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April 22, 2007

Bush DoJ Party Line

(Shades of Tom Vellenga and his org charts)

RI Senator Sheldon Whitehouse created some interesting charts and displayed them at the Gonzales hearings. They detail "appropriate contacts between the White House and the DoJ" and compare the Clinton protocol with the Bush protocol. Under Clinton, four White House contacts talked to three at DoJ. "Out comes the Bush protocol, and now 417 different people at the White House have contacts about pending criminal cases with 30-some people at Justice." (Al, the President's Man, Dahlia Lithwick at Slate)

via Sheila Lennon at Providence Journal and Doc Searls.

April 11, 2007

Becoming a player

In looking over the Power vs. Interest grid exercise (LCG, 121), I see web publishing—blogs, podcasts, vlogs—as an opportunity to move from the Subjects to the Players grid.

Once hardware is accounted for, internet publishing is just about zero cost at least in terms of dollars. (Time is another issue but if you're an activist/advocate anyway, you likely can accomplish more by blogging than trying to write letters to the editor or editortials.) (Hardware can be accounted for in a variety of ways including going to a Dunn Bros where they have a computer with Internet access for public use.)

You do have to find an audience but sites like the Star Tribunes buzz.mn are making that much easier.

For example, check out a local grassroots campaign at buzz that is analyzing the fee structures at local Lifetime fitnesses. The campaign has hit a nerve and resulted in a story in the Star Tribune. It's also resulted in Lifetime terminating her membership.

Curious as to your thoughts on this. Has the blogosphere given us a way to traverse the grid and become a player?

(LCG) Crosby, Barbara C. and Bryson, John M. 2005. Leadership for the Common Good. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.