That ruling suggests that opinioned bloggers are also journalists, Chapman said.

“I can think of no case where a blogger would be treated differently (than a print journalist under the law),” Chapman said.

Lawrence O’Donnell ropes FDL Newser David Dayen into some high-flying hyperbole, announcing the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party is joined! Between, according to Lawrence, the Leader of the Free World and his Vice President of the United States on one side — and a blogger on the other. Good luck, David!

Obama’s most “devoted” supporters setting him up for a fall.

Discussion of how Facebook (and Firedoglake) have made an impact on my life

This is a reply I wrote to Bryce Covert, MJ, and Richard Kirsch, formerly of HCAN, at the New Deal 2.0 (ND20) site.

MJ expressed the view that both the private sector and Government are corrupt these days and that neither can be trusted. I agree with MJ about corruption in Government these days, but I think one has to distinguish among the branches of Government when it comes to corruption, and also the kind of corruption involved. The most corrupt branch of Government is Congress, because its members need huge contributions for re-election,and the sources of those funds are now drafting legislation in many cases.

Some executive departments such as The Defense Department appear to be more corrupt than others, because they are subject to influence from powerful defense contractor lobbyists. The electoral system has been corrupted over time to create a bias against the success of third parties. When combined with the development of a Supreme Court that is not defending individual liberty, there a great danger of the development of a plutocracy whose hard shell we won’t be able to crack to allow democracy to emerge from below. Perhaps the development of Information technology can provide a way around the institutions by giving people a way to self-organize that gets around the need for large quantities of money.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs became the spokesperson for Obama Administration contempt toward the left on Tuesday. The display of contempt came in the midst of a nearly 70 percent shift in Wall Street executive donations from Democratic candidates to Republican candidates ahead of the November mid-term elections.

Ruth Marcus does some Hippie Punching, with typical results.

Contrast of economic cheerleaders Geithner and Bernanke versus the reality faced by long term un and underemployed workers

Welcome to the Nourishing the Planet project diary on FireDogLake. As world hunger numbers top 1 billion, we are reporting from on the ground in sub-Saharan Africa to both inform global efforts to eradicate hunger and raise the profile of these efforts. Meeting with farmers, farmers groups, NGO’s, journalists, funders, and policy makers, the Nourishing the Planet is assessing the state of agricultural innovations—from cropping methods to irrigation technology to agricultural policy—and highlighting the all too often untold stories of hope and success.

On September 11, 2010, members of the Green and Socialist Parties, and Alan Benjamin of the San Fransisco Labor Council and AFL-CIO will hold a public hearing in Ohio on third party politics.