Winds of Change.NET: Transparency: Armed Liberal Comes Out

May 31, 2004

Transparency: Armed Liberal Comes Out

by Armed Liberal at May 31, 2004 6:34 AM

I�ve been working with a bunch of people on Spirit of America, including Jeff Jarvis. In New York last week, getting ready for Jim Hake�s trip to Iraq (he�s there now) we set out some principles we thought would help organize this as quickly and effectively as we�d like and is necessary.

One of them was 'absolute transparency'.

That put me in a bit of a bind, because as someone behind a pseudonym � or someone who has done a lot around these issues from behind a pseudonym, I wouldn�t be keeping that commitment.

So in talking to Dan Gillmor, for his column in today�s Mercury-News, I made a decision.

�Ollie-Ollie Oxen Free,� is how the kids put it.

My name is Marc Danziger, I live in the Los Angeles area, and I am the new C.O.O. for Spirit of America. We have BIG plans in store, and the blogosphere will play an important role.

More to come later....

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"Transparency: Armed Liberal Comes Out"

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Comments

#1 from Joe Katzman at 4:28 am on May 31, 2004

I'm glad I can finally talk about this. Most of all, however, I'm very, very proud. To think that Jim's letter to us back in December has led to all this...

We may not be a #1 blog, but we seem to be awfully good at graduating our bloggers to serious jobs here at Winds of Change.NET - from "Neocon HQ," to collaborations with people from Howard Dean's campaign in order to support the troops.

As the slogan goes: "I'm lovin' it." Even if it does mean that I have to recruit new talent.

#2 from Richard Heddleson at 4:56 am on May 31, 2004

Congratulations and best wishes. Looking forward to those plans and hope they don't impinge on bloging too much.

#3 from JFarr at 5:03 am on May 31, 2004

As I was waiting for Winds to open just now I thought - I miss AL. I didn't know how much it would be.

#4 from twisterella at 5:28 am on May 31, 2004

A.L. : Wow! I always knew you were deatined to save the world! Great first step!!!! You rock!!!

#5 from FH at 6:13 am on May 31, 2004

My hat is off to you Marc, for all you have done for America and the world. Removing the cloak of anomynity carries its risks, but you face them for a noble cause. Best Wishes on your task ahead.

#6 from Steve Smith at 6:35 am on May 31, 2004

"Marc Danziger"? Right. Can we still call you "Armed"? BTW, you were missed at the Hollywood Blog Panel last night....

#7 from Bill Rini at 6:58 am on May 31, 2004

Marc,

Funny enough, though you and I know each other via other channels, I've been a reader of your site for some time.

Good work!

Bill

#8 from inkgrrl at 7:44 am on May 31, 2004

Jeepers creepers, Mrac!

#9 from Lili at 7:51 am on May 31, 2004

Now, that you have "come out," best to stay armed. . .

Congrats! :-D

#10 from AMac at 7:55 am on May 31, 2004

Whether as A.L. or as Marc Danziger, write sensibly and passionately, and we'll man the peanut gallery. It was WoC posts that pried a small donation to Spirt of America from my cold clammy hands--so, glad to see how involved you are with the project. Best of luck!

#11 from Nathan Hamm at 8:07 am on May 31, 2004

Well, crap Marc, I guess I could have been more "buddy-buddy" in that email I sent you a couple weeks ago then if I'd known you were "A.L."

#12 from Dave Schuler at 2:59 pm on May 31, 2004

Marc:

I hope it's the job of your dreams! Don't be a stranger.

#13 from Patterico at 5:13 pm on May 31, 2004

Strangely enough, I saw Gillmor's piece before I saw your post.

Congratulations, and keep me informed on how I can help with Spirit of America.

#14 from twisterella at 7:16 pm on May 31, 2004

A.L. (can I still call you that?)-- Its occurred to me that you now have the power to fix Al-hurayrah (the 'kitten' network)-- If local SofA channels acquire viewers and carry Al-hurrah programming then the (watch Al-Hurrah!!!) meme will be enforced. But I still think they really need to change the name.:)

#15 from Gary Farber at 7:22 pm on May 31, 2004

I'd wish you all the best, Marc, and a certain special thanks. :-)

#16 from Gary Farber at 7:38 pm on May 31, 2004

Linked to this here.

#17 from Ted Barlow at 9:05 pm on May 31, 2004

Marc,

Congratulations, Marc!

Incidentally, I just googled you out of curiousity- you weren't joking around when you were talking about motorcycles, were you? Dang.

#18 from michele at 9:26 pm on May 31, 2004

Wow. One and the same.

Good luck with Spirit of America. It's a wonderful thing you are doing.

As always, I am willing to help out in any way I can.

#19 from Dan Darling at 9:55 pm on May 31, 2004

Congradulations, AL!

You ever need any help, be sure to give me a buzz!

#20 from Sam Barnes at 10:54 pm on May 31, 2004

Congrats, Marc. Are you going to be staying on here as one of Joe's regular posters, or is this goodbye to WoC? Best of luck in either case. =)

#21 from Andrew Case at 11:57 pm on May 31, 2004

You're probably getting sick of this, but since I know you as A.L. I'm happier with that name. Perhaps you could officially change your name to "Armed Liberal." As a side benefit, if you pronounce it right it sounds kind of like "Ahmed Al-Beral," which might help avoid drawing attention if you actually visit Iraq. That's assuming 'beral' doesn't mean something obscene in Arabic :-)

Best of luck to you, and I hope you keep posting here.

#22 from Anthony at 1:16 am on Jun 01, 2004

I suppose it's pretty appropriate that when I google your name, the first thing that comes up is your LABiker.com profile.

#23 from Armed Liberal at 1:31 am on Jun 01, 2004

Well, sorry to have missed all this - we were on our annual (surprise!!) motorcycle trip through the Sierra, and we're just now home.

Thanks for the good wishes. I definitely want to blog here some more, Joe and others willing, but time will be kind of short for a month or so. Let's see what happens when I'm in front of the computer late at night...

...but don't forget to all drop by the www.spiritofamerica.net site and register - we'll start rolling out some volunteer activities and a cool new project in Iraq this week!

A.L. ("Marc")

#24 from Glenn at 1:33 am on Jun 01, 2004

Congratulations Marc! Wishing you lots of luck,

Glenn

#25 from A Steve at 5:38 am on Jun 01, 2004

Well, I hope that, whate'er you do, you keep writing a bit. I really enjoy your work. And I'll support whatever your new project is to the extent that I can.

#26 from Robin Roberts at 3:56 pm on Jun 01, 2004

Great news, Marc and best wishes.

#27 from Tom Grey at 4:34 pm on Jun 01, 2004

Great Marc; I gave up my Tigger and OldTigger pseuds a while ago, too; mostly.

Can I suggest you try to get Skype (.com), for "free" peer to peer telephony, up to 4 people in conference calls? It works well.

I hope it's what YOU want to do, the most -- I came to Slovakia in 91 to "help change the world". It's a great feeling, (though I missed out on the dot.com bubble of Sili Valli).

Yes, transparency is great. Try to get Transparency International involved?

Good Luck.

#28 from d-rod at 4:39 pm on Jun 01, 2004

Wish you the best, Marc. We saw lots of bikers cruising near Mt. Lassen and Burney Falls this weekend. It was cool to see a few dozen people waving big American flags from a freeway overpass on the way home yesterday too. I'd be glad to give you a hand and help SoA (going to the site right now to register).

#29 from Da Goddess at 5:38 pm on Jun 01, 2004

Marc, I am so proud of you! I am so glad you're out there, backing up all your hard work with the exceptional presence you've had here in the blogosphere for so long. I can't wait to see what develops with SoA now that you're officially on board! I am so proud to be associated - in any capacity - with you and with SoA!

#30 from Lord Whorfin at 6:17 pm on Jun 01, 2004

Whether you go by the name "AL" or "Marc", your will always be "Ace" to me.

Phil

#31 from Jeff Brokaw at 9:19 pm on Jun 01, 2004

That's awesome A.L. - you are very lucky to have a chance to change the world for the better, and in such an effective "boots on the ground" kind of way. Congratulations! I'll be promoting SoA on my blog, for sure.

#32 from Asparagirl at 12:41 am on Jun 02, 2004

"We may not be a #1 blog..."

Says who? You guys rule.

Congratulations, Marc, and best of luck to ya.

#33 from Samuel at 7:45 pm on Jun 02, 2004

Great! Roger L. Simon did some arm twisting (well not that hard) and your "Spirit of America" has a donation coming from me. Keep up the good work!

#34 from Robert Tagorda at 5:01 am on Jun 04, 2004

Congratulations, Marc! Thankfully, we can stop referring to you by your clunky pseudonym in the Nathan Hale discussions!