i think that if we don’t push for a censure on this president before the fall so we can expose the spineless mass to target in the fall we are un poco bastardo. now you know i have a weakness for bastards - but not for people who can act and don’t.

my sister contributed today’s post heading. she’s a Hard Core Runner and thus keeps many dope quotes about success nearby. she’s also getting to be quite the kickboxer, and i got to spend hours poking all her dope new muscles in wonder. she was the perfect soft place to fall after the intense New Organizing Institute Inaugaural Training. altho i hated a lot of the throwback powerpoint training style, a lot of the content was great and the attendees were excellent, excellent. lots of fam in there. also got to see a cousin who grew up in panama and is majoring in spanish - maybe she can help me learn a language finally!

april and autumn get to hang out this weekend while i’m in cali. april is turning 24 and i so wish i could be there - we DO birthdays. i can’t really wrap my head around my sisters aging. i know it is happening, but what it means, that we are passing and leaving behind all clear markers of real youth, when it all still feels so new!

i missed the oscars - was on a plane dreaming of tulle and Terrence. can i admit here for just a second that ‘it’s hard out here for a pimp’ is really catchy? of course…so is crack. so go check davey d’s excellent ranting on what that victory means at www.daveyd.com.

got to sleep with naina last night, my twin star. i love her because she always sees more than one side to things and asks excellent questions and has the best presence ever. she lives in a haunted house on an oakland hill - delightful!

just had another amazing day with the ruckus team - they are so awesome. doing really groundbreaking work redefining what action entails for real folk on the ground. they inspire me in a way that feels new.

oh here’s something a bit large and wieldy (yeah wieldy. what!): i saw the heartbreaker last week and, perhaps - just perhaps - i am not in love anymore. in a good way. my first reaction, walking away after hanging out, was: ‘that was good, no real drama, no confusion, no…no…no crazy overwhelming belly drop? no angst? no breathlessness? no thoughts of the future?’ it was just cool. homey cool. my initial reaction to that was, awesome. and - sad. i’ve loved him so long. feel a bit like a ship with the rope to the dock slipped loose. but i love the ocean, i like being able to see as far as my eye cares to…so…where to now? i wonder if i know contenders for my next great love affair, or if something completely brand new is coming.

the east coast clock is ticking in my backbone…natasha, hottie who loves jay-z the right way, is comin to get me shortly. more ruckus tomorrow and then off to sonoma for rockwood. am i tired? yes. excited? very much so!

don’t forget to do the whole bush video spreading thing - www.indyvoter.org.

also our blog is being updated there, and i write for it, as well as dani and more authors are coming! so go check it and spread it. kisses!

whew. quickie here:

1. i wrote a really long post the other night about how when people ask me do i really think the president can be impeached off of this video it makes me cringe. the larger strategy, which is to show the american people how completely dysfunctional and inhumane this govt is outside of any partisan affiliation, and engage people in the struggle for their own local freedom and self-determination, demand a govt that provides, (not provokes and then abandons)…and so on went my thoughts. i may edit and post it somewhere. but in general, i don’t stay up nights calling and emailing and writing for the fun of it. yes i think sharing that video and what it means with people will help towards change on every issue at every level.

2. last night when my sis and i got home from her early birthday dinner i somehow dropped my wallet on the street and didn’t find it till this morning! it was fully intact. i need even more sleep, though i finally got a full night last night…

3. in trying to rerecord my voicemail message today i heard a whitney houston song on the car radio so i recorded my piece, then held the phone up to the speaker right during the ‘don’t you wanna dance, say you wanna dance’ part and rocked out. till april told me that was actually the heater. chale why!

4. running to hop on a plane to cali tonight, hope to sleep the whole way, then see naina and jessamyn and others - bay folk - holla if you can chill tomorrow! i spent the last two nights at my surrogate grandparents house using their bathtub to sit in steaming hot water and release, you know you want these relaxed hugs.

5. spent yesterday at the progressive dialogue - multigenerational, multi-racial, multi everything group. it was a bit exhausting. sometimes folks just need to fight i think, so they can release whatever tension they have and keep it moving. but a great idea came out of the reverend hagler, so fingers crossed we get more coordination on the left. we will see. i was also excited by how willing leaders of the hip-hop community were this past week to come together and respond to the videos and represent for our folks in the gulf.

visions and visions. peace

so i’m on a one track mind right now - working working. this, i feel, is a key moment in which we will either step to the plate or let another opportunity to push for change pass. all i am doing now is reporting the email is sent out! love y’all, adrienne

I’m working with a number of networks to try and get together the
beginnings of a coordinated plan to get this video in front of folks,
framed the way we want it, and get folks to ACT.

1. GOAL: To Get and KEEP this Video in the MEDIA until we get
what we WANT

Note: Remember, this is a short-term plan. So you will notice that
there is a missing piece here: the "what we want" question remains
mostly unanswered. Do we want to censure/impeach Bush? Do we want to
get a just
reconstruction of New Orleans? Are we ok with having more than one
want? This needs and deserves more discussion. I know you all have your
long-term plans, but I think this short term action towards
impeachment  moves forward all of our long-term agendas.

2. ASAP, get the video out to people

Not enough people have seen the video. And whenever people see it, they
should be seeing it WITH OUR MESSAGE in mind.

The good people at ColorOfChange.org are letting us use their website
to house this online content, and they’ve launched a petition to
censure Bush.  (Sign it: http://www.colorofchange.org/bush/?org=l)

ALSO: The full-length AP video is not currently available online. We
will get
the full-length AP video and put it online so that people can find it!

3. Actions You Can Take Immediately to Spread the Video:

If you have a base that you can organize online or offline, here are
some ideas for action you can take right now. Remember, every day and
every media cycle counts, so the sooner the better! Build with outreach
over the weekend and push on Monday, Tuesday as we prepare to Welcome
the Liar Home from his Worldwide Avoidance Tour.

Get the VIDEO out into the world in all the following ways:

- Find it/watch it at
http://www.colorofchange.org/bush/video.html
- Download and print the flyer at
http://www.indyvoter.org/downloads/fully_prepared.jpg and make as many
copies as you can and put it up everywhere, take it to the club, the
barbershop, the street corner, the diner - the digital divide is yours
to cross.
- Re-Post on video sites, properly tagged (Katrina, Bush, Lie
Video, Bush Sex Scandal Video, etc)
- Host Screenings in your Home, at Your Office (Around Your
Desk), at Public Venues
- Post the transcript on groups, sites, everywhere!
- BLOG it Blog it yourself, post
the video link on other people’s blogs, DEMAND ATTENTION
- Do you have an L.A. network? The OSCARS will bring media to your town
this week - holla if you have ideas! DO YOU HAVE CONTACT WITH JON
STEWART? THINK THINK THINK…

Suggestions for your organizing efforts:

- A frame is in the works: "He saw it coming.  He chose
to do nothing."
- Preface your outreach with a personal message that will enforce the
frame and let folks know why
this matters to you, to them, to the work they do, to their families
- Where you feel people are ready, push for folks to take action to
CENSURE the president. It’s fast, its precise, it comes from Congress
{and on a spin note if they DON’T censure him that is another count
against a plethora of Congresspeople we will oust this fall}
- Exert particular pressure on mainstream and more mainstream
outlets/networks

4. BREAKING NEWS

The right has started a counter-attack on John Conyers, the Michigan
Congressman who has a resolution on the floor to move for impeachment,
its all over Fox News this morning. Nothing is unrelated when it comes
to these dark times my friends!

THIS ATTACK ON CONYERS SHOWS HOW SCARED THIS ADMINISTRATION IS OF HIS
WORK! MAKE THE CONNECTION. TAKE ACTION.

Interesting secondary media angles:

Did you know AP happened to release the video on the same day they
released their new video-streaming tool? What a coincidence.

And Jay Bennish, a high school teacher in Aurora Colorado, is being
attacked for voicing what I personally believe is a crucial critique in
his classroom - watch this story develop as a way to cap teachers, and
if you are a teacher: MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS SEE AND DISCUSS THE
VIDEO.

5. Good News: we’re getting heard

nancy pelosi calling for congressional investigation
front page: http://www.washingtonpost.com

harry reid demands independent investigation
http://giveemhellharry.com/page/petition/katrina

We just spoke to Conyers office and they said the press release was all
over the hill yesterday!
We touched base with folks in Barbara Lee’s office, in Cynthia
McKinney’s office, organizations and media networks across the country
- WHO CAN YOU CALL? Alert Them!!

6. Support Katrina Victims in Washington March 14th!

Our folks are being kicked out of hotels/housing, kicked off of
unemployment - Demand Justice:

Media Alert  - For Immediate Release

KATRINA SURVIVORS, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, CLERGY, COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS, STUDENTS AND NATIONAL ORGANIZERS TO MARCH FROM CONGRESS TO WHITE HOUSE TO DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY FROM GEORGE  BUSH AND RALLY FOR JUSTICE FOR THE DISPLACED

WHEN:   March 14, 2006 1:00 p.m. – 12 MidnightWHERE: - Press Conference: Rayburn House Office Bldg, Rm. 2237 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.- Mardi Gras Style March for Justice:Capitol South Metro Stop to the White House              2:00 - 3:00 p.m.- Rally & Vigil at the White House: Lafayette Park               3:00 -11:59 p.m. 

For More Information, please contact: Diane Shamis 845-661-3754 or 202-545-0113    

ok ok it’s not a sex scandal, it’s not bush and paris hilton and kid rock on tape. its so much worse.

www.colorofchange.org/bush/video.html

last night i sat in this hotel with a crucial core of organizers all developing responses to the bush video release, including biko from the league/campaign against violence, ian and ying-sun from color of change, eli and zack and tom from moveon.org, renna from the bay and others. for a second it looked like we might get sort of a penultimate coordinated message with moveon and color of change and various hip-hop and organizing networks, but moveon had to do their own thing. different base i guess. but the rest of us got it together:

www.colorofchange.org/bush/?org=l

Sign up to Censure the President, step onto the path towards impeachment. I’m exhausted right now, was up until 4am trying to get stuff together - it takes an insane amount of phone calls and writing and reading and talking to get something coordinated but I cannot overemphasize how much more movement building comes from building campaigns and movements with as many people at the table, aware of the table, as possible.

Now I have to take a moment for my heart. Like I told Biko and Renna last night, I am not surprised. I don’t have it in me to be surprised anymore by what this government fails to say and do when it comes to protecting the lives of damn near anyone on the planet. But surprise and shock are different. Truth is often shocking, emotionally. It’s so much sadder, such a more deeply spiritual offense, to have seen the look on Bush’s face at that crucial moment, when acknowledging juxtaposed to the faces of people in New Orleans that we all saw on television, that I saw when I visited. Grandmothers were left to crawl up to their attics. Prisoners were left locked up to die by guards who knew them, who built with them daily. Chaos. People were evacuated by emergency workers into the Superdome, which they knew might be a deathtrap. And then days passed, Bush vacation days, empty days.

It’s unforgivable.

The Hip-hop community is coming together, make sure you actually sign this one.

http://indyvoter.org/article.php?id=604

Much love y’all…