I’ve been thinking about making a post over the last few days, and each time I sit down to write something, I move onto something else. This morning, I read a post by danah boyd, and just wanted to post the link here. It is such a good read, and puts into words how I feel about the current state of play in politics. Do yourself a favor, and read it.

Community, Politics inspiration, Politics

I thought this news was pretty cool. It shows Google doing what I consider a fundamental function of this global company — enabling information to get out to those of us interested in the behind the scenes happenings of conventions. It also provides a strong recognition to bloggers, especially given the recent call from some people to have their media credentials revoked.

Google Inc. will help set up a two-story, 8,000 square-foot headquarters for hundreds of bloggers descending on the Democratic convention in Denver next week, and it will offer similar services at the Republican convention in September, as new media gain influence in politics.
…
Google stands to gain exposure and goodwill from 500 or so bloggers who paid $100 for access to the facility, run by a coalition of bloggers. Google’s software and services will be featured, including a kiosk in the public area of the tent where anyone can post videos on YouTube.
…
At the Democratic convention, bloggers from each state were chosen to be embedded with their delegations on the convention floor. Several hundred other bloggers will report from the Big Tent and at events and protests around Denver.

I’m looking forward to both conventions this year, just to see what happens and what is reported (on the blogs).

Politics

Fun Things, Politics

I read this transcript (courtesy of Andy), and wanted to post it along with the YouTube video that the comment was taken from.  One statement that sticks out is this one, “We value you as a person, you as a total person and we want you to feel accepted and respected in your community and you’ll certainly have a president who feels that way.”

GLBT Issues, Politics

I’ve been watching the Australian election results and commentary for the last 2.5 hours, and at this stage it looks like the ALP will be returning to governement after 11 years. The most interesting part of the election so far is that the current PM (John Howard) is looking like he will not be reelected.

Politics

Today (in Australia) the Australian Federal Election is occurring. At the time of writing this entry, the polls are open for about another 45 minutes. I’ve not paid a great deal of attention to Australian politics since leaving her shores a few years back, and I’m saddened to say that of all years, this was the year to be taking notice. It seems that the conservative government led by Prime Minister John Howard is looking to loose control of the parliament in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Side note for those that I’ve not bored this with before. The major conservative party (think Republicans) in Australia is the Liberal Party (ironic, no?), and the major progressive party (think Democrats) is the Australian Labor Party. Growing up it was common to identify oneself as a Liberal (if you were a conservative) or a “small L liberal” if you did not want to be associated with the Liberal Party.

Earlier this month PM Howard announced that even if the conservative coalition won the election, he would be standing down and handing over control the government to his deputy, Peter Costello. For most political pundits, this was not a positive move, and marked the final nail that was needed in the coalitions coffin. On the flip side, the Labor appears to have gotten their act together and standing strong behind new leader, Kevin Rudd.

Of the various contested seats, two were of interest to me. The first is the seat of Bennelong, which is the seat currently held by PM Howard. The main competitor for this seat is Maxine McKew, who is a former ABC Journalist that I remember listening (and watching) back in the days. The seat was part of a redistribution that occurred in 2006, and the previously safe Liberal seat became an less safe seat. If Labor receives the swing that most pundits expect in this election, then the PM will not have to bother about submitting his resignation early next year.

The other seat is Maribyrnong, where the safe Labor seat is set to be won by a former colleague of mine, Bill Shorten. Bill and I were involved in Young Labor back in the mid-80s. He was far more involved than me, and back then I always thought that he, and another colleague, would end up in the federal parliament. After the election, at least one of them will be there. I need to look up the other guy to see where he ended up.

So now, the polls close in 5 minutes, and I’m really intrigued to see how things turn out. The only problem is that the voting is manually tabulated, so it will be a couple of hours before the first of the polling results are in (and in most cases, the results are not released while polls remain open). So this may be a wait till morning result. The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) have an extensive site for the election.

Politics

Well I will say that when I checked my BB this AM after waking up and saw that the AG had resigned, I was kind of surprised. I guess that will teach Jon Stewart for taking a break (remember, Rumsfeld resigned while JS was break last time as well).

[CNN | MSNBC | BBC]

Politics

Over the last few months, Chris and I have been working with a phenomenal group of people to support former Frisco Mayor Kathy Seei in her announcement (and her campaign) to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. She will be running for Congressional District 4 which is currently held by Representative Ralph Hall. While it may surprise some of our friends that we are supporting a Republican, it has to be said that she is a true republican in her ideals, and beliefs and both of us are very supportive of her in her journey. While still in it’s infancy, visit http://www.kathyseei.com for details on her campaign.

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