( This controversial and highly watched ad is one of the projects There is no spoon has worked on.)

On Sunday I met "There is no spoon", a write on Dailykos that I have read in the past, but didn't realize lives in Ventura County. There is no spoon is a skilled, young, innovative, political activist that Democratic candidates looking to run for office around here should recruit to work for them. That doesn't mean I agree with all of his politics ( I have only read a small fraction of what he has written), but I recognize that he is really talented.

Click here for his diaries on dailykos.com

Click here for an entry on the 2008 Democratic Primaries for CA 24.
There is no spoon, I expect to be added to your blogroll.

Here is their email:

Hello Liberal Drinkers!

Here's the line up for July:

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
7:00 PM
JJ Brewsky's
2433 Ventura Boulevard
Camarillo, CA

Topic discussion: Global warming and what we can do

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
7:00 PM
JJ Brewsky's
2433 Ventura Boulevard
Camarillo, CA

Topic discussion: Media and censorship

We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events in July!
Drinking Liberally

Did you see McCain recently said he would veto every "beer"?

Of course I have my opinions on candidates and issues but this blog is open to different parties. If you want to have your event listed just send me an email.

( What we were missing by attending the protest. What does the NBA and politics have in common? People shove each other and then a debate breaks out about it. Meanwhile the game continues.)

In an effort to minimize my comments I will allow the article to speak for itself. I want to back up the process by which it was written but as I have said in the past I did not witness the man being knocked to the ground and I didn't see Audra's Chief of Staff push him. I did see him stand in front of the path of people walking up the side walk but I don't know what he said as I was too far back to hear it.

I will say that The Star and reporter Teresa Rochester interviewed many people over the last couple of days to make sure the story was accurate. Reading the article you will see that The Star interviewed the key individuals directly.

Protest organizer Louis Pandolfi notified in advance the media and the police about the protest. Although the police on duty didn't know about it The Star staff including Teresa Rochester to cover the event.

Being that there was about 50 partisans on each side their recollections wouldn't be fair to include. But Teresa Rochester was on scene and had many pictures taken as the events described took place. The Star did not publish all of the pictures.

I know that people will quibble with her story but she is part of the few eyewitnesses to the event that wasn't on a side protesting. Another would be The Star photographer.

I have heard a prominent Democrat in the past complain about her being too favorable to those in power ( Republicans ) and that she was too cautious in her writing.

I am sure people will be arguing about this article too.

Here are some more of my photos from the event:

and...

If someone that has Audra Strickland's released letter sends it to me I will post it so you can read it for yourself.

The Hannah- Beth Jackson campaign will be holding a party for the grand opening of their Ventura office this Wednesday night. Click on continue reading for details.

Marie, are you going? Do you know if there any local elected officials expected to be there? You should have someone recored her speech and put it on youtube.

A reader of my blog keeps spelling Hannah- Beth Jackson's name wrong. He keeps leaving out an H. So, to remind him I am putting the H that he misses in Hannah -Beth Jackson in bold.

Are you tired of wall to wall Hannah- Beth Jackson V Tony Strickland coverage? Send me in some unrelated news tip. Please.

( If you know the people in the picture, please identify them)

Local Democratic Party supporter and Barack Obama delegate Sandy Emberland has written a report about her trip to the state convention.

To read the whole report and ask her questions click on continue reading.

To read her earlier report click here.

Sandy, are the Hillary supporters admitting that Barack Obama will win the nomination? Do they seem ready to support the party's nominee? Do you think this primary has caused a major rift between the different factions?

The campaign for the nomination to take on Rep. Gallegly ( The fighting 24th) is building up in these last few weeks before the election.

Democratic candidate Mary Pallant has announced an endorsement by The California Nurses Association as she tries to build a coalition to win the nomination and to take the battle to Rep. Gallegly. Click on continue reading to see the press release.

There is a candidates' forum coming up put together by a local "Drinking Liberally" group. Democrats will be debating in a bar! Leave some questions as comments here that the moderators can use in the debate.

On a side note this blog has some new features that I need to explain. When i first started I didn't know that categories would ever be visible by the public. So, I didn't make very descriptive titles and I didn't assign every entry a category or categories. But lately I have been making new categories and adding more to the titles. I plan to update the titles as I go along by adding party affiliation and more. But for now don't read too much into it if there is information for one office holder and not another.

The recent comments feature can make it easier to follow a conversation. On the right hand side of the front page it gives a list of the recent comments, who made them, and on what entry they were made on. If you click on the short description it will take you right to the entry. Try it.

Thanks for reading and leaving comments. Traffic continues to grow at a fast rate.

( Yet another Barack Obama song )

Readers:

A local Democratic activist and college student Heather Schmidt is doing a research project for a class. Please help her out by leaving comments and answering her questions. Here is her guest entry:

Dear Bloggers of Brian Dennert Here,

The 2008 elections have drastically shown our community that the Internet is having unprecedented effects on both political knowledge and political activism. This is definitely nothing new to the regular, and even part-time, bloggers on this and other blogs.

In researching the socio-cultural and ethical aspects to this new and fast-growing trend (Internet-politicking) for a paper I am writing on Internet and politics, I would like to include some stuff on blogging. Blogging has become one of the hugest forms of online political activism, and is a phenomena in and of itself.

I am interested to hear more about how and why the bloggers on Brian Dennert Here got interested in blogging, blogging on politics and where you see blogs making the greatest impact in political campaigns (e.g. news, fundraising, gossip, etc). I appreciate your comments to these particular topics, and any other that you may feel relevant to the topic.

Thank you again,

Heather Schmidt

From Barack Obama's website:

On May 10th, Barack Obama is launching Vote for Change, an unprecedented 50-state voter registration and mobilization drive. More than 100 events will be held across the country that day. Obama volunteers will register new voters as the start of a six-month voter registration drive.

We can change Washington if more Americans get involved, get registered and show up to vote on November 4th. If millions of new voters get involved, a powerful message will be sent to the special interests that dominate the old politics. This is an important time to find more people in your community to register to vote.

Recent voter registration drives have registered more than 200,000 new Democrats in Pennsylvania, more than 165,000 new Democrats in North Carolina, and more than 150,000 new Democrats in Indiana. Those numbers just scratch the surface of what's possible.

One of the many reasons I support Barack Obama is that he energizes Democrats to organize and stand up for our values. When most national campaigns ignore places like Ventura County, especially when the primary is over, Barack Obama inspires people to keep working to change our nation.

Click here for the details.

The details can also be seen by clicking on continue reading.

Does anyone else ever remember this level of organization after a presidential primary is over locally?

In other news Republican attempts to drag down a Democrat by using Barack Obama has already backfired. Democrats won in a district that supported Bush over Kerry by about 18 points in 2004. This is the second special election ( the other was Speaker Dennis Hastert's old seat) recently where Democrats have won in a Republican leaning district. Is it a sign of the coming elections?

Here is yet another Hip Hop video for Barack Obama. Why is that no other candidate inspires people to that normally aren't drawn into the system? Barack Obama is energizing a new generation for the Democratic Party.

The Mary Pallant campaign has a new website design up put together by Brian Mack of Corporal Media. If you need a website, buttons, or have other campaign artistic design needs I recommend him.

I have known Brian for a few years and I can tell you he has some of the best graphic design talent around. His company is just starting out but I expect it to be a major player in local political website design. He also is certified to use union labor on his other projects like campaign buttons.

If you need something done and you need it quick, Brian is your man.

Do you know of any cool new political websites? Send them in!

The Young Progressive Democrats are gathering people up to see Barack Obama this Saturday in Santa Barbra.

Who's in? Maybe all the anti-Hillary Republicans could help out by supporting Barack Obama?

For details click on continue reading.

Here is the press release...

The California One Care Now Campaign is the
nation's first-ever statewide
grassroots campaign for comprehensive health
insurance. Teams in more than
365 California cities are conducting grassroots
educational and public
awareness "action" events--one event per day, in
a different city, for one
year--to demand quality, affordable healthcare
for all Californians.

Everyone is invited to an educational forum on
Sat. June 30 from 10 AM to
noon in Thousand Oaks at the Library community
room, 1401 East Janss Road.

The Young Progressive Democrats of Ventura County are getting together to eat dinner, watch Michael Moore's new movie Sicko, and talk about the film.

To find out the details click on continue reading.