What the heck was David DeGraw talking about?
Do they not know how to communicate? Directly and in plain English?
If you missed it, go look at "David DeGraw and All In For The Worldwide Wave of Action" -- where DeGraw's explaining what Occupy will do now. I even clicked on the link, it didn't make it any clearer.
We do conversations -- a private conversation in a public sphere, as Gina long ago noted. You don't have to like it, that's fine. That's just what this is. So I can work up to a point.
But if I'm trying to get the information on an action? I do like Senator Patty Murray's office does. In fact, let's note what she's doing Monday so we can see how you clearly present details.
FOR PLANNING PURPOSES CONTACT: Murray Press Office
Wednesday, November 27th, 2013 (202) 224-2834
MONDAY EVENTS: Murray to Tour JBLM
Sexual Assault Response Center, Keynote Ceremony for Military Grads of
Microsoft Training Program
12:30, JBLM: Murray will tour sexual assault response center
2:00, Saint Martin’s University: Murray will keynote graduation ceremony for military graduates of Microsoft IT training program
(Washington, D.C.) – On Monday, December 2nd, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, will be in Tacoma and Lacey, WA for two events.
First, at 12:30 PM PT, Senator Murray will visit the newly opened sexual assault response center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The center is a
first-for-the-military facility that brings together law enforcement,
medical support and victims’ advocates in a single space.
Second, at 2:00 PM PT, Senator Murray will be the keynote speaker
at a graduation ceremony to honor the first graduating class of
military students from Microsoft’s Software & Systems Academy pilot
program at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, WA. The 22 graduates,
currently active duty service members from JBLM, will be hired into
entry-level roles as software testers at Microsoft or Launch
Consulting. The Microsoft Academy was inspired by Senator Murray’s “VOW
to Hire Heroes Act.”
To RSVP for either event, contact the Murray Press Office (sean_coit@murray.senate.gov) or the JBLM Public Affairs Office (253-967-0152)
Event 1:
WHO: U.S. Senator Patty Murray
Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, Deputy Commanding General, I Corps
Col. Charles “Chuck” Hodges, Commander, Joint Base Lewis McChord
Lt. Col. Robert Stelle, JBLM Sexual Assault Response Team Director
WHAT: Senator Murray will tour JBLM’s new,
first-for-the-military sexual assault response center, which brings
together law enforcement, medical support, and victims’ advocates in a
single space.
WHEN: Monday, December 2nd, 2013
12:30 PM PT
WHERE: Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Resource Center
Bldg 2027
Joint Base Lewis McChord,
Dupont Gate, I-5 Exit 119
Escort required – please RSVP in advance
Event 2:
WHO: U.S. Senator Patty Murray
JBLM-based service members graduating from Microsoft’s Software & Systems Academy
Col. Charles Hodges, Jr., Base Commander, JBLM
Dr. Roy Heynderickx, President, Saint Martin’s University
Officials from Microsoft, Launch Consulting
WHAT: Murray will be the keynote speaker at a graduation
ceremony to honor the first graduating class of military students from
Microsoft’s Software & Systems Academy pilot program at Saint
Martin’s University
WHEN: Monday, December 2nd, 2013
2:00 PM PT
WHERE: Saint Martin’s University
Norman Worthington Conference Center
Lacey, WA
###
Sean Coit
Press Secretary
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
202-224-2834
Does anyone not understand the above?
Who, what, where, when.
We grasp what Senator Patty Murray's office is announcing.
David DeGraw might have had all his 'sweet spots' slapped, but most people reading it are going to be confused.
DeGraw needs to present the basics.
Occupy came and went. You can whine that Barack sicked the police on them or whatever you want. But Occupy always lacked clarity.
If it's attempting a comeback, clarity is the first way to show that it's serious.
Clarity of message is also the only way it's going to restart.
After the snapshot went up last night, the following community sites updated:
Thankful? (C.I.)
9 hours ago
File it away for Christmas
9 hours ago
An e-mail to the public account notes/whines that I could have been posting here. I could have. I wouldn't have.
I did four posts on the above list. Rebecca and Betty both asked on Sunday and I told them it wouldn't be a problem -- they both had to travel for Thanksgiving. Ann and Cedric's baby is six months old. And so if Ann needs help, I can go to her site and type a few lines. It's not a big deal. Like Ann, Kat's was last minute. As I note in my post at Kat's site, she was in the ER with a family member who broke his arm for a good part of yesterday.
If I hadn't filled in, I wouldn't have been putting anything up here.
The e-mailer advises me that if I would do that many posts here, I'd have more readers.
Thank you for your tips. We just passed another year online -- I didn't realize that until I was writing for Rebecca's site last night.
I'm actually not looking for ways to improve numbers. We're doing fine. Jim says we're doing the best numbers ever. I don't look at them. Jim does because he's curious what gets readers and what doesn't and tries to apply that at Third. I have no idea and I don't care because I'm not doing greatest hits here. I'm not going to sing the same song over and over.
I'm also tired of being online. I was happy to help out and fill in (not sure how much it helped anyone's site) but I told myself (again!) that after we covered Brett McGurk's testimony to Congress, we'd cut back. I mean the size of the snapshot.
It is too long and if it's even a little bit shorter, the e-mails fly in about how there was room for this or that to have been included.
The snapshot will be dropping in length. Sorry. Deal with it. I've said it for over three years now. But instead of getting less, it's gotten lengthier.
Even at that length, there's so much on Iraq that's not being covered.
For example?
A few days ago, cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr again called for revenue sharing with the Iraqi people (from the oil revenues). That's important. I keep trying to find a way to get into that topic and there hasn't been room.
But we're going to be cutting back. Maybe a fourth, I don't know.
Some will say, "Yes, but you also said you'd just do one morning entry." And sometimes that's all I do. But, yes, I was planning on it being more often.
I really need to start reducing my time online, my time dictating snapshots, all of it. I'm tired.
My plan was to just do the talking entry this morning. I'm in the kitchen with Elaine and we're talking -- we're still talking but I'm also writing this. But I can't just do this entry. I've got to note something for a State Dept friend, I've got to write something about the violence in Iraq today -- just glancing, it appears the takeaway is assassinations of officials.
I'm just flat out tired. Since we started in 2004, I've put up an entry every day. I didn't plan to spend years and years online and I certainly didn't realize I was going to be expected to post every day and I also do stuff with Third -- and then there are the community newsletters.
I feel like I am forever churning out copy.
I have nightmares now about posting things. I also have . . . I wouldn't call them nightmares, I wouldn't call them dreams. I don't know what to call them.
But, before my eyes open, I'm so happy because -- in my sleeping state -- I've convinced myself that I've already done the morning entries. Then I open my eyes and for a few seconds I'm confused. Where's the laptop, why isn't it on? Oh, I haven't done the morning entries.
And the fact that they go up later ticks some people off. They want them up first thing in the morning.
I'm not a juke box.
Related, Brandon e-mailed to note he enjoys it when I'm doing an entry with a "work in progress" note. That means, I write some of it, post, write more to it, post and when the "work in progress" sentence is gone, that's how you know it's the final version. He finds it interesting to see "how it changes and shapes up."
That's because I have no idea what I'm doing. You can't churn out this amount of copy with a plan. You also can't stop to think about it or you would stop. You'd be paralyzed with fear -- or I would be anyway. If I think too much about 'where is this going?' it goes no where because I'm stopping and thinking, "I can't do this anymore."
But the basic thing is, I'm flipping through various screens trying to find what I feel is the most important thing at that moment on Iraq.
Sometimes it works. More often, I probably fail. That's fine. It's not about one entry. It's a body of work. Peaks and valleys, peaks and valleys.
Let's work in another link. David Bacon's latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which won the CLR James Award. We'll close with this from Bacon's "They Call Us Illegal, But What They're Doing Is Even More Illegal" (Truth Out):
Since the Golden Arches rose above the first southern California drive-ins, workers have labored in their shadows for the lowest legal wage a boss can pay. Other fast food chains have mushroomed since, copying the same ideas. Pay workers the least possible. Keep them guessing from week to week how many hours they'll get. If anyone gets upset, there are always many more people on the street, ready to step behind the counter, clean up the dirty tables, or stand at the grill in the heat and smoke.
Is it a surprise that many people in those jobs came to this country to feed their hungry children, or give a future to those they left behind? People will put up with a lot when they're hungry enough. They'll take ibuprofen to get through the shift, or line up for food at the local food pantry at the end of the month, because their paychecks won't stretch that far. All to keep that job.
An e-mailer asked if I've ever changed anything without noting the change -- that's about us calling out Greg Mitchell for changing his post and not noting he did. Recap: He saw an ad about Barack's eligibility -- this is at Third, look it up, I'm tired -- and he trashed the people for saying that Barack was born in Kenya. As we noted at Third, the ad wasn't about that. It was raising a different issue altogether. After we called him out at Third, he went back into that post, changed it, rewrote and didn't offer any correction or note that he'd changed the post.
Have I done that?
No.
If I do a correction, I note it.
At Third, I have, however, gone back in and changed something.
Specifically, Ava and I were noting a TV show and that the show had X number of gay actors who were out. We were talking about this as a good thing. And it is.
But after that went up (like 30 minutes after it went up) , _____ (an actress on the show) called me and asked me if I was outing _____?
No.
"Well, he's not out. He just talks like he is."
Oops.
Ava and I went back and removed two sentences and rewrote two new ones quickly.
There was no correction note because what were we going to type, "In an earlier version of this article, we noted that ____ and ____ and ____ were gay and out. _____ is gay but not out. So we're removing his name from the article."
I have no problem admitting mistakes. Last Saturday, did you miss it, my JFK piece opened with it was 50 years ago today . . .
No, it wasn't. It was 50 years ago yesterday.
When I saw the e-mails on that, I went in and changed it and did a correction note about the change. I then waited several hours before doing the next entry so it wouldn't appear 'you corrected it but you immediately posted something else to be sure most people wouldn't see your correction.' (Although maybe I just used that as an excuse to avoid the computer?)
I made a stupid mistake.
I corrected and noted it was my mistake.
Life went on.
We're all going to make mistakes and I'm probably going to make more than anybody.
With the exception of the outing by accident, I haven't changed anything without noting it.
Dona sometimes comes in and tidies up the spelling. She used to do a note on that but I've told her not to bother anymore. I used to do a note on that. But I haven't had time to fix spelling since 2005. If she's got time to, she can just come in and fix the spelling. She doesn't need to do a note.
Back to the inbox. I noted this while filling in for Rebecca last night. We'll note it here. But I need to check the turkeys hold on. Back, I do the turkeys and the gravy and more and more I let the caters do everything else. I made a cooking reference or a reference to my cooking a few days ago leading several jokesters to doubt that I actually cook. Yes, I do. I will have over 90 guests here at noon. I will have done the turkeys and the gravy and that's really it this year other than a few pies.
Okay, the inbox, Sherwood Ross' "10 Reasons The 9/11 Report is Properly Classified as "Fiction" (Veterans Today):
Key points in the government's version of 9/11 events do not stand up
to scientific scrutiny, according to McKnight Professor Emeritus, Dr.
Jim Fetzer, a distinguished philosopher of science, who has more than 20
books on scientific reasoning, artificial intelligence and cognitive
science. Fetzer formerly taught at the University of Minnesota Duluth
and is the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth.
Writing in a new book titled, "The Dynamic Duo" (CWG Press), about
the events of September 11, 2001, and to me, Fetzer offered multiple
reasons as to why The 9/11 Report should be viewed as fantasy:
(1) "The government's explanation [of the destruction of the Twin
Towers] would violate laws of physics and engineering that cannot be
transgressed." Among these is that melting point of structural steel AT
2,800 F., far above the 1,700 F. of burning jet fuel. NIST studied 236
samples of steel from the WTC and found 233 had not been exposed to
temperatures above 500 F. and the others not above 1,200 F. "That these
towers were brought down by fuel fires is not just improbable but
physically impossible." He added, "Most Americans may not realize that
no steel-structure high-rise building has ever collapsed from fire in
the history of civil engineering, either before or after 9/11."
(2) Gravity operates in only one direction--down! But photographic
records of WTC-1 and WTC-2 show them blowing apart in every direction
from the top down and being converted into millions of cubic yards of
very fine dust. When it was over, Fetzer observed, they left no stack
of pancakes. These buildings did not "collapse" but were destroyed by
powerful explosives. "Just look at the visual record," Fetzer said. "It
leaves no doubt about it."
I thought we had something else to note.
Nope.
Why?
We don't open attachments. Ever. We've been burned too many times. I don't ever open them. But people who are kind enough to work the public account and the private account have learned the hard way not to open any attachment sent to the public account.
There's someone Martha and Shirley have been replying to and they gave me a heads up that the person would be passing on some information. That appears to have taken place. But it's attachments. We don't open them. If you were Ed Snowden and you sent us an attachment, we wouldn't open it.
Between the snapshot yesterday and the above, I think I've worked through the e-mails in the public account that came in before 5:00 pm yesterday. If I get to others during the holiday, great. If I don't, I'm not going to be losing any sleep. You shouldn't either.
I'm doing a very brief entry on the violence in Iraq -- like a paragraph, I hope, no more. After that goes up, Isaiah has a comic that will go up. After that? I'll check the news this evening. If a snapshot's needed, I'll do it. Otherwise, I'll probably just do a talking entry or something similar. There will be a Friday snapshot regardless.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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