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Sylvia in DC

The Economy, the Attacks and Even More Bands

By Sylvia - Oct 10th, 2008 at 3:55 pm EDT

It's the Economy, Still: In contrast to Sen. McCain's lack of specific economic solutions (well, after proposing a mortgage bailout plan during Tuesday's debate, then altering it to transfer $300 billion worth of liability to taxpayers - for more on that, see this video) on the economy, Sen. Obama today proposed a $5 billion Small Business Rescue Plan that would provide tax cuts and loans to small businesses hurt by the credit crisis.
Rallies and Rhetoric: Meanwhile, what have McCain and his running mate been doing? Attacking the Senator from Illinois in ways that have even Republican Congress members and former supporters such as Frank Schaeffer urging them to desist. Thankfully, our candidate is sure to do no such things with his half-hour major network ad buys. Our donations will be put to good and honorable use!
Music News: Everyone's playing at an Obama rally these days, it seems. The acts span decades, from Devo to the Beastie Boys to Vampire Weekend.
Random cuteness: Yes, we can (hold babies).

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Phonebanking and Even More Bands

By Sylvia - Oct 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 pm EDT

Volunteerism: Just got an email from the National Call Team urging people to call supporters in Ohio and encourage them to to vote early (they have two more days to do so). We plan to spend part of the weekend making calls, and encourage you to do likewise. If you're interested in calling Ohio or any other states, please click here to get started.
Music News: On Saturday, Oct. 4, Bruce Springsteen will play an acoustic solo set in Philadelphia, Penn. at an open-air Obama rally. That might help make up for the Carnegie Mellon University chapter of Students for Obama having to cancel their own Oct. 4 event featuring Vampire Weekend. As a bonus, peripherally-related tidbit, Regina Spektor sported a rocking Obama belt when she sang "You Don't Know Me" with Ben Folds on Conan.

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Food Safety and Jay-Z

By Sylvia - Oct 1st, 2008 at 4:10 pm EDT

Current events and policy positions - food safety: As evidence of the melamine-contaminated Chinese milk continues to spread (map from BBC article with timeline), I figured I'd poke around for anything Sen. Obama has to say about increased food safety. Here's a bit from his position paper on rural issues: "Improve Food Safety: The USDA and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) need more authority to issue and enforce recalls for contaminated food. Barack Obama supports efforts to improve federal food safety surveillance to better improve our ability to identify, contain, and prevent outbreaks. He is committed to expanding resources to inform the public when an outbreak happens so that they can make good decisions about food safety." In July of this year - well before these latest incidents - Sen. Obama also introduced S. 3358, the Improving Food-borne Illness Surveillance and Response Act of 2008.
Music News: Jay-Z will perform at two Obama voter registration events this month; check the links for information on how to get into the Cobo Arena (Detroit, Mich.) show on Saturday, Oct. 4, and the Bayfront Park Ampitheater (Miami, Fla.) gig on Sunday, Oct. 5.

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Diplomats and...Well, More Bands

By Sylvia - Sep 30th, 2008 at 4:40 pm EDT

Endorsements: Two hundred former U.S. diplomats, including former Secretaries of State Madeline Albright and Warren Christopher, have signed a statement endorsing Senator Obama. "We are supporting Senator Barack Obama because of his judgment, experience, and ability to inspire people to come together around a common purpose" it reads. "Senator Obama's talents offer an historic opportunity; for the sake of America's security and standing in the world, we must seize it."
Music News: Obama supporters from all ends of the music spectrum announced gigs in support of the Democratic presidential candidate today. On the high-end side, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel will be playing a fundraiser in New York City on October 16; ticket prices range from $500 to $2,500. Meanwhile, on the indie side of the five boroughs, hipster enclave Williamsburg will play host to Barack Rock on October 7. Among the participants are Andrew Bird, Les Savy Fav, the Fiery Furnaces, and special super secret guests (*cough*FranzFerdinand*cough*). But mainstream music aficionados and hipsters aren't the only music fans being catered to - hippies may get their politico-musical groove on as well. After their February 2008 "Deadheads for Obama" rally, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead may play a fundraiser on October 13.

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Bracelets and Bands

By Sylvia - Sep 29th, 2008 at 4:19 pm EDT

The first presidential debate's over, and the first vice-presidential one is coming up (Biden better watch it - rumor has it that Palin's being put through some serious prep work). In case you need to debunk rumors about Obama's bracelet, here's an article in which the mother of the slain soldier pronounces herself to be "ecstatic" about it.
Add Vampire Weekend to the ranks of indie musician Obama supporters who are putting their amps where their mouths are. The band will perform at a voter registration drive at Carnegie-Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Penn.) on Oct. 4.

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The Bailout (now UPDATED with random music news)

By Sylvia - Sep 24th, 2008 at 2:21 pm EDT

While McCain immediately and erroneously said that he'd fire the head of the SEC (erroneously because the President isn't allowed to do that - though I also think it's not a solution or even the most effective symbolic gesture), Obama waited and consulted and planned before releasing a few commonsensical additions to any bailout and asking us to support them. To summarize:

No golden parachutes
Main Street - not just Wall Street
Bipartisan oversight

Here's an excellent summary of the various bailout drafts (OpenCongress.org) - Paulson's proposal, Sen. Dodd's counter, and the various other plans emerging. The public are also encouraged to comment on the main two versions via PublicMarkup.org. A Daily Kos diarist also provided solid analysis of the Paulson proposal here, calling attention in particular to the "huge swath of power" accorded to the Treasury secretary, the complete lack of Congressional oversight and the lack of accountability to any court or administrative agency.

UPDATE: And now for something completely different. The National and the Breeders will play for free at an Oct. 16 Obama rally in Cincinnati, Ohio. And for those of you whose collection of indieBama gear isn't complete, there are some of the "Mr. November" Obama t-shirts left (all profits go to the Obama campaign).

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News: NOW to Endorse Obama

By Sylvia - Sep 16th, 2008 at 3:15 pm EDT

National Organization for Women (NOW) President Kim Gandy told NPR that, though the association very rarely endorses in the general election, "the addition of Sarah Palin gave us a new sense of urgency. She is being portrayed as a supporter of women's rights ... as a feminist when in fact her positions on so many of the issues are really anathema to ours."

Good on them. Brief recap on some of Obama's positions on women's issues? He's pro-choice, supportive of stem cell research and wants to place more emphasis on preventing unwanted pregnancies. And let's not forget that his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, drafted the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) - which McCain opposed.

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News and Opinions: Healthcare and the Economy

By Sylvia - Sep 16th, 2008 at 1:23 pm EDT

Healthcare: Bob Herbert's op-ed column in today's NYT quotes a soon-to-be-released independent joint study (which will be posted on Health Affairs): "The McCain plan will force millions of Americans into the weakest segment of the private insurance system -- the nongroup market -- where cost-sharing is high, covered services are limited and people will lose access to benefits they have now."
The economy: Given the current financial news - Lehman and Merrill and AIG, oh my! - McCain advisor Donald Luskin's op-ed in the Sunday Washington Post seems even more incredibly out-of-touch and/or mendacious than it might have otherwise seemed. Most of his argument depends on selectively-chosen statistics and variations on "Well, yes, things are bad, but not as bad as during the Great Depression/!" Dean Baker has some particularly good rebuttals, noting that "While Luskin argues that people were led to believe that the economy is bad because of the media's negativism, it is also possible that they are responding to the weakest labor market since the early nineties. They may also be responding to the fact that wages fell behind inflation by close to 2 percentage points last year as people's paychecks did not keep pace with the price of food and the price of gas." He also calls BS on Luskin's use of FDIC bank failure statistics to justify his "but we've seen plenty worse" with "Yeah, Fannie and Freddie go down every week, not to mention Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Indymac. These are not neighborhood banks going down the tubes." More responses to the op-ed are available here.

UPDATE: A survey shows that 66% of economists will vote for Obama; the rationale behind the survey, which was commissioned by Dilbert creator Scott Adams, is here.

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The Things We Do for Our Candidates

By Sylvia - Sep 12th, 2008 at 2:33 pm EDT

Donate? Check. Volunteer? Check. Fundraise? Check. Actually start blogging again? Sigh, then check.

For now, this is just going to be a repository of reasons to support the Obama-Biden ticket as well as random related news. I mean to provide daily updates till election day - it's a good way to stay conversant with the issues (and thus also good preparation for phonebanking and/or canvassing). It also keeps me from getting too caught up in the OMG! OH NOES! panic that can result from paying too much attention to the endless polls, the interminable election news cycle and the constant on- and offline yammering of pundits and bloggers.

The list-to-date follows. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

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