Bush campaign targets young voters on web

An article from the University of Wisconsin's Badger Herald talks about how the Bush/Cheney campaign has made young voters a priority, including designing a website specially to reach out to this group.

The article includes a quote from the Bush/Cheney campaign director: “Young voters will play a key role in the November elections,” Mehlman said. “We want to make sure that they are an integral part of our grassroots organization at a national level.”

That's smart politics. And it proves that young voters really are going to be a battleground this year. Both Democrats and Republicans believe they can win young voters. And of course Nader does, too. So we'll have a real debate, and that should help increase turnout on Election Day.

Hip hop artists and activists talk voting

BET.com has a new piece in their VOTE 2004 section...

Twista dropped from music festival in Alabama

From allhiphop.com:

Twista was dropped from an Alabama music festival, after officials said his lyrics were racially insensitive & anti-woman. "It's a question of decency," said Larry Langford, the commission president. "Whenever disrespect for women, people or races raises its ugly head, I'm going to speak out." Langford said that he has used the N word to other black people in the past, but said using the word is "degrading in any context it's used."

Show them the finger.

Another post from India. Check it out here.

For young people, gay marriage is not partisan (Part 2)

About a year ago, the New York Times Magazine ran an incredible article about the growing strength of campus conservative organizations. The article, called "THE YOUNG HIPUBLICANS," contrasted the politics and style of the new generation of activists versus the stalwarts of yesterday.

One of the points made in the article was how young conservatives view gay issues a bit differently. Here's the quote from the story:

"But the difference between the college conservatives of 20 years ago and today goes deeper than dress. Many members of the Bucknell conservatives club, for instance, endorse same-sex unions. Corey Langer recently wrote a Counterweight article supporting gay marriages. This is a far cry from D'Souza's day, when gay males were termed ''sodomites'' in The Dartmouth Review. In part, the Bucknellians' openness to gays and lesbians can be attributed to the strong streak of libertarianism that runs through the club -- a conviction that the government should stay out of any and all aspects of life, including the bedroom. But you can't hang out long with the Bucknell Conservatives and not form the opinion that their tolerance on issues like homosexuality goes beyond libertarianism."

Young people are united on this. We believe in this, right? So let's rock it.

For young people, gay marriage is not partisan (Part 1)

We catch some flak for our position on gay rights and particularly our opposition to a constitutional ban on same sex unions. Some people think it means we are partisan.

That's nonsense. This is a generational issue, not a partisan issue. Our intention is really to give voice to what young people are saying, and to make the politicians pay attention.

So here's a few facts and figures about young people (age 15-25( and gay issues, from www.civicyouth.org.

1. 86% support equal protection for gays in housing
2. 85% support equal protection in employment
3. 85% support hate crimes protections for gays
4. 63% support civil unions and legal partnerships

More Rock the Vote in India

There's a very similar movement brewing in India. India, by the way, is the world's largest democracy.

Here's the last paragraph of the story, which is called "CITY COLLEGES GET READY TO ROCK THE VOTE":

"The Vishwakarma Institute of Technology has also taken up a similar exercise and already 1,200 forms have been distributed. ‘‘We now want all student representatives from all educational institutes to join our efforts so that the city’s youth is inspired to vote,’’ declares Pranav Patil of VIT. ‘‘We have got the e-mail ids of all those who registered with us and will be sending them reminders on the day of the polls,’’ he adds. Clearly, Pune’s youth are ready to rock to the vote."

We love this.

Rock the Vote in Connecticut

Our friends in Connecticut are building a Rock the Vote team. Here's a graph from the story:

"The group's leadership team -- Nowinski, Melissa Pidluski of NCC and Liz Austin of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven -- will host its first awareness rally Saturday at Westport's Jesup Green. The Rock the Vote Connecticut gathering will highlight talks by Westport selectwoman and congressional candidate Diane Farell and State Reps. Robert Duff (D-Norwalk) and G. Kenneth Bernhard (R-Westport). Other activities include student discussions, a raffle, food, local bands and a voter registration drive."

Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage gets hearing in the Senate

Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado is leading the charge for the gay-marriage constitutional ban. He testifies before the Judiciary Committee today.

The good news is that the ban doesn't seem likely to pass. The bad news is that the people in charge up there are going forward because they think a public debate about gay marriage is good for their election prospects.

Personally, I'm not so sure. I think its going to cost them a lot of young voters.

Here's the Reuters story:

"President Bush, to the delight of his conservative base, favors passage of the election-year measure. But there seems to be little chance that it will pass.

Democrats as well as some Republicans on Capitol Hill have voiced reservations about tinkering with the Constitution. And members on both sides of the aisle have predicted supporters will fail to muster the needed two-thirds vote in both the Senate and House of Representatives to pass an amendment."

The constitution has served to expand equal rights to all the people--not take them away. We've still got a long way to go.

In Canada, they RUSH THE VOTE.

The good folks up the hill have their own version of Rock the Vote, called Rush the Vote. Check it out here.

CNN: Presidential politics taking a breather a Michigan State
CNN has the story:

EAST LANSING, Michigan (CNN) -- The atmosphere on Michigan State University's campus is more subdued now that the dust has settled on the Democrats' race for a presidental candidate.

Return of the culture wars, Part 1.

MTV News has a story about a protest against the reactionary crackdown on Howard Stern's radio show, and the FCC-spurred ban on the show by many radio stations. Note how the story mentions that Rock the Vote was on hand to register voters. :-)

Issues like this could easily come to dominate the national scene as the election develops. The culture wars are a consistent staple of politics.

So here's the question: whose culture is being attacked? Yours----ours? Is a culture of tolerance towards gays on same-sex marriage the same thing as youth culture? Is a culture of free expression on the airwaves, even if it occasionally results in a "wardrobe malfunction," the same thing as youth culture?

I think the new generation will answer that in the course of the election... the answer will be a determining factor in their politics.

And of course, a bunch of people will respond to this post by attacking us a "liberal." Even though the attacks against free expression and tolerance are being spearheaded by neanderthals on BOTH SIDES. We're against ALL of them.

The recent vote, for example, in the House of Representatives to raise the fines for indecency was overwhelming. Both Republicans and Democrats were for it.

Another question: Do these culture wars turn you off to politics, or do they get you riled up?

High school voter registration in PA

This is a great piece about how how school students in PA are registering to vote.

50 Cent gets an invite to GLAD


This is interesting. Allhiphop.com has the story about GLAD inviting 50 Cent to their annual dinner, after the rapper made some comments about gays in Playboy.

"We applaud his honesty in talking about the murder of his bisexual mother and appreciate his acknowledgment that he is not comfortable with gay people. We know that confronting homophobia can indeed be uncomfortable," said GLAAD's People of Color Media Manager C. Riley Snorton. "A good way to start would be to attend GLAAD's annual media awards. I'd like to invite 50 Cent as my personal guest."

Unemployment is higher for college grads than high school drop-outs

This is a pretty dramatic indication of how rough it is out there right now for young people trying to get into the labor force. An "economic snapshot" from the Economic Policy Institute.

This of course is not to say that you're better of skipping on college. But the vast majority of jobs created these days --- the jobs of the future --- are still in the service sector, jobs like janitors, health care aides, etc. Perhaps college students are holding off for jobs in their desired career path, I don't know.

But however you slice it, its tough all around.

Bono to speak at U Penn

We'll they're lucky----Bono doing a commencement address?

Dang.

Community college students march against budget cuts in California

Community college students are not necessarily the same demographic as the college students of our popular imagination----carefree 19 year olds holding the "real world" at bay. Many community college students work full time, have families, and are considerably older. (Not all of them, of course.)

But yo, they can organize.

In California, community college students are rallying against potential state budget cuts affecting student fees. Check it out here.

More on Prairie View

Here's a news article about what we did there around student voter suppression.

Brilliant article about Prairie View A&M case

This is a must read about the whole saga at Prairie View A&M in Texas, where a local official tried to suppress the student vote at the historically black college.

[More info about the forum we did with Q-Tip and the Congressional Black Caucus to highlight this issue here.]

Here's the first three paragraphs of the story.

It has a VERY interesting conclusion. From what we understand, at least one PVAMU student ran for office in the Republican primary, and that's how a lot of students voted.

===

The last time Oliver Kitzman made big news as a district attorney, the result was a musical comedy, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas , spoofing small-town hypocrisy.

Now, 30 years later, Mr. Kitzman has made new headlines, this time as a white official questioning black students' eligibility to vote in the community where they go to college. Once again, he has answered an unflattering casting call.

He ended up backing down, but he wasn't the only one embarrassed. His confrontation with students at historically black Prairie View A&M University produced enough interesting characters, comic moments and unexpected outcomes for another operetta.

===

250 million young voters

Rock the Vote is talking a lot about how we want to get 20 million young people out to vote on Election Day 2004. Its a message we share with MTV and other key partners.

Why?

We can get to 20 million. In 2000, there were about 18 million 18-30 year olds who voted. We want 2 million more in 2004. Its not an unheard of increase, particularly when you factor in demographic changes.

It expresses the power of the new generation. A lot of people think one vote may not make a difference. But 20 million votes----that's different! So this helps people feel like they are part of something.

It gets the politicians' attention. Sure, everyone has heard over and over, "young people don't vote." But the fact is that while young people have a lower rate of participation, they do vote in large numbers.

Well, in India, the world's largest democracy (which does not have a permanent seat on the U.N. security council---ridiculous), they have 250 million young voters.

Yow.

Students Rock the Vote

This is an incredible story from Allentown Morning Call in PA, about young people who are organizing a Rock the Vote street team to get the new generation out to vote on Election Day.

Karen Dolan: You ROCK!

Matt Lewis: You're The MAN!

Erin Owens: You GOT IT!

New poll: YOU are tuning in
USA today has the story:

Poll: Young voters paying more attention
WASHINGTON (AP) — Young adults are paying more attention to the 2004 presidential campaign than they did four years ago, according to an ongoing survey that monitors voter interest.

Rock the Mobile Vote

Wired.com has a story about our new program to get political content out via SMS over mobile phones, which we call Rock the Mobile Vote.

We want people to sign up and participate in our issues polls. Our goal is to get a real representation of where mobile phone users stand on the issues, in real time, throughout the election.

Sign up for our email list and you'll get more info...

Federal government failing to address HIV outbrack for black college students

This story, noted by the Kaiser Network, calls out for action---and it illustrates why government funding saves lives.

Sometimes, cutting government funding literally is a matter of life and death---for troops overseas and, as this story shows, for young people here at home.

See the link above of, or pasted below...

---

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Public Health & Education
More Federal Funding Needed To Address HIV Outbreak Among College Students, Southern State Officials Say

Federal officials have not increased funding for HIV prevention and testing efforts in the Southern United States despite the recent discovery of the first documented HIV outbreak among African-American college students in the region, local health officials say, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports. CDC has said it does not have the money to conduct more widespread testing of college students in the region (Yee, AP/Las Vegas Sun , 3/10).

North Carolina public health officials at the 11th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in February presented the findings of a study that showed an HIV outbreak among black male college students in North Carolina. Researchers found six HIV cases among male college students ages 18 to 30 in 2000, 19 cases in 2001, 29 in 2002 and 30 in 2003. Of the 84 total new cases during that period, 73, or 88%, were among black men, and 11, or 13%, were among white men ( Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report , 2/11).

Taking Action
Following the study release, North Carolina colleges -- particularly the state's 11 historically black schools -- have responded with more HIV testing and prevention education, Phyllis Gray of the North Carolina Department of Public Health and Human Services said (Wahlberg, Atlanta Journal-Constitution , 3/11). However, Dr. Peter Leone, HIV medical director at the North Carolina health department, said that the federal government has "done little" to address the outbreak and no additional funding has been given to Southern health agencies, according to the AP/Sun . He added, "I'm mortified more isn't being done. It suggests apathy at the federal level." Leone said, "There's no way we've diagnosed all the infections. We have every reason to believe there's continuing ongoing transmission."

Across the South
Approximately 12 HIV cases from the study were linked to college campuses in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., according to the AP/Sun (AP/Las Vegas Sun , 3/10). The researchers said that the cases "represent an outbreak with a distinct beginning and not simply a steady state of HIV transmission" because of the sharp increase in the number of new HIV cases "in just a few years." Lisa Hightow, lead researcher of the study, said, "We believe that this may not be unique to college students or to North Carolina but speaks more to transmission of HIV among young black men in the Southeastern states" ( Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report , 2/11).

However, Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick, director of CDC's HIV/AIDS Research Initiative, who participated in the North Carolina study, said that many black people still view HIV as a disease that only affects white gay men and that some of the colleges in North Carolina where cases were discovered were angry that researchers were highlighting the issue. However, Fitzpatrick said that the only way to solve the problem is to discuss HIV/AIDS, which is "a challenge made more difficult because of a lack of adequate federal funding for HIV prevention," according to the Journal-Constitution (Atlanta Journal-Constitution , 3/11).

CDC Response
CDC is "doing the best they can" for the region by providing technical assistance, planning more HIV surveys in North Carolina and establishing intervention programs for young black men who have sex with men, Fitzpatrick said, according to the AP/Sun . However, CDC said that it does not have the funds to launch widespread testing of Southern college students. The agency is calling on other states to conduct research to determine if there are similar outbreaks on other college campuses, Fitzpatrick said, the AP/Sun reports.

She added, "Because of the way we pigeonhole people in this society, we don't think of college students as being at risk for HIV" and therefore "prevention efforts have not focused heavily on college campuses," which are "actually an important place to implement prevention activities." But she said, "The overall problem is that CDC funding has been cut. We need money from Washington to trickle down to us so we can help North Carolina" ( AP/Las Vegas Sun , 3/10).

U.S. catching up to US on gay marriage

The new generation is leading the way-----according to a new poll by the Washington Post, Americans are coming around.

Many U.S. Youth Abroad are Denied the Right to Vote

The right to vote is given to all American citizens... or so we would like to think...

What's the dilly?
American youth oversees are being denied the right to vote.

---

A right to vote: Many U.S. youths abroad are denied
Meg Bortin/IHT
March 9, 2004

PARIS Many overseas Americans - possibly thousands - may not be able to vote in this year's presidential election because of an omission during the latest round of U.S. electoral reform, according to U.S. officials and organizations representing Americans abroad.

Click here for more

Bush, Kerry & Nader
We'll try to follow the polls here throughout the election. The Washington Post has a new poll out:

===
Support for Bush Falls On Economy and Iraq

President Bush, the target of months of criticism during the Democratic primary season, has seen public support fall to the lowest level of his presidency for his performance on the economy and the situation in Iraq, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll has found.
...
As a result of these doubts, Bush narrowly trails likely Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry by 4 percentage points, 48 to 44 percent, among registered voters in a hypothetical presidential matchup. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, an independent, claims 3 percent. Of a dozen policy areas, Kerry leads Bush in eight, including the economy, education and health care, while Bush leads only in the war on terrorism. The two candidates are virtually tied in the other three: Iraq, same-sex marriage and civil liberties.

In a bit of good news for Bush, Nader is drawing essentially all of his support from Kerry, who leads Bush by 9 percentage points in a two-way matchup with the president -- an indication Nader could play the spoiler for Democrats in 2004 as he did four years ago. Underscoring that potential, nearly two-thirds of Democrats opposed Nader's decision to run, while nearly half of all Republicans supported his move.

New law would give partial vote to 14-17 year olds in California

The article is here. (Registration required).

SACRAMENTO — A California state senator proposed Monday that teenagers be allowed to vote at age 14. Sort of.

Teens in California would be able to cast one-quarter of a vote at age 14 and half a vote at age 16 under a constitutional amendment proposed by Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara). The voting age is now 18.

Film Your Issue
This is really cool!!

http://www.filmyourissue.org

---

FILM YOUR ISSUE !

We are inviting undergraduate students to create 30-second films -- live action or animation.

Homelessness, pollution, racism, sexism, animal rights, freedom of speech, gay marriage. Whatever burns for YOU.

We want bold, truthful, innovative. Make us laugh, cry, think, get angry, learn something.

We want your voice in the national dialogue of who and where we are as a country and culture.

Ten national finalists will be invited to Hollywood to meet leading film industry executives and agents in Hollywood at Dreamworks, CAA, Disney and elsewhere, and offered internships in media/entertainment organizations like Film Society at Lincoln Center, ChickFlicks Productions at New Line Cinema and Rhino Films.

We are in discussions to have the winning films shown on cable, theaters and internet.

The deadline for submissions is April 15, 2004.

A little late---but pick your Presidential candidate?

Okay, so this is a little late, considering that the Democratic presidential primary is now decided and the Republican primary always has been. But check this out and tell us what you think. We're thinking about doing something like this. Does it really work for you?

Want to hear what you think. Send an email (see top right) or use the comments.

The President Match.

Go ahead, don't vote

Tucker Carlson, a conservative CNN pundit, today on a live chat with Washington Post.com:

===
Takoma Park, Md.: How much of an impact will young people likely have on
this election, in your opinion?

I can't help but think Dean's appeal to young people backfired, and "scared
away" older voters.

Tucker Carlson: The percentage of young people who vote has declined
steadily since 1972. I don't think it'll change much this year. Which is
fine with me. I'm just as happy to let people who read a daily newspaper
choose my government.
===

You know, that's an opinion we hear from time to time.

For example, the 25 year old Yale graduate who made the "VOTING IS FOR OLD PEOPLE" T-shirt said that anyone who would "take instruction" from a t-shirt shouldn't vote anyway.

I think its just nonsense that the average young person is not "informed" enough to participate in choosing the elected officials that govern their lives.

By that standard, we should just reinstitute poll taxes and tests.