My newest post is up on NPR, in which I do a very quick overview of the many ways Barack Obama is consolidating power in the Democratic Party.
For whatever reasons, it’s clear that Obama is busy building a parallel Democratic infrastructure and movement. Washington-based 527s and Democratic loyalists may end up crying foul, but progressives across the country will benefit from more money and influence than they’ve had in years. Are they making a Faustian deal or witnessing the birth of a new Democratic Party?
Check out the whole thing, and stay tuned for a crisp audio reproduction of it.
Last Friday I was suddenly inspired to create a new web site. It would be almost the same as barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com except that it would ask the public to Reject and Denounce things (recall that Barack Obama was asked to do the same about Jeremiah Wright in a debate with Hillary Clinton).
I pinged my buddy Jed Sundwall about it, hoping he could help me find a developer to do a quick and dirty install. He did — tapping a wonderful resource in the discussion board at pevz.org/works — and by Friday night, rejectanddenounce.org was born. Here’s an example of the zaniness:
So check out the site, and post your rejections/denunciations!
I’ve always tried to bring friends from disparate places together. I’ve thrown nervous parties in which I’ve spied a friend working in city government chatting with a folk singer, or an introverted coder making small talk with a drunkard architect. I liked the clash of personalities those parties encouraged, but I would get so anxious about everyone getting along I couldn’t have much fun.
So why not try the same thing, but in web form? That’s the idea behind Tag, the new project my good friend Nancy Scola and I are soft-launching this week.
The idea is simple: we’re asking our friends and acquaintances to contribute essays, photos, videos, interviews, or any other kind of online-friendly media that draw out connections between diverse ideas, people, and things. (One friend has already suggested an article about Papa Smurf and the official seal of Argentina…)
Go here if you want to find out more and contribute. We understand that the parameters are somewhat broad, but we’re hoping you can suggest ideas — like reviewing pancakes, or interviewing your favorite dirt farmer, or documenting how a web evangelist became a taxi driver – that are sometimes wacky, sometimes serious, but always culturally interesting. Email us at editors@tag-themagazine.com with comments.
Today NPR launched their new Sunday Soapbox feature, in which a trio of bloggers will be writing about the election and posting audio podcasts of their commentary. It podcasts will be hosted on the Sunday Soapbox site and will air on Weekend Edition Sunday. Full disclosure: techPresident’s Mindy Finn and I are two of those three bloggers/podcasters. We’re joined by Faye Anderson, a “citizen journalist, blogger, and publicity consultant” who blogs at andersonatlarge.typepad.com.
It’s an exciting chance for us to reach a wider audience with our analysis, and I’m grateful to NPR and the Weekend Edition Sunday team for the opportunity.
I hope you’ll subscribe to our podcasts and listen in on Sundays mornings. To whet your palette, check out Mindy’s podcast and post about John McCain’s momentum and mine about offline polls and online search trends.
One of my pet concerns is food — eating ethically, being aware of where you food comes from, not harming the earth as much as possible, paying respect to the animals that provide us with sustenance, etc. I’m always on a quest to eat as healthily, and sustainably, as I can.
Given the fact that I live in Brooklyn within walking distance to good restaurants, farmstands, and supermarkets should make it easy. But we get caught up in our lives. We fall into thoughtless routines. We sometimes forget about the things we find important.
Thankfully, there’s the Ethicurean. Check out this excerpt from an email from Bonnie P., a writer on the site, to a visitor:
It’s not hard to eat ethically, but it does involve doing some legwork. You need to know what your values are, and if you are not buying directly from the farmers, what exactly the labels on food mean. Everyone has their own set of ethics that they may prioritize slightly differently. Maybe you want to help rebuild local-food infrastructure, and support drought-stricken Aussie farmers, so you would choose local non-organic produce over certified organic produce from far away. Or you think it is immoral to treat sentient beings such as pigs as if they are mere protein widgets in a massive factory: you would then eat only pork from pigs raised outside, with room to engage in natural behaviors. Perhaps you think its unethical to eat animals at all: it’s easier than ever to be vegetarian. Maybe you are concerned about the effects of pesticides and herbicides on the environment and on farmworkers’ health, even those far away: you would stick to certified organic produce.
And if you are concerned about ALL those things — like we are — you can start by avoiding processed food, factory meat, genetically modified food, and chemically dependent crops. Then start educating yourself: talk to the people who grow the food you are buying and ask them why they do it the way they do. If you can’t buy direct from the farm, then make sure you understand what supermarket labels like “organic” and “free range” and “natural” mean. They often don’t cover the things you think they do: for example organic beef in the U.S. can be raised in a feedlot on a diet of organic grain, rather than out in pasture eating grass as much as the climate and season allow. Some “humanely raised” labels allow beak clipping for chickens and tail docking for pigs.
Just a note that Noel Hidalgo — world traveler, open source evangelist, and former bearded man — is back in the U.S. after a year of travel and is producing a web doc on being a taxi driver.
I like where he’s going with this; the possibilities of sustained, serial online video documentaries are just beginning to be explored, though projects like Purple States are doing an amazing job.
