This and that for your average activist --

Confusing similarities clarified -- Change.org, a website filled with ways activists can get involved in good causes all around the world, vs. Change.gov, the Obama-Biden Transition team's official website, vs. BarackObama.com, his old campaign website, now offering "Your Ticket To History," a chance to donate $5 and perhaps get a ticket to the Inauguration.

What about Politico? Does it offer a good source of news for someone interested in valid information?

1. The progressive blogosphere has an ongoing debate about whether Politico.com is "too Republican." I have that same debate with myself every day as I open their e-mail newsletter. For example, Alexander Burns' "Top 10 people we'll miss in 2009" (12/30/08) is illustrated with an AP photo of Dick Cheney. But the piece profiles both Dems and Repubs in a pretty even-handed way, some of whom happen to be my own favorites, too. So I guess I'll keep my subscription for another week or so.


2. Upon closer inspection of Politico, it seems that it is the small details that are subtle labels/flags and attention-getters that bother me most. Here is a a perfect example of their conflict-ridden news style. "Protests interrupt Obama's paradise." It is a story about a few women displaying signs along his route in Hawaii. They in no way appear to be antagonistic, but only seem to want to express their views, something that our president-elect campaigned for. To quote from the story:
   

". . . about 10 protesters gathered near the security checkpoint down the street.

It is the first time Obama has received anything but praise and cheers during his 12-day Hawaiian vacation, which ends on Thursday.

Some of the demonstrators carried signs declaring “War is Terror" and "Free Palestine.”

. . . They even had a press release that said, “We call on President-elect Obama to place the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the top of his list of priorities of his new administration.”

The larger protest story, and probably more significant because it counts thousands of genuine protesters around the globe, comes from today's Common Dreams Newsletter: "Protesters Worldwide Keep Up Pressure Over Gaza." The situation in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza seems to have galvanized activists in a way that has not happened since the conflict in Lebanon. Meanwhile, the United States government feels as if it is in limbo. I wonder if it feels that way to the rest of the world?

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.