I share your concern about the gender balance. However, I'll point out that the principal organizer of the event is a woman. And as a DailyKos participant, I'll just also note that countless women I've known from dKos have chosen to walk away from the community -- but now they complain that they're not included in the YearlyKos convention.

That's not all because of sexism.

Maura,

Nearly all the women who walked away were, like me, on the end of some really shitty treatment by Markos himself, who is a sexist asshole.

Please supply proof of the sexism that has forced female bloggers out of the field.

I'd prefer to see proof than a lot of whinging without attribution.

dejah,

Didn't you click on the link? This is common. These panels have a token woman. I run into it all the time in DC. Just like the talking head shows on Sunday, token women, one per show.

The pie incident clearly demonstrated to all and sundry Master K's views on such matters.

David,

Have you got a link to that one?

There are certainly long strides left to make in the fight for equality for women, and homeless people, and racial minorities, and religous minorities, and the lowest economic classes. Long strides indeed.

Progressive organizations burn people out, sometimes leaving economically and emotionally damaged volunteers to find salves for their souls. I've been one, come back and now I'm fighting more than ever.

Women organizers can be sexist, too. Hearing a training session on how males are "the" oppressors is just as bad as hearing a comedic sketch on how dumb blonds are. Males are not "the" oppressors, many men are...big difference. If you want me on your side you best know that I'm not perfect but I'll fight in your corner if you don't do to me what has been done to you.

I did read the schedule and I saw one of the panels on CSPAN last night. And you are right, there are few women on the panel, though I did see quite a few women in the audience.

Is there some reason you didn't attend the event, Melanie...or maybe you are there and I just don't know it (I haven't really kept up on the Yearly Kos event).

John,

I have another conference to do here next week and I couldn't afford to do Yearly Kos, where I would not have been welcomed after a very public and very nasty public break up with Markos, after being the first female frontpager on his site. I note again that the women who have left the Kos community have done it for cause, and Markos is the most often cause. Jerome and Chris aren't any better and I've received belittling treatment from the keyboards of both.

I'm the best known woman lefty blogger in DC. Do I ever get invited to these panels? The silence is deafening.

I'm at the conference right now, and I noticed the lack of female panelists, in fact the lack of non-white male candidates is glaring at me. I don't know anything about the controversies with women on dailykos. We did have a feminist roundtable. I am having a great time, but I still have issues with seveal things happening and being talked about, but the issues are wide-ranging.

Leaving Markos completely out of it for a moment, there was an error here, plainly, at not having enough female bloggers on the panels.

I understand, but do not know, that Markos had very little to do with planning the convention.

Whatever. Hopefully the convention will rectify the error next year. I'n not defending anybody or anything.

Thanks for clarifying the issue Melanie.

There does clearly appear to be a problem in the blogsphere. Has anyone been proposing action steps or are we still at the problem definition stage?

John,

How hard would it be to actually talk to female bloggers?

Nobody is doing that.

I guess it would be too hard.

Femblog Union?

League of Women Bloggers?

Where's the online list of female bloggers, perhaps sorted by interests...national politics, international news, sports, business.

I love reading you. I open your site at least once every day. I would love to have more female sources for news, inspiration and political strategy.

"Have you got a link to that one?"

The pie thing? No, if I remember correctly, Kos deleted his initial rant after he got called on his shitty attitude. It got a lot of play on feminist blogs last June, so it shouldn't be too hard to dig up the reactions.

There is a run-down of the dKos pie fight in the dKosopedia: here

Wayne,

Thanks for the short course on the pie fight. My issues with Markos went back to 2003, however. This site was founded after Markos kicked me off his front page in Novemeber of that year.

When you get a chance, take a look at this guy's writing on the Kos-vention. Stop Me Before I Vote Again.

At this point, after my Senators voted for Roberts and Alito, and both democrat congressmen from my state voted for the compromise Mine Safety Act and against Net Neutrality, I don't give a flying fig what the democrats do or don't do.

If they want my vote they can come to me and persuade me to give it to them on MY issues.

This is very interesting - as one who goes to dKos on an occasional basis, I missed the whole pie fight last year. Reading the account of it, it now makes sense that YearlyKos is in Vegas (it seemed to me to be a very strange place for a convention). I'm glad to be clued into the Booman Tribune.

By the way, I want to mention that I've been a sensitive New Age guy for decades (even before that phrase was coined, believe it or not).

As for being kicked off Markos's site, Melanie, it reminds me of a story Lenny Bruce put in his autobiography. There was a particular Chinese restaurant that he'd always go to in one town, where the owner would always greet him with, "Good evening Mistah Bluce. How Mrs. Bluce?" Finally came the day that Lenny told him that he and his wife were no longer together. After a pause, the restauranteur said, "Ah so. You bettah off."