Anshechtman's blog

• Two interesting posts about YDA: Dem Boots are Made for Walking, the site of a proud, twentysomething YDA member references the conflicts between YDA and the Democratic Party, while discussing the successes of the recent YDA convention in Dallas. Matt Glazer of Burnt Orange Report posts a thorough "wrap up" of the successful convention.
• Speaking of thorough, S.C Politics Live posted an incredibly comprehensive play-by-play of the recent College Democrats convention at USC. The event featured poll-leaders Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton; interestingly, both Edwards and Clinton seemed to make more of an impact on the young crowd than Obama did, according to blogger Justin Chapura. Jokingly, Chapura entitled his Hillary entries "The Hills edition" -- referring to the vacuous MTV reality show. After the recent attention Clinton's cleavage got, I'm sure her campaign will love the MTV analogy.
• Machinist News Network reports on The Roosevelt Institute, the first student-run think tank. It's a heartwarming story about 40 poli-sci-geeks who feel accepted and powerful when placed together to discuss today's most pressing policy issues.
  

• The Christian Science Monitor reports, many newspaper and magazines are looking to give younger readers the opportunity to write on op-ed pages. The new strategy, however, may be launched in vain, as Advertising Age reports that even millenials still read magazines, supplementing print-information with newer media forms like blogs.

• National Stonewall Democrats -- The "log cabin" of the left -- proudly publicized YDA's election of its first openly-gay leaders. David Hardt of Texas and Chris Anderson of Tennessee were elected YDA president and vice president respectively in nearly unanimous votes
• Young People For (YP4) is using facebook to advertise its Progressive Academy Online, an interactive online course, focusing specifically women's rights, disability rights, economic justice, environmental justice, and LGBT rights. The course -- starting July 23 -- is titled "The Progressive Movement: Social Sector Issues 101" and is meant to enlighten and instruct young progressives.
• Skeptics responded to Anastasia Goodstein's post on YDA "Election 2.0, MySpacing @ Work & 'Indulgences' Doing Good", wondering whether the accessibility of politics via myspace or facebook comes at the expense of substance. It's an interesting and thought-provoking debate.
• Meredith Clark, a Millennial from Tallahassee, explores the reasons why Florida's young voter turnout bucked the national trend and declined in 2006, as previously mentioned on Around the Tubes. She presents a long list of excuses, as well as some interesting, legitimate points.
• Yahoo's People of the Web profiles James Kotecki, a Georgetown student, who, through YouTube, has interviewed presidential candidates in his dorm room. He has recieved criticism from fellow-YouTube aficionados for his "yawn-inducing" posts, but the a number of candidates like Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, John Edwards, and Mike Gravel have responded positively to his advice.
• ABC News publishes this ostensibly ground-breaking report on David Burnstein, an 18-year-old documentarian, who through his movie "18 in '08" encourages teens to vote in the presidential election. ABC fails to notice the rising national trend in voter turnout and avows that "we need to reverse the trend." Maybe they're just looking at Florida's trends...?
• A fascinating post on The Everyday Citizen describing "How Democrats got Religion" -- similar to the recent Time Magazine cover story. Democratic candidates seem to appeal to voters across the religious spectrum -- from evangelicals to less-fundamentalist believers -- through environmentalist and economic issues, unlike past Republicans who have relied on "family values" issues to attract religious voters. A video below parodying the "Mac/PC" ads represents a new trend of religious America:
  

A few stories Around the Tubes:

• The Miami Herald reports on the "apathetic streak" in young Florida voters. Despite the national trend that 18- to 29-year-olds are taking an increased interest in voting, Florida saw DECLINING youth voter turnout last year. According to one Floridian, many "are very preoccupied. Some people don't think it's very important." I totally get that -- I mean, what's important about the future of our counrty? Plus, it's not like Florida ever determines elections...The incredibly interesting site Republican Youth Majority represents the pro-choice, pro-environment, and fiscally conservative future of the Republican party. The site seems to suggest a clear ideological shift in young conservatives, who may be able to work with young progressives in the future.
• Julianne Malveaux of USA Today discusses the inherent unfairness of unpaid internships towards low-income students. Internships are an increasingly important part of resumes, putting working kids, who can't afford to work for free, at yet another disadvantage in the business and political worlds.

A special pop-culture version of Around the Tubes featuring Madonna and Dave Chappelle ...and Tony Snow, too.

• Madonna's 1991 PSA that put "Rock the Vote" on the political and cultural map is featured below. It's not only funny but edgy and candid, too. Apparently her "American Life" flop wasn't her first experience with rapping!
• Rock the Vote's blog has an interesting post about "Green-Collar America" -- a term describing the prospective class of Americans that would find employment if industries "went green." The Apollo Alliance, a environmental think tank, recently released a study that suggested that "a green economy will produce almost 3.5 million new jobs in the United States, many of which will be clean and relatively safe jobs for low-skilled workers in rural areas." Politicians -- not just prescient policy wonks -- have become aware of these "green jobs," proposing the Green Jobs Act, which will help create some 35,000 jobs in green industries like solar panel installation, building weatherization, and wind farm construction by subsidizing $125 million in funding for training programs.
• Fred Stutzman of Unit Structures wrote a really interesting post about the evolution of facebook. Because facebook recently extended membership beyond college campuses and created a plethora of applications -- many of which provide more clutter than information -- some original users are ditching the site. He suggests that these early-facebookers are moving on to new and better sites but "refuses to blow their cover" and expose the newest social-networking trend.
• CNN White House coorespondent Ed Henry posts this self-indulgent, uninformative post about his recent run-in with Dave Chappelle at the White House gate. Supposedly Chappelle said that his favorite part of the Bush presidency is "the nicknames." Chappelle also reportedly would love to have Tony Snow's job. Funny...i guess.

A few interesting posts from the third week of July:

• Justin Krebs of Living Liberally writes on Open Left, describing the recent reading initiative that brings together Harry Potter-lovers and social activists across the country. HP Alliance -- a group founded by 20-something Andrew Slack -- in conjunction with Genocide Intervention Network are publicizing the subtle political messages of J.K Rowling's fantastical series. With Podcasts, free concerts, and Myspace pages, HP Alliance asserts that Rowling's renowned novels actually take strong progressive stances on the injustices of tourture, the right to trial, the value of diplomacy, and the significance of racial equality and workers' rights. Slack is certain that there is power in numbers, and the large community of Harry Potter readers can do a lot to "fight...the dark arts in the real world." -- I always thought that there was an eerie resemblance between Cheney and Voldemort.
• Today marks the start of the Young Democrats convention in Dallas -- the event that Obama was criticized for not attending weeks ago. Speakers will include Gen. Wesley Clark, John Edwards, and Mike Gravel, and the convention will provide young dems with numerous training opportunities.
• The Times conceded more coverage to the Obama campaign's "innovative fundraising techniques" yesterday, in an article describing the innumerable less-than-$10 donations Obama is collecting from t-shirt and key-chain revenue. At the moment, no other campaign is known to have listed paraphernalia sales as donations. Obama's official campaign store is said to be responsible for several hundred thousand dollars of campaign contributions, and, according to David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager "still get[s] people wearing your hats and displaying your bumper stickers."
• I thought Jam Band Fan or Taliban? was funny, but recently, a newer -- and I think more subversive -- guessing game has reached the net. Name My Vote allows participants to guess peoples' political parties based solely on one photograph. I did some impressive "political profiling" and correctly matched 5 democrats and 3 republicans, but I failed to identify the independents. The game basically ends up being a more subtle version of "Hot or Not" and is an equally-guilty pleasure.
• Andrew Golis at TPM Cafe looks at Campaigns like the Bono-endorsed (RED) and asks, "what if an entire generation of youthful idealism is being channeled into conspicuous consumption?" Personally, I think, if the government fails to provide social services -- as the Bush Administration has so clearly failed -- there is nothing wrong with corporations teaming up with non-profits to fulfill that role.
• Anastasia Goodman of the Huffington Post reports on a highly-upsetting JFK School of Government study, which concluded that "28 percent of teens pay almost no attention to daily news and that an additional 32 percent are casually attentive to a single source only." This sort of political apathy is inexcusable during such an integral election year! I recently visited some of my camp friends from Connecticut -- one of whom had never heard of Barack Obama, while the other had clearly been listening to Fox News, citing Obama's madrasas experience as reason for rejecting his candidacy. I was desperately biting my tongue, trying not to ruin the weekend with political Sturm und Drang. As Goodstein writes, "It's essential that the next generation of citizens be informed and more importantly, engaged with what's going on in the world beyond their 50 friends on MySpace."
• Education and Labor Democrats have put together a video for YouTube about the recent passaage of the Cost of College Reduction Act. In the video, Joe Courtney - who was elected by 63 votes this year, riding a wave of youth support - explains the bill.

• The subversive site Jam Band Fan or Taliban? posts several low-resolution pictures of hazy-eyed, bearded men and asks readers the simple question: Jam Band Fan or Taliban? Guessing correctly is surprisingly difficult -- although, to my defense, Phish and The Grateful Dead predate my lifetime -- and members of both groups have gone days without showering. Definitely check it out for a laugh.
• In response to the recent New York Times/ CBS News/ MTV poll that described the more liberal tendencies of young voters (which we previously covered here and here), the highly trustworthy show Fox & Friends interviewed Jason Mattera, a spokesman from the Young America's Foundation, who challenged the poll’s results.
  
  Mattera -- a fast-talking man with catch-phrases that rival those of Tony Snow -- asserts that "young people, as opposed to the general public, are more conservative on the issue of abortion and racial preferences. ... [T]hey'd rather ban abortion and they are opposed to racial preferences. Media Matters systematically disproves both of Mattera’s contentions, once again proving the reliability of Fox News.
• Articles about Obama’s “viral marketing campaign” are everywhere, from Time Magazine to the blogosphere. He seems to be covering all of his bases -- both large and modest contributions from all generations. Karen Tumulty of Time notes that “more than $10 million of Obama's second-quarter contributions were made online, and 90% of them were in increments of $100 or less.” While Sasha Issenberg of Boston Magazine describes Obama’s ability to capture Boston’s biggest political networkers and invest their money in youth fundraising.
• Al Gore introduces Live Earth as a hologram. While he still uses his infamous monotone, he is definitely less stiff in hologram form.
• Apparently, Myspace, in conjunction with Mark Burnett, the reality show guru behind "Survivor" and "The Apprentice,” is planning to launch an interactive political show. MySpace users will select a candidate who they feel best represents the collective voice of Americans. The winner then wins one million dollars to donate to a political candidate. HUH? The whole thing sounds a little convoluted to me. Why don’t we all actually vote in 2008 rather than partake in a Rupert Murdoch nonsensical ploy?
• Check out Living Liberally on Open Left for interesting cultural and political anecdotes. Recent posts focus on Michael Moore’s Sicko. Today’s joke of the day, for example, warrants both a cringe and a chuckle:

  Michael Moore was on CNN arguing with Dr. Sanjay Gupta about Sicko, claiming that Americans shouldn't be hurried along the path of bankruptcy and death because of a horrible health care system. Gupta argued that in Canada and England, people have to wait in line to die ... And after all, who wants to wait in line?

• Mobilize.org is recruiting 435 young activists, one from each Congressional District, to attend The Party for the Presidency in December. At the party, which sounds like an amazing opportunity to schmooze with motivated millennials, the “Declaration of Our Generation” will be unveiled. To contribute to the declaration click here

As Mike and Alex mentioned, I am interning for Future Majority this summer, pursuing my interest in politics and becoming more familiar with the blog format. I am a rising senior at Packer Collegiate Institute, a high school in Brooklyn, New York and am thrilled to be helping out

Burnt Orange Report, a Texas-based blog , recently discussed Barack Obama's failure to attend the 2007 Youth Democrats of America’s national convention. The event, which blogger Matt Glazer called “one of the most important youth-related political events of the year,” will feature John Edwards, but Obama has inexplicably declined.

Obama has been heralded for his ability to reach young voters and is the notoriously “cool” candidate, with the most friends on facebook (which, as we all know, is the ultimate measure of coolness). So why would he pass up an opportunity to speak directly to a group of highly engaged young Democrats?

Obama has ingratiated student voters across the country and proudly promotes his youthful image on his website. On June 28th, Obama highlighted a post from the Sacramento chapter blog of SFBO, which described the efforts of many self-determined California teenagers, who have gathered to increase voter turnout in their counties. The post – which made it seem like politically active teens were anomalous – praised one girl for wanting to “have power in [her] life.” The self-congratulatory post ended by reminding readers that Obama is “loved among the youth vote because he actually cares about them ….[and] understands that [teens] need help paying for a ridiculously expensive college education.”

As a sixteen-year-old girl from New York City, I can vouch for Obama’s cool factor. I tell myself to look for the substance in his rhetoric but am too easily swayed by his intrinsic allure. He is young, attractive and ethnically diverse – which I swear would increase US legitimacy in foreign affairs. But is that why my peers are enamored of him? This past fall, in my school’s elections for student government, a vice-presidential candidate ran on the platform “I’m the Barack Obama of High School.” When asked to substantiate his claim, the student was at a loss for words; unbelievably, this uninformed candidate won!

In my opinion, Obama would be well-served to attend the YDA convention. He may even want to discuss something other than college expenses. Teenagers aren’t entirely self-absorbed – we do care about health-care, the War in Iraq, and the economy. Then again, a little “cool” never hurt anyone. First stop: White House. Then, on to senior prom!

Annie Schectman is our new intern here at Future Majority. She'll be compiling our "Around the Tubes" posts for the summer, as well as helping us have a deeper presence on FaceBook and MySpace. Give her a warm welcome. --Editors

Around the Tubes: An account of the week’s most interesting posts.

• On June 28, Aaron Blake posted on The Hill, illustrating the trends of Republican voters concerning health care, foreign policy, and gays in the military. The post revealed the lack of growth within the party, as millennials tend to be more progressive and ideological divides stratify older voters. According to the poll, “41 percent of Republicans [are] now 55 or older, compared to 28 percent in 1997.” While the Republicans polled self-identified as conservatives, most endorsed candidate Rudy Guliani, who leads the polls with a notoriously checkered background
• YouTube and CNN have partnered up to create Community Counts, an awesome way to make the presidential debates interactive. The democratic site allows voters to post video questions for the candidates like “What is your position on gays in the military?” or “What is your gun control policy?” Anyone can then vote to determine which questions are asked, relieving Anderson Cooper from his position as youth-question moderator -- much to the relief of all young politicos. The videos are all tame, but like everything on YouTube, they are infinitely creative and genuinely young.
• Also on YouTube, a jarring anti-war video featuring portraits of dejected Iraqi children. The propagandist post is hokey but effective.
• Emily Greenhouse of The Nation writes about SAVE (The Student Association for Voter Empowerment), a new for-youth by-youth organization that strives to increase electoral participation among young voters by making the system more accessible. SAVE hopes to permeate college campuses by next fall but needs financial support. As a high school junior eagerly searching for politically active campuses, I am thrilled by organizations like SAVE that bolster my confidence in my generation of progressive voters.
• Generation Debt reviewed Michael Moore’s latest film “Sicko,” focusing specifically on Moore’s comments about the effect of student loans on young voters. Debt, Moore and his interviewees assert, demoralizes and frightens young Americans, effectively subverting voter turnout. The post’s comments were overwhelmingly antagonistic towards Moore (I think unwarrantedly). True, Moore can be crude, sensational, and controversial, but I was pleasantly surprised by the success of Sicko. I found it informative and well-supported. In fact, I thought his reflection on student loans was a slight divergence from his health care narrative but not at all egregious. Besides, when the mainstream media is dominated by Bush-apologists, what’s wrong with a little progressive propaganda?