What was that? Tires squealing? It must be the sound of Verizon backing away from controvery at 100 miles per hour.

Early this week, Verizon’s mobile division admitted that it had blocked a series of NARAL’s pro-choice text messages to supporters. This morning’s New York Times blew up the story, include this quote from my comrade-in-arms Jed Alpert, who runs a political texting company: “[Blocking messages based on political content] is something we haven’t encountered before, that is very surprising and that we’re concerned about.” (That’s Jed’s understatement of the year.)

Then, just this morning, Verizon reversed its decision, saying “The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect.”

When I was reading the first Times story this morning on the subway — before the reversal policy hit the news — I was planning a blog post about it. This is a huge new front in the net neutrality wars. It’s a dramatic example of a corporation that controls the medium censoring the message. Sadly, since we have no net neutrality legislation in this country, Verizon was well within its legal rights to do so.

The question is, was Verizon’s quick reversal an act of good faith, or an attempt to head off a public relations debacle that might finally force net neutrality into the legislative arena? I would guess the latter. What big business wants to give up the power to control speech? If so, Verizon’s seemingly progressive reversal actually is part of a regressive strategy — maintain control of 21st century content at all costs.

If this peeves you as much as it peeves me, join the net neutrality fight at SaveTheInternet.com.

Enough already!

Three weeks ago, I launched the recruiting process for the new MoveOn Fellowship. (See my Sept 6 post.) My job is to find America’s best and brightest “diamond-in-the-rough” progressives — folks who want to launch a career in the movement — and get them to apply. Naturally, we want as many applicants as possible (the more applicants we get, the more GREAT applicants we get). So we did a massive outreach push, among many progressive communities. I was hoping for 1000 solid applicants.

What was I thinking?

By the time we shoved the floodgates closed, we’d gotten 3493 applicants. For four positions. I dutifully screened through all of them, and was consistenly impressed by the applicants. Single moms. Retired autoworkers. College kids. Former migrant workers. Black, white, asian, hispanic, native American, young, old, lesbian, gay, disabled, born again, socialist, military, rural, urban … all united by a passion for progressive politics.

I’ll admit it — reviewing 3493 applications is exhausting. If I have to read the phrase “MoveOn should make me a Fellow because” one more time, I’ll shoot myself.

But despite the exhaustion, it’s also totally inspiring. America is overflowing with smart, accomplished, dedicated progressives who desperately want to change our political future — and who are looking for real opportunities to get involved.

Campaigns, take note!

MoveOn has just launched a really cool new opportunity — the MoveOn Fellowship. They’re going to take on four full-time, paid Fellows for five months, to steep them in cutting-edge online and offline organizing techniques. Know any passionate folks who want to break into the top (the very tippy top) of progressive politics?

Eli Pariser, president of MoveOn and a friend of mine, has asked me to help recruit for the Fellowhip. His idea is to build the talent pool in the progressive movement — turn rising stars into great organizers and inject them into great organizations.

I’m sure there are a bunch of folks reading this who should be Fellows — or who know someone who ought to apply. This is a pretty unique opportunity to get smarter, get super connected, get paid, and fight today’s biggest progressive battles.

Go to www.moveon.org/fellowship for more info or to apply. Questions? Just ask me. 

And if this sounds like someone you know, please nominate them! Email me with their name and contact information, and why you think they would make a good fellow. Thanks.

My buddy Sam Dorman over at The League of Young Voters just announced the launch of their newly branded site, TheLeague.com. And I’m impressed.

This is NOT your old man’s political website. It’s packed with fresh video content, meaningful ways for young people to get engaged, and my favorite little widget — a “League Radio” audio stream via TuneFeed. I get to listen to what the coolmakers at the League think are today’s hottest tracks. Totally fun. It will keep me coming back.

The League is going through some big transitions, including an ED search to replace founder / visionary Billy Wimsatt. Big shoes to fill. Plus they took a financial hit recently when a big funder suddenly got excited about a different shiny new toy. I’ve done some community fundraising on their behalf, and I’m still urging anyone who cares about progressive politics and young people to open their wallets for The League.

But, in the face of all that adversity, this new website is proof that the League family is still producing absolutely excellent work. It will undoubtedly increase their appeal to their target audience, and firmly brands them as a leading political desination for young people. As an ally and supporter, I feel my chest puffing out proudly.

Big ups to Sam and the rest of his crew!