Take Me to your Leader

Everyone is making a big deal out of Scott Brown's recent victory in the Massachusetts senate race, but I can't figure out why.

The Democrats have the presidency and large majorities in both houses of Congress. One party having this level of control is not unheard of, but it certainly is not the norm historically.

The loss of a filibuster-proof majority is significant, but this supermajority only existed for about six months anyway, after Al Franken took his Senate seat in July.

When Obama ran his campaign, he was very clear about his priorities. In fact, much of his plan to help the economy included dealing with the long-term issues of health care, energy and education.

To summarize, Democrats won the presidency and increased their numbers in both houses of Congress after clearly telling us what their plans were. Then they started working on those plans, but found it hard to get agreement on the details. And now a large number of people are ready to dump the Dems before they even get a chance to put their plans in place.

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ABCDEFG Haiti

I'm pretty frazzled these days. As of a couple weeks ago, I'm organizing a fundraiser for the earthquake victims in Haiti.

The event is Feb 19 at the Elks Lodge in Boulder, and you can get all the details and buy tickets here.

The event is a Mardi Gras party, with live music, food, a silent auction, and lots more, all benefiting the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund. Tickets are $25. I encourage all my readers in Boulder to attend, as it will be amazing fun and is all for a good cause. If you're in town, you won't want to miss it.

It all started a few days after the earthquake. I was on my bike, and while riding the pieces all just took shape in my head. When I got home I started contacting people I know who either were energetic and could help or who knew people who could help.

When I started I doubted that something this big could be pulled together so quickly. But so many people feel strongly about the cause that it's been pretty easy (although the number of details is making my head spin -- and my head isn't the only one spinning).

The venue was pretty easy, I just had to ask. After the first musician, the rest followed. Now we have more than we can fit into the time, and are having to turn away some great acts that want to support us. We discovered a sound engineer who could do the event. One of my friends took charge of the food and found a gourmet chef who was willing to help. My friend's brother is an amazing graphic designer (see above). Donations for the auction are starting to roll in.

It's mostly about the music, food, and auction, but we're also working on a number of other surprises, just to keep it interesting and relevant. We'll have a slide show from Haiti, and hopefully some good guest speakers who can tell us what's been going on there.

So, if I seem a little loopy these days, cut me a little slack. It's all for a good cause.