rootscampPittsburgh
What is RootsCampPittsburgh?RootsCamps are participant driven events or forums, using the "unconference" or "open space" format that is born from the desire for activists, organizers, leaders and politicians in the progressive sphere to share and learn in a productive, fast-paced, open environment.
Think of it as a cross between an election debrief and grassroots organizing skills share. The progressive community — everyone from the "netroots" to precinct captains to field organizers to national message consultants — come together to share successes, failures, impart old wisdom and new discoveries.
Find out more about RootsCampPittsburgh at http://rootscamppittsburgh2009.pbwiki.com
When is RootsCampPittsburgh?RootsCamp will be held at the United Steelworkers Building, 5 Gateway Center in Pittsburgh on January 24, 2009.
Who should come to RootsCamp?RootsCamp will be for anyone who played a role in the 2008 elections and/or working in progressive politics. As fellow organizers, we'll be meeting each other, reuniting with team members, discussing the innovations and challenges from this cycle, and most importantly, celebrating!
RootsCamp 2009 will bring together the best and brightest organizers that were engaged in 2008 campaigns, including staff and volunteers from:
Presidential CampaignsDown ballot racesLaborNon-partisan GOTV and voter registration operationsOnline organizationsAdvocacy organizationsTech supportBlogs and other mediaMedia, message, polling and targeting consultants
· Share stories and knowledge with each other from all over Pennsylvania, especially the western part of the state.
· Teach others from the progressive movement what you did and how you did it. Brainstorm ways that the methods you practiced can be exported to unions, advocacy organizations and community organizations.
· Strategize about how to help progressive institutions to sustain what you've started.
To find out more about RootsCampPittsburgh or to register, go to: http://rootscamppittsburgh2009.pbwiki.com
Need further evidence that Pennsylvania women are turning the tide towards Senator Obama?
The Pittsburgh women's Vice Presidential Debate watch party was featured on CNN and on the local news! 160 women who attended the party in the meeting room of a local hockey rink. Who said Hockey moms weren't on board with Obama/Biden
Special thanks to Christine Stone, Ilene Schwartz, Laurel Rosenberg, and Stephanie Sullivan and all the other superstar Pittsburgh women who put the event together and were so articulate and powerful on TV
Dozens of women across the state also held debate watch and postcard parties where they wrote thousands of postcards to undecided voters. Tp host your own debate watch party, email Meredith Rahn Oakes in the PA Women's department at PAWomen@PaForChange.com.
The 2008 election is shaping up to be as historic as any in our history. I am reminded of other historic elections, in which my ancestors made choices that had long-lasting consequences. When my great-great-great-uncle took a teaching job in northern Ohio in 1860, he moved there a month earlier than necessary so he could establish residency in order to cast his first vote for president, for Abraham Lincoln, whom he had heard speak in Columbus the prior year. He remained very proud of that vote the rest of his life.
One hundred years later, in 1960, my mother voted for Richard Nixon because she felt John Kennedy did not have enough experience. She regretted that vote after seeing Kennedy’s performance in office and never voted for Nixon again. After Nixon’s Watergate crimes, she was pleased to have gotten her vote right when given another chance.
In the historic 2008 election, I want to be on the right side of history. We saw in 2000 that who becomes president, and as a result the destiny of the country and the world, can be influenced by a few hundred votes in one state, out of 120 million total votes cast. Twenty years from now I want to tell my grandchildren that I did everything I could to elect Barack Obama president in 2008 so that they could inherit a country that was as strong as possible and respected around the world. I am convinced I will remain proud of my vote for Obama the rest of my life.
Come celebrate women's week across the state with these exciting events:
Join us at the phone banks for the kickoff of Women’s Wednesdays. If you do one thing before November 4th, you should reach out to undecided voter and explain to them we you’re working so hard for Barack Obama. Women connect best to other women so bring a girlfriend to your local field office Wednesday night at 6 pm. This week, come early and hop on a conference call with a special guest.
Take Your Daughter to Canvass Day is on Saturday September 20. Bring your daughters, nieces, friend and granddaughters along as you go door-to-door for change. This election is too important to their futures for us to stand on the sidelines. Watch for announcements of special guests coming to a field office near you to kick off the canvass.
To find your nearest field office, click here.
If you have any questions, email pawomen@paforchange.com.
Thanks!
It really is the judgment, stupid.
Yet, if you take a step back and consider what experience actually does for a politician (or anyone, for that matter), you will find yourself focusing on judgment. Think about it. Aside from creating fond or not so fond memories, what benefit comes from past experience, other than to improve one’s judgment when subsequently making decisions? Experience by itself is of no use unless it improves judgment. In other words, judgment is the conduit through which experience affects our actions.
But, having lots of experience does not mean one has better judgment. There is the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience. Working effectively with others to find common ground in developing solutions to problems can promote good judgment. On the other hand, searing tests of physical hardship at the hands of an enemy can distort one’s perception about how to react to subsequent enemies, leading to bad judgment.
So, from the standpoint of voters, whose lives are impacted by the actions of a politician, what else matters but that politician’s judgment—whether or not he or she makes good decisions on important issues? And why should the voter care if that politician’s judgment comes mostly from experience or mostly from other qualities? Soldiers killed in a stupid war endorsed by a politician with lots of experience are still dead.
As the late Randy Pausch, professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, said in his "Last Lecture", "Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want." [http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/. ] I am counting on John McCain getting lots of that kind of experience this fall.
Theme = Leadership
Objective = Expose Bush's failed political appointments, attach them to McCains 1st political appointment, his VP choice, and compare them to Barak's responsible leadership choices.
1) Cite examples of Bush's failed political appointments.
a) Heck of a job Brownie - FEMA Katrina excellent example of their failure to govern. Failue to govern = failure of leadership.
b) Monica Goodling - Incompetent chooses right-wing judiciary - abuse of power.
c) Donald Rumsfeld - Old thinking neo-con war-mongorer bothes a war. Says we only need
limited amount of troops - avoids opposing views. Non-co-operative arrogance.
d) Paul Wolfiwitz - We will be greeted as liberators. Narrow-minded propagandist
e) Dick Cheney - The insurgency is in it's last throes. Delusional corruption
2) Empasize McCain's VP choice as just another irresponsible choice by another right-wing fail to lead, fail to govern candidate. In other words they comprimise the choice for a legitimate running mate for political expediency.
3) Show Barak as a responsible leader that he is, and show solutions.
a) Steering forward thinking legislation.
b) Successful "community organizing", people leaving the welfare state, and joining the work force.
c) Show the promise of Barak's future responsible political appointments. At least remind the country that we do have diplomats, and that Barak will employ them, and show the results we can expect. PEACE
d) Show Barak as the loving and caring family man that he is, and show the rewards of affection he gets from Michelle, and the girls. And as always, show the Barak smile.
Come to your local field office for Women's Wednesdays phonebanking. Watch this video from Madeleine Albright: http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/pawomen .
Hope to see you there!
Last night in Denver, Senator Hillary Clinton delivered a powerful call to continue the fight for the causes that drove her campaign by uniting behind Barack's nomination for president of the United States. Senator Clinton echoed Harriet Tubman, the great engineer of the underground railroad, urging Democrats to keep fighting for universal health care, for equal pay for equal work, and for the voices of Americans who have been left out of government these past eight years. “I want you to ask yourselves,” Senator Clinton said to the more than 18 million Americans who voted for her during the primaries, “Were you in this campaign just for me, or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him?” Senator Clinton’s former supporters gathered last night in homes around Pennsylvania to hold Unity Parties and watch the Senator’s address. Pennsylvania Women for Obama director Alexandra Traber attended a Unity Party in Montgomery County and shares this report:
Supporters of Barack Obama and former supporters of Hillary Clinton gathered on Tuesday night across Pennsylvania to watch Senator Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention and to celebrate her historic campaign! At one of the parties in Montgomery County, the former Hillary supporters donned eye glasses so that they could see this election through “fresh eyes” and continue the fight for equal pay, affordable health care, a strong economy and a brighter future for us all. These women have promised to work just as hard for Senator Obama as they did for Senator Clinton because the stakes in this campaign are just too high not to! Former Hillary supporters don "fresh eyes" at a Unity Party in Montgomery CountyCongresswoman Allyson Schwartz called in from the Democratic Convention floor in Denver to talk about how important it is for women across the state and the country to rally behind our nominee, Barack Obama, and work together to ensure a victory for the Democratic Party in November. She asked that everyone find time in their busy schedules to volunteer, to phone bank and to recruit their friends to join this movement for change.If you haven’t already done so, please sign up to join PA Women for Obama so that we can keep you up to date on volunteer opportunities, upcoming events and so that we can show that the women of Pennsylvania are standing for Barack Obama! Click here to sign up now.
Former Hillary supporters don "fresh eyes" at a Unity Party in Montgomery County
Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz called in from the Democratic Convention floor in Denver to talk about how important it is for women across the state and the country to rally behind our nominee, Barack Obama, and work together to ensure a victory for the Democratic Party in November. She asked that everyone find time in their busy schedules to volunteer, to phone bank and to recruit their friends to join this movement for change.If you haven’t already done so, please sign up to join PA Women for Obama so that we can keep you up to date on volunteer opportunities, upcoming events and so that we can show that the women of Pennsylvania are standing for Barack Obama! Click here to sign up now.
Violence = Fear = Stupidity = Hate To perpetuate any of these is to perpetuate them all. How can this cycle be broken? How do the wounds of history hurt? Can we ever recover from attempted genocide?
I know this; human nature is static, it does not change with time, with race, with money, or religion. There are good people, bad people, and everything in between, of every color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, class, in every nation on this Earth, in the past, in the present, and into the future. This is human nature. Culture, community, and family change the way we express these qualities, but they do not change the qualities themselves. We are all intrinsically separate, prisoners within our own minds, unable to comprehend anything outside of our perception, and yet we are a part of a whole greater than ourselves, forever bound together in the ever shifting interdependent web of humanity. What happens when we tear this web with violence, fear, stupidity and hate? Can it ever be repaired? I know of at least two tears in the web our existence, one is slavery and the other is the holocaust. In both of these atrocities we see the full destructive potential of violence, fear, ignorance, and hate, in all its horror, the worst that humanity is capable of. We don't like to talk or think about these things, as they are revolting to decent human beings. We don't like to admit to ourselves that as human beings we are no different than the victims or the perpetrators of these atrocities, so we imagine that we are somehow better than the people who did these things, different than the victims, but we are not better or different than anyone. Those of us who are descend from the victims cannot imagine we are somehow different from our grandparents who were directly victimized, and we live with a sense of vulnerability from that, which affects our outlook on life and our sense of self. It is a type of fear I don't believe I can explain to someone who has not experienced it, a fear of history both the Black and Jewish communities understand all too well; to everyone else, I ask you to respect that we feel this way. A feedback loop between racism and anti-Semitism has been created, because each community takes offense at the other's defensiveness. We don't talk about it, we don't think about it, but we act on it unknowingly, and make it worse. Both communities are afraid of the past, and are often so blinded by the horrors they have been subjected to that they are unable to comprehend they are not the only ones who have been traumatized by history. The psychology surrounding how these things affect us is surprisingly similar; it's just the triggers and sensitivities that are different. The Jewish community takes relatively minor crimes like theft and vandalism much more seriously than others because of what these things have lead to historically for us. Little things others would take lightly or brush off as a practical joke upset us, and our oversensitivity is sometimes perceived as being the result of racism, when it is, in fact, the result of our own historical sensitivity.
I work at Carnegie Mellon as a Career Counselor and have been very involved in this campaign and process for the first time doing more than just "casting my vote” I live in Penn Hills and the Penn Hills for Obama team was recently recognized as on of the top 2 neighborhood teams working to get Barack Obama elected in PA. I had the honor last week of being one of 3 team leaders in the Western region to meet with David Plouffe on Friday to talk about what we have been doing in PA and to tell our stories and struggles.
I do have a bitter taste in my mouth about how this country has been run and I know a lot of people feel the same way. I think Hillary’s camp would be hard pressed to find anyone that is "joyful" about spending huge amounts of their paycheck on gas, or having the threat of loosing their home because of the economy. Anyone who says that people are not angry and bitter about the state of America is out of touch. I am also once again put off by Hillary’s twisting of words and meaning. Being disappointed, angry, even bitter about a bad situation does not mean you are a miserable person. She is the one making that connection because that is her fram of reference. I can be bitter and angry about a situation and yet still be a joyful happy an optimistic person.
Obama can renew Americas’ optimism. I have hope that Obama will work to reverse the damage done, not continue with the negativity I see coming from Hillary. Obama gives me a sense of purpose; he has empowered me to make my voice heard. He is the one that can build a bridge uniting democrats, republicans and independents around a hopeful message of change that we can believe in. I would like to see more coverage of that positive powerful energy that is flowing through our city.
here are links to to coverage of the "protest" amd my rebuttal.
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/politics/15870875/detail.html
Click the link below the picture for the video.
http://kdka.com/campaign08/barack.obama.hillary.2.699245.html
Sonjala
I wrote AND submitted letters two Allegheny County's two super-delegates- Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Dan Onorato. Letters to Senator Bob Casey and DNC Chairmen Gov. Howard Dean are next! I focused on one main issue important to myself and the community- education. I really like Obama's education plan and went into great detail about the specific points of the plan and how myself, as a political science and education student in the county, have seen the effects first-hand of poor mandates like "No Child Left Behind". PLEASE take the time to write a letter the superdelegates. Politicians don't know how we feel unless we simply tell them. If anyone wants to see my letter I can e-mail it to you or just post it on this blog! =)
A great article called "The Obama I Know" that I sent a lot of my friends and posted on facebook was written in the Chicago Tribune, highly recommended:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-oped0314obamamar14,0,7185898.story
"The Obama I Know" By Cass R. Sunstein, March 14, 2008
-toni
<HOPE put into ACTION creates CHANGE>
