My letter to Barack Obama

What follows is a copy of a campaign email I received from Obama for America:

To: Kyle Wild
From: Barack Obama
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:31:30 -0400

Kyle --

Last night each of the presidential campaigns reported their third-quarter
fundraising numbers.

The results are clear. We continue to build the largest grassroots
movement in history, but Washington lobbyists and special interests
rallied to help Hillary Clinton out-raise us for the first time.

If we want real change in this country, then we need to prove that
together we are stronger than the lobbyist-driven money machine that has
dominated Washington for too long.

The situation here is simple. We are $2.1 million behind. We must close
that gap right now. I need you to make a donation of $25:

https://donate.barackobama.com/closethegap

Hillary Clinton aggressively seeks money from Washington lobbyists and
special interest PACs. She's even said that these lobbyists represent real
Americans.

She's wrong.

I think it's time to turn the page on that kind of politics, and that's
why I have not accepted a dime from Washington lobbyists and special
interest PACs in this race. We rely on a network of more than 350,000
ordinary people to make us competitive -- more supporters than all the
other Democratic candidates combined.

Washington lobbyists have chosen their candidate and are determined to
provide her with an overwhelming advantage. But you can even up this
contest.

In the face of the most entrenched political machine in Democratic
politics, I believe a movement of ordinary Americans can change our
country. And you can prove that right now.

I need you to make a donation to close the gap:

https://donate.barackobama.com/closethegap

Barack


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Paid for by Obama for America

My reply follows:

[please forward this to Barack Obama]

Barack,

Is it true that you want to appeal to the new, hip, internet-savvy generation of young voters (not to mention online purchasers)?

Then accept payments via PayPal, Google Checkout, Obopay, and Amazon's payment system. This will lower the barrier to entry for transactions on your site, which is well-known as the safest way to get people to spend money on the internet, whether the transaction is charitable or commercial. People like me are happy to donate a second time, but it's redundant and a real pain in the butt for us to reach literally into our pockets (or more probably into our messenger bags) and pull out a piece of plastic, when that information is already more securely accessible on the internet in digital form. In short, we have been spoiled by these and other excellent payment services to expect the best in website User Experience.

Further, by accepting payments from these growing online standards, you can implicitly acknowledge that the new economy's payment is just as good as that of the old.

Best of luck,
Kyle Wild

Any ideas how I can get him to read it?

Amazon, Apple, Google and eBay bashed for weak climate efforts

In a recent scorecard rating corporations on their green efforts, Amazon got a 0/100, eBay and Apple each scored 2. Despite its recent solar campus efforts, $5000 employee incentive for hybrid cars, and a fleet of biodiesel buses that cart thousands of employees to and from San Francisco and other Bay Area spots each day, Google scored a mere 17.

From the Climate Counts scorecard site:

Climate Counts use a 0-to-100 point scale and 22 criteria to determine if companies have:

* MEASURED their climate "footprint"
* REDUCED their impact on global warming
* SUPPORTED (or suggest intent to block) progressive climate legislation
* Publicly DISCLOSED their climate actions clearly and comprehensively

I'm not sure if this is an 'AND' list or an 'OR' list. Either way, one can't help but wonder why a company like Amazon (who received a big fat zero), Apple, or eBay, would allow themselves to qualify on any of these grounds, save 'suggest intent to block legislation'. I could not find evidence that any of them have done so.

Links:
Google Blog: Clean Energy Update
SF Gate Article