Hillary's Goodbye (& Gender Equality)

I watched Hillary's speech on Saturday at the National Building Museum via CNN at my conference in Minneapolis. I normally get drawn into these speeches but from a purely political perspective; I want to hear what was not said more than what actually was said.

That being said, Hillary had my emotional attention from the moment she took the stage. It was the first time she truly spoke to me about the significance of her campaign with respect to gender equality in the United States. And her acknowledgment of the gay supporters of her campaign (see Associated Press video highlights of the speech below) -- not once, but twice -- managed to incite a surge of pride even in me, an Obama supporter.

We have a long way to go to attain gender equality, where men are equal to women and vice versa, in the United States (thinking of it merely as making women equal to men is insufficient, really -- think about paternity leave for fathers whose spouses are working, for example). But, as Hillary suggests, there are now 18 million little cracks in that glass ceiling.

• The full text of Hillary's June 7, 2008 speech at the National Building Museum.


• The full video of Hillary's June 7, 2008 speech at the National Building Museum

Highlights of Hillary's speech

Obama for Change in 2008

I am no longer proclaiming ambivalence to the leading Democratic candidates. I still believe both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama bring separate but undeniably strong qualities to the table. And I believe that either would, as President, challenge the status quo to effect the tremendous change that this country starves for.

But what strikes me is the consistent inspiration of hope that Barack Obama has provided for me ever since I first started campaigning in the midwest in 2004.

I've found the speeches that moved me -- particularly the second half of his address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Although it's hard for me to truly recapture the energy I had in the audience, now, I still remember how it moved me.

If you're looking for something a little less campaign-oriented, check out Obama's 50 minute Q&A with Tim Russert at the Warner Theater in D.C., hosted by the Partnership for Public Service (a fantastic organization which tries to bring talented employees into federal jobs). You can listen to an MP3 of the session on his Senate website.

2004 Democratic National Convention Speech

Don't skip the second part -- that's where it gets good!

2008 Iowa Victory Speech

It's impressive that Obama's speechwriter, Jon Favreau, is just 26... ("What Would Obama Say?" - New York Times, 20 Jan 2008).

New Year, New Elections!

I cannot wait for November 4, 2008.

New York Times | Editorial: Looking at America

December 31, 2007

There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators by destroying videotapes of their sickening behavior. It was impossible to see the founding principles of the greatest democracy in the contempt these men and their bosses showed for the Constitution, the rule of law and human decency.

It was not the first time in recent years we’ve felt this horror, this sorrowful sense of estrangement, not nearly. This sort of lawless behavior has become standard practice since Sept. 11, 2001.

The country and much of the world was rightly and profoundly frightened by the single-minded hatred and ingenuity displayed by this new enemy. But there is no excuse for how President Bush and his advisers panicked — how they forgot that it is their responsibility to protect American lives and American ideals, that there really is no safety for Americans or their country when those ideals are sacrificed.

Read more... (please)

Take Action against Hate Crimes

If you haven't seen this video from HRC on YouTube already, you really should (if you're reading this on Facebook, you'll have to view the original post to see it).

Then, go to www.hrc.org/fighthate to let your Senators know you support this legislation. The bill passed in the U.S. House in May.

Also, I think I'm in this video (see if you can find me -- or my doppelganger -- towards the end, tell me if you think it's me or not!)

Kansas City Star endorses Employment Non-Discrimination Act

I'll always be a Missourian at heart.

This weekend, the Kansas City Star ran an editorial in favor of ENDA.

"The reality is that in 2007, four decades after the Civil Rights Act was passed, gay Americans still face discrimination in the workplace. It often is subtle, but it exists."
• "End workplace discrimination" (23 Sep 2003, kansascity.com)

And, this year, two Missouri employers earned perfect ratings on the HRC Corporate Equality Index: Anheuser-Busch and law firm Bryan Cave. See the report at www.hrc.org/cei

Check out this interesting/entertaining take on the businesses that earned perfect scores "How to Avoid Advancing the Gay Agenda."

And, if you haven't already, contact your representative in support of ENDA: www.passendanow.org

2008 Corporate Equality Index Report

I'm so proud of this report and I can't wait for you to see what I've been working on all year!

Keep your eyes out for an entirely new design, and some great new 100%-rated businesses. Missourians/lawyers -- Bryan Cave became our second 100% in the state, and a total of 30 law firms got to 100% this year.

Now, let's keep our fingers crossed for ENDA!

• News Release: The Human Rights Campaign Foundation today released the sixth annual Corporate Equality Index showing an unprecedented 195 major U.S. businesses earned the top rating of 100 percent, up from 138 last year - a 41 percent increase. The Index rates employers on a scale from 0 to 100 percent on their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors...
  
• 2008 Corporate Equality Index (17 Sept 2007, www.hrc.org)

Take action today.

State of the Workplace 2006-2007

On Tuesday, we released a new State of the Workplace. This year, we showed that transgender employment protections are on a huge upswing -- a quarter of the Fortune 500 now have protections, compared to just 8 in 2003. And it's going to get even better when we release the next CEI!

I'm really proud of this report, but even more excited about what we've seen in the past year, particularly with corporate support of non-discrimination laws and relationship recognition in the states.

....and Fortune magazine picked up the story!

• State of the Workplace 2006-2007 (July 2006, Human Rights Campaign Foundation)
• 'Trans'-forming Corporate America (24 July 2007, CNN Money/Fortune Magazine)
• You can also see what the author of the Fortune article has to say, outside the article itself Marc Gunther's blog (24 July 2007, MarcGunther.com)

Day of Action to Restore Law & Justice

www.aclu.org/junepetition

The American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International USA, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture are taking on the Capitol today, Tuesday, June 26.

Sign the petition and call on Congress to:

1. Restore habeas corpus and due process.


2. Pass the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007.


3. End torture and abuse in secret prisons.


4. Stop extraordinary rendition: secretly kidnapping people and sending them to countries that torture.


5. Close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay and give those held there access to justice.


6. Investigate wrongdoing and ensure those who broke the law are held accountable.


7. Restore American values and the rule of law.

• www.aclu.org/junepetition


• FindHabeas.com

2006 Senate Race, Missouri: $47.2m

As happy as I am for Senator McCaskill, and as much as I believe in her ability to work with the U.S. Senate and related political forces to more effectively manage our country, I wish we could have spent this campaign money (from both sides) on actual problems. I guess the question is: what problems, first?

From CQPolitics.com:

But if you account for the coordinated and independent spending from the political parties, the most expensive Senate race was not in Pennsylvania but in Missouri, where Democratic state Auditor Claire McCaskill narrowly defeated Republican Sen. Jim Talent.

In that contest, the cumulative spending by the candidates and the parties came to $47.2 million, or just ahead of Pennsylvania’s $46.5 million. Missouri’s edge over Pennsylvania is even more lopsided on a per-capita basis because it has less than half the population of Pennsylvania.

In Missouri, the political parties reported $19.8 million in independent expenditures — of which $10 million was spent in support of Talent or in opposition to McCaskill, and $9.8 million was spent in support of McCaskill or in opposition to Talent. The two parties also nearly evenly divided $1.4 million in coordinated expenditures that they made in concert with McCaskill and Talent.

The $19.8 million in party independent expenditures in Missouri was not far off the $26 million that McCaskill and Talent spent from their own campaign accounts.

• "FEC Highlights Spending Data on 2006 Senate Races" (CQPolitics.com, 9 Mar 2007)

SOTU 2007

For those of you into the State of the Union, you have to check out the Campaign for America's Future's "State of the Union - By the Numbers" resource. For example, my college-student-friends:

Bush's Rhetoric
• 2005 State of the Union: We'll make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants.
• 2004 State of the Union: I propose larger Pell grants for students who prepare for college with demanding courses in high school.

The Reality


• Average cost of a public four-year college in 2000, annual: $9,958
  
• Average cost of a public four-year college in 2006, annual: $12,796
  
• Maximum Pell grant in 2001 school year: $3,750
  
• Maximum Pell grant in 2006 school year (inflation adjusted): $3,558



---



• "State of the Union - By the Numbers" (24 Jan 2007, Campaign for America's Future)

Choose Generosity, Not Exclusion

I must be on a Keith Ellison kick:

Somewhere in Minneapolis or Jackson or Baltimore, somewhere in America today, there is a young couple that is feeling vulnerable. Maybe one has been laid off due to outsourcing, and maybe, the other is working for something close to a minimum wage. They probably have no medical benefits. Today real income is lower for the typical family than in 2000, while the incomes of the wealthiest families have grown significantly. Things are tough for working people, but in America, we often turn to our faith in tough times...

• "Choose Generosity, Not Exclusion" (7 Jan 2007, WashingtonPost.com)

But it's Thomas Jefferson's Koran!

Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he'd take his oath of office on the Koran -- especially from Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, who called it a threat to American values.

Yet the holy book at tomorrow's ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We've learned that the new congressman -- in a savvy bit of political symbolism -- will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

• "But it's Thomas Jefferson's Koran!" (3 Jan 2007, WashingtonPost.com)

2006 in Review...

Slate presents the top 10 civil liberties nightmares of the year:

...As Yale Law School's inimitable Jack Balkin put it: "You can't believe Padilla when he says we tortured him because he's crazy from all the things we did to him."

• The Bill of Wrongs: The 10 most outrageous civil liberties violations of 2006. (30 Dec 2006, Slate.com)

MUSLIMS QUESTION GOP SILENCE ON VA REP'S ISLAMOPHOBIC REMARKS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MUSLIMS QUESTION GOP SILENCE ON VA REP'S ISLAMOPHOBIC REMARKS

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 12/21/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on state and national GOP leaders to repudiate anti-Muslim remarks made by a Republican congressman in Virginia.

In a recent letter to constituents, Rep. Virgil Goode slammed the planned use of a Quran for the ceremonial swearing-in of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. (No religious texts of any kind are used for the official swearing-in ceremony.) Goode also decried the growth of the American Muslim community and expressed concern that "many more Muslims" may be elected to public office.

SEE: Va. Lawmaker's Remarks on Muslims Criticized (Washington Post)

"We are deeply troubled by the failure of state and national GOP leaders to clearly distance themselves from Representative Goode's intolerant remarks," said CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor. He said Republican leaders in Virginia should have learned a lesson in tolerance from the controversy over Senator George Allen's "macaca" episode.

The Last Gasp of a Smoke-Filled Room?

When the District goes smoke-free Jan. 2, at least one nicotine haven will remain: the U.S. Capitol. Lawmakers, several of whom enjoy a good cigar, have exempted themselves from the city's smoking ban, not to mention rules that forbid lighting up in federal buildings across the country.

But winds of change may be blowing on the Hill....

• The Last Gasp of a Smoke-Filled Room? (8 Dec 2006, WashingtonPost.com)


• Smoke Free Workplaces - Center for Policy Alternatives


• Washington DC Smoke-Free Workplaces

Election Day is Washington's Super Bowl...

Election Day is Washington's Super Bowl, complete with funny commercials and accidental boobs.

- Last Call (and ripped from Courtney S.'s Facebook notes)

Keith Olbermann makes a point

Where's Samir?

How did I end up here, exactly? :)

Coming to you live from Becker, MN....

Calling all progressives...

I just arrived in Minneapolis, where I will be working solidly until the polls close on November 7 to elect Patty Wetterling and Amy Klobuchar to the U.S. House and Senate. I am fortunate enough to have a job that actually paid for me to work on this crucial election. And I've done this before -- it's not very complicated, it's just many hours of hard, pound-the-pavement work.

Here's the thing. We have 9 days until voting day. And, if you've been paying attention to the political news of the last few weeks, you know that overall Democrats have been significantly favored to Republicans at the national level, and that we saw a slight dip in favor of the Republicans last week -- particularly as President Bush signaled a *change* to the course in Iraq:
-- and, for the fun of it

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXYiaDSo6C0
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXYiaDSo6C0

And what about Missouri? Pundits are calling the Talent / McCaskill campaigns too close to call (check out Congressional Quarterly Weekly's breakdown of the tight races, MO is at the top).

Historically, Republicans have relied on their massively sophisticated get-out-the-vote machine to essentially render any tight/close public opinion polls useless -- it doesn't matter what the public thinks if only one side comes out to vote! Unfortunately, America Votes' progressive voter GOTV machine ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14894961 & http://www.americavotes.org/DefaultPage.aspx?catID=11397 ) is in trial phase and isn't set up in Missouri this year (not surprising - just 6 months ago most political pundits were writing Missouri off to Talent... we've come a long way!).

So what should we Missourians do? Now doesn't appear to be a time of need in terms of financial assistance (I'm personally a bit appalled at how much money has been spent on this Senate race -- http://www.tray.com/cgi-win/x_statedis.exe?DoFn=&rb=2006&State=MO ).

Progressive Missourians need to volunteer for at least one day of the 8 that we have left. If you can, take a day off work. Your volunteer time is absolutely essential.

Campaigning doesn't require you to be able to speak eloquently or comprehensively about a candidate, but it does require you to get out and do one simple task repeatedly for several hours (you'll either be calling Democratic voters (phone banking) or going door-to-door (canvassing) with a written script to remind people to vote or, if you're so inclined, you can drive elderly or lower-income people to the polls in your area or another area).

You may be thinking that none of this sounds very fun. It's actually more fun the more you do it (and stop worrying about how well you're doing), but this isn't about having fun. How many of you know people who don't vote? There is never really a good excuse not to vote, but particularly with the minimum wage and stem cell initiatives up on the ballot we have a lot at stake (if you want me to talk about those, give me a call).

http://www.claireonline.com/volunteer/ - click here to sign up to volunteer. You may, at some point, find yourself communicating with a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House -- these are the coordinated campaigns that House/Senate members often run for efficiency and maximizing coverage in a district.

If you've never done this before, now is the time to do it. Make sure you vote on November 7, and make sure you can say that you did your part in 2006.

You Will Live In Such A World...

Finally found Baldwin's quote from 2000:

"If you dream of a world in which you can put your partner's picture on your desk, then put his picture on your desk and you will live in such a world. If you dream of a world in which you can walk down the street and hold your partner's hand, then hold her hand and you will live in such a world. If you dream of a world in which there are more openly gay elected officials, then run for office and you will live in such a world. And if you dream of a world in which you can take your partner to the office party, even if your office is the U.S. House of Representatives, then take her to the party. I do, and now I live in such a world. Remember, there are two things that keep us oppressed: them and us. We are half of the equation. There will not be a magic day when we wake up and it's now ok to express ourselves publicly. We must make that day ourselves, by speaking out publicly first in small numbers, then in greater numbers, until it's simply the way things are and no one thinks twice. Never doubt that we will create this world, because, my friends, we are fortunate to live in a democracy, and in a democracy, we decide what is possible."

- U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin D-Wis. - Millennium March on Washington

Washington DC fights the Wisconsin Marriage Ban

Join us at Halo at 6 PM on October 17 for a student/young professional friendly fundraiser for Fair Wisconsin.

www.fairwisconsin.com/dc

For those of you that don't know, I worked for Action Wisconsin during the 2004 election cycle, the precursor to the Fair Wisconsin campaign against this amendment. We have been preparing for this vote for *two years* and have the best chance at beating one of these amendments at the ballot box!

Check out this Fair Wisconsin ad....



And a few more...

Bloggers 1, Smoke-Filled Room 0

Repost from Slashdot:

"A few days ago a bi-partisan bill (PDF) to create a searchable on-line database of government contracts, grants, insurance, loans, financial assistance, earmarks and other such pork was put on 'secret hold' using a procedure that does not appear to be mentioned in the Constitution or in the Senate bylaws. This raised the ire of bloggers left and right and started an all out bi-partisan effort to expose the culprit by process of elimination. As it turns out it was our old friend the right honorable Senator from Alaska, Mr. 'Series of Tubes', Ted 'Bridge to Nowhere' Stevens."

Well done, I say!

• Bloggers 1, Smoke-Filled Room 0 (30 Aug 2006, Slashdot.org)
  

Democratic Wave?

84 days to the election!

"If the congressional election were held today, would you vote for the Democratic candidate in your district or the Republican candidate?"

Organization	Survey Dates	GOP	Dem	Diff.
Newsweek	8/10-11	39%	51%	12%
Fox/Opinion Dynamics	8/8-9	30 %	48 %	18%
AP-Ipsos	8/7-9	37%	55%	18%
Post/ABC	8/3-6	39%	52%	13%
CNN	8/2-3	40%	53%	13%

and there's more where that came from!

• Parsing the Polls: Is a Democratic Wave Building? (16 Aug 2006, WashingtonPost)
  

State of the Workplace

We released a new State of the Workplace in June that showed, for the first time, a majority of Fortune 500 companies offer domestic partner health benefits.

Check it out:

• State of the Workplace 2005-2006 (June 2006, Human Rights Campaign Foundation)

Federal Marriage Amendment... High on the Priority List, eh?

This week, Congress will likely take a vote on the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. This issue was last voted on in Congress during summer 2004.

This time, there's even more reason to believe that it's just a partisan ploy to energize the socially conservative base. But the best differences between now and 2004:

• Even USA Today is editorializing on our side... Just say 'I don't' (31 May 2006 - USA Today)
• Pew Research Center poll: Less Opposition to Gay Marriage, Adoption and Military Service (22 March 2006 - The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press)
  
• Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: Gay Marriage (continuous updates)

Take action now:

• www.hrc.org/voteno

Update: Senate handily defeats FMA vote (7 June 2006 - HRC) Next up - House vote.