This is pretty amazing:

Despite passing rules that forbid mulitple voting, it appears that the practice is standard in the Texas state legislature, to the point of absurdity.

Among my favorite blogs lately has been Future Perfect, apparently a Nokia researcher’s personal brainstorming repository. I enjoy it so much because it reminds me of how I take notes, through either practical categorization or an off-the-cuff to-be-revisited kind of personalized conceptual banter that "Future Perfect" offers frequently. I find this refreshing because I’m a fan of unfinished thoughts, which are often be more productive to share than polished ones, if only because they arise so much more frequently.

This will be a quick diary, because I'm about to head over to the Heritage Foundation to speak on a panel about the Open House Project, with Matt Stoller (myDD), Rob Bluey (Heritage), and David All (David All Group).

I'll be speaking on behalf of The Sunlight Foundation, for which I now work, and also as someone who got involved in Washington politics by writing and organizing on Daily Kos.

I really owe everybody here a big update.
And my gratitude.

I started my new job yesterday, which I got largely through my participation on Daily Kos.

Since gaining employment through blogging is probably pretty rare, I'd like to explain how a few things that I wrote here ended up getting me a job in DC.  

I'd also like to explain how my job as Program Director for the Sunlight Foundation might have to do with the Daily Kos community.

(Cross Posted from The Open House Project)

Whose responsibility is it to publish information about the government?

I'd like to introduce the Daily Kos community to the Open House Project.  We are creating a report on attainable internet reforms for the House of Representatives, based on the input of a bipartisan group of contributors.  This is a project of the Sunlight Foundation, and my involvement in the project is a direct result of my writing on Daily Kos, and starting the Congressional Committees Project.

The introductory press release includes quotes from Speaker Pelosi, Ellen Miller (Executive Director of the Sunlight Foundation), and from me (I'm John Wonderlich, one of the organizers of the project, along with Matt Stoller of MyDD).

I recently had a discussion with the communications director of a house committee about liveblogging committee hearings.  It seems that Hill staffers aren't just reading blogs: some of them are thinking about how blogs can bring people closer to the legislature.

I'd like to talk about what bloggers may be doing soon in committee hearings: liveblogging.

Ready to move on?  Good.  Me too.  We worked hard for the last year-plus for a reason, and our new democratic majority is moving in this week.  Remember thinking that a majority in the House and Senate was just unrealistic?  Me too.  

This diary is your preview into what's going to happen in the next few weeks, as we realize just what we've won.  Wittgenstein wrote that "Explanations come to an end somewhere." So does meta.  Allow me to show you the way out.

At any time we perceive only a tiny portion of our environment, and trick ourselves into thinking that the way we choose to name things is the true way, the best way.  To doubt our functioning schemas too often would be to cripple ourselves: we trust our in the fragile worlds we delimit in order to function.  

We talk about the size of the federal deficit, the cost of a cruise missle, or the population of England for a reason: these sets of data have a real impact in our world.  To focus on the number of sleeping cats in Pennsylvania isn't particularly helpful.

Sometimes we have to step back, though...

I've got a lot to talk to you all about.  

We're in a position to help shape the way the 110th Congress communicates with the internet.  I write "we" because I am assembling a package of suggestions and recommendations to help our new congress commune effectively with the internet.  I was asked to do this by one of Speaker-to-be Pelosi's staff members.

This isn't a pie-in-the-sky unsolicited suggestion box.  Read on if you're unfamiliar with what's going on...

As one of the main organizers of the Congressional Committees Project, I recently wrote a diary about committee transparency.  A few days later, I received an email from a member of Speaker-to-be Pelosi's staff, who had read my diary on transparency, and wanted to discuss our project with me.

I just got done with that conversation.  What we discussed suggests great things about what we all won in November.  

As we have strained to keep up with the growth and potential of our Congressional Committees Project, we have encountered great success.  We have a fabulous wiki page, and most Congressional Committees have been claimed, with some already having detailed committee-specific wiki pages created by their adopters.  

Google "congressional committees project," or "adopt a committee," and we're first.  Google the name of the committee I've cited above, and that webpage is the ninth entry--and we've existed for only a few weeks.

The potential for this project is staggering.  Distributed congressional oversight has the potential to change the way that we're conscious of our legislature and its processes, but only if we're aware of and engaged with the limitations on our views into our Congress.

Google "congressional committees project," or "adopt a committee," and you get us.  The very first hit is a project that we started about one week ago.  The participation level we've already reached is astounding, and points to incredible potential for the project we've begun.  

If you've missed what has been happening, or if you're looking for an overview and update of the Congressional Committees Project, you're in the right place.  I'm going to lay out what happened this week, what we've accomplished already, what we're working on for now, and where we're going, and what we need from you.

This project can become participatory democracy at its finest, but only with participation, so check out what we are, and where we're going!  There's a place for everyone...

What a week!  We got far more than most of us expected, and most of us are enjoying a well-earned week of relief and relaxation.

This week, however, this week directly after the most pivotal Get Out The Vote week, is the perfect week to start something new.  Or perhaps to continue it.  

Our GOTV efforts, the "thumping," as it were, saw many of us leave our typical comfort zones.  We spoke up at work, argued with family members, canvassed, or picked up our phones.  We became involved.  

As Allen and Burns conceded, and our legislature's path became clear,  our sighs of relief and dances of joy opened new doors for ourselves.  We can seize those opportunities, or we can settle back into our comfort zones.

I've got something big in mind, and I need some help...

Something struck me today as I was making calls for Jim Webb's campaign.  Many of my fellow Americans are going through something very painful.  Something they've relied on throughout much of their lives has fallen apart in front of them, and despite their best attempts to cling to it, it has failed.

Even though most of the Conservative Agenda is glued to the American Psyche through Fear, that fear is existentially valid (even if it is a fear we have a harder time empathizing with).  As republicans grapple with an administration and congress they now know, or perhaps suspect to be corrupt and inept, those republicans seeking out alternative to their usual straight (R) ticket deserve our respect and consideration.

I've found a REALLY EASY way to affect election results.  It should be almost be illegal!  I almost don't want to write about it, for  fear that the other side might hear about it and start doing it too.

Since it is so close to the election, I think it's time to start putting my tactic to use.  It is free, takes very little time, is VERY EFFECTIVE, and you can do it in your pajamas, or even in the bathroom.

If you want to know what you can do from anywhere in the country to affect hundreds or thousands of voters for free that is both easy and effective then by all means please join me in the extended body.

Ever since my little orange friend has made me into a super-sentient being two years or so ago, I have been able to tell my friends and family what they're about to be hearing about on the news.  You all probably know what this feels like too:  casually, or sometimes heatedly, explaining that very soon we'll be hearing about a lobbyist named Abramoff or a chemical named White Phosphorus or an operative named Plame.

I am extremely grateful for this heightened awareness.  Our proximity to each other, in all of its bloggy splendor, does have a downfall.  It can sometimes make you feel good while doing nothing.  KEEP READING!  I'm writing about myself, before you think I'm saying bad things about blogs or something, I love them.  I have a suggestion about a transition to activism that I'm about to make...