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Mexican and Chicano(a) kossaks, or just those on the ground watching AMLO v. Calderon up close -

Fox News has blacked out their broadcast inside your borders to adhere to election laws as has AMLO's website and Calderon's too.

Kossak mango says his employees switched allegiance from populist and former Mexico City mayor AMLO to Calderon for the mere price of a free t shirt. Ouch!

mariachi mama is weathering the violent teacher strikes in Oaxaca and hoping just for a peaceful election, but predicts Calderon will edge out a win.

It was Republican President Teddy Roosevelt, after all, who introduced the idea of an inheritance tax in his speech The Man with the Muck-Rake, given exactly one hundred years, one month, and eleven days ago today.

From my apartment in San Francisco, as I sort the glossy direct mail into the recycling pile and swim through the voter guides and ever-slinging mud, deciding who to vote against in our pathetic gubanatorial primary, I look across the bay only to experience a spell of Oakland envy. This year, the Oakland mayoral primary offers a surprising array of good choices who actually talk about their own vision for their city, instead of how much their opponent will raise taxes.

One thing I like about this particular race is the contrast of the three front-runners, which makes for good drama (and voter usability, as a web designer might say.)

Meet the candidates on the flip.

1. Ignore the power of specificity.
Lament that Democrats need to stand for something. Don't be specific about what they need to stand for. Don't specify where or when they failed to take a stand.

2. Refer to Democrats as "they". Take noooo responsibility. "They" need to stand up. "They" need to lead. (Remember to be unspecific.) After all, you voted. You may be a Democrat, but you're not one of the leaders. Other than throwing up your hands, what else can you do?

3. Ignore all signs of hope. Congressional Democrats defeat a hideous, opressive healthcare bill? Ignore it. Feingold walk out on Specter's gay-marriage-amendment committee meeting? Boxer call Republicans insecure for demanding English-only laws? Don't worry - the media will not notice. And don't even THINK of calling anyone's attention to it.

4. Remember the yabbut defense. "Yeah, but Boxer and Feingold are the only ones standing up. The rest are cowards!" "Yeah, we might win the house, but Rupert Murdoch will still manipulate the masses through MySpace and FoxNews!" 

So far, Westly has accused Angelides of pledging to raise all kinds of taxes. Angelides says Westly is making promises with no plan to execute.

Westly: will only raise taxes "as a last resort". He challenges Angelides to run a clean campaign, accuses Angelides of making personal attacks.

Angelides: Westly has spent $22 million of his own money. "I don't believe super-rich candidates like Steve Westly ought to be able to buy their way into office."

When Blame Knocks on the Wrong Door: Since Fox News wrongly identified a La Habra home as that of a terrorist, its five- member family has faced an angry backlash. (By H.G. Reza, Times Staff Writer.)

The LA Times reported yesterday the story of Randy and Ronnell Vorick. The Voricks, along with their three children, are the subjects of harrassment including drive-by profanities, people stopping to photograph their home, and vandalism.

Why is this happening, you ask?

And Jim Wallis' op-ed in the NYTimes: The Message Thing kind of nailed it. We are still the party that is against the other party. Against against against. And yes, we are the opposition party. That is our job. But the best defense is a good offense - we can oppose bad policies by talking about what good policies could look like. Let's revive the imagination in the minds that have been so malnourished and suppressed under this joke of an administration.

As Wallis puts it:

Language is clearly important in politics, but the message remains more important than the messaging. In the interests of full disclosure, let me note that I have been talking to the Democrats about both. But I believe that first, you must get your message straight. What are your best ideas, and what are you for-as opposed to what you're against in the other party's message? Only when you answer those questions can you figure out how to present your message to the American people.

There's a quirky house on the tree-lined block of my Pacific Heights/Marina neighborhood in San Francisco. A shredded Vietnam-era flag stays mounted on the front stairs handrail.

The California gubernatorial recall campaign was in full force at the time I first noticed it; I was moving into my current place. The house had a banner above the garage urging nobody in particular to take our country back, but not on ideological lines. The garage banner's instructions read: "RECALL DAVIS. IMPEACH BUSH!!"

Soon after, Arnold Schwartzeneggar was sworn in to replace recalled Governor Gray Davis. The banner's wish was half accomplished and obsolete, and promptly taken down. The shredded flag remained, and six clear plastic pockets were symmetrically attached to either side of the the garage door. In the pockets were offered anti-Bush articles printed out from Internet news sites.

Here's a neat trick: you know how, on dkos, you see the Recommended diaries up top, then about 20 new diaries below? You can change your settings to view 50 or even 75 new diaries instead of just 20.

Here's how:

Congressional staff from the House Energy and Commerce Committee were scheduled to arrive in New Mexico tomorrow, Tuesday, June 7th to investigate what Hook's audit found: contract procurement irregularities.

Also flying out tomorrow is Peter Stockton who investigated the 1974 murder of nuclear whistleblower Karen Silkwood (see Silkwood on IMDB.)

Many thanks to Steve Rhodes (ari on this site) for alerting us to the documentary End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones which airs on PBS stations Tuesday and Saturday evening.

Why I'm posting it here is part information, part curiosity - for will anyone else see a more poignant illustration of George Lakoff's principles than the one played out by Joey and Johnny?

What a lineup we have today. As I speak Bernie Sanders decries the excessive media coverage of this hearing. McGwire ooms his mantra on a loop: "I'm not here to talk about the past, I'm here to be positive about the future. I'm no there to talk about the past..."