$11 Trillion Debt - Watch it grow on Twitter and Facebook

Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise.
From: Peter G. Peterson Foundation

National Debt Breaks $11 Trillion

America's national debt has punched a new hole in the stratosphere. This week, the national debt clocked in at $11,033,157,578,669.78 - crossing the $11 trillion mark for the first time.

Unnerving as that is, if you consider the government's off-the-balance sheet liabilities and unfunded retirement and health care obligations, $11 trillion is just the tip of the iceberg. The real national debt is actually $56 trillion, or $483,000 per U.S. household.

Numbers these large can be hard to track. That's why PGPF has made it easier for everyone to keep a handle on our nation's financial obligations every day. Here's how:

• Follow the National Debt on Twitter.
  Are you following the national debt on Twitter? If not, join the more than 5,000 people worldwide who are getting daily updates of the national debt as reported by the U.S. Treasury Department. Visit http://www.twitter.com/nationaldebt to start following the national debt today.



• Follow the National Debt on Facebook.
  Today, PGPF is excited to announce that we've brought the national debt to Facebook. Just by visiting the national debt fan page and "becoming a fan," you'll receive daily Facebook updates of the Treasury Department's numbers. Not only that, you'll also be able to connect with other Facebook "fans" of the national debt from across the world. Just visit the national debt on Facebook to get started.

And once you're following the debt via Facebook or Twitter, don't stop there - get your friends and family to do it as well. The more people who follow our exploding debts, the more awareness there will be, and the better our chance to finally wake up America to this growing problem. So please take a minute right now to forward this email to as many friends and family as possible.

America's federal financial burden is growing larger every day - don't let it out of your sight! Get your friends and family together, and start following the national debt on Twitter and Facebook today.

>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw .

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National Taxpayer Union weekly Internet radio program and social networking

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise.
From: National Taxpayers Union

NTU Launches Weekly Program

At last -- a voice for those who pay big government's bills, not those who create them. NTU has begun a weekly Internet radio program called "Speaking of Taxpayers" on gmmy.com. GMMY (Golden Music Memories of Yesteryear) Radio is an online destination dedicated to providing music and other entertainment from the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

Every Sunday from 3 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern time, NTU's on-air personalities provide news and views of interest to taxpayers -- not just from Washington, DC, but from all 50 states and thousands of cities and towns from across the nation. Sponsored and produced by NTU, "Speaking of Taxpayers" will feature special guest interviews with NTU's policy experts, along with lawmakers, citizen activists, and other figures in the movement for limited government. The show also offers up an "Outrage of the Week" -- a ridiculous example of wasteful government spending modeled after the popular feature in NTU's research arm's award-winning newsletter, Capital Ideas.

In addition to online radio, NTU & NTUF are online whenever you connect to the Internet. We have RSS feeds for our home page, ntu.org, and for our blog, governmentbytes.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw

Entertaining story on using major campaign contributors for social activism

A typical Senate desk. Image via Wikipedia.

Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise.
From: Change the Web

Change the Web Conversations’s Chat Logs

February 26th, 2009
Topic: Using Facebook.com for Social Change

[Below is a snippet of a conversation via Meebo.com, in text chat format. It is an entertaining story of how one nonprofit and it's activist members lobbied a US Senator to favor passing a piece of legislation. Special thanks to Ivan Boothe of Rootwork.og for sharing his story.. Enjoy!]

12:14 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org So my first experience using Facebook in that way was in 2005

12:14 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org The Genocide Intervention Network was just getting off the ground

12:15 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org Our network of activists was trying to move a particular bill on Darfur through Congress. We knew we had the votes in the full Senate, but one particular senator was holding it up in committee

12:15 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org So we used Facebook to identify Darfur activists in that senator's home state

12:16 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org Then, we gave them all a training on how to use the website OpenSecrets.org, which lists publicly available campaign contribution information

12:16 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org And we had them contact that senator's highest donors

12:16 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org And ask *them* to contact the senator and request that the Darfur bill be moved through the committee

12:17 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org We had a few dozen students participate, and while it's hard to measure reliably, two weeks later the senator did indeed move the bill, after several months of not doing anything

12:17 JoeSolomon That's an amazing story!

12:17 @keka_marzagao wow, amazing Ivan!

12:17 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org The bill ultimately passed and became the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act

12:17 Ivan Boothe, Rootwork.org I've got more stories, but I'll leave it there for now

12:17 bethP Sounds like you successfully mobilized a community of supporters using the Facebook platform in a relatively short amount of time.

12:17 bethP Thanks Ivan

>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw

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• Social Networks for Social Change: Ivan Boothe Knows What He Is Talking About! (beth.typepad.com)

All Things Reform now on Facebook!

In our continuing quest to build an activist community for government reform, All Things Reform now has a page at popular social networking site Facebook. It's at All Things Reform Facebook. Please, visit and say hi. I hope your stay is entertaining and helpful.