The MyDD Air force sends in another wave of Google Bomb Attacks.

‘Bombs Away Gentlemen…Give thanks to the Lord and the ‘netroots’ for what you are about to receive Karl!’

Check the Updates to see the strategic effect we are having: 10/30, 10/28, and 10/26

FL-16 Joe Negron

ID-01 Bill Sali

IL-06 Peter Roskam

IL-10 Mark Kirk

IL-14 Dennis Hastert

MO-Sen Jim Talent

MT-Sen Conrad Burns

NY-03 Peter King

NC-11 Charles Taylor

OH-01 Steve Chabot

TN-Sen Bob Corker

If we keep pounding at them I believe the Republicans will ‘cut and run’. In fact, they already are.

Bear sez…Karl Rove’s no fucking genius

I have always thought Rove was a cretin but the penetrating intellect of the ascerbic Billmon educated me as to the method in Rove’s madness with:

The 51% solution

 as good a piece of political analysis as I have read this year.

 

Debra Bowen House Party in Berkeley

Photo c/o OC Register

I recently received information about an special house party in the East Bay, which would certainly interest supporters of Debra Bowen, the Democratic nominee for CA Secretary of State. If you have not yet researched the ramifications of this office or the contrast in the two candidates, you can check out prior posts on the subject both here on the Bear Republic Action Group blog [link #1] & [link #2] and our sister blog, Drinking Liberally Oakland [link #1], [link #2] & [link #3]. Following is the information provided by my buddy Jerry Berkman of the Voting Rights Task Force:
Help elect Debra Bowen as California’s Secretary of State! She is running to prevent California from becoming the next Ohio or Florida.

Debra Bowen will make sure our voting systems are free from corruption. She is a strong, no-nonsense person who will stand up to local election officials who don’t want to worry about this. She wants to revamp the testing of the machines, eliminate proprietary secret software, and reduce barriers to registering and voting.

The current Secretary of State, Bruce McPherson, trusts the e-voting machines, and especially the e-voting vendors, even though the machines have proven to be hackable.

She is supported by EMILY’s list, Sierra Club, Calif. Nurses Assoc., League of Conservation Voters, National Women’s Political Caucus, etc.

Please tell everyone you know to vote for Debra Bowen for Secretary of State!

We will have a house party next Wed., Nov. 1, from 6:00-9:00, to play some DVDs on election integrity, talk about the election, and enjoy ourselves. (One will be Avi Rubin’s Johns Hopkins talk on “Security Issues in Electronic Voting”; this is not generally available.) You can RSVP here (not required).

Jerry Berkman, Carolyn Koestel
3136 Eton Avenue, Berkeley
(510) 547-0985

For more information about Debra Bowen, see:

• Debra’s Official Campaign Website
• Unofficial Pro-Bowen Grassroots Website

Debra Bowen has a slight lead in the polls, but McPherson has three times as much money! ($1 million vs. $365 thousand, as of Sept. 30). You can donate via the RSVP website (donation not required).

P.S. Look for the new HBO special, “Hacking Democracy” — premieres Nov. 2 at 9 PM, and repeated often.

Jim Webb to George Allen, ‘Time’s up Maccaca Man.’

Yeah, I met Webb at YearlyKos. Hell, everybody who wanted the ‘netroots’ attention was there.

Hit our ActBlue page and help him finish ‘Maccaca Man’ off.

 I, A.Citizen, urge you to take action.

Republicans…they want to slap you around.

Yup, slappin’ someone who is wheelchair bound is what one Republican candidate considers ‘good politics’. If you disagree you could go here and show some love for her Democratic opponent.

He’s not gonna try and slap your ass ragged like the ReThuglicans have been doing for six long, miserable years.

Oh, yeah….Lynne Cheney better watch out this Cubin scum is after her title: ‘Queen of the Harpy’s’.

I, A.Citizen, hope you are taking action to drive the Republicans into the Sea. 

Your BRAG Sunday Sermon

Gather all ye faithful. Hear the words of compassion, reason and Christian faith in a Progressive context.

Yes, that’s right… in a Progressive context. For those of you who have given up on your Christian heritage because of all the ‘intelligent design’ morons taking up the spotlight and the ‘anti-choice’ assholes bogarting the microphone, there IS hope.

The Progressive Christian Witness: A Ministry of Pacific School of Religion (PCW) seeks to strengthen the voices of progressive Christianity in the public square and restore to American church life the historic diversity of Christian ethical and theological discussion. PCW is one of several progressive Christian resources provided by Pacific School of Religion.

On PCW’s pages, you will find a growing set of resources that present progressive Christian perspectives on such issues as the authority of the Bible, environmental stewardship, immigration, race and pluralism, gender and sexuality, government and economic well-being, faith and science, America’s role in the world, and the nature of progressive Christianity.

PCW does not seek to define progressive Christianity nor is it able to represent fully all progressive Christian commitments. It does seek to proclaim the redemptive heritage of the Christian faith in a manner that is biblically and theologically responsible, ethically committed, and informed by current knowledge.

Readers have found our materials to be of great value in shaping sermons, Bible study, media statements, and other forms of public discourse—and in daily conversations at home, work, and church. We hope you, too, find them to be useful.

Go now in peace, my children.

- Tekstone

Wesley Clark is a Real Democrat…unlike ‘Big Dog’, Feingold, Schumer, Obama-the-Believer and, oh yeah, Joey the Liarmann.

That’s funny didn’t seem like it was very hard for General Clark to endorse the Democratic Party nominee.

How about you?

Don’t you want to see Joe ‘I love the War in Iraq’ Liebermann go home? Here’s the place to be if that’s what you want.

If not….

Just pretend everything is OK.

posted by A.Citizen

Da Bear sez…check out Chicago Dyke’s latest…

 Read Chicago Dyke’s liveblogging from D.C. on  the stupidity of the folks who think they are leaders just because the live there.

Chicago Dyke asks a question which nobody knows the answer to. 

 

Met CD at YearlyKos and been lurking around her blog ever since. She looks ready to start ripping it up in the ’swamp’. Will be checking her out regularly as her writing is on fire lately.

A.Citzen 

 

Da Bear Sez: This Weeks Trash, Taken Out!

 Ex-Bush aide Safavian gets 18-month prison term

good riddance to bad trash!

We Must Teach More & Better Civics in the US

It is my theory that this government – our government – is able to take away our constitutional rights, lay waste to the environment in pursuit of profit, allow media outlets to deteriorate into marketing onslaughts, legislate against the common good, get away with lying, stealing, cheating and generally profiting at the expense of us non-rich folk… for one primary reason:

Our educational system in this country is not sufficiently teaching our children about Civics and the importance of being knowledgeable, participating members of society. To elaborate and support my theory, I have copied and pasted the following for you to read and ponder. The better educated the citizenry of a democracy is, I believe, the more patriotic s/he tends to be… or rather is justified in being. Enjoy.

In recent years, study after study has shown that most students in the United States have poor knowledge of and limited engagement with civic education.

In a 1998 survey conducted by the National Constitution Center, an independent nonprofit group, more teens could name the Three Stooges than the three branches of government. In that same year, the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Civics Report Card to the Nation showed that only 25 percent of students were receiving adequate education in civics.

Results from the most recent nationwide United States history test administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2001 showed that only 18 percent of fourth-graders, 17 percent of eighth-graders and 11 percent of 12th-graders scored at a proficient level. For each grade, the more hours a student watched television, the lower their scores. These results come at the same time as voter participation is declining. Even in the last presidential election, when there was a surge in new voter registration, less than half of the eligible 18- to 24-year-olds voted.

Despite these gloomy statistics, there are few signs that renewed emphasis will be placed on civic education on a national scale anytime soon. With the requirements imposed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that all students be tested annually in reading and math in grades 3 through 8, the emphasis across the country is focused primarily on improving basic skills.

“NCLB has done more harm to social studies education than anything else,” says Rick Theisen, former president of the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS). “If it’s not tested, it�s not taught, and if it�s not tested, it’s not funded.”

Until the late 1960s, formal civic education often comprised up to three courses, usually civics, democracy and government, in addition to U.S. history. A recent study, “The Civic Mission of Schools,” revealed a continuing trend throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s to condense those civic education courses into a single course.

Competent and responsible citizens:

• are informed and thoughtful about the principles and practices of democracy
• participate in their communities through membership in voluntary civil associations
• act politically to accomplish public purposes
• have moral and civic virtues, such as responsibility of the common good

U. S. schools are failing not only to teach the necessary basic knowledge about democracy and citizenship but also the necessary critical thinking skills and “attitudes and dispositions of productive citizenship.”

The above was taken from The State of Civic Education: Teaching the Citizens of Tomorrow

Additional Resources:

National Council for the Social Studies
The largest organization in the country devoted to social studies education

Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
Here you can download an advocacy toolkit.

The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Civics Report Card to the Nation
Results of the 1998 assessment in civics

Facing History and Ourselves
Facing History is an organization that helps students find meaning in the past and recognize the need for participation and responsible decision making. They provide professional development to teachers and are co-partners in the Facing History School in New York.

Sojourn to the Past
Find information on their civil rights education trips to the South for high school students and staff.

http://www.civiced.org/

http://www.firstamendmentfuture.org/

http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/aboutUs/overview/overview.htm

http://www.teachfirstamendment.org/civics.html

- Tekstone