El Diario Endorses Change

El Diario, the oldest and largest Spanish language newspaper in New York City, has endorsed two pro-marriage equality candidates: Gustavo Rivera and Charlie Ramos.

Both candidates are running against powerful incumbents: Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. and Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., respectively.  With a daily readership of over 290,000 people, the El Diario endorsement could potentially reach thousands of Bronx voters.

Of Gustavo Rivera, the endorsement reads:

The time has come to close the door on the politics of “me” and for the politics of “we” to reign. District 33 has a chance to do this on Sept. 14 by supporting Rivera.

To help elect pro-marriage equality candidates, visit the MYD 2010 Campaign Page.

See the BP Spill on YOUR House

Having trouble visualizing the magnitude of the oil spill disaster? Tired of people using the word disaster until it’s meaningless? Here is the page for you – it will overlay the spill on your house using Google Maps.

http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/

It’s Kagan

Rumor has it that when President Obama announced Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court this morning, Vice President Biden, standing next to him, pulled him over and whispered in his ear, “This is a good fucking choice.”

But seriously. The suspense is over: what we all suspected to happen has, indeed, happened. Late last night the news broke that Elena Kagan has been tapped by President Obama to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on our highest court. Kagan is in many ways just like Obama, which may explain why he chose her: she is a “trailblazer” in the sense in which she was the first woman to hold several positions of power that were previously excluded to her forebears; she is a so-called “consensus builder,” which presumably means she is not overly ideological and tries to see all sides of an issue before rendering a decision; she has an elite Ivy League background, having graduated from both Princeton and Harvard Law School, a distinction that, at least these days, seems to have become a prerequisite for being nominated to the Court; she was a law professor and ivory tower academic, yet, not unlike Obama, oddly has a very thin paper trail of written scholarly work; and, perhaps most similarly, no one knows really anything about her core judicial and political ideology, except for the fact that she ostensibly self-identifies as a “liberal,” like the president.

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Politics 3.0: Interactive ME Timeline/Map Reveals Rights Denied All Over America

This interactive map from the LA Times represents visually the rights provided same-sex couples, over a timeline starting in 2000. Despite some progress on the coasts, the heartbreaking story I see is watching the country fill up as a sea of red. And it is unacceptable that New York is only a pale green, accepting gay marriage licenses performed elsewhere but nothing more.

ME is one of MYD’s signature issues, and we campaigned extensively on it last year through our NYEquality.com initiative, which sent thousands of letters and emails to State Senators in Albany supporting ME. The legislation came up for a vote in the State Senate last fall, and failed (read the post-vote analysis here). But the fight isn’t over — positions on ME will be a huge factor in determining our support for any State Senate candidate in elections this year. Being a Democrat isn’t good enough — we want real progressives who will fight for the issues that matter to us.

Join the CASE (Community & Social Equity) Committee to take action for ME in New York here and join the 16,000+ strong NYEquality Facebook page here.

The Top 3 Most Dangerous 2012 Republican Presidential Nominees No One Is Talking About

Mitt Romney will not be the presidential nominee for the Republican Party in 2012. Ron Paul will not be the presidential nominee for the Republican Party in 2012. Sarah Palin – definitely – will not be the presidential nominee for the Republican Party in 2012. Neither will Newt, neither will Pawlenty, neither will Huckabee. In a recent “straw poll” taken at the SRLC last weekend, these were the big winners, Romney and Paul coming in first, Palin and Newt coming in second, and the rest an obscure third. All of these potential nominees have one thing in common, one fatal flaw that has essentially sealed their collective fates as permanent, unsuccessful presidential hopefuls: despite their undeniable name recognition, they are all really bad politicians. Each and every one of them is really bad at something: Mitt is really bad at having charisma or a personality; Palin, a brain; Paul, strength; Newt, likeability; Huckabee, leadership. This bevy of potential candidates wouldn’t even be the most impressive Republican candidates running for president of the Young Republican Party, not to mention the actual Republican Party, not to mention the Presidency of the United States – not to mention running for the Presidency of the United States against the most formidable politician since Jack Kennedy.

So who’s going to win the Republican Nomination? To answer this question, it’s helpful to first understand how one gets elected nominee to the highest office in the land. You do not become president by being the smartest in the room, or the most experienced, or even the guy or gal who has the most name recognition. If the election of Barack Obama has taught us anything, it’s that name recognition, experience, and intellect are not sufficient conditions to become president – in fact, the possessor of these qualities is often hurt more than helped by standing out in such ways. Hillary had by far the most name recognition; Biden had the most experience; Kucinich, in my opinion, had the best policies and best ideas; yet none of these guys won. And they all didn’t win for one reason and one reason only: they lacked the big it. Read more

National Phenomenon?

Last year was tremendous for the Manhattan Young Democrats. We led a fight in our own state on Marriage Equality. We won awards in Chicago and trained young people there how to be awesome. We even picked a fight with the South Carolina GOP.

New York – check
Chicago – check
South Carolina – check

And now, MYD is being cited as an example for a “new model for City-wide or local political activism” by Democratic organizers in Baltimore who are inviting Dems from all over their city to a brainstorming session to reinvigorate their clubs. Give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back for setting a new standard. Do it again because you’ve not only gone a long way toward saving the party in New York, but in Maryland as well.

Baltimore – check  … is MYD becoming a national phenomenon?

Special thanks to the Baltimore Chronicle (http://baltimorechronicle.com/2010/012610Dems.shtml) for printing the story, and Al Barry and Kim Forsyth for organizing the meeting in Baltimore and preaching the gospel of Organizing 2.0.

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Politics 3.0: Who Can Afford To Live Here?

A new tool released by CUP brings to life income stratification by neighborhood across the city of New York. It’s beautiful, but if it doesn’t load the first time, hit refresh — it requires a lot of bandwidth to run this pretty puppy.

Politics 3.0: Free Online Tools for Organizing

A useful overview of free online tools from our fellow YD Kevin Bondelli @ Future Majority — 60 Free Online Tools for Organizing.

Hat Tip: David M

Politics 3.0: Some UGC On Healthcare Reform

OFA is running a video contest where you can vote user-generated videos about healthcare reform up or down to select a winner. I haven’t watched all 20, but I enjoyed this one because the grittiness reminded me of NYC:

And this one because well, it just speaks the truth:

Obama for America: Healthcare Reform Video Challenge

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