I’ve been complaining about how Republican conservatives ‘feed their young’, but Democrats and progressives don’t. Looks like someone else is finally getting the idea.
This year alone, fellows at Young People For have played a key role in shutting down Florida’s juvenile boot camp system, expanding campus nondiscrimination policies, creating leadership institutes on college campuses for high school students and GLBT leaders, and engaging young people in the political processes by registering them to vote.
Collectively, we’re doing great work, but we’re not doing enough. Right-wing groups spend more than ten times as much on long-term political leadership development than we do, and financial trends over the past four years show that progressive leadership development organizations are actually, on average, experiencing a decline in revenue. Unlike their conservative counterparts, youth-focused progressive organizations are often funded with a “buying,” not “building,” mentality, meaning that donors want their contribution to have immediate payoffs, such as election-year voter registration, but are not focusing on investing in the strategic, long-term sustainability of those organizations.
Very good point. The rise of the conservative movement is in part due to their funding of these types of groups. Not only do you learn skills through these groups, they also work as a giant networking system.
Part of the problem could well be the perennial lack of organization among people on the left. As a generalization, the real left-wing base tends to be much more free-spirited, creative and harder to organize than the heavily regimented (religious and militaristic) right-wing base. There are a ton of great left-wing youth groups, they just tend to be scattered among environmental, social justice, political and a myriad of other causes.
I’m really sick of most of the stuff that’s in the news today. So, here’s something more hopeful from Chris Bowers over at my DD:
Taking the House is far from a guarantee. However, we have put over forty Republican-held seats in serious play. Right now, even before the time period when most unknown challengers make up a lot of ground on well-known incumbents, we are already winning in enough districts to take the House. This is far, far superior to any position we have been in since 1994. In fact, there are a growing number of Republican-held House seats where the most recent independent poll of the district shows a Democratic lead…
Of course, this also means you can be sure this election season is going to get very ugly. And then there’s the Diebold hackability problem. Maybe it’s time for the Dems to distribute some hacked voting machine chips of their own? 🙂
BREAKING: Harman Calls for Release of Second Secret Iraq Report
There’s a second damning Iraq report floating around the intelligence community.
At least, that’s according to Rep. Jane Harman (CA), the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee. At an event this morning, Harman disclosed the existence of a classified intelligence community report that gives a grim assessment of the situation in Iraq, and called for it to be shared with the American public — before the November elections.
The report has not been shared with Congress, although sources say a draft version may have circulated earlier this summer. It is a separate report from the one revealed by major news outlets Sunday, which is said to conclude that the war in Iraq has made the U.S. less secure from terrorist threats.
The deffecation is hitting the oscillating circulator over these reports. Watching/listening to the Bushies put the spin on these bad reports would be entertaining if it weren’t so tragic.
The spin is what is making me sick to my stomach over the news this week. I am SICK TO DEATH of watching that smug pile of crap pResident try to pass off reports detailing the extent of his colossal blunders as merely being politically motivated in election season. Like there’s no substance to the reports? Like trying to suppress those reports wasn’t politically motivated? Like it’s okay to spend billions more and more lives on an illegal and failed occupation with no oversight or accountability to the people of this country who are footing the bill? G-D M-Fers.
I know how you feel. I can’t watch or listen to that moron for 1 minute without screaming at the tv. His arrogant smirk is almost too much to bear. A walk is good. Don’t forget to breathe… OOOooohhhmmmmm. 🙂
I agree with you, Babe. I have a lot of difficulty on watching any news nowadays, b/c of that very reason. It is all spin. I can not wait till we get some legit ppl in making decisions for our country. The ones we have now are the most thuggrish and mobish as any I have ever seen. I personally can not wait to see this election do to the repub. as that should have been years ago. I think it will be party time after Nov 7th, don’t you?! We just must take it away from them…every last bit of the nasty they have ever done to America.
Think Progress has the scoop. Seems as if the White House is admitting such a report exists, but it won’t be released until January 2007, well after the elections. Surprise!
Washington to send 4-star general to assume Afghanistan command
KABUL, Afghanistan A four-star American general will take charge of both U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan in February, boosting the stature of the military mission in the fractured country and unifying an international command struggling to contain a resurgent Taliban militia.
Provided he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, U.S. Army Gen. Dan K. McNeil will take over command of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan currently headed by British Army three-star, Lt. Gen. David Richards, ISAF spokesman Maj. Luke Knittig said Tuesday.
“It speaks volumes to the attention that Afghanistan will continue to receive,” said Knittig, a U.S. Army officer.
So we’re getting serious about Afghanistan? Don’t you think it’s a little late for that? It’s generally known that the insurgency in Afghanistan has been fueled by a glut of jihadist fighters straight from Iraq. How about our Pakistani friends? The latest is that Mullah Omar,the one eyed Taliban head, approved Pakistan’s deal with Wazirastan. Of course, Pakistan denies that, but they deny a lot these days. The bottom line is, Bush is holding Afghanistan up as a huge success. In reality Afghanistan is another big hairy failure for Bush and proof that he’s not qualified to manage a burger joint never mind our national security.
As I see it, the only reason for this action is b/c that of the news lately coming out of that country nowadays. It is totally embarrassing for this adm to have it like it is now…But sad to say it too is toooooo late in that country for much more to happen. It should have been dealt with right from the start, but hell now, they had to leave and go to Iraq! YOu just do not understand, this one man says he is the decider and he knows best…God how can we all be so stupid…:o)
Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day features a view of the Earth and the Moon from the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn.
I think it’s so cool I couldn’t pass up sharing it!
Why I despise economists (climate change rant du jour, since we’re doing rants today): Will the spending needed to prevent global warming cost the world more than just sitting back, or even enjoying the possible financial benefits of a hotter planet? Economists are divided over that cold financial calculation in the week ahead of a major report on the issue to be presented to ministers of the world’s leading nations. The report by UK government scientist Nicholas Stern to the G8 nations and major emerging countries including China, India and Brazil, may favor the first argument, according to some sources who contributed to it. However, as economists traditionally have done, the report may not sufficiently factor in the losses due to “externalities,” rendering the findings not just worthless, but dangerously misleading: Major economists quoted in the linked story do not adequately cost out species extinctions and health effects, and only crudely measures the cost of island inundations.
A private US space rocket that blasted off from a site in New Mexico malfunctioned before it reached space, organizers have said. It veered off course at an altitude of about 12,200m (40,000ft) and crash-landed in the desert.
Balloon-borne platforms developed as precursors to space elevators could be used as high-altitude relay stations for wireless communications, a 60-day field test suggests. The hope is that one day a space elevator, comprised of a robot that will climb a strong tether about 100,000 kilometres (60,000 miles) long, will be able to send humans or other cargo cheaply into space. Developing the technology necessary to accomplish this goal will take years, but some progress has been made so far. LiftPort Group, based in Bremerton, Washington, US, stretched a cable one mile (1.6 kilometres) into the air in Arizona, US, in January 2006 using a cluster of three balloons, but that test lasted for only six hours. Now, LiftPort has finished a 60-day test with a 100-metre-long tether held aloft by four helium balloons.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf lashed out at critics of his government’s anti-terror credentials yesterday, noting that his army has suffered hundreds of casualties while Canadians “cry and shout” when a few of their soldiers die.
Pervez Musharraf has all the diplomatic skill and sensitivity one could reasonably expect from military dictator who assumed power by disposing of a democratically elected leader in a military coup. Perhaps if Saddam Hussein had finalized a book deal with Simon and Schuster he would still be in power.
What a tool. Sad part is, he’s less scary than a lot of the alternatives could be. Imagine Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in the hands of a fundamentalist Islamist ruler?
is bush really the devil? I found this to be quite humorous. I do not know how many times I have said that dubya is the evil one….but this just clears it all up…;o) What do you think?
Hey ya’ll I am on vacation for the rest of the week….am ready to play with you…finally a relaxing vacation…yea!
I’ve been complaining about how Republican conservatives ‘feed their young’, but Democrats and progressives don’t. Looks like someone else is finally getting the idea.
Very good point. The rise of the conservative movement is in part due to their funding of these types of groups. Not only do you learn skills through these groups, they also work as a giant networking system.
Part of the problem could well be the perennial lack of organization among people on the left. As a generalization, the real left-wing base tends to be much more free-spirited, creative and harder to organize than the heavily regimented (religious and militaristic) right-wing base. There are a ton of great left-wing youth groups, they just tend to be scattered among environmental, social justice, political and a myriad of other causes.
I’m really sick of most of the stuff that’s in the news today. So, here’s something more hopeful from Chris Bowers over at my DD:
Of course, this also means you can be sure this election season is going to get very ugly. And then there’s the Diebold hackability problem. Maybe it’s time for the Dems to distribute some hacked voting machine chips of their own? 🙂
Link
There’s a second damning Iraq report floating around the intelligence community.
At least, that’s according to Rep. Jane Harman (CA), the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee. At an event this morning, Harman disclosed the existence of a classified intelligence community report that gives a grim assessment of the situation in Iraq, and called for it to be shared with the American public — before the November elections.
The report has not been shared with Congress, although sources say a draft version may have circulated earlier this summer. It is a separate report from the one revealed by major news outlets Sunday, which is said to conclude that the war in Iraq has made the U.S. less secure from terrorist threats.
The deffecation is hitting the oscillating circulator over these reports. Watching/listening to the Bushies put the spin on these bad reports would be entertaining if it weren’t so tragic.
The spin is what is making me sick to my stomach over the news this week. I am SICK TO DEATH of watching that smug pile of crap pResident try to pass off reports detailing the extent of his colossal blunders as merely being politically motivated in election season. Like there’s no substance to the reports? Like trying to suppress those reports wasn’t politically motivated? Like it’s okay to spend billions more and more lives on an illegal and failed occupation with no oversight or accountability to the people of this country who are footing the bill? G-D M-Fers.
I must go for my walk now. grrr.
I know how you feel. I can’t watch or listen to that moron for 1 minute without screaming at the tv. His arrogant smirk is almost too much to bear. A walk is good. Don’t forget to breathe… OOOooohhhmmmmm. 🙂
ready to let loose a rant or two today…maybe I should fix the News Bucket title to reflect that?
I agree with you, Babe. I have a lot of difficulty on watching any news nowadays, b/c of that very reason. It is all spin. I can not wait till we get some legit ppl in making decisions for our country. The ones we have now are the most thuggrish and mobish as any I have ever seen. I personally can not wait to see this election do to the repub. as that should have been years ago. I think it will be party time after Nov 7th, don’t you?! We just must take it away from them…every last bit of the nasty they have ever done to America.
Think Progress has the scoop. Seems as if the White House is admitting such a report exists, but it won’t be released until January 2007, well after the elections. Surprise!
Link
KABUL, Afghanistan A four-star American general will take charge of both U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan in February, boosting the stature of the military mission in the fractured country and unifying an international command struggling to contain a resurgent Taliban militia.
Provided he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, U.S. Army Gen. Dan K. McNeil will take over command of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan currently headed by British Army three-star, Lt. Gen. David Richards, ISAF spokesman Maj. Luke Knittig said Tuesday.
“It speaks volumes to the attention that Afghanistan will continue to receive,” said Knittig, a U.S. Army officer.
So we’re getting serious about Afghanistan? Don’t you think it’s a little late for that? It’s generally known that the insurgency in Afghanistan has been fueled by a glut of jihadist fighters straight from Iraq. How about our Pakistani friends? The latest is that Mullah Omar,the one eyed Taliban head, approved Pakistan’s deal with Wazirastan. Of course, Pakistan denies that, but they deny a lot these days. The bottom line is, Bush is holding Afghanistan up as a huge success. In reality Afghanistan is another big hairy failure for Bush and proof that he’s not qualified to manage a burger joint never mind our national security.
As I see it, the only reason for this action is b/c that of the news lately coming out of that country nowadays. It is totally embarrassing for this adm to have it like it is now…But sad to say it too is toooooo late in that country for much more to happen. It should have been dealt with right from the start, but hell now, they had to leave and go to Iraq! YOu just do not understand, this one man says he is the decider and he knows best…God how can we all be so stupid…:o)
Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day features a view of the Earth and the Moon from the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn.
I think it’s so cool I couldn’t pass up sharing it!
Here’s the NASA Planetary PhotoJournal Link, for more info.
That kind of puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?
Awesome, P. I love pixs like this.
Climate Change Update:
The Bush administration has blocked release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes, the British scientific journal Nature reported yesterday.
Scientists documented this fall that recent surges of warm water from the North Atlantic Ocean continue to pulse into the Arctic Ocean and are moving toward Alaska and the Canadian Basin, continuing the warming trend that is melting arctic sea ice.
Germany will make fighting climate change a top priority when it takes control of the G8 next year and will try to persuade the United States of its importance, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday. “China, India and other countries are now much more aware of the risks,” she said. “As a result, the ground is now more fertile than it once was … We urgently need agreements for the period after 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol expires. Germany will do all it can within its realm as president of both the G8 and the EU … We have a great chance next year to have an international impact.”
The government of one of Brazil’s Amazonian states plans to reforest rainforest areas cleared for pasture.
Why I despise economists (climate change rant du jour, since we’re doing rants today): Will the spending needed to prevent global warming cost the world more than just sitting back, or even enjoying the possible financial benefits of a hotter planet? Economists are divided over that cold financial calculation in the week ahead of a major report on the issue to be presented to ministers of the world’s leading nations. The report by UK government scientist Nicholas Stern to the G8 nations and major emerging countries including China, India and Brazil, may favor the first argument, according to some sources who contributed to it. However, as economists traditionally have done, the report may not sufficiently factor in the losses due to “externalities,” rendering the findings not just worthless, but dangerously misleading: Major economists quoted in the linked story do not adequately cost out species extinctions and health effects, and only crudely measures the cost of island inundations.
…And the rest of the science headlines…
The climatic phenomenon El Nino should gather weak to moderate intensity, leading to a warming of the Pacific Ocean, the World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday. “Climate patterns across the equatorial Pacific over the last one-two months have developed a notable tendency toward El Nino conditions,” the WMO said. While the trend is expected to persist into 2007, the El Nino may then dissipate instead of being stronger. Due to this uncertainty, long-range forecasts for this coming winter are all over the place.
A private US space rocket that blasted off from a site in New Mexico malfunctioned before it reached space, organizers have said. It veered off course at an altitude of about 12,200m (40,000ft) and crash-landed in the desert.
Balloon-borne platforms developed as precursors to space elevators could be used as high-altitude relay stations for wireless communications, a 60-day field test suggests. The hope is that one day a space elevator, comprised of a robot that will climb a strong tether about 100,000 kilometres (60,000 miles) long, will be able to send humans or other cargo cheaply into space. Developing the technology necessary to accomplish this goal will take years, but some progress has been made so far. LiftPort Group, based in Bremerton, Washington, US, stretched a cable one mile (1.6 kilometres) into the air in Arizona, US, in January 2006 using a cluster of three balloons, but that test lasted for only six hours. Now, LiftPort has finished a 60-day test with a 100-metre-long tether held aloft by four helium balloons.
Scientists have discovered that the gap in the Van Allen radiation belts is formed by natural wave turbulence in space, not by lightning. The discovery settles years of controversy among space scientists about the mechanisms responsible for causing the gap.
For the first time, the seasonal absorption of carbon dioxide by plants has been measured from space and mapped in detail.
KP, you do such amazing work. I want to take this time to say thank you for bringing to our table such information. You are great!
Globe and Mail
what a guy
Pervez Musharraf has all the diplomatic skill and sensitivity one could reasonably expect from military dictator who assumed power by disposing of a democratically elected leader in a military coup. Perhaps if Saddam Hussein had finalized a book deal with Simon and Schuster he would still be in power.
Does Pervez Musharraf have a publicist?
What a tool. Sad part is, he’s less scary than a lot of the alternatives could be. Imagine Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in the hands of a fundamentalist Islamist ruler?
From Linda of CodePinkPortland and Civil Resist at Damp Democracy
is bush really the devil? I found this to be quite humorous. I do not know how many times I have said that dubya is the evil one….but this just clears it all up…;o) What do you think?
Hey ya’ll I am on vacation for the rest of the week….am ready to play with you…finally a relaxing vacation…yea!
Asolutely hilarious and right on the mark, I’d say! 😉
Glad you’re getting a vacation! A rare event, no doubt… Enjoy!
Yeah, this was a good one! I love Mark Morford’s column. I’ll have some fun passing this around. Have a great, relaxing vacation, Brenda;-)