Another video mocking the housing gaffe by McCain, spoofing the Bud Light Real Man of Genius campaign.
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I signed up to attend one of Move On‘s Community Council Meetings being held nationwide tonight, mostly out of curiosity. I left after 90 minutes because I watched them make the bigger is better mistake Sixty-five people signed up in my town, and 45 or so showed up. The agenda set by move on included creating the framework for making July 9th Oil-Free President Day. (Note to readers: refill your tank outside the 5-6pm hour on July 9th to avoid the congestion that is sure to ensue that evening).
The group basically needed to pick a gas station in our community to serve as the venue to remind rush hour commuters that McCain is tightly linked to the oil companies, which won’t help the nation solve its energy crisis. It derailed when someone asked, who in this town is voting for McCain? We’d just be preaching to the choir. We need to go somewhere else.
At this point an elderly man noted that congregating in front of Occidental Oil would make much more sense. The location is more symbolic and it’s centrally located in a high-traffic part of Los Angeles (but not in our immediate town.)
Another woman piped up that to be the most effective, we need larger numbers. Thus, we should team with another community. It would be more likely to draw big media attention.
They lost the point of the July 9th event. MoveOn is trying to orchestrate hundreds, if not thousands, of these events nationwide. As attendee Alex pointed out, “we’re a cog in a greater wheel.” MoveOn is going to handle national media attention focused on this massive coordinated event. The individual town councils are meant to draw the attention of local media and local residents. Have you picked up your local paper recently. . . typically it’s full of information that’s only relevant to you if you live within x miles of distribution. The more of these small town papers covering Oil-Free President Day the better.
There’s an old saying, think globally, act locally. It’s a saying because it’s tried and true.
I just finished reading Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Parts 5 & 6 looks at the Iraq war– including war profiteering and the explosive blowback that is to be expected. It’s absurd that contractors refused to hire Iraqis to do the work and instead shipped Americans in. The same happened in terms of raw materials, rather than use Iraqi companies, materials were shipped in from across country lines. When it looked as though the new government would shoot down the incredibly invasive participation by contractors, the US went on to appoint, rather than elect, a new gov’t so they could stay in control. One slap in the face after another for the country. Liberation, my ass. It’s amazing to see how different the outcome of the invasion of Iraq could have been had there been an iota of concern for the Iraqi people.
The US has aided in crippling economies globally to keep that increasingly elusive growth in the business world alive. Klein goes on to make a comparison between Iraq and Katrina contracting. Squelching recovery isn’t just for foreigners, we’re happy to treat American citizens the same way.
It’s heart breaking and should be required reading before November.
If you’re reading this post on Brazen Careerist, click through to the original post to see the included video.
“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” JFK, Inaugural Address, 1961
Despite generational differences in priorities, information sources, and modes of communication, a majority of Americans now say that a job in public service would be appealing. Yet, 60% of those under age thirty say they have never been asked to consider a job in government. However, if asked by their parents (33%) or the newly elected President in 2008 (29%), a significant share of Millennials say they would give such a request a great deal of consideration. In fact, the newly elected President in 2008 tops the list of motivators for those over thirty, with 30% saying they would give a great deal of consideration to this “ask.”
. . .
In addition, Millennials would also give a great deal of consideration to a job in government if asked by teachers or professors (27%) and other young people already working in government (22%).
The earliest Millenials are children of the 1980s, a decade of extreme excess and greed. After being brought up in a society that puts corporate profit ahead of a nation’s citizens, it’s no wonder Millennials respond well to being given permission to put fiscal profit on the back burner.
I bring up this study published last month because Sen. Obama filled in for Sen. Ted Kennedy at Wesleyan University’s commencement today. His speech focused on how graduates could serve their nation, and is worth a read in full. I’ve posted an abridged version below or you can watch the twenty minute video on YouTube.
. . . the history of this nation tells us . . . that we are a people whose destiny has never been written for us, but by us –
by generations of men and women, young and old, who have always believed that their story and the American story are not separate, but shared. And for more than two centuries, they have served this country in ways that have forever enriched both. . .
Each of you will have the chance to make your own discovery in the years to come. And I say “chance” because you won’t have to take it. There’s no community service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should by. You can choose to narrow your concerns and live your life in a way that tries to keep your story separate from America’s.
But I hope you don’t. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, though you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those who helped you get here, though you do have that debt.
It’s because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. Because thinking only about yourself, fulfilling your immediate wants and needs, betrays a poverty of ambition. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential and discover the role you’ll play in writing the next great chapter in America’s story. . .
At a time of war, we need you to work for peace. At a time of inequality, we need you to work for opportunity. At a time of so much cynicism and so much doubt, we need you to make us believe again. . .
And so, should you take the path of service, should you choose to take up one of these causes as your own, know that you’
ll experience frustrations and failures. Even your successes will be marked by imperfections and unintended consequences. I guarantee you, there will certainly be times when friends or family urge you to pursue more sensible endeavors with more tangible rewards. And there will be times when you are tempted to take their advice.
But I hope you’ll remember, during those times of doubt and frustration, that there is nothing naïve about your impulse to change this world. Because all it takes is one act of service – one blow against injustice –to send forth that tiny ripple of hope that Robert Kennedy spoke of.
You know, Ted Kennedy often tells a story about the fifth anniversary celebration of the Peace Corps. He was there, and he asked one of the young Americans why he had chosen to volunteer. And the man replied, “Because it was the first time someone asked me to do something for my country.”
I don’t know how many of you have been asked that question, but after today, you have no excuses.
Sometimes all you have to do is ask. North Carolina Governor Easley learned that lesson last fall when he asked state residents to cut back on water consumption because of severe drought conditions. While the path of least resistance is often taken, some haven’t considered that the outcomes of the harder path might contribute to a greater good, that can’t be measured at the outset, as well as start a ripple that becomes a tidal wave of change.
MoveOn Leadership has been tracking interest in a number of candidates since the beginning of the year, in an effort to determine which candidate the organization will publicly endorse. Members are not making it easy for the staffers, based on the graph that MoveOn sent to its supporters today.
I find it interesting that Edwards has been regarded pretty consistently most of the year, whereas Obama took a dip in October that he’s not yet recovered from. Does anyone know what happened in early October that could have affected his support so strongly? What spiked Clinton in her campaign at the same time?
Much of my social circle is swept up in Obama-fever. After reading his latest stump speech in Iowa, I want to get caught up too.
At this defining moment, we cannot wait any longer for universal health care. We cannot wait to fix our schools. We cannot wait for good jobs, and living wages, and pensions we can count on. We cannot wait to halt global warming, and we cannot wait to end this war in Iraq. . .
However, Obama also comments on lobbyists — pervasive and ever present in political settings, driving for legislation to benefit their corporate fatcat clients to the detriment of the American people.
They said we couldn’t compete without taking money from Washington lobbyists. But you proved them wrong when we raised more small donations from more Americans than any other campaign in history.
Is it enough to not accept money from lobbyists when several work for Obama’s campaign? Even having resigned from the lobbying firms they work for, are these workers really focused on the best for the American people or the best for the former, and likely future, clients?
The Hill put together a list of former lobbyists that are currently on the campaign trail with all of the major candidates. For someone campaigning as if he’s going to take lobbyists out of the equation, Obama has quite a few on his own payroll. (Huffington Post blogger Christine Escobar covers the industry expertise of a number of the lobbyists out on the campaign trail over at Alternet.) While Edwards has publicly noted his intent to ban lobbyists from the White House if elected, Obama has yet to pledge the same. Could lies by omission might be an acceptable part of his leadership and campaign tactics?
I want to believe in a candidate that pledges to break all the rules and redefine the political landscape, but only if I can truly believe that candidate will govern transparently.
Do you believe the Bush administration should be held accountable for the lies and gross abuses of power at the expense of the American people and our nation’s status in the world?
If you said yes, join Congressman Wexler’s online petition to encourage the impeachment hearings of Dick Cheney in 2008. Send a message to the current administration and its spokespuppet Bush.
131,291 individuals have already jumped aboard the online petition, myself included. I hope you’re next!
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