Ignorance is never a rich soil to plant seeds in. And we have a lot of cultivating ahead of us.
What's a smart grid, and if there were a build one as part of a massive stimulus package to build infrastructure, what could be built in a 2 year timeframe?
How does Tom Daschle's idea of quasi-governmental agencies relate to Health Care?
If you relied on pundits, you'd never know. Maybe Wikipedia... but wait- the information there is pretty slim pickens too. The agenda list on Change.gov generates a lot of questions for people, and ignorance about the fundamentals of the problems and solutions will make the task ahead much harder.
As an idea to not let the huge army of obama volunteers disipate and to get some real e-democracy collaboration going, on Wikipedia I have created a Wikiproject named Obama administration to strengthen the Wikipedia articles that will be referred to in response to Barack's agenda items as the legislation comes up for hearings etc.
The location is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:J_JMesserly/WikiProject_Obama_administration
Sign up in the participants section if you'd like to help people to be well informed on the topics that the Obama agenda is focused on addressing.
Thanks
Here are ten quick ideas for the coming Obama administration. The GSA commissioned this article last year. A PDF version and looong version with international examples is available.
Ten Practical Online Steps for Government Support of Democracy
By Steven CliftChair, E-Democracy.Org and Ashoka Fellow
This article will appear in the upcoming Intergovernmental Solutions newsletter of the U.S. federalGeneral Services Administration: http://tinyurl.com/2dhl9s
Does e-government have anything to do with democracy and citizen participation? Let's getstraight to the point - not yet.
Should it?
Yes. Government should be leading a charge into the increasingly and fundamentally interactiveweb.
Information access, considered the safe starting point for government accountability online nowmostly presents the public a daunting needle in a huge haystack. This system is so complicatedthat the valuable and substantive information that government produces is often ignored in theincreasingly interactive public lives of active citizens. . The lack of real and effective online accessto governance will substantially increase cynicism about and distrust in government among apublic that demands a more participatory representative democracy.
A bit of context: I coordinated e-government for the State of Minnesota in its early days. As acitizen, I independently started E-Democracy.Org which created the world’s first electioninformation and discussion website in 1994. When “services first, democracy later” envelopedmost e-government projects, I went independent in late 1997. Since then, I've spoken andconsulted across 26 countries on "e-democracy.”
Here are the 10 things I would do in government at every level to help rescue our democracy inthe information age.
1. Timely, personalized access to information that matters.
Government decision-making information is not really public or relevant if people cannot act on itwhen it still matters. Give people tools like personalized e-mail alerts based on keywords,location, etc. and eliminate the "nobody told me" backlash government often receives due topoor public outreach. Every government needs a “what’s new” democracy portal or a thematicsection covering all democratic processes as part of their main website.
2. Help elected officials receive and sort, then better understand and respond to email.
E-mail overload is the number one complaint I hear from elected officials around the world. Mostwant to respond effectively, but simply aren't being provided the tools they need. If there everwas an opportunity for open source collaboration among governments, this is it. In general, ourrepresentatives and representative institutions must start to invest in the online infrastructurethey need to connect directly with the public they represent.
3. Dedicate at least 10% of new e-government developments to democracy.
Let’s define democracy starting with public input. In an e-service initiative, the 10% should startwith citizen focus groups to guide the design of the service, usability testing and studies togenerate user input and accountability, and post-transaction user surveys. If the investment is anew content management system for information access, then use the 10% to addpersonalization and survey input features or democratized navigation (those nifty menus thatshow you the top ten articles viewed that day or week).
4. Announce all government public meetings on the Internet in a uniform manner.
All public meeting notices, agendas, handouts, and digital recordings must be online. The systemshould be standards-based and tie state-by-state systems into a national network coveringfederal, state, and local government public meetings. This is the only way for people to ask to bepro-actively notified of any government public meetings within a certain geographic areaaddressing specific topics that interest them.
5. Allow citizens to look-up all of their elected officials from the very local to nationalin one search.
Along with the ability to look-up all public meetings, Americans should have the right to easilydetermine who all the elected and appointed officials are who represent them currently. Justbefore elected and appointed officials assume office, every government unit should be requiredto submit contact information for those officials into a national database.
6. Host online public hearings and dialogues (or “e-consultations” as they are knownoutside the U.S.)
As in-person public meetings begin to incorporate live online features, envision more deliberateonline exchanges to improve the outcomes of the decision-making process. If your governmentagency hosts three public hearings across the country or your state, host the fourth hearingonline over a week or two and improve the format in the process. In 10 years, the legislatures,commissions and city councils not holding hearings online will be in the minority.
7. Embrace the rule of law by mandating the most democratically empowering onlineservices and rights across the whole of government.
Technology itself is not forcing real institutional democratic change. I estimate that 90% of thedemocratic innovations online that really share power are based on a political tradition or lawthat existed before the Internet arrived. If we want all citizens to benefit universally from a morewired democracy, then now is time to update our legal requirements and fund core onlinedemocracy services.
8. Promote dissemination through access to raw data from decision-makinginformation systems.
Let’s explode decision-making data, like Congressional information and rulemaking relatedcontent into bits via XML and open standards and make it easy to re-use public government datafrom many sources to create views and searches that provide insight, understanding, andaccountability. Think “Web 2.0” interactivity built on top of government data by those outside ofgovernment.
9. Fund Open Source sharing internationally across e-government.
Sharing and supporting open source software takes resources – a consortium of nationalgovernments need to step up with collaborative funding. The new and less cluttered area of eparticipation tools are an ideal starting point within e-government to reduce technology costs andbuild systems for use by multiple governments.. Efforts to place modules and customizations outfor community use will be key. Government and its vendors must contribute code back for thewheels of reciprocal value to start turning.
10. Local up – a strategic approach to building local democracy online.
To build e-participation momentum, citizens need to experience results they can see and touch.By investing in transferable local models and tools, more people will use the Internet as a tool tostrength their communities, protect and enrich their families and neighborhoods, and be heard ina meaningful way. Every community needs an “online town hall,” E-Democracy.Org calls themIssues Forums, for agenda-setting discussion of public issues. Comparative evaluation of accessand participation related online service and content indicators will introduce efforts for an online"Democracy Tune-up." This same tune-up concept should be applied at the state and federallevel as well.
Conclusion
In the early days, folks thought the Internet was inherently democratic. Parts of it are, but thatmistaken sense of technological determinisms has not carried over to make constitutional andlegally-ground representative processes more open and responsive. Today, “politics as usual”online may actually make things worse. Civically conceived e-participation efforts need to countersuch negative trends rather than being viewed as an extra option. Ultimately, each generationneeds to rebuild democracy with the special tools of their time. Our tools are online and ourdemocracy needs us.
Steven Clift leads the “Online Consultation and E-Participation” online community of practice atDoWire.Org and shares numerous articles on e-democracy from Publicus.Net. An extendedversion of this article with specific examples is available from that site.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/3/24042/6086/332/650566
THis really should be made into an ad, tonight.
October surprise!
Sarah Palin gets phone-pranked for 8 minutes by two Canadians who pose as Sarkozy!
Be sure to search the comments for "TRANSCRIPT" too. This is simply her dumbest, most embarrassing moment yet!
PASS IT ON
http://tinyurl.com/6bj4h4
Our John McCain: "He's Got Nothing" video makes
Air America's Top10 in its Obama contest.
Please go there there and consider voting for it so millions more might see it? Thanks!
http://tinyurl.com/6y89t8
Congratulations to Obama and his team for a brilliant campaign. We're on the final lap!
MCCAIN IS FINISHED.
New video found of him supporting progressive taxes on wealthy.
Blog Post
http://tinyurl.com/6mfbe9
Actual Youtube page (for comments)http://tinyurl.com/57hht2
The mugger story knocked this off the radar this morning. It's critical that we put it back on. McCain is clearly educating the audience about what any schooled person knows. This nation in the past 100 years was built with progressive taxation, and this cynical, Joe the Plumber stupidity is as wrong as it is hypocritcal.
PLEASE PASS THIS TO THE WORLD.It completely derails McCain's final end game.
I hope this can get into an Obama commercial. If the public sees the plain truth of McCain patiently contradicting his entire campaign theme, and even educating a voter about why progressive taxes matters, well.. it's just over. Hello President Obama!
IF YOU KNOW THE MEDIA PEOPLE, please pass this on to them?
I just sent this to "FightTheSmears.com" The McCain people are pouring on the gasoline on the social networks like Twitter and Facebook. We need better tools.
Dear FightTheSpears:
We made this page http://tinyurl.com/3qpqfm ...so people have quick, easily pastable facts about Obama, to use on Twitter and other social sites. I would strongly advise you copy this and make it official (or make your own). Social net users are doing this ad hoc, and it's very ineffective. Our items are now being posted regularly. If your provide a similar "Quick facts about Obama" page, millions would use it.
This story from the Washington Post must be passed far and wide, and fast. If Al-Qaeda does in fact strike, it probably would work like a charm and McCain would get a huge spike.
BREAKING: Al-Qaeda wants McCain to win to accelerate US decline. May launch attacks to scare US to vote for him. http://tinyurl.com/56e7dw
Full URL:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102102477.html?hpid=topnews
Background: Carter was leading by about 10 points, 8 days before the 1980 election. One "Amy" remark, and "Are you better off now than 4 years ago?" in the final debate, and Reagan won by a landslide. Surprises do work. We need to warn people to be wary of this.
NEW POWELL / OBAMA VIDEO:
Poignant, important, perfect. Please retweet, rate and comment to make it a hit.
http://tinyurl.com/5kya2f
Fact: ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field, but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.
Fact: ACORN flags incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in, but these warnings are often ignored by election officials. Often these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards.
Fact: Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card, so there is NO incentive for them to falsify cards. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the relatively rare cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.
Fact: No charges have ever been brought against ACORN itself. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes.
Fact: Voter fraud by individuals is extremely rare, and incredibly difficult. There has never been a single proven case of anyone, anywhere, casting an illegal vote as a result of a phony voter registration. Even if someone wanted to influence the election this way, it would not work.
Fact: Most election officials have recognized ACORN's good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected.
Fact: Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered and allowed to vote, so there is also NO incentive to "disrupt the system" with phony cards.
Fact: Similar accusations were made, and attacks launched, against ACORN and other voter registration organizations in 2004 and 2006. These attacks were not only groundless, they have since been exposed as part of the U.S. Attorneygate scandal and revealed to be part of a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression.
These are the facts, and the truth is that a relatively small group of political operatives are trying to orchestrate hysteria about "voter fraud" and manufacture public outrage that they can use to further suppress the votes of millions of low-income and minority Americans.
These tactics are nothing new, and history has shown that they will come to nothing. We'll continue to weather the storm, as we've done for years, and we'll continue to share the truth about our work and express pride about our accomplishments.Most importantly, we want to assure you that this good work continues, unabated and undeterred. ACORN will not be intimidated, we will not be provoked, and in this important moment in history we will not allow anyone to distract us from these vital efforts to empower our constituencies and our communities to speak for themselves. If the partisan political machines are afraid of low-income and minority voters, they're going to have to do a lot better than coming after ACORN.
After all, there are now at least 1.3 million more of them, and they will not be silenced. They're taking an interest, and taking a stand, and they'll be taking their concerns to the voting booth in November.
And ACORN will be here, to make sure that the voices of these Americans are heard, on Election Day and for every day to come.
Gosh, who knew the Enquirer could be so useful. Their day just goes from bad to worse.
SARAH PALIN LOVER REVEALED!
Obama's new "Burden" ad. Finally. they zero in for the kill. Great ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xIZtXq7JiE
http://gawker.com/5051193/sarah-palins-personal-emails
Simply incredible. This is her death knell. Anyone that uses a free, unsecured Yahoo account for anything resembling government -- or even a notable's business-- is simply incompetent,
This woman is a lost dog in high weeds.
This may be her Macacca moment. I think we need ads that basically rub that in. It's not the hacking that matters. It's the decision making that even allowed an account that could be hacked.
Intro:
Some days ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following her Vice Presidential acceptance speech, viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters according to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey. The self-described ‘hockey mom’’s poll ratings, if they are to be believed, are that of a rock superstar who is rated now higher than either McCain or Democrat Obama. The same Bush-Cheney propaganda apparatus that made the nation believe that Saddam Hussein was the new Hitler and that Georgia was a helpless victim of ruthless Russian aggression after 8.8.08 in Georgia is clearly behind one of the most impressive media propaganda efforts in recent history—the effort to package Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska for less than 19 months, to be the American dream candidate. Her religious roots are something she has been deliberately vague about. It’s worth a closer look.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10167
Michelle's appearance on the View today was a big hit. But it's just a start in a long struggle. The right wing noise machine will be relentless in attacking her in the coming months.
I had an idea that has resonated with everyone I have told it to--especially women. Thought I would share it here.
The concept is a series of very subtle, 30 second commercials featuring ONLY Michelle, and makes no mention of the campaign, except at the end.
Each spot just opens without fanfare, and has Michelle doing the voice over about one particular issue facing American women, and especially mothers. (Right-to-choose, education, health care, etc.). Each is informative, fact-laden, and emphatic in tone, but not strident. The video content is almost irrelevant. It could be still photos. Only the narration really matters.
Regardless of content, each spot ends with:
""I'm Michelle Obama, and this is one more reason this election means so much to me as a woman, a mother, and an American. Won't you please urge all your friends to vote?"
Of course, the final line must be:
"I'm Barack Obama and I Paid for this Message"
If you like this idea, please blog it, and pass it around. Perhaps the campaign will see it, and discuss it. I think it's a fresh approach, without rancor, could be viral, memorable, and might help to mitigate some of the right wing's attack squading to demonize Michelle.
I've taken some time the past day and a half to compose a list of bills sponsored by Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate on Wikipedia, and it has been quite an enlightening experience. I had no idea that Obama had worked to give American farmers a hand up in global competition by exempting some of the more ecologically friendly herbicides (of their classes) from import tariffs, or that Obama's Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act of 2006 had provoked such a wide level of interest as soon as it was introduced. The range of proposals for biofuels and synthetic fuels and hybrids and any method at all to head off this oil crisis is dazzling - and they were made in bills submitted in 2005 and 2006 before the $3 gas prices took hold.
I think people here will enjoy looking over the list a moment, and for those interested in editing Wikipedia there is still quite a bit to be done. For example, it is actually quite difficult to find third-party references that discussed some of Obama's bills that never made it out of committee, at least online, and I still lack a good database of which measures truly failed and which were replaced by revised bills, amendments, or similar bills proposed by someone else.
The purposes of neutral Wikipedia and supporters of Obama are only marginally at odds, because the Republican leadership has such a fondness for lies and innuendo that an encyclopedia will innately bias itself against them, simply by noting the truth; whereas when faced with someone like Obama who has sound ideas, it will effectively defend him by congruency. Of course, this is only true insofar as the people who do the editing uphold to Wikipedia's academic ideals, but so far things have not strayed very badly. With a list like this (and to come, lists of cosponsorships and amendments), I hope that the facts will become a little more accessible to casual readers online.
I perused –all- 2,261 current national groups. Take a moment to review some of the gems listed below. Some will make you chuckle, some will make you think - and some you may well want to join! It might also inspire you to start your own group – for example, there are groups for dog and cat lovers, but currently none for other pets, at least as of the moment. One helpful tip to search for groups you like is to check the “Also search group descriptions” box; this will expand your search and often come up with more results.
I’ve joined a few groups as a result of the search: “Bad Bowlers for Barack” and “Mets Fans 4 Obama" (only 2 members?!? Mets fans, where are you all?) There’s 39 members of the “Chicago White Sox Fans for Obama”; the White Sox is Barack’s favorite team. Interestingly, both Yankees and Red Sox fans have yet to create a group (but don’t expect them to run a joint one!)
Here’s a shameless plug: if you were born in 1961 as Barack and I were, please join “People Born in 1961 for Barack Obama”. 1961 is one of the border years between the Baby Boomers and Generation X, and it will be fascinating to join with other people born that year to see what’s on our collective 45/46 year-old minds.
Finally, if you’ve read this far and found this post useful, please feel free add me to your friends network by making a Friend Request! And if you have a group that's, well, unusual, please let me know.
All the best as we work to see Barack take the Inaugural Oath on January 20, 2009!
Kevin
PS to procrastinators: you haven’t started your group yet!
"Audacity of Hope" Book Donations for Obama: a GREAT idea: donate Barack's books to local public libraries.
"The Secret" Believers for President Obama
Agnostics for Obama : Because we're different from Atheists!
Agoraphobics For Obama
Artists for Obama – several groups available…take a look!
Babies for Obama (3 separate groups)
Bad Bowlers for Barack : We may stink but Barack is a perfect 300.
Barbers For Obama
Battlestar Galactica fans for Obama
Canadians for Obama (several)
Cats for Obama (35 members!) (Meow!)
Chessplayers for Obama
Citizens Against Fox News - res ipsa loquitur.
Classical Singers For Obama
Data Miners For Obama - If a need arises throughout this campaign involving the analysis, manipulation and presentation of data, someone here can help.
Dodgeball for Obama - no, not the memorable(?) grade school sport. See the Dodgeball site to find nearby Obama supporters using your cell phone.
Dog Lovers For Obama – but only 3 members! The cats are beating you more than 10 to 1!
Draft Colin Powell Into The Obama Campaign (as a military and foreign affairs adviser.)
EBay It For Obama : turn that “junk” into dollars for Obama.
Erics for Obama (see also Caseys for Barack)
Exsmokers for Barack
Flight Attendants For Obama
Goths For Obama!
Hillary Defectors : 52 members and counting
Hotties For Obama: “He’s hot. We’re hot. It all works out”
Interfaith Clergy, Spiritualists and Psychic Mediums for Obama (Can’t the psychics tell us by how much he’ll win NOW?)
Investment Bankers for Obama
Italian Buddhist Cowboy Lawyers (and Others) for Obama
Jedi For Obama (Winner, Best Group Photo)
Knitters For Obama: 75 people mending the fabric of American politics.
Lefties For Obama
Massage Therapists and Bodyworkers for Obama
Math Lovers For Obama!
NYC Republicans for Obama
Obama Heads (Deadheads group) / Obama Deadheads Unite / Deadheads For Obama
Obama Pajama Party
Octogenarians For Obama
Parents of Marines : Help bring our boys and girls home from this futile war.
People Born in 1961 For Barack Obama (Barack was born August 4, 1961.)
Rollergirls For Obama!!!
Rusties For Obama (Neil Young fans)
Shakespeare Lovers for Obama
Singles Older Than Obama for Obama
The Audacity of Halliburton (Halliburton shareholders concerned about … the way that Halliburton exploits the loophole in U.S. law that bans commerce with nations such as Iran, Syria, and Libya… Shareholders are invited to contribute to a blog about this dance along the edge of legality.)
UPSers for Obama (couldn't find a FedExers for Obama, though)
Wellesley Alumnae For Obama / Wellesley Students For Barack Obama (Wellesley is Hillary's alma mater)
Wikipedians For Obama
World of Warcraft for Obama
