Now Age Minute - by Craig Gordon
A Lighter Shade of Green

Many Progressive voters who helped Obama to become the prospective Democratic nominee for president are now questioning their support of the candidate. According to a story from the NY Times:

In the breathless weeks before the Oregon presidential primary in May, Martha Shade did what thousands of other people here did: she registered as a Democrat so she could vote for Senator Barack Obama.

Now, however, after critics have accused Mr. Obama of shifting positions on issues like the war in Iraq, the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, gun control and the death penalty - all in what some view as a shameless play to a general election audience - Ms. Shade said she planned to switch back to the Green Party.

The other night, after a day out in the sun, my daughter noted that the top of my head was red with sunburn. I reassured her, telling her not to worry, that by morning, my head would return to my natural skin color, beige. That’s right. Even though I’m known as a “white man”, I’m not shiny white, but boring beige. Barack Obama, on the other hand, is referred to as a “black man”. But on closer inspection, he’s not black, at all, but brown. But that’s not the only color confusion surrounding Obama. While many of his critics complain that he’s too green (inexperienced) to run for president, I don’t think he’s green (Party) enough.

My friend, Roberta (not his real name), posited an interesting question the other day. A one-time Obama supporter, Roberta wondered if Barack would have voted against the Iraq War authorization had he actually been a US Senator, being that he apparently caved in to pressure from the White House, the Right, and maybe even lobbyists (no, not Barack!) , on the FISA vote. Or maybe he was just being calculating. In any case, with his vote, Obama flip-flopped from his position against telecom immunity during the primaries. Roberta suggested that when Obama made his 2002 speech against the impending war, as a state (not US) senator, he spoke his truth. But with his vote on FISA, and his new view on the Death Penalty, Roberta’s not so sure what Obama’s truths are, and if he’s able to stand up for those truths when it really matters. Or, if he is, as Reverend Wright suggested, “a politician”. What drew me to Barack was his assertion that he was running against the “old politics”, like those practiced by the Clintons. But now, when it matters, he’s triangulating like a good centrist. (more…)

Dear Friend,

In Pakistan this week, we saw the power of the people in action. Ordinary Pakistani citizens rose up to fight President Musharraf’s injustice and corruption, and, as a result, Musharraf resigned rather than face impeachment for his crimes against the constitution and judiciary. Our friend from Pakistan writes: “While the US media’s lens focused on the Taliban’s resurgence and US casualties in the region, a political and secular revolution was taking place in the streets of Pakistan. The fact that the people of Pakistan rose up against a US-backed military dictator and brought him down with such success is testimony to the will of Pakistan’s civilian leadership which wants to save the country from corrupt leaders–both military and religious.”

Let us take inspiration from the people of Pakistan. We, too, want to rise up to save our country from corrupt and unjust leaders.

That’s why we’ve been trailing Nancy Pelosi to urge her to put impeachment on the table click here to read Linda Milazzo’s stirring account of a recent disruption)

That’s why we will be in action at both the DNC and RNC conventions in the coming weeks.

That’s why we encourage you to find out what you can do in your own community during the conventions. Click here to learn how to bring the message of peace to Obama viewing parties, and discover other creative, effective actions you can take in your neighborhood.

That’s why we need you to mark your calendars for September 20th, when the peace community will come together in a massive effort to knock on one million doors for peace. We can do it if you join us.

Also, click here to find out how to reach out to your neighbors with our peace platform and remind them that they have the power at the polls to bring peace into the election!

We saw how the power of the people made a difference in Pakistan. Now let’s pool our power to bring about real change in our own country!

With hope in all our ruckus-raising hearts,
Alicia, Anne, Dana, Deidra, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jean, Jodie, Liz, Lori, Medea, Nancy, Rae and Tighe

Go online and chat live with Michael Moore on “Meet the Bloggers,” tomorrow, Friday, August 22nd at 1:00 PM ET.

Join the discussion with Mike by logging onto the live blog at http://meetthebloggers.org/. You can also submit a video question for Mike by clicking here.

Filmmaker and Brave New Foundation President Robert Greenwald will host the event.

See you on “Meet the Bloggers!”

Webmaster
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Two of Michael’s producers from “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11″ — Tia Lessin and Carl Deal — have made an incredible documentary that’s opening tomorrow in New York and L.A. (and the rest of the country over the coming weeks). It’s called “Trouble the Water” and it won the Grand Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Click here for more info — and go see it!

Join Mike’s Mailing List | Join Mike’s Facebook Group | Become Mike’s MySpace Friend

7 August 2008 9:00 p.m. (Local time)
Join the Greatest Light Protest on Earth

CANDLE FOR TIBET

GREATEST LIGHT PROTEST ON EARTH
VIGILS, VIGILS
Full List of public Candle Lighting WORLDWIDE
click for WORLDWIDE LIST
United, Nothing Can Stop Our Light from Shining
A CIVIL ACTION AND A WORK OF ART
FREEDOM IS NOT JUST ANOTHER WORDClick Here To Find Out
Light a Candle for Tibet at Your Home, With Friends or in Public.
© 2005 Manuel Bauer / Agentur Focus

THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Watch Skyscrapers and Mountain Tops Flare with Red Smoke
Join Other Special Light Actions All Over The World
Drive Your Car With Lights On for 24 Hours
Light Up Any Source of Light for Tibet
Unite with more than people in THE GREATEST LIGHT PROTEST ON EARTH

H.H. the Dalai Lama Offers His Blessing to Candle for Tibet

It is not very often that I personally have the time nor feel it necessary to write a blog post about every organization that we post a link to. Normally a link in the BlogRoll is enough. The idea behind TuneInTurnOnHelpOut.org is first and foremost to provide the user with a trustworthy collection of valuable non-profit causes, charities, and volunteer opportunities — all categorized as hyperlinks that take the user right to the source so you can take action and get involved NOW. Most often this is as simple as getting turned on ourselves to the organization and then checking them out - doing the due diligence so the reader doesn’t have to — and then posting a link to them in the appropriate category. The blog posts themselves are usually content provided by the various organizations that wish to contribute and communicate alerts or action items when timing is of the essence.

So far so good. Response has been overtly positive and all of us here are very thankful to all of you who take the time out of your busy schedules to shoot off a quick thank you email. Not only does it help us feel good about the time, money, and effort that is necessary to keep the site up and running, but more importantly it inspires us because we realize that our overall mission is being fulfilled, i.e. to increase awareness of important causes and charities and get more people on the planet involved in volunteering or becoming more socially or politically active. Again, so far so good. Thanks to all of you for playing a part in it!

Every now and then though one might notice that I do feel compelled to write an actual blog post instead of just suggest a cause. See yesterday’s rant entitled FUCK THE OLYMPICS as an example. (But don’t blame me for that one, because I didn’t write it. Some strange character who calls himself ”The Raconteur” did. But I allowed it in anyway. Freedom of speech and all that you know…

In any case let’s cut to the chase here. This simple blog post is to simply turn us all on to one of the coolest non-profits I have heard of in a long time. The long and the short of it is this: New York City has 14 million people living in it. (all five boroughs). 8 million on just the island of Manhattan alone. This can create quite a mess if left unkept. I personally always wondered how Manhattan managed to stay so clean and beautiful considering how many people live on this tiny little island.

Well it turns out that some of the credit belongs to this ingenius little organization called The Doe Fund. And talk about ingenius. Not only do they keep the city looking beautiful, but they do it through driving straight to our local jails or prisons and giving men who have served their time with exceptional behavior a job right there on the spot. That way there is little chance that the men will find the dificulty of finding work coming right out of prison causing them to relapse into a life of crime… The company is a non-profit. The “men in blue” get the chance to earn an honest living and build or rebuild a career for themselves, and most of the money that is used to pay them comes from donations from individual or corporate donations.

I was very excited when i first learned of this orgnization. This is a real 21st century non-profit! A real win-win-win for everyone, from the inhabitants of the city, to the workers who are keeping the city looking so good, to the generous donors who are making it all possible, and of course the organization itself.

As the founder and president of the organization, George T. McDonald, states:

“The men of Ready, Willing & Able often come from very difficult backgrounds. They are products of poverty, poor education, alcoholism, drug addiction and families broken in ways most of us cannot imagine. Despite all of this, they come to us wanting to be productive and useful, wanting to be an asset to their families, communities and city, and wanting to share in both the benefits and responsibilities of being an American. As you come to know the individuals of Ready, Willing & Able, you appreciate the heroic proportion of their struggle to change and their profound gratitude for the opportunity that this program provides - structured paid work and collective caring.”

Please take some time to visit thier site and learn more about them. I would also be very interested to learn if other cities around the world have similar such programs. If you know of any, please feel free to comment.

Sincerely,
The Ambassador

Dear TUNEINTURNONHELPOUT MEMBERS,
Last week, Exxon Mobil announced record profits — at the same time that the rest of us were paying record high prices at the gas pump.It doesn’t need to be this way. Our energy prices don’t need to be this high.a fun quiz to help show the way. How well do you know America’s energy? You might find the answers surprising!Find out. www.wecansolveit.org

If we repower America and generate 100% of our electricity from clean sources within ten years, we can bring our energy costs down.

A lot of people are surprised when they find out how quickly we can make this transition. We’ve built

We can start relying on fuels that are free and abundant right here at home. Fuels like the sun and wind. Once our electricity grid is based on clean sources, we can plug in our cars, use those free energy sources, and stop paying through the nose to the oil companies.

On the day Exxon announced its record profits, I testified before the U.S. Congress. I explained that there are no technical or material impediments to achieving the goal of 100% clean electricity within ten years. The only thing missing is political will. And that’s why the We Campaign exists — to build support for solutions that can revitalize our economy and solve the climate crisis.

The average score of people who’ve taken the quiz is 63% Can you beat that?

Sincerely,
Cathy Zoi
CEO

Hey, it’s not all bad news around the spinning globe. Don’t lose your balance… we just have to keep our feet on the ground. See the message below from Senators Tom Daschle and Bill Frist.

Dear TuneInTurnOnHelpOut.org,

I just returned from a trip to Rwanda with my friend Senator Bill Frist, MD and leaders from both political parties. Senator Frist and I went to Rwanda not as politicians, but as students, to learn about people who are rebuilding their country after the unspeakable horror of genocide.

My news from Rwanda is very encouraging. The hard work of the Rwandan people and the generosity of Americans are coming together in partnership to create a model for how we can end poverty in the most desperate countries on earth.

I came home more convinced then ever that we’re all in this together. Rwandans’ daily struggle to start anew, even as they deal with poverty and disease, is also our own struggle to build a more prosperous and safer world.

To further the progress in Rwanda and spread that hope, we need to take full advantage of this election year. That’s why Senator Frist and I will be meeting with our respective parties’ leaders in the next few weeks, as they’re writing the platforms that will be unveiled at the presidential nominating conventions in Denver and Minneapolis. These platforms contain the policies on which Barack Obama and John McCain will campaign for the presidency.

We’re going to ask these committees to make sure that their platforms take on the generational challenge of tackling global poverty, and we need your help to do it.

(more…)