Schumer the Stooge (and a note on Elwood's resignation)

being a front pager (4.00 / 1)

must be an incredible amount of work and the battle does seem to never end.  How many Dems do we have to elect before we can see some real change. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin.  Thank you Elwood and join us on the sidelines - I think this site is making a difference and we have to keep talking because the alternative is to go insane separately.

standing on the sidelines looking for a reason to enter the fray.

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by: smucci @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 17:55:30 PM CDT

Rage (0.00 / 0)

I hope to manage rage and hope and dignity.

"Forked No Lightning" would be a good blogname.

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by: elwood @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 18:01:32 PM CDT

Site things (4.00 / 1)

1. I think way too much stuff is being front-paged and it kind of falls off the page and puts an end to discussion. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I find it easier to track new comments and diaries I'm interested in from the right side bar rather than on the front page.

2. The way the Edwards people dominate the recommend diaries list is kind of silly. Anything that's about Edwards is automatically recommended by visible Edwards partisans, some that don't otherwise participate on the site, regardless of whether it's particularly noteworthy, how many comments there are, how interesting the discussion is, or how New Hampshire-related the subject is.

Neither of these are really a big deal, but they've been in the back of my mind and that last paragraph prompted me to bring them up.

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 18:01:47 PM CDT

I expect that once the primaries are over (0.00 / 0)

that rec'd diaries here (as on other blogs) will start to return to normal, that is to say, well-written pieces that have something interesting to say will rise to the top.

Interesting what you say about the front page, as I often worry that the opposite is true - that we don't offer up enough fresh content.  Probably just the anxiety of co-running the joint.

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by: Dean Barker @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 18:33:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I've started using the hotlist more, because it seems the only way to keep track of diaries that have fallen off (0.00 / 0)

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 19:01:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hot list help? (0.00 / 0)

Since I'm relatively new here, don't feel like I have enough perspective to make a reasonable contribution to the larger discussion...
But would love a tutorial on hot lists, etc... I clicked on Hot List and saw there was nothing on the Hot List... How does this work?

I try to recommend posts that I think are intelligent and spark good discussion... hoping that more people will read the discussion or join in.  I also don't recommend every single mention of my candidate--- I want my recommendations to be meaningful!

Feeling hopeful since 2004...

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by: Kelly Nordstrom @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 23:06:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

There's a + sign (0.00 / 0)

after the title when you open a diary. Click it and the diary gets added to your own personal hot list, where it can be retrieved at your leisure regardless of how far down it has scrolled.

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by: elwood @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:23:31 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Site things (0.00 / 0)

Agree.

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by: calvin @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 21:29:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What I think. (0.00 / 0)

What I think is that Mukasey's constitutional perspective is not consistent with Justice Kennedy's definition of the rule of law.  As I read him, Kennedy argues that the agents of government are limited as to what they may and must do by the Constitution and implementing legislation.  In other words, the law is permissive, akin to the game "mother, may I."  Where the people are concerned, on the other hand, the law is prohibitive in that is says what a person cannot do.
What the Bushes have been trying to do is stand this protocol on its head.  What they'd like to argue is that the people have a limited number of rights (enumerated in the Bill of Rights) and must seek permission for everything else, while the agents of government can do whatever they want, unless the law forbids it.
Of course, I could be wrong.

The central question is: where does the power lie?

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by: hannah @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 18:04:16 PM CDT

Many thanks to elwood to his dedication to this place (4.00 / 3)

and to a Democratic party that has failed him (and me) in a pretty straightforward, basic way.

And to the Democrats who would appoint a man to Attorney General who can't decide if waterboarding is torture? 

When we don't expand on our majorities in 2008, it'll be because of moral cowards such as you who don't give the country a reason to get out and vote for people of character and leadership.

Look everyone! I belong to a party that can't unify on whether this Spanish inquisistion activity

is torture!

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by: Dean Barker @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 18:30:48 PM CDT

Luckily, we don't have parliamentary elections (0.00 / 0)

Candidates are judged individually, and hopefully, the class of 2008 will be more principled than some others.

Meanwhile, a frightening number of Americans couldn't care less about torture, illegal wiretapping, etc.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 19:03:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Shave and a haircut,... (0.00 / 0)

-would prefer that Elwood retain FP priviledge as Emeritus. Elwood's voice will not degrade BH, only enhance it, IMO. Also, the perogative to FP a diary that titillates his muse would serve us all.

-wondering how many here have checked out any of the "also ran" blog sites mentioned in the WSJ piece? Doing this may enhance our appreciation of "home."

SGS is Jack Mitchell of Lowell, MA. The symbolism of the "sleeping giant" is based on my HOPE for America.

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by: Sleeping Giant Stirs @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 20:03:27 PM CDT

We actually asked him that (0.00 / 0)

But he feels it would affect,if only subconciously, his ability to speak directly.

I can say as a denizen of the front page the pressure to tone down strong expression of opinion, esp. against other Dems, is pretty heavy, if only self-inflicted. So I unrdstand his concern and respect his decision.

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by: Mike Caulfield @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 20:45:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Starbucks Democrats (0.00 / 0)

Mike,
Being free from constraints, yet respecting the decorum, I am confused.

I would hate BH to degrade into a FU Fest. I don't wander around to much, but have seen the futility of "drama queen" blogging. Nothing is advanced.

I haven't come here as a video game substitute. Thus, it is prefered that the energy commited to BH fosters the slighest benefit.

However, I certainly am not an advocate of blogging with our pinkies up. Free as I am, I do not expect a phone call after I post with a sweet but dejected and confused voice on the other end of the line.

"SGS, what made you say that?"  "We don't understand?"

Is that the pressure felt by an FPer? When we stand up and speak at Town Hall do our political "friends" approach us with the intent of kind censorship?

Is that the pressure imposed on this blog in general?

Sometimes I do feel hemmed in by all the "brand names." I don't feel that I can just waylay into one of our vaunted dairist. Although there is one or two that have come to sense my level of comfort.

I'm no "street fighter", but I do get my coffee from Dunks.

I would trade every vaunted for one El.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thought the peeps may like this:

Election '08: Media and the Message

Friday, Nov. 2, at 7pm on WGBH 2

WGBH, WBUR and Boston University collaborate to bring you Election 2008: Media and the Message. This one-hour special looks at media coverage of the upcoming presidential election. Greater Boston's Emily Rooney and On Point's Tom Ashbrook serve as cohosts. Featured panelists include John Carroll of Boston University, Politico reporter Jonathan Martin, Democratic analyst Jamal Simmons, Wellesley College's Marion Just, syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman, U.S. congressman Barney Frank, who represents the Massachusetts 4th District, and Kevin Madden, the national press secretary for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Airing jointly on WGBH 2 and WBUR 90.9

SGS is Jack Mitchell of Lowell, MA. The symbolism of the "sleeping giant" is based on my HOPE for America.

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by: Sleeping Giant Stirs @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 21:33:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

When I was a front pager (4.00 / 1)

I felt a responsibility to make sure every Democratic state or national campaign got a "fair shake" here. The site is much more valuable if that is true. I would rather it work effectively as a tool for all New Hampshire Democrats, not a tool only for my pet interests.

I still have those goals, but they are now a somewhat lower priority for me.

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by: elwood @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:31:00 AM CST

[ Parent ]

What elwood said. (0.00 / 0)

Mike's comment was more about FP-ing responsibilities than on commenting in general.

I can still remember the day in the 1990's when Starbucks took over my local coffee shop in NYC.

Grrrhrhhh.

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by: Dean Barker @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:36:03 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Oh, and (0.00 / 0)

the greater freedom with which giant corporations could run roughshod over local establishments in NYC in general?

The product of a Rudy! administration.

Jut imagine what he will do to a town near you as president!

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by: Dean Barker @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:37:30 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Thanks, Elwood (4.00 / 3)

Honestly, I don't know what to say about all this, but I do want to say that much. Thanks, Elwood, for all you've done on the site, and I'm glad you're sticking around.

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by: JimC @ Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 20:09:58 PM CDT

One of the things I like about the site (0.00 / 0)

I did an unscientific "civility" check comparing BlueHampshire and DailyKos.

We have 17 uses of "Thank you" for every use of "suck." DailyKos has 4 "thanks" per "suck."

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by: elwood @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:36:39 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Thanks (4.00 / 4)

That sucks.

Next time, there may be no next time.

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by: Jon Bresler @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 08:00:01 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Comment of the week. n/t (4.00 / 1)

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by: Dean Barker @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 16:30:53 PM CST

[ Parent ]

New Hampshire Focus (0.00 / 0)

If had my druthers I'd prefer for there to always be some sort of NH angle to stories on the FP of BH.

I think it comes down to wanting to hear about things that I can have influence over in a tangible way.

By focusing on things we can affect vs things that may be out of our sphere of influence we promote personal engagement in the political process.

All politics is local, I find myself most satisfied when thinking about and working on local things.

In that manner I'd love to see BH look more inward than outward... What is happening in Senate District 17? How likely is it that we have a viable challenger to Senator Barnes in  08? That sort of stuff.

Maybe we need a FrontPager from each NH Senate District or some other concept like that to make sure we are covering the state.

Normal "Marketing"concepts may not apply here, but I would suggest we can develop a better product by being local than competing in the "national" space.

Hope > Fear



Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

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by: Mike Hoefer @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 08:50:22 AM CST

I think we intially tried to do that. (0.00 / 0)

But we couldn't motivate enough people to write that stuff up -- it's an issue of getting enough critical mass.

I hope in the future we can do that, that was our initial intention. But it's not something we can do from the top down.

I've become convinced that the key with local news is encouraging people to post two or three sentence "stories" just to get the conversation started. And that tends to push against the more statewide stuff on the site where the tendency is to have to bring something "extra" often resulting in long posts -- so there's a bit of a culture clash.

On a related note, I've stated here and there that my intention at some time in the future is to leave BH and look at creating smaller, somewhat non-partisan communities for the conveying of local news -- I've done a bit of thinking on how to bridge that submission gap, some of it here:

http://mikecaulfield...

Of course, we wouldn't need to do microreporting if we could encourage people to post smaller local items here or on a side site (and find a way not to clog up the sidebar) -- there are multiple split-the-difference options -- but going through what it would take to do that, we just don't have the time right now.

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by: Mike Caulfield @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 09:48:24 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Nick Gunn (0.00 / 0)

Speaking of FrontPagers... where has our formerly prolific Nicholas Gunn née NHcollegeDem run off to?

Hope > Fear



Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

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by: Mike Hoefer @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 09:21:23 AM CST

Good question. (0.00 / 0)

Nick, if you are out there, send us a line.

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by: Dean Barker @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 16:56:00 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I emailed him (0.00 / 0)

about 10 days ago...ominously no response.

Next time, there may be no next time.

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by: Jon Bresler @ Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 18:02:51 PM CST

[ Parent ]