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Front Page: Tree-Sitters Climb Down, Quake Shakes Iran, More Calling Suicide Hotline, US Deficit at $438 Billion

CitizenSugar — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:00:28 -0700

Tree-Sitters Climb Down:
After a 21-month occupation, four remaining tree-sitters in an oak grove on the UC Berkeley campus, climbed down and into police custody. School officials had cut off food and water supplies Monday and were prepared to remove the activists using force. The tree-sitters were trying to stop the construction of a $125 million sports center which threatened 42 trees on campus.

Quake Shakes Iran:
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake has hit southern Iran near the site of a large Iranian oil refinery, injuring 22 and killing three. Officials fear the quake damaged older parts in the refinery. Iran is the world's fourth largest oil exporter, the refinery struck processes 320,000 barrels a day.

More Calling Suicide Hotline:
More Americans are calling the government's suicide hotline, 47,000 of them in the last month alone. The line receives a 10 percent increase every month, which the staff attributes to more people knowing about it, than an increase in the suicidal. In 2005, the last year of the data, there were more than 32,600 suicide deaths.
US Deficit at $438 Billion:
The US budget deficit is set to reach $438 billion in 2009 according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. The figure doesn't take into account government costs associated with taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The previous record for deficit was $413 billion in 2004. Last year's deficit was $161 billion.

Part II: Interview With Tom Sheridan, Lobbyist to the Stars

CitizenSugar — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:00:49 -0700

Here's the continuation of our interview with Tom Sheridan, the lobbyist who works with Bono on his ONE campaign to end global poverty. Liberty took in a ONE campaign panel with Ben Affleck, Madeleine Albright, and Tom Daschle at the convention yesterday — more details on that event soon! Here's the continuation of our conversation with Tom:

Who else do you work with?

Julia Ormond is another great example, she's a client of ours who is doing work on human trafficking and slavery, and speaking out before anyone was really talking about. She wasn't only talking about it, but she was immersed, was deeply immersed in the substance of it. You know, what are the major policy issues that need to be launched in order to track people, things like a universal birth certificate. She was on top of that stuff before anyone really wrote about this.

What makes a celebrity seek you out?

To see his answer and more,

Meet a Celebrity Lobbyist Committed to Star-Powered Activism

CitizenSugar — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:45:08 -0700

Parked in the intersection of politics and pop culture is the celebrity activist. There all kinds of ways celebrities get involved in causes from serving on boards to inspiring laws on Capitol Hill, and Tom Sheridan knows how to harness that fame and make the issue the real star. A lobbyist based in DC, he represents Bono and his work on the ONE campaign against global poverty. We sat down with him this week ahead of the big ONE event Kanye is headlining to benefit the organization here at the convention, and we couldn't have been more impressed. Tom Sheridan is using the intersection of fame and charity to inspire real change and a legion of committed issue advocates.

Can celebrities distract from an issue or a message? What are the hallmarks of a happy marriage between celebrity and activism?

It really comes down to two Cs. One is commitment and the other is credibility. I think if we go with alliteration and add in celebrity, I think that is where people will discern the difference between a celebrity using an issue to distract and/or promote themselves. There may be a fair trade in that but it doesn't always sustain a cause, and it doesn't get to the level of a policy change that we look for celebrities to engage in.

Well, we see celebrities speaking out on issues all the time. Is that enough to motivate change?

To see his answer,

Caring About Social Security, Not Wasted on the Young

LibertySugar — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:00:03 -0700

Think you don't have to worry about Social Security until you have one of those license plate thingies that says, "My Other Car Is a Golf Cart?" Not so according to Students For Saving Social Security. They're on a mission to make young people care about retirement, or at least their paychecks. Although nonpartisan, the grassroots group of college students, advocates a typically conservative solution — private ownership of Social Security accounts.

The "S4" website explains: "our very first paychecks will be taxed from a system that cannot fulfill its promises to us." These students believe it is unacceptable that politicians ignore the opinions and welfare of young Americans when discussing Social Security reform. To see what the recommend,