My husband, not a joiner since the unpleasantness of joining the Navy, ended up joining Rotary, and I am impressed with how much they accomplish that is of actual practical value to the community and internationally.

In January, they will, through their voluntary efforts, fundraise about $50,000 in four days. This is a club of 40 people (and family members will help). In April, another $5,000 in one day, which will be doubled by matching with international Rotary and go to an AIDs project in South Africa (one of the members here is a woman who grew up in Soweto and was part of the ‘76 uprising there, so this group is particularly keen on projects that flow back to help there).

The networks created by fdl and other netroots, remind me of the what I’m seeing here in NZ and existed before the rise of the mesmerizing tv screens. They end isolation, amd create energy through shared effort, information, and encouragement. The perfect antidote to the cowering,soul-killing isolation preferred for us by those in power.

I’ll point to the challenges we’ve faced here in my neck of the woods, in automaker country. We had to start an entirely new Dem organization because the local party was tightly wound up in union issues, to the point that they could not see opportunities or failures except through the lens of the auto industry for which the union folks worked. We understand that this will change with time due to generational shifts, but it immediately impacted the effectiveness of campaigning and organizing this election season. Thank goodness that a few key people at the edge of the union network who understood the more wired netroots-grassroots relationship were able to mediate for us. [On further thought, I should say here this issue is akin to the challenge of the single-issue voter, a la abortion rights or environmental activists.]

It is imperative as we work over the next year that we talk about the workforce of the future, and how technology (including blogging) must be used not only to communicate and organize, but introduced into the daily lives of workers who might not otherwise see technology as an essential tool that makes them competitive here in the U.S. against cheaper labor overseas. It’s essential that they see technology as helping provide leverage against corporate employers who wish to keep workers here in the dark. Bloggers can help with this area by identifying opportunities and tools and then reaching out in the offline world to guide workers towards them. For example: this next year I expect to introduce financial planning seminars free of cost to union folks, with a special emphasis on folks who are receiving a buy-out package. Most financial services companies don’t care for the people or their circumstances, only for the money they have to invest; I think we need to provide more and better education and resources — both from financial folks within the progressive community, and internet-based resources — to empower union folks and fill the gap between what financial industry will provide them and what corporations offer in severance. Somewhere in that process, we become a valuable tool to union members, and can begin a larger relationship based on earned trust.

But right now, in most union circles in this town, they only see me as the geek — the kind of person to consult if your email is jacked up. [sigh]

Zalmay Khalilzad, the plainspoken dealmaker and Republican insider who has won praise and criticism for attempts to broker Sunni political participation in Iraq’s fragile government, is likely to quit his post as U.S. ambassador in Baghdad in the coming months, a senior Bush administration official said Monday.

Khalilzad is probably leaving because he, like most of the original neocons, has come to the belated realization that he never supported the invasion of Iraq. In fact, he will soon, no doubt, claim he has never heard of the place.

Saddam’s Verdict Announced Four Days Early, Court Won’t Finish Writing Decision Until Thursday . . . for technical reasons.

Just a reminder to everyone to go out and vote in tomorrow’s “technical reasons”!

check this out:

SurveyUSA: Webb (D) 52%, Allen (R) 44%.

And that’s one they say has closed to a tossup?

Isn’t it amazing after all these years of lying that ya still can’t trust Republicans and their ‘journalistic’ shills?

Ignore the polls!

Get out the vote!