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Real support for war veterans

Help support the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America get real stuff done for veterans.

On New Year's Day, here's more of what you can do:

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the nation's first and largest nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is taking part in Operation New Year's Eve, an exciting holiday campaign that lets Americans send text messages in support of U.S. troops to a sign in Times Square. All messages will be collected by ³Operation New Year's Eve and broadcast on a digital LED screen at the top of 4 Times Square, the tallest building in New York's Times Square.

"It's critical that amidst all the celebration, we stop to think about the men and women who are away from
their families and in harm's way," said Paul Rieckhoff, IAVA Executive Director.

Hey, I figure this is much better than the lip service we get from the current administration.

Global Family Day, January first

Hey, Global Family Day's worth checking out:

Declared by the United Nations, the U.S. Congress and significant world leaders, this new tool for peace can actually help to calm tempers, build unity, and point us all in the right direction for the critical Year of the Planet ahead.

On September 19, 2006 the House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution asking the President to “issue a proclamation annually calling upon the people of the United States to observe [this day] which is dedicated (A) to eradicating violence, hunger, poverty, and suffering; and (B) to establishing greater trust and fellowship among peace-loving nations and families everywhere.”

More from Wikipedia:

Global Family Day, (One Day of Peace and Sharing Every January First) was first celebrated on January 1, 2000 with a special ceremony between Israeli and Palestinian families, at a refugee camp in Nablus. Later that year, noting that the first day of the 2000s was an extremely peaceful time, (despite widespread fears of terrorism, rioting, computer system failures, etc) the United States Congress unanimously voted to establish the first day of every year as a special time of peace and sharing. ( S.Con.Res. 138). In 2001, the United Nations General Assembly followed suit, also recommending that all Member states recognize the new holiday (UNRes. 56/2) To date more than 20 heads of state and many ambassadors have endorsed Global Family Day.

Why Barack? People smarter than me say why

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, so it's good to have my choice reaffirmed:

Nathan Gardels:

The main issue in American foreign policy now is repairing America's image in the world. There would be no greater asset in that task than a leader like Obama, who by his very multicultural hybrid biography, renews the fundamental promise of America to the world as a society where every individual is considered worthy enough to get a chance in life.

Michael Medavoy:

We need a leader who will follow his conscience at the helm of a nation of citizens who are not afraid to vote theirs. There are those in this world who will hate us no matter what we do, but following the compass of our consciences, we will have behind us the moral and legal justifications for our actions -- actions that for the first time in too long we can support together as a nation. America can once again lead the way to hope and human dignity for all.

Madeleine Albright

I've learned from her to keep talking with people even if they think they're your enemy. Barack was smart and brave to commit to this in a recent debate.

(My personal opinion is that Hillary would be a good president, but her criticism in this matter was, at best, disingenuous.)

CLARIFICATION: Secretary Albright made this point at a couple of meetings, plus in her most recent book, The Mighty and the Almighty, which I recommend.

Christmas in Cole Valley

Just got a new system

Adorable, ain't it?

Backstage at the telenovela

In makeup with Mark Bautista

More on the telecomm amnesty bill

The Times has a good article on the telecom amnesty bill:

“Congress shouldn’t grant amnesty to companies that broke the law by conspiring to illegally spy on Americans” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington.

What perplexes me is that Ronald Reagan fought the Communists, a much bigger foe than any today, without breaking the law.

We do need to help those in the intelligence community that are honest and competent, not the ones ordered
to produce fake reports.

However, it doesn't look like this stuff has anything to do with fighting terrorism:

In a separate program, N.S.A. officials met with the Qwest executives in February 2001 and asked for more access to their phone system for surveillance operations, according to people familiar with the episode. The company declined, expressing concerns that the request was illegal without a court order.

...

Other N.S.A. initiatives have stirred concerns among phone company workers. A lawsuit was filed in federal court in New Jersey challenging the agency’s wiretapping operations. It claims that in February 2001, just days before agency officials met with Qwest officials, the N.S.A. met with AT&T officials to discuss replicating a network center in Bedminster, N.J., to give the agency access to all the global phone and e-mail traffic that ran through it.

That is, the illegal stuff started before 9/11, in a period where White House spokesman confirmed that they were not concerned with terrorism. See "Plan of Attack" by Bob Woodward, and "Against All Enemies" by Richard Clarke.

Getting serious about government customer service via the Net

Hey, Barack's reminded us that the Net could be an effective means of making local government more responsive.

New York and San Francisco have both started to do that with 311 systems. They allow you, via phone or the Net to do big stuff that was more difficult to do before.

For example, you can get a pothole filled, or find out how to get a license.

This is happening also in Britain, where open source methods might be resulting in better approaches:

FixMyStreet.com is a site that anyone in Britain can use to report a problem of the graffitti, pot hole or dumped trash variety, and get it reported immediately to their local government, no matter where they are. It is built by the usability-obsessed open source hackers at mySociety.org in the UK, and conceals a democratic heart beneath a simple exterior. Problems reported become public (instead of vanishing into a black hole), can be commented on, syndicated, queried etc. Users also get surveyed about the status of their problem, and are helped to engage directly with their local politicians if they aren't successful getting things fixed first time.

Check out more at MySociety.org

Sunlight Foundation gets Obama-Coburn watchdog database done

Hey, looks like a major watchdog database, USASpending.gov was launched today, inspired by Senators Obama and Coburn, done by OMBWatch and funded by Sunlight Foundation.

CORRECTION: FedSpending.org was the original database Sunlight funded...which was built by OMBWatch, and then OMB essentially hired OMBWatch to build USASpending.gov based on what OMBWatch had already done.my mistake!

The story is told by the Washington Post here but the inside story is told by Micah Sifry who's involved with Sunlight:

Sunlight funded OMB Watch to build FedSpending.org (the first searchable database of all govt contracts and grants), for $325K.

They built it. Then the Obama-Coburn bill was passed (with help from a cross-partisan coalition of bloggers, who smoked out the Senator who had put a secret hold on the bill) mandating that the OMB build its own official database, for $15 million.

OMB Watch offered to help OMB get the job done...even though the watchdog group and the government agency are usually major adversaries.

As the attached story in the Washington Post explains, after some hesitation, OMB's director decided to work with OMB Watch, and they licensed the software from OMBWatch for $600K. The new site, USASpending.gov, launched today, two weeks ahead of schedule.

Disclosure: I'm involved with Sunlight, but can take no credit for anything.

Jewish Healthcare International supports the disenfranchised

I just figured I'd let people know about a a good group which helps out forgotten people, in Israel and elsewhere:

It is an amazing story- with just over one full-time equivalent staff person, Jewish Healthcare International (JHI) volunteer healthcare professionals make a world of difference in improving the healthcare available for at-risk, disenfranchised individuals in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Israel and the United States. JHI is a non-sectarian, not-for-profit coalition of volunteer healthcare professionals who provide hands-on training, consultations, public health seminars and donations of medical goods and pharmaceuticals for healthcare providers and the community at large in the sites served. As a result, local professionals can substantially improve the quality of healthcare provided to thousands of people in their communities, and enable them to lead healthier, more productive lives.

Hey, check 'em out at www.jewishhealthcareinternational.org