Leutisha Stills

Name:	Leutisha Stills
Location:	Alexandria, VA
Where I blog:	Black Agenda Report Jack and Jill Politics The Pesky Fly Get Rid of the DLC

My Experience in progressive politics:

I develop research that tracks the voting records of different caucuses within the United States House of Representatives; analyze the trends in legislative voting, assess a point and grade value, which is codified into a "Report Card" that is published by several media outlets which informs the voting public how their elected representative is representing their interests through the legislation they either assist in passage or prohibits passage.

My personal volunteering highlight:

Donna Edwards utilized the information from our published report cards in her campaign against former Rep. Al Wynn (D-Maryland). All things considered, the information provided to Ms. Edwards assisted her in defeating Rep. Wynn, because she had verifiable evidence through assessment and analysis of Mr. Wynn's voting record which could not be refuted or placed into "context" by Mr. Wynn in explaining to his district why he voted against their best interests over 70% of the time during the eight terms he held the office. As a result, Ms. Edwards is the new Representative-elect from Prince George's and Montgomery Counties.

Steps I've taken to combine on-line and off-line action:

Developing "Wiki" tracking projects to provide documented evidence of irregularities in elections and legislation moving in both houses of Congress, such as Net Neutrality legislation, FISA Wiretapping Legislation and Amnesty provisions to telecommunications industries assisting the Federal Government to invade the privacy of its own citizens through illegal wiretapping surveillance techniques.

Why I want to attend Netroots Nation:

Because there is a decided lack of Bloggers of Color who actually cover such events and have their voices heard, as well as have their issues with inclusion, credentialling and representation, discussed in a national forum.

What I want to get out of Netroots Nation:

I hope to obtain more exposure of the blogs and publications I write for as well as provide input to fellow writers and bloggers in creating forums for online activism as well as political writing about legislation or elected officials.

What is a progressive activist:

A progressive activist advocates for policies and legislation that facilitates full inclusion, diversity and unity in representation, execution and implementation of said policies and legislation that work towards the improvement of and betterment of districts represented by elected officials who walk their talk.

How I think blogs fit into the progressive movement:

Blogs appear to provide more accuracy in news reporting than the mainstream media. While some merely provide opinions, the Blogs I write for are operated by journalists, and we are held to similarly stringent standards if we are writing pieces that provides quotes (I usually link to the article I reference). We provide humor in some instances with our articles, yet we never lose sight of the fact that we are sharing our thoughts and opinions with the public, and we tend to use our blogs to pass on information as well as facilitate political activism on a mass scale, similar to DNC Chair Howard Dean's "50-state strategy" - using blogs as a methodology for accomplishing contending for every vote to count.

How I think Democracy For America fits into the progressive movement:

DFA needs to stop talking about the need for diversity in representation and take action to facilitate diversity, in order to really assist in the progressive movement, because it is disingenious to have diverse representation, but allow the major input, strategy and development to be done solely by those who have no concept of what it means to truly have diversity and inclusion when major decisions are being made. The days of relying on Black, Latino, Asian, Native American, and women groups to blindly support a Democratic platform when that platform does not represent input from all diverse groups, are fast coming to a close and if the Democratic Party plans to remain in contention for Congress and the Executive Branch of government, it must stop talking about being the "big-tent" party and demonstrate that they are the "big-tent" party.

In 10 words or less, create a bumper-sticker slogan against John McCain:

McCain: MORE FROM THE SAME BUSH