From Lefti on the News.

Liberal blogs and the demonstrations, part II

I wrote the other day about the (lack of) reaction of various liberal blogs to this weekend’s antiwar demonstrations. So imagine my surprise, in the midst of a well-written post entitled “Shame” by Daily KOS co-blogger “georgia10,” when I found this among a long list of things georgia10 was ashamed of:

“I am ashamed of my fellow Americans. Ashamed that they haven’t flooded the streets.”

Really? Just to be sure, I checked not just Daily KOS itself, but georgia10’s “diary page” back as far as Friday, March 10. Not a word about the then-impending demonstrations, not to urge readers to attend them nor even to mention them.

And now georgia10 is “ashamed” that Americans haven’t “flooded the streets.” Check the mirror, georgia10.

After reading the post by georgia10, and scanning the hundreds of comments, here’s my advice - don’t mourn, organize. And please… stop moaning. Endless anguishing with no possibility of hope is counter-productive at best and really annoying at worst.

“I am ashamed” is repeated many times. Did you do these things, georgia10? Well of course you didn’t. So why accept responsibility for them?

Nowhere in the post or the comments did I see actual plans for action or concrete ideas on what to do. Instead it’s just defeatist.

This is not America. I refuse to accept it. America doesn’t torture. America doesn’t jail people incommunicado for years. America doesn’t sit idly by as an entire people are exterminated in Darfur. America doesn’t stifle science. America doesn’t conduct massive, secret spying on innocent citizens.

Excuse me, but that is precisely what America IS doing. So what do you plan to do about it?

True Americans–coast to coast, young and old–now bow their heads silently in collective shame for a nation that has lost its way.

Ah, I see, you’ll just roll over and play dead, moaning ‘all is lost.’

Bloggers need to get out from behind their keyboards and start organizing and getting involved. That’s the way to create real and lasting change. As a side benefit, you’ll feel better, more optimistic and energized. There’s a huge number of groups and organizers out there now. Be a part of it. Join the movement. You’ll find the changes you so long for to happen are happening, and happening now. Then may find your hopelessness has vanished, and has been replaced by optimism.

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Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal
- Martin Luther King Jr.

How bad is the anti-immigrant HR 4437? Real bad.

H.R. 4437 would expand on policies that have seriously eroded civil liberties. It would further militarize the border and give extraordinary powers to low-level immigration officials within 100 miles of the border to expel without a hearing anyone believed to be a recently arrived illegal immigrant. It expands mandatory detention to apply to all non-citizens arriving at a port of entry or “along” the border.

H.R. 4437 also would erode even further the basic rights of immigrants to judicial review, even by the constitutionally-guaranteed writ of habeas corpus. H.R. 4437 would criminalize all violations of immigration law, with very serious consequences for genuine refugees and others who qualify for humanitarian relief. Finally, H.R. 4437 gives extraordinary powers to detain non-citizens indefinitely without meaningful review, potentially placing many non-citizens in a legal black hole that subjects them to a life sentence after having served a criminal sentence, or, in some cases, without ever having been convicted of a crime.

This Saturday in L.A. there will be a mass march and rally in oppostion to this racist, nasty bill. Assemble at Olympic and Broadway downtown at 10 am. March to City Hall.

ImmigrantSolidarity.org

NoHR4437.org

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Bush says U.S. Troops will be in Iraq past his presidency.

Did any Democrats in Congress say “Hell, No” to this? Well, of course they didn’t. Even with polls showing the public opposes the war, Democrats refuse to do anything.

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Congress’ drive to reform lobbying loses steam as Abramoff scandal fades from the front pages.

There will be no real lobbying reform unless the public forces the issue.  Both parties are complicit in actively preventing reform from happening.

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The ‘cash for favours scandal‘ currently battering the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair could, analysts predict, deal the final blow to a leader who promised ‘a new dawn in politics’ when he came to power on May 1, 1997.

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Americablog, a big Democratic political blog, just posted a plea for money saying “ad revenues have been down the last two months, a lot - last month we only took in 25% of what we made in December.”

A 75% decline in 2 months is a huge drop. Dozens of left-of-center blogs, including Americablog, use BlogAds for ad revenue. BlogAds is a great service, but they don’t have many ads. Thus, the same ads appear on multiple blogs many times a day. Sooner or later it’s a given that people will stop clicking on them. Maybe that’s what’s happening here. If Americablog is having a drop in ad income this severe, chances are other blogs are too.

Sue says, “blogs will be like eBay soon. Still there, but not hot and trendy.” Like eBay, some will be able to make a living doing it, but many who thought they’d be able to, won’t.

Update: 3/23. AmericaBlog confirms that other blogs also are having big drops in revenue.

Your other favorite blogs are probably in the same spot we are - ads have been down across the board the past few months. They’re busting their butts too. Please help them out.

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