congress

You've probably heard that the Republicans - as I type - are throwing a tantrum in the dark on the floors of Congress. What do they want? Congress to reconvene for a vote on energy legislation to bring down oil prices. This despite the fact that every serious person says there is nothing congress can do in teh short term to lower prices and Republicans obstructed energy legislation meant to address the problem earlier in the session.

Lacking cameras, or even lights, the GOP has been Tweeting their tempest in a teapot out to the conservative technorati and it's starting to get noticed.

Some progressive folks thought - why not have a little fun with this and flood the Twitter feed with nonsense and/or progressive messages.

Here's my suggestions on what Tweets to send to #dontgo:

• Link to Gore climate speeches.
• Link to Obama's energy policy.
• Link to Think Progress's coverage of the issue.
• Rick Roll them.

UPDATE: Shakowsky just announced it on the House Floor in the late night session about 30 minutes ago.

At a time when organizations across the country are focused on increasing voter registration, the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) has worked hard to make sure that when those newly registered voters go to the polls, their votes will count.

Today the movement to protect our votes will take a giant leap forward when SAVE teamed up with Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Congresswoman Jan Shakowsky of Illinois and Congressman Steve LaTourette of Ohio present the Student VOTER Bill of 2008.

Durbin said on the floor:

"The success of America's experiment in democracy lies in broad participation and deep civic engagement,from the Civil Rights Amendments, to women's suffrage, to the abolition of the poll tax, and finally the ratification of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment we have witnessed a steady by difficult march toward a more inclusive nation. To realize the full potential of these great strides, the Student VOTER Act provides a pathway to participation for America's youth."

SAVE has worked non-stop for 4 years as a national non-partisan, non-profit with a mission to increase youth voter participation by removing access barriers and promoting stronger civic education. They constantly lobby Congress and the Senate in efforts to ensure that the right to vote is accessible to young people and that those votes are protected.

"Voter protection is personal to me,"said Director and Founder Matt Segal earlier this summer in an interview. He began SAVE after standing in line for more than 12 hours on election day in 2004 to help encourage his fellow students who stood in the cold and rain just to cast a ballot.

"We held umbrellas, we brought them pizza, we got them excused from class so they wouldn't lose their places in line, we did everything we could to ensure everyone who wanted to vote got to vote. Voting is our right, that should never happen again."

Segal says he applauds Senator Durbin and Representatives Schakowsky and LaTourette for their leadership and attention to student voter turnout and the barriers students face when voting.

"All the while many congressional members pay lip service to the idea of increasing civic engagement, it is refreshing to see these members act, and call on our education institutions to be more proactive in getting student signed up and aware of the laws in their various states and districts."

Young voters face some of the most difficult obstacles when it comes to going to the polls.

The Higher Education Act of 1998 was passed in efforts to increase youth participation in elections by requiring that U.S. colleges and universities make a "good faith effort" to register students to vote. This could easily be done at a student orientation or during class registration. But it isn't.

Durbin continued to say on the Senate floor

"Several obstacles stand in the way of youth voting. Because so many students are first time voters, they often are unfamiliar with how to register. In some states, including my own state of Illinois, first time voters must register in person in order to cast an absentee ballot. For students who attend college outside of their home state or who do not have access to transportation, these requirements can be cumbersome, confusing, and insurmountable."

Many schools forget about that civic duty. When that happens the partisan groups move in to fill the gap, fighting it out between College Republicans and Young Democrats the groups debate and register students off campus and on. But the result is that some students who remain undecided and independent can become alienated by the partisanship.

The bill would amend existing laws that say colleges would have to be like the Department of Motor Vehicles, which is supposed to ask folks if they want to register or re-register to vote when they get their driver's license or public assistance benefits. The new law would make state colleges and universities abide by that rule. So now, new students would be asked if they wanted to register when they sign up for classes, or get a new student ID for example.

The Student VOTER Bill of 2008 seeks to institutionalize the distribution of voting procedure and register more young people. SAVE's bill will apply a much more up to date standard to the existing 1994 "Motor Voter Act." This can help state colleges and universities, and ensure that all students will have their votes counted.

Forty-four million young people (ages 18-29) will be eligible to vote this November and with the help of the House and Senate, we can move forward to stop disenfranchisement this election year.

It is good to be back to be blogging with you. I enjoyed our last session together and I look forward to answering questions you may have, but before I do I would like to give you an update. Since I've last blogged, the campaign has been picking up everyday. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, came down to Wichita, to present a $5000.00 endorsement from the CBC. Governor Kathleen Sebelius was a special guest at a fundraiser for me, where she endorsed my campaign. I have been on the phone everyday raising money, and meeting with future constituents all over the fourth congressional district. Things are getting very exciting around here, I have even worn out my first set of walking shoes.

My name is Josh Segall and I'm running for Congress in Alabama's 3rd Congressional District.

My family has lived in Alabama for four generations. I’ve always been proud to call Alabama my home.

Now I am honored to be running to represent the Third District of Alabama in Congress.

Representing my fellow citizens in Congress is a privilege and a responsibility, and I intend to earn it. Every candidate owes the voters a clear explanation of his values and priorities.

As the new congressman for Alabama's 3rd District, I will lead according to my guiding principles:

• A congressman should wake up every day thinking of one thing: how to make your district more prosperous and more secure.

I will work every day to bring new jobs and economic opportunity to our district. My top priority will be serving the people who make this district great – our veterans, teachers, farmers, workers, and families.

• A congressman must put his district above everything else—including his political party.

For too long, Mike Rogers has sided with his political party and his biggest donors over the needs of our district.

The people of Alabama deserve a different approach to governing. Our challenges are too serious and our potential is too great to let politics stand in our way.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans have a monopoly on good ideas.

Pragmatism is more important than partisanship.

I will be an independent congressman, who will always put the needs and people of my district before anything else.

• A congressman’s first job is to listen to you.

It seems simple, but some folks get to Washington and can’t seem to remember what they were sent there to do—serve as the voice of their constituents back home.

I’ll listen to what my constituents have to say about their needs, and their ideas. Instead of believing that I have all the answers, I'll trust the people of the district to tell me what has worked for them, and what hasn’t—and what I can do to bring smart, helpful changes to their lives.

I pledge to hold two town hall meetings in every county, every year, as long as I serve the people of East Alabama.

The people of east Alabama deserve a congressman who works hard for them—not for his political party, his biggest donors, or himself.

They deserve a congressman who listens to what they have to say, instead of telling them what’s best for them. They deserve a congressman who will create new jobs and invest in Alabama’s future.

That’s the kind of congressman you deserve. And that’s the congressman I’ll be for you.

Alright, so I know I have ranted on this before, but the video I just saw on Politicker has me riled up again. Here is the video:

Notice a few things here. First, the poster the guy is holding in the video spells YouTube wrong. Bad sign. Second, McCotter has only had the account for 3 days, after the whole Twittergate scandel broke.

Now this isn't just some tech geek having a gotcha moment with a screen shot (it is that, but not just that). The point I made in my earlier post is that bringing the franking rules up-to-date was something that both Republicans and Democrats could have both supported and worked together to do in a timely and cooperative fashion. Unfortunately, the Republicans don't want to let that happen.

I'm a true believer in the concept of Congress 2.0 and using the new tools the internet has provided us to enable our elected officials to communicate more effectively. As a matter of fact, most of the Democrats and young voters I have spoken to agree. The idea that the Republicans have turned this into a partisan battle sickens me, especially since there isn't really any disagreement to be fighting about. They have created a straw man argument in order to call the Democrats Stalinists and use all those Russian sounding Communist words they remember using back in the Cold War.

Progressive organizations have been leading the way in the use of the internet and social networking tools in the political sphere. The Republican Party is not the great defender of the freedom of the internet (just look at their stances on net neutrality).

So how about we stop with the rhetoric and name-calling, put our Russian-to-English dictionaries away, and actually work to get these rules updated since it's something almost all of us agree on. And please try to spell the name of the website right in a video that you are posting to that website.

So that's my rant. If you were expecting a useful internet tip or something I actually wrote one on my personal blog. Ironically, it is about the self-populating Twitter links used by the Let Our Congress Tweet site.

So, what are your thoughts on this whole thing? Let us know in the comments.

We've been having this ongoing conversation about better access to our government both as a form of transparency and as a way to connect with our Representatives who both serve and ... represent us in Congress. We've even watched as John Culberson (R-TX) and Tim Ryan (D-OH) battled it out in real time over the Energy Bill on Twitter.

This week Culberson has waged his own mini-war against the House for shutting down his twitter activity.

On July 8th Culberson Tweeted

1. " I just learned the Dems are trying to censor Congressmen's ability to use Twitter Qik YouTube Utterz etc - outrageous and I will fight them."

2. "Dem "Supreme Soviet" leadership of House would have to approve every Twitter before I could post it!!!"

3. They want to require prior approval of all posts to any public social media/internet/www site by any member of Congress!!! "

7. " I also must have a preapproved disclaimer on every Tweet that it is an official communication from a federal official for official business"

They go on. He's fighting about this in a very partisan way, but with Tim Ryan in the same boat, its not a partisan issue....(I agree with Dave from TP on this) its a tech issue.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, our Franking Rules are just so out of step with where we are (and indeed where we're going) that there needs to be some kind of update. Most notably, there should be an update that encompass new technologies that will be created in the next half hour to two years. This whole telenovella actually began as an attempt to make our rules better, if you can believe it...

This began when, in attempts to "get it," ...

"Democratic Representative Michael Capuano sent a letter last month, written in bureaucratese, to a House administrative committee, trying to propose that Congress should create a more official way to represent official congressional communication on the Internet. The letter, dated June 24th, has been widely circulated by a Twitter user and Republican representative named John Culberson, who rallied congressional allies against the proposal...

Capuano is trying to update an existing set of rules that requires House members to submit some web and email communications for approval before being sent. Here’s the text of the rules in question, that I found via nonprofit The Sunlight Foundation’s Open House Project blog post on the matter."

Despite their own convoluted confusion and explanations, the two sides seem to both want the same thing.

"Culberson, as you’ll see if you watch his Qik video, is sincere about his desire to let congress members say whatever they want on any service. Capuano, via his press release, pays homage to the same idea, even if he can’t effectively translate that sentiment into his proposals."

Despite Culberson's partisan blame, he's aligned many supporters from the left as well as the Sunlight Foundation who has started the site Let Our Congress Tweet. While we all seem to be on the same side, its also important to note the members who don't have a side at all on this issue, because they have no idea what the Internets iz. Much less what The Facebook and the Google are up to.

Hopefully, these new dramas will bring to light a better understanding for members who are a bit technophobic or who have staffers that are fearful of losing control. Lord only knows what could happen... Representatives say the Darndest Things!! Holding people's feet to the fire might become the standard, and people like you and me might be able to lobby our members in real time on Facebook through our status updates. Ahh to dream....

Hi,

I am online now. Happy to answer any questions on any topic.

Yesterday I announced my plan to reduce gas prices:

GAS PRICES: WHAT TO DO?

Yesterday I outlined some tough actions I will take if elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to lower gas prices and move our nation towards energy independence and green energy policies.

While big oil conglomerates are recording record profits, middle- and low-income families, consumers and businesses are struggling with staggering gas prices at the pump and the ‘oil tax,' which is increasing the price of everything from groceries to airline tickets. The American economy is gravely threatened.

I will stand up to the big oil and gas industry if I get to Congress. I will fight for solutions to bring down soaring gas prices and halt the price gouging. I will push to end the tax subsidies, the giveaways and the rollbacks of royalties that big oil and gas have extracted from taxpayers. Congress has been far too timid. These are solutions we desperately need today if we are to make the investments in a green future in America.

There’s a real difference in this campaign. In the State Senate, one of my opponents sponsored legislation that was called the ‘Oil and Gas Dream Bill’ by newspapers. Now she’s complaining about $4 per gallon gas prices, but what did she expect after doing the bidding of the oil and gas lobby? I'll take a different approach and stand up to the special interests added. My career has been based on bringing new solutions to old problems, and I will do that in Congress. Consumers have been held hostage by oil and gas companies for too long.

Some things that I support:

• Strategic Petroleum Reserve –release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring market prices down immediately, and maybe additional future releases to drive speculators out of the market.
• Tough anti-trust laws and enforcement – Congress must act forcefully to end market manipulation and illegal, anti-competitive practices in the oil industry. We need new antitrust legislation and enforcement to do it. There is too much concentration in the oil and gas industry today. I will push the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look closely at gas prices, and conduct thorough investigations for illegal market manipulation by the oil and gas giants, and swift, tough enforcement of penalties. More competitive markets will bring lower gas prices.

Mergers – like that between Exxon and Mobil ten years ago — have created entities that are too big and too powerful, and have directly resulted in higher gas prices at the pump, as was confirmed by a 2004 Government Accountability Office report. These corporate giants produce the crude oil, own the refineries, and sell the gasoline at the pump. As the FTC itself admitted in 2001, when oil companies own the refineries, it makes it simple to manipulate market prices. We need old-fashioned trust busting. We need new a new generation of anti-trust legislation to deal with this new environment, and tough enforcement.
• End tax giveaways to big oil – I support the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Act of 2008, HR 5351, legislation to strip $18 billion in oil company tax breaks that were enacted in 2004. I will push for repeal of all existing oil company tax breaks. We should be putting that money into solar, wind, alternative fuels and energy efficiency.
• Regulating energy exchanges – We need tough new regulation, oversight and enforcement of OTC as well as regulated energy exchange markets. Financial speculators are driving up the price of oil. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) must be strengthened and criminal sanctions should be enforced on speculators who violate the law.
• Protect public lands from drilling – Further drilling, exploitation and despoliation of wilderness areas like the Roan Plateau and ANWR proposed by the oil industry is not the answer. I strongly oppose the Bureau of Land Management’s current plan to expand gas-drilling leases in the Roan Plateau. Instead, I want to strengthen environmental protection of our pristine public lands. The oil and gas industry is exploiting the gas price crisis to rush along leases on our federal lands and argue for additional exploitation. I believe that these are false solutions and only feed our reliance on fossil fuels.
• Get the special interest money out of politics – The price of gas and the neglect of clean energy policies in Congress is the direct result of too much special interest money in politics. The oil industry pours millions of dollars into political campaigns every year. Too many members of Congress fear them. I am not afraid to stand up to them. That is also why we need, and I will fight for, public financing of campaigns and ‘Clean Money Clean Elections’ legislation in Congress. I am the only candidate for the 2nd Congressional District not accepting money from Political Action Committees (PACs).

For too long, our country’s energy policy has been written by and for the oil and gas industry. That must end. I will work with allies in and out Congress, like Public Citizen, and with citizens across the 2nd District to accomplish these urgent goals.

This is not entirely youth related, but it hits a topic that is only second to youth organizing in my heart and head - free culture and technology. Lawrence Lessig, founder of the Creative Commons movement and author of some indespensible books like Free Culture (which helped spawn the student Free Culture Movement) and the Future of Ideas just launched a new website - Lessig 08 - to explore a run for Congress in a special election to replace the late Rep. Tom Lantos.

After 10 years fighting for an open internet and sane copyright laws that encourage innovation and embrace remix culture, Lessig is now dedicating the next 10 years of his life to tackling the problem of corruption in government. A seat in the House of Representatives would be an amazing platform for Professor Lessig in his new fight against corruption, and will bring sorely needed knowledge about how the internets actually works to Congress (hint: it's not a series of tubes).

He's raising money now through Act Blue. Once I get my next paycheck I'll probably throw him $25.

And of course, what would anything Lessig be without the requisite power point presentation:

Update: Here's a condensed, 10 minute video of one of the panels at today's hearing. You should watch it.

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I had no idea that this was going down, but both Davey D and The Seminal are reporting on congressional hearings on racism and misogyny in rap lyrics which occurred yesterday. The hearing took the form of three panels featuring a mix of record industry and entertainment executives, artists, and academics. Both DaveyD and The Seminal listened to the hearings almost in their entirety (something I've yet to do), so I'll make a few quick points and then refer you to their coverage.

1. It amazed me that even in this setting, the record industry executives tried to pawn this off on file-sharing and piracy. WTF? Props to Anthony Weiner for keeping them on track. It makes me somewhat more comfortable that he's probably the front runner to replace Bloomberg as Mayor of NYC.
2. Let's not forget our history here. I don't know who called this hearing, but I'm assuming it was a Democrat since we control the House. Democrats have a long history of pillorying the music industry for what they perceive to be their own electoral gain. They did it in the 80s, with the Parents Music Resource Center, which was headed by then Senator Al Gore's wife, Tipper and which instigated hearings into music ratings; Joe Lieberman has railed against the entertainment industry in general for decades; Clinton betrayed the music community over a manufactured controversy, and Hillary Clinton hates video games.
   

   All the while, Republicans have taken a much more libertarian view to the issue (evangelical christian groups aside). You could argue that The Wedding Crashers is a movie that in part degrades women (or men . . . ), yet that didn't stop John McCain from making a guest appearance. When 2 Live Crew got in trouble for obscenities at their events, it was Republicans who cited the first Amendment while Democrats excoriated the performers.

   All of this is in spite of the fact that violence among teens, teen pregnancy - all the indicators that entertainment is having a negative impact - are down.

   There is no causation between video games, music lyrics or violent movies and teen behavior. All of this hemming and hawing has done nothing but alienate cultural allies of the Democratic Party and the progressive movement without picking up one more vote for Democrats or addressing the real issues at stake when we talk about racism and misogyny in entertainment.

I think the folks at The Seminal summed it up best in their piece:

Instead, we need to be focused on root causes, as Dyson and others pointed out. It was good to see the discussion in the hearing return time and time again to basic issues of racism and sexism. This isn’t about the music industry. This isn’t about parental controls or censorship or moral degradation. If you have a problem with sex and violence in culture, then you need to examine that culture a little more critically. The degradation of black women and the violence against and between black men existed long before hip hop was invented and will likely exist long afterwards. Solving the hip hop “problem” will not actually solve anything.

If you really want to solve this “problem,” if it really is a problem to be solved, then you need to start digging deeper. Addressing issues like poverty, opportunity, and the drug war are a good start. If you eliminate the roots of violence, sexism, and racism in society, then violent, racist, or sexist cultural products can be taken for exactly what they are: Entertainment, nothing more, nothing less.

You can listen to testimony here. Thanks to DaveyD for the Odeo links:

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a Progress Report for Young Americans Wednesday touting the successes of the new Congressional Majority that won on a “new direction” agenda last fall.

“After years of neglect and inaction, much needs to be done. In the first year of this Congress, under new Democratic leadership, we are making progress.” The Speaker’s site says.

Of the 24 accomplishments on the checklist, ten have not yet been signed into law and two were vetoed. The Speaker’s agenda includes many of the things we’ve seen here on FM including college affordability and targeting global warming as the eminent threat young people have worked on for years.

“But there is much more to be done and Republicans are standing in the way,” continued David Hardt (President of the Young Democrats of America). “Democrats understand that young voters – be they college students, those starting in the workforce or beginning families – are focused on what their future looks like. That is why this huge voting block has rejected Republicans in election after election.”

Glancing through this you’ll see that many of these points are simply line items from the Speaker’s New Direction Agenda. I would argue that spinning the same agenda in a youthy way doesn’t necessarily make it youthy. But I don’t want to diminish the great successes Congressional Democrats have seen in their work. These are indeed things that benefit all Americans. The youthy and the wrinkled.

What is encouraging is the page itself. The Speaker – leader of the Congress - has shown an active interest in communicating the democratic agenda to young Americans. We spend a lot of time on FM talking about being ignored because leaders of both parties have been bungling the youth vote, ignoring the power of young voters, neglecting our agenda, and worst of all not taking us seriously. I think this is a good indication that they are at least putting forth some effort.

The issues that they targeted and brought over from the regular everyday agenda are indeed issues that are important to us: global Warming, health care, Iraq… Now, granted they aren’t stopping the war in Iraq, creating universal health care, or stopping global warming (all things we want) but – perhaps that flicker of hope is a light at the end of the tunnel.

In the mean time – newsflash – young people matter enough for Pelosi to make flashy graphics, spin the dem agenda, and do a press event with a pretty banner.

For more on the Youth Agenda you can read below the jump: