National

My first blog post just went up on It's Getting Hot In Here. Here's an excerpt from the post about the Do Not Mail campaign's recent victory in Seattle; you can read the rest of Seattle Takes on the Junk Mail Industry over there.

Seattle Takes on the Junk Mail Industry

When it comes to curbing climate change, some things are easier to do than others. As activists, much of what we work towards involves large-scale, industrial change and tough decisions from consumers, legislators, and industry. But sometimes solutions are really simple. Reducing junk mail is one of those no-brainer policy changes that helps get us closer to the planet we want to see.

Just two weeks ago, the Seattle City Council took an important stand against deforestation by adopting a resolution calling on the state of Washington to create a Do Not Mail registry. The registry would create an enforceable system to allow residents to choose to keep their mailboxes junk mail free. Currently, there are various ways to reduce your junk mail, but unlike the popular national Do Not Call Registry to stop unwanted phone calls, none of these options are enforceable–and some are even industry sponsored.

Read more on itsgettinghotinhere.org

Barack Obama is our president-elect. After so many electoral losses, it's amazing to win--and to win so big. We still, of course, have much work to do, but starting on those plans isn't nearly as daunting a task as in years past.

The world is changing, and I'm humbled to be a part of it.

At this point, I just really wish the McCain campaign would make up their mind about the role community organizers play in shaping social policy. Our first introduction to their ideas was Sarah Palin insisting the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska has more responsibility than community organizers. From the sound of the response at the Republican convention, many of her supporters agreed.

And as America is introduced to Sarah Palin and her family, it'll be interesting to see how future VPs are vetted. It's no longer enough to scrub your own Myspace profile, or to keep tabs on your immediate family member's profile pages.

Now, it's getting much more complicated. Do you also need to keep your daughter's boyfriend's Myspace profile clean as well?

So, Bill Bradbury told the Oregonian he's entertaining the idea of running for governor in 2010. Getting to work with Canadians so often now, the constant cycle of U.S. elections is looking more and more ridiculous. Already, we're reporting on 2010? Is there a non-election-cycle left?

Long Distance Voter relaunched with a new site design! None of the information has changed -- it's still the most comprehensive and accurate absentee voter resource on the web -- but now it's a whole lot prettier.

Huzzah!

Long Distance Voter launched! LDV is the ultimate resource for absentee voting. We've compiled information and voter forms for every state, complete with deadlines and easy-to-follow instructions.

Keep your eyes out for more design work in about a month.

The first time I watched a video clip of Martin Luther King, Jr's speech in Memphis -his last speech before he was assassinated- I was working on Malu Aina, the Center for Non-violent Education and Action in East Hawaii.

Read the speech, and tell your friends to watch.

A few days ago, with all the swirling reaction to the Ohio and Texas contests on Tuesday, the Obama campaign shot out a particularly good email. Their campaign is doing an incredible job of sending emails with casual tone, action asks, and the ultimate balance of information and story telling.