Youth Vote in 2006 - Pretty Sucky

Civic organizations spent tens of millions of dollars running up to the 2006 elections to increase voter turnout. Groups like Rock The Vote, League of Pissed Off Voters, The National Hip Hop Political Convention and others did everything from producing music concerts to creating online videos and ironic tee-shirts. The good news? All that work bumped up the overall turnout from 2002 by 3 percentage points. The bad news - ONLY 26% of young people 18 to 29 voted in the cities and suburbs. What the @%!*** is the matter with you numbnuts? There's a war going on, in case you hadn't noticed. Congrats to the 26% who showed up to vote and shame on the other three quarters! Of course, us adults are only somewhat better - a little over a half us turned out to vote. We've ALL got to do much better in 2008.

Thomas Jefferson Center Says "Howl" for Freedom of Expression

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression is a unique organization, devoted solely to the defense of free expression in all its forms. While its charge is sharply focused, the Center’s mission is broad. It is as concerned with the musician as with the mass media, with the painter as with the publisher, and as much with the sculptor as the editor.

To commenorate the 50th anniversary of the obscenity trial of poet Allen Ginsberg for his work, "Howl." It ws 50 years ago that his work was cleared in a San Francisco courtroom. The center has created a public work of art that also serves as a free expression podium.Designed by architects Peter O’Shea and Robert Winstead, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression has created a tangible and enduring embodiment of the concept of free expression. Located directly in front of Charlottesville’s City Hall and beside the city’s amphitheater, the monument consists primarily of a two-sided wall of Buckingham slate, approximately 54 feet long (108’ of writing space) by 7.5 feet high, on which members of the public may express their views, in chalk, on any subject they choose. Permanently inscribed on one segment of the wall is the text of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Check out their online exhibit covering censorship in the arts - "Art on Trial." The material has extensive coverage of art-based political issues, including the controversy surrounding the student exhibit at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, "What is the Proper Way to Display a Flag" (1989) by Dread Scott.

Register to Vote - Get Young People Involved!

Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to energize and empower every eligible 18-year-old in America to register and vote in the 2008 presidential election. Declare Yourself will work closely with the most popular online destinations; young celebrities, sports figures and fashion designers; popular television shows; mobile content providers; retailers; video gaming; and media outlets, to drive millions of young people, particularly first-time voters, to www.DeclareYourself.com to register to vote.

Declare Yourself will also be in the classroom, partnering with the Close Up Foundation to educate, engage and inspire first-time voters to register and vote. Declare Yourself partners include Yahoo! (Premier Online Information Partner) MySpace (Premier Social Networking Partner), Clear Channel, Comedy Central, Google, YouTube, Friendster, Evite, Good Magazine and Good Search. The Close Up Foundation, Declare Yourself's education partner, is launching a First Vote educational initiative to reach high school seniors and teachers nationwide.

President Playwright Issues Wise, Funny Autobiography

Vaclav Havel is one of my creative citizen role models. A celebrated poet and playwright, he was jailed in his native country, Czechoslovakia, for his human rights work. After the fall of Communism he was elected as the first post-Communist President and served from 1989 to 1992.


A poet. playwright, activist President. Sounds like a great resume.


Now he has published a new memoir of his time in office, "To The Castle and Back."
Read the L. A. Times review.