Our own blog

Iris's post about that wordpress site gave me a great idea. We need to start our own blog for Edwardians. I have never started a blog, but from what I understand it is pretty easy and free. If someone will volunteer to do it, great. If not, I will find time to do it.

Here are the reasons I see for doing it:

We need a place where we can all interact on specific action items related to promoting a John Edwards presidency.

A blog can be set up where anyone can comment, so we don't need to worry about whether people can donate to DU, or are even members of DU.

We can set up a front page with a policy statement and event notices and calls for action and whatever.

It will be a place where we can direct others to get involved. It will be much simpler to give them the URL for the blog than to explain to them about joining DU and finding this forum and so on. We can also direct members of the press to the blog.

This would not in any way replace DU as an important resource for us, it would be a separate thing to promote our movement.

Your thoughts?

Rocky and I have been talking about just this. I have the skills to set it up and host it.

Thanks so much for volunteering to do this, Mike.

As you PMed me, it will be around $14 to get the domain name. Maybe someone will volunteer to cover this cost, or we can all chip in a buck or two as we are able to.

The first thing we will need to do is settle on a domain name.

I'd like to suggest that folks think of names they like, search them to see if available, and then post the ones that are available. Then we can reach a consensus from among the suggestions.

Here's another idea I have. Once we have a domain name and the site set up, we could make bumper stickers on our CafePress site that include the name. This will be one way to get more people to know about the site.

People better not mess around with we Edwardians - we know how to get stuff done!

Someone, I can't remember who or where, said he already owned the domain DraftEdwards.com and was just pointing it to his brother's business or something. He said it was available to be used if need be. I'll track down that post.

S/he owns DraftJohnEdwards.com . I've PMed StickerNation and asked him/her to check in on this thread. I think it's a great domain name. What does everyone else think? If s/he will let us use it, we won't need to search for and choose another name.

I have to get up for work in four hours, so I better get offline now. I'll check in tomorrow morning.

Vandoggie just posted about a site called WeLikeEdwards.com . It made me realize that there are probably other sites like that out there that we don't know about and they don't know about us and they don't know about each other.

I think we could endeavor to make ourselves the "clearinghouse" of information for the Edwardian movement. We can post links to every other site we can find. We can contact the people running those sites and let them know about our site and ask them to contribute. They can use our site to publicize their efforts and everyone everywhere can use our site to check in about what is happening. We can coordinate our efforts with other groups this way.

Tomorrow I'll start searching for these sites and post a list of those I find.

What do you folks think about this?

And now, I swear, I really am going to bed!

what you and I have suggested.

Are you still considering this?

That is a key part of this!

Having a HORRENDOUS day, today, and so afraid of being thrown under the bus!

:cry:

Really, I've been a mess.....

:hug:

I'm walking around lost in this world right now. Let's make this happen people. I don't just want a blog, I want a whole site for people who care about the issues Edwards cares about. I want to endorse candidates that share our Progressive vision.

I want to write a daily column and I have a wonderful actor friend i LA who would love to do a daily vlog. She's been on some real TV, and many of you may recognize her.

The only thing that's stopping me is know how, and well, money. Together, we can do this. I so, so desperately need to do something right now, and this is perfect. I even know what I'd call my column.

So what do we do now?

"...a whole site for people who care about the issues Edwards cares about..."

I agree with that Rocky.

Question: how are we different from DFA, PDA et al


on edit - What I mean to say is that we ARE very much different, in my opinion, but how would you put that into words?

Keeping the name Edwards in the site name goes a long way to saying who we are, now the real questions that TA brought up, how do we define that difference? Do we need to be different?

I hate to say this, but now may be the time to take this conversation elsewhere, to a more privet location. I've been in business for a long time, and while I'm afraid of being called a capitalist here, this is a business. And in that vein, we should think about electing a Board of Directors, to guide the way, we also need to set and maintain a real and purposeful agenda. Dreams and proclamations are not enough, we'll need real work, and real backing. I'm talking signs at the convention with our website on them. I'm talking about a real launch. I'm talking about competing with the big boys inside of a year. Why not? We have some smart, motivated writers here. And I know for a fact, some people here could use a job, and a real direction in their lives.

The question is, are we serious about committing a very big part of our lives to this? That's the only real decision here to be made for me. I know I'm ready, are you?

I was thinking earlier that maybe we should start either a Google or Yahoo group to discuss things that are specifically about our movement, as opposed to just general election/political stuff. What do you think?

It sounds like you have some know how about setting this up officially (i.e. board of directors, etc.) Can you guide us on this stuff? We've got at least one attorney among us, too, so we will have a resource regarding whether we need to be a corporation, and what kind.

I know one thing we are going to have to think about if we take this really wide is intellectual property issues - we're wanting to use John Edwards name and the Democratic name in our identity. I think we can handle the Democratic name issue by making this a little d democratic site - which might serve our purposes better in the long run, anyway (attract independents, etc.) As far as John Edwards, we need to try to get his blessing or find some legitimate way around it.

I do have some organizational skills. It looks like the final paragraph will be a question for our lawyer, man it's great to say that. I can write directly to Elizabeth's Brother Jay, and get our message to the family that way. The lawyer you speak of is Cleric, right?

the Populist Movement.

After what the democrats have done to our candidate do we want to be part of this
party?

I mean we're the REAL democrats and they are not.

You all know what I mean.

Beside that, if you dont align yourself with one of the political parties, they come to you begging for endorsement.

Align, and they figure you're in their pocket.

By the way, you should incorporate as a 501 C non profit I would think.

And incorporations can be done much more inexpensively than using a lawyer.

Democrats that are taking the party back for the people. We could be Democrats in a non-Democratic Party affiliated organization, designed to drag the party back to it's Populist roots. If we can't force it by some point -the GE maybe? - then we become an independent Populist party. that's how I'm thinking of this, anyway.

"The question is, are we serious about committing a very big part of our lives to this? That's the only real decision here to be made for me. I know I'm ready, are you?"

Yes.

Edwards Morning Mail. I also have a the domain name speechtees.com and we could sell t-shirts and stuff from that site. What do you guys think?

A daily column is fantastic, because it will get people to keep coming back to the site every day. Speechtees is a great name,too. I think I understand that you can set up your own site and have it point to CafePress, so they can handle the printing and fulfillment for you, just like from their site.

I was thinking last night that we could have several different pages on the site, according to subject matter, and have different people volunteer to shepherd those pages. We could have pages for various issues, like homelessness, poverty, health care etc., pages devoted to political strategizing, pages with news about Edwards and the movement, etc. etc. And of course, we need to have a blog section where all the participants could share ideas, brainstorm, make announcements about what they are doing in their part of the world etc.

I hope what we are thinking of isn't unreasonably difficult to set up. Two Americas will have to tell us if/how this can be done, since he is the one with the skills to actually set this up. I'm thinking we could have some way to upload files to him and he could take care of placing them, or something like that.

To get all of the principals around a table at one time. This is the first morning I've woken up excited since Edwards suspended his race. I'm a fighter, without a corner or an opponent.

But maybe a conference call, as you mentioned earlier?

I'm having a very rough spell and probably won't be here much in the next few weeks, but wanted to thank you all for continuing the good fight. It makes me feel a little more sane to come here; I feel insane when reading elsewhere on DU or...anywhere.

Thanks to Bobbolink for sharing such truths, thanks to all of you for thinking about the blog idea (I will certainly contribute in any way I can once I am clear of the current challenges), and I wish Balantz and anyone else a happy birthday, happy anniversary, or any other significant event in your life.

Yes, I'm an Edwards Democrat.

Be well.

I was thinking about you last night, wondering how you were and hoping you would be able to contribute to this. You've got a lot of good things to say.

:toast:

and I cant' tell you how much it means to have it accepted and appreciated.

:hi: :hug: :hi:

:woohoo:

I will volunteer my GD skills again if needed...

Has anyone checked to see if edwardsdemocrat.com or edwardsdemocrats.com is taken? Seems to me one of those would be the best...I can probably scrounge up $14 too if it comes down to it...

So excited to have a purpose and stop moping! Though I will still be inwardly moping for a long time I think...

I just did a domain name search at godaddy.com and both are available. I prefer edwardsdemocrats.com, myself. We could also consider getting both and having them mirror each other. That way if someone didn't have the name quite right, they would still end up at our site. Of course, that would mean more money. I guess another $14, but Two Americas will know for sure.
I think we can really do this whole thing on a shoestring, thanks to great folks volunteeering their time and assets. We can also consider adding maybe $.50 to the cost of shirts and stuff at Cafepress to raise some funds. Thanks for volunteering the $14, Iris. Maybe we can have several people give a few dollars, or different people volunteer to cover different expenses as they come up. For example, I think Yael already financed the whole Cafepress site, right?

I'm about 99% sure your GD skills will be needed, so thanks Iris!

Speaking of volunteering skills, I'm a super proofreader and willing to check everything before we post it for typos, misspelling and that kind of thing.

I'm feeling a lot better now, too. It sounds like lots of us are the kind of people that feel better when we can DO something!

I know nothing about starting up a website, so just let me know what I need to do...and we should talk to Yael, financing this through a $.50 hike on the stuff we made the other day isn't a bad idea, cause don't we need somewhere to host it too?

Now we have to get the amazing writers here to put together a mission statement of sorts for us! :)

:bounce:

Yes to putting together a mission statement. Can somebody start a thread requesting input on mission statement ideas?

Regarding hosting, no - we're all set on that. Two Americas has a server running and room to host it which he has volunteered along with his skills in setting it up!

No need for hosting or hosting fees - which is mostly all a rip off anyway. No need for any corporate or commercial products - I have all sorts of open source (and free) programs.

I like "edwardsdemocrats.com", but also I think if we're looking long-term site here, and looking to promote ideas JE has been promoting - not necessarily just him (he could end up being the VP anyway, knock on wood) perhaps a better name might be "rooseveltdemocrats.com" since he has always been talking about trying to be in the same mold as Teddy Roosevelt and FDR.

Also, it sounds less like "Sour Grapes" people still hung up on their candidate who didn't win.

I would vote for rooseveltdemocrats.com myself. I guess the New Deal really is dead if that domain name is available.

where permission is not needed, where getting involved in lawsuuits for using
someone's name - and lawsuits over they do not agree with our politics etc
dont you think?

We need a little legal advice on this

No, it is under fair use protection. You can even do a parody site or a critical site on a public figure.

First - do we want Edwards in the name? Or is it bigger than Edwards?

The other ideas can all be done technically. Think in terms of what you want to be able to go to the site and do - your ideal scenario - rather than in terms of what can be done. Be creative. The biggest challenge I always had with clients is that they tried to think in tech terms, rather than in terms of what they wanted to do.

Definitely individual blogs can happen for any who want to do that. Definitely news feeds that pull in articles from a variety of sources (RSS). Forums set up any way we want are no problem. Mailing list is no problem and automated news letters sent out.

But he is the one that brought us together to this place and this purpose, so I think his name should definitely be a part of it. It makes sense since we are his supporters, trying to carry on his vision and fight for what he was fighting for.

Just wanted to ask the question. I am on board either way.

Like you, I'm on board either way...

look ahead

I hope we have a lot of people weighing in with their opinions.

First, regarding the name. It is bigger than Edwards, but he was the catalyst. Using his name gives a quick, easy to understand message of what we are about. But, we should focus not just on him, but on the ideas. That's why I really like EdwardsDemocrats.com . That's my take.

Second, it's fantastic that you have the skills to do all these things. Here is my idea of what I want the site to do:

I want a place where someone who liked Edwards, but wasn't particularly tuned in necessarily, could see a bumpersticker or a posting somewhere and go hmm...I like Edwards, I'm a Democrat. I thought he was out? What's this about? and go there and find out about all the activity going on.

Then I'd like that person to be able to get involved quickly and easily. I'd like that person to know right away what their first action item is (it will change over time, before primary in their state, after primary, before convention, after convention, after election) and then be able to find their niche for contributing more to the effort. (By contributing, I mean first and foremost of their time, energy and talent.) That niche can be determined by what issue is most important to them (i.e. homelessness, etc.) or what talents they want to use (i.e. writing, talking, etc.) or both.

I'd like resources available easily, such as links to the other sites along with a bit of info about the site - such as WeLikeEdwards.com - we should link to them and say, here is a great place to get printer ready signs, etc.

I'd like bulletins from our folks and people at other sites whenever something of significance occurs.

I'd like it to be a site that really fosters a lot of involvement and a lot of individuality.

I'm sure I'll think of some other things, but what does everyone else think?

critical of what the democratic and republican party are doing when needed

such as alllowing Bush Cheney to destroy the Constitution, ignoring high crimes
sort of a Daily Kos but with purpose of blossoming into a movement and eventually
a political party.

"Labor" or "Progressive" probably have a better history and connotations than "Populist."

Of course all of the political names have been just about destroyed. We need a new one.

She's a DUer, maybe she'll peek in here and invite us all over :party:

There's www.jregrassroots.org which was created for JRE's brokenhearted supporters in 2004 after he withdrew from the race.

It's still pretty active, I'm a charter member, but haven't posted there in awhile.

:hug:

:hug:

My only concern is that people might confuse us with something regarding the Edwardian Period in England (1901 -1910). On the other hand, I like the idea of having something we can call ourselves, a particular name for us, i.e. we are Edwardians. Also, this might help us avoid any legal issues about using his name. I'm not sure about that. Maybe we could come up with a visual way to make it clear what we are talking about when we use the term.

I didn't know much about the Edwardian period in England, but there was an unpopular war, separation of classes and a political upheaval, according to wiki. It's much more relevant than I had thought.

zalinda

I'm going to have to read that!

I'm sure there are thousands of other Edwardians out there who'd like to share ideas with a community of like-minded people. :toast:

Send me a message for instructions.

I've had a very busy day at work and missed this thread entirely. I got caught up with Rocky's PM.

It appears my response to him, is in line with thoughts he expressed already ( see, we are all like-minded ), that our site should be more expansive, not narrowed by only being an alternate Edwards site. Ultimately, our goal and mission should be the creation of a viable LEFT WING again, where the Progressive/Populist arm of the Democratic Party can thrive! A Progressive/Populist site, would of course feature John Edwards.

Let me know your thoughts and I can start honing on specifics.

I like this. We can't afford to sit on the sidelines anymore.

My suggestion would be rooseveltdemocrats.com, since Edwards has been talking about trying to be in the same mold as Teddy Roosevelt & FDR.

I really like that!

:toast:

"Edwardians - The Populist Party" and somewhere down the road drop the Edwardian and just be Populist Party...but I'll tell you now, all alternaatives of that
name would have to be glommed onto NOW, so that someone else would not be using
similar in the future.

Again if you use anything democratic you're labeling yourself with alignment to a party that is dead and dying, that is DLC, encompassing Republicans,

There's no question in my mind that Move-On is aligned with Nancy Pelosi and the DLC

I dont know about the rest but I dont want to encompass republicans, corporates,
etc etc

I'm a plain old fashioned liberal...and cant even figure out what a Progressive is anymore except that liberal was demonized by the repugnants that someone thought it better to be called Progressive.

.

Do you think it would be a good idea to go back and get in touch with some of them. I know a lot of people don't check the other Forums. I posted a note (by request) to all the Super Tuesday States and it got very little attention.

Even here at The Edwards site, it's not checked out all the time. I AM VERY GUILTY myself. I blog mostly at GD:D simply because it gets more "play" and the voice can be heard louder. But I saw SO MANY names I never saw before, and so many were SUPPORTING Edwards.

The thread isn't archived I'm SURE! So if I can help in any way, let me know. I blog, but don't get into the PC craft. Wish I had the time to do it, I know I could learn quickly but "time" isn't easy for me.

We're Care-takers for my husband's mother, 24 hour care and there are days that I'm not as able to spend as much time as I would like.

But, I'm here and I want "feed-back" and want to HELP OUT!!!

Thanks.

I don't know how I can help but keep me posted. I'll check in as much as I can to find out what's decided.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:wow: We're in deep doodoo before we even get rolling.

:pals:

I'm not sure how much or in what capacity I'll be able to participate, but I'm all for it!

Names are cool to play with, I like the ones already mentioned. Here's a few for fun, anyone can use all or parts if you like:

New Deal II

New Deal for the 21st Century

New Deal Progressives

Edwards Populist Progressives

New Century Progressives

New Deal Populists

Today's Progressives

Progressives Now

setting up conversation thing for us, guess we'll talk to him after tomorrow

Some people are so excited they are talking to themselves. Now if THIS subthread gets alerted on and deleted, we will know that you've lost it, kelligesq.

:rofl:

He supported Edwards, the rumor was right, if JE didn't get the nod, Nader in.

Good luck to those Historic supporters and whoever their candidates are...lol.

we'll end up with McCain which is scary as hell or worst Romney corporation pretty boy.

if we have organized more votes for him, and more delegates which is possible
he can be the tiebraker..

Hillary will take Evan Bayh as veep - he votes most of the time with the repugnants.

Obama - I have no idea who he will pick , but I'm sure it will be whoever Teddy
tells him to. Uh-oh Salon is mentioning Claire McCaskell -

If the 2000 vote was a mess, wait til we see what's going to happen with this one !

As Abrams said, Hillary will probably win it, and then "they;ll" cheat her out of it.

Third world country.

Might as well be Joe Lieberman. :wtf:

Just went with the "E" words and came up with THREE... could be "hokey" as hell, but these three struck me... Using Either Edwardian, or Edwards

Could be EdwardsExpress.com, EdwardsEdge.com or one I kind like, but as I said maybe a bit too The EdwardsEcho.com. Maybe Echo sounds more like a hiccup after the campaign, but a reminder too!

My thinking may be a bit "newspaperish" of magazine like. But I HAD to comment right now! I'm still thinking. Might need to go for a different letter in the alphabet! It's times like these that my OCD kicks into "overdrive" and sleep escapes me.

Maybe I can sleep now!

Andrea, Two Americas, and fellow Edwardians:

First, may I point out to you that I am the originator of the name Edwardians on
posts I was doing on DU and One Corps this past month.

Second, reading some old posts of Two Americas not surprisingly he/she (I think it was Two Americas) said something very profound.

Paraphrasing: with regard to bringing the Democratic party back to the left - we have been working for 30 years within the party - and instead of bringing it to the left it has gone farther to the right. The left has been marginalized. When you keep doing the same thing over and over and over and getting the same result, it is insanity to continue doing the same thing.

Then why would you start another blog associated with the current Democratic Party?

People like us have been trying to influence our legislators for 30 plus years to no avail. The last time to my memory we were able to influence a democratic president was Lyndon B. Johnson and that took banging drums outside the wh day and night. Today if we did that we would be tasered and worse and shipped off to the "detention" camps en masse.

As I have said before, in order to be a force for change, unlike Move-On who aligned itself with the Democratic Party and has become DLC in my view, the best way to exert influence would be to unaligned with any party.

Johnis not here with us, but his principles are.

they are small d democratic principles. Humane principles, Just principles but not the domain of the Democratic Party or any one party

If move - on could start up and gain 3 million members over time (but they are DLC's arm for sure) there's no reason why another group couldn't start - based on
John's platform and gain the power of numbers to pressure whoever is in the white house and congress.--

In my mind the organized pressure has to be at the media - and how do you get to the media - Money. Money talks. NOt our money. Their money. You write the media that unless they change their ways, your tuning them out - you write their sponsors or gather petition to the sponsors, telling them that because of that particular media stations refusal to provide unbiased and full and truthful
reporting of the facts you are asking them to withdraw their advertising to that station or you and your 100 million members will have to stop buying their product? Dear Sirs, will you agree to stop advertising there until MSNBC/CNN etc
change their ways?

MONEY. Money and the bottom line is what the corporations all understand. Hit them in the pocketbook and with sufficient numbers you get results.Tweety closed out John Edwards - go after his sponsors. Tweety doesnt have high ratings anyway - CNN - big company - get to them through canceling Aol, Time Warner publications,publications, movies whatever....but they have to realize that the public means business and wants a free and truthful press.

For another year we can do nothing about the FCC that allowed the monopoly of 5 companies owning all newspapers, tv stations, radio stations. Hopefully with any new reasonable administration, we can hit them to restore anti-monopoly laws.

These are my ideas but It's a start. And Align yourself with either political party and you've lost before you ever began.

I'd like to hear your further thoughts on my proposal.

A group here wanted their own private club to stroke their egos.

How many petitions have we signed, how many letters have we written, how many phone calls have we've made?? I haven't seen ANY significant results from this. I can't even get my Representative or Senators to acknowledge I'm here!

Boycotting products worked a one time, but the conglomerates have their fingers in too many pies! I've checked out so many companies that I felt were palatable to me, only to find that they worked both sides to maintain their leverage.

Kind of like a big-wig donating to each candidate so they can get their palm greased in the end. Each time someone posted that so and so endorsed a certain person my jaw almost ALWAYS dropped! People I felt were Liberals who came out and endorsed Clinton. McGovern & RFK, Jr were real shocks to me. What principle are they basing this on?? Those I respected and felt supported certain ideals. Or those who decided to support Obama and make a BIG SPLASH (Oprah) and then behind the scenes took money from any source. We KNEW Clinton had Big Corp. behind her, that was a given, but I don't know how to influence anyone if they "sell-out" for some reason not clear to me!

What they said they were for is NOT what they decided was best in the end! It DOES seem it's all about an AGENDA or an ENDORSEMENT!

I too want to know what WE can do. It was once said that "one" person could make so much difference. Look what happened to Cindy Sheehan?? What she stood for in the beginning was so twisted and corrupted and even here saying her name sends up "howls" of decent! I applaud her effort, she did have HEART, but NOW she's almost a pariah!! Did SHE do this to herself?? Some would say yes, but she wanted to have her voice heard. It got nasty and rude very quickly!

So, after organizing, then comes "HOW" do we go forward and with what PLAN?? Even people who have money donated to them have been shut-up! Like John Edwards! He was a FORCE THEY didn't want, and THEY got what they wanted. As TwoAmericas says, we can't keep falling in line, so it's going to take many heads thinking together as a movement to be heard.

I'm open to suggestions myself.

And I wasn't REALLY trying TO BE "negative." I was just sort of thinking out loud! So much has happened, but one thing for sure... I WILL BE INVOLVED with the BLOG!! No doubt!!!

I am still here for the same reasons you are. I guess my rose colored glasses got broken a long time ago, or I lost them. That was a joke, okay??

I've been more of a lurker than poster here on DU, but I'm intrigued by this proposal and would like to offer any meager assistance I might provide. :)

benny and catchawave can vouch for me if needed. ;)

going thru birth pangs now - everyone will be let known when it's ready for
visits.

:toast:

This is a silly, shallow post this morning (not enough coffee to address anything of substance yet ;) ), but I keep wanting to tell you how much I love the graphic "suspended not ended" - cool....:thumbsup:

feel free to use it,

actually ,we should all continue to use it I think!
REmind them of what a real platform and democrat is.


OOPS ,it's gone ! :cry: