I am pleased to tell you that eBay has reinstated the YearlyKos account, and we will restart the June YearlyKos eBay Auction Fundraiser on Friday evening, June 29th.  Unlike previous auctions this will be a three day only auction!  The auction will end on Monday evening, July 2nd.  Because of the extremely short time before the auction begins, we will not be accepting any new items.

In reviewing both the diary I had previously posted to advise you that the auction had been canceled I realize I was not as clear as I could have been.  eBay stated last Sunday that they canceled the auction due to suspicion of ‘Shill Bidding’.  I told all of you that I had indeed bid upon three items which were subsequently bid up out of my price range, but I had placed those bids with my personal account, not the YearlyKos account.  Although I informed you that there was no link between my personal account and the YearlyKos account, the responses of some led me to see that I had not been transparent enough.  

As many of you have noticed, eBay has cancelled our auction.  We have no hope of getting this auction reinstated with the last known bids prior to what would have been the end of the auction today.  The auction has been canceled because of me.  Seriously.  Because I, personally as oortdust, actually bid on 3 items that had not yet been bid on (you know, things I could still afford to purchase and actually wanted to buy), eBay has accused YearlyKos and myself of Shill Bidding.  Shill Bidding!!!!.

I have contacted their Trust & Safety department about this mixup.  They, like all of eBay, do not have phone support.  Nor do they have the Live Chat feature that eBay’s standard customer service uses.  Trust & Safety can only be reached by email, and their posted response time is 24-72 hours.  The last time I needed to contact them, they took 5 days to respond.

That’s right, just 24 hours until the end of the YearlyKos Mega eBay Fundraiser Auction!  Please bid now if you have been holding off.   We have double the amount of items in this auction than we did in April!  All proceeds from the auction, minus fees, goes to the YearlyKos Convention.  Even if you cannot make it to the convention, you can still support YearlyKos by bidding in the auction.  

We have an amazing collection of items on offer for you.  Most of the items you will find have been hand made by fellow Kossacks.  Others have brought autographed books, programs, dvds and shirts for your consuming pleasure.  Everyone is doing what they can to help make YearlyKos a phenomenal success.  

Stargate SG-1 has ended.  Sci-Fi Channel is now dead to me until November and the return of Battlestar Galactica.  I really liked SG-1.  I loved Farscape, and have an unhealthy obsession over BSG.  Now, all that is left are shows I won’t even watch such as Atlantis and Eureka.   All I have to look forward to now is manically checking eBay to see how the YearlyKos Auction is doing.  

Rush on over to the YearlyKos Auction Mega Fundraiser to get your chance to bid on your choice of Kossacks!  Ok, ok, rush on over to bid on amazing items created by Kossacks!  Have you any idea of how much talent your fellow Kossacks possess? Amazing items that should be in a juried craft show, are instead placed here for your viewing pleasure!

The YearlyKos Auction is proud to offer Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, and Jon Stewart for your purchasing pleasure!  Mr. Moyers himself has donated a one-of-a-kind Triple Truth Pack available only through this auction! Mr. Olbermann’s erudite visage is yours to own and frame, complete with autograph!  As for the irrepressible, snarkilicious Mr. Stewart, we are offering 2 VIP tickets to The Daily Show! But wait! There’s more...

Were you one of the Kossacks who pledged an item to the June YearlyKos Fundraiser Auction?  Have you turned in your Donation Form and sent in your images?  If you have not, here is your notice that the deadline to do so is here.  Please contact auctions at yearlykosconvention dot org and let us know the status of your donation! This will be the final auction for the 2007 YearlyKos Convention! If you had been planning on donating, now is the time to contact us.

The June YearlyKos Auction is in great need of contributions by our crafty Kossacks!  We have only a few lonely pieces of handmade items to offer.  We need quilting, jewelry, knitting, crocheting, sewing, woodwork, sculpture, photography, painting, beadwork, cookies, millenary, weaving, mosaics, glass ware, and anything else that either you or someone you know made.

We’re gearing up for our third and final auction before the 2007 YearlyKos Convention!  We hope to have many more items in this auction then we have had before!  In order to accomplish that, we are looking for volunteers to donate more of their fantastic possessions.  In the previous two auctions Kossacks have donated jewelry, books, political memorabilia, hand sewn or knitted items, soaps, prints, and everyone’s favorite – horse semen!

I personally do not remember the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but many do.  For those of us who don’t remember that crucial event, there are books, documentaries, and Wikipedia.   This convention happened the same year that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, which set off riots throughout the nations.  Parts of DC still have not recovered from those riots.  Robert F. Kennedy, former U.S. Attorney General and Presidential candidate, was also assassinated in 1968.  The Vietnam War was still happening, and protests were growing stronger.

There have been many diaries on the differences between W and (now) Senator Webb.  These diaries usually point out the breadth of experience Sen. Webb has in foreign policy, military experience, and respect for the middle class.  Quite a few has said that Senator Webb would make a significantly better president than 43, and have urged him to run for office.

Sunday, April 15th at 7pm eastern, the second YearlyKos Auction of 2007 will start!  The auction will run for seven days, allowing plenty of time to rant and plead with those daring to outbid you.  The purchase(s) you make from the YearlyKos Auction provides the funds to help us run the 2007 YearlyKos Convention in Chicago in August.  

Did you miss the February YearlyKos auction?  Were you outbid on something you really wanted?  Have you begun your spring cleaning and need to de-clutter your home? Well, lucky Kossack, YearlyKos is having an April Auction!

On Sunday evening, April 15th, we will start our second auction designed to raise funds and help defray the costs of the 2007 YearlyKos Convention in Chicago.  You can help out by donating items, by purchasing once the auction starts, or by doing both!  If you would like to donate any items, please contact us at auctions at yearlykosconvention dot org.

The YearlyKos Auction comes to a close tomorrow, Monday, between 7pm and 11pm eastern.  If you have bid or are going to bid, make certain you check your items’ end of auction time.  Most items have people watching them, waiting to strike while they’re certain the rest of you are still hung over from Chinese New Year (or it could be that you’re out at the inevitable Presidents’ Day sales)!  

A reminder to those who have bid on either the Cookies of Mass Destruction, or the 2007 Countdown Calendar – there are two of each of these for auction!  If the price on one of them is getting too high, check out the other and raise that price also! No need for one item to be jealous of its twin’s high price when they both could fetch lovely large donations!

YEARLYKOS 2007 AUCTION FUNDRAISER IN PROGRESS!!

Skip on down the orange brick road & find your way to that shopping paradise known as the YearlyKos 2007 Auction!  Why bother with plastic and duct tape when you can have jewelry, clothing, books, memorabilia, and status!  Amaze your friends and astound your relatives with phenomenal items that could be yours, but for a bit of coin!  

MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY! Come on by eBay Monday evening and view the fabulous items up for auction!  The auction will start at 7pm Eastern.  Thirty-four donations will appear between 7 and 11 pm.  The auction will end on Monday, February 19th, at 11pm Eastern.   You can find the auction on eBay by searching for ‘YearlyKos’.  On Monday, we will include links to take you directly to the auction.  We will do what we can to make it easier for you to contribute to YearlyKos, and get cool swag in the process!

This weekend we are trying to get the last few thousand of you to offer up donations for our first auction!  The auction will start Monday, February 12th, and we would like to have a fabulous array of luscious items for purchase.   Please keep in mind that the more we raise through these auctions, the more we can provide at the convention.

Hello, Dear Readers! Welcome to another fine installment of How You Can Help the YearlyKos Convention!  I know you sit there each day fretting about what you can do to help out the convention and ensure that it will be even more of a success then it was last year.  I understand how you worry if there will be enough funds for our own, non-politician sponsored chocolate fountain.  I feel your consternation over whether or not we will be able to afford enough recycle containers for all the Cheer’s and Jeer’s crowds’ rum and coke bottles.  Your cries of woe as you worry how we will ever have enough fainting couches for mind blown media hacks have kept me up at night.