Progressive future

The sun is still shining! The grass is still green! Puppies are still adorable! Whew.

Despite the gloom and doom predictions, Congress’ failure to pass Paulson’s original bailout plan yesterday did not lead to the immediate implosion of our economy. In fact, the stock market was up this morning. So I think we can now safely set aside the threats of those who tried to frighten us into accepting an awful bailout plan. It seems that there is a brief time for us to address this problem fairly, effectively and responsibly.

So what should we do?

Let’s seize this opportunity to propose a truly progressive solution. We should tell Congress, and especially the House leadership, that we need a fresh, thoughtful alternative centered on the following key principles:

1. Do more to make Wall Street, not working families, bear the brunt of the financial burden.

2. Adopt stronger rules to protect us from banks that are “too big to fail” and the reckless, over-the-top borrowing that left our financial system teetering on the edge.

3. Do more to help struggling families stay in their homes -- including allowing bankruptcy judges to let homeowners negotiate new terms for their mortgages.

4. Commit to the public investments that we know will pay off for America – including clean energy, health care and education.

If you support these goals, please go to Progressive Future's website and send an email to Nancy Pelosi telling her that you expect a fair, progressive solution to this crisis.

We should take action to make our economy stronger; but let’s not leave behind our values as we do it.

News you can use:

• According to research commissioned by EMILY'S List, Obama leads McCain among women aged 18 - 27 by 30 points (62 - 32%).
• If you haven't seen it already, The Washington Post has a very good piece profiling Tripple O: Obama's Online Operation.
• Allison Fine on why oldschool nonprofits need Millennials, but Millennials don't necessarily need them.
• Rachel Maddow needs help coming up with a name for her new show. Go give her good suggestions.
• Ashwin Madia, one of the youngest congressional candidates in the country, blasts Joe Lieberman on Iraq. Ashwin is one of the young candidates endorsed by the Young Voter PAC.
• Rock the Vote is teaming up with X Box Live to register voters who use the game console. Next time you get booted out of Halo for betraying the jackass flinging insults at you, go to the Dashboard and get your vote on.
• The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the format for each of the three debates. Some free-form discussion periods could be interesting. The internet stuff sounds lame. I'm sticking to my original review: wasted opportunity.
• Heather Smith offers a brief history of Texting in Rock the Vote's voter registration campaigns.
• Howard Dean was in Nevada recently trying to rally young voters around the Democratic Party.
• Check out this widget from Progressive Future. Pretty cool: