Chris Bowers, Matt Stoller, Laura Packard, and some of the other fine folks who are Jerome Armstrong blog at MyDD.com have set up a new organization called “BlogPac.” The idea, not surprisingly, is to raise money to support progressive online activism. One of the ways in which they hope to do that is to underwrite blogs with a statewide, as opposed to a national, focus.
That project officially begins today: I’m pleased to announce that BMG is one of a dozen blogs across the country to receive a grant from BlogPac that will cover one year of hosting costs. From the announcement on MyDD:
Over the past three weeks, we have told you that BlogPac is working on a project to bring community blogging to every state in the country (see here, here and here). Specifically, one of the things that meant was paying for the website hosting costs of 50 local, community blogs, which would help alleviate the burden on some of most our essential, local, progressive activists. Today, I am happy to announce that you have put together the resources to make it happen, and we can announce the first group of bloggers who about to receive your support:
* California: Calitics
* Colorado: Square State
* Massachusetts: Blue Mass Group
* Michigan: Michigan Liberal
* Minnesota: Minnesota Campaign Report
* Montana: Left In the West
* New Hampshire: Blue Hampshire
* New Jersey: Blue Jersey
* New York: The Albany Project
* North Carolina: Blue NC
* Texas: Burnt Orange Report
* Virginia: Raising KaineThat is a pretty impressive list of some of the best local blogs in the country. They all are a vital part of the emerging progressive media landscape, and help to build local activist scenes. Thanks to you, all of them will now find it a little easier to keep operating in the future. You can see the criteria for the blogs we are giving grants to at the BlogPac website, and we are going to keep going until we have funded at least one blog in every state.
It’s worthy of note that almost all of those blogs run on the soapblox platform, as we do. Hearty congratulations to Paul at soapblox for the incredible and ongoing success of his project to bring community blogs to all 50 states.
As for the grants themselves, we’re not talking big money here — a year of hosting on soapblox costs $180, which is the standard size of these grants. But they’ve got bigger grants in sight, and they’ve already given a “Citizen Hero” $2,000 award to Lane Hudson, the guy who more or less single-handedly publicized the Mark Foley scandal, probably in the process delivering Congress to the Democrats. And there is much more to come.
Basically, BlogPac is a great idea, and we’re honored to accept their support. If you think so too, why not send them a few bucks?
Now you guys are both officially sell-outs and members of the vast left-wing conspiracy! đŸ˜‰
is our friend!
We could be bought. They had us at Hello. Sniff.
Lets not let this get to our head and start thinking that there’s any money in blogging. đŸ˜‰ Consulting, on the other hand,….
At least not at the state district level. đŸ™‚
We were going to win Congress whether or not Mark Foley ever exploded. I would certainly say it helped – and may have even been the small difference in some races, maybe even Senate races (which means it could have been the difference in the Senate)… but I don’t think it was the end-all, be-all. Just look the Congressman from NY who by all rights should have been fired for his role in Foleygate – as he was one of the most involved – yet managed to survive. Surely, if the Mark Foley scandal destroyed the Republicans completely, the 2nd or 3rd most person most responsible for that atrocity would have been removed from office in the wave.
BMG are “progressive activists”, guess I will have to find some other site to do my blogging on. Shucks!
…towards states beginning with the letters M and N.
Disgraceful.