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Netroots Nation Debrief: #VoteOutTheReligiousRight

Michael Rogers Founder, NetrootsConnect.org Photo by Mel Green Flickr/creativecommons

Starting at LGBT NetrootsConnect (a pre-conference forum and workshop), I found a group for a morning and afternoon roundtable who, like me and others, self-select the subject of the negative influence of religion in law and policy and the religious right's erasure of church-state separation. This dialog continued in various forms throughout Netroots Nation, helping to identify more people who support the idea of #VoteOutTheReligiousRight. This issue is so big and so important, we remain committed to continuing our discussion and translating talk into real actions for change. Shortly, I will be starting a google+ group ...

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in Campaigns / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Hashtags Breed Hashtags at Netroots Nation 2015

by Dan Klein Downtown Rochester, NY Flickr/creativecommons

I came to Netroots Nation this year after a 2-year absence in part to align with other activists and writers who are interested in ending the religious right's erasure of church-state separation. We started with the too long hashtag, #VoteOutTheReligiousRight, presenting ideas for precipitating mass resignations through the exposure of dozens, even hundreds, of our elected and appointed officials who hold loyalties higher than the oaths of office they took when entering office, and their paper trail of ethical and financial misconduct because of those loyalties. Our first tweet with some new hashtags was heavily engaged:     Help us Read More›

in Campaigns / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

The Errant Children of the Political Religious Right

by Mindaugas Danys Flickr/creative commons

You don't need a degree in psychology to dissect the blatant immaturity of the political religious right. If we can separate for a moment the social damage they do, we can see, much like a parent would see, that their insufferability is a child's call for help. As a group, they remind me of the first time Dan Massey and I left our then 2-year old son with friends of ours who had come over for some reciprocal date night babysitting. The minute we returned, our little boy went to several different electrical outlets, just pointing, as if to say, ...

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in Campaigns / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Index for the #VoteOutTheReligiousRight Campaign

Flickr/creative commons

A new campaign will be launched this week in Phoenix at Netroots Nation 2015 called #VoteOutTheReligiousRight. It is the culminating action of a month-long expose of the secret religious cult that drives the political religious right's science-denying and punishing laws against women, the poor, people of color, immigrants, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans folks. No matter what our cause, we now have at hand evidence of ethical and financial violations of dozens of elected and appointed officials. They can be voted out (or for judges like Antonin Scalia, impeached) within a single election cycle, before November 8, ...

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in Campaigns / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

The Insanity of the Religious Right

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"Religious liberty – the right to worship freely, and safely – is evidence of a thriving democracy. Roof threatened that because he first threatened the equal rights of black Americans. It’s not the other way around." Detached From Reality, Religious Right Claims Charleston Massacre is Proof of Anti-Christian Bias (Sarah Jones, Americans United for Separation of Church and State)

We always have to tip our hat to Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (au.org) in hitting the nail on the head. And thank authors such as Jeff ...

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in Campaigns / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

One Word To Legalize Prostitution

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The desire for love, for touch, for compassion, and for companionship and the improvement of physical health doesn’t have and shouldn’t have any boundaries or interference by governments or religions because our erotic senses are foundational to our connection with others and the cosmic technology around us. The above is an excerpt of a post I wrote in June, entitled, "Voluntary sex work is destined to evolve into a legitimate Sexual Healing Industry." As organizations make way for this discussion, some having worked on legalizing prostitution for more than a decade, I offer the words, "sexual healing" ...

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in Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

TODAY: Take Action for Net Neutrality

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Last night, President Obama, in his State of the Union speech, made clear that net neutrality is important to everyone throughout the world. "I intend to protect a free and open internet, extend its reach to every classroom, and every community, and help folks build the fastest networks, so that the next generation of digital innovators and entrepreneurs have the platform to keep reshaping our world." We already know that if we don't continue to have unfettered and free access to this most important utility, the voices of so many people will be unnecessarily silenced, bringing us further under the ...

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in Campaigns / Events / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

The King Center

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. November 15, 1964 Flickr/creative commons

Hope you all saw my hopeful letter to Martin, yesterday, but today I want to ask people to spend a little time further investigating the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and challenge everyone to get busy if they are not already in furthering his precepts though activism. One of the best places to advance your education is The Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, known as The King Center. Here you will find thousands of digitized documents pertaining to his legacy which established and newly minted activists will find enlightening and empowering. Dr. King's life and teachings are ...

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in Campaigns / End Police Bias / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Take Heart, Evidence Pouring in Hourly (Part 1)

Photo by Håkan Dahlström Flickr/creative commons

The far right believes they have a chance to remake the world into the christian, capitalist theocracy they have always wanted.

Even liberal media says, “If they win this election cycle they will do things that would reverse history for 75 years!”

But none of that’s going to happen.

Just before the U.S. Election a week ago, I put forth the theory that non-Republicans should not fear, in fact we ought to take heart -- that the probable Republican takeover the Senate and their increased footprint in the House were going to be good things for progressives. This is the right time in history ...

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in Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Before the American polls close, NON-republicans take heart

Flickr/creative commons

The far right believes they have a chance to remake the world into the christian, capitalist theocracy they have always wanted. Even liberal media says, "If they win this election cycle they will do things that would reverse history for 75 years!" But none of that's going to happen. There are only two possible outcomes. Either . . . The non-republican ground game will send the right-wing nuts an important rebuke. Everyone who doesn't subscribe to their particular brand of religious and capitalist lunacy are non-republicans, Democrats or not, including those that are conservatives but not crazy. This by far larger majority will hopefully reject the worst of ...

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in Events / Grassroots / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments