VIDEO- Special BLUNT: "Do I Look Illegal?"

By GottaLaff

This webisode of Blunt was a bigger collaborative effort than usual, and for that, ZenShadow and I thank you.

ZenShadow is the one who came up with the concept for this amazing collection of videos, and I edited them together, and then some.

We put the word out on Twitter, and before I knew it, I had 60-plus videos filling my inbox. My video program couldn't handle the load, so sadly, some had to be cut. I apologize deeply for that, because I know the feeling that went into them.

Thank you to every single contributor. You may recognize some faces, and other ones you'll wish you knew better. All are wonderful, caring people.

But the trick question is, which ones are "illegal"?



Blunt is a lot like letters to the editor. YOUR take, short, to the point.

You have a voice, now use it.

(Click on image to enlarge)

For more information about Blunt, follow this link. If you think a video file is too big to email, then go here and use YouSendIt.com.

Please include a name you'd like to use, and a "title", if any, in your e-mail, as you'll see in the video graphics.

Remember: Try to keep the videos at 20 seconds or under.

It's your turn. Go.

VIDEO: BLUNT Voices talk Tea Baggers, Arizona Racial Profiling, Palin

By GottaLaff

Blunt is a lot like letters to the editor. YOUR take, short, to the point.

This is one more way to be heard. We're grassrootsy like that.




For more information about Blunt, follow this link (link won't work until after May 1).

If your video file is too big to email, then go here and use YouSendIt.com.

Please include a name you'd like to use, and a "title", if any, in your e-mail, as you'll see in the video graphics.

Remember: Try to keep the videos at 30 seconds or under.

It's your turn. Go.

VIDEO: BLUNT 19

By GottaLaff

Blunt is a lot like letters to the editor. YOUR take, short, to the point.

You have a voice, now use it.

This is one more way to be heard. We're grassrootsy like that.

(Click on image to enlarge)

For more information about Blunt, follow this link. If you think a video file is too big to email, then go here and use YouSendIt.com.

Please include a name you'd like to use, and a "title", if any, in your e-mail, as you'll see in the video graphics.

Remember: Try to keep the videos at 20 seconds or under.

It's your turn. Go.

Tea-publicans

By GottaLaff

Thom Hartmann often opines about how the Progressives need to infiltrate the Democratic party at the ground level and work their way up. In other words, take over the party. He regularly encourages his callers to run for local office, because you have to start somewhere.

He's right.

Unfortunately, the wrong people took his advice:

First there was the "tea party" protester. Now meet the Tea-publican.

Conservative activists who once protested the political establishment are now flooding the lowest level of the Republican Party apparatus hoping to take over the party they once scorned -- one precinct at a time.

Across the country, tea party groups that had focused on planning rallies are educating members on how to run for GOP precinct representative positions. The representatives help elect county party leaders, who write the platform and, in some places, determine endorsements.

"That's where it all starts. That's where the process of picking candidates begins. It's not from [GOP leader] Michael Steele's office down. It's from the ground up," said Philip Glass, whose National Precinct Alliance is among the groups advocating the strategy. "The party is over for the old guard."

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with them.

To those who have wondered where Organizing for America has been

By GottaLaff

I've actually posted about the increased activity of OFA over the past few weeks, but this is more confirmation of their stepping up the effort to get the White House message out:

The successor to President Obama's campaign group, now a project of the Democratic National Committee, is expanding its online outreach efforts, according to a Democratic official and an advertisement posted on the jobs board at MediaBistro.com.

The notice, posted more than a week ago, seeks full-time "Email campaigners" based in Washington, D.C.; the campaigners will be "responsible for planning, writing, and executing grassroots campaigns to advance the President's agenda for change."

At least they won't get blocked by the GOP.

Countdown to JANUARY 15, 2010

By GottaLaff

I'm still feeling a little foggy from meds today (slipped disks, had them for a long time, but they act up now and then), so if I miss anything or make any obvious errors, feel free to correct me in comments. Consider that my Disclaimer-O'-The-Day.

That said, here is information I promised to share from this Facebook entry:

Description:

AMERICANS NEED TO MARCH ON WASHINGTON IN NUMBERS HERETOFORE UNSEEN TO DEMONSTRATE OUR SUPPORT FOR THE FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES WE STILL BELIEVE IN AND WANT TO SEE OUR PRESIDENT & REPRESENTATIVES FIGHT FOR.

We're now on twitter: http://twitter.com/March4Change and, we have an email address for those who are so inclined:

March4Change@gmail.com
____

IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE -THIS FRIDAY - PLEASE EMAIL THE FOLLOWING SHOWS/ORGS WITH THE FOLLOWING SUBJECT LINE

"March for Change We Still Believe In - Jan 15th, 2010"

and language to this effect:

On January 15th, 2010, Americans will gather, peacably, on the DC Mall to show our continued support for the progressive agenda our POTUS campaigned on. We voted for President Obama b/c we hoped for more from our government: more compassion, more diplomacy, more honesty, more protection, and more equality.

On January 15th, 2010, we will stand in opposition to the voices of fear, ignorance, and hate that have, thus far, garnered virtually all the attention of the main stream media and skewed the debate over issues that are far to important to ALL Americans. We've written and phoned our Representatives in the House and Senate. We've remained a diligent, anonymous, but silent majority. Now, is the time for America to see our faces and hear our voices.

info@rainbowpush.org

vfped@veteransforpeace.net

http://www.now.org/chapters/fl.html

rachel@msnbc.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30031533

Countdown@msnbc.com

firedoglake@gmail.com

--If you live in any State within a day's drive of DC - PLEASE DO YOUR UTMOST TO DISSEMINATE INFO & RALLY SUPPORT FOR THIS UNDERTAKING!

--LOCAL EFFORTS - If you'd like to participate by organizing something within your own community, PLEASE DO SO!!! Use the same techniques that have brought you to this group - only on a local level. Once you numbers grow, contact the local media with a press release a week or two prior to Jan 15th. We'd rather see you in DC but we understand if it's too far or costly for some to travel. BTW - organize carpools or pool resources to charter buses, rent minivans, pay for gas.

--A member suggested that those of us who will be in DC wear something to represent those who are unable to attend (e.g. a pin or flower or what have you). GREAT IDEA!

I suggest we ALSO wear something that demonstrates our solidarity with the POTUS and with one another so . . . . break out and dust off your "old" Obama gear to show support for him BUT ALSO wear an armband (any suggestions besides an armband?) to signify our solidarity with one another.

Midge Hough [Laffy Note: My posts about her can be found here, here and here] lost her daughter-in-law, Jenny, and unborn grandson due, in part, to lack of health care insurance. Midge contacted me yesterday and expressed her support for our effort. [...] Please watch the grievous inhumanity she suffered at the hands of those who oppose the health care reform our country so desperately needs.
____________________________________

I understand that letters to congress and phone calls work. Been there, am doing that. But in today's political environment, perception and image (TV to be precise) are everything. When's the last time you tuned into your nightly news of choice to see a story about the millions of letters Americans have sent to our reps demanding serious healthcare reform? But I'll bet a months salary that you've seen stories re groups of sorely, uninformed, Tea Baggers in the last couple of weeks. And, whether we like it or not, these images drive the news stories and the national discourse on issues like Healthcare, the Environment, Energy, Education, and so on.

We need to show our numbers, our vigor, and our commitment to REAL, SUBSTANTIVE, AND FUNDAMENTAL (not incremental) CHANGE in a way that will capture the national media's attention and call attention to our discontent. This astroturf, right-wing, TeaBag movement has been successful in creating the misperception that "Millions" of Americans are fed up with Gov't (specifically Obama). THE REALITY, however, is that many more of us voted for our President because we hoped for more from our government. More compassion, more diplomacy, more honesty, more protection, and more equality.

If a conservative, Dick Armey lead and Glenn Beck fueled, astro-turf, movement can conjure up 50,000 to "protest" in DC, how many more democrats, could a true grassroots movement deliver to DC in a show of support for the policies our candidate campaigned on?

I KNOW WE HAVE IT IN US AND THE APPARATUS FOR ORGANIZING AND COORDINATING SUCH AN EVENT ARE ALREADY IN PLACE. IF YOU FEEL THIS A WORTHY CAUSE LET IT BE KNOWN TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY ACROSS THE COUNTRY - THAT ON JANUARY 15, 2010, THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S INAUGURATION, AMERICANS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY WILL DESCEND ON WASHINGTON DC IN THE STRONGEST SHOW OF SUPPORT EVER FOR A SITTING PRESIDENT & THE POLICIES WE SENT HIM TO FIGHT FOR.

--------------------

WHAT WE FOUGHT FOR & WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN

I'm urging everyone (and I'm doing it here in SWFL) to contact friends, organizations (e.g. democrat clubs - those at local Institutions of higher learning, local federal congressional reps, local chapter of ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA, MOVEON, NOW, GLAAD, AFL-CIO, NAACP, RAINBOW PUSH COALITION, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK, VETERANS FOR PEACE, THE ED SHOW, OLBERMAN, MADDOW, Air America, etc) locally, regionally, or even nationally, please feel free to share the idea of the March for Change We Still Believe In.

We are, all of us individually, sparks in this and together we can create bonfires all over the country. Take the baton, run with it, pass it on, and keep us all posted!

Feel free to go to the Facebook page and add any input you may have.

VIDEO- Pres. Obama One Year Later: "You created the greatest grassroots campaign ever assembled"

By GottaLaff

I can't believe it's been a year! I'll never forget the sheer excitement and elation I felt on Election Night 2008:

One year after his historic election, President Obama speaks to Organizing for America supporters about the progress we've made and the challenges we still face.

Happy anniversary!

AFL-CIO: Gov't option an absolute must

By GottaLaff

Photo: AP

I posted a couple of other posts like this one, but I don't mind emphasizing this one bit:

Democratic lawmakers will not be able to count on the AFL-CIO's support if they drop the public insurance option from the health care reform legislation, union officials said Tuesday.

The AFL-CIO’s incoming president, Richard Trumka, outlined "three absolute musts" in any overhaul package: a public option, an employer mandate and no tax on employer-provided health benefits.

Asked if the union would work against any bill that did not hit those targets, Trumka told reporters during a briefing: "That means we won't support the bill if it doesn't have the public option."

The hard line underscores the challenge facing President Barack Obama as he continues to pursue a bipartisan deal. [...]

Losing support of the AFL-CIO, one of the Democratic Party's most powerful allies, would rob Obama of a significant resource for grass-roots mobilization. [...]

On Monday, Trumka said in a speech at the Center for American Progress that lawmakers will pay a political price if they abandon the public option.

Hmmm. Is Obama playing the Rushpublics with all these maneuvers? Distracting them with all this public option talk in order to push the other elements of the bills through? I've had input from a lot of Tweeple (Twitterers), and that's one of the opinions I've heard the most often.

Health Care Watch: What's so great about private health insurance?

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley sees a health care bill reaching Obama's desk by mid-November.

Michael Hiltzik's piece in today's L.A. Times is another good read:

[I]f the insurers have proved anything over the last 15 years as the health crisis has gathered speed like an avalanche roaring downhill, it's that they're part of the problem, not the solution.

The firms take billions of dollars out of the U.S. healthcare wallet as profits, while imposing enormous administrative costs on doctors, hospitals, employers and patients. They've introduced complexity into the system at every level. Your doctor has to fight them to get approval for the treatment he or she thinks is best for you. Your hospital has to fight them for approval for every day you're laid up. Then they have to fight them to get their bills paid, and you do too. [...]

But they're in an even better position to throttle reform. Mergers and acquisitions have turned the industry into a cartel of huge corporations. [...]

[C]onsolidation has produced functional monopolies in communities across America. [...]

Why do we tolerate this? The industry loves to promote surveys indicating that most Americans are "satisfied" with their current health insurance [...]

Yet these figures are misleading. Most people are satisfied with their current insurance because most people never have a complex encounter with the health insurance bureaucracy. [...]

Anyone whose condition is even slightly out of the ordinary knows the sinking feeling of entering health insurance hell -- pre-authorizations, denials, appeals, and days, weeks, even months wasted waiting for resolution. [...]

Meanwhile, people employed by big companies that offer a health plan are within a layoff notice of losing coverage for themselves or their families, joining America's 46 million uninsured. [...]

Have hay fever, asthma, a cholesterol pill prescription? Are you a woman of child-bearing age? You're virtually uninsurable at an affordable cost.

Even if you're accepted, your carrier reserves the right to cancel your policy retroactively if it finds that you left even a tiny condition from years back off your application.

The public option may be your lifeline -- if it's enacted. [...]

According to the Center for Public Integrity, the biggest backer of the Blue Dogs’ political action committee is the healthcare industry [...]

Then there's the advocacy group called the Campaign for an American Solution, which describes itself as "a grass-roots effort [...] [Y]ou can't get much further from the grass roots than to be a creation of the industry with the biggest stake in the debate.

After that, I need some kind of blood pressure-lowering pill... but I'm pretty sure my insurance provider would drop me if I asked for one.

Obama's Field Team Targets Blue Dogs' Districts Over Health Care

By GottaLaff

Kill them Blue Dawgs with kindness, community organizers:

As members of Congress head home for an August recess, Barack Obama's former campaign arm, Organizing for America (OFA), is gearing up to target Blue Dog districts with old-fashioned, on-the-ground operations.

This is what we've been waiting to hear. Paddy and I were just talking about OFA, and I thought I'd remembered they were out there, but this is the Big One we wanted to see.

[T]heir strategy has changed dramatically during the last couple of weeks, becoming more pointed: they are organizing canvassing drives and phone banks that specifically target the districts of the Blue Dog Democrats who have been reluctant to support Obama's health care reform. Volunteers are organizing and manning phone banks to call Blue Dogs in other districts or states, and some volunteers are even driving into Blue Dog districts to lend a hand. [...]

OFA volunteers are not calling to complain about the Blue Dogs, though. They're asking constituents to pick up the phone and call the Blue Dogs that represent them and tell them they support Obama's health care reform initiative. They're targeting constituents of Blue Dogs who have supported Obama in the past or indicated that they support health care reform, and they are asking them to mobilize.

Shasta McManus of Tucson, Arizona has been canvassing and phone banking for OFA in Rep. Gabriel Giffords's (D-AZ) district and plans to continue throughout the Congressional recess. McManus says the focus of OFA efforts in Giffords' district is entirely positive, "Gabby is awesome, we love her. But the other side is not going to stop, so we can't either. This is about gathering support, not opposition." [...]

[M]ost Blue Dogs seemed to prefer not having a bill. They want the voters in their districts to see that the process is deliberative, not rushed. Meanwhile, OFA volunteers across the country say it is their job to make sure every Democratic member of Congress has the support they need at home to say yes to health care reform.

So how's it going?

The GOPs' Free Our Health Care Now petition is running almost neck-and-neck with OFA's Health Care Pledge. Both have reportedly topped 1 million signatories.

OFA is not just relying on volunteers. They have staffers in all 50 states, focusing heavily on states like Arizona, Virginia, Texas, and North Carolina that performed surprisingly well in 2008. Efforts in some states, like North Carolina, are reaching a fever pitch as groups on both sides ramp up operations in ways that resemble the battleground state election campaigns from eight months ago.

OFA is even picking up new volunteers who did not get involved during the election but are passionate about health care reform. [...]

On-the-ground organizing may also have more far-reaching effects than just strengthening the President's position on health care. Every person OFA reaches on the phone today is a potential supporter in 2010 and 2012. Every door knocked or volunteer recruited today is a potential recruit in 2010 or 2012. Old-fashioned machine politics may be over, but in a time when the election cycle never sleeps, yearlong organizing in the election off-season is looking like the political mechanics of the future.

If only we could be spared the ads. Enough with the ads.

H/t: Ellen

'Card-check' advocate joining Obama's team

By GottaLaff

Relieving some of the labor pains:

A prominent supporter of a contentious labor bill is joining the Obama administration.

Mary Beth Maxwell, executive director of American Rights at Work (ARAW), a labor advocacy group, will sign on as a senior adviser to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Maxwell’s primary job will be to work with the White House task force on improving the middle class, chaired by Vice President Biden. [...]

Founding ARAW in 2003, Maxwell is a longtime activist and an expert grassroots organizer, having worked as a field director for Jobs with Justice and NARAL.

Wait. What? A community organizer? Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel. How will Sarah Palin react? I better start wringing my hands right now!

One labor official said he found Maxwell’s appointment “really heartening” because it shows the administration is serious about improving the lives of the American middle class.

“They are not just putting her in a closet. They are putting her in a job where she can get things done,” said Bill Samuel, director of government affairs for the AFL-CIO.

And for those who were concerned that EFCA hasn't gotten enough attention:

This year, Maxwell has emerged as a key figure in the labor movement’s campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make union organizing much easier. At ARAW, Maxwell has organized rallies in support of the bill across the country as well as directed spending for various ad buys to keep up pressure for passage of the measure. [...]

Labor officials took Maxwell’s appointment as a positive sign of the administration’s backing of the union bill. Both Obama and Biden have called on Congress to pass the legislation, but the White House has remained somewhat uninvolved in the battle so far as support has faltered for the bill in the Senate.

“They know she is not a wallflower. She is going to continue to make a case for it,” Samuel said. “She has been a pretty strong proponent of the Employee Free Choice Act and always has been."

Three thumbs up.

Planned Parenthood receives donations from grassroots e-mail campaign

Love it. Original post about this here.

A grassroots e-mail campaign is asking Obama supporters to stop complaining about Republican GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and to donate $10 to Planned Parenthood in her name instead. Subsequently, the non-profit has received tens of thousands of dollars in donations the past week. Furthermore, for each donation they receive in Palin's name, a hand written thank you note will be sent to the McCain headquarters in Virginia.

Notre Dame grads launch Catholic Obama web site

By Paddy


From my backyard. This kind of innovation from supporters is what's going to elect Obama president.

A trio of young University of Notre Dame graduates recently launched "10,000 Catholics for Obama," a Web site for Roman Catholics supporting Barack Obama for president.

The site is: http://10000.catholics4obama.com.

The site is intended to increase support for Obama among people of faith by educating the public about the Illinois Democratic senator’s commitment to Catholic principles, including universal health care, peace and justice, and family values, site co-founder Peter Kralovec, a 2006 Notre Dame graduate, said in a telephone interview.


"Barack Obama’s biography and his vision resonate deeply with me as a Catholic," said Kralovec, 24, who lives in New York. A former co-president of the Notre Dame College Democrats, he’s a volunteer for the Obama campaign.

The Web site is intended to push discussion beyond divisive politics and dispel myths about Obama, he said.

The group schedules barbecue gatherings for Obama supporters around the country, and may plan some events for Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College and Holy Cross College students before the November election, he said.

In Florida, Obama out-raises McCain with fewer 'bundlers'

Grassroots baby!!!

Democrat Barack Obama has out-raised Republican John McCain in Florida by $339,000 — and he's done it with half as many big-money ''bundlers'' kicking in at least $50,000.

Obama's edge comes from his unprecedented success at tapping a slew of small donors, as well as the erosion of the vaunted political machine that fueled the campaigns of President Bush and former Gov. Jeb Bush.

Dubbed ''Pioneers'' by the president and updated to ''Trailblazers'' by McCain, bundlers collect checks from clients, relatives and friends to get around the $4,600 limit each can give to a campaign in an election cycle. The practice is legal, though campaign watchdogs argue that it defeats the purpose of laws aimed at limiting a donor's influence.

In an effort to show transparency, both campaigns released detailed lists this week of donors who have raised more than $50,000. In Florida, Obama identified 23 bundlers; McCain has 53.