For those of you who read Seth Godin's blog on a regular basis, you may have seen this story before. In short, an enterprising Swiss artist is selling 1000 paintings on his website, each one with a number between 1 and 1000 on it. In the first few months of his endeavor, he sold a few paintings (less than 50). However, in the last two days he has sold over three hundred.  

Those interested can check out his website here 1000 Paintings  --

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Hey fellow Kossacks -- A quick departure from All Things Rove & Plame:

Thought some of you might be interested in a new book I just published on the articulation of sport, politics, and globalization in a post-9/11 moment.  While not all of you may be sports fans, at least half of the book takes on the context of the Bush administration/policies/bullshit.  There are also a few shout-outs to the dKos community.  

The book is titled Sporting Pedagogies: Performing Culture & Identity in the Global Arena -- and can be purchased at amazon.com or your favorite online bookseller.

I've included a brief summary and writing snippets below the fold:

I love the Daily Show.  I think Jon Stewart is, for the most part, doing a brilliant job communicating and/or bringing a quasi-critical media literacy to the fore of national debate.  His show, whether he wants to admit it or, accept it or not, has come to occupy a paramount site of oppositional politics for many in the U.S. and abroad.  And that's a good thing.

But sometimes... he's hurting us.  Yes, I know, the argument goes that he is "just a comedian", "just on comedy central," "just poking fun at the mainstream," etc.  I get that.  But it hurts us.

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I've been thinking about this ever since HoHo gave his speech on Wednesday about the future destinations of the Democratic Party on through his comments today on Meet the Press about wanting the Chairmanship: Let's say Dean is elected Chairman, and he has some success in the 06 midterms deploying the various strategies he's outlined so far...

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Hey folks - has anyone compiled a full checklist of the results of all of the Dean Dozens candidates that were up for election?  I know the results of the more visible candidates like Cegelis, Bean, Castor, Morrison, etc., but I've not been able to find a complete race-by-race scorecard.  If anyone can point to me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated.

Has anyone else caught any of the DiscoverTimes channel series title "Off To War: From Arkansas to Baghdad"?  (It follows members of the Arkansas National Guard from call-up through Kuwait to Iraq).  The first three episodes have been aired (the 3rd debuted last night), and they are heartbreaking.

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During the last half-inning commercial break (from the bottom of the second to the top of the third), the FOX-tv affiliate showing the Astros-Cardinals playoff game aired a "message" from "President Bush" reminding us that we are at war, take the fight to the terrorist, etc."  It was NOT an ad in the sense of "i'm GWB and I approve this message."  At the end, the disclaimer came up and said something to the effect of "as a public service, we are informing voters.  This message was paid for by FOX Broadcasting and NewsCorporation"  

Isn't this kind of shilling banned under McCain-Feingold?

It's been a long day, so I thought this little snippet of gossip gleaned from Wonkette would make an apropos post-midnight posting: word on the street is that the word "Deaniac" is being considered for Webster's College Dictionary.

The folks over at DU are having some fun with the apparent  UNsecurity of Sinclair Broadcasting Group's website, pulling all sort of stuff off the site from various directories.  I haven't seen this posted over here yet (so apologies if that is the case), so i thought I would point you all to these two in particular:

http://www.sbgi.net/investors

and

http://www.sbgi.net/investors/access_file.txt

Dean is handling Letterman well, though Dave seems to have his dickhead hat on tonight with the interview and the treatment of Kerry.  Dean is relaxed, shirt collar fits him well, effusive with praise of Kerry, etc.

Dean has improved immensely in the serious sit-down interview with the Russerts of the world, but his relaxed interview side is improving, too.  Not as quickly, but tonight was much better than his spot on Leno last year.

He also said once again he'd run for Pres "in 2012, after the Kerry presidency ends" - he's so running 2008 if Kerry loses.

He is absolutely kicking ass in this interview.   He all but said 'look, Bush fucked everything up, everything I said 9 months ago has come to pass, iraq is a total cluster fuck.'  his money line was something akin to "our boys are going to die because the President has no clue what he's doing."

"I can get along with them.  They think, and facts actually matter to them" -- Dean on "business" Republicans

"Colin Powell is the only one of them to oppose the war because he actually fought in one"

I realize that hurricanes are no joking matter, especially considering the brutal pounding Florida took and will most likely take from hurricane Ivan, but I had to post this anyway, since it's about FoxNewsChannel's stupidity:

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Haven't seen this posted, but apologies if it was:

From the blogforamerica front page:

In June, Dean Dozen candidate Peter Caroon trailed Salt Lake County's Republican mayor by 19% in a Salt Lake Tribune poll.  Earlier this week, the Tribune release some new numbers.  Peter now leads by 10%

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There was a snippet burried in a 500+ post blog entry over on blogforamerica today that Dean would be guest hosting for Tina Brown on her CNBC show next Sunday, but no follow up, discussion, or link (the thread was getting out of hand on another topic as it was).

Anyway, has anyone heard this before or have a link to a press release on it?  

If true, it should be interesting to see how things go...

I haven't seen this posted in a diary yet, but apologies if it has come up.  I noticed that Howard Dean will be speaking in Rome, Italy, on 11 September 2004, as part of the CivWorld Citizen's Campaign for Democracy/Interdependence Day Second Annual Meeting (info at http://www.civworld.org )

This comes a week before he is scheduled to speak in Dubai, UEA, with other top US leaders.

Expanded Section Below with discussion:

Okay, this might be the most random diary I've ever written here, but I was searching on Amazon.com and pretty much randomly came across this listing for what appears to be HoHo's campaign memoir:

You Have The Power: How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America
by Howard Dean

Hardcover: 650 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 1, 2004)
ISBN: 0743270134

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CNN w/ Greenfield and Co. served us with this quote: "What does a trial lawyer from North Carolina know about foreign policy?  Cheney is so much more experienced, and it will show."

Looks like this is going to be the overriding GOP meme: Edwards is not experienced enough to be President should Kerry not be able to complete his term.

Extended below:

Howard Dean's new Op-Ed in the Boston Globe (5/17) is just about the most lucid account of the Civil Union debate I've seen from him (and, in fact, from any national political figure).  In fact, I wish he was this concise during debates/interviews while he was campaigning.  He hits all the right notes, and is straight-forward about things.  His concluding thought for Mass. citizens is typical Dean bluntness:

"Is there a lesson here for Massachusetts? Perhaps. The Commonwealth will not collapse today, and the prognosis, based on Vermont's experience, is good."

The whole op-ed can be seen at:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/05/17/vermonts_lessons_on_gay_ marriage/