Former Congressman Alan Grayson likes to use pop culture in his political pitches and got quite a lot of notice when he talked about race relations and Green Lantern. In a fundraising email this weekend, he decided to tap into pop culture again, this time referencing The Avengers. Check it out below!
You might remember former Congressman Alan Grayson who in a previous email quoted Green Lantern. After a bit of a lull in the excitement, he’s back today with an email full of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Kind of awesome. Check out the email with the subject line “We Don’t Have a Babel Fish” below.
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has announced a hearing on January 18 for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to discuss the security implications of the Stop Online Piracy Act. Chariman Issa has said the focus of the hearing is to “examine the potential impact of Domain Name Service (DNS) and search engine blocking on American cyber-security, jobs and the Internet community.” From the post on the Committee’s website:
“An open Internet is crucial to American job creation, government operations, and the daily routines of Americans from all walks of life,” said Issa. “The public deserves a full discussion about the consequences of changing the way Americans access information and communicate on the Internet today.”
Witnesses include:
Mr. Stewart Baker: Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Mr. Brad Burnham: Partner, Union Square Ventures
Mr. Daniel Kaminsky: Security Researcher and Fortune 500 Advisor
Mr. Michael Macleod-Ball: Chief of Staff/First Amendment Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union
Mr. Lanham Napier: Chief Executive Officer, Rackspace Hosting
Dr. Leonard Napolitano: Director, Center for Computer Sciences & Information Technology Sandia National Laboratories
Mr. Alexis Ohanian: Co-Founder, Reddit.com, and Web Entrepreneur
You might have noticed Wednesday numerous websites you went to had their logos blacked out, censored on their own. “Don’t Let the Government Censor the Internet,” that’s the rally cry being taken up this week as people and organizations from all sides of the aisles have come together to stop H.R. 3261, S. 968 and S. 978 also known as SOPA and Protect IP. The legislation is a scary specter looming over the internet and how we share information.
The legislation is the latest attempt to crack down on the theft of intellectual property and copyright. The legislation does a couple of things that’s scary:
This legislation is ludicrous and scary. The average person shouldn’t fear jail time because they remixed a song or music is playing in the background of a video. We should be able to post our video game speed trials. I should be able to post images of comics I review or show them off in video, without the fear of everything being seized. The legislation is flawed. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), one of the elected officials championing it and sponsor, has stated “I’m not a technical expert on this,” followed by “I’m trying to ferret this out.” That’s his response to the fact the bill is flawed. That shows how broken and not thought out this legislation is.
Take action now and write your elected officials in Washington, DC and tell them “HELL NO” to this.
Former Florida Congressman Alan Grayson made headlines in the comic book world when he sent out an email reflecting upon an old issue of Green Lantern in a discussion about race and politics. This came after he used to same topic in a speech before liberal activists at Netroots Nation 2011. Grayson was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to chat about the email and his interest in comic books.
In between meetings the former Congressman was friendly and very engaging on a long range of topics including the origin of the email, his comic book reading habit as well as politics in general. The email definitely put a smile on my face. It’s great to see use of a shared cultural moment in politics, but also something a bit geeky. Grayson was happy I enjoyed it, especially since there’s been “not too much smiling on the left.” As a teenager he was a DC comics fan, sticking mostly with Green Lantern and Green Arrow, but also dabbling in the Avengers, Justice League and the Legion of Superheroes.
But Green Lantern #76 really stuck with him. While comics had often dealt with right and wrong, Denny O’Neil‘s comic was a 
fundamental shift in his eyes. It’s use of the real world was something entirely new. This wasn’t an allegory like Star Trek used to discuss modern social issues, this was in your face, there wasn’t a need for cultural allusions. This wasn’t the first time Grayson used a cultural reference though. References to Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan have been scattered throughout his speeches and writing in the past and has he put it, “it’s better than quoting Charlemagne.”
The infamous panel struck a chord with the Congressman, even after over 30 years. As a whole, he sees political leaders distracted from doing good things and the panel is as relevant to our times as it was when it was first published in 1970. Just as Green Lantern was confronted with, Grayson feels that today’s political leaders act like “they work for someone else, and not us.” After reciting stats on how many Americans are uninsured, without a job and how many homes are worth less than their mortgages, Grayson feels that politicians need to pay attention to the people counting on them, and that they’re “not doing enough for their constituents.”
The reaction to the email was overwhelmingly positive, which is great for Grayson who wrote the email himself. There was a connection as many remembered the comic book themselves. An outpouring of comments on Facebook and popular political website DailyKos followed a blog post with the same content. This further shows that issue is today still relevant and a landmark issue. After it’s publication the series dealt with real world issues more and more including overpopulation. Denny O’Neil forsook metaphor, leading to an “evolution of the medium.” This culminated with Speedy becoming a junky which caused all sorts of issues with the Comics Code which regulated content in comic books.
Today, the Former Congressman is enjoying comic books in a different form, the movies and animated shows that he’s been watching with his family through Netflix. It’s something both he and his children enjoy. After seeing V for Vendetta and Watchmen he decided to check out their comic book form as well as other works by Alan Moore. He appreciates the sophistication of the work which only makes Grayson look that more fondly on O’Neil’s Green Lantern run.
As a whole Grayson looks at the email as a good example of the general phenomenon of communication that comes from the inside. People appreciate the honest discussion more, and it shows more of who you are as a politician as well as the things you believe in. The email revealed Grayson is an authentic person, he’s just not saying things to get the job or keep it, he really believes in what he discusses, it’s who he is, something that’s been brewing for over 30 years with a little help from Denny O’Neil and Green Lantern.
We broke the news about former Congressman Alan Grayson using Green Lantern in an email to his supporters. We also first reported the Congressman spoke about DC’s hero at Netroots Nation 2011. Below you can see him talk on the subject yourself.
The former Congressman granted us an interview which we’ll have running appropriately on July 4th! Stay tuned tomorrow for it.
I’m a bit dumbfounded (and geeking out) on this one, but I was surprised to find this email in my inbox from former Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson. The email has been posted below unedited (other than removing the unsubscribe link), hence the donation button and Salsa Labs logo:
Dear Brett:
The movie Green Lantern opened on Friday, to mixed reviews. Maybe the reviews would have been better if the movie had included this powerful exchange, from Green Lantern #76:
African-American Man: I’ve been readin’ about you . . . How you work for the blue skins . . . and how on a planet someplace you helped out the orange skins . . . and you done considerable for the purple skins! Only there’s skins you never bother with – the black skins! I want to know . . . how come?! Answer me that, Mr. Green Lantern!
Green Lantern: I . . . can’t . . . .
I may never have the chance to talk to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, or any of the other Masters of the Universe who led and misled our country for eight long years. Nor may I ever have the chance to speak to Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, or any of the other savage right-wing loons who want to finish the job that Bush et al. started. But if I could, I might say:
Me: I’ve been readin’ about you . . . How you work for multinational corporations like Big Oil. . . . And how you say you built all those roads and schools and bridges in some country in Asia. And in some other country in the Middle East someplace you got rid of some dictator. Only there’s one country you never bother with – America! I want to know . . . how come?! Answer me that, Mr. Flag-Waiving Patriot!
Them: I . . . can’t . . . .
Well, I can answer that. For a generation now, we have seen the heartless, callous erosion and destruction of all the things that make you a member of the middle class in America:
A job.
A home.
A car.
The chance to see a doctor when you are sick.
A pension or retirement account.
Social Security and Medicare.
And we’ve seen them replaced by endless war, falling home values, no pensions, lower wages, and now what Karl Marx called a “reserve army of the unemployed” – to keep wages down forever.
Even after only two years in office, as one out of 435 in the House, I can point to a lot of things that I did to preserve, protect and expand the middle class in America, and to help those of us who were falling through the cracks.
I look at our so-called leaders on the other side of the aisle, and I see nothing like that. Only a perverse delight in eliminating programs that help my fellow Americans in need. They’ll lead us, all right – they’ll lead us straight to ruin.
The next time you see one of them — at a town hall meeting, in their plush offices, or just on the street – ask them this: “What have you done to help the people? Answer me that!”
If they’re honest, they’ll say what Green Lantern said: “I can’t.”
Courage,
Alan Grayson
In brightest day,
In blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power: Green Lantern’s Light.
Paid for and Authorized by the Committee to Elect Alan Grayson
Official Press Release
Atlanta, GA – Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Top Shelf Productions have signed a publishing agreement. Top Shelf Productions has agreed to publish the graphic novel March, coauthored by Rep. John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, tentatively scheduled for release in 2012.
“I am very pleased to be participating in this effort,” said Congressman John Lewis. “This is something I really wanted to do some years ago and there is no better time to do it than now. It is not just a story of struggle; it is a story of involvement. It shows the ups, the downs, the ins and the outs of a movement.
“It is my hope,” said Congressman Lewis, “that this work will be meaningful and helpful to future generations to give many people here in America and around the world the urge, the desire, to seek, to build, their own world, their own future.”
A meditation in the modern age on the distance traveled, both as a nation and as a people, since the days of Jim Crow and segregation, March tells the first hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights.
The publishing agreement is an historic first, both for the U.S. Congress and graphic novel publishing as a whole, marking the first time a sitting Member of Congress has authored a graphic novel. Top Shelf Productions is the first and only graphic novel publisher to be certified by the House Committee on Standards.
“As a proud resident of Georgia, and a long-time fan of the honorable Congressman,” adds publisher Chris Staros, “this is truly a deep honor. To bring, not only his life’s story, but that of the Civil Rights Movement to the comics medium is truly exciting. This will make this historical and timeless message accessible to an entirely new generation of readers.”
An artist has yet to be named for the project though candidates are being actively considered.
***
JOHN LEWIS, is Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District Representative and an American icon widely known for his role in the Civil Rights Movement.
As a student at American Baptist Theological Seminary in 1959, John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1961, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. He was beaten severely by angry mobs and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South.
From 1963 to 1966, Lewis was Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). As Chairman, John Lewis became a nationally recognized leader. Lewis was dubbed one of the Big Six leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and at the age of 23, he was an architect of and a keynote speaker at the historic March on Washington in August 1963.
In 1964, John Lewis coordinated SNCC efforts to organize voter registration drives and community action programs during the Mississippi Freedom Summer. The following year, Lewis helped spearhead one of the most seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement. Hosea Williams, another notable Civil Rights leader, and John Lewis led over 600 peaceful, orderly protestors across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. They intended to march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state. The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” News broadcasts and photographs revealing the senseless cruelty of the segregated South helped hasten the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries, John Lewis remained a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. After leaving SNCC in 1966, he continued his commitment to the Civil Rights Movement as Associate Director of the Field Foundation and his participation in the Southern Regional Council’s voter registration programs. Lewis went on to become the Director of the Voter Education Project (VEP). In 1977, John Lewis was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to direct more than 250,000 volunteers of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency.
In 1981, he was elected to the Atlanta City Council. He was elected to Congress in November 1986 and has served as U.S. Representative of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District since then.
ANDREW AYDIN, an Atlanta native, currently serves in Rep. John Lewis’ Washington, D.C. office handling Telecommunications and Technology policy as well as New Media. Previously, Andrew served as Communications Director and Press Secretary during Rep. Lewis’ 2008 and 2010 re-election campaigns. Andrew is a graduate of the Lovett School in Atlanta and Trinity College in Hartford, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Georgetown University.
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS is the literary graphic novel and comics publisher best known for its ability to discover and showcase the vanguard of the comics scene. Founded by Co-Publisher Brett Warnock in 1995, and partnered by Co-Publisher Chris Staros in 1997, Top Shelf has produced over two hundred graphic novels and comics that have helped to revitalize interest in comics as a literary art form. Most notably, Alan Moore’s FROM HELL, LOST GIRLS, and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN; Craig Thompson’s BLANKETS; Andy Runton’s OWLY; Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele’s THE SURROGATES, Jeff Lemire’s ESSEX COUNTY, and Jeffrey Brown’s CLUMSY & UNLIKELY, all of which have garnered critical accolades from the likes of Time Magazine, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, Publishers Weekly , The New Yorker, and the New York Times Book Review.
IN PHOTO (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT):
Chris Staros, Congressman John Lewis & Andrew Aydin
Each week we scour the twitter accounts of various folks in the comic book industry to show how they chat about more than just folks in spandex who can fly. With the State of the Union last week there was a lot of chatter, and here’s some of the best.
With reports still flooding in about the shocking events in Tuscon, AZ over the domestic terrorist act that resulted in the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and six others, the comic world has tweeted their thoughts as to this shocking event.
We’ll be updating as more information comes in about this horrific act.
