Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Thursday, January 28, 2010

winter sunset


WomenMakeNews: Political Independence is the New Feminism

Read about some of the women of the independent movement at Women Make News...

Crash Course for the Obama Team on the Independent Movement

Read the latest Op-Ed from IndependentVoting.org/CUIP President Jacqueline Salit "And Now, A Word From The Independents." In the Op-Ed, Salit lays out a four-point crash course for the Obama team on what they need to know about the independent movement.

Salit issued the statement in preparation for last night's State of the Union address by President Obama. and CNN interviewed Salit this morning. CNN and MSNBC contacted independent leaders in CA, KY and PA. Check your local stations to see if and how the media covers independents.

To contact CUIP, email national@cuip.org

Dr. Omar Ali Guest on CNN Anderson Cooper 360 Friday Night: Independent Voters and the State of the Union

Dr. Omar H. Ali will be appearing on CNN Anderson Cooper 360 on Friday night at 10 pm, January 29th, to discuss independent voters and the State of the Union. He will be joined by Harvard University's David Gergen and Manhattan Institute senior fellow John Avlon. Dr. Ali is a professor of history at Towson University in Maryland and a national spokesperson of the independent movement. His book, In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third Party Movements in the United States, has been described as a "landmark work" by The National Political Science Review.


The Hankster will live-blog this critical dialog. Please tune in and let me know your thoughts!

it's snowing!


Wednesday, January 27, 2010

State of the Union: Increasingly Independent

President Obama is in the midst of his first State of the Union speech, (transcript here) and in the meantime, independents continue to organize--and one of us gives the Prez some advice....   >>>   SOMEbody has put up an anti-open primaries website in California...   >>>   Shades of the Harold Washington Party in Chicago casts the tone in the Illinois Gov race...   >>>   And Mike Bloomberg's gifts to the NY Independence Party makes it into the Independent Political Report (now if they could bother to distinguish between the NYC and the NYS parties, we'd be gettin' somewhere....)

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
OPEN PRIMARIES
CHICAGO
NEW YORK

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

NEWS ALERT: Media Gets Some Stuff Right About Independent Voters!

Massachusetts special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat continues to reverberate (or is that ricochet?) in the media and independent voters remain center stage (the newly elected Senator is that guy who posed nude for Cosmo, right?...)     >>>     Howard Fineman gets it right with one of the most grounded descriptions of independents in print.     >>>     Also of note, Elizabeth Benjamin, who took Ben's place at the Daily News when Mr. Smith went to Washington with Politico, gets it right by making the first ever in print distinction between the grassroots NYC Independence Party Organizations and the Upstate-"We're proud to be the party of business"-MacKay crowd.     >>>     And then there's Thomas Friedman's critique of Obama's first year where Friedman laments the disappearance of the President's "amazing, young, Internet-enabled, grass-roots movement he mobilized to get elected". Mr. Friedman apparently misses the distinction between running for office and governing the country, but hey, 2 outa 3 ain't bad!     >>>     Oh, and be sure to follow the dialog about what exactly the Tea Party movement is and where it came from.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • Independent Minded--Barack Obama knows that he has to reconnect with independent voters when he gives his State of the Union address. (By Howard Fineman | Newsweek Web Exclusive) They are not "centrists" in the sense that they exist in some mathematical middle ground between "left" and "right." Nor are they necessarily angry "populists," eternally resenting and distrusting anyone with any power. They are outsiders who wish Washington were a better place.
  • An Ear-Splitting Alarm (By Charlie Cook, National Journal)
  • What the 'I'm Mad as Hell' Party Could Do (Robert Reich, Huffington Post)
  • New poll finds voter anger drove results of Mass. election (By Dan balz and Jon Cohen, Washington Post)
  • Blog poll results: Third party wanted (Wicked Local Georgetown MA )
  • Political button collection highlights obscure candidates (By Jimmy Smothers, Gadsden AL Times)  While third-party candidates have not fared well at the polls, the number of independent voters is increasing. It is unlikely any third- (fourth- or fifth-) party candidate could win a major election, but the major party that can pick up the most support from the independent voters has the best bet at winning. With that in mind, the number of candidates from obscure parties is declining. 
  • Sabrin: Are independents America’s third party? (NORTHJERSEY.COM, Murray Sabrin is professor of finance at Ramapo College and was the Libertarian Party nominee for governor in 1997 and a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2000 and 2008.)
  • Angry voters could affect both parties (By Kristi Keck, CNN)
ELECTION REFORM
  • Critics say redistricting panel needs diversity (Marisa Lagos, SF Chronicle Sacramento Bureau) When voters were asked to approve a plan in 2008 to let private citizens instead of politicians draw legislative boundaries, supporters touted the initiative as a way to depoliticize the process and eliminate conflicts of interest, while opponents said it would create a secretive and unaccountable commission that wouldn't reflect the diversity of the state.
OBAMA STATE OF THE UNION
  • More (Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs (By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, NY Times) The most striking feature of Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency was the amazing, young, Internet-enabled, grass-roots movement he mobilized to get elected. The most striking feature of Obama’s presidency a year later is how thoroughly that movement has disappeared.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
  • Borne seeks to establish third party in New Hampshire (By Alexis Macarchuk, Seacoast online) Member of New American Independent Party doing outreach in NH
NORTH CAROLINA
  • Number of N.C.'s voters up 1.2M (Winston Salem Journal) Numbers released yesterday by elections watchdog Democracy North Carolina show that the number of independent voters in the state has increased by 83 percent since 2000.
SOUTH CAROLINA
UTAH
NEW YORK
LAST WORD

Monday, January 25, 2010

memory



Independents, Massachusetts and the Good Ol' Tea Party

Independent voters have the upper hand. But who are they and what do they want? The independent movement is a broad movement defined increasingly by its own activity at the grassroots to reform election laws to include the 40% of the electorate that doesn't consider itself aligned with either major party. These reforms include open primaries, fair ballot access for independent candidates and appointments of independents to entities such as the Federal Election Commission and local redistricting commissions. Below are the headlines from the past week since the election of Scott Brown as Senator from Massachusetts.


Also, I highly recommend the article by Patrick Coolican in the Las Vegas Sun about the subjective state of the new old time right wing Tea Party movement. 


INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • Third party: Both parties have lost credibility (LETTER Florida Times Union - Jacksonville) Perhaps the emergence of such a party would break the seemingly intractable political gridlock that has served the nation poorly for far too long and give all Americans a reason to once again feel optimistic about the country's future
  • Independents are calling the electoral shots (Doyle McManus, LA Times) In any case, most independents -- contrary to claims from the "tea party" camp -- are looking for bipartisanship and centrism, not bloody-shirt populism.
  • Main Street's Message (by Salena Zito, Townhall) No party that tells Americans what to do, socially or financially, is safe from independents.
OPEN PRIMARIES
INDEPENDENTS AND MASSACHUSETTS

RHODE ISLAND
BARACK OBAMA
TEA PARTY

Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Math of "Top Two"



The GOP is dead in California according Duf Sundheim; this statement comes in the wake of the drastic status change to blue this past November. The most obvious piece of evidence? Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, who had a series of non-partisan election victories, but lost the 2010 state attorney general's race to San Francisco Democrat Kamala Harris, simply for the 'R' next to his name.


UPDATED: As California independent Jon Blankenship points out, it pays to "do the math" when it comes to statements by politicians and the media. And it certainly pays to "read between the lines." For example, what gets left out of most reporting and editoralizing about the new Top Two open primary system that Californians adopted last summer, amid all the chatter about party labels and giving the minority party a better shot at getting their candidates elected, is the simple fact that 3.4 million independent (decline-to-state) VOTERS will be able to have a voice. THAT is the change that's needed if we are to move forward as a country.
CORRECTION: Blankenship pointed out in his letter that people need to "do the math" when it comes to politicians, not top two.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • Jon Blankenship, Red Bluff: Do the math (LETTER to the Red Bluff Daily News) As an independent, I try to stay as informed as possible. Both major parties are prone to make mistakes, but sometimes they do it on purpose. I would like to correct mistakes by checking out the truth.
OPEN PRIMARIES
  • GOP brand pronounced dead in deep-blue California (Carla Marinucci,Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle) Some believe the open-primary law California voters passed in November could breathe new life into the party. Under the law, the top two finishers in the primary - no matter what party they're from - will move on to the general election. Some believe the new system will allow more moderate Republicans to prosper in districts that now swing Democratic.
  • With California election reforms, state GOP might rebound (By Tom Elias, LA Daily Breeze) The new system will let all voters opt for anyone they like in primaries, meaning Democrats can cast ballots for Republicans if there is no serious contest in their own party's race - as when Gov. Jerry Brown ran last spring - and Republicans can vote for Democrats. Party registration may not mean so much anymore, even in fall runoff elections, for study after study has shown that when people vote for a candidate once, they are comfortable doing it again and again. This bodes extremely well for two Republicans who lost last year: Steve Poizner and Abel Maldonado.
  • Sample Ballot Released for First California “Top-Two” Election (Ballot Access News) In May 2010 CA Lt Gov Abel Maldonado was on television in New York city, being interviewed, and he said under the California top-two system that he sponsored, any candidate could choose any party label. He said, for example, that a candidate could prefer the Farmer Party. Also, in December 2010, when he received an award from IndependentVoting, he told the group that under his plan, all candidates can choose any label they wish.
REDISTRICTING
  • Editorial: Let others in on the redistricting (The MetroWest Daily News) The advantage of an independent commission is that it can keep purely political considerations out of the process by ignoring certain factors, like party registration, precinct voting histories and the addresses of potential opponents. In Iowa, where an independent body has drawn the district lines for decades, such data cannot even be put in the computer.
OBAMA
  • State of the Union a 'fundamental moment' for Obama (By Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons, Washington Bureau, LA Times) Obama has been moving steadily to the political center since his midterm election drubbing two months ago, agreeing to extend tax cuts for the richest Americans, calling for business-friendly regulations and attempting to repair his relationship with the business community. His speech Tuesday is an opportunity to showcase that transformation, especially to independent voters.
REPUBLICANS
KENTUCKY
BLOOMBERG
  • Mayor Lashes Out at Judge (By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal) On Thursday, Judge Emily Jane Goodman issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city from laying off nine deputy sheriffs and demoting three supervising deputy sheriffs.
EDUCATION REFORM

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

National Organizer of Independents Speaks to the Lessons of Massachusetts


 Statement received via email today:
"The Obama team needs to learn a lesson from Massachusetts,” said Jackie Salit, president of IndependentVoting.org , a national association of independent voters.  “If you don't attend to the political dynamics in the independent movement, you'll pay the price. That movement is in the early stages of its development and is subject to many pushes and pulls. While the progressive leadership of the movement played the key role in swinging independents to Obama in 2008, the Obama team has turned a blind eye since then, choosing instead to focus only on the Democratic Party base.  But if you do that, instead of finding ways to cultivate the progressive voices in independent politics, you're going to lose elections like the one yesterday. And, you might even lose the White House if you don't wake up to the fact that there is an emerging political universe - the independent movement - that you know nothing about.”
Apparently at least ONE Dem agrees. From today's CNN Analysis by Marc Preston: Brown's win changes political narrative for 2010: One of the biggest challenges for Democrats is wooing back independent voters, who broke Brown's way Tuesday to help him beat Coakley. "If we don't figure out a way to talk to independent voters, we are done," lamented another high-level Democratic staffer, speaking freely on the condition of anonymity. (Marc Preston, CNN Political Editor)





TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 1/20/2010

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • U.S. Shifted Party, Not Ideology (By GERALD F. SEIB, Wall Street Journal) The reality is that Democrats were renting a lot of centrist voters in 2006 and 2008, but didn't really own them. And now Democrats seem to be losing their grip on some of those centrist, independent-minded voters.
OPEN PRIMARIES
MASSACHUSETTS
COLORADO
NEW YORK

Monday, January 18, 2010

the task




is dead, long live the task

Independent Voters: Let's Get This UNparty Started!

Jackie Salit's analysis of independents' support of Obama, health care and the current state of the independent movement... Mass independents are lining up behind Brown in the upcoming special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat in the US Senate -- ignore the independents at your own peril! ...More and more elected officials are leaving the parties... Why are California minor parties SOOOOO negative on open primaries? ....Bloomberg's investment in the NYC Independence Party -- is Harold Ford looking in the wrong direction? Hmmm......

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
INDEPENDENT POLITICIANS
  • Top stories of December 2009 (ENC Today Kinston NC) Outgoing councilman Jimmy Cousins takes the opportunity to tell all assembled that he is leaving the Democratic Party
OPEN PRIMARIES
NEW YORK

Friday, January 15, 2010

we




Thanks to Dr. Tom

Some Questions for Independent Voters, Democracy Advocates and Third Parties

Is it possible to have political organization that isn't a political party? Can people impact policy without being organized as a voting bloc? How do you fight the power of entrenched corrupt partisan organizations without becoming one of them? Where does the issue of power come in? How can independents break out of paralysis? What is "personal democracy"? Isn't democracy by definition collective, and thus requires organization? Why do most minor parties object to open primaries? Wouldn't third parties be well served by inviting independents to participate in their candidate selection process? Is the Tea Party independent, or a right wing faction of the Repubs hoping to push the RP to the right?

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • Politics is People, Not Parties (Future Majority/Craig Berger's Blog) Because our political arena is so intensely focused on parties, we lose focus on myriad facets of politics: the people, their needs, the dialogue itself.... As the excerpt above suggests, the emphasis on politics is people, not organizations...
  •  THIS ARTICLE is also posted with commentary on Wire Tap Mag
  •  NOTE: Author of the quoted text is Alejandro Ribo, who seems to be the European (Spanish) version of techPresident, which "was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah L. Sifry as a crosspartisan group blog covering how the 2008 presidential candidates were using the web, and vice versa, how content generated by voters affected the campaign." Rasiej and Sifry host a yearly conference called Personal Democracy Forum centering around issues of communications technology, open internet policy, and government "transparency" that draws 1000 techies from across the country. Independent Mayor Mike Bloomberg was their keynote last year
  • Tough love letter to African-Americans who don't vote and disrespect Dr. King's fight for our rights (Message from Montie, Chicago Now)
  • Prominent black Democrat defends Reid--Donna Brazile argues the recession, connecting with independents will be senator’s obstacle (By Michael Mishak, Las Vegas Sun) “This will be more of a national election with a local taste to it,” Brazile said. “And independents remain the missing ingredient in every election stew I’ve come to analyze.”
  • Independent Paralysis (Talk Talk, Fred Newman and Jackie Salit)
OPEN PRIMARIES
STATE RACES
TEA PARTY

JOIN ME TONIGHT!

Everything Independent: Rai-mon Nemar of Legendmag.net
Call-in Number: (347) 884-8634
Friday, January 15
7pm EST, 5pm Central, 4pm West Coast
The Hankster interviews Rai-mon Nemar, founder of LEGENDmag

Thursday, January 14, 2010

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 1/14/10


Everything Independent: Rai-mon Nemar of Legendmag.net
Call-in Number: (347) 884-8634
Friday, January 15
7pm EST
The Hankster interviews Rai-mon Nemar, founder of LEGENDmag




A note from All Stars Project youth program director Pam Lewis:

On Monday, January 18th at 10:30am, the All Stars Project is hosting a special celebration in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The young people participating in the event will be dedicating their performances to the people of Haiti. The program will feature an appeal from three Haitian-American All Stars youth leaders, Jube Charles, Chris Elian, and Gregory Castin, who will ask guests to contribute to support Haiti relief efforts. For more on the event, please visit our website.



INDEPENDENT VOTERS



NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS


NEW YORK - Working Families Party



Support the Haitian People

UPDATED 1/14/10
Please give in any way you can to help the people of Haiti in the wake of the earthquake. Some recommendations from my friends:

Yele Haiti http://www.yele.org/

7+ Reputable Charities Working on Haiti Earthquake Relief http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/haiti-earthquake-relief-47011302#ixzz0cYWX1Bwo

Orgs listed on NY Times today
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/haiti-disaster-relief-how-to-contribute/

The UN https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=6680&6680.donation=form1

UPDATE:
techPresident recommends mobile giving:

http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/mobile-donations-haiti-relief-without-mobile-fees

Given the situation in Haiti, we asked our go to mobile expert, Katrin Verclas of MobileActive to clear up some of the confusion about whether mobile donations meet towards Haiti relief are being reduced by mobile fees. SMS donations to the Red Cross, she reports, are being passed through without any carrier fees or processing fees, with the Mobile Giving Foundation and MGive(operated by Mobile Accord, a company working with the State Department on its mobile program) are handling the transaction (and declining to take a cut). Texting HAITI to 90999 sends ten U.S. dollars to the Red Cross.
Making contributions via your cell phone is convenient, but you can also, of course, give directly through the Red Cross website or by calling the Red Cross at 1-800-REDCROSS. It seems like all donations, mobile or otherwise, will go into the Red Cross's generic funding pool, to be allocated where they see the most need.
Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti foundation is fundraising online, and pledging 100% of the funds raised to relief efforts. And the State Department is  tweeting the situation in Haiti.
UPDATE: Also worth mentioning is the online fundraising being done Partners in Health, the organization led by Dr. Paul Farmer that has been working to improve lives and public health throughout Haiti for many years now. (Pick up Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains for a look at the work that PIH does, and how it does it.)



You can also contact The Hankster, and we will help you connect with organizations giving help to the people of Haiti.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Independent Paralysis and Two-Party Pigeons

Increasingly independent Italian community in CT and independents everywhere remain independent... R.I. Repub chief doesn't support closing the primaries... Yes, Arizona independents -- you CAN vote in the primaries!.... Indiana HB 1140 keeps primaries open... Right wing of the Republican Party (i.e. Tea Party) warns supporters not to go rogue (i.e. nonparty).... And what's all that stuff happening in New York? Upstate NY IP party boss jockeying for his next job, WFP under the gun, and Harold Ford might be an Edsel...

MUST READ: Independent Paralysis (Talk Talk with Fred Newman and Jackie Salit) Electoral politics is in a state of entropy. It’s paralyzed...


INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • Italian community sees political shift (By Magdalene Perez, Stamford Advocate) Among a randomly selected group of 129 currently registered voters with Italian surnames, one-third, or 33 percent, are registered Democrats, 36 percent are Republicans, and 29 percent are unaffiliated.
  • 10 Tips for the GOP in 2010--Voters who want Democrats out don't yet believe Republicans would be better. (By CLARK S. JUDGE, Wall Street Journal)
OPEN PRIMARIES
  • Cicione rebuffs demands to resign (By Philip Marcelo, Providence Journal) GOP R.I. Chairman Cicione does not support the idea of a closed primary and has refused to call a special meeting of the state central committee this month to consider the proposal, which would require that voters register as Republicans at least 90 days prior to the primary to vote.
  • Independents, you can vote in primaries (by Linda Valdez, The Arizona Republic) A registered independent, Lynn says the lack of understanding among independents about their voting rights is a significant problem.
  • Republican to enter race for governor Tuesday (NBC 10 CT) Cicione said Laffey’s exit from the race does not change recent debate over how to run the Republican primary. Laffey supporters had been pushing for closing the primary to independent voters.
  • FACT CHECK: Schwarzenegger presides over same dealmaking for which he lampoons Neb. senator (JUDY LIN, Associated Press, LA Times)
  • High-profile posts go to potential candidates (Tracy Warner, Ft. Wayne IN Journal Gazette) House Bill 1140 would remove the requirement that voters in the primaries declare whether they are Democrat or Republican. The bill would not create a truly open primary, where voters could pick and choose the party depending on the office, but voters would choose a D or R ballot in private, without a public record of party affiliation.
  • North Chamber hosts California Open Primary Initiative forum (By San Diego Daily Transcript)
GOVERNORS RACES
  • Surprising GOP surge could derail Coakley candidacy (By Chris Szabla, Harvard Law Record) But absent from the PPP poll’s choices is independent candidate Joe Kennedy, who has no relation to the Kennedy family, but whose confusing name might have some influence on the outcome of the race. The Globe poll showed Kennedy pulling 5%. Moreover, PPP, while affiliated with Democrats, shares a suspect phone-touch methodology with Rasmussen.
  • With clock ticking down, candidates’ attacks ramp up (By Brian C. Mooney, Boston Globe) Kennedy, who is not related to the famed political clan, differed with both candidates at times, saying he opposed the health care overhaul, as well as sending more troops to Afghanistan. Neither of his opponents has advanced any serious proposals to reduce government spending, said Kennedy, a member of the Libertarian Party, who is in single digits in the polls.
  • Democrats and Double Standards (By JAMES TARANTO, Democrats Against Democracy , Wall Street JournalDemocrats Against Democracy (Wall Street Journal) What all these surveys have in common, though, is that the greater the level of voter engagement, the better Brown does. 
  • Laffey decides against run for R.I. governor (By Katherine Gregg, Providence Journal State House Bureau)
  • Great Scott! In Massachusetts, some pieces are coming together for Brown, but will it be enough? (By Jim Geraghty, National Review Online)
TEA PARTY
  • Not another party (by Paul Jacob, Town Hall) An independent, citizen-led political movement is precisely the antidote for the professional partisan politics that is killing our golden goose. But it is critical the movement not become yet another political party.
NEW YORK

BlogTalkRadio: Friday Night with The Hankster and Rai-mon Nemar 1/15/10

The Hankster interviews Rai-mon Nemar, founder of LEGENDmag on BlogTalkRadio/Hankster

Join us to discuss everything independent!


LEGENDmag's goal is to help local, national, and international independent brands, the people behind them, the art that inspires them, and the causes that support them, become a part of the world's everyday decision making.


Join us to discuss why indie politics, gaming, fashion, art, and business is where it's at.


Call (347) 884-8634
Friday, January 15
7pm East Coast Time, 4pm West Coast Time

Friday, January 08, 2010

other voices


thanks to The Moderate Voice for the graphic (which originally came from Pew Research)!

What Does It Mean to be Independent? (Hint: No Machine Politics Here!)

What does it mean to be independent? Check out the dialog over at Donklephant (where yours truly is a guest blogger)... Gallup is saying more independents now identify as conservative and Dems feel the force... The Chicago Reader reveals that Independent Voters of Illinois is part of the Daley machine (no surprise there)... Repubs in R.I. move to close primaries to indies... Glenwood Springs CO Post Independent supports State Representative Kathleen Curry's new unaffiliated status, and Bertie Arnhols of Aurora UT NC (thanks to Richard Winger for this correction!) leaves the party to run for commissioner as unaffiliated.... And speaking of Utah -- It's Anybody's Game!

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
OPEN PRIMARIES - ELECTION REFORM
COLORADO + UTAH = INDEPENDENT REVOLT!


  • Former Republican candidate defects--Bertie Arnhols of Aurora is circulating a petition she hopes will allow her to run as an unaffiliated candidate for Beaufort County commissioner. (By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE, Washington Daily News)
  • Applauding Curry's decision (Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado)
  • Alone without a party, Rep. Curry hopes to remain effective (by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News) And Curry wants to reduce the length of time before an election that unaffiliated candidates have to declare their candidacy.
NEW YORK
ON THE BLOGS

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Everything Independent: Rai-mon Nemar of Legendmag.net on BlogTalkRadio with The Hankster Friday Jan. 16 7pm ET

Date / Time: 1/15/2010 7:00 PM
BlogTalkRadio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hankster/2010/01/16/everything-independent-rai-mon-nemar-of-legendmagnet

Call-in Number: (347) 884-8634

The Hankster interviews Rai-mon Nemar, founder of LEGENDmag


Rai-mon Nemar is a young entrepreneur based in San Francisco who  is a supporter of independentvoting.org and their agenda of political reform. (He supports open primaries. See below.)


This online magazine's goal is to help local, national, and international independent brands, the people behind them, the art that inspires them, and the causes that support them, become a part of the world's everyday decision making.


Join us to discuss why indie politics, gaming, fashion, art, and business is where it's at.


Call (347) 884-8634
Friday, January 15
7pm East Coast Time, 4pm West Coast Time




HOW THE INDEPENDENTS PUT BARACK OBAMA IN OFFICE.




Watch The Video Trailer Here>


I’m a member of independentvoice.org an organization that is dedicated to giving independents a national political voice. They’ve been at it for a loooong time now. They first thought the solution was forming a national independent party (the name they actually used years ago escapes me right now) but they have since let go of that tactic choosing instead to galvanize indies to have a collective voice. Take a look at what’s going on if you in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here’s what’s going on, straight from them.
I wanted to send you some more info on our San Francisco Video Showing. It’s coming up on August 23rd at 1:30 PM at the San Francisco Main Library. And I want you to be there, when was the last time someone asked you to a movie?  :-)
The video is a fantastic look at the independent movement movement. Afterward we’ll be talking about how we build our organized strength and pass the new open here in California.


It’s a great way to plug into things at an exciting time.  I really want to see you there!

stormy weather ahead


What's the Matter with Us? (Hint: It's not the people, it's the parties)

Thomas Frank (What's the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America) presents an interesting take on the "fake populism" that's so popular right now. He's probably right that the Dems are satisfied that "those people" (i.e. disaffected independents) have nowhere else to go. Of course Jackie Salit (How the Independent Movement Went Left by Going Right) & Co. know better... Several "free market" groups think the Tea Party "movement" should "work within the [two-party] system"... RI Repubs want to close their primaries to keep out independents, and Thurman Hart pens a wonderfully rich little piece on the value and proper positioning of nonpartisan elections... The Denver Post calls for fairness in Colorado's election laws, which currently discriminate against independents... Jana Kemp has made it official -- she'll run as an indie for Gov of Idaho.... And Charlie Rangel wouldn't bet his house on a Dem mayor in 2013 -- After all, once you go independent, you are quite transcendent!

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
  • Watch Out for GOP Populism (By THOMAS FRANK, Wall Street Journal) For millions of disaffected independent voters, meanwhile, the tail-chasing logic behind the "down with big business" rhetoric probably won't make any difference.
  • The Tea Party Teens (By DAVID BROOKS, NY Times) The Rasmussen organization asked independent voters whom they would support in a generic election between a Democrat, a Republican and a tea party candidate. The tea party candidate won, with 33 percent of independents. Undecided came in second with 30 percent. The Democrats came in third with 25 percent and the Republicans fourth with 12 percent.
  • liberalism, it's hangover time--America isn’t eager to embrace Obama’s ‘leftward ho!’ after all (By Jonah Goldberg, USA Today/OpEd)
  • Fundraising Woes Could Hold Back the GOP in 2010 (By Suzy Khimm, Newsweek/The Gaggle)
  • No Tea Party--A grassroots movement is more effective (By Colin Hanna, Washington Times)  NOTE: Colin Hanna is president of Let Freedom Ring.
  • Tea Parties Versus The Two Parties--How A Non-Party Wins The Hearts Of Independent Swing Voters (BY JOHN M. O’HARA, FOR THE BULLETIN, Philadelphia) NOTE: John O'Hara is with the Heartland Institute)
OPEN PRIMARIES
COLORADO
IDAHO
NEW YORK