Israeli occupation forces launch brutal assault on Palestinians in Gaza
Food, water, electricity cut off to more than 1 million people
Israel threatens regional war, sending war planes over Syria

Stop the attacks! Cut off U.S. aid to Israel!
Thursday, June 29, 4-6 pm
Israeli Consulate: 6380 Wilshire Blvd

Sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition-LA, including member groups Free Palestine Alliance and Palestinian American Women’s Association, and the National Council of Arab Americans-LA.

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That’s what Sue called it when I came back from Gnomedex last year, she said I looked so happy it must have been Geek Christmas. And she was right.

I’ll be there again tomorrow, Thursday to Saturday, in Seattle. Gnomedex is about blogging, podcasting, web 2.0, ajax, rss, and how we can all use it to do amazing stuff.

Sen. John Edwards will be the keynote speaker, he was an early adopter of blogging and podcasting, and promises to talk tech, not politics.

Senator Edwards will quickly turn his time over to the Gnomedex audience, fielding questions and fostering discussion over how technology could and should play a role in our world.

The speaker list is impressive, and the format is different from other conferences.

This year, there will be no speakers at Gnomedex. There will be no panels, either. We realize this is a radical departure from the norm, but there’s a method to our madness. We’ve begun to invite a select group of people to be discussion leaders - individuals who will stand on stage, present an idea or two, answer questions, and then generally lead the audience’s discussion and participation.

I’ll be blogging Gnomedex as it happens from the floor (as will all of us.)

As part of contacts I’ve already made through Gnomedex, I’m in the beta for Yahoo Publisher, their ad-serving program, hence ads are now appearing in the left column. It’ll probably take it a few days for it to feed context-sensitive ads, and even that gets tricky. Just because Polizeros mentions George Bush doesn’t mean ads for Dubya t-shirts will be hitting the target audience. So, we’ll see if the ads end up being relevant and useful, I’ll give it a week or so.

Projects I’m working on, and plan to make contacts at Gnomdex about, include live video streaming, video podcasting, rss news feeds on websites, and maybe a mini-portal site or two on specific topics.

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So

Israel kept up the pressure on Palestinian militants to release a captive Israeli soldier Wednesday, sending its warplanes to bomb a Hamas training camp after knocking out electricity and water supplies for most of the 1.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip.

Those 1.3 million residents didn’t kidnap the Israeli soldier. So why is the infrastructure of their city being destroyed?

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As amply documented by the liberal Buckeye State Blog, who concludes with

To date kos has failed to directly address the central issues. Does Armstrong barter his services with clients to include the editorial influence of kos, if so is kos party to this ? Instead he has diverted attention from this question by attacking those asking these questions.

kos at the end of the day I think has poor judgement and is naive - Hackett flip flop, the DLC attack that never came, Warner and Yearlykos- all leave many wondering. While Armstrong and kos have a symbiotic relationship, and some business ties (in the past, and with their recent book) I don’t believe there is any transfer of money for editorial influence - I think Jerome simply gets some of that for free, that at least is my impression.

I personally don’t care how this story turns out, the netroots in the Ohio Senate race are now poisoned beyond recovery thanks to these bozo’s - I just hope I don’t have to witness them screw up any more races in the state I live.

Indeed, as blogged here before, Kos et al are indeed naive. Their claimed goal is to take over the Democratic Party yet they have no real life organization or cadre to do it with. An amorphous ‘netroots’ blob that exists only in cyberspace sure doesn’t count as an organization either. Worse, they appear startled and unprepared when The Powers That Be attack back - they were expecting to just waltz in and assume control? Clueless, you ask me.

The Ohio mess is instructive. They pissed off people who presumably should have been on their side. Dumb. And arrogant. A seasoned organizer with actual competence doesn’t barge into an area telling everyone what to do, alienating those who should be allies. A real organizer goes in, and then LISTENS to what people want. That’s how you build an organization, community power, and political power.

Now they’re compounding their errors by refusing to explain and instead getting angry and paranoid. Again, someone seasoned in the world of politics wouldn’t be shooting themselves in the foot quite so often - especially when they claim to be the new breed who will clean up the town. If you profess to follow a higher standard, then you need to live up to it. Else folks will think you’re just another gasbag politico.
[tags]kosola[/tags]

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Bush ignores laws he inks, vexing Congress

Bush trashes the Constitution, ignores laws that he himself has signed, and Congress only finds this “vexing?”

Earth to Congress. Here’s a few more words. “Illegal”, “criminal”, “impeachable offense.” Could you occasionally tear yourselves away from fundraisers to, y’know, stop the president from breaking the law? Hope you don’t find this too “vexing” a task.

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Water privatization, large corporations are finding, is a money-losing proposition. One of the biggest companies in the business is backing out. Good. May this signal an end to greedheads grabbing the water, jacking up prices, and lowering the quality. Because, more often then not, that’s what precisely happens when water is privatized.

To RWE AG, Germany’s biggest electric company, the water business a few years ago seemed to promise a gusher of profits. Governments in the U.S. and around the globe were eager to privatize their water systems.

Today, RWE is in the midst of dismantling an international water empire that cost more than $10 billion to assemble and spanned more than 40 countries at its height.

Water turns out to be less like electricity than RWE hoped. It’s heavy and hard to transport, making it difficult for a big company to build economies of scale. Regulation is never predictable. In the U.S., RWE found itself fighting in town referendums and state legislatures across the country, winning many battles but losing the war.

People want their water public, not controlled by distant entities concerned only with the bottom line.

The seminal battle against water privatization, the one that inspired activists everywhere, was in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The populace, seemingly against all odds, took back control of their water after privatization had quadrupled prices and dropped the quality.

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