FL-24: Dubya's backyard newspaper publishes feature on Clint Curtis

This is an amusing little story. The Lone Star Iconoclast, a weekly independent paper in George Bush's hideout of Crawford, Texas, has published an interview with FL-24 candidate Clint Curtis. The article covers Clint's past history with the mesmerizingly corrupt Tom Feeney (R-Abramoff) when they were both associated with Yang Enterprises, Clint's political challenge to Feeney, the Vote Now 2006 parallel election site, and Clint's great progressive stands on other issues. It's a positive article that showcases Clint's integrity and desire for real change in Congress. Please read!

Curing Corruption: Whistleblower-Turned-Candidate Fights For Office

What's especially great is that this appeared practically in Bush's backyard. I won't call Crawford his hometown, as we all know Du(m)bya is no Texan. Considering the man's utter disdain for the principles on which this country was founded, I'm hesitant to even call him an American. And Feeney, you will recall, as Speaker of the Florida House promised to deliver Florida to Bush in the 2000 election debacle.

At any rate, I suspect there's little chance the pResident will read this article. First of all, the word "Iconoclast" will almost certainly confuse and frighten him, as it's at least two syllables longer than his maximum word comprehension. (On the other hand, he'll probably find the "con" part rather appealing.) Second, it's from an indie publisher, and we all know how independence and freedom have a well-known liberal bias. (With all due respect to Stephen Colbert.)

FL-24: Zogby poll shows Curtis/Feeney almost even!

As I've blogged and talked to others about my candidate, Clint Curtis, I've been very upfront about the race for FL-24 being something of a longshot. Sure, Tom Feeney's the only UNindicted member of the infamous Scotland golfing trip paid for by Jack Abramoff; sure, he's a close friend of the Bushies as well as Mark Foley; sure, he was selected by CREW as one of their 20 most corrupt Congresspersons. But let's face it: Clint has almost no name recognition in the district, a comparatively miniscule campaign warchest, and little political experience. What chance does he really have?

Well, I've never been happier to admit I was wrong. Because the first official poll (Zogby) shows Clint IN ALMOST A DEAD HEAT WITH FEENEY!

The poll of 402 likely voters in the 24th district showed:

Feeney 45%
Curtis 43
Other 2
Not sure 10
MOE +/-5

The race for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida's 24th District is a virtual toss-up. Incumbent Tom Feeney holds the slimmest of leads over challenger Clint Curtis, 45% to 43%, with one in ten (10%) undecided.

Each candidate leads big among his own party's members, but Curtis leads among independents, 48% to 37%.

You can read more at Clint's campaign blog, the BradBlog, and Velvet Revolution, the election integrity group which commissioned the Zogby poll.

This is very exciting and surprising news. It means there is a realistic chance Clint can beat Feeney. And the first order of business on Clint's Commitment List is to make a paper ballot the vote of record once again.

If you live in FL-24, please support Clint.

[Disclosure: I'm a volunteer for the Clint Curtis for Congress campaign.]

Worried about "skewed" election results?

Judging by clammyc's Recommended diary on Daily Kos, there is great concern regarding the possibility of Election Day shenanigans perpetrated by Republicans, from voting machine irregularities to voter disenfranchisement and everything in between. Clint Curtis, candidate for FL-24, has come up with a solution to address the former:

Vote Now 2006 is an independent website for recording one's vote. Any candidate or politician can sign up to use it, as well as any registered voter. It's simple - just click on the "Vote Now" icon, select your state, enter your voter info, and look for your candidate. If your candidate isn't listed, suggest to him/her that they register.

While I'm not privy to the technical workings of the program (Clint's the computer genius, not me), I would best describe it as an electronic exit poll. It gives the candidate a decent idea of how many people voted for him or her. Obviously, it's not legally binding, but it will provide a general idea of how the votes shake out. If the Vote Now 2006 votes tally with the recorded vote, then the candidate can probably assume the election was legit. But if Vote Now 2006 shows a substantial difference, it will give cause to look into the official votes further and possibly challenge them.

Like I said, anyone from any party can use it. If you have friends and family who don't have computers, you can enter their vote for them. (Truthfully, of course!)

Even Italy has signed on to Vote Now 2006, and considering how crazy their elections get, they must think it's worth a shot! LOL.

If you have questions about how it works, please post them in comments and I'll be happy to forward them to Clint and post back here with his responses.

[Full disclosure: I'm a volunteer for Clint Curtis for Congress.]

FL-24: Stunning NEW election integrity video featuring Clint Curtis!

I grew up thinking you're supposed to do the right thing. And that's what I do. I'll do it until someone makes it so that I can't. - Clint Curtis

I don't know about you, but a guy who says stuff like that is the kind of guy I want to represent me in Congress.

Brad Friedman of Bradblog has just posted about a new documentary called Eternal Vigilance: The Fight to Save Our Election System. Clint Curtis, candidate for FL-24, is featured heavily, and Brad also has a several-minute-long clip from the film.

This isn't the same as the YouTube clip of Clint's whistleblower testimony before Congress that surfaced recently and was ably diaried by katier over at DailyKos. The new video clip has a bit of the testimony, but even better, we get to hear Clint in his own words. If you've never met Clint or seen interviews, you can't miss this. His integrity shines through, and I think you'll be convinced, if you weren't already, that he deserves as much help as we can give him.

Unfortunately I don't have a clue how to embed video into this diary entry, so you will have to click on the link in Brad's article. But the link's hard to miss. The clip is about 8 minutes long and is definitely worth the time. Besides, I really encourage you to read Brad's complete post. He's been on top of Clint's story, along with plenty of other vote fraud stories, for a couple years now. Feel free to forward my diary or Brad's post to everyone you think needs to know.

Finally, here's a fun little story, also from BradBlog, on more tomfoolery from Tom Feeney (R-Abramoff). It seems Tom's campaign launched a smear site about Clint, but it didn't quite work out the way he'd hoped, for reasons including:

- Using hit song "Crazy", by Gnarls Barkley, without permission on the smear website. Feeney removed it after complaints from the record publisher.

- Linking to a "How to Make a Tinfoil Hat" website. This prompted the owner to redirect his page -- when clicked from Feeney's smearsite -- to an ethics watchdog webpage detailing Feeney's lobbyist- and foreign agent-funded vacations in violation of Congressional ethics rules. (Feeney is the only, as-yet-unindicted Congressman remaining in the House to have traveled with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to a posh golf resort in Scotland.) Feeney removed the link a day or two later.

- Failing to include "Paid for by Tom Feeney" on the smear blogsite. He recently added the disclaimer after a complaint was filed with authorities.

Feeney was supposed to have this election in the bag. Makes you wonder why he's wasting his resources to try to smear Clint. Luckily, his lame attempts at swiftboating Mr. Curtis have instead turned out to have great entertainment value!

Again, I encourage you to contribute to Clint if possible, even if it's only $5. Clint's campaign is almost entirely citizen-funded. If he's got megabucks Feeney this nervous so far, imagine what he can do with a little more.

[Full disclosure: I'm a volunteer for Clint Curtis for Congress.]
[X-posted to DailyKos]

copyright 10-18-06 miz p

FL-24: A Night at the Movies

Tonight was the Daytona premiere of the finalized version of "Truth in the Booth: The Clint Curtis Story." In it, Clint details for Brad Friedman of Bradblog the whole sordid story of Tom Feeney (R-Abramoff) and Yang Enterprises (YEI), and how Clint was hired by Feeney to write vote-flipping software for electronic voting machines. Clint became a whistleblower who testified before Congress and also passed a polygraph test on this grave matter.

Brad Friedman interviewed Mavis Georgalis for the documentary, a 15-year employee of the Florida Department of Transportation who was fired the same day as Clint for also blowing the whistle on YEI's nefarious activities.

And there is the sad tale of Raymond Lemme, an FDOT inspector who was investigating Clint's allegations on his own time. This excerpt from Bradblog explains what happened next:

In his 2004 affidavit, Curtis describes a mid-June 2003 meeting with Lemme in which he claims that Lemme told him he "had tracked the corruption 'all the way to the top' and that the story would break in the next few weeks and I would be satisfied with the results."

On July 1, 2003 -- just two weeks later -- Raymond Camillo Lemme was found dead in a bathtub, with his arm slashed twice with a razor blade near the left elbow in Room #132 of the Knights Inn motel in Valdosta, Georgia; a border-town some 80 miles from Tallahassee, Florida where Lemme lived and worked....

At the time of this incident, Lemme's only child was engaged to be married just three months later in September. Curtis has told us that Lemme frequently talked about his daughter with him. "He would always discuss his daughter and had talked about her upcoming wedding," he told us. Yet Lemme's only daughter -- his only child -- is not mentioned by name in the unsigned [suicide] note. A family member of Lemme's has told us that the family generally feels that the handwriting on the note seemed to belong to Lemme....

When we first asked Curtis what Lemme might have been doing in Valdosta in the first place, Curtis explained to the The BRAD BLOG in one of our initial interviews that "There are no autopsy laws in Georgia. Had he committed suicide in Florida, there would have been a mandatory autopsy."

A host of other vote integrity champions weigh in on the DVD as well. There is so much to Clint's story that I really can't do it justice, so I'll refer you to Bradblog, which provides an excellent summary for those short on time, as well as extensive documentation for those who wish to delve deeper into the issue.

The showing was held at Brooklyn Ice Cafe in Port Orange, Florida. It's a great little place with wireless access, occasional musicians, and really delicious food and Italian ices! :-) The owner is a staunch Democrat and big supporter of Clint. He gave everyone 10% off their order and donated it right back to the campaign.

After the showing, Clint took questions from the audience. For the majority, it was the first time hearing the story that many of us have been familiar with for at least a year now. People were shocked at the unethical behavior of Feeney and YEI and most came away more disgusted with Feeney than before, if that's even possible.

My question to Clint was, "Has Tom Feeney responded to any of your requests for a public debate?" Clint said his campaign staff thought they'd finally arranged a debate at a local university, until Feeney backed out because Clint wouldn't agree to one of his terms. And that was...?

Feeney would debate Clint as long as they didn't discuss any issues.

What an idiot. What the hell else do candidates talk about in a debate? My guess is Feeney hoped to make Clint focus only on his whistleblower claims in the hopes of making Clint look crazy. Well, I think I know Clint well enough by now to say that Clint would have been glad to publicly discuss Feeney's hiring of Yang Enterprises to write vote-rigging software intended solely for the purpose of flipping election results. AND, Clint would have debated on the issues as well.

Finally, Clint would no doubt have asked Feeney the same thing all of us want to: Why won't you take the test, Tom?

Please donate: Clint Curtis for Congress

Make sure your vote counts: VoteNow2006

[Disclosure: I am a volunteer for the Clint Curtis for Congress campaign.]
Crossposted to Daily Kos

copyright 10-16-2006 miz p

"Worst Person in the World": Tom Feeney's (FL-24) Chief of Staff

In what is practically an endorsement of FL-24 candidate Clint Curtis ;-) Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's Countdown, awarded the "Worst Person in the World" title to Jason Roe, Tom Feeney's (R-Abramoff) Chief of Staff. Roe's on loan to the Peter Raskam campaign, who's being challenged by Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who lost both legs when a rocket-propelled grenade struck the cockpit of the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting. Here's Keith:

But our winner--we need to clarify a previous worst. We reported that Illinois congressional candidate Peter Roskam had said his opponent Tammy Duckworth wanted to "cut and run from Iraq" even though she lost both her legs there while serving as a helicopter pilot. Jason Row [sic] from the Roskam campaign charged us with intellectual dishonesty because Roskam merely said that the Illinois sixth is "not a cut and run district."

Hey pal, this is about campaigning against a woman who has no legs because they were cut off while she served in Iraq and still being insensitive enough to use the phrase "cut and run." You leave the intellectual to us, we`ll leave the dishonest to you.

Peter Roskam and staffer, Jason Row, today`s "Worst Persons in the World."

Read additional dirt about Roe, and more good stuff on Clint, at Clint's blog.

Spin.com covers Clint Curtis

Spin.com happened to notice the YouTube video of Clint's whistleblower testimony making the rounds, and provides a nice writeup on it. A link to the video is embedded in the article.

Testimony from Vote Machine Whistleblower Surfaces

Clint's Upcoming Fundraisers and Appearances

Monday, Oct 16th, 6:30 p.m.
DOCUMENTARY SHOWING - Lite Fare and the Movie
10% off dinner for you goes to Clint!
"Truth in the Booth - THE CLINT CURTIS STORY"
Brooklyn Ice Café
4649 Clyde Morris Blvd
Port Orange, FL
386-322-3306
Fund Raiser Movie $10
RSVP marty@go-nci.com
954-732-1112

Saturday, October 21st, 2:00 PM
SHOOT FROM THE HIP
Dart Tournament joint fund raiser for the Candidates
Luck of the draw partners to compete. Come give it a throw!
Emerald Hen Pub, Sanford, FL
http://www.emeraldhenpub.com/

Saturday, October 21st, 5:00 p.m.
Brevard Democratic Party
Canteen at the VAC Warbird Museum
Titusville, FL
Cocktails, Meet and Greet 5:00
Dinner and Speakers 7:00
Tickets for this fund Raising Canteen are a donation of $50
A group of 8 family and friends can reserve a table for $300
Additional information call 321-433-8004 or online www.brevarddemocrats.org
http://www.vacwarbirds.org

These are only a few of Clint's events over the next week. To see his complete schedule, check out his campaign website calendar. He's a busy guy as you can see! If you can't attend the events but would like to help Clint, please
contribute.

[Full disclosure: I'm a volunteer for the Clint Curtis for Congress campaign.]

Those Whiny, Clueless Democrats

All Democrats do is complain about Republicans.

I've grown weary of this oft-repeated mantra, especially when it comes from otherwise intelligent people who ought to know better. In case no one's noticed, the Democratic Party has been the minority party for several years now. As such, it's the responsibility, nay, the patriotic duty of the Dems to point out the mistakes of the GOP, just as it will be the duty of the Repubs to do the same once they're the minority party again. But in the interest of fairness, let's discuss a few of the more egregious examples of DWS (Democratic Whining Syndrome):

First up, we have the Democratic Party spending $45 million - 90% of its advertising budget - on attack ads against its opponents going into the final two months of the 2006 mid-term elections. Talk about pointless complaining.

Oops, sorry. That would be the Republican National Congressional Committee. My bad. I doubt the DNC has $50 million in its entire budget.

Well, the Dems sure are bitching up a storm about this whole Mark Foley sex scandal thing. Just look at the baseless tripe they're spewing!

Erm, sorry again. Turns out that was the Republicans too. But, hey, there's that one lone Democrat on the Page Board, Dale Kildee, whining because the Republican House leadership never told him about Foley's page fetish. Oh, grow up, Dale.

Here's one of my personal faves, an oldie but goodie from last year. It seems a few Dems on the House Judiciary Committee got all uptight about the Repubs rewriting some Dem-sponsored amendments to CIANA (the Child Interstate Abortion and Notification Act). Honestly, I'm sure all the well-meaning Repub committee members intended was to make the amendments clearer before they became a permanent part of the CIANA legislation, as we all know how bad Dems are at articulating ideas. Incidentally, none of the amendments in question passed, which at worst makes the Repubs guilty of wasting taxpayer money rewriting something that in no way affected the final piece of legislation. Bad GOoPers! A slap on the wrist for you!

In case no one can tell, I'm being sarcastic. These are just a few examples I could quickly pull out of my ass without having to stand up. I'm sure there are many more cases of similar, entirely justified complaints by Dems. On the other hand, it sure seems like the GOP might have a wee bit of a problem with talking shit about the opposition.

Democrats have no ideas.

Here's another load of crap I hear too often. Anyone who thinks the Democratic Party has no ideas need look no further than the Agenda on the DNC's website. What's that? You don't have the URL singed onto your brain like I do? Never fear - all you have to do is go to Google, put democratic party agenda in the search box, and click "Search." Voila! It's the very first result. Anyone who gives even the slightest, least smelly shit about elections ought to be researching both parties' platforms at this time, with less than four weeks until the election.

Speaking of bad Dem ideas, the main reason the DNC has so little cash on hand is because it's going out as fast as it comes in, in support of the 50 State Strategy. This is the brainchild of that raving lunatic Howard Dean, and its purpose is simple to the point of absurdity: challenge Republicans in every state, county, town, district, and precinct, period. Dean is rebuilding the party from the ground up and it's already shown success. The absurd part is that this is exactly what the Democratic Party failed to do over the past few decades, and it's one of the main reasons we've lost so much ground.

The 50 State Strategy is intended to be a long-term project; I doubt even Dean expected to see much payoff by the mid-terms. But then an unexpected thing happened: Mark Foley resigned. The immediate effect was to put what was considered a "safe" Republican seat, FL-16, into play as a top-tier race. And thankfully, there was Tim Mahoney, Democratic challenger, who suddenly found himself the beneficiary of a whole lot of national attention and contributions.

Then, increasing evidence began to appear that members of the Republican House leadership, particularly House Speaker Dennis Hastert (IL-14) and NRCC Chair Tom Reynolds (NY-26), were either actively involved in covering up Foley's page-persuing problem, or colossally stupid in ignoring it. So what? Well, both Reynolds and Hastert are up for reelection and are being challenged by Jack Davis and John Laesch, respectively.

An argument can be made that the Dems are just the lucky beneficiaries of recent GOP fuckups, and it's certainly true to an extent. But no one can argue the fact that the 50 State Strategy made it possible for those formerly safe GOP seats to have quite suddenly become more competitive by ensuring viable challengers were in place.

Challenge every Republican, everywhere. What a crappy plan. Why do Dems bother?

---

The most telling thing about people who parrot the above neoconservative talking points, and many more, is that they rarely have actual examples to back up their assertions. But this is a typical symptom of believing everything the corporate media reports. There is usually so much more behind the headlines, and it's easier to find than you might think.

copyright 10/14/2006

NRDC's Drive Beyond Oil Tour comes to Daytona Beach

The Natural Resources Defense Council's Drive Beyond Oil tour is coming to my town of Daytona Beach on Tuesday. I was instrumental in getting the Tour to stop at my place of employment, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. And by "instrumental" I mean I got an email from the NRDC that the drivers were looking for places to stop in Daytona, so I called the NRDC contact and said, "Uh, you guys think maybe you wanna come by here?" To which they responded, "Uh, okay! Kewl!" Well, the conversation was somewhat more coherent than that, and the arrangements slightly more involved, but that was about the gist of it, really. Heh.

To explain the purpose of the tour, here's an excerpt from an NRDC press release from early August, just prior to the start of the first leg:

Amid sky-high energy prices and as the economic and environmental challenges of America's oil dependence are becoming increasingly clear, a national conservation group is hitting the road to showcase the cleaner, faster and cheaper path toward energy security.

Starting Sunday, four representatives of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) will embark on the "Drive Beyond Oil Tour," cruising across nine states in a Ford Escape Hybrid SUV, the first production hybrid SUV, and a 2006 Chevrolet Impala that can run on ethanol fuels as well as gasoline.

The crew will meet with local citizens, mayors, farmers, clean energy advocates and others to talk about better technology in our vehicles, clean renewable energy sources like fuels made from home-grown crops and wind and solar energy. Together, these alternatives will create new jobs, reduce global warming pollution, and end our dependence on oil from the Middle East and other politically volatile regions of the world.

Read the full press release, and come along for the ride on the tour's blog.

In order for me to get approval for the Tour to stop at the campus, I had to get an academic department or club to sponsor it. The campus chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers seemed like the logical choice, so I contacted them. They were very interested, and for good reason - our students are currently building a Formula hybrid race car! Our kids will no doubt wow the NRDC's drivers with their mad engineering skillz.

I'm very excited about this, which should be evident by my use of five, count 'em, five exclamation points thus far. (I generally try to avoid exciting punctuation.) First, it's great that the people involved on campus were so interested, especially since there's a real academic connection. Second, anything that gets attention to any resources that can help reduce our dependence on foreign oil is a good thing.

But frankly, I must admit the main reason I'm excited is a selfish one; it's that this all has, so far, come together relatively easily. Granted, it's not a huge event requiring facility rentals, food service, money collection, etc. It's simply that I saw this opportunity and jumped on it, and so far at least, it's working out well.

And I don't think I would have had the confidence or even the desire to do so if it weren't for the netroots. When I first started reading progressive blogs regularly, I witnessed people doing huge, mindblowing activist things I thought I could never do. But after many months of reading, I realized most people aren't spending every waking hour involved in activism. Instead, they're doing little things like writing letters to the editor, sending a little money to candidates, canvassing and phone banking, just whatever they can make time for. But the beauty is, it all adds up to big results. And then I realized, I can do this. :-)

So don't give up. Do what you can, even if it's just sending a few bucks to a local or national candidate you like or a cause you support. It matters.

[crossposted with some editing to Daily Kos]

FL-24: Clint Curtis statement on Mark Foley, and a question for Tom Feeney

[Author's note: I've been writing DailyKos diaries on Clint Curtis for some time, but starting with this one will also cross-post them here.]

Florida Congressman Tom Feeney (R-Abramoff), who worked closely with freshly disgraced ex-Congressman Mark Foley (R-Rehab) on a number of issues, including legislation for the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, has not made any statement whatsoever on Foley's highly improper, unethical behavior in sexually persuing teenage House pages and the equally unethical coverup by the Republican House leadership. ("Republican leadership" - it doesn't get any more oxymoronic than that.) Clint Curtis, Democratic challenger to Feeney in House District FL-24, has issued a press release on the Foley-House page scandal, and puts a(nother) challenge to Tom.

Candidate Clint Curtis Calls on Deputy Whip Tom Feeney to Clarify Personal Knowledge of Rep. Foley's Sexual Overtures to Minors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2006
Contact: Karyn Altman 305-672-7759

Clint Curtis, Democratic challenger to Rep. Tom Feeney in Florida's 24th Congressional District, today called on his opponent, a Deputy Whip in the GOP House leadership, to fully explain his involvement in the latest scandal embroiling the House Republicans. As reported by AP, the GOP House Leadership was informed of disgraced Rep. Mark Foley's (R-FL-16) abhorrent sexual predatory behavior with minors in the congressional page program nearly a year ago, yet apparently took no action until forced by public outcry last Friday.

As a member of the GOP leadership, Feeney worked closely with Foley as a fellow Deputy Majority Whip in the House, as a colleague in the Florida caucus, and on legislation for the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. Like Mr. Foley, Mr. Feeney has often trumpeted his work to protect children against sexual predators. "If Mr. Feeney knew of and let continue Mr. Foleys sexual overtures to a 16 year old male high school student interning with the Congressman, his sincerity in protecting children is definitely in question."

"Feeney owes a full explanation to all Floridians in the 24th District and across the state -- about when he learned of Foley's predatory behavior and what actions, if any, he took to protect the kids in this matter. As part of the Republican leadership, he should be calling for legal and ethical accountability," said Curtis. "The voters of Florida need to know so they can make an informed decision about their leadership in Congress."

"The Republicans waited only until the issue was disclosed by the media to call for an investigation," Curtis continued. "Hastert claims that he was only aware of 'overly-friendly' emails, but if that is true, I find his judgment severely impaired that he did not look into this - that's a huge red flag when there are minor children involved." Did Feeney ignore the same red flags on behalf of his colleague?

New revelations indicate the GOP leadership was aware, as far back as 2001, that Foley had a "page problem", according to ABC News. The report also says that staffers had gone so far as to "warn" pages "to watch out for Foley" over the years.

Curtis charges that the GOP leadership "did nothing, rather than jeopardize what was considered a `safe' seat. They made a craven political calculation to protect fellow Republicans rather than protect the children that were entrusted to their care. They have once again put partisan politics above everything else -- even above the children that work with them. We can't trust them to protect our children, or our country."

Foley is the fourth Republican to resign from the House under an ethical cloud in the past year, joining indicted former Majority Leader Tom Delay of Texas, and soon-to-be-jailed Bob Ney of Ohio, who pled guilty in the ongoing influence-peddling investigation of Jack Abramoff. Mr. Feeney is the only remaining congressman not yet indicted, to have received a posh golf junket to Scotland which was paid for by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Once again this year, Feeney has been listed as one of the "Most Corrupt Members of Congress" by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Clint Curtis is the Democratic Candidate for Congress in Florida's 24th District. A computer programmer, election integrity advocate and whistleblower, Curtis has charged that his opponent Rep. Tom Feeney, among other well-documented misdeeds, asked him to create an electronic vote-rigging computer program while they both worked for the same computer firm in Oviedo, FL in 2000.

Come clean, Tom! Just tell us what you know about your friend and colleague Mark Foley. While you're at it, you can take Clint's polygraph challenge on the voting machine software rigging issue.

Clint could use your help! Please contribute.

[Full disclosure: I am a volunteer for the Clint Curtis for Congress campaign.]

If you're not reading Glenn Greenwald...

you should be.

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: Does the Foley scandal prove the existence of a God?

Required Reading.

This post will be a continually updated list of books that should be read by every progressive, liberal, and Democrat who wishes to get a handle on the insanity that is U.S. politics. Many of them also provide guidance on how to become politically active and keep from getting discouraged. Some I've read and can recommend personally; others I have not, but am familiar enough with the reputations of the authors (many of them progressive bloggers) that I have no qualms about listing them. This post will always be accessible via the link in the left-hand sidebar under "Reading Room." Suggestions are welcome! (FWIW, as many as possible are linked via Powell's Books, a great progressive-minded online book retailer. I encourage you to patronize Powell's whenever you buy books online. Please click through from my blog so I get teh monies!)

• Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics / Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas-Zuniga
• Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative / David Brock
• Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy / Frederick Clarkson
• Conservatives Without Conscience / John Dean
• The United States of Wal-Mart / John Dicker
• Why Americans Hate Politics / E. J. Dionne
• Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit / Al Gore
• An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It / Al Gore
• How Would a Patriot Act? / Glenn Greenwald
• The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophies of the 21st Century / James Howard Kunstler
• Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate (A Progressive Guide to Action) / George Lakoff
• The Republican War on Science / Chris Mooney
• Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government - and How We Can Take it Back / David Sirota
• God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It / Jim Wallis

Spacebawl One.

I'm starting this weblog to avoid annoying the crap out of my few friends who are tired of all the political posts in my LiveJournal. LOL. I originally created a blog over a year ago, called Generation Unknown, with the intention of examining society from the point of view of a generation straddler - technically a baby boomer (born 1964), but definitely of the Gen X mindset - hence the blog's name. After some time, however, I really couldn't come up with anything worthwhile to say on the subject, and it didn't interest me nearly as much as I thought it would.

In the meantime, I became increasingly involved in politics. So I've resurrected this blog to focus on my political activities, concerns, rants, candidates and organizations I support, blogs I read, and suggestions for how my family and friends can get informed and get involved, if they so desire. And since I just discovered there's a musical group called "Generation Unknown," I decided to change my blog's name to avoid confusion. I picked "Spacebawl" because I live near the Space Coast and I complain a lot. ;-)

This is a partisan blog. I'm a registered Democrat and proud of it. In fact, I consider myself a Libertarian Democrat, as Markos Moulitsas-Zuniga of Daily Kos explained so well. I'm a liberal and progressive who, while fully cognizant of and horrified by this Republican Administration's attempts to force this country into a 21st century Dark Ages, has also been energized and made hopeful by the grassroots and netroots activism that's going on around us every day with little fanfare and a surprising amount of success. I want to work toward making America and the world a better place for every living thing on it. We all deserve better than what the neocon lunatics currently in power are doing to us.

My posts here will often be angry, usually preachy, sometimes insulting, frequently disgusted, on rare occasions humorous (the latter primarily because I don't have much of a sense of humor.) But they will never be hopeless. They are intended to get people to do something, anything, even if it seems like a waste of time. I will suggest you donate money to politicians, organizations, or causes. I will tell you what books to read and who you should vote for. Be offended if you want, tell me I'm full of shit. But for [Deity's] sake, do something. Don't like my causes? Research and support ones you DO like. Prefer a candidate or politician I hate? Tell me why. Just try to do it in a reasonably coherent manner, with some evidence and facts to back you up. Am I lacking evidence and facts? Call me out. We can all only benefit from the knowledge gained.

Some would say (and have said) I'm wasting my time on a lost cause. To those I say, either fight to save your country or get the hell out of our way. Pack your bags and toddle off to the airport, when your one-way ticket to any place you think is better than the U.S. is waiting. But do us all a favor - when we reset the U.S. on the correct path, when America is once again the shining beacon and land of hope it once was and is respected and admired by people the world over, don't bother coming back. You bailed when we needed you most.

copyright 10/01/06