Niger
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 07/28/2005 - 22:46I received a private message on Omidyar about Niger and wrote the following blog post over on the DeStefano Blog
I joined the DeStefano campaign because I wanted to find ways to help make our state and our world a better place. My job is to help people learn why Mayor DeStefano should be the next Governor of Connecticut. It is to help people become more involved in working together to elect Mayor DeStefano Governor and thereby help make our state a better place.
This evening, however, I am struck by news I am hearing from Niger. No, I am not talking about Yellow Uranium and whether or not people in Washington have abused power to destroy their critics, I am talking about drought and famine in Niger. Read the CNN article or the BBC article.
So, for those of you who want raw meat of insider politics in Connecticut, I apologize, this post is about the broader aspects of being part of a caring community that is concerned not only for our state, but also for people around the world who do not have enough to eat. Please, do what you can to help.
Participatory Politics
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 07/25/2005 - 23:40(Originally published at Greater Democracy)
I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
Thus starts Joni Mitchell’s song, For Free. She goes on to contrast this experience with a street musician,
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet, for free
As I drove off to work on the DeStefano campaign, I heard news about a gubernatorial candidate in neighboring New York State. Eliot Spitzer announced today that Sony/BMG has “agreed today to stop providing lavish gifts, free trips and other giveaways in exchange for airtime for its artists on radio stations” according to a New York Times article.
All of this provided an interesting contrast to Falcon Ridge, a folk music festival I attend every summer. Some of my favorite musicians perform there regularly, such as The Kennedys. They present the other side of the musical equation. Sony/BMG may have to pay millions to get people to listen to J. Lo, but people who love music make pilgrimages to camp out in the hot sun to listen to groups like The Kennedys.
Participatory Democracy
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 07/25/2005 - 22:43I’ve been pretty busy with the DeStefano campaign recently, and haven’t been writing here as much as I should. I have been struggling with whether or not to put posts from the DeStefano campaign here, the way I have put posts to other sites. So far, I haven’t put many such posts here.
However, today, I will include one of my recent posts. As many of you know, we spent last weekend at Falcon Ridge, a folk festival we go to each year. As I sat and listened to the music, I thought a lot of participation in politics and participation in music. I hope to write more on this soon.
Draft Marge
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 07/15/2005 - 13:25I just checked and the DraftMarge.org is available.
What am I talking about? Check out this blog post
Random Notes
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 07/12/2005 - 11:02I've been pretty busy recently and this blog has suffered as a result. Things are a little slower today, so let me take a few moments to highlight various things.
I got an email pointing me to the relaunch of Global Voices Online. I encourage everyone to take a brief moment and check out that site.
I also spent some time organizing my pictures on Flickr, some of which make it over to this blog through their blogger API.
When I get a free moment, I'm kicking around various audio blogging, SIP, Skype, podcast, etc. toys. I hope to make comments on that later.
