Feeding Liberally Food For Thought
by Justin Krebs, Living Liberally
This coming week, as liberals around the country -- and Americans of all stripes -- prepare to celebrate the Inauguration, Drinking Liberally chapters are also Feeding Liberally.
Following the lead of Democrats Work, an organization we've long held a crush on, and inspired by the President-Elect's call to service, our chapters around the country are taking part in a national food drive, donating food or funds to local food pantries and to Feeding America, formerly America's Second Harvest.
In New York, we're gearing for the NYC Inaugural Ball on Sunday, but in true Living Liberally fashion, the best work is being done outside of NYC, where scores of our chapters are hosting their own celebrations to say goodbye to the Bush years, and share their hopes for a more progressive, forward-thinking set of Obama years ahead. And when you have so many chapters on the same page, it would be a shame not to take advantage of the moment for a higher cause.
We will be posting more information on our Feeding Liberally page, which we'll be updating throughout the week - as of right it's just a placeholder, but expect more content as we hear back from more chapters. So join us next week, bring your canned goods along with your dancing shoes, and let's raise a toast to fighting for progressive change, under Bush and Obama alike, and building progressive community - from New York to Nebraska to Alaska.
"This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change." President-elect Barack Obama
Across the country, food banks are struggling to keep up with increased demand. And with the holidays approaching, Democrats Work is doing something about it. We need your help.
The first round votes have been counted and we are down to the final five!
Thousands and thousands of people cast first round votes in "Serve with the General" - the contest that will send General Wes Clark to one lucky Congressional District to participate in a community service project. The race to get into the final round was extremely close!
Now it is time to pick from the final five districts: Washington's 8th (Darcy Burner), California's 4th (Charlie Brown), North Carolina's 10th (Daniel Johnson), Colorado's 4th (Betsy Markey), or Minnesota's 3rd (Ashwin Madia).
I'm curious about the release of McCain's medical records. He's a 71 year old guy with three bouts of cancer, and yet the AP is saying he has a clean bill of health. Maybe that's true. But isn't the story really as follows?
The campaign is allowing a small pool of reporters (including NBC) access to McCain's medical records from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm ET in a conference room at the Copper Wind Resort in Phoenix. The reporters are allowed to take notes but not remove or photocopy the records.
Halliburton contacted Congressional candidate Jared Polis in CO-02. Polis has been sharply critical of the company, and the company's letter calls Halliburton 'an American success story'.
In yet another sign of his pivoting toward the general election, Senator John McCain said at a roundtable with business leaders here today that comprehensive immigration reform should be a top priority for the next president.
In other news, SEIU is blasting McCain's recent health care proposal and McCain's health checks out, if you believe a cloistered set of reporters who got to review 1000 pages of medical records for a few hours.
Leslie Byrne and Gerald Connolly are neck and neck in VA-11, with the latest polling showing Connolly leading Byrne 37-34.
Democrats Work and Wes Clark are teaming up with the program 'Serve with a General'. They will go to one Congressional district and jointly do a community service event. You can help pick the district here.
Comcast and Cox filtering the internet and blocking file sharing traffic might be a felony.
Michigan Liberal criticizes the DNC and the Michigan Democratic Party for violating their charter and refusing to hear complaints about seating the Michigan delegation. Michigan Liberal is the blog not given credentials to the convention, because of this legacy of holding the party accountable.
It was towards the end of the campaign in 2006 and we were running well back in the polls. Bill Clinton and Karl Rove, the leaders of the Connecticut AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of Commerce - they had all lined up behind incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman. Then we received a call that Senator Ted Kennedy wanted us to join him at a rally at a senior center in Bridgeport.
Coal Is Dirty from DeSmogBlog launches to take on the myth of 'clean coal'.
Lots of rumors about Hillary as VP, nothing credible. One of the annoying parts of dealing with the VP game is that it's basically a choice by one man, Barack Obama, and yet he has hundreds of people around his campaign who play themselves off as 'senior' and pass rumors to each other and the press. And this isn't just about feeling important, it's about running a campaign for their preferred VP pick. I've heard a lot of rumors about Chuck Hagel, for instance, but there are a good number of Hagel boosters in the Democratic foreign policy establishment for a lot of (good and bad) reasons.
Democrats Work and WesPAC have launched a contest to determine which Congressional district General Wes Clark is going to visit this summer.
This won't be an ordinary visit. General Clark will travel to one Congressional district where a Democratic challenger is fighting to change the direction of our country to work side-by-side with area Democrats to make a positive impact through community service. We want you to tell us where we should put our values into action.
There has already been a lot of speculation about where supporters of John Edwards will end up: with Clinton or Obama. I'd like to think that they already have a home with the Democratic community service organization, Democrats Work.
Senator Edwards and his campaign had a deep and genuine commitment to making service an integral part of political activism. With the innovative One Corps model, the campaign created a new way of engaging volunteers and supporters through service - not an afterthought or a political ploy, but as a central premise of the Edwards candidacy and the embodiment of the type of politics he wanted to build.
It was an admirable and worthy effort. And it doesn't need to end.
Democrats Work is launching the first-of-its-kind Coats and Cans Primary in Colorado's 2nd Congressional District. This innovative "straw poll" urges supporters of the three Democratic candidates - Jean Fitz-Gerald, Jared Polis, and Will Shafroth - to demonstrate their support by donating needed items to local charities and serving their communities. Come out and "vote" for your favorite 2nd Congressional District candidate by donating coats and canned goods at upcoming Democrats Work service events. The first "polling place" opens on Sunday in Broomfield. Stuffing the ballot box is encouraged!
One can = one vote; one coat = five votes! Follow the voting here.
Republicans operate from the top down. Their institutions push the message of their leadership, and the gears of loyalty and conformity grind away lesser concerns such as competence.
Service in that machine is defined by what you will sacrifice to concentrate further the power of the powerful. It is the 'us vs. them' of an ever shrinking circle of 'us', and it leaves the basic needs of our communities unfulfilled.
Democrats change all that. Democrats are the force that works from the ground upwards. We are the working members of the community who band together and build healthy neighborhoods. We are the party with the rolled up sleeves and boots laced up for action.
Democrats Work is already growing in five states, and the need is so great that our expansion is limited only by our ability to get out the word.
Teams of Democrats partner with other local organizations and do highly visible and valuable work in neighborhoods. We plant trees, paint graffiti, clean parks and work food banks.
We recruit volunteers, keep them visible and active for the stretches between elections, and we get the word out to the community that Democrats are tending to the real needs in the cities and the open spaces. We provide a spotlight for the great elected officials who are willing to pitch in to actually do what their constituents elected them to do, and we bring people into service who may never have thought of themselves as belonging to a party but who are happy to show up wherever people are trying to make a real world impact.
Read on to hear about how you can do the right thing for your neighborhood at the grassroots level, while also building the electoral power that can effect global policy.
For the first time ever at their national convention the Young Democrats of America - with the help of Democrats Work - will be embarking on a major community service project. On Friday, July 20th at the Adams Mark Hotel in Dallas, the Convention will turn its focus to supporting the families of soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of Operation Homefront's "Operation Backpack" program.
YDA delegates and special guests - including General Wesley Clark, VoteVets founder Jon Soltz, and WWE Superstar Chris "Harvard" Nowinski - will assemble back-to-school backpacks and distribute them to Dallas-Fort Worth area military children with a parent deployed overseas.
STATE BLOGS
The first round votes have been counted and we are down to the final five!
Republicans operate from the top down. Their institutions push the message of their leadership, and the gears of loyalty and conformity grind away lesser concerns such as competence.