They're going to do this for all the candidates willing to participate, both republican and democratic. I'll post again when the next one is scheduled.
Join in NOW - 45 minutes left. You don't have to have a Myspace profile to watch and participate.
It's at:
http://www.myspace.com/election2008
What I remember is a left-wing crazy assed blogger hooking up with an established political communications professional in an unlikely synergy that would launch a powerful progressive force uniting activists of all types into one strong voice.
I remember strategy meetings in Starbucks. I remember going over website features and designs over a Bob Evans breakfast. I remember flying to Denver to learn from our colleagues (and now good friends) at ProgressNow. I seem to also remember a ton of snow and sitting on a plane for two hours, but thems the breaks in ski country I reckon.
I remember finally coming to light on South Third Street and shooting a video holding Deb Pryce and company accountable to our seniors while furniture was being moved in. Hit the ground running - and haven't let up since. You might remember that video. They didn't care about our statement.
They care now.
Only now the statement is bigger. Not many listen to a dozen voices as those are easy to ignore. It's no longer feasible to ignore more than 250,000 voices all demanding an end to our failed foray into neo-conservatism. The voices demanded an end to 16 years of corrupt one party rule. The voices demanded to be represented.
They are starting to listen.
From the first day we countered the right-wing noise, and you were there. You might have just sat back and read emails. You might have cursed your screen as we all do at times. You might have signed a petition thinking 'what good does this really do?'. You might have signed up for a blog and began to speak out online. You may have even attended or even organized a live event. Whatever you did, you did it with ProgressOhio tools - and it mattered immensely. I'm often asked what it is ProgressOhio does. It's actually quite simple and the confusion amazes me. PO is a toolset for countering right-wing noise and smears and for furthering progressive causes. PO is a concentration of our power and voice. PO works to make sure progressive voices are heard and progressive policies are fought for.
But most of all ProgressOhio was launched with the goal to be powered by and representative of you, the progressive activist. I'm proud to have had a very small role in getting the ball rolling. By the looks of it, the ball is not only rolling but picking up steam. My last visit to the offices at PO was two doors down and double the space. Each time I've been in there have been multiple people working to further the progressive cause, whether directly for ProgressOhio or for partner groups. I've rarely recognized everyone in the office and that left me smilling. It's what we were after.
So congratulations. To YOU. For one year of progressive work. I hope we are able to get together soon and celebrate our accomplishments together. I hope you feel as good about it as I do.
And finally some advice. Whatever it is you do - DO IT! Don't worry about how small it feels. Together it is significant. I think it was said best by a bespeckled bald Indian:
"Almost anything you do seems insignificant. It is very important that you do it. You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
Progress Bombaye!
PS - I want a corner piece!
This week, I’ll be participating in the Food Stamp Challenge. For seven days, I’ll be living on three dollars of food per day, the same amount an average participant in the Food Stamp Program receives. The Challenge is an exercise aimed to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by millions of Americans, who live day to day, working to put food on the table.
Last Friday, my staff and I held a meeting plotting out how I would spend my $21.00. As we looked over food prices, we were struck by how anyone could expect a person to have a balanced, healthy diet on a mere three dollars per day. On a dollar per meal, a person can’t buy fresh fruit and vegetables. A person can’t buy the milk they need. The kids across the country who go to bed hungry on nights when the budget is stretched too thin deal with the reality of poverty every day, and I want them to know they aren’t forgotten.
There are over one million recipients of Food Stamps in Ohio, nearly 90,000 in the 17th District. I’m participating in this challenge because as Congress crafts this years Farm Bill, we’re going to have to take a hard look at the way the Food Stamp Program is administered. I hope that at the end of the week, I have a deeper understanding of the hardships of these millions of American, and a better idea of how to help them.
(X posted from Plunderbund) Let's cut to the point and get something straight here right out of the gate. The Buckeye Institute is not our friend - if you don't consider yourself a conservative. Put a nice little period after that one and you can go about your day unless you want to hear me pound Jill Zimon for the next couple minutes.
Jill posted a nice little note on her blog making us all aware that The Buckeye Institute has a new blog designed to alert us of any "wasteful spending" at The Statehouse. It's fun! It's exciting! We can make our government better and the flowers will smell rosier and the sun will shine brighter. Jill, dear, what the FUCK don't you get about the Buckeye Institute? First clue:
Right there above the link to your blog...see it? "...promoting free market ideas and limited government". That's code for "Right-wing intelligent design loving miscreants". Is this new to you? Thankfully Jerid hopped on this and outed Carlo and friends. You really want to point people there and have us all hop on this illusion of a bi-partisan trainwreck? You really hat tipped Matt Naugle? Did i really just see that? There is a reason Russell and I used to give you shit about being a closet conservative. Then you let Matt get away with slamming Policy Matters and pretending that Buckeye Institute is "completely unlike Policy Matters, which is a group of liberal smucks and union cronies". Pardon me, but What? The? Fuck?
Do some damned research. You normally do. Find out that while Matt is understandably trying to paint Policy Matters as partisan and Buckeye Institute as "representing the general interest", nothing could be further from the truth. Second clue? They hired his ass to put the blog together! Ding ding ding! I think there is a knob behind your left ear labeled "conservative misinformation bullshit meter". Turn that up to 11.
Business First got it right when they called BI "a conservative think tank in Columbus". Duh. You might also find out that in January Deborah Owens (aka DeborahLOwens or Deborah Owens Fink) was named to the board. Wanna guess who she gave money to? Yup. Wanna guess what else she is involved in? You know, right? You quoted her once and I think even pounded on her a bit. She's also the mouthpiece in Ohio for Seattle's Discovery Institute - a so-called "public policy think tank", but more aptly described as a "belief tank" (like a think tank without the doubt).
Blackwell, Loparo, Fink, Naugle. Yes! Let's get behind that! Make no mistake here: The Buckeye Institute is the enemy. If No one is more concerned about Ohio's future than you, then call bullshit on this instead of empower it. For the love of all that is good and right fight the good fight!
But hey, it's a rough and tumble world out there in this political landscape. Charlatans everywhere. Be careful, kid. You need something just come see me at the pub. I'll be in the back talking strategy with Vinnie.
The less frequently discussed issue is the primary schedule. Read More »
John Edwards' February 2 speech to the DNC HERE.
This is an old fashioned Democrat's kind of speech -- and indeed, John Edwards' argument is that we don't need to reshape the Democratic Party; we need to get back to being the Democratic party. Universal healthcare, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the need for jobs, better access to education -- and the plight of children in war zones a half a world away all come up.
I was born in North Carolina, and still have family and friends there -- I lived there til I was more than 21 (but they made me register to vote in Wisconsin, where I had NEVER lived, because my parents had moved there my senior year in college and -- oh, don't get me started!). I'm a faculty brat; daughter of a professor, but granddaughter of the sherriff of Guilford County (a Democrat of course) on one side (and I could get into the D.A.R. on that side) and of Quakers who were in NC since before the Revolution. A complex history -- but not atypical of a complex place. My beloved Uncle Peter (J. Floyd Moore -- and no I don't know why he has always been known as Pete) came from a mill background not unlike John Edwards' -- and like Edwards, my uncle was able to move beyond that: he was a convinced Friend, got a Ph.D. at Boston University (and probably overlapped there with Martin Luther King -- I should ask -- hope he can remember still). My uncle did relief work in Germany after WW II with the Quakers (and brought me a German doll that I named Erica, and a French doll I named Yvonne). He and my aunt taught at the Friends' School in Ramallah -- and my first baby gift was a red letter New Testament with olivewood covers, with a lovely prenatally composed note from my Aunt Lucretia, for whom I was named.
My uncle taught at Guilford College, brought the Friends' World Conference there when I was in high school, integrated that southern school in the early sixties with African Quakers. He told me that his first job was sweeping a mill floor as a child of a widowed mother. He came a long way, and he generously brought a great many North Carolinians further along: through education and travel and intenational understanding. I see John Edwards moving along much the same path many years later.
I wish he had fought for the senate seat Elizabeth Dole has now -- but I think he has done great things since the '04 election, and grown more fully into a leader's role.
It is too early to pick a candidate, I know -- but John Edwards speaks well, and heartfully -- and Elizabeth Edwards is a bright and interesting woman -- her current book is worth your time. I think John Edwards' voice affects Buckeyes in something like the way Ted Strickland's does -- these are men who grew up in, but out of, poverty, without forgetting where they came from, or what life is like for others.
I'm not ready to ask you to vote for him, but please watch him with me.
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