Word of the Year: 'Truthiness'

UPI: 'Truthiness' top new word in United States.

How to help the Kim family

You've probably read about the tragic death of James Kim, a CNET editor who perished on a remote hiking trail in Oregon while trying to rescue his family.

CNET:  James Kim--family man, gadget fan

And: How to help the James Kim family.

San Jose Mercury News: Kim showed 'what it means to be a father.' Dedicated tech editor wove family into every bit of life.

Another week goes by. Josh Wolf remains jailed

Tom Abate at his MiniMediaGuy blog:  Another Friday and Josh Wolf still sits in federal prison. Spread the meme.

Christmas lights

Christmas lights from glophotos on Flickr.

Iraq War now longer than WWII

I didn't see a mention of this in my papers, but as of today, the United States has been in Iraq longer than we were in all of World War II when this country defeated Nazi Germany, Mussolini and the entire Japanese empire.

Black box voting screws up one race

Some pundits have said the lack of reported problems involving black-box voting during the November elections proves that no reforms are needed in the e-voting arena. But faulty machines -- and no paper trail -- were at fault in throwing one Congressional race in Florida to the candidate who almost certainly would have lost if the machines worked properly.

The New York Times has an editorial: Deja Vu in Florida.

A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

An online petition: A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives. All 12 points sound reasonable to me, even if they are from Michael Moore.

Vote!

A political mash-up titled Just You Wait, from Trolleyvox on MySpace:

Why we're voting for change Tuesday

Here's what we're up against:

The New York Times' lead editorial today nails it:  The Difference Two Years Made

On Tuesday, when this page runs the list of people it has endorsed for election, we will include no Republican Congressional candidates for the first time in our memory. Although Times editorials tend to agree with Democrats on national policy, we have proudly and consistently endorsed a long line of moderate Republicans, particularly for the House. Our only political loyalty is to making the two-party system as vital and responsible as possible.

That is why things are different this year.

To begin with, the Republican majority that has run the House — and for the most part, the Senate — during President Bush’s tenure has done a terrible job on the basics. Its tax-cutting-above-all-else has wrecked the budget, hobbled the middle class and endangered the long-term economy. It has refused to face up to global warming and done pathetically little about the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

Republican leaders, particularly in the House, have developed toxic symptoms of an overconfident majority that has been too long in power. They methodically shut the opposition — and even the more moderate members of their own party — out of any role in the legislative process. Their only mission seems to be self-perpetuation.

The current Republican majority managed to achieve that burned-out, brain-dead status in record time, and with a shocking disregard for the most minimal ethical standards. It was bad enough that a party that used to believe in fiscal austerity blew billions on pork-barrel projects. It is worse that many of the most expensive boondoggles were not even directed at their constituents, but at lobbyists who financed their campaigns and high-end lifestyles.

That was already the situation in 2004, and even then this page endorsed Republicans who had shown a high commitment to ethics reform and a willingness to buck their party on important issues like the environment, civil liberties and women’s rights.

For us, the breaking point came over the Republicans’ attempt to undermine the fundamental checks and balances that have safeguarded American democracy since its inception. The fact that the White House, House and Senate are all controlled by one party is not a threat to the balance of powers, as long as everyone understands the roles assigned to each by the Constitution. But over the past two years, the White House has made it clear that it claims sweeping powers that go well beyond any acceptable limits. Rather than doing their duty to curb these excesses, the Congressional Republicans have dedicated themselves to removing restraints on the president’s ability to do whatever he wants. To paraphrase Tom DeLay, the Republicans feel you don’t need to have oversight hearings if your party is in control of everything. ...

MoveOn's Rock the House event

I'm on a national conference call right now with Michael Moore, who dialed in from his film offices in New York City. (He's making a film about the 47 million Americans who don't have health insurance.) It's part of the Rock the House (and Senate) Caller Party I'm hosting, along with hundreds of other people across the nation, this weekend.

Speaking about the Republicans' vaunted superiority in get-out-the-vote efforts, he told us, "They're in for a huge surprise this Tuesday. The work you're donig all across the country is creating a historic moment -- it's the first attempt to stop the madness coming from the White House. We have the country with us."

Our Call for Change house party here is winding down -- six residents of Pleasanton and Livermore came over and made scores of calls. We were excited that the voter lists were made up of residents of California's 11th congressional district, where Jerry McNerney is running against the Republican incumbent, Richard Pombo, who was named by a watchdog group as one of the most corrupt members of Congress. Pombo took more money from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff than anyone else in Congress (over $500,000), enriched his wife, blocked investigations of serious allegations of corruption and much more.

Here's how it works: This morning, as the house party organizer, I downloaded a short "script" and 52 pages of voter calling lists, containing 24 contacts. No name on these, just a phone number and their voting district -- all from around here. We call, say who we are and why we're encouraging them to vote for Jerry McNerney on Tuesday, and whether they have any questions. Then we check off the results on each page (not home, planning to vote in the morning or afternoon, uncertain, take them off the list, etc.) and, when we're done with each sheet, call the results in to MoveOn.org headquarters. They update their lists and send out a new batch to the new group of callers throughout the weekend. Looks to be pretty efficient.

The calls were generally positive, though everyone got some hang-ups and spoke with a few conservative or Republican voters. (The 11th district sprawls into the conservative Central Valley with towns like Lodi, Stockton and Manteca.)

Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action. is telling us from Seattle, already today MoveOn members have made more than 200,000 calls to voters. (Here are some Phone Party Kickoff photos on Flickr; I was so busy that I forgot to take photos today!)

It feels good to take part in the democratic process.