A Note to the Ideological Purists

This was written as a post in the comments on Alternet.:

I often wonder how many of those who post here are paid operatives of the Corporate Right. All of the concern trolling… ‘oh, I fell for Obama and now I see the light’; ‘both parties are the same’; Obama let us down and proved that he is beholden to corporations, just like dubya and Romney’; ‘I’ll use my vote to send a message to the Democratic Party’ [what message? That you are better than the rest of us? more ideologically pure? more reality based? All of these messages are good – but they are not morally superior, because any kind of morally superior judgment would know that no message will be sent and that every one of your friends, neighbors, family and fellow countrymen & women will be irretrievably fucked when Republicans are installed in office due to your morally superior message sending.]

I have been reading back through publications from early 2009. By April of 2009 many on the Progressive Left had already written off Obama and convinced themselves and others that he was a traitor because he did not live up to every single one of their ideals. I have felt the same way often, and have expressed the same concerns to the WH, my congressional rep, my Senators, my local government, friends, family and anyone else that would listen.

Now, however, during this election, I do not have the luxury of ideological purity. Neither does our country.

Obama said one thing during his acceptance speech that I have seen get no play in the analysis. “As citizens, we understand that America is not about what can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government.”

Catch that? Self-government. Hard and frustrating work of self-government. Not, I’ll send twenty five bucks to Obama, give him my vote and expect him to fix everything that has been fucked in this country for the last 35 years. And, I will give him, alone, 3.5 years to do it.

That is not how it works in self-governance. Not how it works. We must be involved every step of the way. We are the government. We send representatives to DC to represent us. However, we need to do the very hard work of staying on top of them every step of the way and ensuring that they are doing the work that we want done. This requires direct involvement.

I talk to a lot of Progressives and most of them are filled with the same dour frustration of the comments here. Most are rightfully and righteously frustrated with the BS that has not been fixed and the BS that has been continued. I get it. [Many of them also seem to have been only paying attention for the last 4 years and do not get the institutional structure or broken-ness of our congress, elections and campaign finance structure.]

However, to a person, most of them have not been involved. They do not attend party meetings. They are not involved in Progressive groups. They do not attend protests (or start them.) They do not sign petitions or write letters or make phone calls to their reps. They do not do, and have not done, anything to move the course of decision making in the right direction or the direction they want it moved. If we are not actively involved and do not continually use our voices and our power, then we lose our power and the moneyed interests are the ones who are heard. We need to be loud and louder. Our elected representatives need us involved. They need to be pushed by us.

I do not understand those, who have not pushed over the last four years, thinking that withholding their vote or voting third party will all of a sudden be the needed push. In self-governance you have a lot more responsibility than voting once every four years – yet many do not even do that. Your vote is powerful, but it is not your only responsibility.

The corporate masters are counting on you getting discouraged. They are counting on you thinking that ‘both parties are the same.’ They are counting on you sitting this one out or voting third party. They want this and need this. Michael Moore is right, they know that they cannot win if more people vote and so they are taking away the vote from whoever they can get away with taking it away from. We need to vote just to make up for the millions disenfranchised.

It is high past time for those of us who feel powerless to exercise our power where ever we can. Sitting out the election is not exercising power. Voting Green is not exercising this power. Not now. There is way too much at stake.

I am not a Democratic apologist. I am just as pissed about many, many things that have been done or not done. When I look at the Party Platforms, though, it is the Democratic Party that is closest to my beliefs. When I look at the demographics, it is the Democratic Party that most resembles true representation. When I look at the last 80 years of law making in this country it is the Democrats who have supported Women, Unions, Civil Rights, Peace and the Social Safety Net. It is the Democratic Party that says that We are All in This Together [The Right would have us jumping from windows of a burning factory because we are all just means to an end for the factory owner – not actual people, actual people all created equally.]

We are at a major fucking turning point. We do not have the luxury of waiting for the candidate who believes in everything that we believe in. We need to ensure that Obama is reelected and do everything that we can to get him a congress that will not block his every move. Then we need to be involved to push our representatives to enact laws for the people, undo the damage done over the last 35 years, enact laws that remove the power of the financial elite, restore our Rights and Civil Liberties and prosecute those who have screwed us. We need to elect them, then we need to push them.

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Personhood Amendment

Goddammit.

Perhaps it is time that we introduce a new Personhood Amendment? Something to the effect that “Women are full human beings, with full rights over their bodies and complete freedom to make decisions respecting their bodies, health and futures.”

All of this new controversy over requiring that health insurance plans, regardless of where they are offered, cover birth control without copay, is absolutely absurd.

I have heard enough from Newt & Rick & Mitt & Ron Paul about ‘religious freedom’ and what an attack on the Catholic Church that this has been. Well, for thousands of years the Catholic Church, and other male dominated power structures, have been attacking women and our autonomy and it is about fucking time for a little push back.

This is not about abortion. This is not about birth control. This is not about the group of cells that may or may not be duplicating in someone’s uterus.

This is about Women.



This whole bullshit argument is about whether or not women can be trusted to think and decide for themselves what is best for themselves and their body and their future - or whether they need the state, or a man, telling them what they can or cannot do.

Women understand how our bodies work. We understand, and can comprehend, the multitude of issues that arise from our reproductive health and, thankfully, there are [still] organizations that can assist us in getting the care that we need.

Despite all of the arguments to the contrary, women are capable of making these decisions ourselves.

It is very simple: either I have control over my body or someone else does.

These arguments have always been about controlling women and limiting their abilities to control their own lives. Take away a woman’s choice about her own fertility and you limit every choice that that woman will ever be able to make for the rest of her life.

When, in this country, will we finally decide that women are full persons with all of the rights of a full person? Oh, that’s right, we have been trying to get a women’s ‘personhood amendment’ passed for 89 years and counting.

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The Obama Presidency is Officially Over

At least that is what one would have to believe if they had listened to any of the media reporting over the last 24 hours.

OK, Coakley ran a shitty campaign. Democrats took the seat for granted. The DSCC dropped the ball. And, the votes have not even yet been counted!

There are major problems with the MA election, and I am waiting for it to be certified before I cry defeat. (I get it that certification will probably come without the full investigation of the funny machines or the BS ballots, but I can always dream.) I do not understand why Coakley jumped so quickly to concede…I do not get it, unless she planned to lose. Her concession will make it a lot more difficult to actually count the ballots.

Enough said about Massachusetts. It does not mean shit. With Bayh, Landrieu, Lieberman, Nelson, Nelson and the others, we really never had 60 votes anyway.

I spend a lot of time listening to a lot of media. I have Left Wing radio on and MSNBC almost all the time. I never miss the Sunday shows. I read endlessly. I pay attention to what is being said and how it is being said. They are working overtime right now to spin this MA election as the end of the Obama Presidency and they are wrong.

We need to call and write and make clear why it is that the Dems lost the MA seat. We need to tell our representatives the truth. They will not be hearing the truth inside the beltway because the beltway common fucking wisdom is that the problem with Obama and his presidency is the DFH.

Maybe they are correct, but not in the way that they think.

The beltway press wants to spin this that the liberals were getting too much of their way, that Obama was too far to the left, that the Dirty Fucking Hippies ruined the Obama Presidency.

They’ll say that we have to move to the ‘center.’ That we have to act like the principle-less right wing. They are blaming MA on us; it is the DFH’s fault.

The only way that it is our fault is because we have not insisted loudly enough that the Congress follow the Progressive Principles that got them elected. We worked in 2006 & 2008 to send people to congress to get it done.

We want real healthcare reform (and we want it now.) We want a real jobs package, a New New Deal (and we want it now.) We want the Employee Free Choice Act (and we want it now.) We want the banksters thrown out of the corporate world and we want their seats removed from the table at the Whitehouse (and we want it now.) We want control over our own bodies (and we want it now.) We want the ERA (and we want it now.) We want an end to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (and we want it now.) We want marriage available to any committed couple who wants it, gay or straight, (and we want it now.) We want the banking industry reformed (and we want it now.) We want the wars to come to an end (and we want it now.) We want Gitmo closed (and we want it now.) We want fairness for our people and accountability in our government (and we want it now.) We want the bankruptcy laws fixed (and we want it now.) We want the Bush Admin held accountable for their crimes (and we want it now.)

These are the messages that we need to impart to our congress critters. This is what we need to tell them. This is why we lost (if we really lost) Massachusetts. This is what we need to say to our friends and colleagues and representatives and President. This is what we need to tell them; the Obama Presidency is not over, we are just getting started. We want a Progressive congress and President (and we want it now.)

Cross posted at PAS.

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Sorry Arlen, You Can't Have It Both Ways

Ok, Arlen we get it... Specter Won't Back Public Health Care Or Employee Free Choice Act. Claims he won't be a loyal Democrat. Then I say no support! Obama do not campaign for him... no funding from the DNC... what good will he do if we throw money his way without him voting for issues important to Democrats. It's imperative that we come up with a solid Progressive challenger in the Democratic Primary. Force him to play ball... we do not need another "Blue Dog 'Dino' Dem!"

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Please Don't Divorce My Friends

Watch. Read. Sign. Forward.

Bring a tissue and then funnel your outrage!

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Share Your Story

Share your economic hardship story.

Do it with an email, photos, phone call or upload a video. Obama is asking us to tell him our stories so that the fuckwads in the Congress can be shown that we are not numbers - we are real people with real problems and we are scared.

Sorry guys - I am done with the naysayers and the cranky pups. Fuck 'em.

I know that everyone has a grand idea about how this should be done and every single fucking blogger knows better than our President and our Congress. I also know that it is so much easier to pontificate and theorize than it is to roll up one's sleeves and get to work to make the world a better place. Ya, I get it. And, I am not going to do it, I am not taking the easy way this time.

This President, Our President Barack Obama, needs us to support him more than any other President since FDR. He needs our support and our guidance. We can get involved at the grassroots (not the Netroots) or we have no room to bitch. It is an absolute in my book. I do not have the energy to be a cranky whiner.

I worked too hard for the change from the Pukes to the Dems - we all worked hard to throw those bastards out. We have the Dems now - in both Houses and the Presidency - and our work is just beginning. I am not going to throw up my hands just because some negotiations that I do not like are occurring. Until I sit in the Congress I will not know what it is to actually be a Congress Member and I will not know what has to occur to get shit done.

For now, I support my Country, therefore I support my President. This does not mean that I will turn my back on wrongdoings - it means that I will pick my battles and choose the wrongdoings that are immoral not the ones that I just do not like.

Also, I will tell them what I do not like. We are being offered more opportunity to share our ideas and participate in this process than ever before. That is what I do not get; these bloggers should be sending their posts to Obama - complete with the comments, not just posting to post. Let's get organized and participate. It is easier to bitch outside of the tent than it is to dialogue inside of it. As long as we are invited inside, let's go.

We are fucked. This country is teetering on the edge and to slam my Party and Obama - to be willing to write them off already - because some things are not right in this package seems a little histrionic to me. It seems way over the top and I do not understand. Especially when Obama is calling for us to be involved. How many of those bitching held or attended an economic recovery house party this weekend? (And, no, I did not either - but I am also not flushing them down the toilet.)

Let's pull together and quit ripping everyone apart. Maybe we are all just too used to being angry at our government to stop for a minute and realize that we have an opportunity right now to do it differently. It will take a while - you cannot turn around a ship this large in 3 weeks with one piece of legislation - there is a ton of damage to correct and a ton to repair. Let's get out hammer and nails instead of pitchforks and torches.

UPDATE: And, what this guy said. h/t to p-dip for posting this at TLC.

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Where Were You?

Where were you when Senator Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States? Did you go to any parties? Any balls? Did you get to dress up? Was it enjoyable or do you wish that you would have done something different?

I hope that whatever you did that it was marked with many memories. This will be one of those events that people will ask in the future, "Where were you, what were you doing?"

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Hello, Hello, Hello

Is There Anybody Out There?!

I get it, everyone is busy and sick and completely bored by the blogosphere. The fight was won. Bushco and his criminal crew are gone in just a few short days. We are on to a new chapter in this country...a blissful new chapter of Peace and Love. [Pay no attention to the multiple wars and the economy in the crapper.]

There is nothing left to fight for. Right?

Wrong.

Dammit. We have more work to do than we did when we were fighting the criminality of the Bush Administration and the corrupt Republican Congress over these last 8 long fucking years.

Obama needs a movement.

And, the thing is, Obama recognizes this. Obama knows that he will not be able to implement any significant change unless the people are louder than the lobbyists. It is not enough to police the Democratic Congress and then bitch about it when they do wrong. This will not get us anywhere except for providing us a place to come and bitch and agree with each other. This is not what we need.

This is what Change.gov is all about. It is also why Obama continues to send us a zillion emails. It is not about fundraising right now...we won. There will not be an election for President for four years. All of this communication with us is not for show - it is because Obama needs a movement. Without us screaming louder than the frickin' lobbyists the change will not happen.

There is also Change.org which is a division of Democrats.com. This is the people's side of the Change movement. (Don't go to change.com unless you want to jack-off; change.com is the underwear manufacturer.)

The bottom line, even though we are tired and we are bored, we have work to do. I warned about the let-down and people seemed to agree with me that it would happen. I thought that it would have happened earlier and been over by now...but, I am thinking, the Holidays might have postponed it and might have added to it (family really is a pain in the ass.)

Consider this the pep-talk. (I can only give them, I have a hard time actually following them up with action - so I expect you all, my friends, to call me on it when I start whining...) We have work to do people. Our blog should be more active than it was while fighting the GOP. There are hearings to watch and policing of the Congress to do. Phone calls to make and letters to write. Volunteering to participate in. Movements to initiate. Media to watchdog.

Just nod if you can hear me - Is there anyone at home?

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Truthout Web-A-Thon

I am a fan of Truthout. I think that independent journalists and websites like Truthout are one of the reasons that we were able to win the 2006 midterms and the 2008 Elections.

For the past several weeks I have been receiving fairly desperate emails asking for donations. Apparently Truthout is in really dire straights and at risk of having to lay people off.

They are a non-profit 501 C3 organization, which means that every penny donated is tax deductible.

If you have a couple of extra bucks, please donate. And, for the cash poor among us, please help to spread the word.

Email from Truthout, below the fold.

Monday 12 January 2009

Like all other organizations, we are challenged by the current economic disaster. We are fighting to save jobs and maintain services. Some readers will have cash to spare, others will not. We understand. If you do have some funding you can contribute, we think this project is worth it. Thank you in advance.

Just click this link for our electronic donation options:
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You can also donate by check, made payable to:
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*REMEMBER: You can select a monthly plan to provide us with automatic, recurring support. Please sign up for whatever you can afford.

Truthout is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, independent news source, so your contributions are completely tax deductible.

LOW INCOME READERS: Don't send cash. Just help us by spreading the word!

If you are an active donor, THANK YOU!

Truthout is free to all. Donations are strictly voluntary. If you stop receiving our newsletters, notify messenger@truthout.org at once.

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Congrats Senator Al Franken

Minnesota Election Board Certifies Franken Win

Coleman may fight it in court, but they have certified the Franken win. It is essentially a done deal. Especially after Franken is sworn in. Congratulations Al! Make us proud.

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Analysis and Aftermath

There are some great post-election pieces being written. Analysis of what happened and the pictures painted of the crumbling walls of the GOP.

The final map is really interesting. MSNBC breaks down the results by county, so we can drill down the results and see that Obama (Democrats) won everywhere that there is a higher population (cities). This is not so different, Democrats typically win cities, but Obama won many cities in very red states, like Wyoming and Montana. In addition, the Democrats are reaching out into the suburbs, overtaking what was once a GOP stronghold.

I think that the suburbs are fed-up with the partisanship and the extreme focus of the GOP on social issues. Suburban folks just want to be able to pay their bills, most don't care if the neighbor kid has an abortion, if there are (what was previously thought of as 'minorities' - demographics are changing and in another generation 'whites' will be the minority) living down the street or if a gay couple owns the home in the next cul-de-sac. Middle class people are less able to be divided by those GOP social issues; because they care more about having cable and getting the next generation TV, than they do this wedge issue crap. I think that the new “Republicans” are more libertarian than social conservatives and I don’t think that the GOP has figured that out.

It is also interesting to look at the margins. As of 10:01 am PT, Obama won the election 53% to 46%. He won by 7,974,965 votes. This is an amazing mandate, but what is also incredible to think about is how close many of the states not won were. When I look at some of the closer races, if we had gotten another few thousand people to the polls, Obama would have won those states too. This is an amazing factoid.

The young voters, despite popular mythology, were not necessarily the ones who carried the Obama victory. The demographics are interesting. Obama won every single demographic, except for whites, but even that margin was greater than Kerry.

*61 percent of Obama's votes came from white voters; 90 percent of McCain's came from white voters.
*23 percent of Obama's votes came from black voters; only one percent of McCain's came from African American voters.
*Latino voters accounted for 11 percent of Obama's vote and six percent of McCain's.
*Twenty-three percent of the Obama voters were under age 30 but only 13 percent of McCain backers were.

The demographic analysis in the article is interesting; they approach it asking "what if" certain blocks did not vote.

I love this. Obama has been going over Bush's executive orders and signing statements and is preparing to reverse some of the most egregious crap in his first days in office. Anything that can be reversed by his signature - he is already lining up the papers to sign them. Right. Fucking. On.

"A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration."

This makes me smile.

The Christian Right is suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder. The treatments for this disease are intense and success rates are minimal. Perhaps we will find an end to the Religious Fanatics having so much of an impact on our politics.

Some, the old school Godbots, want to dig in their heels deeper, and focus harder on the wedge issues of god, guns, gays and controlling women and their bodies. The newer evangelicals are actually reading their Bibles and discovering that Jesus actually cared more about the poor and the planet, (because the planet's health affects all people,) than He did giving onto Caesar God's law. We shall see which direction they go, but I suspect that they will just implode into a million different pieces - some more tolerable than others.

The Right Wing extremists are freaking the fuck out. They really do not know what to do except to continue to spew lies and mistruths and half-facts and fear.

The thing is that that kind of crap just does not work on people who are really afraid, of real things.

I am going to counter a theory that I proposed earlier: that people who are insecure because of uncertainty and instability are more apt to believe conspiracy theories. I do not necessarily think that this is incorrect; I just think that the Right Wing's plan to keep people too busy and so uneducated that they do not have time to pay attention to the truth of a situation has backfired on them.

I think that the far Right's BS has not only hit the lower class in such large numbers that they do not have the time to pay attention to Rush and Hannity's crap - it has also spread to the middle class in such a way that the people are so worried about paying their bills and making ends meet that they do not have the energy to worry about whatever extremist bile that Rush and Hannity are selling. It backfired. For this I am grateful.

Eleanor's article really does not say anything much different than we have all been talking about since Tuesday; really I linked to it because I love her Newsweek photo. She looks fabulous in the photo and I just thought people should see it.

(PS: There is not any more...not even any photos of journalists that I think are better than their real life look. Clicking the "read more" will just lead to the many thousands of comments that my blogging generates...heh.)

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What's Up With That?

Yesterday I was actually moved by President Bush's statement congratulating Barack Obama. I felt that he was being "honest" and that Bush was actually really "impressed and proud" of Barack Obama and his victory.

I was confused by those feelings.

Now, this morning, Bush just spoke to his executive staff and Cabinet, talking about "cooperation" and "a smooth transition" and how a smooth transition is "a part of a functioning democracy."

Ya, he said all that stuff. Again I am impressed and confused by my feelings.

Honestly, I have been secretly prepared on some levels for Bush to declare Martial Law and stop the elections or stop the transfer of power or whatever. Now, his seeming cooperation and actual speaking the right words and appearance of wanting to do the right things confuses me greatly.

Is this a last ditch effort to try to redeem himself? Is he trying to preserve some of his legacy by hoping that history remembers how well he handled the transition instead of how poorly he governed? Is this all to calm us down and take away our angst in order to catch us off guard?

Seriously - I am really confused by his behavior. Somebody tell me please, what is up with that!?!?

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Post Election Depression

I got up a few minutes after 5 this morning. It was not just adjusting to Daylight Savings Time, it is also the anticipation of VOTING DAY.

I seriously cannot believe that it is here.

For the last many weeks my life has been filled with pre-election and post-election plans. Everything that has come into my consciousness has been tempered with "that is after Election Day," or "before." Truly, it has been bizarre just how much energy has been invested in today. Extraordinary really.

What happens tomorrow? (Or, more likely, the day after tomorrow...because tomorrow I suspect that they will still be counting votes because there will be so many more votes than they have prepared for.) Back to the point, though, what will my life be like when there is no more election to obsess on?

I am not talking about a depression and anger that will occur if Obama does not win. I am not even going there. I am counting on him winning, and I refuse to go into the "what ifs" otherwise. What I am talking about is the natural letdown that always occurs when the end comes to a very large investment.

There is the after Christmas depression - which is always worse if I am the one who hosts the holiday because I have invested so much into it. There is the after a major test depression; remember finals, when there should have been relief, but instead there was an enormous feeling of "what now!?" There is the after the convention depression. Every time that I have ever attended a convention, for any purpose, there is always a depression - a let down - that occurs when it is over.

I think that this is natural human nature, that whenever we invest ourselves in something, when that event is over there is a chemical reaction to that excess energy. In other words, whenever we have amped up our energy level to deal with an event (even a good one) there is a reaction to that level of increased energy when it is no longer needed.

I think that this let down will be greater the more invested that people have been in this campaign. The more work involved, the greater the depression. I am assuming that there will be a tremendous amount of joy, excitement, relief (especially relief, that this one is not stolen too) but it will also be tempered with a funk. The degree of the funk proportional to the investment in the outcome.

So, please, friends, be gentle with each other. I know that certain people [me] are more sensitive to these kinds of adjustments than others. I suspect that I will be a little short with people, extra tired, perhaps on the couch for a while...trying to pull it together. I have been very ill lately but I have not allowed myself to really fall apart because I have an election to deal with. When this is over I am guessing that I might relax and actually experience the intensity of my sick.

Just a little warning of what might be going on with the people we love. Just a little warning of what might be going on with me. (Also, it is nice to write supposing the outcome that I am pulling for, even if the subject matter is a downer.) Be gentle, we are almost there.

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"I've Never Had to Forge My Own Signature Before"

So said my husband, as he scribbled his signature, over and over again as it appears on his driver's license, on scratch paper.

Our paranoia about this election being stolen and our votes being thrown out is palpable. We were especially wigged after husband's name was purged from the voter rolls, less than a month after he had voted in the primaries. This story just reinforced the fear.

You see, in Washington State, some Republican dumb ass got the great idea that if your signature on your absentee ballot does not exactly match the signature on your driver's license then they will pull your ballot, investigate and probably throw it out.

So, after my husband took great pains to make certain that he used the right pen and filled out every bubble perfectly, he attempted to make his signature look exactly like it does on his driver's license.

Voting should not be this difficult. The Republicans have always wanted to decrease the votes counted. Thom Hartmann always plays the clip from one of the founders of the neo-cons, speaking in a church, saying "all you Christians out there suffering from goo-goo syndrome, the "good government syndrome" need to understand that elections have never been won by a majority of voters....we don't want people to vote." (Or something to that effect, I was too lazy to look it up.)

My favorite State Rep says that elections are more about people who don't vote than people who do. This is true. If everyone who cannot get time off work to go vote, or everyone who suffers from the policies of bad government went to the polls, we would have Democratic landslides - always.

This study proves that Democratic Presidents raise the incomes of average Americans whereas Republican Presidents raise the incomes of the wealthy. Republicans do not want the people to figure this out, they do not want the people to be educated, they do not want the people to vote.

Although this article and its accompanying chart helped ease my paranoia, it did not change the fact that husband had to practice signing his own fucking name for fear that his vote would be thrown out. It should not be this way and I hope that the first thing that the Progressive Blogosphere pushes through the Congress is a new law to protect our vote, return to paper ballots and take away the involvement of private corporations in our franchise.

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Rabid

The Right Wing has become increasingly rabid. I become ill, literally, when Sarah Palin comes across the TeeVee screeching her disgusting lies. She really is a piece of work and her bullshit has encouraged the other hate mongers to come out in droves. Here is a small compilation of the hatred that they are spreading.

Click read more to see the disgusting actions of the Right Wing.


Cunningham alleges that Obama wants to “gas the Jews.”

Savage accuses anyone who supports equal rights in CA of being anti-family and anti-God.

Hannity refuses to apologize for his hate spreading.

Rose Tennent claims that the people in Obama’s ad aren’t really struggling.

DHS helps in smearing Obama.

Conyers makes clear that the DHS leak is illegal.

GOP mailer suggests Obama presidency could lead to a second Holocaust.

Anonymous Liberal tells the truth about the “redistributionist” smear. h/t Paradox

Liddy claims that the “welfare class” will elect Obama.

McCainism

Palin’s angry mob rally (yes, another one.)

Another Obama socialist mailer.

Obama repeatedly compared to Hitler.

All of these disgusting tactics are new. They just popped up on websites today. What's worse is that I could have kept going, there were more everywhere that I looked.

How horrible is the GOP to continue this shit? They want to divide us. They want to exploit fear and hatred. They want to kill the goodness in America. When they kill the goodness then what is left?

The contrast between Obama messaging and McCain messaging is so stark. I cannot imagine anyone being pulled into the McCain-Palin mind set. Their hate fests are evil. I just do not understand it.

What I do know is that if we are going to stop this crap in our country, then we absolutely must stop this. We cannot allow these people to be rewarded for their hatred. Every single vote for John McCain rationalizes and legitimizes what they are doing. That alone is enough to vote Obama. Let’s take back our country. Please, America, stop the hatred.

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Election Protection Information

With the election around the corner and early voting well under way, it is past time to post information about Election Protection. There are a ton of resources out there and it is up to us to make sure that every voter has the information that will protect them and their vote. Please add any election protection websites or phone numbers that you come across.

The main phone number to remember is 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683)

Obama has two websites devoted to reporting voting problems:

• Under the Radar Excellent flash map of dirty tricks Nationwide

• Truth: Vote for Change Clearinghouse for voting problems

On the Web:

• American Bar Association Election Protection Site

• National Campaign for Fair Elections

• NCFFE State Pages

• The Democracy Campaign

• Election Protection Wiki Clearinghouse to report problems at the polls.

• 866OURVOTE dot org Another way to get to the National Campaign for Fair Elections

• Election Strike Force In partnership with Brad Blog

• NAACP Vote Hard Bus Tour

• Standing for Voters

• Vote 411 dot org A project of The League of Women Voters, everything that you need to know about voting.

• Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights

• Alternet Online Voting Guide. Excellent resource with every link that you can imagine.

• PFAW know your voting rights page.

• Voters Unite

• Voters Unite Links to State SOS Pages

• Democracy Dispatch Election Resources

• Network of Citizens

• Center for Media and Democracy Election Watch

State Resources:

• Election reform CA

• Fair Elections Georgia

• California Election Protection Network

• North Carolina Democratic Party Election Protection

• Ohio Election Fraud

• NAACP Maryland

• California Election Protection

• Florida Election Protection

Report:

• Excellent report on the 2006 election and disenfranchisement of voters. PDF

A few articles on problems with machines and disenfranchisement, already, in 2008:

• Watching the Polls

• Where Are the Election Protection Attorneys?

• Election Protection in Sante Fe

• Some Small Wins for Voters

• Voters in 31 States Screwed

• Election Protection by Amy Goodman

• The Free Press Election News

• Scoop.Co.Nz “USA Coup” Articles about the theft of the 2008 Election

• Mark Crispin Miller Author of “Fooled Again”

Please note: I cannot vouch for all of these sites; I am only offering information and resources. Cross posted at Progressive Action Spot

UPDATE: Links that I forgot:

• Verified Voting

• Steal Back Your Vote

• Stealing America

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Did Anyone Else Catch the Confession?

Maybe it was because I was napping while watching Meet the Press and my zoning in and out of consciousness tuned me in to something apparently overlooked by everyone else. I have not yet heard or read anything about this on the nets (though I have not researched it completely either.)

I double checked the transcript just to make sure that I heard what I heard.

From Meet the Press on Oct 26th, 2008:

MR. BROKAW: Four years ago I interviewed President Bush at a time when it looked like he may be in trouble against John Kerry, final weekend of the campaign. I showed him a map. He said, "Oh, I just don't do that. Karl Rove does that." As soon as the interview was over, he said, "I'll win here," and pointed to southeastern Ohio. Where will you win if you win?

Interesting. So, after the camera's were turned off, GW Bush pointed to Brokaw exactly where they were going to steal the election.

Now, look at the transcript from Oct 24, 2004. It is also very interesting. This is not the show that Brokaw was referring to, this show features Ed Gillespie and Terry McAuliffe.

From MTP, Oct 24, 2004:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me talk to you about some of the things that have been in the paper about both political parties. This is The New York Times from yesterday. "Big GOP bid to challenge voters at polls in key states. Thousands recruited as monitors in Ohio," some 3,000 people being paid money per hour to go to the polls and monitor them. Democrats are saying you're trying to suppress the vote.

Gillespie answers Tim with a bunch of crap about "fictitious registrations" for "Mary Poppins" and "Dick Tracy," (this year it is "Mickey Mouse.")

Tim then responds:

MR. RUSSERT: But if you have monitors at the voting booths challenging perspective voters, you could delay the balloting, causing huge lines and discourage people to go home without voting.

Which is exactly what happened in Ohio in 2004. Long lines in the cold rain and millions of people left without voting.

Then McAuliffe goes on:

MR. McAULIFFE: Let's be very clear on this, Tim. The goal of the Democratic Party is to make sure that everybody who has a right to vote in this country can go into those polls and can vote. We know what the Republicans are trying to do. They're going to try and disenfranchise voters. We want everybody to vote. It's the Republican Party today that is still under a consent decree because of 20 years of a history of voter suppression.

Now, who gets disenfranchised? Predominantly, it's the African-American community which supports this party 92 percent of the time. It's the Hispanic community that votes for this party 66 percent of the time. There are two statewide investigations going on right now because of a company that was paid a half a million dollars by the Republican National Committee. In Nevada and in Oregon, a young man, a registered Republican, who worked for this company was told he wouldn't be paid and to rip up any voter registration cards for Democrats.

We're not going to tolerate it. We know what happened in 2000. We know about the tens of thousands of people who were disenfranchised in Duval County, in other counties of Florida. Our promise is we are prepared for it this time. It will not happen. I want to encourage everybody to go vote in this election. This is the most important election of our lifetime. And I have spent four years dealing with these issues, started the Voting Rights Institute to make sure that we are promoting and protecting that right to vote in this country. So I want everybody to feel comfortable. When you go vote this time, we're going to make sure that you can go in, you can vote, and we are going to make sure that those votes get counted. There's a big difference between our parties.

McAuliffe goes on about all of the attorneys that they have in place and how they will not allow this election to be stolen, blahtity, blahtity, blah...

The problem is that they did allow that election to be stolen! I will never forgive Kerry for that concession. I cried compulsively that morning. He conceded before the votes were counted.

Obama - it appears - is ready and he says that he will not stand for voter suppression and that he will not allow this election to be stolen too. But I wonder, after reading the above.

We thought Kerry was ready too. I am still convinced that someone got to Kerry between election night and that concession speech. We will probably never know what happened, but something changed. He was ready to fight for us and then he did not. We have to make sure that Obama does. AND we have to make sure that we fight too. That we are ready to make sure that every vote is counted. We cannot allow a concession speech until the votes are counted - not this time. No way.

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Voter Suppression in Arizona

Yesterday, Mrs. Seven of Six and I voted early here in Arizona.

The Wife likes to get on me about my paranoia over voter suppression. Low and behold, "mi espousa", was almost ruled ineligible for voting because according to registration records, the year she was born didn't match her drivers license. She was born in 1957, somehow, in a week it miraculously changed to 1937. The thing is, I made sure to check last week, as per Anjha's orders, with the county recorders office to verify we were registered, at the time, all was copasetic.

The wife couldn't believe it, she told the fellow Hispanic female poll worker, "I've been voting in Arizona for 5 years now, all of a sudden there is a discrepancy with my date of birth?" I mumbled under my breath, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, "Voter Suppression!" The young poll worker made a call, then commented, "It must have been a typo." Right... we believe that.

Mrs. Seven was a little bit more pissed than usual. She ranted on, "What if I waited until election day to vote? Would they have been so kind as to make that phone call while hundreds waited in line?" Now my wife is convinced our Republi-con Secretary of State, Jan Brewer and Republi-con Maricopa County Recorder, Helen Purcell, are purging Hispanic Democratic voters from the rolls.

Then I pulled one of my high pitched Jon Stewart imitations, "Told you so!" She smacked me in the arm!

Cross posted at LEFT is RIGHT

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New Polls

I'm sure that you all have heard about the new poll showing Obama with his widest lead yet.

When I woke up this morning and turned on MSNBC, I was a little surprised at what I was hearing. Here was the analysis, in summary.

When John McCain acts like an asshole, the people actually perceive him to be an asshole.

When John McCain runs his campaign like a great big dick, the people see him as a great big dick. The voters really do not like big dicks.

When Sarah Palin acts like a moron, the people question her ability to be Vice President.

When Sarah Palin riles up her crowds and foments violence, the voters notice that she is fomenting violence and riling up her crowds.

In summary, when John McCain and Sarah Palin show that they are cruel, unqualified, have poor temperament and seek to divide the Nation rather than bring us together - the people actually prefer the candidate who appears qualified, calm and seeks to bring us together.

It was one of the most interesting, no shit analyses that I have ever heard.

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Obama Fights For Us

I was going to take a nap, but I was distracted by this:

Letter from the Obama campaign to Attorney General Mukasey

I can't quote from it because it is a picture (and I don't feel like transcribing) but Obama is going after the DOJ for illegally leaking the investigation into ACORN, for participating in partisan political activity and for intimidating voters. Obama is taking them to task for everything. Read the letter. It is fabulous.

Iglesias says history is repeating itself, and Conyers is going after them as well.

Over at home base someone was asking why isn't Obama saying more about the ACORN issue and telling the truth...well, I think we see why. He now has quite a case.

Damn. I never thought I would see the day when Dems quit being wimpy pussies and would actually fight for us on this issue. Today is the day.

Count every vote!

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