Franken leads +246.
All quiet on the legal front in the contest between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. Court resumes tomorrow at 9:00amCT.
On the PUBLIC front there was a deplorable front page story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on a new election. Deplorable!.....so I deplore it below.
AND, the main reason you've been invited to visit the diary today: an on-line conversation on collecting these diaries into something larger (like printing them on 8 1/2 x 14 paper!)
All coming at you just past the Orange fold......
Before we get on to the fun, thoughtful, satisfying stuff today I need to tell you of and dispute the UN-fun, stooopid sellout of the Minneapolis Star Tribune to the Reichwing Wurlitzer Talking Points Machine.
This morning reporter Pat Doyle makes the front page, A-1, above the fold, and a big jump write-up on A10, under the headline "Is Another Election the Answer?" The first 7 little paragraphs (albeit some of them a longish sentence or 2), EVERY ONE OF THEM THAT ARE ON A-1, do not mention the name or party of the state certified count leader, Al Franken. (But the former Senator gets 3 citations and the line under the headline.) If you're standing in front of the steel box at Perkins' Pancake House deciding whether to spring for the Sunday edition, the headline "serious" stories are "Lost Jobs" and an election do-over.
Yes Doyle did some research. S/He quotes Dr. David Shultz of Hamline University (on page A-1) as describing the odds on this as "less than me winning the lottery." He also quotes Dr. Ed Foley from Ohio State as saying it looks like Coleman has "put on enough evidence to show that there's potentially a sizable number of ballots that shuold not have been counted given that order" (the Friday the 13th ECC order throwing out a dozen categories of rejected absentee ballots.) Hey Foley? Take it from a fellow Buckeye ('75) NO, he has NOT put on enough evidence. Hell Norm's legal team can barely spell the word.
Hey Doyle old man/woman! St. Patrick's Day is almost here. In honor of your ancestors from the 'old sod' who have a brawling reputation in some quarters, THIS WineRev from the East Baltic, this son of Estonia, takes off the gauntlet and SLAPS YOU IN THE FACE! I invoke the ghost of Kristjan Palusalu for aid and call you into the lists for either Greco-Roman or freestyle grappling. (Palusalu won gold in both in '36. Mat men among us can say how easy or difficult it is to win this particular Olympic double.)
Yours is a slimebag of execrable journalism! 33 paragraphs in your story and Franken's name appears in just 7 of them. It takes you until paragraph 9 to mention him, and then only in passing as the friend of Norm Ornstein--- from the American Enterprise Institute in DC. The AEI? Whose policies implemented for 8 years have destroyed those 100s of thousands of jobs the rest of your front page is lamenting? The AEI? Home of the "Albert Speer" school of Fascist Economics? The AEI, charged by the Reichwing to re-design the American economy into a pathetic copy of Greater Mexico?
Doyle, yours is an abomination to the written art. You Coleman kissing scum sucker! (Beg pardon; I repeat myself.) You finally quote Ornstein (in #12!) as saying a do-over is illogical, that there is no assurance it will have any fewer "problems" than the one from Nov.4. SO WHY THE HELL BOTHER!? And the LAW doesn't allow for one (paragraph 14, sort of: might "prompt the Legislature to call a new one." REAL crisp writing there, Doyle!) Why not write about finishing THIS election, Doyle, instead of writing like a (to quote the master HST) "limp-wristed Nazi moron."
Doyle, your despicable, demented doggerel says the MN Supreme Court might (a LOT of these qualifying words in your patsy piece by the way: might, possible, concern, suggest) "provide Coleman (there's the MASTER's name again, one of 14 mentions, a nice 2:1 ratio; is that the minimum reading requirement on the Slant-o-Meter?) with a forum for getting beyond the nitty-gritty of examining specific ballots....". (Correct; but your readers would never discover that. The Supreme Court doesn't DO trials, or evidence, or findings of fact, or objections, or sustained, or overruled. They are the court of APPEAL. Did the ECC apply the law, equitably and correctly? If so,........ APPEAL DENIED.)
But get "beyond the nitty-gritty of examining specific ballots" and actual evidence of systemic breakdown or inequity? EXACATMUNDO! Lets get beyond all those ballots that don't say "Norm for senate." Lets get beyond evidence. Lets leave FACTS behind. Lets ignore the MN LAW that is being followed by a MN court charged with determining the MN candidate with the highest number of votes in a MN election. Lets get beyond all that "democracy" stuff. Lets go out into the hallway where Ben Ginz Spinz, a twilight zone of the intersection of mind and imagination; where facts, law, logic, and reality are all bendable, warped to the need to promote a soul-less cruelty of self-aggrandizing power.
Although Doyle you actually get around to mentioning (in paragraph 20) that Coleman has "the burden in the trial of proving the state Canvassing Board was wrong when it certified Franken the leader in January" you make sure you quote OSU man Shultz as calling Franken the winner of a TIE. RIGHT! Like an NBA game that ends 109-108 is a TIE? Close? Hell yes! A tie? Did your mama or Shultz's mama drop one of you on your head when you were a baby?
Doyle! Your loathsome, mouth-breathing old sod-brainer of an article! In the trial its the "burden of PROOF"--facts, evidence. Norm and his Klown Kar attorneys have to bring in this ballot, that ballot, those nitty-gritty ballots over there and say/argue/demonstrate/show "these should be IN, those should be OUT" and do it enough times to overcome a 246 lead.
For this next part, Doyle, let me get down on all fours and LOOK YOU SQUARE IN THE EYE: And Franken's side GETS TO DO THE SAME. Its called "fair" and "equal" and "justice" and "the rule of law" and yes, "equal protection under the law"---for BOTH Coleman and Franken. It is written in Leviticus "You shall have ONE law for you AND for the stranger who sojourns among you, for you were once sojourners in Egypt."
Doyle, BOTH these sons of Israel, and a WHOLE hell of a lot of the rest of us, ALL qualify--- one law, for all. The judges will hear it and they will decide. Appeal? Sure. More judges. But based on law. Facts. Logic. Evidence. Precedent. NOT the bleating of lint-brained agit-prop meisters. Not the fevered rantings of drug-addled, piss-ant microphone morons, whose brainstems are directly wired to their vocal cords. (That leaves in question whether their skulls actually contain amphibian, reptilian, mammalian or primate neural clusters.)
So have Norm bring his case and strut his stuff. And he did. For 5 freaking weeks, Doyle. You wrote about it, slept through it, tried your best to make it interesting.
And right now, Doyle, we are in the other side of that same case. Fairness, equality, justice and rule of law: Franken is putting on HIS case. He brings evidence, ballots, witnesses, affidavits, exhibits, just like Norm got the chance to do.
And the courts will decide, and it will be fair, just, reasoned, meticulous. Their masterpiece of case law will be cited again and again in years to come.....while your article from today, Doyle, will be dust in the wind..... and in a just world it will sift in the high barred window of Karl Rove or Dick Cheney's cell where they still rave in a Thorazine haze....
Doyle, your noxious nattering across the front page and spuming speculation among possible delusions that somehow get Coleman another election, let alone into the Senate, is yellow journalism at its nauseous, wretched worst.
Turn in your laptop, Doyle. Go empty grease traps at McDonald's..... if you qualify.
(Here endeth the rant. WineRev slings the singlet over his shoulder and walks off the mat.)
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Thank you all so much for stopping by for a very unusual diary and conversation. I have put up some comment headers (that correspond to the 6 points below, along with a #7 OTHER, so your words will sort themselves. If you would be so kind as to chip in your thoughts, expertise, ideas. (I sent advance copies of this to a few interested folks so some comments might be a bit less spontaneous. But I hope the mix will be fruitful.)
Should the MN-Sen WineRev diary series somehow be collected and made available in some form other than the DailyKos archives? And if the affirmative, how?
1) Meta: Should the effort be made AT ALL to gather/publish/distribute this series? Or is the subject matter too narrow, too esoteric?
I’m not sure this is fatal but it is worth considering. (Although it makes me sound full of myself I can't find another way to say it.) I guess what this has evolved into is a pale version of the Theodore White series in the 60’s & 70’s on "The Making of the President, 19xx". They were an inside look at "how it happened", the strategies, tactics, mistakes, blunders, recoveries, issues of the day and how these shaped, deflected and intersected the campaigns for the White House. For me they are still great reads.
So is Hunter Thompson’s "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972." This might be a closer template for what has happened with the Minnesota senate race. Thompson wrote as a reporter for the Rolling Stone, filing (allegedly) biweekly reports from the trail, making bets with various people on how certain events would happen and adding an indelible personal mark to the process. His series of articles were then collected and edited into book form with some connecting material, an intro and epilogue added, featuring some interviews with some of the principals. While the references are growing more dated many still say this is the definitive look at what a campaign looks like from the inside.
So I’m in favor of exploring the possibility, but this meta question may be one to let haunt the room.
2) Editing issues: perhaps the most daunting. There is a need for consistency and continuity, smoothing and connecting.
How far to take the fact-checking? I don’t mean lie, but do you let errors stand, especially when they are corrected in the comments, or in subsequent diaries? What if the comments are in error?
This would need an introduction and probably paragraphs between each diary.
Not all the diaries have a title.
The whole work will need a title.
How should such a work lay out on the page? Like a blog diary? Or does this need to be modified, or at least explained to people who DON’T blog so they might become interested?
How do you preserve the author’s voice in these? I can’t do it because I can’t hear my own voice as I go along (although here and there you might think I’m hearing voices in my head!)
While the Chicago manual of style is often definitive does it apply to such a work? To what degree? Or are some of the standards at cross-purposes with a blogger’s tale? If there are new rules to be promulgated what are they?
3) Production matters. Should the work be in paperback? In electronic form? DVD or CD disc? Cached on a server somewhere as an e-book only? Readable on Amazon's Kindle? Paperback and a CD together? All of the above? Some of the above? One of the above?
From a paperback standpoint (although keeping open the option of a leather-bound hardback :-)) how viable is self-publishing as an option? The reputation is bad but improving: The Time magazine issue of the inauguration had a long story of the rise of self-publishing and how it changing the marketplace and accepted patterns in publishing. Lulu has been mentioned; so has Cafe Press, with a small inventory option.
Or is a small publisher/specialty publisher the way to go? I hate ot say it but Joe the Plumber and Sarah the Palin both got book deals (I’m just dying inside.) I don’t know the details on Palin’s but Plumber's was with some southern plains outfit/ small press.
On the electronic front I know nothing. I know e-books exist but I’ve never read one. I have never listened to an audio book. I know Amazon has an electronic reading device called Kindle which might have a proprietary format. Is distribution by DVD or CD worth anything? Such a media could include pictures and even video clips as they showed up in the comment threads.
Does a choice need to be made here between formats? Paperback would lack some of the electronic features and pictures would probably need to be black & white. BUT its a handier, battery free, signal free format....
4) Money matters. What kind of money would be needed up front just for editing? For formats what kind of set-up fees can be expected? If there is inventory where is that physically kept? (Advantage here for POD=Print on Demand; no inventory until an order arrives. Are there similar set-ups for DVD/CD burnings?)
And an order arrives.......where? A copy of the work is sent out from ...where? How? By whom?
If there are losses who bears them? In what degree? If there are profits who receives them and in what degree? Who handles revenue and expenses? Whom do they answer to?
5) Legal Matters: Who copyrights the work? How are copyrights of pictures and clips handled?
Are quotes from other sources "fair use"? Or are permissions and releases needed/ Who gets these from holders of rights?
Contracts will be needed for sale and return rights (if we want to get into....oh, bookstores. They always want to be able to return unsold copies. (And who pays shipping on those?)
How are translation rights handled? Distribution rights in what geographical areas? Screenplay rights? (People keep saying this would make a hell of a movie, based on some of the nuttier examples I’ve put in. Unlikely as all get out but still, you gotta cover these things, right?)
6) Marketing: Where would reviews come from? "Back jacket" blurbs?
Who would do cover design for a paperback or DVD case? What should they be paid for their work? If the work is rejected they would still need to be paid.
How to approach Ingram and Baker & Taylor for distribution: if you can’t get in with them you are invisible because bookstores and other sellers can’t order since you are not on the wholesaler's lists. How do both Ingram and B&T handle returns?
What other channels for distribution?
Distribute to whom? Who is the market? DKos nation, certain circles in DC and other pockets of political junkies and.....?
Sell book & electronic together? Separately?
Sell where? Bookstores? E-books? Amazon? Conventions beyond Pittsburgh in August?
If this goes forward perhaps weekly updates to the Kos community would help both for marketing and in getting help. Who would writer & post such a running report?
7) Other: Naturally there is the blazingly obvious SOMETHING that I have utterly missed, so tell me. Like Ray Bradbury wrote I am shoving my ignorance in people's faces so it can get hammered into knowledge and eventually wisdom. But first the hammering.
So those are my thoughts. Feedback and co-ordination will be VERY much appreciated.
I sit here in MN under an ugly March sky that broods with snow or freezing rain. Quill pen, battered portable Underwood and trusty Mac TiBook stand ready.
"Funny how my mem'ry skips/
Lookin' over manuscripts/
Of unpublished rhyme/
Drinking my vodka and lime/
.....and the sky is a hazy shade of winter.."
(Oh yeah; get the drinks ready. Old Hemmingway on the rocks. A candle burns in the neck of a just finished bottle of 2004 Turley Zin. A six-pack of Leinie's new Amber Malt. Heat up the plate of macho nachos. Vivaldi, Muddy Waters and Beach Boys. Cellphone turned off. Yep, I'm ready.....)
From yust southeast of Lake Wobegon to wherever you are blogging from today,
Shalom.