organizing for action

Organizing for Action acting to avoid organizing over #Syria.

The awkward position in which progressive allies of President Barack Obama find themselves can be seen clearly in the actions of his former political arm, now called Organizing for Action, which despite the need for activists to lobby Congress to support the president’s call for military strikes, is essentially voting “present.”

Capitol Hill is all but singularly focused on Obama’s push for congressional authorization to use force in Syria, and the president has canceled a trip to California next week to devote his time and energy to lobbying lawmakers.

But in his weekly call with grassroots supporters, held this week on Tuesday, the executive director of OFA, Jon Carson, said of Syria, “OFA isn’t planning to actively organize on this with so much going on on other issues.”

Continue reading Organizing for Action acting to avoid organizing over #Syria.

#OFA voting drive organizer guilty of Oberlin College racist vandalism spree?

So says the Daily Caller:

One of the two students removed from Oberlin College earlier this year for allegedly circulating virulently racist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay messages around campus is an ardent leftist and committed supporter of President Obama, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

Dylan Bleier, one of the two students, hosted a voter registration drive in a Walmart parking lot sponsored by Organizing for Action, the community organizing project that advances the agenda of President Obama.

[snip]

Bleier also listed his participation in a group called Ithaca White Allies Against Structural Racism.

Continue reading #OFA voting drive organizer guilty of Oberlin College racist vandalism spree?

BWAHAHAHAHAAHAH.

BWHAAHAHAHAAHAAA…

An arbitrator has denied [Organizing for Action’s] effort to obtain the domain name organizingforaction.net, registered by a quick-moving computer technician in Castle Rock, Colo., on Jan. 18, when the news broke that Obama’s former advisors were launching the group.

Derek Bovard proceeded to configure the site so all the hits were directed to the website for the National Rifle Assn. It was one of three domain names for Organizing for Action that the group failed to register before it launched.

“If they don’t like it, they can buy it from me,” Bovard told the Los Angeles Times at the time.

BWAHHAAHAHAHAAAHAHAA.

Democratic party officials are wondering who the sucker is at the table.

Look it up.

Quick background: Organizing for America apparently has no intention whatsoever about sharing its data or resources with the Democratic party (I’d say ‘the rest of the Democratic party,’ except that’s an open question right now). Ed Morrissey focused on the topline revelation there – which is a pretty honking huge topline – so I’ll note this:

Several DNC members said in interviews that they weren’t told about Organizing for Action’s formation until it was publicly announced in January. They said that when they’d complained, they were chastised and told by national and state party leaders not to speak publicly. Most spoke to McClatchy only on the condition of anonymity in order to talk candidly about the internal party dispute.

Continue reading Democratic party officials are wondering who the sucker is at the table.

Organizing For Action Too unorganized to secure its own domain name.

As God is my witness, I was trying to be nice about Obama for America / Organizing For America / Organizing For Action / Oafs Farting Around / whatever else it is that they’re calling themselves these days – anyway, I was trying to be nice about the fact that the latest iteration of the group was having trouble getting itself up and running, or even upright. Partially because even the best led group in the world can have tremendous difficulties with its launch (so imagine how much trouble OFA’s going to be in, organizationally speaking!) – and partially because the risk of karmic backlash was just too high for casual mockery. I’d need to have something special happen before I was prepared to point and laugh.

:pause:

This will do. Continue reading Organizing For Action Too unorganized to secure its own domain name.

Ever hear of the digger wasp?

Fascinating critters, if admittedly an excellent source for nightmare fuel:

Wasps of the genus Sphex (commonly known as digger wasps) are cosmopolitan predators of the family Sphecidae that sting and paralyze prey insects. There are over 130 known digger wasp species. In preparation for egg laying, they construct a protected “nest” (some species dig nests in the ground, while others use pre-existing holes) and then stock it with captured insects. Typically, the prey are left alive, but paralyzed by wasp toxins. The wasps lay their eggs in the provisioned nest. When the wasp larvae hatch, they feed on the paralyzed insects.

Thank goodness that insects aren’t sentient, as far as we know: the thought of a free-willed, self-aware individual trapped and paralyzed, watching as something alien literally battened on its flesh – well, I’m not ashamed to say that the thought of such a thing gives me the chills. Especially since it’s all done in the dark, where nobody can see. And what makes it truly horrific is that while the ‘host’ doesn’t know what’s happening to it, the observer does, adding a grim inevitability to the coming proxy anagnorisis… Continue reading Ever hear of the digger wasp?