http://www.LibertyCaucus.Net An online discussion of issues and activities for the Republican Liberty Caucus of California. en-us Weblog@LibertyCaucus.Net Copyright 2006 2007-01-23T17:58:00-08:00 hourly 1 Douglas Lorenz<doug@lorenz.net> http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/new_rss_features_for_google/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/new_rss_features_for_google/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/new_rss_features_for_google/#When:17:58:00Z Google's personalized home page function, which allows RSS feeds from websites like the RLC-CA now lists the date that the news articles were posted, along with a quick click function that allows you to take a look at the intro…
On the RLC-CA website, click on the link on the left hand side of the page that reads "What is RSS?" for more information.]]> 2007-01-23T09:58:00-08:00 Douglas Lorenz<doug@lorenz.net> http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/seeking_legislative_director_for_rlc_ca/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/seeking_legislative_director_for_rlc_ca/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/seeking_legislative_director_for_rlc_ca/#When:19:44:01Z Much of what we will be doing as an organization will rely on keeping track of the Sacramento legislative agenda and keeping our members informed of both good and bad legislation. To that end, the Republican Liberty Caucus of California…
As an organization we will need to be able to know early in the game when new legislation is coming which the RLC should be taking a stand on. The legislative director will have considerable input in helping determine the direction of the RLC's activities.

The position's duties include:

Regularly reviewing California legislation to identify issues of RLC interest. Posting relevant legislative issues to the RLCCA website. Working with the RLCCA's board of directors to develop action plans. Writing summaries of important legislative issues for the RLC website and newsletter

A good candidate for this position would be someone who is self-motivated, and is interested in the legislative process. A college student pursuing a degree in either law or government would probably find this to be a valuable experience, and it is likely that we can arrange college internship credits for your work.

For more information, send an email to "Doug@Lorenz.Net"...]]> 2006-12-11T11:44:01-08:00 Douglas Lorenz<doug@lorenz.net> http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/making_rss_feeds_easier/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/making_rss_feeds_easier/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/making_rss_feeds_easier/#When:17:30:00Z RSS feeds of the RLC of California weblog and news are now even easier. Code has been added to the "What is RSS" page which makes it even easier to subscribe to an RSS feed through your Google homepage. While…
Code has been added to the "What is RSS" page which makes it even easier to subscribe to an RSS feed through your Google homepage. While it is easy to do this automatically with browsers such as Firefox 2.0, the new "Add to Google" links make it easier for people with older browsers to get regular RSS updates of the website...

Check it out!]]> 2006-12-07T09:30:00-08:00 Douglas Lorenz<doug@lorenz.net> http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/a_couple_of_minor_points/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/a_couple_of_minor_points/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/a_couple_of_minor_points/#When:21:13:00Z First of all, I have removed a couple of items from the main website menu, particularly a few items that will require considerable development work before they are ready for the public. There are still a few items on the…
The second item is our domain names... In addition to the "http://www.libertycaucus.net" domain name, our main domain name of "http://www.ca.rlc.org" is now working. We will be using both domain names as we try to determine which one is more memorable and drives more traffic to the website.]]> 2006-12-06T13:13:00-08:00 Douglas Lorenz<doug@lorenz.net> http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/more_website_updates/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/more_website_updates/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/more_website_updates/#When:17:13:00Z First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the compliments and suggestions that I have received so far about the RLC of California website. I have been working to implement new features as quickly as possible, and we…
Keep those comments and suggestions coming in... You can post comments here on the weblog, or you can continue to email me at Website@LibertyCaucus.Net.

From suggestions received, I have changed the news function on the website considerably. First of all, I have changed the way the news pages link, leaving the full content of the news item on the original news source website. However, the content of the news items is still archived in our database in case the original source ever goes offline.

We also have a comment function on news items. Registered website visitors can now leave comments about news items posted. Hopefully this feature will help people to fully understand the issues coming at us...]]> 2006-11-27T09:13:00-08:00 Douglas Lorenz<doug@lorenz.net> http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/website_news_function_and_rss_feed_are_up_and_running/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/website_news_function_and_rss_feed_are_up_and_running/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/website_news_function_and_rss_feed_are_up_and_running/#When:23:34:00Z The title tells it all... I have completed the function that will allow us to maintain an archive of news items, and the RSS feed for the news function is working quite well. This means that people can use a…
This means that people can use a RSS aware program to subscribe to the news page on the RLC's website, and we will provide you with relevant news items.

Once again, if you find any errors in the new functions, either leave a comment here on the weblog or send an email to: Website@LibertyCaucus.Net
]]> 2006-11-22T15:34:00-08:00 Douglas Lorenz<doug@lorenz.net> http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/graphical_layout/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/graphical_layout/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/graphical_layout/#When:19:28:00Z A few items about the graphical layout of the website... The blue strip in the title graphic will eventually contain graphical navigation links. Currently all of the navigation features for the website have not yet been defined, but once that…
The blue strip in the title graphic will eventually contain graphical navigation links. Currently all of the navigation features for the website have not yet been defined, but once that is done, we will have graphical links for the most popular website functions.

The empty space to the right is sized to hold a column of 120x90 pixel adlinks. These will be links to different organizations and campaigns which are relevant to the RLCCA's goals.

The width of the website is fairly large, and displays best on a screen size of 1024x768 or larger... Since the vast majority of people have a screen resolution of at least 1024x768, this shouldn't be a problem. In fact, most of the newest monitors operate at a far higher resolution. I use a two-monitor LCD system with one screen at 1680x1050, and the other at 1400x1050. While this allows me to work with a tremendous amount of data at once, I sometimes forget that my configuration is uncommon. If people find the website resolution to be causing difficulty, please leave a comment and perhaps we can find a solution.]]> 2006-11-20T11:28:00-08:00 Douglas Lorenz<doug@lorenz.net> http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/rss_functionality/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/rss_functionality/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/rss_functionality/#When:18:39:00Z Currently working on developing RSS syndication functionality for the website... RSS is a great tool that allows people to automatically download new content from a website so that they don't have to visit the website constantly to check for updates.…
RSS is a great tool that allows people to automatically download new content from a website so that they don't have to visit the website constantly to check for updates. For features like the weblog, news pages, press releases and such, this will be a valuable tool.

RSS syndication is currently working for the weblog. I have tested it out using the RSS Feed reader funciton in Outlook 2007, and it is functioning without problem there. Other people probably use other RSS readers, so check it out and give feedback if anything does not work...]]> 2006-11-20T10:39:00-08:00 Douglas Lorenz<doug@lorenz.net> http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/website_under_construction/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/website_under_construction/ http://www.libertycaucus.net/index.php/RLCCA/WeblogComments/website_under_construction/#When:15:21:01Z This website is currently under construction... There will be a lot of changes over the next few weeks, with some website functions being available right now, and other website functions being developed and implemented over time. Right now, the first…
There will be a lot of changes over the next few weeks, with some website functions being available right now, and other website functions being developed and implemented over time. Right now, the first item to be nearly complete is this weblog.

The design of the weblog was completed first, giving us a place to post messages about the development of the website. The comment function works as well, so feel free to offer constructive criticism of the development that is currently going on.

You will have to register as a member to post comments to the weblog. The reason for this is twofold.

First, there are a lot of automated comment spammer systems out there which exist solely to post unrelated messages on unprotected weblogs. Since it is a waste of time and effort to have someone assigned to the task of monitoring all comments and deleting the spam, it's just a good deal easier just to require that people register as members.

Secondly, on a political discussion site, anonymous posting tends to lead to flamewars which accomplish nothing. The theory is that if a person has to sign the message with their own name, that person is less likely to be grossly offensive. We'll see how that theory works in practice.

Registration does require a valid email address, since the system has a verification process which sends a confirmation email to the address that is given during registration. That part of the system is still being tested, but it is working well enough so far. The only problem that I see is that there are a number of internet service providers who have implemented some rather severe anti-spam methods which tend to create false positives and reject legitimate emails. If you are trying to register, but you do not receive the confirmation email, just send a message to Registration@LibertyCaucus.Net and someone will figure out the problem.

So I'll be posting regularly during the construction of the website, keeping everyone up to date and announcing every website feature as it comes online.

The official launch day for the new Republican Liberty Caucus of California website is going to be January 1, 2007... That should give everyone more than enough time to work out system bugs...
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