"Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist." (Propaganda and Persuasion, 4th edition, 2006)

I remember the first time spoken words ever hurt me. The school bully had come up with a new name for me in the first grade.

Dear Mr. Lowry,

I am writing this letter in response to your commentary, Weather more tame than wind arguments.

There were several errors made in your comments concerning my part in opposing the proposed wind project. One is a technical one. The quote you used from my open letter was published in the Ellis County Environmental Awareness blog and was never published in the HDN, though you claimed all of your quotes came from the HDN.

Living in my inner city neighborhood feels a lot like a small town. It reminds me of my childhood in, what was then, small town Richardson, population about 1,200. No matter where I go around here, I run into people I know and who know me. Saturday evening, I stopped at the Chevron station at Carroll and Live Oak...

Evidence of gang culture and gang activity in the military is increasing so much an FBI report calls it "a threat to law enforcement and national security."

The number of gang-related crimes involving soldiers and their families nearly tripled from fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2006.

To keep its enlistments up, the military has lowered its requirements for new recruits.

President Bush is telling some 3.3 million poor kids who don't have health care insurance because their families can't afford it, they better start saving their nickels and dimes so they can buy private health insurance because the government's not going to help.

On Tuesday, Aug. 7, MSNBC and XM Radio will carry the AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum live from Chicago from 6 - 7:30 p.m. CDT. "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann will moderate.

Unlike other televised debates and forums, union members will ask questions of the candidates, with the focus on issues that are important to working families. (Anyone, union or not, can vote for their favorites here.)

Thousands are expected to attend the forum, and we want to ensure working families across the country get to take part as well. You can help out by hosting a debate watch party with your friends, family and union members.

Women make up 51 percent of the population and 55 percent of all registered voters. For six decades after women obtained the right to vote in 1920, they voted at lower rates than men. In the 1980 election women caught up with men, and according to U.S. Census data, in every subsequent election, women have voted at an increasingly higher rate than men.

In all recent elections, women have outvoted men (in terms of both turnout rates and actual numbers) in every racial and ethnic group - African American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and white.

In 2004, the rate of voter turnout was 60.1 % for women, compared with 56.3% for men. The difference in 2004 translated to 8.8 million more female voters than male voters. 2004 is up from 2000 by a million extra women voters, since in 2000, only 7.8 million more women than men voted. So, perhaps, in 2008, there will be over 10 million more female voters than male voters! That's a big difference.

Here's what I really want to know. How come YouTube ignored these numbers when setting up the recent debates? And, which candidate will women vote for?

Gee, the Kansas Republicans are going downhill faster than one can possibly imagine.

Our friend Thomas Frank is going to have to come out with a new edition entitled What Used to Be the Matter With Kansas.

The Kansas GOP has come out with a loyalty oath and it's a doozy. There have been some important loyalty oaths in American history. They've always dealt with the past or the immediate future. In the post civil war era, former released upon taking an "oath of allegiance". Lincoln required an oath to "faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States thereunder" as a condition for a Presidential pardon. The ironclad loyalty oath during the Reconstruction forbid former Confederate soldiers.

I read two interesting stories on the John Edwards campaign this week.

Jonathon Tasini discusses an interesting Wall Street Journal article on how Edwards is setting the agenda for the Democratic field.

The WSJ article is for subscribers only, but here's two key paragraphs:

Last Tuesday, after twenty years in the game, Houston Astros second baseman, Craig Biggio announced his retirement at the end of this season.

His speech was filled with uncharacteristic emotion, even tears.

He thanked everyone on his long list, but the heart of his statement was all about his family and about getting to be more involved with them.

I've recently come across two disturbing examples of mainstream media outlets whitewashing two of the most notorious anti-Semites in American history.

US New & World Report publishes occasional "collectors editions" on special topics for news stand sales. I picked up "Mysteries of History: Secret Societies."

Two weeks ago was the 95th anniversary of Woody Guthrie, the legendary American folksinger and songwriter, who did much to enrich our life, not the least being "This Land Is Your Land."

Each year during this week, his hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma throws a grand tribute with a free folk festival. (There is a fund raising concert Wednesday nights.)

Today, the new leaders in the House of Representatives took the right step at the right time to begin making amends for the travesties of the previous leaders in the House! A small step towards righting some wrongs committed by the previous Congress.

What was the previous moral travesty?

What wrongs had been committed? Last year, in February 2006, the Republicans then in power in Congress (including my own congressman, Jerry Moran, K-01) voted in lockstep with one another to make deep cuts in Medicaid, Medicare, veterans benefits, student loans and the Food Stamp programs.

Last year's Congress made those cuts to safety net programs right at a time when wages in the U.S. were declining, housing costs were escalating and more and more jobs were being shipped overseas. Just when the safety nets were needed the most, Congress ripped them to shreds. In my opinion, that action was morally wrong. It made me sad for my less fortunate neighbors. That 2006 action caused me to feel such pain for our country and the direction it was moving in.

Two things about Fox this week you might want to know.

1. The Simpsons can be mistaken for FoxNews
Yes we've already heard about this but I have a new video!

2. Bloggers are nazi's.

Somehow he had found his way to this page and to my posts on immigration.

I have only been on everyday citizen for about 2 months and it has done one of the most amazing things for me. Through everyday citizen I have been connected with my biological dad whom I have never seen before and my dad's side of the family who I also had never met.

It all started when a cousin that I didn't know googled his last name. As you guys can see my last name is unusual. And he found my blog and sent me an email asking who I was b/c he had never met me before and that last name only belongs to one family. We emailed back and forth for a little bit and he gave me his number so I gave it to my mother. My mother talked to him and he told her that my dad was in Chicago.

Since then, I have had phone conversations with my dad and his relatives.

Keith Olbermann, popular TV newscaster, has been selected to serve as moderator for the August 7 AFL-CIO Presidential Forum in Chicago.

There has been a tremendous response to the forum. Four years ago, the AFL-CIO forum was attended by 2,000. This year a crowd of about 5,000 was expected and it was originally planned to hold the forum at the McCormick Place convention center. But more than 12,000 union members wanted to attend so it has been moved to Solider Field, an open-air stadium that's home to the NFL's Chicago Bears, to ensure there's enough room.

For the past two days I've been in Houston, Texas, attending the Supportive Housing Institute Texas, sponsored by the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), one of our best national partners.

I found myself pretty well sequestered in a conference room with about 35 people who devote themselves to the enterprise of developing permanent supportive housing for very low-income residents of Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston.

Quite a bunch!

Don't know about you, but I found last night's presidential debate on CNN among the Democratic candidates using the YouTube question format to be interesting and refreshing compared to previous debates. Ordinary folks asking the questions that concerned them.

Opinion: There would have been many more questions on the Iraq War if the U.S. "recruited" its soldiers from a national draft.

Funny how current, pressing self-interest shapes our primary concerns, huh? I find it to be the same with the issues associated with poverty.

Radical economist Michael Yates was in Wichita yesterday, part of the book tour for his new book Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate.

Some union folks met him for lunch and talk.

He gave a book reading in the evening at Watermark books. There were some more union folks there, including some present and retired members of the letter carriers.

It's a fascinating book.