CO-Sen: Let's get out the vote!

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 26, 2010 · 1:44 PM PDT

2010/10/26 · 13:44

Right now Nate Silver's projections have the Colorado Senate race between Michael Bennet as the closest in the nation (within half of a percent). No matter whether you think of him as a true liberal or not (I think he is), the more important thing is that he's not Ken Buck, a man who claimed to be more qualified than his female primary opponent because he "doesn't wear high heels" and refused to prosecute an admitted rapist.

We need to get out the vote. I'm currently studying in Quito, Ecuador, so I can't knock on doors, but I've already made 10 calls to Colorado voters and plan to make some more. If I can do it from another hemisphere, you can do it from the states (or any other country you happen to be in). Please take just a few minutes of your time to make some calls for Michael or whichever close race is happening in your state.

(Side note, if you are calling from another country or just don't want to use up your monthly minutes making calls, Google voice lets you call any phone in the US for free)

Kossack in Quito: Some thoughts on the current Ecuador situation

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday September 30, 2010 · 7:18 PM PDT

2010/09/30 · 19:18

I'm a US student who's been living and studying in Quito for the past month and thought I would offer my two cents on the current situation in Ecuador. First, I would like to say that most of the US media reports of the situation here are quite overblown (the BBC has done somewhat better). Yes, there's some sort of "martial law" going on, but this does not mean that the military is stopping random civilians on the streets and infringing on everyone's rights. It simply means that the military is fulfilling the police situation because the police are, well they're the one's causing the problem.

Now, on to more of the details:

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 09, 2010 · 12:58 AM PDT

2010/08/09 · 00:58

Tonight I stumbled across a politico article telling me that:

Florida Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Greene challenged Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) Sunday to join him in calling on embattled Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to resign.

The first thing I thought is "well what does a Congressman from New York have to do with a Senate race in Florida?" The article went on to say that the Meek had received some funds from Rangel, and I'm sure that this is ostensibly why this is an "issue" in the campaign.

(Continued below the fold...)

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 01, 2010 · 10:32 AM PDT

2010/06/01 · 10:32

With oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico at an unprecedented rate and vessels carrying humanitarian aid being attacked, there's not a whole lot of good news going around. I wanted to share this feel good story (about a US soldier serving in Iraq) to help people see that in spite of all the bad, there's still plenty of good left in the world.

About a month ago I was rock climbing with some friends and they ran into somebody they knew. We were all shooting the breeze and eventually someone asked what tattoo people would get if they got one. This man, I never caught his name, said that he wanted the word "life" in Arabic tattooed on his right index finger. As it turned out, he had just come back from serving in Iraq.

His explanation for his tattoo was really beautiful to me. Find it below the fold.

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday May 26, 2010 · 12:39 PM PDT

2010/05/26 · 12:39

I've been in Chicago for the past week or so and in my time here I have stopped to talk to some of the homeless people who are so often ignored. I don't know that I would do this if I hadn't spent the last semester taking a class about homelessness, but because I did, thoughts of how much the homeless struggle through every day have been fresh on my mind .

The story I want to tell is about a man named Steven. It was around 4:00 in the afternoon and I was sitting on a bench by the river with my girlfriend when he walked up to us and said, "I'm just a homeless chap looking for a few bucks to catch a train to Waukegan, can you help me?" He smelled a little bit of alcohol and looked somewhat disheveled, but I gave him a dollar anyways because I like to take people at their word.

(the rest of the story past the fold)

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday May 02, 2010 · 12:31 PM PDT

2010/05/02 · 12:31

Tomorrow Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is slated to sign another in a string of laws to get the state’s large immigrant population under control. The law states that "no restaurant shall serve food that promotes the superiority of one group of people over another. Instead all foods must be seen for their individual values."

When interviewed about the law, Brewer stated that "it’s about time that we get rid of these restaurants that have been encouraging illegal immigration. Particularly concerning to me are Taco Bell and Taco John’s, but even Chili’s is suspect in the promotion of this horrid crime."

Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed issued a statement defending the serving of delicious, Mexican-inspired foods. He declared that "it is an outrage that we will no longer be able to sell our yummy cuisine in Arizona just because our company has the word ‘taco’ in the name." Offhandedly Creed commented that his food "isn’t even really Mexican."

When concerns were raised that this might affect Italian, Chinese, or other restaurants often considered "ethnic," legislators were quick to say that they would not be affected because they are, "umm, you know...the okay kind of ethnic."

Immigration Reform MUST Protect Families

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday May 01, 2010 · 4:16 PM PDT

2010/05/01 · 16:16

Comprehensive immigration reform that does not keep families together is not comprehensive immigration reform. I really don’t care about "securing America’s border" or some new biometric social security card. In fact, I don’t care for any of the enforcement items in the Democrats’ new immigration proposal.

What I care about are people. Immigrants are people just like you or me. In my opinion their immigration status is secondary to this fact. They need to be treated with common decency. The affront to this that I find most troubling is the way that our current system rips families apart. A child should never have their mother or father taken away from them.

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday March 28, 2010 · 2:44 PM PDT

2010/03/28 · 14:44

Every Friday morning I go to volunteer at a local day shelter for homeless families. I help make lunch, eat with the families, then play with the kids. This friday, I sat down to eat with a woman named Cynthia and her four year old daughter. I am very glad I did, because her story is one that will stay with me for many years to come

Cynthia is a US citizen. So are her eight children. Her husband is not. The two have been married for over 20 years, but because of a deportation from back when he was 16 he will never be able to obtain legal status (under current immigration law).

In 2000 he was pulled over for a broken tail light. When law enforcement discovered he was undocumented, they took him to jail. He was completely distraught, wouldn't eat, and was threatening to kill himself. This was the first time since their marriage that he had been away from Cynthia for even one night. Though the two were allowed to spend a little more time together, he was soon deported to Mexico.

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday February 04, 2010 · 3:43 PM PST

2010/02/04 · 15:43

Recently Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME)introduced the CLEAR Act to the US Senate as an alternative to both the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill in the House and the Lieberman-Graham-Kerry Senate bill. It is a unique alternative known as "cap-and-dividend."

The bulk of the plan will go into effect in 2012 when the executive branch would set a cap on the total fossil carbon. It would remain at that level for three years, then shrink each year after that at an increasing rate. The legislation targets companies that produce and import fossil fuels. Permits would be exclusively auctioned off to producers, preventing speculators from driving up prices. Of the revenues taken in by the auction 25% would go into clean energy research and 75% would be redistributed among American citizens on an equal per capita basis.

Here's why you should be behind this bill:

1. It will be popular
2. It is economically progressive
3. The "upstream" cap ensures ALL emissions are capped
4. No handouts are given to historic polluters

Poll

33 votes Show Results

What's your preffered climate change solution?

33 votes Vote Now!

What's your preffered climate change solution?

Cap-and-Dividend

17 votes

Cap-and-Trade

5 votes

Carbon Tax

8 votes

Other (describe bellow)

3 votes

Hey Joe Lieberman...F*ck You

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 27, 2009 · 8:03 PM PDT

2009/10/27 · 20:03

After reading this article in which Leiberman says:

"I can't see a way in which I can vote for cloture on any bill that contained a creation of a government-operated-and-run insurance company, it's just asking for trouble,"

This was the only intelligible thing I could think to say.

What I find especially irritating is that I don't even see what we can do about this. As Nate Silver explains here, Joe Lieberman is just batshit insane.

Urgent: Neo-Nazi Rally in Minnesota Tomorrow, Let's Fight Back

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 02, 2009 · 2:36 PM PDT

2009/10/02 · 14:36

I learned last night that there will be a Neo-Nazi rally tomorrow protesting a workshop on white privilege and anti-racism. The Nazis have claimed that the white participants are "traitors to white supremacy." In this world of increasing racial animosity, we need to FIGHT BACK. With this need, there will be a counter protest.

Where: Lake Street & 22nd Ave in Minneapolis
(outside the Midtown YWCA)
When:Tomorrow, October 3 at 10:00am (be there early though)

All kossacks in the Minnesota area should try to make it to this event. We need to let the world know that this hate is not OK

There is more info here

1 minute, 27 seconds.

ThePedro

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 17, 2009 · 3:08 PM PDT

2009/08/17 · 15:08

That's how long it took me to call my congresswoman Betsy Markey about healthcare when I finally decided to do get off my ass. Is that really so hard? I don't know why I put it off for so long before finally getting around to it. I'm sure there are many more of you out there like me who have been meaning to make a call, but just been putting it off. Procrastinate no longer, It's time to make the call right now. It will take less than two minutes of your life.

Let's do a little math. It took me 1.45 minutes to make the call. Yesterday 0.024% of global internet users visited Daily Kos. There are roughly 1,596,270,108 global internet users. This means that roughly 383,000 people visit Kos day. If all of these people were to make a 1.5 minute phone call to their representative today then that would make almost 10,000 hours of phone calls. divided among 535 members of congress, that's almost 18 hours of calls to each legislator. Enough to totally tie up a phone line for each one for almost two days with pro-reform Kossacks. How does that sound?

Will you take 1 minute, 27 seconds out of your life to make this happen?

Poll

35 votes Show Results

Have you called any members of congress yet?

35 votes Vote Now!

Have you called any members of congress yet?

No, but I am going to right now

1 vote

No, and I don't plan to give up even 1 minute of my life

8 votes

Yes, I've called One

7 votes

Yes, 2-10

13 votes

Yes, 11-50

5 votes

Yes, 51-100

0 votes

Yes, 101+

0 votes

Yes, all 535

1 vote

Newer
Older

RSS

CO-Sen: Let's get out the vote!

Kossack in Quito: Some thoughts on the current Ecuador situation

Race Baiting in the Florida Primary.

The Good Soldier: A Belated Story for Memorial Day

Is a Man's Life Worth $6.00?

Breaking: Arizona Bans Taco Bell, Other "Ethnic" Restaurants

Immigration Reform MUST Protect Families

Why We Need Immigration Reform NOW: Cynthia's Story

Cap-and-Dividend is the Way Forward on Climate Change.

Hey Joe Lieberman...F*ck You

Urgent: Neo-Nazi Rally in Minnesota Tomorrow, Let's Fight Back

1 minute, 27 seconds.