Netroots Nation '08 was just a tremendous experience (once again).  We met our friends, we got new tools for our activism toolboxes, and there was some aerobic exercise involved....you may see a photo of me in a certain conga line.  

There was, however, one seriously distressing item in this otherwise mostly reality-based community.  There was a troll booth.  

I don't want to use their name, and I do not want to provide a link to them.  They were anti-vaccination trolls, a serious danger to the public health.  They had a booth that was a tall beacon of idiocy to be seen all across the vendor area.  They claim to not be "anti-vaccination" but they are engaged in a greenwashing strategy that you need to understand.  

They have every right to pay the money and be there--I am not censoring their speech.  I hope it cost them a lot, actually, so they can't spend that money to reach susceptible people.  And I used my free speech to tell them that they were a danger to the public health.  However, I was so repulsed by them that I didn't go into the vendor area much, I have to admit.  I felt bad for the guy who had a booth and said traffic was low--this was part of why I stayed out.

So on July 4 I had heard all over my local NPR station about this agreement that was reached among feuding parties in Iraq.  A local professor--who was involved in delicate negotiations on this, and was described as a "veteran peacemaker" in my local paper--was effusive and excited about the release of the agreement.  

A peacemaker.  He succeeded in bringing feuding sides in Northern Ireland and South Africa together.  This is no administration hack.  This is a diplomatic guy--in the best sense of that word.  

The talks were described on the NPR show by Robin Young as a being considered a "miracle" to the supporters of this private diplomatic effort.    Listen to "Agreement in Iraq" here, it is in the first few minutes of the audio.

Ok, this will be my last roundup on this topic.  Mostly for my own purposes, but others may find it useful as well.  I'm looking to summarize some of the extra-curricular, non-official, off-schedule, informal stuff coming up at Netroots Nation.  

I know Burnt Orange has some stuff they have been wrangling, but I don't know my way around that site and I just don't have the time to learn right now...

Veteran tips first, then a summary of events as I know them.

Ok, on a major holiday weekend, we get big news.  This morning on my NPR station they interviewed the UMass professor who emphatically stated that you HAVE to talk to your enemies.  We'll see how that goes over in the media.  I can't locate a clip of that yet.  

But the big news (apparently) is:

Feuding Iraqis reach agreement
UMass figure led talks on reconciliation

We are changing.  

For the better.  

Maybe we can save our butts yet...?

I go back and forth over whether it is too late to get us all out of the Hummer before we head off the cliff.  Every new "faster than predicted" or "worse than expected" data point that shows more melting, more dead species, or more climate instability drags me down.  Jim Hansen recently had me losing sleep over the data.  

But then some days look brighter.  This week was one of those times.  People really are acting--in several important and tangible ways--to change the status quo.

The buzz builds....I was worried that during the primary conflama that the annual hysteria that is generated pre-Netroots Nation would be diminished.  But I can see that it is starting to grow--all those diaries about sponsoring scholarships were providing some terrific reminiscences for the previous years.  I'm so pleased to see the 30 folks who will now be able to attend with us!

Last year I was running a periodic compilation of some of the unofficial or off-the-record events that were going on around the conference.  It is time to start doing that again--this is the second.  Also, let's have a conversation about what works and what doesn't work for these conferences.  

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And the Guv worries about how much her wedding will cost ;)

This is a really nice story of things going well.  For a lot of kids in this country this is not how the coming out story will go.

Governor's daughter, 18, says she is a lesbian

Governor Deval Patrick's 18-year-old daughter announced this morning that she is a lesbian, calling it a source of pride that she is ready to share with Massachusetts.

Well, ok--not just to me. But Jim Hansen--renowned climate scientist and patriot--came to a little community meeting down the street from me to talk about the climate crisis.  

The Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition hosted a tremendous event.  Mark Bowen, author of Thin Ice and Censoring Science, and Jim Hansen spoke to a room full of (mostly) interested, aware, active, and informed neighbors of mine.  I love to go to events like this, because it reminds me that there are a lot of people paying attention.  And, of course, there were a couple of trolls.  But most people were eager to hear this message.

Great news: the whole thing was taped by CSPAN, and is slated to appear on BookTV one of these days.  I'll keep an eye out for that so you can see the whole thing.

Sorry for the late notice and the short diary--I just remembered that this was coming up on Sunday.

The Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition is presenting a lecture by Dr. Jim Hansen (yes, you know who) and Dr. Mark Bowen--author of the book Censoring Science.  

I'm going--would love to carpool with anyone so I don't get my butt kicked in the parking lot for a single passenger vehicle...please help :)

This may only be of interest to you hard-core bio geeks around the site.  But I know there's a bunch of you...

Francis Collins, who led much of the US Human Genome Project, is resigning.  It comes right on the heels of the actual passage of the GINA legislation--which has actually been signed by the boy prince, and will soon protect you from the misuse of your genetic information by employers and insurers.

Francis is an interesting guy--he comes from a Christian family and became an evangelical, and apparently the family sings, I've been told.  He's been heard singing in certain genomics circles with his guitar.  One time he even sang for George...at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Guess who needs stem cells?  All those wounded soldiers.

I got an email today with this little tidbit:

Pentagon-funded research into regrowing limbs lost in war

by Jim Mannion Thu Apr 17, 5:53 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon is joining with universities and hospitals in a 250-million-dollar research institute to develop ways to help wounded soldiers regenerate skin, muscle and even limbs from their own stem cells, officials said Thursday.

Today I attended a conference in Boston, down:2:earth.  It was the first incarnation of this conference as far as I could tell.  It was small, but had some very nice support and some well-known speakers--including Bill McKibben and Frances Moore Lappé.  

There was certainly a bit of "oh, we'll buy our way out of this current problem" as my friend called it.  Some products and vendors seemed legitimately interested in providing services and products that may help us.  I know where I can get local worm poop now (but I also attended the session that taught me how to get some worms doing that for me in the garage--even more local).  I really think the solar panel folks knew their stuff.

Last time I did a story about some genes it turned out to be rather lively.  There are some people here who are really interested in science and want to learn about the process and the data, and I really enjoyed the discussion.  Of course, that last diary was about autism genes--and there are a lot of people in this community touched by that issue, and there is a giant conflamma about the causes. I'm not going there today.  

This diary is probably not quite as controversial or broad, but I will try to make some points about why this work--which will touch on evolution and on politics--matters to you.  Or should matter to you.  Or should matter to the electorate.  

I had kind of a surprising couple of days last week.  Early that week I received an email from the ScienceDebate2008 team.  As a signer of the petition, with a Boston area address, I got the call for volunteers to help out during the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting.  Since I am practically a professional science conference-goer, I thought I might be of some use.  So I signed up.

Everyone here is familiar with the stories of how the hacks of this administration are squelching science and scientists--both actively and passively.  

One other area that has been of concern to me has been the problems around non-US scientists, who are having trouble getting to this country to participate in scientific meetings, working here, or attending school.  

A year or so ago I attended a Microbiology conference.  I sat at the dinner with a table full of non-US scientists.  The man from Germany had a terrible story of his adventure with the fine folks who greeted him at Customs.  

Some of you will remember seeing a couple of diaries that I did about making changes to reduce my carbon footprint.  The first one that I will reference is I'm on the teevee. Because of DailyKos.  Although the focus of the diary was the Power Cost Monitor--a device that raises awareness of your real-time electrical usage and can help you to conserve--it was also a diary about the flow of information here at DailyKos.  

I got that device because in a diary gmoke talked about it.  I found out that our electric company offered them.  Chapter1 found out who was in charge of the pilot program at NStar, and when the program really launched he let me know.  {the pilot program has since ended, btw}

The increasing number of kids diagnosed with Autismhas really been a mystery.  It is a heartbreaking issue for kids and families.  It has implications in the educational and medical system, and it will for years and years to come.  

The human genome project has provided us with a lot of new tools and a lot of new flashlights to look around with.  And today a major study has some important findings.

I wanted to alert people to this study--I know there are families here who need some answers.