[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mary Lyon

Erich Segal, the author of "Love Story," once put the phrase "Love means never having to say you're sorry" into the official collection of favorite American catch-phrases. Up until very recently, we've had to suffer under a latter-day perversion of that: "The 'War on Terror' means never having to say you're sorry." Now, however, comes a series in Slate - - called "Why Did We Get It Wrong," five years after the start of the Iraq War/Invasion/Occupation. Slate invited what it called "the best known 'liberal hawks' and others" to weigh in on that question, five years after they were roaring and stamping their feet to go get Saddam. The compendium makes for some ironic and even sadly amusing reading.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I do some work for No on 98/Yes on 99.

So, this could be some serious good time fun.  The No on 98 Campaign is planning on running a little video contest, with the winner getting $1,000!  The object will be to make light of some of the nasty, nasty stuff that Prop 98 will do to the state of California (like eliminate rent control) or just highlight some of the crazy shenanigans going on in the Yes on 98 campaign. And if you choose the latter, well, let's just say I'd take a look at Capitol Weekly, the Save Rent Control blog or some of the other great news sites around the state.

The goal is for YouTube videos of about a minute in length. They'll be judged by the crack Yes on 98 Video Team (a lofty group I assure you) and some great videos will be highlighted on  NoProp98.org. It will be a blast, I'm sure. For full details, check out this PDF containing the rules and all that fun stuff.