October 31, 2008

Obama on Technology and Government

In his interview with Rachel Maddow, Barack Obama addresses the role technology will play in an Obama administration:

"One of the things that I'm excited about is to transfer what we've learned from this campaign in using technology, into government. I mean, there are huge areas where we can open things up, make things more transparent."


He went on to talk about the "Google for Government" bill, and the necessity to "remove bureaucracy...(and) make the whole process more customer-friendly."

Last November at eDemocracyCamp, we hoped this would be the case. The Obama campaign has truly embraced web 2.0, social media, and social networking. I hope he continues to listen via all these same channels if he is elected.

October 29, 2008

No On Prop 8 needs all the help it can get.


I just received this update from the Executive Committee of No On 8 (emphasis mine):

Yesterday, the other side reported donations of $2.2 million, dwarfing the $255,650 we reported, and called on their donors to contribute another $3 million.

With this enormous sum of money they are buying every available ad space on TV in California to blast even more of their hateful lies and prevent our messages from being seen.

Unless we raise $3 million in the next three days we will likely lose.

A campaign donor recently told me that their gift was five times more than they had ever given and suggested that everyone do the same. So today, I am increasing my donation to No On 8 to $50,000. I'm doing this because I know I must if we hope to win.

And I'm asking you to increase your gift too -- at whatever amount you can, so that we can match the other side on the air. Please increase your gift today.

Last night the brilliant movie "Milk" premiered at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. The film is a poignant reminder of the ultimate sacrifice Harvey Milk made to advance our rights and how much Harvey, and so many others, gave to stop the Anita Bryant-led anti-gay movement that was sweeping the country and the Briggs Initiative -- exactly 30 years ago.

It's now up to us to shape the next 30 years.

Thanks to each of you who have sacrificed in this critical fight for our equality. Please join me in making another gift and asking everyone you know to do the same.

It is that important.

With respect, admiration and appreciation,

Geoff Kors
Executive Committee Member
No On 8

If you have any money left in your charitable coffers (remember, it's tax deductible!) please donate. As always, every single dollar helps.

October 25, 2008

/Ground : Using Twitter for Election Protection

My latest post at /Ground -- Using Twitter to Protect the Vote on November 4th.

Political organizers have found many innovative ways to the web during this election cycle. However, as we close in on November 4th, the next important step begins: actually ensuring not only that all votes are counted, but that each and everyone who is registered to vote is allowed to do so.


Read the rest of the article at /Ground.

October 14, 2008

Begging for $$$ ain't easy

Vote No On Prop 8"Our Lead is Gone"

Yesterday, I gave $1000 to No On 8. I'm not saying that to brag. I'm saying it because it's a big deal. It's a big deal because it's a good chunk of my paycheck, and because the issue is worth it. I don't want discrimination to be written into our state constitution. And, frankly, I don't want to have to worry about my marriage certificate being nullified on November 5th.

Over the last few weeks, No On 8 has been out-spent and out-marketed. Our once-promising double-digit lead has dwindled to a dead heat. Proponents of Prop 8 recently enlisted the help of the Mormon church, and their massive phone tree, for $$$ and GOTV.

With the campaign to defeat anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 behind in money and in two recent polls, Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors declared Tuesday, “We are going to lose this election if we don’t raise the money we need to stay on the airwaves.”

No on 8 senior strategist Steve Smith who, along with Kors, was speaking on a conference call with LGBT media, said the campaign needs to raise at least $10 million before the November 4 election. That money is crucial to reach voters through TV ads.
-Bay Area Reporter


I previously reached out to my family to spread the word to their California friends to pledge to vote NO. But now I'm reaching out to all of you to spare $5 if you have it. Foes of marriage equality have taken a lesson from Barack Obama and have raised massive amounts from small donors. We need to match them dollar for dollar over these next three weeks, and I humbly ask for your help.

Anna and I were married at San Francisco City Hall on June 18, 2008. Since it was our third wedding (long story for another blog post), we didn't make a big deal of it and we'd already gotten everything on our registry the first time around. :) So, this time we've set up a different sort of registry...

In lieu of a belated wedding gift, you can give to the No on Prop 8, Equality for All campaign via our Wedding Registry donation page. We've set a goal to raise $500 over the next three weeks.

If you need more information, please visit No On 8's news page -- it's obviously biased, but should get you started. If a little humor is what you need to be convinced, check out the Mac/PC parody commercial (the meme is a little tired, but it's well done).

If you are on either Obama or McCain's email lists, I know you've been flooded with donation requests day in and day out -- yes, it's getting a little old. The candidates can surely use your money, as that fight is far from over, but so can marriage equality. No amount is too big or too small!

Thank you for all of your support. We appreciate that you take our marriage (and our family) seriously. Big love,
Hillary & Anna
legally married since June 18, 2008!




UPDATE: You all rock.

In little more than 24 hours from the time I posted the link on Twitter, we've raised $750 for No On 8! (Not to mention the nearly $600 raised by Marnie Webb who set up a similar registry after seeing our's.)

As such, we're going for the gold, and our new goal is $1000. Thanks for all you have done -- donating, pledging to vote, spreading the word, re-tweeting. I am in awe and truly inspired.

UPDATE #2: Seriously. You all rock.

It took about a day to reach goal #1, and 3 days later we'd surpassed goal #2. Thank you, thank you, thank you. By the way, everyone who voted before midnight, Sunday, October 19th had their donation matched.

So far, 31 people have donated an average of $40! Keep spreading the word, and (Californians) don't forget to vote No On Prop 8!

UPDATE #3: Going strong, but now is the final push.

No On 8 is trying to raise $3 million in these final days to compete with the millions raised by the proponents of the proposition. If you can spare another $5 or more, now is the time.

We've raised over $1500 so far and are aiming for an even $2000. Thank you all so much for the outpouring of support (and cash!).

October 9, 2008

Worst President ever? Or the failure of conservatism?

Rachel Maddow highlights four events during the tenure of Bush's eight-year term so bad that even one of them could have deemed his presidency an abject failure. Her guest Thomas Frank, author of "The Wrecking Crew," states that Bush is not personally responsible (nor are his policies) for these failures, but rather that conservatism has failed.

It's judgment day for the conservative philosophy of governing.


October 7, 2008

Ads Off @ Ma.gnolia

With their new Ads Off subscriptions, the gang at Ma.gnolia continue to "pay it forward" and talk the talk when it comes to community and a social experience.

No matter which subscription you choose (there are two plans) you extend the ad-free experience to others interested in what you're doing on Ma.gnolia. So you can feel free to share your profile and your bookmarks with others and they, too, will have an ad-free experience.

We think this offering is a 3-way win

A win for Ma.gnolia, with affordable support that goes right back into R&D. We’re not buying jets or writing our own browser here.

A win for people interested in your links, and your group members win with a more focussed Ma.gnolia experience.

A win for you, with a benefit that works for you on every Ma.gnolia page, for a full year, costing at most about a week’s worth of lattes. And unlike a week’s worth of lattes, Ads Off has no calories.

http://ma.gnolia.com/blog/2008/10/07/ads-on-and-ads-off


Our government partners are often hesitant to use ad-based services since they don't want constituents to think they are endorsing any particular products or services. If YouTube offered a subscription service that would essentially remove all the chaff from your profile and video pages, I'm confident it would be a major success.

Kudos to Ma.gnolia for once again thinking outside of the box. Here's hoping more services start thinking this way.