Power Vote

September 2, 2008

Whichever party takes control of the White House and Congress in November, citizens who seek a more just, fair and peaceful world will need to challenge an inside-the-beltway establishment consensus that puts profits over people.

That means building sufficient grassroots pressure to force government to legislate in ways that the corporate sector spends lots of money trying to avoid. On the environmental front, pressure is slowly building with many young people in particular investing an increasing amount of time and energy in finding alternatives to the fossil fuel-based economy that is rendering the planet less and less habitable. In fact, as my friend Ben Adler reports in Politico, even after expanding summer lobbying and intern programs, Greenpeace and other environmental groups say hundreds of applicants from students for environmental advocacy programs are being turned away.

That's where Power Vote comes in. A new national non-partisan effort spearheaded by the Energy Action Coalition, PV is trying to tap this groundswell of support for a greener economy by bringing millions of young voters together in demanding political leadership that will develop solutions like efficiency, wind and solar power and sustainable transportation. The group's platform is a concise and sensible primer for the fundamental break we need to make from our dependence on highly-polluting fossil fuels.

Take Back Labor Day

August 29, 2008

There's something a little perverse about the anti-worker Republican Party commencing its quadrennial confab in St. Paul, Minnesota on Labor Day. Fortunately for all Minnesotans, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is staging a far more appropriate celebration this Monday on Harriet Island, just across the Mississippi River from the Republican National Convention.

The Take Back Labor Day Festival aims to combine world-class music, programs on cutting-edge activism and family fun in an all-day gala to to celebrate workers' historic achievements and to promote a new vision for the 21st century that includes affordable, quality healthcare for everyone; wages that can support families'; unfettered freedom to join unions without intimidation or sanction and true retirement security.

The core of the festival is a veritable who's who of lefty musicians, all of whom are as distinguished as much by their musical accomplishments as by their enduring support for the rights of working people. The concert portion of the day runs from 3:00pm to 7:00 and features Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, Mos Def, Steve Earle, Allison Moorer and Pharcyde.

Leave No Soldier Behind

August 27, 2008

Despite polls showing that the majority of Americans are sick and tired of war in Iraq, see the invasion as a mistake, and want the troops to return home, the Democrats have managed to go through half of their quadrennial convention with barely a mention of the conflict. It's safe to say that expeditiously ending the war is not now the Democratic presidential priority that many Obama supporters would like it to be -- and the pro-war Biden's selection certainly doesn't help.

The Iraqis themselves may succeed in establishing a plan to kick us out before the next US president even has the chance to put his stamp on a new policy but, in any case, the more political pressure that can be applied on whoever is occupying the White House, the more likely he'll be to implement a speedy withdrawal.

I haven't been focusing nearly enough on the many efforts underway to end the war. So today I'm going to start regularly highlighting antiwar initiatives, projects, protests and programs. Peace Action's No Soldier Left Behind is a campaign promoting a comprehensive plan to end the war and embark on humane reconstruction through a withdrawal of all troops and private contractors within one year; a "diplomatic surge" that engages Iraq's neighbors (including Iran and Syria) and the international community; major donor efforts for Iraqi-controlled reconstruction and humanitarian aid and the establishment of international peacekeeping and stabilization forces, if requested by the Iraqi people. The campaign is collecting names on this petition urging the next president to consider the goals enshrined above.

They Got the Memo

August 26, 2008

There's a dizzying array of panels, plenaries, protests and parties this week in Denver as 4,000 delegates, 15,000 members of the media and thousands of additional political tourists look for things to do.

So I'll try to focus on just a few things this week that seem of particular interest and that are being pod and/or webcast like tomorrow's collaboration between the Women's Media Center and Women's E-News as part of the SeaChange Forum at Denver's Starz Lounge.

They Got the Memo: Members of Congress Reveal How They Push a Pro-Women Agenda features leading feminist legislators trading notes on how they have dealt legislatively with critical importance like wages and poverty, employment barriers, reproductive health, domestic violence and homophobia.

Denver: The Unofficial Guide

August 24, 2008

This post will be continously updated during DNC week.

While the Democrats, the Obama campaign and the attendant corporate sponsors pull out all the stops for this week's historic Democratic National Convention, there's a shadow structure of progressive organizing taking the form of panels, protests, film festivals and, of course, parties trying to catch the eyes of the world which will be focused on Denver this week.

So take this post as an informal and unavoidably incomplete guide to what's going on outside the convention hall this week in Denver with a particular focus on those events that are available for viewing or listening online and that are open to the public. And do check out my friend Don Hazen's informative look at what's going on at Alternet, the website he's built into one of the most well-read progressive destinations on the internet.

From Fannie Lou Hamer to Barack Obama

August 11, 2008

The Nation is proud to be sponsoring the Denver Public Library's "I Am the Library" project.

Here's the project's compelling new video created by the ultra-talented Audrey Sprenger:

Edwards Lied! Who Cares?

August 8, 2008

Yes, it's a disappointing surprise, especially to fans of his wife Elizabeth, that John Edwards has admitted that the National Enquirer got it right when it reported he'd been having an affair, and that his denials have been lies. But the important thing to remember, in my view, is that his sex life is none of our business. We're interested in him because of his public life. Yes, he lied but, to me, that's a part of who he is that has nothing to do with his policy work -- the aspect of his life that we should care about.

If we limit political office to only those few of us who have lead pure personal lives, we're going to limit the pool considerably. I think FDR was a pretty good president but he had multiple affairs. So did Martin Luther King, Jr and I think he would've made a great president.

As Kay Steiger of Campus Progress blogs, "He's a politician and his life is public, but his sex life is none of my concern. Making this public certainly doesn't help his family, which is already dealing with a difficult situation. Millions and millions of people have affairs every year. Why do we care about Edwards? Him cheating on his wife doesn't diminish the work he has done on poverty and health care." I agree.

Counter Terror With Justice

August 4, 2008

On June 12, the Supreme Court issued the landmark ruling Boumediene v. Bush, which affirmed that detainees at Guantanamo Bay are entitled to the Constitutional right of habeas corpus--the fundamental right to challenge the legality of one's detention.

Though a tremendous victory for the rule of law, far more work must be done to ensure that the United States government halts torture and effectively ends Constitutionally-suspect detentions. When the Supreme Court ruled that detainees have the right to habeas corpus in the June 2006 Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision, Congress responded by passing the Military Commissions Act -- an effort to diminish that right in practice. With approximately 270 detainees from approximately thirty countries currently at Guantanamo Bay, robust and sustained advocacy is critical to prevent Congress and the Bush Administration from once again circumventing the Supreme Court's judgment.

Enter Amnesty International USA's "Counter Terror With Justice Campaign." After joining the International Bar Association, the International Federation for Human Rights and the International Law Association to provide an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief to the Supreme Court in the Boumediene proceedings, AI launched a multi-pronged advocacy program to stop torture, close Guantanamo and end the practice of extraordinary rendition.

Take Back the Tap

August 1, 2008

This video by Elizabeth Klein of the University of Cincinnati was the recent winner of the I *Heart* Tap Water Student Video Contest.

The contest is a part of Food & Water Watch's Take Back the Tap college campaign which encourages students to organize their campuses and communities to cut contracts with bottled water companies and promote the use of tap water. The case against bottled water is easy: Tap water is better for consumers' health, their pocketbooks, and the environment. Millions of barrels of oil are used to produce and transport plastic bottles annually, and in the end, 86 percent of the bottles end up in landfills.

Want Some Basic Human Dignity with that Burrito?

July 29, 2008

In recent years, Taco Bell and Burger King have foolishly resisted efforts by activists to marginally raise the piece rate they pay tomato pickers only to eventually buckle under the pressure of well-deserved bad press. Chipotle Mexican Grill seems to have learned nothing from their lessons.

Although Chipotle, the expanding Colorado-based restaurant chain formerly owned by McDonald's, touts its fair treatment of animals and its locally-sourced organic avocados, its colorful, interactive website neglects any mention of the fair treatment of farm workers. While CEO Steve Ells boasts about his "Food With Integrity" brand, he has ignored countless letters and petitions from all over the country, asking for an extra penny per pound for his tomato pickers.

Migrant pickers typically work ten to twelve hour days, earning a piece-rate of about forty-five cents for each thirty-two pound bucket of tomatoes. Work is never guaranteed, there is no health care, and no overtime pay. The average annual income for a farm worker is $10,000.