There's A Reason We Call Them "Parties"
Thursday August 21, 2008
If you thought the national political party conventions consisted solely of legions of people corralled into a large venue to hear one politician after another drone on ... think again! About.com's guide to liberal politics, Deborah White, wonders
if delegates will listen to convention speakers or attend glittery parties? Maybe they'll do both.
For example, on Monday 25 August, Planned Parenthood is hosting a "Sex, Politics and Cocktails Late Night Dance Party" that features comedian Bill Maher, actress Ashley Judd and actor Alan Cumming. James Taylor -- who launched his music-as-advocacy career along with Carole King in support of George McGovern (1968) -- is performing on Tuesday the 26th with David Crosby, Graham Nash and Ani DiFranco.
Over at the Sunshine Foundation, they've launched a new site with one goal: document those parties, as well as the others that go on all year long.
Read more...American "Citizen Journalists" Detained In Beijing
Wednesday August 20, 2008
Photo: Getty Images
At least eight Americans as well as other Western nationals have been detained by the Chinese government, according to
Reuters, for expressing political speech related to
Tibet. We Americans take our right to "
free speech" as a given, although this right is not a global one.
Acts of journalism -- what we think of as the Fourth Estate -- are vital to a democracy. In this digital age, these acts of journalism are increasingly being performed by bloggers. Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb provides more details as well as this information: Call the US Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee, +1 202 225 5021, to register your concern about the Americans being held by the Chinese government.
Read more...Wordless Wednesday: Inequality In America
Wednesday August 20, 2008
The total household income of the upper 1% in 2005 was almost five times greater than that of all households in the bottom 20%, which is the area underneath that bottom green line in the chart above. In 1979, it was only 1.6 times greater.
Click image for more detail.
Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty
Tuesday August 19, 2008
Blog Action Day, 15 October 2008, is an annual nonprofit event designed to unite the world's bloggers, podcasters and videocasters to discuss the same issue on the same day. Think of it as something like an intellectual flash mob. You don't have to sign up to participate, but right now there are 2,305 sites registered.
This year, the
topic is poverty. In 2007, it was
the environment. (
tip)
Watch the promo clip on
Vimeo. Learn more about poverty:
