Check this out!

This is a great tent city. I love it. As one observer said, “These people are pretty hardcore. The fact that even one person camps out for this is unbelievable to me.” I’ll say. I really admire their dedication and perserverance. They believe in what they’re doing and are committed to it. So glad to hear that the Occupiers in Oakland are taking Frank Ogawa park back after the cops trashed it and made it a mud pit and… what? That’s not Oakland?

Well, Portland then. Great! I was getting really worried about them last night, what with them getting thrown out of the parks because they had set up a tent city and … um, that’s not Portland either?

Denver? No??

Ok, I give up.

It’s a Twilight: Breaking Dawn fan tent city? And they’re allowed to just pitch tents in front of the theater four days in advance so they don’t miss the first showing of the movie.

Wait, where’s the teargas and pepper impact bullets? Where are the mounted police? Where are the helicopters? Where are the Tea Party grouchy old people muttering about dirty hippies on their lawns? Well, as long as it’s only a bunch of silly teenagers mooning over some vampire-human interspecies snogging. We just don’t want them carrying signs and shouting about letting their little light shine or anything like that.

On the other hand, if Oakland and Portland can’t find a place to pitch their tents, they might want to consider a theater parking lot. Edward or Jacob? Sparkly skin guy or washboard abs?

Gotta Love Her

Here’s Elizabeth Warren’s new ad in response to Karl Rove’s Republican funded Crossroads GPS ads:

Like I said about the Family Research Council prayer thing, what kind of person would want to dash the hopes of the poor and middle class in their struggle against the rich? Why don’t we ask Karl Rove?

But Karl’s attacks don’t seem to be hurting Warren like he planned. In fact it seems like they’ve have boomeranged on him and Scott Brown and rallied Massachusetts voters to Warren:

Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren drew about 1,000 supporters Sunday at a rally in Boston.

“The daughter of a maintenance man who made it to be a fancy pants professor at Harvard Law School. America is a great country,” she said to the audience, who had pledged to volunteer for her campaign at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury.

The turnout was remarkable for an election that is nearly a year away. The Boston Globe reported that her campaign said her opponent, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), has been drawing crowds of 200 to 500 at recent events. The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim reported on another recent volunteer event where Warren was heckled by a Tea Party supporter.

{{snicker}}

I would hesitate to call her bullet proof because there will always be an gullible contingent of voters and rabid nutcases who will find something they will turn into a kerning moment. But she’s smart and she will learn much more quickly than other people in her position. What more can we expect from Karl? Probably personal details. Everyone’s got’em. And then there’s the subtle misogyny. You know it’s coming. And then there is the time issue. As long as she’s the only featured candidate of the downtrodden middle class, she’s going to get the focus and relentless pounding. What we need are some other challengers for Congress and the Senate who will join her. Then Karl will have to play whack-a-mole. Imagine 435 moles popping up all over the place and Rove having to spend the money to smack them all down. How delightful.

Ahem, if you would like to contribute to Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, see her donations page here.

And don’t forget Al Franken who has consistently supported Net Neutrality. His defense of New Neutrality last week is clear and eloquent. Do yourself a favor and listen to the first 10 minutes. There has never been a better case for Net Neutrality nor better examples of what might have happened to the things we take for granted now if Net Neutrality hadn’t been in place since the internet was rolled out to regular folks in the early 90s.

Reward good behavior. Check Franken’s page for more support of what you like.
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The Plum Line Metric for 11/11/11 (last Friday, Happy Hour post only):
Male writers: 12
Female writers: 2
PLM = 0.17 (rounded up to two significant digits)

We are making progress, not that The Plum Line is paying any attention to this number (yet).
BTW, Paul Krugman congratulated a writer for scoring a gig for an online journal. It was Matt Yglesias and he will be writing for Slate. Slate must have been concerned about the number of male opinion writers it had and took affirmative actions to address this lack of diversity.

Everything, including discrimination with regard to access and hiring of opinion writers, can be quantified. 😉

For Occupy Portland

Here’s hoping they found a place to sleep.

Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings