Making a Difference: sometimes it takes a lot, sometimes it doesn't

For those of you who weren't obsessively checking the web last night for the latest news on the Connecticut Senate race: LAMONT WON!!! For those of you who don't know Ned Lamont: LIEBERMAN LOST!!! The grassroots progressive beat Bush's favorite DINO (Dem in name only) and will be the Democratic candidate for Senate.

Lieberman is planning on running against Lamont as an independent, and if he does, he might win, but even if that happens, this is a big win. It sends a message to all the waffling Dems in the Senate and House that the grassroots, netroots, progressive activist have come to play and we're playing to win.

Now what Lamont is doing is a big effort- it's taking a lot of time and money and courage and most of us don't have the combination of the 3 to do such a thing. But I did something today that only took a couple of minutes, cost me nothing besides cell phone minutes (again, just a couple) and helped create a change for the better.

I called Barbara Boxer and Diane Fienstien and asked if they were supporting Lamont and if they would be willing to ask Lieberman not to run against him. Boxer had already offered to campaign for Lamont (hoping to win back points will her supporters who were pissed off by her campaigning for Lieberman in the primary- but hey at least she's doing it) DiFi's staff member told me that she hadn't made a statement, and hadn't decided whether or not she ever would make a statement. Nothing like strong leadership in one's Senator to fill one's heart with pride! I left a message that as a member of two Democratic Clubs, both of whom support Ned Lamont, I would hope that DiFi would be a true Dem and support Lamont. I mentioned that many Dem clubs have mixed feelings about supporting Di Fi and this might send the message that it was OK to support non Dems in the general election. So that was at 9:45. I then e-mailed my East Bay for Democracy group and reported on what I had learned and urged them to call DiFi and pressure her to support Lamont. When my friend Jim called sometime before 11:15 DiFi had come out with a statement that she would "support the Democratic candidate" So my call, joined with many other similar calls moved her in the right direction.

The bad thing about having spineless leaders is, well there are lots of bad things about having spineless leaders.... but my point is, the GOOD thing about having spineless leaders is that it takes very little pushing to make them bend your way. So push a little and see how fun being powerful can be!.

An inconvenient post

Ever since I saw an inconvenient truth the weekend before last, I've been meaning to post about global warming, but frankly it's a daunting subject.

So I'm just going to say go see the movie. I was worried it would depress me, but it was pretty inspiring. The part I found most hopeful was when Gore showed how we have all the knowledge and resources to solve this crisis. All we lack is the political will. So that's what we need to work on.

For ideas on what you can do to be part of the solution go to the movie's take action page and the stop global warming website

To help build up the political will, you can:

Send a wake-up call to Washington with Environmental Defense

Sign the League of Conservation Voters' petition demanding Global Warming leadership now

Californians can ask the governator to support a mandatory cap on global warming pollution

You can also help candidates who will be part of the solution replace politicos who are a part of the problem. Donate the time and money that you can, host a house party where your friends can find out about the candidate and possibly inspire them to donate their time and money. The candidate I've been giving most of my time and money to is Jerry McNerney, an expert on renewable energy working to get Dick Pombo, environmental enemy #1, out of office.

You can also e-mail these ideas to your friends or send them to this blog.

Just do something. It feels much better than just stressing out.