I missed the panel on Global Poverty with Susan McCue from ONE (formerly Harry Reid’s chief of staff) at the Yearly Kos Convention yesterday, but I found the archived stream from that session. Check it out.

The ONE Campaign had a kiosk at the YKSL site, according to a post on the ONE blog. I stopped by there this morning, but no one was there (probably because the main part of the conference ended last night). I didn’t realize that this part of the site had so many interesting vendors, I wish I had visited this area of the site during the conference.

Update: I have acquired a Second Life ONE Console (pictured below). If you want one, join the official ONE SL group – ONE Campaign – and IM ONE Binder requesting a ONE Console. The object contains ONE wristbands and ONE T-Shirts (See my avatar below decked out in ONE gear.)

The July issue of Vanity Fair magazine is hitting the racks soon, and I can’t wait to get my copy (or copies…). There are 20 different cover pictures for this issue which is devoted to topics related to Africa. Bono was the guest co-editor for the issue, which is remarkable as this is the first time in Vanity Fair’s history that a guest editor has been allowed to participate in the publication of an issue.

There was a nice piece on Nightline last night with Bono, and Vanity Fair’s editor, Graydon Carter. You can read the article here, and there is a video of the segment on the same page.

There is a great post on the Joinred.com blog with all of the details about the special issue, and some other hot RED news as well.

You can order single issues of the magazine with the cover/s you want from amazon.com. They are only 4.50 each, and there are some really great photos of some wonderful folks. There is a good one of Bono, a good one of Clooney, and two nice ones with Barack Obama!

And, of course, some percentage of the proceeds from the sales of the magazine, poster, and subscriptions will go to the Global Fund to fight Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and Tuberculosis in Africa.

But, on to the real news. You can view the entire press release (December 18, 2008) at the ONE.org site, but I have excerpted some of the key information for you below.

Washington, DC – Reaching from Capitol Hill to the Internet, the ONE campaign announced today that it has tapped Republican strategist Jack Oliver and Yahoo! Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig as co-chairs of ONE’s growing campaign to build a national grassroots constituency to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty.

“ONE’s aim is to build on our success to date and broaden and deepen our influence,” said Peter Bell, retiring Chairman of ONE’s Board of Directors. “With the election of Jack Oliver and Dan Rosensweig as co-chairs, the appointment of Susan McCue as president and CEO, and the addition of Joe Cerrell of the Gates Foundation to the Board, ONE is positioned to move to the next level. I’m excited that people of their energy and talent are ready to give their all to mobilizing the political will of Americans to end extreme poverty.”

“Jack and Dan are two of the country’s best political and tactical minds,” said Susan McCue, ONE’s incoming CEO. “I look forward to joining forces with them in our grassroots campaign to bring the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty to the forefront of today’s political arena and 2008 Presidential cycle. We are building a team unlike any other and together we plan to create an unstoppable force, powered by people, for real change.”

Joe Cerrell currently serves as director of Global Health Advocacy for the Gates Foundation, guiding the foundation’s global health related communications, public policy, and finance. Cerrell has also served in the U.S. government as assistant press secretary to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, working on environmental policy and sustainable development issues, directing the rollout of White House initiatives and acting as cabinet liaison.

The announcements build on the appointment last month of Susan McCue, Chief of Staff for incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev), as ONE’s first Chief Executive Officer and as ONE’s millions of supporters set their sites on 2007 Appropriations and 2008 Budget and begin to organize around the 2008 presidential primaries and caucuses.

It looks like we stand well poised to start putting some real pressure on the policy-makers to give our agenda items a much higher priority than they have been given in the recent past.

What are our agenda items?

Overall goal: To pressure governments to eradicate poverty, dramatically lessen inequality, and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Primary Objectives (What we need to do to achieve the goal):

• Public accountability of governments and publicly held corporations,
• Just governance and the fulfilment of human rights (as described in the Declaration of Human Rights)
• Trade justice (Fair trade, not Free trade)
• A major increase in the quantity and quality of aid and financing for development in economically depressed regions
• Debt cancellation (for extremely impoverished countries)

Together we can do this!! Now is the right time to make our voices heard.