Category: Tales from the Net
-
A One Million Strong Facebook moneybomb!
I posted an earlier draft of this on October 4. The Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack) Facebook group is in the midst of its October moneybomb to scare McCain fundraising drive, with a goal of raising $15K by October 15th to push the group’s total to $40K. It’s an ambitious goal; while the…
-
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…
-
Ask Facebook to de-friend Ted Ullyot!
cross-posted at the Oxdown Gazette The L.A. Times’ Tech blog* is reporting that Ted Ullyot — a former chief of staff to former AG Alberto Gonzales, a former AOL in-house lawyer and a former Kirkland & Ellis partner — is moving to San Fran to take the top legal job at Facebook. — Facebook Sends…
-
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 to Wall Street: Call to action!
No blank check for Wall Street is a multi-partisan 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 feed is the best way to…
-
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…
-
Reflections: what I learned during my summer vacation
Apologies to my friends and relatives for being out of touch this summer…. Rather than going to the beach, I instead hung out in a variety of exotic online locales: my.barackobama.com, Wetpaint, Facebook, and the blogosphere (especially OpenLeft, Shakesville, Pam’s House Blend, and Jack and Jill Politics). It was kind of a working vacation, engaging…
-
A wiki, saving democracy?
But what about the votes that don’t count? What about the systematic attempts to erect barriers between voters and the ballot box? What about voter suppression? In order to educate, document and mobilize action, I’m excited to introduce the Voter Suppression Wiki. — Baratunde Thurston, Announcing The Launch Of The Voter Suppression Wiki – Learn,…
-
Get FISA Right: on the air in St. Paul!
During the past 8 years, the Bush administration listened to Americans’ phone calls and read their emails without a warrant. If elected President, John McCain would do the same.* – Get FISA Right ad, scheduled to air on Fox News in St. Paul today Update: check out Nick Juliano’s Anti-FISA group targets GOP delegates in…
-
One Million Strong: this week’s “other” convention
Even without corporate sponsorships or prime-time coverage, the One Million Strong for Barack Facebook group’s online convention this week is a fascinating complement to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Denver. Nobody’s quite sure how many of One Million Strong‘s 625,000 members are currently active, probably a few thousand. Unlike a lot of Facebook groups,…
-
Evan Bayh: “Facebook me.” Progressives: “Sure!”
Written jointly with Ronit Aviva Dancis “Evan Bayh for Democratic VP Nominee” on Intrade Prediction Market The last time we heard from Senator Evan Bayh was early July when he voted with the Republicans against all three amendments to strip telecom immunity from the FISA legislation. A month later, here was Max Bernstein’s Can Progressives…
-
Towards a rebirth of freedom: activism on social networks, part 1 (DRAFT)
DRAFT! Revised version posted at Pam’s House Blend and (under a different title, and minus the introduction ) Open Left.
-
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…
-
Mutual guest blogging: intermission and discussion
Second draft, posted on OpenLeft with a different poll. the version on OpenLeft continues to evolve please link and comment there rather than here. Originally posted July 17; revised July 18-19. We’re now at the midpoint of our first, more-leisurely-than-anticipated mutual guest blogging series. Thanks to Melissa, Sara, Pam, and rikyrah for their time, energy,…
-
Get FISA Right: A night of Facebook action
It’s been a wild few days with the Get FISA Right activism campaign. Our bare-bones media room is the best place to get a quick summary of all the stuff going on; here are a few hightlights: over 22,000 members in the myBO group, and 1700+ on Facebook; we delivered our response and our asks…
-
It’s the Fourth of July, and we’re fighting for our civil liberties
Originally sent to the Senator Obama – Please, No Telecom Immunity and Get FISA Right mailing list. I certainly don’t mean to trivialize the situation. There’s a huge amount at stake and the anger, frustration, and disappointment so many of us (including me) feel comes through in every post. Realistically, the odds are still against…
-
The first thing to do: set up a wiki
I remember hearing Zack Rosen of CivicSpace starting his talk about the team that put together the Katrina people finder by saying “one of the first things we did was set up a wiki” and it really struck a chord. As an effort like Senator Obama – Please, No Telecom Immunity and Get FISA Right…
-
Make desire more important than fear: “Change the Way You See Yourself (Through Asset-Based Thinking)”
Kathy Cramer and Hank Wasiak’s new book is out, a gorgeous and well-focused follow-on to their Change the Way You See Everything, one of the Microsoft Ad Astra project’s signature giveaways.* In May 2007, we did an amazing two-day workshop with Kathy, Hank and his colleagues from the Concept Farm, and folks from Extreme Arts…
-
Computers, Freedom, and Privacy 2008: showtime!
CFP2008 traditionally starts off with a day of tutorials. I was on a panel organized by Lillie Coney of EPIC on E-Deceptive Campaign Practices: “Elections 2.0″, which was extremely interesting; I discussed examples of, and responses to, e-deception based on my activism experiences this election season, much of which I’ve blogged about here already. Tova…