(Don't be shy - come join us! - promoted by Jon Kantrowitz)
I want to let you know about my expirence at the last Pub Quiz. I had gone to the Pub Quiz at Yearly Kos, so I had an idea of what to expect. I went there not knowing anyone, except by their pseudonyms. I initially got lost and was wandering around Stamford. I drove from Somers, and there was no way I was going to miss it. I finally find the bar and where the Pub Quiz will be happening. I gave my donation at the door. I walked in and introduced myself to the lady behind the laptop, who is Maura. We've known of each other for years now, going back to the dark ages of DailyKos. This is the first time we actually meet in person. For me it was amazing to meet a friend that I had know for years for the first time. Maura, as it turns out, is as amazing in person as she is online. (That is why Jim Himes made a brilliant decision in picking his campaign manager.)
What a beautiful day for a picnic by the water. Big white boats floating by, the sun streaming down, a free buffet. Who could resist meeting Jim Himes?
Jim Himes is running for Congress in the Fourth District of Connecticut against Christopher Shays.
I would love to link back to this, but the County Fair (pg. 8-9) of the Fairfield Weekly isn't available online. There is no mention of a writer responsible for these links. We link. They do not.
Back in March 2005 ABC's "Nightline" did a segment on bloggers, featuring one Maura Keaney, then of Virginia. Maura asked me to post a brief clip she had of the show but I decided instead to retrieve it from the Internet and post the entire segment from the 30 minute show. The resulting piece is quite good by John Donvan. There's still a certain innocence and novelty to the entire enterprise of blogging back then which comes through. I'm guessing Maura is too modest to post a diary so I'll do it. I found a link to an old diary at Daily Kos written by "Maura in VA" about how that transpired:
In January, DailyKos was part of a major success: influencing a Virginia legislator to withdraw a bill that would have required women to report miscarriages to the police within 12 hours, or face up to a year in jail.
After I wrote this diary (cross-post from Democracy for Virginia) about HB1677 in Virginia, hundreds of blogs linked to the story, most notably infertility and miscarriage blogs like Chez Miscarriage. VA Delegate John Cosgrove received hundreds of emails critical of the bill. In just a few days, the story hit VA newspapers and TV stations, and we celebrated here when Delegate Cosgrove announced he was withdrawing the bill on the very first day of the VA General Assembly session.
ABC's Nightline is airing a segment on blogging tonight which includes coverage of the blog-inspired firestorm against HB1677 in VA. I was interviewed for the piece, as was Delegate Cosgrove. Based on the questions that I was asked during the interview it appears that the segment will include, if not entirely focus on, the ethics of blogging.
Good news: Maura is on the mend. They found a drug regimen that's fighting the infection without causing bizarre side effects.
Bad news: Maura still needs our help to battle the financial side of this illness.
Good news: We're about a third of the way to our goal of raising enough money to get Maura some basic healthcare coverage.
Bad news: We're only about a third of the way to our goal.
Many, many thanks to all who have donated. If you haven't donated yet, seek out the little PayPal donate button on the upper right and pitch in a few bucks. If you have deep-pocketed friends let them know that one of our own is in need. But really, this is like all progressive movements, the small-dollar donations add up to equal something impressive.
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