Quote for Thought:

“For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Headlines for today:

1. Spain’s Socialists win election - Yep! That’s right. Here’s Al-Jazeera’s article on the subject. You can also check out the article at the Guardian and the article on BBC.

2. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP conservative party is trailing [the socialists] in the first round of French local elections - Damn straight. Sarkozy’s party is getting themselves handed to them. Check it out. Great developments in Western Europe!

3. Colombia: From insults to handshakes - The Real News Network reports: “At Rio Group summit an isolated Colombia backs down and apologizes for military raid into Ecuador.” Country after country in Latin America condemn Colombia’s illegal invasion of Ecuador’s sovereignty. President Uribe stands down and crosses room to shake hands with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. War is averted in Latin America.

4. Israel may reoccupy Gaza - The Real News Network reports about Israel’s possibl re-invasion and re-occupation of Gaza, after an escalation of Israeli violence in the region which reportedly killed over 120 people in the Gaza region of Palestine.

5. Climate change may spark conflict with Russia, EU told - Anyone up for yelling and screaming in deluded state-capitalist drum circles as the world burns down around us? I haven’t seen an article this ridiculous in a while. The world is falling apart, and the EU is threatening a conflict over materials in a part of the world that should be FROZEN. How about we talk about how to STOP it from MELTING! The wise Cree proverb is adept to describe this article: “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money.”

AND

6. What is Revolutionary Democracy? - by X and Keith from New Brunswick. A great article and introduction into building revolutionary dual power and a popular movement for a new society.

Quote for thought: “If we don’t know where we’re going, we’ll never get there. To build a better future, the progressive movement needs a coherent, compelling, shared vision — one that represents out values and dreams for society and guides us in inspiring others to share our hope and join along. But while as social justice advocates, we often know what we’re against, do we know what we’re for?” from Movement Vision Lab

I was pretty busy today writing some long-term pieces and articles. Here is one interesting thing I found:

1. Qvisory: “An independent nonprofit standing up for your issues and helping you achieve your money, work & health goals” - Here’s an interesting non-profit I found. With young people in more and more debt, this organization provides information and services to young people who want to get out of debt or stay out of debt. Its headed by SEIU’s Andy Stern. The group describes itself as:

“…a nonprofit community that supports the money, work, and health goals of American workers, particularly young Americans who face significant challenges in today’s rapidly evolving economy. We provide information, valuable products, and innovative services to put people in control of their lives. Together with the Qvisory community, we also advocate for changes that benefit all of us in these three issue areas.”

Quote for thought: “We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birth-day of a new world is at hand.” - Thomas Paine, Common Sense

And today’s headlines and stories:

1. Latest Research Reveals Huge Disparities Among Young Voters - From WireTap Magazine: “College students are voting in record numbers and making their issues heard in the 2008 primary season. Young people without college experience — who constitute close to half of the 18- to 29-year-old electorate and are more likely to be youth of color — are notably absent.”

“If social science research can be sure about anything, it’s the fact that education is positively correlated with many civic engagement outcomes — including voter turnout rates. In the 2004 presidential election, 27 percentage points separated the turnout rates of the college-educated (61 percent) and youth who have no college experience (32 percent). This gap has persisted since 1972 and it continues today. New CIRCLE research found that one in four young people with at least some college experience voted in the 2008 Super Tuesday states, compared to just one in 14 non-college youth.”

2. Why Voters Aren’t Motivated by a Laundry List of Positions on Issues - and article by Joe Brewer and George Lakoff, The Rockridge Institute; posted on AlterNet. “How politicians communicate has more influence than policy details. Why else would the public accept destructive practices like domestic spying?”

“There is a faulty view of voting behavior — widely held by political strategists on the left — that people already know what they want. All you have to do is conduct a poll to find out where they stand on the issues, then build a platform of positions that accords with the polls, and they will vote for you. Missing from this view is the importance of cognitive policy — the ideas necessary to understand what the issues are and how they should be addressed. It is the ability to understand where a candidate is coming from that makes public support possible. Endorsement quickly follows when this understanding combines with a sense of shared values.”

3. The Roosevelt Institution’s 2008 Essay Contest: Finding Progressive Voices for the 21st Century - Firstly, the deadline on this is March 8, 2008, so if this interests you, get your butt into gear! The Roosevelt Institution and The Nation Magazine are co-sponsoring an essay contest about what a new major New Deal-like reform program would look like in 2008. Here’s the description:

“The Nation magazine and the Roosevelt Institution are teaming up to explore what relevance FDR and the New Deal have for the 21st Century, and how today’s college students understand the social contract. We are looking for essays of 600 words or less that answer the following question:

In the 1930s, FDR’s New Deal established a new social compact between government and its citizens. That compact has frayed greatly in the face of economic globalization and the seeming triumph of free-market thinking. What relevance, if any, do you think New Deal politics have today in meeting the challenges of the 21st century, especially globalization and climate change? Let us know in 600 words or less.

The top essay or excerpts will be published in The Nation, and the author will receive a $500 cash prize. The top five essays will be published on Student Nation and the Roosevelt Institution homepage.

The deadline for submissions is March 2, 2008. Please send your essay to essays@rooseveltinstitution.org, subject line “New Deal Essay;” when sending, please include as an attachment and in the body of the email.”

More articles may come later tonight…

Today’s headlines and stories:

1. Evangelicals are Splintering; Republican Base Falling Apart: Jim Wallis on CNN - Evangelicals Splintering: How It Could Change Politics. Jim Wallis is on CNN. Also see Jim Wallis’s blog post on the Pew report, A Religious Landscape Ripe for Revival:

“I haven’t yet read the whole study released yesterday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life titled, “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” just some of today’s news reports. But what I have read confirms what I see on the road every week. U.S. citizens are on the move religiously. Many people are not staying in the churches of their upbringings. “This is not your parents’ church,” many now could say as they show up on Sunday mornings. But where are they going? What we have known for a long time now is backed by the data—namely that many evangelical churches are growing, and especially congregations that are “non-denominational” or “unaffiliated.” And a decline in Catholic Church attendance is being somewhat offset by an influx into the country of Catholic immigrants.”

You can find a PDF version here. We’re gonna OWN the Republicans this year!

2. Pew Report Finds More than One in 100 Adults are Behind Bars - The Pew Center on the States:

“Washington, DC - 02/28/2008 - For the first time in history more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison—a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety. According to a new report released today by the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project, at the start of 2008, 2,319,258 adults were held in American prisons or jails, or one in every 99.1 men and women, according to the study. During 2007, the prison population rose by more than 25,000 inmates. In addition to detailing state and regional prison growth rates, Pew’s report, One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008, identifies how corrections spending compares to other state investments, why it has increased, and what some states are doing to limit growth in both prison populations and costs while maintaining public safety.”

3. Times They Are a Changing: An Interview with George Lakoff on Language, Politics, and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections - Dave Winer, 52, pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; check out his interview with George Lakoff, a fellow at the Rockridge Institute, and a pioneer in linking lessons from linguistics and cognitive science to politics and progressive organizing & messaging. And here is the mp3 file. I’ll definitely be posting some follow up posts about this article soon. Stay tuned!

4. New College of California, a progressive college in San Francisco, loses its accreditation - New College has lost its accreditation as the result of undemocratic and anti-progressive attacks from moderates and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Statement from the New College Board of Trustees:

“As members of the New College Board of Trustees, we are very disappointed by the decision by the WASC Commission to move to terminate the College’s accreditation, as communicated to us in a message received yesterday. At this point, we are exploring a number of options, as described further below. In our deliberations we are clear that our first and foremost priority is to protect the interests of individuals invested in the College - this starts with our students and extends to our graduates, along with members of our faculty and staff.”

This is truly a loss for our movement…

5. Youthquake - January 9, 2008 in BusinessWeek:

“They’re called the Millennials—and they’re fed up. Why? Try angst about jobs, health care, and debt. Now they’re getting pols to listen. Earlier than most of his rivals, Barack Obama sensed that a youthquake was rumbling deep inside the American electorate. For months, his campaign has put a premium on reaching out to YouTube (GOOG) disaffecteds. So far the strategy is paying off, helped along, no doubt, by the candidate’s hip, un-boomer persona. The 46-year-old Illinois senator’s surprise victory in the Iowa caucuses and close second-place finish to New York Senator Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire Democratic primary were fueled largely by hordes of twentysomethings in hoodies—the oft-pierced-and-tattooed generation that has come to be known as the Millennials, or Gen Y.”

Got other interesting articles from the last few days? E-mail me at brian (at) walkingbutterfly.com!