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The Superdelegate Transparency Project

Hey, the folks at the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonpartisan group, does some of the best investigative research around:

Wondering what and who superdelegates are? The Superdelegate Transparency Project is the central gathering place for compiling primary and caucus results--Congressional district by Congressional district. It is housed in Congresspedia, a joint project of the Center for Media and Democracy and the Sunlight Foundation. Given the close nature of this year's Democratic primary, it is especially important that the role of the superdelegates should public knowledge, and the STP is using the power of crowdsourcing to make that happen.

The project features a state-by-state map of the United States, with lists of the superdelegates for each state, who they're supporting, and the popular vote totals and delegate counts for each congressional district. There are also biographical profiles and contact information for many of the superdelegates, and whether s/he has received campaign funding from a political action committee linked with Clinton or Obama.

Disclosure: I'm on the board of Sunlight, because they do the big stuff like this.

At the Global Connected Urban Development conference

Corporate and government decision makers really seem to be getting serious about environmental issues, and I'm seeing a lot of good stuff here at this forum.

What I think makes this happen is the successful transmission of the "sustainable development" meme, or idea virus, into the heads of decision makers and influencers. Al Gore gets a big chunk of credit for this.

Meta-issue: how does one repeat this kind of meme transmission for other good efforts?

Barack Obama: a leader, not a boss

Days ago, I figured out why I'm drawn to Barack, heart and mind.

Pretty much all of us work for a boss, sometimes one who's a pretty good manager, but we do what they want since they're the boss.

A good boss or manager can get a job done, but can't motivate more than a relative handful of people at a time, and that doesn't get big jobs done.

Recently, I've developed the unfortunate habit of reading history, seeing that now and then there've been people who moved entire nations. They're usually competent managers, but have some elusive additional ability that makes then what we call leaders.

That includes JFK, Lincoln, Elizabeth I, Victoria, Gandhi, Churchill, and a short list of others that you know.

We need to restore American values to the White House, and to enlist all Americans in that effort; we want to be the good guys again. That takes a leader, and that means Barack Obama.

"La Passion por la Decision" -- I'm a starlet

Hey, you can the telenovela here directly and understand why I've been spending so much time in wardrobe.

The deal is that Voto Latino is working hard to register Latinos to vote, really important in this election year.

Oh, yeah, you can see others, including my co-star Rosario Dawson here.

"Chasing Ghosts"; fighting in Iraq after "Mission Accomplished"

Hey, I'll never be fighting in a shooting way, and people are right, you can't really get it if you never did it.

However, I just got around to reading Chasing Ghosts by Paul Rieckhoff. This is real thing, fighting in the ugliest of situations, dealing not only with the enemy but bad officers and an Administration which doesn't want to support the troops. I really recommend the book, it's the closest any of us will get to the reality of war.

Back home, Paul's the guy behind the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the deal is they need our help to give them a break. They're still getting screwed by the Administration.

The spinal discs of a 25 year old

except for one

Hillary position on ethics reform and on cleaning up Washington?

Remember, I'm a computer nerd, not a policy wonk. However, I've been getting a good education from folks at Sunlight Foundation and others like Larry Lessig.

Recently I heard a guy who's regarded as a Hillary surrogate talk about ethics reform in terms which weren't exactly flattering.

Me, well, Pelosi and others got off to a pretty good start last year. More needs to be done, sure, but attacking it, not so good.

Can anyone set me straight on this? I can identify with a guy being a loose cannon, but this was pretty unexpected.

UPDATE: regarding the first comment. As a nerd, I'm very literal, and "heard" the guy at a meal.

I've found some unfortunate blogging by the guy, but feel it's fair not to draw attention to it:

-- might not represent actual campaign positions

-- after thirteen years of customer service, I've learned not to encourage trolls

-- discretion is the better part of valor

New efforts to genuinely support veterans

Hey, the folks at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America are pushing to really support veterans, trying to undo the lack of support from the current administration:

This week a delegation of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran of America (IAVA) is on Capitol Hill, meeting with over 70 congressional offices. They're introducing lawmakers to the IAVA 2008 Legislative Agenda, and giving them first-hand knowledge on the issues that affect veterans. And in every meeting, they're telling lawmakers one thing: our country's newest generation of veterans needs a GI Bill that actually covers the cost of college.

check it out here.

Rule of law and American values: Obama for, Hillary absent, McCain flip-flops against

Hey, as a reminder, Congress is considering giving immunity to a coupla big telecoms for apparently breaking the law, specifically Constitutional protections.

There are folks in Congress who believe that no one is above the law, that the privileged should be treated like everyone else, but the good guys lost a fight today in the Senate:

Senate Moves to Shield Phone Companies on Eavesdropping

Obama, not McCain or Clinton, votes for electronic privacy

Remember that an unrelated case involving the telecom Qwest showed that wireless wiretapping was requested well before the administration showed any interest in terrorism. Here's more info on that.

Ronald Reagan never broke the law like this.

"Valley Zen" on Zen and Silicon Valley values

Hey, Zen philosophy, even apart from Buddhism, influences a lot of people here, including myself.

Valley Zen is a blog written by Drue Kataoka, a master Sumi-e artist, and Bill Fenwick at Fenwick & West, a big law firm in the Valley.

Very recommend for folks interesting why we do things the way we do.