Matt Ortega

Lodi grapegrower Brad Goehring will seek the Republican nomination to challenge Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton, Calif.) in the fall of 2010, according to Contra Costa Times reporter Lisa Vorderbrueggen.

Goehring has not previously held elected office, much like Rep. McNerney prior to his election in 2006, and he is an unknown outside of San Joaquin County. So perusing his fantastically bad campaign website is the best option to learn about Brad Goehring.

Taxes rate as the top issue on his website. This comes as no surprise since the California Republican Party is almost entirely populated with professional and amateur politicians that pledge fealty to the anti-tax forces of the conservative base. His ideas on healthcare simply make no sense at all and poorly recycles Frank Luntz’s talking points memo on the matter.

Want to donate? No problem. Just print out my web page and mail it in. Web-based donations should be among the first things any campaign settles before launching a website. Period. Republicans may not have an ActBlue by any means but even incorporating their horrible knockoffs is better than snail mail.

Just for posterity: endorsements page uses the phrase “under construction” in it.

File this one under “web 2.doh!”

Updated Lisa Vorderbrueggen updated her post with the mention of another announced candidate: Wells Fargo credit analyst Jon Del Arroz. Really? Wells Fargo credit analyst? Is he sure he wants to tout that? It seems like the decision to change careers was necessary rather than elective.

Jon Del Arroz does claim to be a “lifelong” resident of the 11th Congressional District but he lives in Lafayette — inside the 10th Congressional District. A $500 donation to Congressman Ron Paul (R-Surfside, Tex.) in 2007, and the Contra Costa County Republican roster for 2009/2010 both confirm his address to be in Lafayette — outside of the district. (Ed. note: Read more about Jon Del Arroz from A.J. Carillo, former campaign manager to then-candidate Jerry McNerney in 2006.)

But kudos to Mr. Del Arroz on the incorporation of a functioning online donation capability, despite the less-than-optimal stylization and the fact that you have to leave his website altogether to donate. It seems that, given his background as a Wells Fargo credit analyst, he has the experience to know to lower the hurdles that which prohibit everyday citizens to fork over hundreds of dollars to you.

Arroz includes links to social networks like Facebook and MySpace but no Twitter? The conservative online nerd-gods will be upset about that.

The overall site, however, looks like he’s running to be the President of NIKE headquartered on the Death Star. Just look at that logo.

Forty-five years ago today, three civil rights activists — James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman — were murdered in cold blood by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi.

It is their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of millions across generations, that the United States continues to progress along the path of equality and justice.

The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight.

Fantastic analysis by New York University professor Clay Shirky:

I’m always a little reticent to draw lessons from things still unfolding, but it seems pretty clear that … this is it. The big one. This is the first revolution that has been catapulted onto a global stage and transformed by social media. I’ve been thinking a lot about the Chicago demonstrations of 1968 where they chanted ‘the whole world is watching.’ Really, that wasn’t true then. But this time it’s true … and people throughout the world are not only listening but responding. They’re engaging with individual participants, they’re passing on their messages to their friends, and they’re even providing detailed instructions to enable web proxies allowing Internet access that the authorities can’t immediately censor. That kind of participation is really extraordinary.

Traditional media operates as source of information not as a means of coordination. It can’t do more than make us sympathize. Twitter makes us empathize. It makes us part of it. Even if it’s just retweeting, you’re aiding the goal that dissidents have always sought: the awareness that the ouside world is paying attention.

(Hat tip: Nico Pitney, Huffington Post)

The website for Montgomery County High School in Mount Vernon, Georgia features a photo slide show depicting a diverse student body.

But prom season rolls around with a bit of a hitch. There is one for the white kids, and one for the black kids. The school handbook explicitly outlines the policy on nondiscrimination and racial harassment but apparently segregated proms do not fall under such classifications.

Question: what do the Latino and Asian students do for prom?

Simply despicable.