Young Liberals Fight Back!

The Young Liberals of Canada (YLC) released three great ads today, based on Apple's Mac vs. PC ads, in response to another round of Conservative attack ads. This is a much needed counter attack to the Conservatives ability to buy television and radio ads. (they have them running on Business News Network).

According to the YLC's press release,

“Look, it’s no secret the Conservatives are a wealthy party who can afford all kinds of fancy marketing executives and focus groups,” admits Pickup, “but within the Liberal family we’ve got talent, we’ve got dedication, and we’ve got a clear vision for Canada of which we’re proud.”

The three parody ads will be promoted through a multi-pronged approach that utilizes youngliberals.ca, Facebook, youtube.com, instant-messenger programs, and bloggers. This cohesive online campaign provides an opportunity for members and supporters to disseminate and share their messages quickly and affordably.

The ads have already garnered positive coverage in the Toronto Star, on CityTV's 6pm news, and much coverage throughout the blogosphere:

• A BCer in Toronto
• CTV's Politics Blog,
• Gauntlet.ca
• The Turner Report

The Facebook group has reached over 575 members and is growing fast.

(cross-posted at Canadian Liberal @ Penn)

~BT

Why students should care about the UA

From a free music service to advocacy for sustainable practices on campus, the Undergraduate Assembly is working for students

By: Brett Thalmann & Jason Karsh

Throughout the year, we constantly get asked the questions: "What does the UA do?" or "Why should I care about student government?"

These questions, while seemingly simple, cannot be answered in this limited guest column. We hope, however, to explain some of our accomplishments from this past year and give you a preview of what to expect in the coming year.

In previous years, the UA has become more accountable and has increasingly focused on projects that are tangible to students.

We have tackled sustainability - an environmentally conscious campaign - and have successfully brought the issue to the forefront of the administrative agenda. President Amy Gutmann has even signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, committing Penn "to achieve climate neutrality by reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions."

Our calls for improved Student Health facilities that began with the formation of the Student Health Advisory Board, have resulted in the recent announcement of a new facility for Student Health Services.

While advocating for improvements to College Houses, we collaborated with the University to ensure that the high-rises will be fully renovated and further identified the dire need for renovations in the low-rises. In the midst of the huge undertaking of high-rise renovations, we've successfully convinced the university to make specific and immediate improvements to the low rises.

We have not yet even mentioned our most widely known projects throughout the year!

After two years of planning, the UA brought Ruckus Music Service free to students.

For the second year in a row we've run the convenient and cheap UA bus service to the airport before every major holiday break.

Most recently, we spearheaded the program that brought students free copies of The New York Times, USA Today and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Additionally, this year saw an amazing collaboration among student leaders through UA Steering, the committee of the UA that brings the leaders of every umbrella and representative organization together to discuss major student issues.

Notably, the amazing Penn traditions of Spring Fling and Hey Day were preserved by the collaboration and support of the members of UA Steering. For example, Fling Safe, run by SPEC, found immense support and feedback that proved crucial to its success. When Hey Day was called into jeopardy, it was UA Steering that worked with the Class Boards to promote and publicize efforts to curb dangerous, emerging trends.

For the coming year, the UA plans to build off the great momentum achieved this year. We plan to increase the accessibility of the UA by reaching out directly to students and student groups. We plan to be more visible through YouTube addresses that will accompany all-school e-mails. We also want to ensure that students have the ability to be heard by their student representatives, so there will be a 10 minute open forum at every UA meeting next year.

We plan on empowering students through providing a strong student voice to administrators and empowering UA members to pursue projects that are important to themselves and the student body at large.

Finally, we plan to increase efficiency of the UA through a more transparent process and productive meetings.

So, when posing the question: "Why should I care about student government?" the answer is really that student government cares about you. Whether you pay us heed or not, we work on tangible projects that improve student life.

The real question is, what do you want your student government to do for you?

Originally published in the Daily Pennsylvanian on 5/11/07.

~BT

VideoVets: Bring Troops Home

Moveon.org released a television ad directed by Oliver Stone featuring John Bruhns, a former sergeant in the Army who served in Iraq.

Check it out and donate to help get this ad on the air. If you aren't already a member of Moveon.org you should join.


~BT

Penn's W. Lacrosse Beats Syracuse

Penn's No. 2 ranked Women's Lacrosse team continued an incredible season (14-1, 7-0 Ivy) by fighting back from a 5-goal deficit to beat Syracuse this past Sunday.

The battle of conference champions did not disappoint as Penn scored six unanswered goals to end the game. Syracuse (12-5, 4-1 BIG EAST) had led by a 7-2 margin early in the second half.

The Quakers will now carry their program-record 11-game win streak into the NCAA tournament, potentially as one of the competition’s top seeds. Their opponent will be unveiled during the selection show Monday evening at 8 p.m., webcast live at www.ncaasports.com.

And fellow Sphinge, Sarah Waxman played a key role in the comeback:

Penn’s comeback was keyed by a pair of risky long clearances by goalkeeper Sarah Waxman, both of which resulted in goals by Edwards. Penn’s defense also did its part, holding Syracuse to 19 shots overall and just seven in the second half – far below the Orange’s 36.4 shots per game average.

The Women's Lacrosse team is a prime example of some of the great Penn teams that are completely under the radar. Penn Athletics should do a much better job advertising Penn sports and encouraging students to attend games, especially when we have great teams that we can be proud of!

~BT

Penn talent on display online

Although there is a decent amount of Penn-made video content online at the moment, I wish there were more and better stuff. Student groups should make it a habit of posting video content on YouTube to publicize their amazing talents. Also, there are so many great speakers and other events on campus that could be filmed and put online. For starters, why doesn't UTV-13, Penn's student-run television channel, not put their content online?

Getting the content is only the first step. There should also be some centralized site devoted to gathering and organizing content from Penn. This is something the UA has been working on and we focused on Penn adopting and implementing ITunesU. Weirdly, the DP editorial board thinks that Penn can't handle ITunesU and that it is a distraction for the UA. I completely disagree and think this will turn out to be a great resource for students. And I'm not the only one! Many people responded vocally to the editorial as did James Russell on the DP's blog, The Spin saying that ITunesU is common sense.

Hopefully, Penn's ItunesU will go live sometime this summer and then we can start gathering content. Until then, I put together a list of Penn videos I found and liked enough to bookmark. Here are highlights of Penn online content:

Strictly Funk: "Let's Get Retarded"


Hype's Intro Video


Dhamaka's full length iPod intro video


~BT

Chris Mizell Headed to CFL

Huge congratulations to my fellow sphinge Chris Mizell who just recently signed with the Montreal Alouettes.

Chris Mizell was a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection as a senior and he is set to head to Canada as he will sign with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL

The Alouettes are a great team too! The Alouettes won their division last season and consistently make it to the Grey Cup, which is the Canadian Superbowl, for you American readers. They have made it to the Grey Cup four out of the last five years and they even won the Grey Cup in 2002.

And Chris has never even been to Canada! How crazy is that?

We are definitely going to see and hear more from him in the future. Way to go Chris!!


(Thanks to Lex for the heads up)

~BT

Bush Slammed for veto

Let the strong reaction to Bush's veto continue! Democrats need to stand up to Bush and keep sending back the bill. The American people are behind them! Russ Feingold discusses what should happen next on The Huffington Post. And Edwards has a great response and went even further saying:

This is a political frame and political rhetoric. They use it to justify everything they do. They use that language to justify the war in Iraq. They use it to justify Guantanamo. They use it to justify torture. They use it to justify illegal spying on the American people.

Keith Olbermann has a must watch clip on the Veto:

The Anniversary Veto : Four years after Mission Accomplished, it's blame-transmission, accomplished. The President vetoes spend-and-end, the troops don't get funding... and it's not his fault, of course. As the war slogs onward, Countdown takes a look at the evolution of the selling of the war, from "Mission Accomplished", to "Stay the Course", to... wherever the Hell we are now. Our special guest is Frank Rich of the New York Times.

Chris Bowers blogs on the failure to override Bush's veto and initial steps forward.



~BT

Bush Can't Veto the Truth!

Via kos,

"It's the will of one nation versus the stubbornness of one man"


~BT

1 Month Old!

I was really surprised to notice that I have been blogging at Progressive Dispatches for 1 month now, mainly because it feels like I just posted And we're back! So, why post about a such a minor milestone?

Well, I had previously blogged for 3 months at Canadian Liberal @ Penn in the summer of 2005. True, I am only 1/3 of the way to my previous record in terms of longevity, in terms of number of posts, this is my 21st post so far, which is getting close to my previous record of 27. Unfortunately, I am not anywhere close to the amount of traffic I used to get, which is disappointing because the traffic provided me with active comments and conversation with others that made blogging more fun and meaningful. But last week's discovery of a burgeoning blogosphere at Penn has been pretty cool.

This time around, I found blogging to be both easier and harder. It has been easy because of the large range of topics that I want to blog about but tough because of the high speed and breadth of the constant flow of new information. The sheer size of the American political system allows for a sizable political chattering class of pundits, strategists, lobbyists, and has seen the emergence (pdf) of a vibrant progressive blogosphere that is fascinating to watch flex its muscle within the Democratic party. The progressive resurgence nationwide and the real notion that I could be part of this avant-garde progressive movement has been exciting. Most of all, it it the desire to bring this progressive infrastructure and success back to Canada that is most interesting me about US domestic politics right now.

In comparison, I was able to blog about Canadian politics at a much slower pace and there were less blogs and not much of an online opinion infrastructure. Granted, I was blogging within a nascent Canadian blogosphere dominated by well organized conservatives. Progressive Bloggers had just been founded and was quickly followed by Liblogs, both of which I joined and saw a steady traffic of around 50 unique visitors per day.

We find the the same thing at the early stages of the development of the US blogosphere. It started with conservatives having a powerful top-down infrastructure which has since stagnated. Meanwhile there has been an incredible growth of the progressive blogosphere with some asking whether it has reached its apex. This example shows how the Canadian right is able to effectively emulate their American counterparts and implement similar policies, strategies and ideas on a slight time delay.

In Canada, Conservatives have long mastered the art of borrowing from the US conservative movement and I don't see why Liberals shouldn't do the same thing on the Progressive side. Across the pond, British bloggers are similarly learning from recent progressive successes in America. From an initial glance, the Canadian landscape seems to have grown in size but I don't see Canadian blogs having the same sort of impact on politics yet.

(cross-posted at Canadian Liberal @ Penn)

~BT

Free Broadband for All

The Government of India announced plans to offer free broadband service to all residents of the Indian subcontinent. (via Slashdot)

The government proposes to offer all citizens of India free, high-speed broadband connectivity by 2009, through the state-owned telecom service providers BSNL and MTNL. While consumers would cheer, the move holds the potential to kill the telecom business as we know it.

This is a great forward-thinking decision by the Indian government. We need to start viewing internet access and communication technology as vital infrastructure the same way roads and railroads were in the past. Government intervention is necessary to ensure equitable access and to take advantage of large economies of scale.

It will be interesting to see how other governments will respond and what the telecoms here in the US will do. This announcement should be seen as a challenge and an opportunity to innovate!

Unfortunately, it seems that corporate America hasn't been up to the challenge lately. Just look at the music and film industries failure to innovate in response to often changing marketplaces. And based on what we've seen from the telecoms in the recent battles on net neutrality, it is likely that they will instead attempt to prop up their existing business models by limiting government intervention.

Let's see a Democratic presidential candidate include this in their platform. But don't hold your breath because the US telecoms would never let that happen.

~BT

A Penn Blogosphere?

After noticing an uptick in traffic and checking my handy StatCounter report, I realized that I had been linked by Kevin Burke, a fellow Penn blogger. He put together a list of Penn blogs and I have to say that I was pretty impressed that he was able to find them all. When I tried to find other Penn blogs I only came up with this:

• The Spin
• Sphinx Citings
• Sophomore News & Events
• Penn Amnesty Intl
• I'm not even hungry

It was also pretty cool to see that someone I know, Stu Stein, is also blogging at The Un-Wharton.

This could be the start of a real "Penn Blogosphere" where Penn bloggers actually interact online and become responsive to one another. The first step to solidifying the network would be for all of us to link to one another and aim to increase our collective readership. Maybe it's just among seniors, but it feels like most Penn students don't actually read blogs regularly, let alone anything beyond the major professional blogs. I would like to see more Penn students reading blogs and for those blogs to have conversations about what's going on at Penn. Ultimately, we could get to the point where those conversations actually have an impact on campus.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

~BT

Olbermann lays the Smackdown on Giuliani

Keith Olbermann delivers an incredible special comment about Rudolph Giuliani’s recent remarks that had the Democrats firing back this week. He perfectly lays out how Giuliani is attempting to exploit the fear of terrorism for his own personal gain.

Over at The Huffington Post, Gary Hart, the co-chair of the U.S. Commission on National Security, responds to Giuliani's criticisms of Democrats in this open letter where he justly points out the fact that Giuliani, like Bush, failed to take key actions in the critical 8 months before 9/11 .

Looks like the beginning of the takedown of the Republican front-runner in the Presidential nomination. The progressive blogosphere was successful in changing the narrative on McCain, let's hope it works again.

~BT

The Rest of the World

It seems like Americans have been completely caught up with what's going in this country. It has even gotten to the point where they have no clue what's going on in the rest of the world. I'm not sure if that is anything new but it feels like it is getting worse.

And I'm not just talking about your regular American-centric media coverage. Recent events have consumed all the attention in the media, in our conversations and entered into every facet of our lives, here in the U.S.

After arriving at Penn and living here for 4 years now, I distinctly notice the all-consuming and inward-looking worldview that exists throughout the majority of this country.

It is hard to even keep up with what's going on domestically:

• Virginia Tech coverage dominated for awhile but things have surprisingly moved on fairly quickly and hopefully will allow VT students the space to get things back to normal.
  
• Military scandals and cover-ups
  
• Gonzales under fire
• Old-fashioned showdown between Bush and the Democratic Congress
• And much more: Investigations into Karl Rove, Angelina renames her kid, etc...
  

Recently, I've been consumed by US domestic news and politics. So I thought I would spice things up a bit and run through some major events happening around the world. Most of which you could have conveniently read in today's New York Times

• Boris Yeltsin died and thousands gather to mourn him
• The French Elections: A final showdown between Sarkozy and Royal
  
• Claims of fraud surround Nigerian election
  
• Bhutans Learn to Vote and here is the Bhutan Wikipedia link
  
• Mexico City Legalizes Abortions
  

To me, this only reinforces the need for the UA and Penn to continue to provide free copies of the New York Times around campus. This past month, it was really great to see everyone reading it around campus and I want to see that again on campus in the fall.

~BT

Wolfowitz Slammed in New Internet Video

Via Mydd.com:

Phil de Vellis, the creator of the famous (or infamous) "Vote Different" internet video that used Apple's 1984 ad to draw contrasts between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, has just produced a new video -- this time going after embattled World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz.

If you want more information about ways to pressure Wolfowitz to resign, visit Avaaz.org.

~BT

Tragedy at Virginia Tech will have major implications

At 7:15 yesterday morning, the first shots were fired in what has turned out to be the worst shooting rampage in US history. According to the NY Times:

Thirty-two people were killed, along with a gunman, and at least 15 injured in two shooting attacks at Virginia Polytechnic Institute on Monday during three hours of horror and chaos on this sprawling campus.

There has been some really incredible coverage so far. I just saw a CNN interview with a female student who was able to survive by playing dead in the classroom. She was one of four people to leave her class alive after preventing the shooter from re-entering their classroom by blocking the door.

Even Bush suprised me with this appropriate comment:

"Our nation is shocked and saddened by the news of the shootings at Virginia Tech today...Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning...When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community."

As the story continues to develop, there are still so many unanswered questions:

• Who is the shooter?
• What was the motive?
  
• Were the two bomb threats from last week related to today's incident?
  
• Why wasn't the campus immediately locked down?
• Why weren't students warned sooner?
• Could the second round of shooting have been prevented?
• Was the University and police response bundled?

While the list of questions grows, this tragedy has already had major political implications. It has fully consumed the news cycle for a full day now and will at least continue through the next week as more information slowly comes out.

One major result is that the following stories have been wiped off our television screens and newspapers:

• The bombings in the Green Zone in Baghdad
• The Don Imus extravanga that was just heating up
• The innocence of the Duke lacrosse players
• The Prosecutor Purge and calls for Gonzales' resignation
• Escalating rhetoric between Bush and Congress on Iraq War funding

I had planned to blog about a number of these items and since they have quickly become "old news", I will try to approach them in a more in-depth manner and spend more time on each.

This tragedy also raises some important questions for Penn. What would Penn have done in this situation? Could we h even handle such a major catastrophe?

According to Penn's Division of Public Safety, Penn Police would be prepared for a similar incident. That is crucial because at the end of the day, Penn students are wondering: " what if something like that happened here?" I know I did.

I am definitely confident that DPS has and will continue to work exceptionally hard to ensure our safety. I really hope they actively communicate how prepared they really are and reassure the Penn community.

~BT

Grindhouse Disappoints

After sitting through over 3 hours worth of Grindhouse I left wishing that Tarantino had not bothered to include Rodriguez's Planet Terror for the first half of the movie. The highlight of Planet Terror was Fergie getting eaten, cue the "she tastes Fergilicious" jokes now, and it was a lame rehash of From Dusk till Dawn, which was also directed by Rodriguez but at least starred George Clooney and Salma Hayek.

As for Tarantino's Death Proof, I very much enjoyed it. It was just too bad that after sitting through 1.5 hours of crap I was in no mood to watch another movie. Thankfully, Tarantino delivered a great film with some witty dialogue and action reminiscent of Pulp Fiction. Tracie Thoms is fabulous as the female version of Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction.

From Salon.com:

It was a chivalrous gesture, but an unnecessary one. "Grindhouse" -- which consists of two full-length movies, one by Rodriguez and one by Tarantino, as well as several faux trailers by guest directors -- is a grand collage of drooling zombies, bounteous breasts, spurting blood and careering cars, a rambunctious and unapologetically disreputable entertainment as well as a comprehensive catalog of B-movie references. It's also recklessly joyous and deeply affectionate, a celebration not just of an all-but-lost approach to moviemaking but of the nearly lost experience of communal moviegoing.

Some other reviews:

Death Proof is, in many ways, an amazing approximation of the old exploitation films, but with an unmistakable QT vibe. Rodriguez, on the other hand, directs his half as the fever dream of someone who has only been told about exploitation movies.

Too bad Tarantino didn't do the zombie pic, too.

~BT

Americans United vs. Mitch McConnell

Mitch McConnell: Kentucky sees it, why won't he?



~BT

Sphinx Citings Strike Again!

With the title of Better Late Than Friars Sphinx Citings is back from a two week hiatus and goes on to detail recent Sphinx happenings in witty style. Citings definitely needs to move towards a more regular frequency - I just can't get enough. Some of my favorite lines:

• "Candlelight vigils were held and the DP started a ticker of the number of days that Citings had passed its deadline."
• "Healey was seen watching Jon Tucker Must Die and Mean Girls in a back-to-back "blow out with his manly fraternity brothers." Oh yeah, and Healey was also called out in QPenn for supposedly being gay, again. The crowds yawned, yearning for a new joke from everyone's favorite hotty from Nebraska"
• "words of encouragement from Friars head honcho Zach Coopersmith in email correspondence with an unnamed Sphinge: "I like the blog posting on the Sphinx website by the way, you guys are so amazing."

It's good to see that at least some in Friars enjoy our Citings.

~BT

Republican Infighting

It has been great to watch the aftermath of Matthew Dowd's NYTimes interview:

In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership.

He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a “my way or the highway” mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides. …

In speaking out, Mr. Dowd became the first member of Mr. Bush’s inner circle to break so publicly with him.

Initially, the White House and Republican Noise Machine response was to accuse Dowd of having personal issues because his son is going to Iraq:

Two leading Bush spokespersons -- Dan Bartlett on Sunday and Dana Perino at her press briefing today -- have since suggested that Dowd's disenchantment with their man stems partly from "personal" reasons and "emotions." Bush joined that angle today, attributing Dowd's criticism on the war to to an "emotional" reaction.

Since the initial line of attack didn't seem to stick, we see the latest attempt, exposed by ThinkProgress, to smear Matthew Dowd, through who better than Robert Novak.

Salon.com has a piece detailing how Dowd joined the Bush team and his role as the brain behind the Architect himself, Karl Rove.

And just when things were bad, another conservative turned on Bush and the GOP.

~BT

Bush looking for cowboy showdown

The political saga over Iraq continued in full force today with Bush looking defiant in his news conference where he blamed Democrats and renewed his veto promise. Keith Olbermann has a great segment with some great footage of Bush and an interview with one of my favorite senators: Russ Feingold. From Countdown's blog TheNewshole:

The Will of the People: President Bush once again bound for vacation in Crawford tomorrow, today slamming Congress for being on vacation away from the capitol, insisting lawmakers should get back to work in order to do the people's business of rubber-stamping whatever it is he wants for his war in Iraq. Senator Russ Feingold joins us with a scathing response to a scathing presidential press conference

The NYTimes compares the current political showdown with the budget stand-off in 1995 between Bill Clinton and congressional republicans. I think there are some key differences and that in this case Congress will win out. The public is behind the Dems and gave them a mandate in November to get out of Iraq. This time there are lives on the line, not just federal government paychecks and Bush will be seen cutting off funding by issuing a veto, not the Dems.

Via Dailykos, Harry Reid comes out swinging:

If the President vetoes this bill he will have delayed funding for troops and kept in place his strategy for failure.

In further hypocrisy, Bush criticizes Congress for being on vacation even though he is about to go on one himself.

Also via Kos, Think Progress tears apart Bush's attempt to blame the Dems for delaying the funding, by pointing out:

During the reign of the Do-Nothing 109th Congress, Bush submitted two major supplemental spending requests. Each request experienced a delay far more than 57 days with hardly a peep of anger from the Commander-In-Chief. Details below:

February 14, 2005: Bush submits $82 billion supplemental bill
May 11, 2005: Bush signs the supplemental
Total time elapsed: 86 days

February 16, 2006: Bush submits $72 billion supplemental bill
June 15, 2006: Bush signs the supplemental
Total time elapsed: 119 days

After the 119 day delay, Bush did not say an “irresponsible” Congress had “undercut the troops” or that military families had “paid the price of failure.” Instead, Bush told the conservative-led Congress, “I applaud those Members of Congress who came together in a fiscally responsible way to provide much-needed funds for the War on Terror.”

It seems like Bush is so out on a limb that even Hillary "Hilldog" Clinton thinks it is safe enough to urge Dems to press Bush on Iraq.

Some other quick links from Democratic Undergrdound:

• Students pelted Karl Rove in protest
• Matthew Dowd's criticism signals a larger GOP rebellion?
• Mccain's ridiculous photo-op in Baghdad

Meanwhile, it turns out that the Dems have been united after all, even if the media try to paint a different picture.

~BT