Try this nifty interactive, by the New York Times, that enables you to make the hard decisions.
Category Archives: Public Service, Civics, Government, Activism
Only 40% will vote today, if you keep your plan not to
I agree with Seth Godin’s latest, explaining that political advertising is designed to suppress the vote. If you’re planning to not vote, in protest, you are giving these campaigns exactly what they want.
We do have a choice. And that choice still matters.
Some predictions:
If it does play out the way many talking heads and pollsters say it will, just like last election, there will be talk of a shift in American politics: Ross Doughthat in the NYTimes parrots this view and expect many others from Fox and elsewhere to trumpet it.
NYTimes: Ross Dougthat: “How We Got Here”: an opportunity has opened for the Right that would have been unimaginable just two years ago — a chance to pre-empt a seemingly inevitable liberal epoch with an unexpected conservative revival.
I believe in something different than that. Brought on by modern communications technology and Gen-X’s marketing-sense – independents have swayed the last three elections. Neil King Jr., in the Wall Street Journal, along with NPR parrot this:
WSJ: Neil King Jr. “Revival of Volatility Signals Historic Era in U.S. Politics”: Voters this week look set to do something not seen since the early 1950s: Oust a substantial number of sitting House lawmakers for the third election in a row.
NPR.org: “GOP Leads Pew Poll, But Surprises Still To Be Found”: “This is the third election in a row where they voted against the party in power. They are not happy.”
Lastly, Pew research produced a report whose headline really hammers it home: “Independents Oppose Party in Power … Again”.
There are two parties on the ballot, not three. And like Obama in the last election, the ‘Tea Party’ movement has apparently captured the enthusiasm (anger/hope) of independents to channel that energy into potential votes to an established party.
So it goes? Maybe not.
It all comes down to today and whether you decide to go in the voting booth and take a chance.
Vote.
Howard Hall: “democracy’s chorus”:
there’s no harmony
in democracy’s chorus
unless we all sing
Video: Jon Stewart’s speech at the Rally For Sanity
Pew: Rate of people moving into Philly increasing, rate of people leaving decreasing
“Pew Study Finds an Increase in People Moving Into Philadelphia, Outpacing the Rise in Departures”.
We still have a long way to go, but it is proof positive that Philadelphia’s long march towards being a great place to live and work is starting to get recognized.
Check out these upcoming events: Ignite Philly and TEDXPhilly.
Update: I’ve modified the headline of this post (previously: “Pew: More moving INTO Philly than leaving”) to better reflect the report’s findings. Terrific progress being made nevertheless. Go Philly!
Visualizations to measure your school
The Education Nation Scorecard provided by NBC News, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, and designed and built by Fathom.
Flowing Data has more on it.
I didn’t know who to go to for help – hunger in Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Inquirer profiles the lives of families going hungry in Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District, home of a few of my old neighborhoods, Kensington, Fishtown, Frankford in Philadelphia: “A Portrait of Hunger”.
There is no excuse for letting anyone go hungry in the richest country in the world. None. The article points to three main culprits: a lack of paying work, a lack of guidance to services that can help, and the bureaucratic complexity of applying for those services as root causes.
It was the same for us when I was growing up and when I was out on the streets, sleeping on trains, I didn’t know who to go to for help, or how.
The comments posted on the article really go far in showing how low our culture has become in kicking people when they are down and blaming them entirely for their circumstances.
We’re all in this together. For some great commentary on this, check out Susie Madrak’s latest post. Like her I can still remember when my family needed help. I can remember being in line for a block of cheese at Bridge and Pratt. I remember all too well the chuckles of some at school due to the quality of my Salvation Army and Goodwill bought clothes. I remember the Salvation Army Santa Claus visiting the family to drop off some toys to make our Christmas brighter.
None of us are 100% self made and choosing to belabor that some people need help, instead of offering TO help, does no one any good. Please, if you are able, find some way, any way, to lend a hand.
Resources:
Shozan Jack Haubner: “Mark my words, times are tough and the ground is fertile. That seed will grow.”
Utne: “The Angry Monk”:
Through each other we discover that if we have the heart–the willingness, the strength, the courage–we have the capacity to plant the seeds of kindness, compassion, forgiveness; seeds of a laid-back humor, a sense of letting go. But your heart must be quicker than your mind. Trust me, that organ between your ears is always spoiling for a fight. Its job is to divide and conquer. But the real fight is taking place inside you, within the “dharma organ,” the heart, where the challenge is to unify and understand; where the seeds of love and compassion are struggling to lay roots.
Lend this struggle an ear. Just pause for three seconds. One banana . . . two banana . . . three banana . . . . Pause and listen. Pause and breathe. Pause and gather your scattered, wild energies, your shattered soul . . . before you fling that seed of hate into the wind.
Mark my words, times are tough and the ground is fertile. That seed will grow.
Grace Hopper on David Letterman
Next week some friends will be attending this year’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Here is a terrific interview with her by David Letterman a few years back:
YouTube: “Grace Hopper on David Letterman”:
Counting political party stories on Google News
I am *not* accusing anyone of coverage bias. I’d bet that Google News’s story inclusion algorithms probably reflect what people are linking to and discussing generally.
Google News: “Republican Party”: 11,579 stories
Google News: “Tea Party”: 22,977 stories
Google News: “Democratic Party”: 15,668 stories
Fascinating.
Rebooting Democracy thoughts on Activists versus Pundits and Law
The difference between an actual organizer/activist working in a movement and someone of the punditry; there are *concrete* artifacts pursued by an organizer/activist and the primary artifact of a pundit is their cult of personality.
If there aren’t proposals behind the bluster of someone considered a leader, maybe what you have isn’t a leader, but a pundit in pursuit of nothing more than fame and power.
There is a Rebooting Democracy movement brewing among many in technology spheres. Lawrence Lessig is one of the activists (not pundits) behind this and a perfect example of this is a movement he and many others are pursuing to pass the Fair Elections Now act. Check it out.
Activists tend to be far more boring than pundits in my experience (no offense you activists out there). When you start to coalesce energy into real action (which in turn means facing the gears of bureaucracy and process), it can be frustrating, slow and yes, boring. But it’s the body of democracy. And we are part of it.
YouTube: “Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill Becomes a Law”:
There is a challenge here for the Rebooting Democracy movement. Where is the list of laws or bills on the books that lets me find those I might be interested in supporting or fighting to have dismantled? The tools that are out there require a lot of work and are not where they need to be. Until I can locate laws and bills, Local, State, and Federal that would call me to action (even ‘like’-ing them on Facebook) and such activity can be aggregated some how for our representatives to act on, we remain in a position where those who speak the loudest, or have the greatest cash pile, have the ear of our law-makers.
We say we want an informed citizenry and participatory democracy. To me, this is an achievable small measure along that path.
So if you are a software engineer out there who would like to build the infrastructure for this, or are part of this, let me know, because I want to be involved where I can. There is code to write. System’s to build. So that all of us can better connect, be informed, and participate.
Related:
O’Reilly Radar: Mark Drapeau: “What does Government 2.0 look like?”