Senator Ben Nelson and the Insurance Industry

Last week, [we] called on Senator Ben Nelson to support President Obama's health care "public option" -- and to oppose the health and insurance interests that gave him over $2 million.

The good news: we made big progress! We got covered in the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AP, and many other places. This pressure caused Nelson to say he is now "open" to the public option after initially calling it a "deal breaker."

The bad news: Nelson keeps actively siding with insurance interests. Every time he says he's "open" to a public option, he qualifies it by saying it cannot "erode" private insurance. In other words, the public option can compete for customers as long as it won't win. That makes no sense.

We need to break the link between special interests and Congress. That's why people across Nebraska are joining the Change Congress "donor strike" for political reform. Can you join today by clicking here? http://change-congress.org/nelson/

Across the nation, thousands of people have pledged not to give a penny more to any member of Congress unless they co-sponsor fundamental campaign reform. Already, Nelson has lost access to over $21,000, based on the past contributions of his constituents.

The bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act would create a new system of "citizen-funded elections" for Congress - public funding plus small donations. This would allow politicians to spend their time working for folks back home, not pandering to special interests. And it would help taxpayers by liberating politicians to slash billions per year in corporate welfare.

Nearly 70% of Democrats and Republicans support this. But Ben Nelson is not yet on board.

Let's make clear that insurance companies, health care companies, HMOs, and other special interests shouldn't come before the people of Nebraska in our democracy.

Can you join the Change Congress "donor strike" for political reform today? Just click here!

Thanks for helping to change Congress.

Sincerely,
Japhet, Stephanie, Adam, and Monica

P.S.  We're looking for Democratic Party officials and government officials who support the public option. If that's you, let us know by responding to this email! info@change-congress.org

President Obama on Cybersecurity

Bonus: Bruce Schneier’s comments on the speech.

Even senators get the blues

From Countdown with Keith Olberman, 14 May 2009. Former Senator Graham in his office with a blue screen on his desktop.

Obama Budget Cuts Visualization

New copyright statement in Flickr for “government work”

For a while now, photos posted on flickr by the White House have been licensed under a CC-BY license. While this was the most lenient of the CC licensing options it wasn’t exactly appropriate as these photos were technically in the public domain. Because of this, the attribution requirement of the CC license, although a great suggestion that everyone should follow, was technically adding a requirement that wasn’t allowed by law.

The only other option previously available was that of the Flickr Commons project “no known copyright restrictions”. Again, not appropriate as in this case we know that there can’t possibly be even the potential of a copyright claim by anyone. Again, close but technically not appropriately.

So, the folks at flickr have come up with a new designation: “United States Government Works”.

What does this mean? Well, if you click on the link you’ll be taken to the relevant page of copyright law giving you the relevant information. At that point you’re on your own. Thanks, I think.

Why doesn’t flickr just have a “public domain” option? That’s a completely different discussion which I’m not going to have here. Check out the flickr discussion and flickr’s official opinion on the matter if you’re interested.

Ridiculous

Dear MoveOn member,

This is ridiculous. The media has been obsessing about President Obama's plan to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans—from 35% to 39.6%—even asking if that makes him a socialist.¹

But do you know what tax rate the wealthiest Americans paid on the top portion of their earnings at the end of Ronald Reagan's first term? 50%.

Under Richard Nixon? 70%. Under Dwight Eisenhower? 91%!

Shocking, right?

And for all the whining about rolling back Bush's irresponsible tax cuts, the truth is that Obama's plan cuts taxes for 95% of working Americans. Further, it closes huge tax loopholes for oil companies, hedge funds and corporations that ship jobs overseas so that we can invest in the priorities that will get our economy back on track.²

We saw a great chart in The Washington Monthly³ that shows just how absurd Republican complaints about Obama's budget are. Check it out and pass it on:

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Eli, Laura, Matt and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "A socialist? Obama calls back to insist no," The International Herald Tribune, March 8, 2009
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/08/america/barack.php

2. "Tax Cuts," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-tax.html

3. "Soaking the Rich (Redux)," The Washington Monthly, March 8, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51234&id=15734-5548613-gzmXQjx&t=2

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

---

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to Michael Sauers on March 13, 2009.

Peter Orszag on Blogging

Twitter: Ur Doin It Rong

I’ve been looking at a lot of different Twitter accounts lately while putting together some upcoming presentations and I’ve noticed a few things. Increasingly, I'm noticing Twitter accounts of those unclear on the concept of conversation; the thing that actually makes Twitter useful to people.

Exhibit A: Dr. Phil

As of this screenshot he’s got 1,639 followers. This is to be expected. So what’s the problem? He’s following exactly zero people back! Now, I don’t care whether this actually is Dr. Phil himself or someone on his staff but as I read this he’s willing to tell you things but he’s not willing to listen. Total FAIL!

Exhibit B: The Nebraska Attorney General

I’ve got no problem with people having private Twitter accounts. Mine’s public, but my FriendFeed account is private. However, if you’re going to have a private account don’t use your government title as your username. The moment you do that, you can’t have a private account, you need to continue to act as a public employee and be open. You want a private account, use your own name or a made-up name, not something that represents your office. (Note: I did send a follow request on Sunday and waited 72 hours with no response before listing this as a fail. Should he honor my request I will attempt to discuss this with him.)

UPDATE 8 April2009:
I’m not saying that I can claim any responsibility for this but the NebraskaAG account no longer exists.

Nebraska Library Commission gaming audit, one librarian’s response

For those that don’t know MPOW got audited recently and the state auditor determined that our spending of state funds regarding gaming was inappropriate. The report and our response can be found on the NLC’s blog. Those interested in the local reaction can check out this article and the 60+ comments on the Lincoln Journal Star Web site. (It’s also made the TV news in both Lincoln and Omaha, along with an AP article that’s been reprinted in at least two other states.)

I’ve got my opinions and feelings about how this went down and the results but for now I need to keep them pretty much in-house. However, I did get permission from one Nebraska librarian to reprint his letter to the newspaper and to the state auditor. I am reprinting in here in case the paper doesn’t decide to print it. (The only editing I did was to add the link to Amazon regarding the book he speaks of and to remove his phone number and e-mail address.)

John W. Seyfarth
Information Systems Manager
Sump Memorial Library
4612 Sutley Circle
Papillion, NE 68133

Feb 25, 2009

Mike Foley, State Auditor
P. O. Box 98917
State Capitol, Suite 2303
Lincoln, NE 68509

An open letter to the Nebraska State Auditor, Mr. Mike Foley

Dear Mr. Foley,

I am a librarian at the Sump Memorial Library in Papillion.  I read the Journal Star article about your recent audit of the Nebraska Library Commission, the audit itself, and the response by the Commission.  It appears to me that perhaps you and your auditors don’t have a good grasp of what the current missions of libraries are.  The most important is that we are the community center for lifelong learning, and we are not just books, magazines, or the Internet any more.  Gaming and social networking are legitimate activities that contribute to lifelong learning.  Perhaps you should read one of the most authoritative works on the subject, “Don’t Bother Me Mom—I’m Learning!” by Marc Prensky.  I have ordered a copy to be delivered to your office on my dime.  I hope you read it, and discover that the manipulatives that are used in gaming are not just “toys” as you hinted in your audit.  As you stated, one of the objectives is to attract youths into libraries, and perhaps introduce them to gaming, and the other elements that libraries provide toward facilitation of lifelong learning.  There is lots of learning that takes place with both gaming and social networking.  Much of it is related to the enhancement of personal communication skills.  And in my opinion, we really need better communications between the citizens of our country.  So, if you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to attend one of the gaming tournaments that will undoubtedly occur at one of the Lincoln City Libraries.  The commission’s role in all this is to help libraries in facilitating these activities, and the Internet vehicles are low cost methods to get this information out to Nebraska Libraries.

Furthermore, one of the issues in your report has to do with the fact that the commission paid sales tax on their two on-line purchases.  On line vendors generally don’t accept our Nebraska Tax Exempt form, and furthermore, the 5½% of the 7% sales tax that was paid in these orders goes directly back into state coffers.  Of the $29.26 that was paid on the state credit card all but $6.27 went back to the state, since it was state tax.  I have included a check for $6.27 in Mr. Foley’s copy of this letter written out to the Department of Revenue to cover the city tax that was missed out on by the State of Nebraska.

It appears to me that there are many bigger “fish to fry” by your state auditors that the gaming purchases by the Nebraska Library Commission.  As I am also a member of a local Nebraska Foster Care Review Board, I see the results of many very important unaudited issues every month.  If the Audit Agency is hurting for topics to audit, just take a look as the State Foster Care Review Board 25^th Anniversary Annual Report, and there is rich material to audit here, such as why almost 46% of the children in foster care have had to put up with at least four or more different case workers to manage their cases during their custody as state wards, or over 40% of children in foster care have been there over two years.

Sincerely,
John W. Seyfarth

CC:
Director, Nebraska Library Commission
Executive Director, State Foster Care Review Board
President, Nebraska Library Association

Inside the Transition: Technology, Innovation and Government

This video was released back on January 16th, but I just watched it last night. There’s nothin’ like someone in government talking about mashups!

Somewhere, in an alternate universe...

Thanks Louise!

OpenCongress.org

I've got to admit that I don't track my representative and senators as much as I should. This is about to change. I just found OpenCongress.org and so far I'm impressed. Create an account and it will find your rep and senators for you. From there you can add more, track legislation, get related news stories, leave comments and even vote yea/nay on individual bills. Oh, and you can subscribe to all of it via RSS! So, now whenever Rep Fortenberry, or Senators Hagel or Nelson do something, I'll know about it.

You can also create blog widgets to track legislation. Here's one on the recent FISA bill.

Feel free to add me as a friend. My username is msauers.

Flawed Bush logic on surge

Countdown, May 7: On Tuesday, Max Booth, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, insisted that the surge has worked and civilian deaths were down in Iraq. However, he wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal the day before claiming the jump in American fatalities could be a sign of things getting worse before they get better.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24511312#24511312

ICIW2008: Organizing the US Government for the Contemporary Environment

Colonel Steven Mains, US Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, KS Director, Center for Army Lessons Learned

• Thesis
• us govt is ceding to the info war to our enemies
• more money is required
• govt must be reorganized to retake the initiative
• 2 examples of what could have been
• prior to OIF, France & Muslin world opposed invasion but were open to influence
• IEDs became weapon of choice but have severe vulnerabilities
• the problem
• coordinated campaign required
• info ops not integrated into planning and decision making
• govt to people comms almost nonexistent
• US Govt built in stovepipes
• complete reorganization of the govt not a feasible option
• End
• advance US ideals and policies by ensuing that everyone has access to factual, unbiased, unfiltered info about intentions, actions & character of US, allies & adversaries
• Ways
• gauge world views by region, ethnicity, religion
• identify market segments
• identify acceptance and effects of policies
• deliver truthful, tailored content that relies on our values to our policies
• continuous reassessment
• Means
• Dep advisor to prez for national security (strategic communications)
• increased national security council
• strategic comms task force
• dept of state reorg
• DNI: covert communications
• DHS: Infrastructure assurance
• USAID: substantially increased Public Diplomacy capability
• DOD: integrated into PD efforts, CNO

The Chief's Corner

The Lincoln, NE police chief has started a blog titled The Chief's Corner. There's only a few posts at this point but so far I'm very impressed. He's dealing with relevant local issues in an honest and human way. The post responding to recent newspaper editorials titled "That pesky Constitution" is definitely one to read.

DMV, part 2 of 2

I ended up going back to the DMV yesterday after work as I'd head the necessary form had been faxed in by my ex. This time the experience was much more pleasurable. I was in and out in less than 20 minutes, didn't wait in a single line and walked out with my new title, new plates, and a new driver's license. Check all that off my to-do list.

DMV, part one of n

I finally had the cash and the time to get out to the DMV this morning. In total I have to get the car inspected by a Sheriff's Deputy (to make sure it's not a stolen vehicle,) get a Nebraska title, register the car in Nebraska, and get a new driver's license. I didn't expect to get it all done today but...

The inspection was quick and easy. Basically, just a computerized VIN search which cost me $10. Then off to get a new title. Trouble is, my ex (we divorced in 2002) was still listed on the title. Why hadn't I fixed this before? No clue. It just hadn't dawned on me as something I needed to do. So I took all my paperwork including proof of the divorce over to the next window and I was told that wouldn't work. I needed something from the divorce decree that established she'd given up all rights to the car. Or, I could get her to sign a power of attorney for the car. Back home I went to look through my files.

I found an "Affidavit of gift of motor vehicle" in my divorce papers which to me, since it said "the transferor has transfered and conveyed to transferee, all of transferor's right, title and interest in and to the... motor vehicle." [emphasis added] Sounds good to me, but when I got back to the DMV I was informed that that would only save me some money on taxes or some such and "that may be the way they do it in Missouri [where the divorced occurred], but that won't work here."

So, I'm back to faxing the form to my ex (this isn't really a problem, it's just an annoying and delaying bureaucratic step in this whole process) so she can sign it, have it notarized, and fax it back to the DMV. I then get to go tomorrow and try to get my new title and registration.