under. Water. from global warming.

Every single day that the posturing continues more people die in Iraq, more carbon goes into the air, more money is owed.

It really is this simple.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

February 20, 2007

Blog

Take a look at The Ybor City Stogie

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

February 17, 2007

The Machine is Us/ing Us

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

February 5, 2007

Expanding Blog Readership

In today's post, Apex Reached? Moving From Bloggers To Communities, Chris Bowers at MyDD discusses whether progressive blog traffic may have reached a plateau.

I think that what is happening is that the blogs have reached a point that commonly occurs in tech ventures. We have saturated the early adapters but are not doing the right things to reach out to the larger mainstream "consumer" audience. Up to now, adapters came to us. We offered "cool" so there was a reason to seek us out. But expecting that people will find you just because you offer something great is a path to failure. Reaching the larger mainstream audience requires a different approach. They don't come to you, you have to go to them.

Silicon Valley tech marketers talk about this problem as "Crossing the Chasm." That's the title of a 1991 book by Geoffrey Moore, and I think the theme of the book applies. There is a chasm between the early adopters and the the next group that might be interested, called the "Early Majority" by Moore. This is a larger group than the early adopters - the beginnings of the mass-consumer market you really want to reach with your product - but they are not as adventurous and are more risk-averse. Where the early adopters will seek you out, you have to reach the early majority with different methods, and seek them out. And where the early adopters would teach themselves how to use what you offer and what it is for, the early majority is different. You have to educate them and you have to make them feel comfortable with your offering.

So bloggers, now we have to understand that we need to go to the next audience and bring them in to us. We need to be explaining who we are and what we offer to people who are not going to just happen to discover us, which is what has happened up to now. We need to start marketing, advertising and changing from the insider focus we have had to a more inclusive, approachable "product" that they the next and larger group of people can easily understand. We can't expect the next level of audience to just somehow magically appear without us doing outreach to draw them in.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

February 4, 2007

Superpowers

Oliver Willis might be getting superpowers soon.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 29, 2007

Pilotless Drone

Never say "pilotless drone." Ever. There can be consequences. This guy might call you up and leave a message on your voicemail.

He needs to start a blog.

Through Engadget.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:47 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 25, 2007

Doing The RIGHT Thing

I want to get out a thought I have been working on.

For a long time America's politicians have needed to posture and pretend and play a game of saying things that every informed person understands are not true, but are mouthed in order to to "position" themselves aligned with their idea of the thinking of the broad uninformed masses.

The conservatives built up a power structure by building (and funding) advocacy organizations like Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute - buying a movement - and progressives and their funders had not done that. So the conservatives have had this persuasion machine in place and progressives have not. The conservatives were able to use their machine to build up the "conventional wisdom" along the lines of their own strategic narrative. And so for a long time the public was, probably correctly, perceived to have been largely persuaded by conservative rhetoric, and the politicians had to speak to that.

So maybe for a politician it was a correct perception that you have to move right and "triangulate" and spout right-wing crap to get elected. You get this enormous demand built up by the right's unanswered propaganda, and at the same time you get this enormous conservative-engineered institutional pressure built up to vote a certain way on legislation. What else were politicians supposed to do?

Meanwhile progressives were not working to persuade the public, so there has until recently been little popular demand or respect for progressive policies and candidates. Sure, we want leaders to do the right thing, but we haven't been building up the mechanisms or creating the public demand that makes leaders do the right thing -- or that protect them, "watch their backs" and give them cover to do the right thing.

I think the blogs are starting to make a tremendous difference in our politics. They are holding politicians and the media accountable, and I think we're all starting to see the effects. They can't seem to get away with ANYTHING anymore because of these darn bloggers, and a lot of them don't like that one bit. But progressive politicians are learning that now there finally is someone out there - the blogs - working to persuade the public, and watching their backs, and applying pressure, and rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior. A power structure for progressive is being built.

So I think that one of these effects from the blogs is that doing the RIGHT thing rather than ridiculous posturing and perception games is starting to become the way to win elections. Or maybe I should say that the posturing and perception game to win elections and doing the right thing are converging - into the same thing.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 18, 2007

Another Right-Wing Lie - Bloggers and Lobbyists

The right is circulating another lie - don't fall for it.

The right-wingers are claiming that the Senate lobbyist reform bill would force bloggers to register as lobbyists. That is just a lie.

See Congress to Send Critics to Jail, Says Richard Viguerie

What the bill would really do is require those who are paid to lobby to register as lobbyists and disclose what they are up to. And they have to be paid more than $25,000 before they even have to do that. That the right-wing bloggers are so worried about this does say something, doesn't it?

There's also a comment on this at AmericaBlog.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:37 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 17, 2007

Steve Gilliard On Iraq Civil War Possibility -- Written April, 2003

Looking back at how things unfolded this was brilliant and just spot-on. No one was listening. And unfortunately he was right and they were all wrong.

Daily Kos: How Iraq could devolve into Civil War

I'm not even going to quote from it - just read the whole thing and tell me if Steve didn't exactly predict what is happening now! Sure, it was obvious that things could spin out of control, but Steve described what has happened step-by-step, almost four years ago.

By the way, here is where you can read your Steve nowadays.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:20 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 11, 2007

Comments and TypeKey

I turned off the TypeKey requirement for comments for a couple of days, because I received some complaints that TypeKey was having some problems.

So now the site is besieged by comment spam. I'm going to require authentication now. You don't HAVE to use TypeKey but if it is your first time here and you aren't sing TypeKey comments will be held until I approve you as a commenter. Sorry.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 9, 2007

Bloggers Leaving, Getting Real Jobs

Several bloggers have recently called it quits or are in the process of doing so. Read about it at skippy the bush kangaroo: ted barlow disease strikes again - a skippy musing,

let's face it, blogging is only slightly more productive than masturbation, and a whole lot less fun. unless you are one of the lucky more talented ones, like kevin drum, who gets paid for blogging, or lucky smart ones, like atrios or kos who have big enough audiences to command mucho dinero for their blogads, chances are you won't get paid enough for blogging to buy a 15 inch monitor.

so that means one of two things, if you're a blogger. you are either really stupid and like to waste your time writing inconsequential things probably nobody ever reads, or you are incredibly dedicated to your political ideals and believe you are making a difference, as well as being really stupid and like to waste your time writing inconsequential things probably nobody ever reads.

The very night of the election I felt like that equation of urgency-to-blog vs necessity-to-make-a-living had changed. Our Nation Emergency was pushed back -- maybe by only a few weeks, we'll see what Bush does next... So I understand this.

I'm still blogging but the necessity of making a living really is ringing its bell in my hear now...

Note that zizka is a Real Blogger (meaning he couldn't stay quit). He's John Emerson at Seeing the Forest - very occasionally.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:21 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 8, 2007

Listen To Dave 9pm EST / 6pm PST

I will be on BlogTalkRadio along with James Boyce, tonite at 9pm EST (6pm in California) on The Alan Levy Show. You can listen in live.

Click to listen - at 9 est:

Update - go to home page at http://www.blogtalkradio.com scroll down a bit, and click on flashing "click to listen" icon.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

January 4, 2007

Eating Bandwidth

Last month something ate up a tremendous amount of bandwidth at Seeing the Forest, costing me a lot of money. So now I regularly check bandwidth use.

Why has 209.160.72.10, HopOne in DC, been eating a HUGE amount of bandwidth? Gigabytes! What are they doing? (I banned them.)

Why has 220.226.63.254, an IP in India, been eating a tremendous amount of bandwidth? What are they doing?

Why has 195.225.177.46, an IP in Ukraine, been eating a tremendous amount of bandwidth? What are they doing?

Why has 62.194.1.235 AND 83.170.82.35 AND 89.136.115.220 AND 62.163.39.183 AND 212.241.204.145, all from the same company in Amsterdam, been eating a TREMENDOUS amount of bandwidth? What are they doing?

Why is 206.225.90.30 and 69.64.74.56 and Abacus America Inc.eating a TREMENDOUS amount of my bandwidth,

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:43 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

December 24, 2006

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

Here is last year's card.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

December 14, 2006

It's Not The Bloggers, It's The Blogs

A quick comment on all the big-name pundits and Washington insiders who criticize "the bloggers" and question their legitimacy: Anyone can start a blog.

(pause)

Here is what I am saying. When you criticize "the bloggers" and question the legitimacy of what they are saying, you are questioning the concept of democracy itself. ANYone can start a blog -- so everyone is a blogger. If it makes you uncomfortable that the rabble is allowed to speak and express their opinions you need to think about your own understanding of and commitment to democracy. The blogs that reach prominence do so through an entirely democratic process - people have chosen to read or echo what is being written on them.

It's not the bloggers you have a beef with, it's the blogs themselves -- the tool that lets the public have a say.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

November 7, 2006

Sorry

My server is under a Denial of Service attack so you probably aren't seeing this...

Hello,

We're currently experiencing an attack on our server. A denial of service (DDoS) attack floods a network with an overwhelming amount of traffic, slowing its response time for legitimate traffic or grinding it to a halt completely. Our server administrators are working on the problem.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

November 4, 2006

Blog Title Of The Week

I just discovered this: Preemptive Karma: Dave Johnson is Full of Pig Shit

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:46 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

October 20, 2006

Smelling the Coffee T-Shirts

Smelling the Coffee now has a t-shirt store. (Seeing the Forest will be opening one soon.)

Just in time for Christmas and the Holiday Season!

Click here.

And to see a picture of Espresso, the dog who modeled for this image, click here.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

October 13, 2006

A Few Comments

My computer's working, and I've been collecting things to comment on. (But I did lose a lot of archived e-mail that I thought was backed up.)

The election. Remember, even with all the great polls we're still just hoping to squeak into a majority by a few seats. But the Republicans haven't really started spending their campaign money or executing their final campaign strategies yet. And they have a better get-out-the-vote machine-- especially don't count out the right-wing churches.

If the Dems get a majority, then what? Republicans can filibuster and veto bills. And if the Democrats actually DO investigate things, the Republicans have a massive propaganda machine. Remember what happened to Clinton and look at what is happening to Harry Reid today. There still is no "infrastructure" in pace to watch their backs, and to argue the progressive side to the public.

Harry Reid made a profit on real estate. Comment - in case you didn't know, we are in a huge housing bubble. It would not be possible for anyone NOT to make a $700,000 profit on a $400,000 investment made in 1998.

The Iraqi civilian death estimate. They took the death rate before the war and compared it to the rate after we invaded. This is not a direct casualty count, it is the increase in deaths attributable to our invasion. For example, someone who dies because he or she is unable to get medicine. Someone who dies from bad water because the water treatment olant was shut down because of no electricity.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Conservative Bloggers Won The Iraq War!

The War of the Words says that conservative bloggers and pundits (The Fighting 101st Keyboarders) are the true heros of our time.

This is a bit insider, but really funny.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 29, 2006

Friday Blue Cat Blogging

My mother's cat - in New York.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 26, 2006

Other Blogs

If you scroll down the left side of this page you will come to "Links to Other Blogs:"

What you have there is a list of LOTS of other progressive-oriented bloggers, all of them with something important to tell you.

I suggest picking a random blog, visiting and reading. You might find a new second-favorite blog. (Seeing the Forest WILL remain your first favorite.) It's a good habit to get into, because this is about the Voice of the People. Democracy. Sticking up for each other. Kumbaya. All that stuff.

(If you find a blog that has stopped posting, etc. let me know.)

Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 23, 2006

OK, I'm Back

I'm back from New York and the Clinton Global Initiative. But I'm jet-lagged and exhausted - didn't get more than 4-5 hours sleep any night this week. So maybe not much blogging from me today, maybe not tomorrow.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:20 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 22, 2006

Meeting With Hillary

I just had a short meeting with Senator Hillary Clinton. I'll write more about this when I return home.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:59 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 21, 2006

The Wait

At 8:45 I got a rare seat in the press conference room for President Clinton's 9am press conference. It started at 10:15. Last week I was in a blogger meeting with President Clinton that went on for an extra 1 1/2 hours. (With a NY Times reporter cooling his heels in the lobby watching us through a glass window.) That was a good thing. THIS week I waited in a crowded hot room on the other end of that deal. Heh. I only hope he wasn't talking to the NY Times.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 20, 2006

Met Keith Olbermann

I met Keith Olbermann tonite at the press reception. I shook his hand in the name of all of my readers.

Oh yeah, Bill showed up, too, for a while.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

CGI - Bloggered

As you know, I am posting about the Clinton Global Initiative conference over at Live From The Clinton Global Initiative. That site is using blogger. If you have been reading Seeing the Forest for a while you know about the problems I had using Blogger - and the meaning of the word "bloggered."

Well, it's nice to see that Blogger is still having all the problems it used to have. It's down right now, and I can't post. It's bloggered.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Before the Conference

It seems that the blog is Back Up. Most of yesterday the server was down - which also means the posting server was down. Of course, if I wrote about the server being down you woldn't have been able to see it anyway -- because the server was down.

It’s 7:30am and I am in the press “filing” room. (I couldn’t find the “posting” room for bloggers, so I came in here.) I’m waiting for the IT person who is rumored to be coming to tell us all how to log in to the special wireless that is set up for us. It has a nice, strong signal, but requires an ID and password. If you are reading this you’ll know that I did, indeed, get an ID and password.

Security is very, very tight. First, there was a bomb-sniffing dog out front. The metal detectors are set to a sensitivity that even flagged the strips on the credit cards in my wallet. And there were at least seven Secret Service watching the process as we came in.

The press accommodations here are very nice. We have a special area with several rooms. There is coffee, soda, water and pastries. Across the street there is even a restaurant that is set up to feed us -- for free. This means that the Clinton Global Initiative will get Good Press.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 19, 2006

Live From New York

Well, live might be the wrong word - I've been trying to access the blogging software all day. (Has the blog been offline as well?)

I flew to New York yesterday evening, and now have my credentials to cover the Clinton Global Initiative. It is at the Sheraton Towers Executive Conference Center, not all that far from the United Nations. Needless to say, there were Secret Service all over the place when I was there this morning.

Along with posts that you will see here, I am also blogging over at Social Edge, at a blog they set up named ... well what else? Live From The Clinton Global Initiative

More soon...

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 12, 2006

Bill Clinton Reads Blogs!

I just came out of a 2 hour meeting with Bill Clinton, with a group of bloggers. I'll have more later, and hopefully some pics.

Bill Clinton reads blogs.

Update - More here where I am second from the left in the group picture. Also here, with lots of pics. Here is a description.

Update - this just in:

mcjoan writes here and Bill Sher sent a pic:

Barbara from Mahablog writes.

More on the meeting at FDL, Feministing,

Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:02 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 10, 2006

Travel Day Monday

I'll be on airplanes Monday, flying from SF to NY. I'll check in some time after I arrive.

Morning Update - Got through security in 5 minutes, and there's good wireless reception outside of the Admiral's Club. They have the same wiresless as Starbucks, so here I am for a while.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:47 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 7, 2006

What's All The New Stuff?

There's NEW STUFF here!

Some of the more observant of you have noticed something that looks like this at the end of every post:
Share this post: Digg it:

Each of those little pictures is an icon that you can click to go to a service that lets you SHARE and RECOMMEND posts that you like with other people. If you hover your mouse over the ones at the end of a post (not these here), a message pops up telling you which service the icon represents. Digg is a well-known example of this, del.icio.us is another. They are free, you go there and see what other people are recommending, and (at Digg) you can "Digg it" which means adding a recommendation of your own. (Do you "del.icio.us it" at del.icio.us?) When enough people recommend something, it gains wider attention.

I suggest signing up at some of these sights. Then, if you see something here that you think more people should know about, click one or all of those icons, and go recommend it to others.

You also now see see a more prominent "Email this" at the end of posts. This is through FeedBurner. The old way is still there below the comments at the end of an individual post (which you see if you click "more," "comments" or "permalink"). If you think a post says something worth sharing, e-mail it to others.

I wrote about Spotlight the other day. Spotlight lets you bring a post to the attention of specific journalists with your own message.

Also, there is an ad between some of the posts now. Gotta pay for the bandwidth somehow.

Yes, the TIP JAR is still there.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:45 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

September 5, 2006

STF Joining Spotlight Project

Seeing the Forest is joining The Spotlight Project. This will enable you to forward an individual post that you think is important to several journalists by name, with your comments. Following every STF post, at the end of the line that starts with "Link to this," you will see a "Spotlight" link. Click that link, and you are taken to The Spotlight Project, and all the information about the particular post comes there with you. You then can choose which specific journalists you would like to send the post to with your message attached.

May I suggest that you start with this post about ABC's right-wing 9/11 propagana show. Click "Spotlight" in the line that follows the post, beginning with "Link to this". (Yes, the line in which the second item is "Tip Jar," where you can leave a few dollars when you like a post.)

This Spotlight demonstration page explains further.

Firedoglake wrote about the Spotlight Project here.

Crooks and Liars wrote about the Spotlight Project here.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 30, 2006

Gas Prices Dropping for Election

Did I call it, or what? APRIL: Seeing the Forest: Bush Was BUYing Oil At These Prices!

This also means, by the way, the perception that oil prices are dropping just as the election approaches.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 27, 2006

Sunday Panda Blogging

Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:53 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 23, 2006

Great Video At The People Choose 2006

The other day I wrote about a new website, The People Choose 2006,

Think of it as a political YouTube for "citizen journalists" -- inviting regular people around the country to submit videos you make about your local Congressional races. Anyone can go to the site and view the videos, and use them on blogs, etc. Some of these will end up broadcast nationally on Dish and DirecTV.

Make a video and go upload it.

And here is "Married To the Man":

If YOU want to post this on YOUR blog, click on JumpCut on the video, log in, and click the "Post to Website" button to get the embed code. But PLEASE send people to The People Choose Site itself at http://thepeoplechoose2006.org/, not just to JumpCut.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:07 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 10, 2006

BLOGGERS! Wild In the Streets!!!

BLOGGERS GONE WILD! SAYING THINGS!!! SAYING ANYTHING THEY WANT!!!

The story that BLOGGERS had something to do with Lieberman losing was the lead-in story on the local news last night, before even news from Lebanon! The story featured some maniac named Johnson from a blog called Seeing the Forest, or something like that! He SAID stuff! On TV! A BLOGGER!

Be afraid! ANYONE can just get a computer, and write stuff! And then OTHER people will READ IT! And DO STUFF!

The world might come apart! There are NO CONTROLS on what these people say! ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROLS! They can say ANYTHING! And it can lead ANYWHERE! It can even lead to a CONTESTED PRIMARY! And they can even incite VOTERS to show up at the POLLS and vote AGAINST A SITTING SENATOR!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:14 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 9, 2006

SF News Tonite

If you're in the SF Bay Area I should be on ABC-7 11pm News tonite talking about bloggers and the Lieberman campaign. I just finished a short interview.

Mostly what I said was, yes bloggers helped trigger the Lamont candidacy, but the people of Connecticut were fed up. Blogs provided a channel for that to coalesce.

But the point I made repeatedly is that bloggers are just people - the public. ANYone can be a "blogger." Blogs are democracy. Blogs are just a means for people to express opinions and get involved themselves. There are no special, selected "bloggers" -- it is just democracy, the public, the people.

One thing I said wrong and I know they'll use is I referred to a "we" that looked for a candidate to run against Lieberman and backed Lamont early. I meant bloggers, not some group that I specifically was part of.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

August 1, 2006

Gone For A Few Days

I will be gone to Yosemite Wednesday through Friday, and might not be able to access the Internet from our motel. I thought I should post about this now, so you can begin preparing yourselves. For those who have trouble coping with this, I am trying to make arrangements with a national suicide hotline, and will post the number -- if I can work out a reasonably priced package. (If not you're on your own - maybe you should have hit the Tip Jar once in a while.) But either way, if things get really, really bad remember that I will be BACK Friday evening, and then everything will return to normal and be OK. Just keep that in your minds through the worst of it. Be Strong. Ride it out.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 26, 2006

Swift Boat Vets Money

I have a post up at Patriot Project today, THE BUCK STOPS THERE - The Story Of Who Really Wins When The Right Wing Raises Money about tracing some of the Swift Boat Vets money.

It's also at Huffington Post.

I'll post it here tomorrow.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:25 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 24, 2006

Site Back Up

The site is back up - it seems that "seeingtheforest.com" expired without anyone notifying me. But I just upgraded to a new version of Movable Type and am having some problems.

Meanwhile go see STF at Fox. Also, something interesting is coming for Patriot Project Wednesday.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:45 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 22, 2006

A Post Everyone Should Read

Daily Kos: What Did You Expect, America?,

Would you hire a babysitter who hates children and thinks they should be eliminated? Or who declares for years in your hearing that children are irritants who should be starved to be small, unseen and mute?

Would you hire cops who think laws are stupid and useless and should be abolished?

Would you hire a conductor for your orchestra who believes music itself an abomination?

Then why would you hire - and you did hire them, America; they are your employees, after all, not your rulers, despite their grandiose pretensions - members of a political party who think government is useless, ineffective, bloated and untrustworthy?

[. . .] In electing Republicans, America, you put people in charge of institutions they overtly, caustically loathe and proudly proclaim should not exist.

[. . .] Kee-rist on a pogo stick.

If you put people in charge of running a project they are ideologically committed to proving a failure, it will fail.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:37 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 19, 2006

This Is Blogosphere Day

Please go read MyDD :: Blogosphere Day 3: Ned Lamont For US Senate,

Our message is simple. No longer will candidates be considered unelectable for holding progressive views. No longer will the establishment take its supporters for granted. No longer will Democrats get away with boosting their own national image by facilitating the conservative movement and distancing themselves from their own party.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

July 10, 2006

Update on Spam

I made a mistake in the numbers. I wrote yesterday that I'm getting about 8,000 spam e-mails since turning off my filters for a few days. Well, for the heck of it I didn't delete any spam for 24 hours, and checked the number. The number as of right now is 18,044, about 170 MB.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos

Writing About Things

A ot of times I don't write about things because I assume you have already read about them before you arrived at this little blog.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 5:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos