People don't plan to fail.  They fail to plan.

Yesterday, I wrote an essay warning how they are going to try and steal the election.  Some people got spooked by that.  Here's the good news:  We know how they are going to do it.   They are going to do it the same way they did it in 2004.  The problem for them is we know WHO did it in 2004 and right now they are a bit preoccupied.  But let's assume they have a deep bench.  That makes our job description pretty clear.  We have to overwhelm them.  This is where you come in.

I want to propose a couple of ways for us to defend ourselves if/when they come to steal the election and turn out the lights.  That's right.  I just upped the ante.  If I was planning the operation, I wouldn't just steal the election this time.  I would shut down your network too.  I would sever your communications links so you couldn't coordinate your response.  And I'd walk away with everything in the chaos.  

Let me show you how the lights will go out, and how we can keep it together in the dark... even if you are a complete computer novice...

It's February 1st, 2009. President Obama's historic inauguration, and dramatic address to the nation went off without a hitch. The new Administration has sent cabinet nominations to the 111th Congress, and larger Democratic majorities assure them a smooth confirmation. The President's agenda is off to good start.

Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of energetic Obama volunteers, from the netroots and grassroots, have been wrapping up their celebrations (some have been drunk off their ass since election night), and nobody wants it to end.  New friendships and a new sense of purpose are apparent to everyone. The World Has Changed.  America has its first President born of the Space-Age; its first African American in the White House. Not since 9/11 has anything happend that suddenly made things so ... different.

The campaign, which began an entire Moore Doubling ago, is now over. The world, country, and volunteers are networked and connected as never before. Not just blogs, forums and websites, these people have actually ventured out of their homes, and connected in realspace, even meeting each other in person. Nothing like it has ever happend before. Where should it go from here?  Some ideas...

Well Granny calls us purity trolls, PsiFighter says we should just grow up, Olberman is telling Obama how to do his job, to read this blog lately you'd think the entire progressive movement is about to crumble to dust because our latest patron saint of progress has declared a measure of independence from us, the "righteous" left, or perhaps the "self righteous" left is apropos.

From the perspective of a generational researcher it all comes off like some kind of self indulgent comedy, like so many brilliantly argued theses on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. We become trapped by our own ideology, shouting into the echo chamber that is our own little corner of the blogosphere.

We wring our hands in fret, some because our once saintly anointed leader has spurned us, and others because now that we have entered meltdown mode he is surely to crumble amidst the loss of our once united support.

Since FISA passed the house, a lot of us have been wondering what we can do. Many of us have made phone calls (in my case two to Barack, one to Pelosi, one to my Senator, and one to my Rep). I’ve been signing petitions like the one from Working Assets (not sure about all that since it is a virtual phone company and all). But basically, anything that crosses my inbox that has to do with anti-FISA gets my attention.

I suspended my posting on the Progressive Identity Project recently to focus on a few other things. Research for my thesis works on a number of levels including reading books (what? in the internet era? books? with pages??), searching databases for relevant supplemental material, and occasionally writing. I'm in the home stretch now, with about a month before D-day.

I've focused a lot on progressivism, what it is, what it's not, and the things progressives believe in that make them progressive. I want to take time out from that today to ask about media. I want to find out from you out there in the digital ether how you communicate. What media of communication do you use most, least, not at all. Let's jump over the fold and talk...

Yesterday a new group was created:  Senator Obama, Please Vote Against FISA

When he first announced his support of the bill, I wrote an email to friends suggesting that online organizing/social network tools can - and should - cut both ways.

When we are happy with out candidate, by all means, we should be more than willing to express our support.

On the other hand, when our candidate disappoints, we should not shrink from offering full and frank criticism of where he went off the rails.

More than any candidate that has ever come before, Barack Obama has engaged the people of this country.  A central campaign plank is his promise to open government up and involve more people.  FISA may provide us with the perfect test of these new tools.

This morning, I did not have a my.barackobama.com account.  A friend emailed me the link to the group and within 60 seconds, I had an account and I was part of the group.

Here's the link.  You know what to do.

There’s been a lot of interest around here lately surrounding my.barackobama.com (affectionately known as MyBO) and how to use it to it’s full advantage. Thanks in part to an excellent diary by Kid Oakland this weekend, there have been many reports of people signing up at MyBO for the first time wanting to unleash the power of social networking to bring about victory this November.

I'm a newcomer to social networking in all it's forms but after reading this Rolling Stone article about the inner workings of the Obama campaign, I was inspired to sign up at MyBO and began organizing my county in advance of the Indiana Primary. We used MyBO extensively during the run-up to the Indiana primary and it is a good tool but it has some limitations... (More after the fold)

Greetings Sunday political junkies. I'm betting that anyone reading this now is tuned in to one of the many Sunday morning political roundtables, drinking coffee or tea, and looking for a little fix of the Kos. Welcome to this diary.

This is the 5th in my Masters thesis project series, and I'm hoping for a little better luck with the turnout today that I've had for my last two. After a good start in which I managed 41, 21, and 29 comments (not to mention the 66 in the intro diary), I've had a whopping 3 and 5 for the last two. Today I'm going to keep it simple. The point after the fold...

I just splashed and gave the DNC $100 for their efforts this election season. As you may have seen today, Senator Obama praised the work that Howard Dean has done there and wants him to continue for another term. He's also set down new rules about PAC and lobbyist money.Things are moving in the right direction for the party and the nation as long as we have leadership like this. I gave $20 to a DNC person on the street in New York some months ago, and I'm upping the ante now. The stakes are very high.

For those of you who have been following this series, I thank you for stopping by again. For newcomers, I invite you to look at the three prior entries (#1, #2, #3) to get a sense of this bi-weekly (Sunday and Wednesday) conversation. It's a part of my thesis research and involves progressive identity and culture and new media.

Tonight I want to take a break from scholarly exploration and just get your feelings about our new Democratic nominee. Follow me after the fold for a few points and questions...

This point is so simple that it's easy to miss.

Don't.

2008 is not about attacking Republicans, though that will doubtless happen (in particular, I hope, to Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh!)

2008 is not about defining Conservatism, though that will happen, too.

The election of 2008 is about organizing Democrats, and friends who would like to join us, as we make a fundamental change in the direction of our nation.

If you read or have a userid on DailyKos you are already a part that organizational effort. (But there's so very much more than that on our plate right now.) In fact, I am confident that when you get your head around this concept, you will see what a hopeful moment this is and want to join in taking the next step.

Let me explain...

Thanks to those who have stopped by to participate in Progressive Identity Project Diaries #1 and #2. You've made this a very interesting examination so far and I hope to draw more people into the fold. To this point, we've discussed the shared values of progressives and played around with some of the key points of progressivism as defined by John Halpin of the Center for American Progress. Continuing this theme, I'd like to talk a bit about progressive communication and culture today. Follow me after the fold for the details...

Thanks to all who stopped by on Sunday to participate in the first official Progressive Identity Project conversation. Your contributions to this ongoing series are much appreciated and I hope we can continue to build on our dialog each and every time out.

For those of you new to this series, please take some time to stop by the introduction to the project and Diary #1 when you have a moment. What goes on here every Sunday and Wednesday beginning at 9am EST/6am PST, and continues for the remainder of the day, is a conversation about progressive identity in new media environments. It's a part of my Masters thesis and a media ecology research project that requires your help. Please rec and participate as often as possible. I hope you'll check in regularly via subscription and consider joining my e-mail distribution list for updates, scheduling reminders, and interview requests. You can leave me your information at:

plugh@fordham.edu

Follow me after the fold...

Summer is almost here. Summer of 2008.

While we do not yet have a nominee for certain, I think we can say with a high degree of confidence that Senator Obama achieving a majority of the overall pledged delegates in Kentucky last Tuesday will prove to be, ultimately, what secured him the nomination of the Democratic Party in 2008. This was, and always has been, as both candidates and their surrogates agreed at the outset, a contest for pledged delegates.

The thousands of you who played a role in that achievement, that majority, deserve a massive round of appreciation and praise.  

Now's when the hard part begins...

Welcome to the first installment of my regular diary series, Progressive Identity Project. My name is Mike Plugh and I'm a Masters candidate at Fordham University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a Democrat Abroad Japan.

Some of you may have read my first diary this week, introducing this project and its relationship to my thesis. I welcome those of you who missed that entry to read it at your leisure. To make a long story short, my thesis is tentatively titled "Comparative Analysis: Social Networking Structures and Progressive Political Identity," and aims at uncovering the ways that DailyKos and other web-based social networks contribute to the formation and growth of progressive political identity. You participation in this diary series will help me to conclude my research. It's an informal give and take based on a series of questions and statements I hope to explore with you in the comments section. Follow me after the fold:

Greetings fellow Kossacks. My name is Mike Plugh. I'm a 37-year old Masters candidate at Fordham University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and an active member of Democrats Abroad Japan.

This is the first in an ongoing series of diaries designed to further my Masters thesis, and I'm humbly asking your help to "rec" and participate in order to get the best possible results. The working title of my thesis is "Comparative Analysis: Social Networking Structures and Progressive Political Identity." A mouthful, for sure, but I think many of you will find it interesting both as a subject of study, and as a participatory experience. Follow me after the fold...

I read a fascinating article on how blogs and social networking sites helped to get the word out in the earthquake in China this week, and will probably help keep the Chinese government honest in their assessments.

The news has been particularly good to young voters and the netroots and grassroots this week... which scares me, cause its rare.  Last week was the snafu by the Washington Post and everybody got on board questioning the validity of Catherine Rampell's cherry picked stats and inaccurate conclusions (including me).  But this week has been unbelievable in response to the constant battle we have been fighting on recognizing the importance of young voters and the validity of the netroots.