I'd been very confused recently by some of the recommended diaries and their associated comments. They seemed to be using English, but I had a hard time understanding much of what they were saying. After careful examination, I've found that many diarists and commenters here have started using some sort of DailyKos newspeak. As a service to other kossacks who haven't yet picked up on this new, clearly superior way of speaking, I've put together a small dictionary of words and phrases that I've been able to translate so far. The newspeak is in italics (below the fold):

Violent videogames are one of the favorite bugaboos of conservative Republicans and a few censor-happy Democrats like Joe Lieberman.  Lawmakers in Michigan have begun to move on a bill that would provide criminal penalties for anyone who sells M-rated games to minors.

State Senator Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) recently sponsored the bill, which has recieved the backing of Governor Jennifer Granholm (D).  This Detroit Free Press article has more details.

More after the break...

Most polling agencies will let anyone pay them to conduct a poll on whatever subject you want. The blogosphere could commission a poll or polls on various subjects of interest to the community from somebody like Zogby or Harris or Democracy Corps, assuming folks are willing to donate the money to do that.

Who is interested and what questions would you be interested in asking?

A lot of Kossacks have written diaries about why we lost, how to re-frame issues, what candidates we should line up for 2006, how to fix voting machines, etc. etc.  If we're gonna get anything done, we've got to get organized and we'll need a system.  Consider this diary entry meta-brainstorming.

I've created a new Dkosopedia entry to provide the seeds for the organizational structure I'm proposing.  The idea is to provide a central hierarchy for brainstorming on issues, deciding on a course of action, and coordinating those actions with the people on the ground in the places where it matters.

A lot of people have gotten pretty excited about the election challengers in some states this election. Well, I was a an "election challenger" for the Kerry campaign in MI. If you gave a challenger a hard time - don't get too excited if you don't know for sure who they were with. It could have been me! Please read my story below.

There have been calls to minority voters in swing states telling them that their polling locations have changed. Please alert the local media if you live in those states so that it will air in time for the 11pm news!

Florida
Minnesota

Please reccommend!

An article in today's Detroit Free Press has some good looking stats on registrations and expected turnout in Detroit, the suburbs and elsewhere in Michigan. Based on increased registration, enthusiasm and absentee ballot numbers, elections clerks in the Detroit vicinity are predicting a turnout as high as 80% of registered voters. As usual, the Republicans are being much more pessimistic.

I'm pissed. After reading this diary about despicable attack ads against Patty Wetterling (please recommend BTW), I'm resolved that I'm ready for a change.

It's turning into a new Rwanda but nobody seems to care. Haven't even seen it on TV lately at all. Anyhow Google News has the story.

I've been impressed with the recent volume and effectiveness of the blogosphere when it comes to righting wrongs (or lefting them, as the case may be), but I've grown increasingly concerned that a few bad apples are not keeping within reasonable bounds. This controversial article in particular made me want to say something.

A federal judge is rather pissed over the Justice Department's handling of the anthrax case. Not only did an innocent man get smeared, but the trail to get the real culprit has gone cold. The Washing Post has the article.

There was an interesting article in today's Detroit Free Press. A survey of public opinion by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations shows that most Americans want a lot more global cooperation than even John Kerry proposes.  (Statistics below the fold...)

The Detroit Free Press had a nice endorsement for John Kerry today. They endorsed Al Gore in 2000. They're the largest circulation paper in Michigan and the 19th largest circulation paper in the country (about 50% bigger than the Detroit News).

Check out the article.

Check out the article (free registration required.)

For those follwing my not-quite daily themes, today's theme: John Kerry kicked Bushie Tushie in the debate. Obvious, but important.  We've got to control the spin. The talking points are below the fold.

After getting away from the daily themes for a little bit because of lazyness, here's a new theme for today -- The repeated lies of George W. Bush about Iraq. More info below the fold...

It turns out, CBS is producing the highly refined irony for the purpose of building weapons of mass political destruction.

The story using forged documents about Bush's service in the TANG bumped a story about the forged documents about an attempt to purchase yellow cake uranium in Niger.

Read it at MSNBC.

Today's theme is Iraq is a disaster and George Bush is living in fantasy land. There's lots of useful links and my letter below the fold.

Please read my astroturfing diary entry for tips and ideas on how to get our side of the story into the media.