Saturday, May 25, 2013
Community Blog

Money is drowning out voices for change.

by UniteBlue on May 23, 2013

Malina Lobel-Karimi


It’s not the right time to discuss shabby construction of schools in ‘tornado alley.’ It’s not the right time to discuss the massacre at Sandy Hook, Columbine, Aurora or Virginia Tech.

When is the right time? Certainly not after the next disaster…and there will be a next disaster.

We are a violent country by choice, not by coincidence. There is money in violence. There is money in rebuilding these devastated towns in Oklahoma but not in building them better; instead they will be built in exactly the same shabby fashion and when the next disaster strikes, history will repeat itself. Who will get to rebuild these? State laws allow for three bids and inevitably the lowest bid gets the job. You don’t believe the lowest bidder isn’t friends with a senator, governor or mayor, do you?

Juxtaposed to this Oklahoma disaster; an act of nature and unavoidable, mass shootings are completely avoidable; but again, there’s money to be made from Congress being paid off by lobbyists; to gun manufacturers whose stock market value have tripled and have been absolved of any and all liability from gun deaths…thanks to Congress; to lawyers defending and prosecuting; to the privatization of prisons which need warm bodies occupying their cells.

“The country is broken because the system is fixed.” (Th. Jefferson, 1812). When you have 90% of this country wanting gun legislation and Congress seeing fit to ignore that majority in favor of a money-paying minority, there’s the problem. When a majority want a path to citizenship for undocumented residents and Congress avoids or drags their feet; there’s a problem. When every reputable scientist concludes that we have gone past that ‘tipping point’ in Global Warming and Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga. is a House Science Committee member and ‘Climate Change’ denier; we have a problem. And why exactly are we even having this problem on Global Warming/Climate Change? One reason is that those wonderful Americans known as the Koch Brothers have paid close to $80 million (that we know of) to prove otherwise. For rich guys, they sure know how to waste good money.

Right now, polls show Congress at a favorable 22%. How their numbers can be this high is “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.” (Winston Churchill).

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The GOP who cried wolf via @DueDueProcess

by UniteBlue on May 21, 2013

Michael Edelman


At some point in the not-so-distant past, Republicans must have levied some legitimate criticism on the Obama administration, right? I mean, deep in the cracks, somewhere between the birtherism, death-panels, etc., there has to be something legitimate. You know, something from which we could say, “Republicans aren’t always full of crap.” The problem is: no one can remember what that is — it’s too far gone.

Republicans have cried wolf too many times; their credibility is shot. There’s been too many outrageous Sarah Palin claims about climate change and too many ridiculous Todd Akin statements about rape and abortion. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, right? Now, without direct, “smoking gun” evidence, no one but their faithfully devoted believes that there’s any weight behind what they say. Even worse, people seem to be inclined to treat the fact that “Republicans are speaking about an issue” not just as evidence that Republicans are [insert derogatory modifier of choice], but also as evidence supporting whatever the opposite is of the conclusion that Republicans are advocating for. That is, without doing any further research, people are simply using the logic: if Republicans say X, then probably not X.

For instance, Republicans have been desperately trying to tie the recent malfeasance at the IRS office in Cincinnati to President Obama. But surprisingly, they haven’t been able to do it. Despite the fact that Michele Bachmann says everyone wants Obama impeached — the President’s approval rating hasn’t taken a hit.

Not only that, but a recent CNN/ORC poll reported that, while 71% of Americans think that the actions of the IRS were unacceptable, 60% of Americans trust the President’s statements on the issue. Obviously, things could change — that direct, smoking gun evidence could surface — but think about where we are right now for a second.

This should have been a golden opportunity for Republicans. After all, it’s hard to really argue that the situation at the IRS, a government agency that is both already hated by everyone and directly accountable to the Obama administration, isn’t U-G-L-Y. How could Republicans jam this up? Especially with all the other junk, like the not-so-nice news about the news — where creepy big brother has been, or wants to be, monitoring the personal e-mail and phone records of various journalists. And, of course, Benghazi. Given how it easy it has been in the past for Republicans to sway public opinion with manufactured bologna (e.g., swift-boating), it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that the Obama administration was ripe for a big hit — but it didn’t happen. Why? People just don’t take the Republican party seriously anymore. They have lost their credibility.

This is obviously heartwarming news to me and you. Still, there’s a lesson for us to be learned here: a lesson about standards — specifically, about having them. The credibility problem for Republicans stems from the fact that they have none and everyone knows it. We need to make sure that we do. Furthermore, we need to make sure that our standards are well known and that they are honestly applied whenever we speak out about anything. We can’t rely, as the Republicans do, on crap conspiracy theories. We can’t use logical fallacies like ad hominem attacks and straw men to support our arguments. If we do, our credibility will suffer, and eventually we’ll be written off just like the Republicans.

Thus, my challenge to you, as we move toward the 2014 election cycle is this: be better — raise the discourse. We’re in a good position, let’s make sure not to waste it.

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Yelling About Talking Points via @WalterRhett

by UniteBlue on May 21, 2013

Walter Rhett


The discussion of Benghazi is noise and a preemptive strike against the projected candidacy of Hillary Clinton.

Here in SC, 501(c)4 ads are already running (regularly!) on the side of Lindsay Graham’s positions (he’s up for his Senate seat) and against the Obamacare, supported by Democratic candidate for governor, Vincent Sheheen.

The arc of opposition is being lengthened strategically. That’s the real issue.

A debate over the revision of talking points, press statements, public appearances in the midst of a fluid, dynamic changing situation is a political tempest. No more.

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Turn Arizona Blue

by UniteBlue on May 15, 2013

Jo Hafford


For me, 2012 was a call to come home to activism.

I ended up in Arizona because I needed to give up on activism to save my life. I couldn’t continue the work for queer issues in university activism and deal with living with HIV. There was simply insufficient healthcare access in my native Maine, so I gave up out of self-preservation and moved to Arizona for better access to care and stable employment.

When Obamacare passed and that same recognizable enemy from years ago this time reached not for my rights but for my life, it shook me clean out of my comfortable middle class life and back into the field I went. After some bouncing around to find a place to call home, someone I later learned was the deputy field director for the Maricopa County Democratic Party one-on-one’d me in the middle of a bar, and invited me to a meeting. MCDP started me as a canvasser. Then a phone banker. Then a recruiter. Then data entry. Then they pushed me up to team leader. By the time ballots dropped in October, for all intents and purposes I was the organizer for the Phoenix half of legislative district 24, one of the bluest swaths of the state.

I’m still a little blown away by the numbers from last year. I’m even more blown away knowing there are electeds like CAWCD board member Heather Macre who lost on election night and won by the time the votes were counted. That half-million ballots that made national headlines on election day in Arizona? That was MCDP. We built that.

Today, the work goes on. We have not gone offline. Some are with candidate campaigns, working to ensure progressives with clean campaigns are those who carry the day. Others remain with the Party, directly challenging an icon of Phoenix Conservatives on the city council. Some of us, myself included, have gathered under the banner of a new organziation, the Center for Neighborhood Leadership, working to create the building blocks of change, raising up local leaders and sharing our collective knowledge of on-the-ground organizing. What we all share is a common belief that the way to win back Arizona is to absolutely and completely own every scrap of the ground, to never stop organizing, to empower our own communities, and to include and connect the vast array of interests and organizations into a unified progressive juggernaut.

I am proud to call myself one of this new guard of organizers. We are going to take Arizona. This is why I applied to be the coordinator for @UniteBlueAZ.

We need help. We need all the help we can get. UniteBlue is already pouring those resources into our state. I envision being able to build Twitter into our communication channels, to be able to use it to rapid-fire send out information across neighborhood teams and organizers spanning all of Maricopa County, indeed the whole state of Arizona in the not too distant future, to ensure we are never caught off guard and never behind the news cycle.

I can see us using techniques like Twitterbombs to turn the volume up to a thousand and stop the inexorable march of horrifying proposals from the right wing at our legislature. I can see spreading the word via Twitter for things like legislative days of action, so when Governor Brewer and all those Tea Party legislators have to stare down progressives it is not a dozen or a hundred, but it is a sea of liberals covering Wesley Bolin Plaza. Twitter can help us identify local public validators, and UniteBlue has helped us find them.

Through Twitter, we can dig up those lonely little Democrats convinced they are all alone in “red” Arizona, link them all together, and give them the courage to stand up, to speak up, to act up. UniteBlue’s presence in Arizona is already helping to make that happen.

Taking Arizona will take nothing less than the unity of us all. Let’s build it. We are #StrongerTogether.

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#ConfirmTom Perez as Next Secretary of Labor

by UniteBlue on April 27, 2013

Daniel Buk


So, remember when the GOP came out with its #GOPAutopsy report, in which it said they will now do more to embrace the growing Latino voter turnout? Yeah, well, as this Washington Post op-ed and this Talking Points Memo point out, the Republicans have already seemed to drop this ‘little tidbit’ from their revamping strategy in their opposition to President Obama’s first Latino cabinet nominee, Thomas Perez, for Labor Secretary. Here is a tersely-worded letter sent by the Republican Study Committee to the Senate on April 17th, highlighting a frivolous case which supposedly is the ‘strongest’ reason to block Tom Perez’s nomination on ‘bipartisan’ grounds, as liberal magazine Mother Jones reports. Even some key Democrats look like they are about to cave in the face of Republican filibustering, some of whom also are scared of being abandoned by their wealthy corporate donors- and they are even covering up their cowardliness with the rhetoric of “fairness”. The Koch-backed  American Legislative Campaign Council (ALEC), have been gearing up all their state operations to mobilize against the Perez nomination through their extensive lobbying efforts so that Perez can’t be a strong voice in the President’s administration against voter suppression, which he so powerfully and effectively showed already as Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights DIvision in the Justice Department.

These are some of the latest smears pushed by conservative opposition to Tom Perez’s confirmation: here, here, here, and here.

Why all this opposition, you might ask? Well, besides the usual reason that President Obama nominated him, he would make a seriously kickass Labor Secretary, as the AFL-CIO also raves, pointing to his job as head of Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing, & Regulation. Disability advocates are also throwing heavy support behind his nomination for his efforts to expand the Americans with Disabilities Act, as poignantly summed up by this woman who lost her daughter- their combined efforts are focused in this petition drive. Alas, of course, the GOP is not backing down, even going so far as reprehensibly stoking racial, ethnic, and anti-immigration fears, a message that is unfortunately resonating with the more racist elements in the GOP because of Tom Perez’s superb and dogged tenacity in investigating the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

If this make you as excited as I am to support the most progressive nominee President Obama has ever made (not including Van Jones in his first term), then please do all progressives a solid and use the Alliance for Justice advocacy website to send an email to your senators demanding that they vote to confirm Tom Perez (they are, after all, our employees). The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda has a letter up on its website for representatives of organizations to co-sign to the full Senate, so please also sign on if you are authorized to represent an organization. This is also, by far, President Obama’s most courageous, most honest nominee, as shown by Perez’s willingness to butt heads with the President on room for improvement on job growth, saying he will do everything in his power to reorient the President’s economic recovery where it is needed most, in Jobs and job training and workplace safety, something which should be on all of our minds following the ridiculously preventable tragedy down in Texas due to corporate negligence and the greed of the deregulation and austerity lobby.

So, please, please PLEASE co-sign the NHLA letter to the Senate, email your Senators with the Alliance for Justice advocacy center, and do everything else in your power as citizens to make sure Tom Perez is confirmed as next Secretary of Labor. Besides, don’t you want to piss off the folks at ultra right-wing smear machine Breitbart.com, who’s reduced to peddling outright lies and discredited allegations to try and stop Perez?

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For Political Junkies Who Want More: Join the #UBbook Club

by UniteBlue on April 24, 2013

Dorothy Schomburg


Big news! We are launching a book club with help from #UniteBlue. Would you like to join the #UBbook Club where you and your peers can review political books? The knowledge that you gain from reading and discussing these books will help you to have a stronger foundation to help fend yourself from that Elephant in the room! (And frequently, I am in a room with LOTS of elephants!!)

UniteBlue has offered to let us have a troll free room and will put out a shout out to authors and maybe we can get some author participation. Additionally, you do not have to be a member of UniteBlue to join #UBbook.

Our first book entitled Moral Politics by George Lakoff was strongly recommended by @KC51inNC who states that this book should be required reading for all Dems.

Other books that have been recommended which we can pursue include the following:
Herding Donkeys by @AriBerman recommended by Stronger Together
Gardens of Democracy by Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer recommended by Kookamuffin
Another book was also recommended by @liberalinthefam -Author @russfeingold

The first scheduled Chat Room to review Moral Politics is tentatively scheduled for May 8th at 8:00PM EST. The plan right now is to meet every two weeks. We will review the first half of the book that night. (Part 1 Through Part 4) and hopefully finish the book 2 weeks later. As you review the book, jot down some interesting or profound thoughts that you come across that we can discuss. Use the comment area below to share them. I will keep you updated as we go.

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Turn South Carolina Blue

by UniteBlue on April 24, 2013

USAF Veteran


“Politics” is always interesting but it can, more often than not, be frustrating and unbelievable. But…sometimes…sometimes it is inspiring. We saw it during the first Obama campaign. People came together in a way this country hadn’t seen in many years, for a common goal–something different. Right now, South Carolina is having its own “Obama Moment” in the special election for the 1st congressional house district 1 seat. Elizabeth Colbert-Busch is inspiring people to declare, “I am a Republican and I have NEVER voted for a Democrat–but I am voting for Elizabeth.”
This special election in SC is galvanizing people who have never been involved with politics before to volunteer, in an effort to bring about a change. Part of it is their utter revulsion at the idea of her opponent being elected but a bigger part is about Elizabeth herself. She has re-ignited the idea that if enough people want to make something happen (in Washington DC) they can come together and make it happen!

All the buzz surrounding this current election and the misadventures of Mark “I do what I want” Sanford have made my job of coordinating for @UniteBlueSC relatively easy. UniteBlue is proving to be a great resource for those wanting more information about the candidates, for bringing to light those issues and concerns most important to us all, and for getting to the truth. But turning this part of SC blue is just the beginning of the work to be done here. Next up will be our gubernatorial race and the 2014 midterm elections.

I was excited to be chosen to represent SC for UniteBlue because I think it is an invaluable tool in educating, communicating, and connecting with those here in SC and elsewhere. People don’t gather on college campuses to protest anymore, they “gather” on the Internet, and social media and Twitter are the way to get a message out in today’s society. I think going forward that UniteBlue is an illimitable venue for mobilizing those to our cause and celebrating our victories!

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Introducing the #LibCrib

by UniteBlue on April 12, 2013

Russ Hayden


Greetings! I am Russ Hayden a.k.a @CribBoss, creator of the hashtag #LibCrib and one of its founding members. I thought I would write a post today about the “Crib”- who we are, what it is, how we got started, etc.
The Crib was born on March 10, 2013. I and several tweeps (our founding members) were trying to chat on Twitter. As anyone knows who uses Twitter, when you are trying to communicate with several tweeps on a thread, it can be a challenge. After adding all the @so and so’s, there really isn’t room left to say much! I decided that the use of a hashtag was needed. We could all add the hashtag at the beginning or end of our posts and basically create our own “room” to chat in. But what do we use? After several suggestions were mentioned, some rather long, I decided to throw out #LibCrib as a possible solution. The shorter the hashtag the better. It leaves more room to chat. Well the name stuck. As folks began to use the hashtag and tell their friends about it, others began using the tag as well and our chat expanded rapidly. That’s when I decided to transform our hashtag into a “lounge setting” if you will. I tended bar, Dave (@GOPiggies) was our bouncer, Lisa (@lurkingsmirking) and Tracy (@TracyEaly1) were “greeters” and other founders, Josh (@njPROGcore) Rev (@superckook) Wolf (@werewolfinMN) became staff members. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention another founder, Gramma (@Rebecca810) who was also there from the beginning as was Jo (@JoHafford) and Myria (@MaJESTic_ArT). Folks liked dropping by the Crib for drinks, chat and to just relax and talk politics.

As with the case of #wiunion, trolls began to infest our happy home with a vengeance. So much so that I had to incorporate the Crib’s first rule: Do NOT engage trolls. I thank Zach for that great piece of advice! But it was depressing. Nothing worse than having a happy fun vibe going only to see the room suddenly plastered with RWNJ’s vile posts. But we ignored and shouldered on. Then I got the great news of the invention of UniteBlueChats. Finally, the end of our dilemma! Troll free chat! By using my list of folks wanting to join in, the trolls were weeded out and we now have a peaceful, fun setting to chat in.

The Crib has many benefits and uses. It’s a great place to meet new friends, share posts and links about important issues, get the news of the day, or just kick back and enjoy the music and videos our members post. As one member put it, “The Crib is a tranquil oasis in a sea of Twitter turbulence.” Another benefit of the Crib that I really enjoy, is seeing people post things about state and local issues. After all, all politics are local and it’s helpful to our cause to get information on the issues and candidates. If you are paying attention you already know, that what the GOP is doing on a state-wide basis, is appalling. Introducing bills that are straight out of crazy town! Mandatory gun laws, introduction of a state-wide religion, just to name a couple. So I love when members share info on candidates who are running to oppose this insanity. Though I agree with Zach when he says that we need to become more than just an “echo chamber” with Dems talking only to other Dems, the Crib is still a great organizing tool.

To use the Crib, just search the hashtag #LibCrib on Twitter and you are there! You can even drop the @’s (unless you want to make sure specific folks see your post) since we can all see your posts. Stay in the “room” and just scroll. Remember to add #LibCrib to your posts! Or you can join our troll free chat by asking me (@CribBoss) to add you to my list. Once I do, go to: uniteblue.com/chat/libcrib to access. Servers update every 15 minutes so just wait a bit and soon you will be enjoying the cool, peaceful environment of our troll free chat! You don’t have to be a UniteBlue member to join either chat!

So drop by and check us out sometime! The drinks are cold, the snacks are yummy and the people are great! We look forward to meeting you! Meet me at the Crib! Tell ‘em “The Boss” sent ya!

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Introducing UniteBlue chat rooms

by UniteBlue on April 10, 2013

Twitter chats are a great way to informally gather for a discussion on any topic. Generally they are based on a common hashtag. So, in a way, #UniteBlue tweets make up a giant chat with tens of thousands of tweets on a busy day. Within this larger set of tweets, there are more tightly focused chats using more specialized tags. Because of their lower tweeting volume, these chats are harder to find and follow.

One problem with Twitter chats is the rapid infiltration of people whose goal is to disrupt the conversation for political ends. Anyone can use a tag, and both sides of the political spectrum use this technique to try and control the direction of a chat. This is free speech in its purest form, with everyone having an equal vote, but there are times when quieter speech is necessary to make plans, and come up with effective messaging strategies.

To help progressives carry on chats in relative peace, UniteBlue has created the idea of a private Twitter chatroom. We launched our first example of this for the #LibCrib tag yesterday. Libcrib is a cross between a political meeting hall and a social club. It was founded by Russ Hayden and others as a quite refuge from the noise that sometimes affects the overall UniteBlue tweet stream. As could be predicted, right wing trolls soon found the #LibCrib tag, and started agitating in a distracting way. They have every right to send these tweets, but the LibCrib members also have the right to read each other’s tweets in peace.

There are several important features of a private chat in the UniteBlue site. Most important of all, this is not censorship. Anyone can still tweet with any tag at any time. Their tweets will always show up on Twitter and all Twitter related tools. The only limitation is the private chat page will ONLY display tweets from people who are on a Twitter list controlled by the chat’s founders. The private chat is an opt-in environment. You ask to join the chat, you are added to the controlling list, and a few minutes later your tweets become visible on the chat page.

The private chat rooms are not hidden. Anyone can read them. Anyone can reply, retweet, etc. But if they are not a chat member, their tweets will only show up outside the chat room. They will not be able to disrupt the discussion within the chat page.

The other thing to understand is that the UniteBlue chat rooms are not limited to UniteBlue members. It is up to the chat’s owner and membership to decide who can join. We do not and will not require UniteBlue membership to read or post in the chat room. We are offering these chat rooms, and the server capacity it takes to run them, as a free service to the progressive community.

Want to start a private UniteBlue chat for your own hashtag or group of progressives? Just tweet a request to #UniteBlue: “I want to start a private chat on #UniteBlue.” Someone will contact you to set this up for you.

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Help us build the state legislative alert system

by UniteBlue on April 5, 2013

You’ve probably read about the efforts the GOP is making in state legislatures to ban abortion, block marriage equality, restrict voting rights for the next elections, etc., etc. Now is your chance to help fight back by turning the spotlight on these attempts to do at the state level what they were not able to achieve in the national 2012 race. We’ve been exploring the data provided by the Sunlight Foundation on state legislation for a few weeks, and now we need your help in combing through this data to find targets for action online and on the ground.
The first step is a search system that will let UniteBlue members identify the bills we need to address. There are thousands of bills introduced in each state legislature every year. We need volunteers to review them and pick out the most egregious ones. Once these are found, we can use the combined power of the UniteBlue membership to alert activists in each state to take action. UniteBlue can be the early warning system progressives need to make sure these bills don’t slip through to become law. This first version of the search page is very simple. It is really more of a demo. In time this will be expanded to let you search by sponsoring legislators, keywords in the text of the bill, and other red flag issues, like a bill with all GOP sponsors.

What kind of bills are we talking about? How about bills banning abortion in cases where genetic abnormalities are found?

Or bills banning abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as 6 weeks? Or bills regulating the definition of marriage?

Not all of the bills this system will find need to be stopped. In fact, some of them will help the progressive agenda. But how can people find out which legislators to protest, and which ones need our support? That is where you come in. Are you ready to help us build a system that will flag bills early enough to take action for or against? If you want to help build this system, please contact us. Together we can build an early warning system based on this data that will be a powerful tool for progressive change.

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