"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Outie

I'm off camping. Be back online and in good old Eugene hometown Tuesday or Wednesday. Love you all.

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Living Easy

Sorry for the recent spate of blatantly pro-Dean entries. I've been working hard on the hack4dean stuff and getting a little zealous. Talked to someone in Burlington today though, which was pretty sweet. But things are going well here. I'm maxing and relaxing in the West-Coast fashion. It looks like Mark and Shannon will be renting the bungalow behind Luke's place for July and August, and Nick will be living in his Hastings-provided San Francisco apartment. Indeed, the dream is restored.

So it's a good life. In spite of the occasional fireworks incident and suspicious foot-traffic at the neighbor's place, living on the border of Oakland and Berkeley ain't half bad. We're getting somewhere here.

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Another Link From The Front

Here's a story direct from the front by Sean-Paul of agonist.org fame. He's currently travelling the silk road, and managed to have some meaningful converation with a GI in Tashkent.

"Well, all you really need to know is that [Afghanistan] is fucked. The pockets of resistance get bigger all the time. Of course the press is obsessed with WMD, Iraq and tax-cuts. They don't give a shit about us guys bleeding in Afghanistan. Nor do the politicians. They got us into this crap and they aren't giving us the tools to fix it."

That's a salacious quote, but there's a lot more to it. We need more of this.

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MoveOn For Dean

Dean wins the MoveOn Primary, but doesn't manage to get the 50% needed to be their sole candidate. Not surprising out of a field of nine candidates. If it had been between Dean, Kerry and Kucinich, Dean would have likely taken it. However, for now there will be no MoveOn cash infusion, so I kicked the campaign $25.00 on the old plastic. I can ill afford the extra debt, but I think it's imporant and my $25 is worth $50 with federal matching funds. If you want to do the same, this is the link to click.

On the primary report tip, the most important numbes of all are these:

Which Candidate Would You Enthusiastically Support?

DEAN 86.02%
KERRY 75.29%
KUCINICH 68.25%
EDWARDS 55.88%
GEPHARDT 52.97%
BRAUN 50.54%
GRAHAM 49.70%
LIEBERMAN 42.01%
SHARPTON 35.48%

People could choose as many candidates as they liked. Dean's leading Kerry by more than 10% here, and even further ahead of Kucinich. This shows that when the time is right we will come together, a good sign to me.

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Tragedies From The Front

The following appeared in the comments today on Howard Dean's official campaign blog, and it kicks. It's apparently in reference to this story.

Dear Dr. Dean:

I know this isn't exactly on topic, but I need a place to put this.

My friend died today.

My best friend, Lance Corporal Gregory MacDonald of the United States Marine Corp died in Iraq when his vehicle overturned while rushing to aid a group of fellow Marines who were being ambushed.

I met Greg when we were both in graduate school at American University. He was studying Arabic and Near East affairs with a focus on the Palestian-Israeli conflict and Iraq.

During the entire build-up to the war in Iraq, Greg argued forcefully and logically that the case being outlined was false and not consistent with any expert opinion on the subject. He was also a man in the finest tradition the USMC has ever produced, and when called to serve with his Recon unit (one of the most dangerous positions, even for the USMC), he did not hesitate to answer the call of duty.

As a final act defiance before setting out to fight a war he knew was wrong, Greg was interviewed on the radio explaining why the President had not made his case for war. He did the interview on condition of anonymity because he did not want his fellow Marines to think he wasn't 100 percent committed to their mission.

Dr. Dean, we need you more than ever. Something is wrong with this country when our best warrior-philosophers are thrown into the cauldren of Iraq by a President who went AWOL from national guard duty. Something is wrong with this country when an actual expert on the subject of Iraq is sent to war by a cynical, unscupulous Vice President who had "other priorities" when it came his turn to serve.

I'm tired of the chickenhawks who lie while our best men pay the consequences.

Greg told me many times that he would support any candidate who stood up forcefully against this war because it was wrong and was not sold on evidence, but lies and ideology.

Greg would have supported you, Dr. Dean.

And I support you Dr. Dean, because I can think of no other way to better honor the memory of a man ten times greater than our President, even when he plays dress-up in a flight suit - unintentially mocking those who fought and died in uniform.

Thank you

Posted by SZ at June 26, 2003 10:41 PM

I've felt for some time that true stories from the front, in all their pain and gore and horror, are the ultimate antidote to the Fox News drumbeat of war. Hopefully I'll be talking to a friend of mine in the air force about this in the next few days. His story just might make it's debut here on outlandishjosh.com.

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Voices from the Front

Salam Pax has a lengthy new post up today, and sadly he seem to be loosing his drive and energy. It was always heartening to hear the ideosyncracies of Baghdad living and to have his generally upbeat tone running through the whole thing. His latest writing is taking a downturn; and it's a shame that his optimism is draining away. Hopefully we can still turn things around there, but it may take regime change here in the US to set the right plans in motion. I can't say I have a great deal of confidance in Team Bush's administration of post-war, and as Salam's latest illustrates so clearly, there's a lot riding on it.

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Dollars For Dean

Holy bajeezus. According to the Campaign Blog the Dean campaign raised over half a million dollars since his announcement speech on monday. They also had more than 5,000 first-time contributors. I'll be breaking out the plastic to send in maybe $20 (it's what I can afford) before the 30th. Just as soon as I square the sublet rent out here. But that's pretty Amazing, 5,000 new contributors and over $500,000 total in two days. Hot stuff.

And in case you missed it, the speech was pretty inspiring. If you didn't get a chance to see it, it's the most-watched video over on c-span.org. Do yourself a favor and enjoy the prospective power of American politics for 20 minutes. Watch it.

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BlogChange

The blog here at outlandishjosh.com is going to be different while I'm in California. I'll be posting less day to day stuff, but once a week I want to do a "feature." I'm thinking about doing some interviews and writing some extended things. I got an email today from The Tall Fashionista from Reed admonishing me for not ever writing any of that stuff out. Sorry for that. It wasn't that Ren Fayre '03 was boring, just that I've been a little distracted. It will all happen over the summer, everything that needs to anyway. If there are other things you'd like to see, read, hear or know about here on outlandishjosh, don't hesitate to drop me a line.

Also, if you're that kind of person, I'm starting to maintain a much more purposeful devlog (development log) for my technical work on the grassroots -- read voulenteer -- Dean campaign over on Americans For Dean.

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Made it Ma...

Top of the world. Califronia is it's own animal. A land sired by ambition and conquest. It is as once both perverse and sublime. I'm already half-drunk on my return and re-uniting with my good friends. Sorry if you were expecting a personal email. I'll get to all that tomorrow.

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Ciao For Now

After a hot shower, tons of packing, and some cleaning, I'm finally beginning to get the very good feeling for the summer. I'm on a plane. I can't complain. As the stress recedes and the spirit begins to flow unbounded. I'm headed to California people! Land of opportunity and relaxation.

As a parting gift, here's a thought fragment I found on the ground while cleaning my room. It's dated 5/20/03:

Institutionalized power structures (e.g. "the industry" or "the establishment") serve to maintain themselves by perverting the destiny of the ambitious.

Which is odd, because though I forgot about what was written on the note completely until I found it just today, that general theme has been running through my mind for weeks and week; the link between entrepreneurialism, instigation, generosity and ambition; how to be ambitious and still be generous. The note is nearly a perfect encapsulation. So I have some brains after all. Ha!

I'll be back soon New York. Start some shit in my absence! It's always good to come home to excitement. I love you.

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