As a part of my continuing quest to raise my own food, eat cheap, and eat local, sprouts seem like the perfect answer! So far, I've tried: alfalfa, chickpea, mung bean, and lentil. The alfalfa has been a great success. Tasty on sandwiches and in salads. The mung has also been pretty good, although I've had a bit of difficulty getting the "hull" off of it. Anyone got any good ideas for this? I spent forty five minutes picking them off by hand the last batch But, they don't seem to chang...

My garden -- by the back area near the "outbuilding" (used to be a garage, now storage) (Image) Veggie bed on the right -- all kinds of experiments, tomato, eggplant, beans, (Image) Peppers, beans. (Image) Letting my radish seed out so I can collect it -- we'll see if this works. :) The blue thing is my knee. Haha. (Image) Cardoon, garlic chive (Image) Herb bed in the middle -- all kinds of goodies, rosemary at the back, lemon balm, chamomile, rue, stevia, parsley, fennel. Today I plan...

Email from them: First, a big Thank You! The Rockridge Institute was founded with a mission: to teach Americans about the role of values and framing in political debate, and to help progressives equalize the framing advantages enjoyed by conservatives. With your help, Rockridge has done more than any small think tank could be expected to do. About 1,000 of you have donated to support our efforts. More than 8,000 have registered as members of Rockridge Nation to engage actively with us. And hun...

“Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.” (John Quincy Adams) Have we? Discuss.

Two years after I became a precinct chair, it was time for State House elections. One guy stepped up and decided to run for our district. He got in early, was well-liked among the local activists, raised a little money, was a decent candidate, and had many endorsements. He asked me for my endorsement, and I decided to go ahead and endorse him. After all, I couldn't see that anyone else was getting in, and he was a good candidate. Most of the local Democratic establishment (precinct chairs)...

(Image) hee!

All members of the Texas posse on DU are cordially invited to check in on this thread throughout the day to give DU updates from our conventions! Linked to from Texas forum. YEEEEEEEEEEEHAW!

I thought I'd repost this from GDP for those of you who don't go there. Asked about it last week, Reid said he remains convinced the nominee will be decided well before the August national convention. He wore a serene and mysterious smile. But Reid isn't one for lengthy explanations. The conversation went like this: Question: Do you still think the Democratic race can be resolved before the convention? Reid: Easy. Q: How is that? Reid: It will be done. Q: It just will? Reid: Yep. Q: Mag...

People keep telling me our precinct convention went pretty well. Here is a email I wrote to some friends the day after that say WHY it went well. Although we're two weeks out, now, I want to put all of the things I learned up here, for posterity (and so I can find it later, haha). We had almost 400 (to be exact, 397) at our convention at 2228. And there was no blood and very little yelling. And we were done by 9(ish). And we passed four resolutions. Do I get a prize? LOL. Things that w...

Heads up, ya'll, for the second round of Texas caucuses.... the County / Senatorial District conventions, coming to your teevee on Saturday. In these conventions, the delegates chosen at the precinct conventions, on election day, now have another exciting meeting to attend. Once more, the percentage of delegates is determined by Those Who Show Up. People will sign-in and indicate their presidential preference at each convention. The people who show up get the delegate spots for the next lev...

We're having a DSCC town hall meeting today with James Carville, Barbara Boxer, and Dick Durbin. And I'm going. It's free, okay? Besides, I like Boxer. Anyway, if I should *cough* happen *cough* to be near the mic, I know DU would have some choice and pithy things to say to Mr. Carville. Suggestions? Here's my current favorite: "Mr. Carville, I am curious about one thing. In your recent reference comparing Governor Bill Richardson to Judas. Are you implying that Hillary is Jesus?" :rof...

I'm a Democratic activist in a red state that is usually very late in a primary cycle. Let me tell you what this campaign did for us. It brought people out of the woodwork to help. It has forced us to have thousands of organizational meetings that we would have never had otherwise. It has introduced hundreds of thousands of people to each other that otherwise would not have met. In short, it has strengthened the local party incredibly. It has laid the groundwork for a grassroots campaign in the...

I'd previously dismissed this as Internet wishful thinking but today I heard it from a prominent Democratic elected official. Like, from Washington. o.O

It's starting to look like neither state is going to get a do-over. The next step will be taken by the credentials committee of the national convention. They will decide whether or not to seat MI and FL's delegations. The credentials committee will be controlled by the likely nominee. Both candidates are not stupid. Both candidates realize that not seating the delegations would not look good to some people when November comes around. Therefore, there is a high likelihood that the delegatio...

The close of Lincoln's First Inaugural Address: I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, streching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. (Link) For all of us here to...

Made the hairs on my arms stand up on end.... must read.... I was in Copley Square in Boston on Election Night in 2004. I stayed up all night and then went to Faneuil Hall to watch John Kerry concede. I had a steno pad full of notes about everything I thought might be worth chronicling about those two days – interviews with people gathered there in the Back Bay, hurried transcriptions of phone calls from my friend in the room at the DNC, gut feelings, what it was like to be there in the sleet ...

In reference to the contest I had a few days ago here: (Link) THE NUMBER ATTENDING: 397. THE WINNER: JimGinPA guessed 400. So, even though he went over by 3, he was closest. Bravo! :applause: THE STORY: My precinct has about 3000 on the voter books. About 400 voted early. On election day, we had 642 voters. I worked the polls all day. Things went pretty well. I was happy so many had voted early. It helped. At our precinct, the Republicans were situated outside in the hall an...

There has been a lot of confusion about the post-primary precinct conventions/caucuses. Really people, just RTFM - or in this case RTFTDPDSE - Read the frickin' Texas Democratic Party Delegate Selection Epistles. While many of those who were at last year's convention argued strenuously against explaining the delegate selection process in the style of the apostle Paul's letters, those in opposition did not win the day, as everyone who attended that fateful meeting at the basement of Big Al's Pizz...

These are great! (Image) (Image) (Image) More.... (Link)

Dear Deity of Whatever Kind You Are in Heaven if there is one, Please let me get through this caucus without offending any of my friends and neighbors. Please ensure that this is conducted fairly and according to the rules. Please make sure that the total lunatics do not show up and if they do that I can throw them out quickly and in a legal manner. Please make sure that the zillions of lawyers in my precinct do not decide that this would be a fun venue in which to grandstand. Please do not...

I’ve seen a lot of complaining on here lately about how hard our system is to understand. People have been throwing around the words “disgrace” and “undemocratic” and “a sham.” I will concede that there are a lot of nuances to the system, and it can seem a bit complicated. However, it is most certainly NOT unfair, disgraceful, or undemocratic. In fact, I would say that it combines the best qualities of a primary with the best qualities of a caucus. We’ve had this system in place for 20 y...

Scroll down past the ads and you'll find LOTS of fun stuff in the pdf here: (Link) Also, here are the latest results for First Time Primary Voters Obama 30% Clinton 30% Undecided 13% Other 27% Going to Vote Yes 86% Maybe 8% No 6%

As I’m sure you all know by now, the voter turnout for early voting here in Texas has been nothing short of Already, we have had more people come out for early voting than turned out in ALL of the previous party primary. The party chair has called it “the largest Democratic primary in the history of Texas.” And, of course, you’ve heard about the enormous rallies that have been held. The line for a typical Obama event starts 12 hours before the door opens and snakes around the building a cou...

I am a Texas precinct chair. I am trying to guess this right now. Your guess is as good as mine. Join the fun! Let's all guess! I will post the results on the day after the election because I'm sure as heck going to a party and get drunk after my caucus. The person who gets the closest to the actual number of voters that show up, without going over the number, is the winner! Winner gets .... A NEW CAR! .... um no... a PONY.... no ... a lollipop. No. A lock of my hair which I am tearing ...

These folks have been doing lots of polls but they are not saved on their website, so check my journal for previous ones. Voters Who Watched Debate Obama 37% Clinton 49% Undecided 9% Other 6% Voters Who Didn't Watch Debate Obama 25% Clinton 45% Undecided 16% Other 14% (Link)/

In the last two weeks I have attended: - a Bill Clinton rally in Tyler, Texas, about 2 hours east of Dallas. - the Obama rally in Dallas - and the Hillary rally today in Dallas. I'd like to talk a little bit about what I saw at those rallies and the political landscape I am seeing in North Texas. Bill in Tyler: We only got the email about this event the night before. Maybe they wanted to keep it small. About 1,000 people turned out for this standing-room only rally. It was packed tight...

Texas Poll Female Democratic Voters Obama 31% Clinton 43% Undecided 10% Other 16% (Link)

I learned this last night at the state party training, just thought I would give everyone a heads up. The reason to do this, of course, would be if you have 20 spots and only 15 people in your delegation show up. You need to fill out that delegation as much as you can in order to maximize your voting strength at your county/SD convention. Chairs are not allowed to add people to the roster as delegates after the convention is closed. This has changed from previous years.

You have to read the whole thing. This is amazing. A Turnout Report from Rural Republican Texas- Gillespie County (+) by: Karl-Thomas Musselman Fri Feb 22, 2008 at 08:30 AM CST (snip) Gillespie County, in the good times, is 20% Democratic. It has had no Democratic candidates run for local office in decades (other than Daniel Boone for state rep which covers multiple counties. My father, a city councilman there, is the only (non-partisan) elected and open Democrat in town. We do have a great...

OMG the internets ought to LOVE THIS! Kick it and spread it around, folks. Exclusive: Help us examine the lost JFK files Tell us: What do you see in the documents? Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins announced this week that documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy were found in a little-known vault in his office. He said his intention was to release them to the public. The documents were compiled by Henry Wade, the district attorney at the time of the a...