Politics, the environment, technology, activism. And stuff.
Posted in General on Mar 4th, 2010
Copenhagen was doomed to failure from the day that Obama decided to do health care in 2009 and not climate legislation. Enviros should have recognized this and responded by de-emphasizing the strategic importance of Copenhagen, and focusing their limited resources to prepare for 2010.
If you didn’t already think that one of the most important long-term issues in our society is the twin hydra of corporate personhood and campaign finance reform, today’s Supreme Court ruling should be a shocking eye-opener for you. Make no mistake, this is serious, worrisome stuff. It’s time for all of the groups in the “progressive” [...]
Posted in General on Oct 2nd, 2009
WTF? In an affront to environmental poster boy, Sierra Club leader and mayoral candidate Mike McGinn, the King County Conservation Voters have decided not to endorse either candidate in the mayor’s race. It’s hard to build a movement when you won’t stand with your own. Very disappointing.
Posted in General on Sep 29th, 2009
County government simply isn’t sustainable, anywhere in the state, and no amount of focus on budget priorities is going to fix this over the long term. At some point, voters are going to have to accept that the level of revenue they are providing simply isn’t sufficient to support the level of services they’ve [...]
Posted in General on Sep 28th, 2009
Paul Krugman has a great column on climate change today. This leapt out at me. “For three decades the dominant political ideology in America has extolled private enterprise and denigrated government, but climate change is a problem that can only be addressed through government action. And rather than concede the limits of their philosophy, many on [...]
Posted in General on Sep 15th, 2009
Supporters of long-term social change should not just be providing resources to organizing campaigns. They should also be focusing on helping decisionmakers become more able to hear the messages that social change campaigns are sending. What good is funding campaigns to send faxes, emails, tweets, phone calls and letters to legislators who are already overwhelmed [...]
Posted in General on Aug 31st, 2009
I just finished reading “The Inheritance,” a new book by New York Times foreign correspondant David E. Sanger. It’s a lucid, thoughtful look inside the Bush foreign policy legacy, with a strong focus on the challenging global security situations in North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan that the Obama administration must contend with. Sobering and [...]
Posted in General on Aug 17th, 2009
A somewhat rambling post from Lee at HorsesAss had this gem stuck in at the bottom: While the people whose paranoia far outweighs their ability to grasp complex issues continue to show up at town halls and scream their heads off, I still hold out some hope that enough Americans are taking the same thing away [...]
Posted in General on Jul 11th, 2009
Brilliant manifesto, or reheated marketing pap? (David Eaves says the former, I’m less sure.) What’s your take?
Paul Krugman so often gives eloquent voice to common sense: And I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach — a feeling that America just isn’t rising to the greatest economic challenge in 70 years. The best may not lack all conviction, but they seem alarmingly willing [...]
Posted in General on Jan 18th, 2009
It will be very, very interesting to see how Obama’s new “Organizing For America” effort, run through the DNC, plays out. The new group, called Organizing for America, will be a “special project” of the Democratic National Committee, according to Obama transition spokesman Ben LaBolt, and it appears to be the primary vehicle for issue advocacy for Obama’s [...]
Posted in General on Nov 27th, 2008
Allison Fine throws some common sense on the fire in assessing post-election “crowdsourcing change” efforts. I’m going to shamelessly quote it at length because the message is worth amplifying and repeating. Oh, the sacrilege of criticizing well meaning crowd sourcing!! Shouldn’t citizens be allowed, nay encouraged!, to throw do-goody ideas against the wall so that we can then [...]
Posted in General on Nov 8th, 2008
Newsweek offers convincing evidence that “mainstream media” is still possible and relevant with a fantastic, in-depth look behind the scenes of an epic election campaign. Their web presentation is a bit choppy, but here are quick links to the seven in-depth chapters. Well worth a read. Ch. 1: Barack Obama: How He [...]
Posted in General on Oct 18th, 2008
Obama’s no socialist, but McCain and Palin are acting more and more like fascist demagogues all the time. I’ll be glad when this election ends in a blowout that sends them both scampering back to their caves with the last remanants of the revanchist right.
Failed authoritarian movements needs scapegoats the way fecal coliformbacteria need a steady supply of raw sewage, and this one has a lot offailures that need explaining.
Well put, Gail Collins: Imagine what would happen if a new beetle infested the Iowa corn crop during the first year of a McCain administration. On Monday, we spray. On Tuesday, we firebomb. On Wednesday, the president marches barefoot through the prairie in a show of support for Iowa farmers. On Thursday, the White House reveals that Wiley Flum, [...]
Posted in General on Sep 14th, 2008
I don’t have a degree in psychiatry, but it occurred to me the other day that Sarah Palin represents the right wing’s subconscious longing for collective suicide. I’m just sayin’.
Posted in General on Sep 12th, 2008
Received via email. Kudos and amen to its anonymous creator.
Posted in General on May 1st, 2008
Zephyr Teachout waxes eloquent about May Day: May Day is not about people in the streets. I like streets as much as the next person, but streets, like the internet, are only tools–in 1890 they were powerful tools, and the right tools to use, but if you confuse the image with the action, you can spend [...]
Posted in General on Mar 19th, 2008
[18:00] I’m liveblogging from the event ONE/Northwest is hosting tonight, titled “Political Campaigns and Technology.” We’ve got about 50 people in our office here in Seattle, gathered together for a fast-paced peer-to-peer learning session in which we’re going to explore the various ways that political campaigns are using technology to build and sustain relationships, [...]