community organizing

Election Day Loss: ACORN Declares Bankruptcy

by Greg Kaufmann

On this Election Day, when Democrats stand to suffer at the polls, and fewer voters have registered than in previous midterm elections, it seems sadly ironic that ACORN has declared bankruptcy.

This is the final chapter in the long and winding rightwing witch hunt against an organization that stood for poor and working people on issue after issue. As Bill Moyers described the community-based group: “More than any group I’ve covered over my long career in journalism, ACORN was devoted to helping poor people become their own best champions.”

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The right is winning the war on poor people.

What?> Phone Bank: "Just a Spoonful of Sugar" - Let's Make Health-care Access Palatable for ALL!

When? Sun., Oct. 11, from 2 to 5 p.m.
Where? Organizing for America's Raleigh HQ (Raleigh, NC), 130 East Morgan Street in downtown Raleigh, NC 27601
Who? Patty Williams, MsSpentyouth, and Organizing for America
How? Sign up at MyBarackObama.com

WHAT ARE WE DOING? We're having fun, noshing great food, phone banking for better health-care coverage, and, above all, supporting Kim Yaman (aka MsSpentyouth here at Blue NC and DailyKos) as she fights the restrictions of her health insurance to get treatment for Cushing's disease.

WHAT DO I BRING?: A healthy appetite for health-care reform and a dish to share.

Progressive blogging convention Netroots Nation '08 provided an awesome panel discussion on creating political community around film, featuring some megawatt all-stars who've done exactly that: Wendy Cohen of Participant Media, Jim Gilliam of Brave New Films, Jacob Soboroff of "Why Tuesday?", and Tracy Fleischman of Live from Main Street.

If you're in the Cary area tomorrow (August 9), you have the opportunity to see me put my Netroots Nation money where my mouth is as Galaxy Cinema in Cary hosts a screening of the documentary "Senator Obama Goes to Africa," a postfilm discussion with Obama campaign staffers, and a big voter-registration drive based out of the theater lobby.

I confess, I don't watch many political speeches these days on YouTube. It means sitting, staring at my computer screen for an extra 20 minutes more than I already have to, and while I appreciate the art of good rhetoric, unless it's someone I haven't heard before, I'm not inclined to tune in.

This one, though, is a different kind of speech, and one I found more compelling.

This is a duplicate from a post I made in yesterday's open thread. I was replying to this comment from Blue South, and it got long. The short version: I'm starting to think the divide between Obama's supporters and Edwards's supporters is actually an indicator of a much deeper divide in how we see the future of progressivism.

Posting it here because I thought it was important enough to pull out separately.

Frontpaged for the same reasons. A.