BE for CHANGE

I have a favor to ask...

I've posed a question on my blog, The Broad View. Please take a look and if you have the first-hand experience of attending a rally, or can ask someone who has, leave an answer in the comments.

(And hey, while you're there, you might want to read my screed and that of my chief correspondent, Chiaroscuro. Now that the J-J Dinner is over, I'm gearing up to go back to blogging in a far more active way than I have for many months.)

Thanks!

—Ellen

Glenn Smith explains Texas

Glenn has been writing at MyDD to explicate, among other issues, the Texas process — its combo of primary and caucus. Here he is on the latest flap: the "lawsuit."

J-J Dinner photos...

...are here, thanks to Marian Shapiro, her sharp eye and quick finger on the camera button.

You can download the pictures you like to your computer, but if you use them elsewhere, please be sure to credit Marian as the photographer.

And if you took any pictures you'd like us to post, just e-mail them to Ellen.

IndictMINTS, etc.

If you liked the IndictMINTS and ImpeachMINTS and the other Bush-bashing favors and auction items at the J-J Dinner, they are available from buzzflash.com's web store.

Sad news

It is with sadness and regret that I tell you this: Glenn Smith will not be speaking at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner tonight. His older brother, Mack, died in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, and the funeral is today. Glenn, always the most generous of men, wrote me a touching e-mail -- in the midst of his terrible grief -- expressing his dismay at disrupting our plans.

I hastened to reassure him, and to offer him the condolences of all of us.

Glenn had written the most extraordinary speech to deliver tonight. I asked for a copy to post here, and I encourage everyone to read it -- to study it, in fact. It is rich in information, in humanity, in profound political and personal observation.

The title of his speech is "Do Americans Believe in the Wisdom of the Public? The Promise of Popular Democracy." After reading it you will be eager to meet Glenn, to bask in his warmth and to explore with him the propositions he puts forward -- the products of a huge intellect and a huge heart. You will surely want to incorporate those propositions into your own thinking, and take action on them now.

I have promised Glenn, and I promise you: we will make sure to give us all, later in the year, that opportunity.

Our prayers are with Glenn and his family.

The speech

Online resources for our J-J Dinner participants

— this list is a work in progress at February 23 — please come back

Debra Bowen
California Secretary of State

John Dean
at FindLaw.com's The Writ
buy John's books

Glenn Smith
at the Rockridge Institute
at MyDD (includes a clear explication of the tortuous Texas primary/caucus arrangements)
buy Glenn's books

Henry Vandermeir
California Democratic Council

Red-to-Blue Coalition
Vote Blue -- the website seems to be down
Take Back Red California
CDP Rural Caucus
Speak Out California!