Nov. 9th edition of Sunday Night Live with Stephanie Woods

By: Harry Waisbren

I am very excited to tune in to Stephanie's show tonight at 6 pm, as she will be interviewing a dear friend of mine who has been more inspirational to the work I am doing than I could possible express. I met and got to know Mitra Jalali when we partnered through Campus Progres to work on a True Cost of War Iraq rally for the Iraq/Recession campaign. I can honestly say that the event would not have happend without Mitra, as there is no one else that I have met who is more knowledgable about campus activism, and both her tenacity and sunny optimism were essential to bringing this event to fruition. I was upset that I met her so late that this was to be the only event we could work on, and I firmly believe that the city of Madison as a whole lost a great asset when she graduated. However, in consolation for the loss for our city and the personal loss to those who miss her, Mitra has become an even brighter light for us to follow.

Mitra currently has taken it upon herself to teach disadvantaged and troubled kids who have been rocked by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I firmly believe that this is amongst the most patriotic acts of anyone in the country, and being able to learn about this experience, much less speak to her about it, has been a wholehearted inspiration for me.

It is imposssible for me to do justice in describing what her experience has been like in my words, which is why I couldn't possibly reccomend Mitra's blog Badger Fems enough:

This is my uncut, unapologetic account of life in Teach For America/at Schwarz Alternative Middle/High School (or, as we refer to it, Schwarz Academy).  I teach 10th grade social studies, but it's really more like 9th, 10th, and 12th grade, because they tend to put all the kids in one class with me since everyone is so far off their grade level in ability.  Schwarz Academy is an alternative school for students expelled from "regular" schools in the Recovery School District (the public school district set up by the state in Orleans Parish following Hurricane Katrina).  The students at my school have all committed Level 3 offenses.  That means they did anything ranging from chronic and intense disrespect of a teacher, to destruction of school property, to fights/gun or weapon possession/drug charges.  I can't give you a "regular school" perspective, but in many ways, the alternative school setting is incredibly representative of "the system" as a whole once you peel back the layers of the alt school myths and preconceptions.

 

If it weren't for people like Mitra our government's continuing criminal negligence of New Orleans would be even more encompassing. However, because of the fact that our country can still foster people like her, I am able to maintain hope that the worst of America can be overcome by the best of America, and that the true ideal of the American Dream will evenually be. 

I suspect that Mitra is embarrassed by my heaping praise of her and her work, but I believe it is of the upmost necessity to alert especially her to the magnamity of the work she is doing. I doubt that she has even realized that she is firmly entrenching herself amongst the young leaders of America with the highest potential to bring about real change, and if my showing such overt appreciation for what she is doing is of any help to her it is perhaps the greatest act of activism I have taken myself. 

I consider it an honor to have her as a friend, as Mitra is living proof that one person really can make a difference. Our country desperately needs to follow her model, as we need many more of our citizens to follow her lead and begin to work in the trenches for the dream of equality. I aim to help amplify her work as much as I possibly can for this very purupose, as the existential impact of her work is only beginning as she starts to tell her story and inspire those around her. Anyone who hears about her experiences will become that much more motivated to work for real change, as they will be able to recognize the potential impact one person could really make.

For that, I am not only excited to listen in to Stephanie's show, but am exceedingly greatful that she is helping me spread word about what this true American treasure is doing! 

Meet the Bloggers for Nov. 7

The people have spoken!  A record-setting 130 million people turned out to vote in yesterday's election, in which Barack Obama made history on a Democratic tidal wave of victory. 

Polling suggests voters came out in record numbers because of growing concerns over the economy, jobs, healthcare, energy, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Clearly, the Obama administration and the new Democratic majority in Washington have a chance to make profound changes in our lives stretching  from Wall Street to Main Street. But where should they begin?

On this Friday's Meet the Bloggers, we'll examine this question and more with Jonathan Alter,Newsweek senior editor and contributing correspondent for NBC. This is the seventh election Alter has covered for Newsweek, and he'll bring his unique perspective to the discussion.  Alter is also the author of the national bestseller, The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. He'll talk about how Roosevelt restored Americans' faith in democracy and put the country back to work during the Great Depression, as well as the challenges and opportunities Obama faces during his first days in office.

Joining Alter and host Cenk Uygur will be blogger Marcy Wheeler (FireDogLake).  Plus, we'll have a special video post from Brad Friedman (The Brad Blog) about what went right, what went wrong, and what voters did to fight back at the polls.

Check out some of the related articles below and participate in the live blog conversation with FOX Attacks blogger Jonathan Kim, Friday at 1pm ET/10am PT on Meet the Bloggers. Tell us why YOU voted the way you did and what you're expecting come January 21st! 

• Newsweek Conventional Wisdom Watch -- Jonathan Alter, Newsweek
• President Obama: This Proud Moment -- William Greider, The Nation
• OK Barack, Time to Hit the Ground Running -- AlterNet
• Obama Wins and Redefines Real America -- David Corn, Mother Jones
• The Most Unlikely President -- Ezra Klein, The American Prospect
  
• Mandate Watch: Bellweather Races/Initiatives to Watch Below the Presidential Contest -- David Sirota, Campaign for America's Future
• The White House 2: Where You Set the Nation's Priorities -- Jim Gilliam, Brave New Films
• Six Ways Obama can show he'll be a different kind of President -- John Dickerson, Slate.com

Sarah Palin vlog: Election Day

By: Harry Waisbren

Sarah Palin will be even funnier once we know she won't be vice president. She's not going anywhere though considering the 2012 talk has already started, so I will continue to consider it a patriotic duty to mock her as much as possible until she can't ever be possibly taken seriously again! With that in mind, check out Sarah Palin Vlog #22 (via 23/6):

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

McCain on SNL

By: Harry Waisbren

By far the biggest difference betwen John McCain and Dick Cheney is that McCain, for all his faults/evils/embrace of the dark side of the force, he can be pretty funny. Here's his opening skit he did with Tina Fey from this Saturday:

And here is another bit he did on Weekend Update:

Nov. 2nd edition of Forward Forum

By: John Quinlan

ELECTION SPECIAL EDITION FEATURING THE PRINCE MYSHKINS PERFORMING LIVE IN STUDIO;
OPEN PHONES AND ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTION SEASON JUST PASSED; 
WITH AN EMPHASIS ON THE IMPORTANCE THE ROLE OF EACH OF US IN WHAT LIES AHEAD

John Quinlan here for my co-host Harry Waisbren and producer Stephanie Woods, inviting you to join us this Sunday evening on Forward Forum, from 7-9 pm--broadcasting on WTDY, 1670 am and streaming live at www.wtdy.com.  (Please also join Stephanie for her "Sunday Night Live" show, which now immediately precedes us at 6pm!)

Please join us for a fascinating and fun-filled pre-election version of Forward Forum, featuring the marvelously moving and meaningful musical stylings of the nationally-renowned, but Madison-based, political folk music duo, The Prince Myshkins (www.princemyshkins.com). ; We'll also be featuring a potpourri of local and national political and civil rights leaders who will share compelling reminders of why this election not only matters, but is a rare opportunity to make history.  We'll be returning to the subject of last week's show, and offering practical advice on how to protect precious voting rights in the face of evidence of insidious examples of voter suppression and other illegal and unethical attempts to disenfranchise you.  And, lastly, we'll remind you that Nov. 4th is just the beginning--and the real grassroots work to ensure accountability and action on the path to social justice begins November 5th.

"STOP VOTER SUPPRESSION!"  ORGANIZING UPDATE 

But first, an important reminder from Forward Forum's co-host (and proud community organizer) Harry Waisbren about how you can play your part in countering efforts to suppress the vote.   New tools have allowed activists to work on election day to aid in efforts to directly prevent voter suppression on election day. With time of the essence though, we need to work quickly to spread word of these resources as quickly as possible.There are a myriad of others ways to participate however, and here is a link to the Voter Suppression wiki's press release which has aggregated many of the different ways this can be done: http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7890.  A particularly powerful tool to do this is Credo Action's Immediate Response Network while will direct activists via text message alerts as to urgent issues requiring help in their area, and the link to sign up for this is here: http://act.credoaction.com/election/. 

You can also download a flier that is being spread as far as possible that provides all of the information a citizen needs to prevent the suppression of their vote as well as what they can do to help others.  Go to http://www.forwardforum.net/one_page.doc .  For further information, go to www.madprogress.com -- also a blog where you can offer feedback about your local experiences on election day itself.

ABOUT THE PRINCE MYSHKINS (www.princemyshkins.com)

The Prince Myshkins, guitarist/vocalist Andy Gricevich and accordianist/vocalist Rick Burkhardt, make their home in Madison, but spend much of their time on the roadtouring nationally to play and sing "at antiwar demonstrations, union rallies, schools, coffeehouses, living rooms, community centers and major urban intersections."  They've just come back from one such tour through the swing state territory of Ohio and Pennsylvania, performing alongside such progressive folk icons as John McCutcheon and Holly Near.  Here are some of their recent reviews:

Brilliant musicians and astonishing political songwriters...
their wordplay is unrelentingly sidesplitting.
Peter Berryman, Whither Zither

 

The songs are meticulous masterpieces, lyrically and musically.
The Prince Myshkins are true American queer music revolutionaires....
each song an American epic unto itself.
Scott Free, Outvoice reviews

 

Musically gripping, lyrically acerbic....
The Prince Myshkins have been compared to Mark Russell as
political satirists in song and Romanovsky and Phillips as a Gay folk duo
singing original material, but in this interviewer's opinion they're far ahead
of that level and within hailing distance of their self-proclaimed
(or self-confessed) influences:  the Marx Brothers, Tom Lehrer,
Monty Python.  Catch them as soon as you have the opportunity.
Zenger's magazine

 

 

It's hard to think of a more fitting way to end this never-ending campaign season than to hear live in studio from our friends Rick and Andy--both in song and in word--as they share their encounters with people in every corner of the country who are behind the new movement for social justice that underlies this presidential campaign.  As we enter these final several days, it's a night when we hope to inspire and motivate you to persevere in the face of long lines at the polls--and to continue to push for positive change in the months and years to come.  Please join in our conversation by calling 321-1670 locally, *123 for US Cellular phone users toll-free, and 1-877-867-1670 if calling from further afield.

 

Other guests and segments pending at press time.  With new events breaking constantly, we're trying to stay on top of things, so this show is still a work-in-progress.... for further updates, please return to www.forwardforum.net for further details at weekend's end.

Cheney endorses McCain, and the election turns!

By: Harry Waisbren

Obama should be frightened by this endorsement (via Huffington Post):

....but he's not:

"I'd like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it. That endorsement didn't come easy. Senator McCain had to vote 90 percent of the time with George Bush and Dick Cheney to get it. He served as Washington's biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq, and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years. So Senator McCain worked hard to get Dick Cheney's support.

But here's my question for you, Colorado: do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain's going to bring change? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to shake things up, and get rid of the lobbyists and the old boys club in Washington?"

Join the Twitter Vote Report!

I am very proud to say that I have been utilizing my position as President of the Madison chapter of Campus Progress to do whatever I can to prevent voter suppression. Much of that work has been done through my work at the Voter Suppression wiki, which is how I learned about the Twitter Vote Report (as well as Credo Action's Immediate Response Network which I will be blogging about later today). 

Twitter has recently gone viral with this campaign to take avantage of new media technologies to expose and prevent voter suppression. I am very proud to say that I was able to entice Campus Progress Action to join this effort, and every day it is becoming more and more apparent that they will have a major effect. Below is an email I received from two of their organizers updating their immense progress, and I really couldn't recommend anyone who plans to vote to take part in this enough:

I know that word viral is too often overused, but really, Twitter Vote Report (www.twittervotereport.com) has.  Check it out:

1.  CNN, NPR, ABC, BBC and several NBC affiliates will be using the Twitter feeds and visualizations as part of their Election Day Coverage.  You can see how committed NPR is to the project here:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96349881

2.  The number of tweets we're getting to date from early voters is awesome!  Two of my favorites are:

OH_observers: #EPOH from 866 report -fake election officials letting people vote from parking lot in Columbus #votereport #43204 http://tinyurl.com/6nfrmw

My #early #votereport - absentee ballots in #48823 require extra postage. Don’t let a $0.15 slipup keep your voice from being heard!

The first one means someone is passing out fake ballots in line in ohio and hoping people will think they've voted, the second one is that extra postage is required on absentee ballots in nc that no one is telling anyone about!

3.  We just added a new area to the site called Spread the Wordl (http://twittervotereport.com/spread-the-word/) filled with language and badges and logos to help you post and ping about Twitter Vote Report.

I know that many of you have already helped to get the word out.  Thank you, thank you for that!  But even if you've done so already, I wanted to ask if you could once more email or text to your folks about Twitter Vote Report -- we need as many people as possible texting in their messages on Election Day to make the power of citizen voices so clear that they can't be ignored.  Also, feel free to blog and tweet about it, too!  Thanks!