The fundraising goal is set. You can donate on the left nav. Tonight at midnight is the cutoff for June fundraising, so anyone that can chip in before midnight helps shape the narrative that comes out in a few weeks when the totals are released. Let’s put Obama over the top. The Feedburner widget shows that we have between 100 and 140 subscribers to the feed. Assuming each person kicked in $50 between now and October, we can easily hit that $5000 goal. I’m not expecting anyone to max out or go crazy here — I’d just love it if everyone chipped in a little bit. This is about number of donors as much as it is about number of dollars.

I’ve emailed a lot of you individually over the last few weeks, but in case I missed you, here’s another appeal to everyone reading.

This is, easily, the most important election in your adult lifetime, whether you’re 21 or 91. Our country is facing unique challenges that require honest, well-considered policy solutions. The absolute last thing we need right now is ideologically driven, partisan policies like those that have dominated over the last 7 years.

I’ve also made no bones about the fact that I believe that George W. Bush is the worst President in U.S. history. 9/11, Katrina, $4 gas, the U.S. Attorney Scandal, federal hiring practices, uncontrolled spending, and a near doubling of the national debt… his list of failures is long and deep. John McCain promises more of the same. For every position where he disagreed with the current administration when he ran in 2004, he has flip-flopped to be in line with the Bush administration policies. Torture, taxes, FISA, the war — it’s impossible to find a significant policy difference with the current administration.

All of this would be good enough reason to vote for Barack Obama. Thankfully for my sanity, we have a candidate in Barack Obama that I’m proud to vote for. No, he’s not perfect — his moves on FISA recently and the statement today about Clark fall short of my ideals, for example. Perfection, on the other hand, isn’t a requirement for the job.

What I am looking for is someone who considers the actual issues before formulating policy. On that front, Obama’s candidacy offers real hope of doing better than any of our recent Presidents. He also seems to understand the importance of transparency and open government. That issue has been a big part of his work in the Senate and a big part of his policy plan for a prospective Obama administration. He also has shown some sound policy judgment so far, balancing idealism with a pragmatic sense of what will and won’t actually pass Congress.

So, unlike 2004, where I was more voting against Bush than voting for Kerry, this year I’m voting, happily, for Barack Obama.

Voting isn’t enough, though. Obama’s campaign is doing something I have always wanted campaigns to do: compete in all 50 states and get lots of people to help fund the campaign. I’m especially encouraged by the large number of donors that have come out and donated to the Democratic campaigns. I want that number to be bigger. So, I’m asking if you can all donate to the Obama campaign via the ActBlue button in the left nav (or right here)

If anyone has any questions, feel free to shoot me a note.

Can’t wait. I wish these were books first — this Bond character would’ve made an interesting book character.

Heidi and I actually got into a bit of a debate about what I wrote on “Democrat” vs. “Democratic,” and I think we reached a consensus on what the key issue actually is. The issue isn’t the grammar per se, but the fact that it’s childish and disrespectful to intentionally get someone or something’s name wrong. We both agreed on that, though we disagreed about the importance of the grammatical point I was making. Since Heidi’s the English teacher, a push equals a win for her. As I said, though, if it were a simple question of grammar, I wouldn’t even mention it.

Instead, I’m talking about stuff like this:

Some far-right sites that subscribe to the Associated Press feed, for example, will use auto-correct to change “Democratic Party” to “Democrat Party.” This, of course, is because they have the temperament of children.

Seriously, what other explanation is there to rename the party? Of course, this obsession with controlling language can lead to funny situations:

But the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow website takes the phenomenon one step further with its AP articles. The far-right fundamentalist group replaces the word “gay” in the articles with the word “homosexual.” I’m not entirely sure why, but it seems to make the AFA happy. The group is, after all, pretty far out there.

The problem, of course, is that “gay” does not always mean what the AFA wants it to mean. My friend Kyle reported this morning that sprinter Tyson Gay won the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials over the weekend. The AFA ran the story, but only after the auto-correct had “fixed” the article.

That means — you guessed it — the track star was renamed “Tyson Homosexual.” The headline on the piece read, “Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials.”

AFA, FTW!

(via Balloon Juice)

I was asked recently by a former colleague why I “ended up” working on a site like Coolspotters when anyone looking at this blog would put “celebrities” at the bottom of my list of interests. I never write about them, right?

The fact of the matter is that, it’s true I don’t really care about what Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson are up to today, nor do I have any particular interest in what sunglasses Paris Hilton owns. Like most Americans, however, I do pay attention when celebrities and things I do have an interest in connect, because I’m a fan like most everyone else, and, as most of you know, I do watch movies and TV and have favorite stars, bands, etc.

So, Coolspotters to me is about more than fashion and celebrities, even though that’s a big, big part of it. I save links to it when I see things like the charity work Angelina Jolie is doing or the fact that Barack Obama drives an SUV (though a hybrid) and a gas guzzling Chrysler (come on, Barack!). I’ve also been keeping an eye on the Tesla Roadster and who’s buying or test driving it. I want one, and it will be the only extravagant thing I splurge on if I make it rich one day. Gotta see what the folks who can afford it today are saying in case I should wait for the cheaper Fisker Karma.

The technology vision behind Coolspotters is also a big draw for me. We haven’t really talked about it much on the Fanzter blog, but there’s a lot of details going on behind the scenes that go toward building a good, open site like Coolspotters. I’ll write more about this on the Fanzter blog soon, so keep an eye out. There’s more to the site than what you see today, and hopefully in a month or two, you’ll start seeing the next iteration of our tools and technology on the site. (odd factoid: I’m tracking the word ‘coolspotters’ in blogs and the news and only one site so far has even touched on the technical dream here…)

One last random thing: as some of you know, finding out about the music behind the commercials, TV, and movies you see are a particular passion of mine. It’s no accident that commercials and music are categories on Coolspotters.

That’s the great thing about the platform we’re building. There’s a lot of things it can do, and where it ends up going is up to the users who show up and shape the site. Stop on by.

I realize there are far more important things to worry about in the world, but as I read local blogs about West Hartford news, I keep running into people who refer to our town council members with phrases like “our Democrat mayor” or “the Democrat majority.”

Democrat is a noun. Democratic is an adjective. Beyond that, “Democratic Party” is a proper noun and the official name of the party. So, it’s “our Democratic mayor” and “the Democratic majority” in American English.

If this were a slip or a typo, I’d ignore it and certainly wouldn’t bring it up but I’m seeing it enough that it’s clearly a tactic from Republicans more interested in making cheap partisan shots than showing basic respect for neighbors and fellow citizens who happen to disagree with them politically.

Let’s all grow up, please?

Hilzoy has linked to a report by Physicians for Human Rights about the health effects of U.S. sanctioned torture on prisoners are Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and other prisons operated with our governments knowledge and consent. The report goes into deep detail for 11 former prisoners. Hilzoy has written out her reaction, which is worth reading, as always.

I don’t know much about the group, nor have I had time to read more than the executive summary. However, the report’s preface is by Maj. General Antonio Taguba (Ret.), who led the official Army investigation into these abuses back in 2004. His report was a respectable attempt to hold the Army accountable, at least as much as an internally requested report could be expected to be. Here are some of his words in the preface:

The profiles of these eleven former detainees, none of whom were ever charged with a crime or told why they were detained, are tragic and brutal rebuttals to those who claim that torture is ever justified. Through the experiences of these men in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, we can see the full-scope of the damage this illegal and unsound policy has inflicted —both on America’s institutions and our nation’s founding values, which the military, intelligence services, and our justice system are duty-bound to defend.

…

After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war
crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.

…

But most of all, these men deserve justice as required under the tenets of international law and the United States Constitution.

And so do the American people.

Read through these stories. This torture was carried out in our name, in yours, mine, and under the flag of our great nation. In our fear and our nation’s inability to stand by our principles, we destroyed the lives of at these 11 people and many many more.

Hilzoy says it best:

I never thought a report on things that were done in my name would include sentences like: “Examination of the peri-anal area showed signs of rectal tearing that are highly consistent with his report of having been sodomized with a broomstick.” I never thought my country would fall this low.

Nor did I. We should be embarrassed that the President isn’t on trial for this, and that those that sanctioned and crafted the legal framework for this policy aren’t, at the very least, being compelled to testify and acknowledge what they did to Congress and the American people.