Category: social sciences
-
Neocons’ worst nightmare: net movements intersecting in Ideas for Change in America
DREAM Activists and undocumented youth, the Stonewall 2.0 LGBTQ movement, Get FISA Right and civil libertarians, peace activists — together again for the first time, along with a demand for accountability for the last 8 years.  Scary stuff. 🙂 Read on for more … and please digg it! It’s been surprising to me how…
-
Apologies to DREAM Act advocates everywhere …
For the last six weeks of change.org’s Ideas for Change competition, I’ve been consistently impressed by the advocates for Pass the DREAM Act – Support Higher Education for All Students. The network of activists promoting the idea are giving the rest of us lessons in how to do it effectively.*Â And they and their supporters…
-
Open for Questions at change.gov: What about privacy?
The Obama transition team’s Open for Questions pilot last week went extremely well for a first attempt. Combined with all the other promising things Micah Sifry discusses in Kudos to the Change.gov New Media Team, it seems to me that the Obama administration is on track for some effective ways of leveraging cognitive diversity and…
-
Hope 1, Fear 0: YES WE DID!
From Eluminatus: A change is coming Why be shrunk by fear when you can choose hope? Why be manipulated by hate when you can choose desire? Why settle for singularity when you can have multiplicity? Control is an illusion and influence is possible. Look for meta-level solutions. Avoid false dualities. Change is performative. Worship the…
-
Showtime for election protection and citizen journalism!
They’re already voting in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, so Election Day has officially begun. Showtime! We’ve just finished our last minute polishing for the Voter Suppresssion Wiki, with a redesigned home page, a Voter Suppression Documented summary with snippets of a dozen different examples, final touches to the Media Room, the Prepare for election day…
-
Announcing a last-minute workshop on “Last-minute strategies for reducing voter suppression”
Heading into the last ten days before the election, it’s clear that is there are still huge opportunities to reduce voter suppression. How to make best use of this time? There are so many groups doing great stuff here that there are lots of opportunities for synergy; at the same time, there’s also a lot…
-
Live from Madison this Sunday: social network activism and the Voter Suppression Wiki
I’ll be appearing on John Quinlan and Harry Waisbren’s show Forward Forum this Sunday from 8-9 CDT, on the air in Madison and streamed live at WTDY. I met Harry working on Get FISA Right, and so we’ll be discussing social network activism in general, looking at some of the experiences I discuss in Reflections…
-
Voter Suppression Wiki: 40,000+ votes at risk in North Carolina, please help get the word out
Executive summary 40,000 votes at risk in North Carolina; please help get the word out for future action and media alerts, please join the vswiki-alerts Google Group feedback, please, from activists, bloggers and voters about our action alert Details After posts by me on Pam’s House Blend Sunday night and Baratunde Thurston on Jack and…
-
“e-Deceptive Campaign Practices”
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)’s Technology and Democracy 2.0 report on “e-Deceptive campaign practices” is getting released on Monday, along with a parallel report from Common Cause and Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights covering the legal and policy issues. Contributors include computer security legends like Peter Neumann (of Bell Labs, SRI and comp.risks fame)…
-
Action alert: help get the word out about confusing North Carolina ballots
In a classic example of confusing ballot design, a “straight party” vote in North Carolina does not include the presidential contest. If you want to vote for a president, you need to make an additional mark in the presidential contest even if you’ve chosen a straight party vote. (See detailed instructions in the first comment.)…
-
Friday on Meet the Bloggers: James Rucker, Brad Friedman, and me
When it comes to election protection and voter suppression, there’s perhaps no one more knowledgeable than Color of Change’s James Rucker. That’s why Rucker will be our special guest on Meet the Bloggers this Friday at 1pm Et/10am PT, as we discuss these critical issues. Joining Rucker will be Jon Pincus (Liminal States) and Brad…
-
TWO wikis, saving democracy?
Within an hour after the announcement of the Voter Protection Wiki, we were tipped off that there’s another voting rights wiki in town, and it’s a doozy. And sure enough, today SourceWatch is announcing the Election Protection wiki.* From their announcement: Recent presidential elections were marred by controversies and disputes. Scores of individuals and organizations…
-
No blank check for Wall Street: It’s not over
originally posted on Pam’s House Blend Debbie Stone: Do you think it’s over? Mike Tobacco: Yeah, sure.– the final lines from Killer Klowns from Outer Space, right before it becomes clear that no, it’s not over Ah well. After Monday’s brief shining moment of resistance from the House, the politics of business as usual asserted…
-
No blank check for Wall Street: announcing “an open letter to Congress”
No blank check for Wall Street is a group of people demanding accountability for Wall Street for its role in the 2008 financial crisis. We welcome those who oppose a bailout as well as those support a bailout with accountability.  Please see our website for more. Our Facebook page and #nobailout on twitter are the…
-
No blank check for Wall Street: Send a message to Congress!
The $700 billion dollar bailout legislation will result in a huge expense to taxpayers — with all the benefits going to corporations and large stockholders. Most economists think that this plan will fail to address the underlying issues that caused the crisis. And there are many other issues for concern in the bill, such as…
-
No blank check for Wall Street! (DRAFT)
DRAFT! Final version posted on OpenLeft and Pam’s House Blend Executive Summary: please check out the No blank check for Wall Street Facebook page, add yourself as a fan, let your friends know, and blog about it. How to help: If you’re on Facebook, it takes next to no time to sign up as a…
-
Vegas, baby! Iron Chef Black Hat
Draft posted August 14. Substantially revised August 17. The second of a two-part series on the Black Hat USA 2008 security conference. Back when we lived in San Francisco in the 1990s, we were huge fans of Fuji TV’s Iron Chef, then shown with subtitles on a local cable station. When local chef Ron Siegel…
-
Vegas, baby! Black Hat, glitter, and pwnies
The first of a two-part series on the Black Hat USA 2008 security conference. Vegas, baby! Continuing my tradition, I was in Las Vegas for Black Hat but didn’t attend the conference proper. My brother was able to come up from LA to meet me, so I decided to hang out with him instead —…
-
Gender, race, age, and power in online discussions, chapter n +1 (DRAFT)
DRAFT! Still under revision! First draft July 26; substantial revisions August 2. Originally written as a three-part conclusion to Gender, race, age, and power in online discussions, chapter n Introduction The “mutual guest-blogging” project I’ve been leading on OpenLeft has been taking place in the context of a surprising amount of coverage of diversity issues…
-
Get FISA Right: “Don’t let our Constitution die” (DRAFT)
DRAFT! Please see the revised version on OpenLeft. “We’ve got more than a million volunteers on my.barackobama.com. They’ve planned more than 70,000 offline events through the system, made millions of phone calls from home, and formed thousands of grassroots advocacy groups, including one you might have heard about recently.” — Barack Obama, Netroots Nation video…