Joe the Who?

Oh yeah, that guy.
I'm just getting around to posting this clever pre-election pumpkin creation.

Worth Reading

Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! is devoting 2 days to an interview with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Part 1 aired yesterday. Here is the transcript. Part 2 airs on Monday.

Note: This is a far more honest interview than the one on Good Morning America yesterday. Yesterday's interviewer so badly wanted Ayers to say that he was intimate friends with Barack Obama, something that so clearly is not true.

I also want to say that Obama handled the allegations during the campaign gracefully, without throwing Ayers under the bus. I was happy to see that Ayers felt the same way.

Pallin' Around With Terrorists

In These Times has an excellent article by Bill Ayers. You can read it here.

Thoughts before bed ...

I had a moment of misgiving at around 6:00 tonight when the doorbell rang and it was an Obama canvasser, still trying to get out the vote. I expressed surprise, and she said that down at Obama headquarters they had just gotten a call that Wisconsin was going to be very close so every vote counted. Shit! I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Now, of course, we know the real results.

I was just talking to my good friend who stopped by Obama headquarters at about that time and was begged, nay, implored to go canvassing in the neighborhood surrounding the HQ. Her comment? "There were like, 3 Obama signs on every lawn in that neighborhood! What more did they want? Did they think those people hadn't voted??"

I guess that they were leaving nothing to chance, but I wonder if that was a national strategy or just a local decision? I don't think there was ever any question about Obama taking this hotbed of liberal activism!

Barack Obama's speech -- and the manner in which he delivered it -- was stunning. John McCain's speech was delivered with grace and humility.

Sarah Palin and "First Dude" looked pissed off. Mr. Ether and I speculated about whether, in true Sarah Palin fashion, tomorrow she would state unequivocally "John McCain and I, we won yesterday's election."

But I have no further snarky comments. It is a night for graciousness and a return to decency. There's been enough muck in the last 8 years.

Good night.

Liveblogging from ... ah jeez, this is pretty cool!

We're watching election coverage. Surprised?

It appears that FauxNews has given up on election reporting and is rerunning Everybody Loves Raymond episodes.

On PBS the usual talking heads are pontificating. Cokie Roberts just gushed, "I just love a man in uniform." No, sorry. That was back in '03 when she was a cheerleader for the illegal invasion of Iraq. Yuck.

David Brooks was talking about "the old South" vs. "the new South", and the influx of Latinos as well as other people more likely to vote for the Democratic candidates. It occurs to me that one of the reasons for that influx is because the Republicans in power have so screwed over the workers in the industrial North (not to mention the faux-Democrats like Bill Clinton with his support of NAFTA) that there has been something of a migration South. I haven't heard anybody talk about this, so it might be completely harebrained. But isn't it interesting that the Republicans, in trying to rape working class America, actually may have shot themselves in the foot?

Election 2008

This just in! OK, not really. Just a few scenes and vignettes from my experience on election day, 2008.

Like a million zillion schools across the country, my school conducted a mock election among the students today. The ballots were distributed in the morning by 4th graders. As a voter, I was pleased to see that they had all the presidential candidates listed. As a kindergarten teacher I thought, "How the hell am I going to explain this to 5 and 6 year olds?"

First we had a talk about the office of president. "What does a president do?" I asked. "They run," answered a child.

As it turned out, they had a lot to say about the election. I have a lot of children of immigrants in my class, and I do not know which ones' parents are citizens. But they spoke up, and they all knew Barack Obama's name.

On to the voting. I showed them the ballots. I talked about how many people were on the ballot for president, but it was most likely that either Obama or McCain would be the next president. I said, "See the B? B for B-B-B-Barack. Make a check in that box if you want to vote for Barack Obama. See the J? J for J-J-J-John McCain. Make a check in that box if you want to vote for John McCain. Then we'll have snack." I confess I took a quick peek as they gave them back to me. (And the kids who voted for Obama got big thick chocolatey Hershey bars, while the McCain voters got a handful of dry Cheerios. Just kidding!) It leaned heavily toward Obama (12 - 2) and I was tickled no end to see that one child had voted for Cynthia McKinney. That child must be a maaaaverick. Or else she was totally confused and checked any old box.

At the end of the day when the results were tallied, Emerson school voted 256 - 17 for Obama. (With 3 votes for 3rd party candidate, reliable sources tell me.) Jeez, I teared up when the results were announced! If this is how a mock election affects me, how will I feel tomorrow if the results are favorable?

I left school right away to go vote myself. My polling place is at the high school down the street. I love voting there; it's one reason I chose not to vote early. I see my neighbors, and some of the same people have worked that polling place for at least the 16 years I've voted there. I was on autopilot when I got up to the table to sign in for my ballot. "Ed vote yet?" says the poll worker. "Huh?!" I look up for the first time; oh, it's my neighbor Carol, the smokin', drinkin', cursin' nun who cruises around in her red Jeep. "Sorry," I say. "I didn't pay attention to who you were! I'm just so focused on voting."

No hitches to voting. I marked my ballot, checked it over about 5 times, said a little prayer and fed it into the optical scanner. On the way out, I passed an extremely elderly-looking woman coming in. "Is this where we vote?" she asked. (They moved it to a bigger room than usual to accommodate more voters.) She looked somewhat confused, so I stood and watched her go in to make sure she was alright. Just outside the door she stopped, pulled a comb out of her purse, and combed her hair! I was touched. We've gotten so used to casual -- just the way that we got used to apathy until this election -- that it is hard to remember another time when election day was a BIG DEAL and you dressed up for it. Clearly she remembered.

As I was leaving I passed a young man coming in to vote: Steven, one of my former first grade students, voting in his first presidential election! That was so cool!

So now it's just sit back and wait. If things are looking good, I'm thinking of heading downtown to see if there will be dancing in the streets. (I'm still burned up over the fact that I was out of the country when Nixon resigned in '74, and I missed the celebration.)

Breathe in. Breathe out.

A Message from Palin (Michael) for President

The somewhat important 2008 election is upon us.

Silly though we may usually be, we at the Committee
to Elect Michael Palin President would like to take
a moment to say, in all seriousness...

VOTE!

Vote like the wind!

Vote like you've never voted before!

Vote like your life depends on it! (It may)

Vote like the ice caps are melting! (They are)

Vote like if you don't then the Spanish Inquisition
will fry you up and toss you into a Spanish Omelet!

Vote like a crazed weasel with its head on fire that
has to vote in order for someone to dunk its head in
a bucket of water, thus dousing the fire and eliciting
a collective sigh of relief from every other potentially
flammable weasel, stoat or ocelot in the vicinity.

VOTE, YOU MISERABLE BASTARD, AS IF BY DOING SO YOU
CAN KEEP AN OIL-DRILLING, WOLF-KILLING, IGNORANT
ALASKAN MOOSE-MUNCHER FROM EVER GETTING HER IGNORANT,
WELL-MANICURED FINGER ANYWHERE NEAR THE BIG RED
ARMAGEDDON BUTTON! (You can)

Ahem.

We believe we've made our point.

*****************************************************
And now back to our regularly-scheduled silliness...
*****************************************************

SPLUNGE!


Until next time...

Your friends at the Temporarily Serious
Though Usually Quite Silly Party


P.S. If you're not a U.S. citizen, please feel free
to close your eyes and vote metaphysically.

Watching the Earth Move

There have been a couple of events in my adult life that were of such global significance that they stand out in my memory. One was the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. The other was the end of South African apartheid and the release of Nelson Mandela. What they had in common was that they were things that were so institutionalized it seemed impossible that they would change in my lifetime.

Tonight I watched Barack Obama's 30 minute commercial and became acutely aware that we are on the verge of another of those events. I have not been a Rah Rah Barack supporter, but as the election approaches it takes my breath away to think that we may elect a black president. I think about what that means to the students I teach, for example. And I thought I would never see it in my lifetime.

I may go and vote tomorrow.

This Just In

Pittsburgh police have just released new information that sheds light on the Ashley Todd assault. The twenty-year-old "volunteer" with the McCain-Palin campaign now describes her assailant as 6 foot 4 and purple.
Police are still unclear about a motivation for the attack.

My Wardrobe

I have no way of figuring this out, but I suspect in my entire lifetime -- from the day I was born 49 years ago up until today -- the total cost of my wardrobe has not totaled $150,000. The most costly garment I ever purchased for myself may have been around $150; that was a long time ago when I was still attempting to dress like a grown up. The most costly garment I purchased in the last few years was at an art fair -- a $60 skirt made from a vintage tablecloth. Buying it felt incredibly extravagant. And you know what? Most of the clothes that I wear eventually get donated to charity. (It's actually a great cycle: I buy it at the thrift store for a few bucks. I wear it for a while. Then I give it back to the thrift store.)

I'm So Crabby

I'm still sick, Mr. Ether is still unemployed, election theft is looking very real, I have NO TIME for myself ... and the poor young woman canvassing for signatures for health care reform, who just knocked on my door as I was putting dinner on the table, got the brunt of it. I'm sorry.

Watch this!

Steal Back Your Vote! from Greg Palast on Vimeo.

Ron Howard and Friends for Barack Obama

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Colin Powell speaks

I was pleased today to hear that Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama. I was going to say, "for what it's worth" because I tend to see Powell as a cowardly man who has often not done the right thing (all the way back to the Vietnam War and the investigations of the My Lai massacre.) But reading through the statement he made outlining all the reasons he supports an Obama presidency, my opinion of him changes somewhat. I especially liked this:

Powell also spoke passionately against the insinuations by some Republicans that Obama is a Muslim.

"Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian," he said. "But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.' This is not the way we should be doing it in America." Read the rest.

He said something there that not enough people have in this post 9/11 world. He may not always do what I think is the honorable or courageous thing, but I am aware that there are many many people who see him as some kind of a beacon, and the fact that he said this is huge. I thank him for that.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ...

Just a question ... what is the obsession with comparing the McCain-Palin ticket to t.v. shows we of a certain age remember from the sixties? First we get Maverick
and now this:

But Palin is aware of her ticket's political situation. Asked on the plane about
her reflections from her first month on the campaign trail, she used a word she
would repeat at the rally here: "underdog."

Next week will she be referring to the two of them as "Super Chickens"?
BkKaw!

Keating 5 Video

This is being widely posted in the 'tubes today. If you haven't seen it, it is well worth watching -- and then circulating.

Can we just drop the bullshit about Sarah and Todd Palin being "working class"?

Can we? Please?

Working class couples are not worth $1.2m. They do not own 3 houses, not to mention their own planes.

Let's talk about the hockey mom thing: hockey is one of the more expensive sports in which to have your kids involved. It is outside the realm of possibility for many working families.

We are going on year 2 of unemployment for my spouse. We own (sort of) a very nice, but modest, house. (And 3 tents. Do those count as houses?)

I am aware that we are far better off than many others.

Sarah Palin's down home populist crap is offensive.

Is a "team of mavericks" something like a "close-knit organization of anarchists"?

Molly, the Official Spokesdog of the Impeachment Movement™, is attempting to slink upstairs with her tail between her legs because -- even if Sarah Palin didn't "implode" -- I think my head may implode listening to the wienie pundits. I am screaming at the television. Molly thinks I'm angry. Maybe at her. She does this when I play PacMan too.

OK, here's my punditry:

I couldn't help a smirk and an off-color joke about young Bristol when Palin mentioned "early withdrawal."

God help us if we have 4 more years of someone who pronounces the word nuclear "nookyooler."

Since when is Alaska the flarging "Heartland?"

I HATE HATE HATE the way she talks. I hate the dropped "g" at the end of every "ing." I hate the "ya" instead of "you." But you know what? I was PISSED OFF that I never got to check off the "Gee" on my Palin Bingo board! And I was even more pissed off that I accidentally gave Mr. Ether the Bingo board with "maverick" on it. Damn, damn, damn.

Palin directly answered only ONE question that the moderator asked, the question about gay marriage. She evaded each and every other question. She didn't even attempt to answer one other question.

Palin has a mean-looking mouth. She reminds me of my psycho principal from a few years back. Very disturbing.

I was moved -- for personal reasons that those who have read my blog for a while may remember -- when Biden choked up speaking about losing his wife and daughter. Unfortunately, that's when the dog chose to give me a big lick across my nose and glasses. Maybe she was picking up on my emotions.

I was so pleased when Biden called Dick Cheney the most dangerous vice president in history. And when he talked about the whole "maverick" thing. (I swear, if I hear that word much more I'm going to barf.)

When Palin went off-question to talk about health care, I wish that Biden had pointed out that he, McCain, and Palin (if the worst happens and the election is stolen once again) will all [continue to] enjoy socialized health care paid for by us, the taxpayers. While I -- with my supposedly "Cadillac insurance policy" -- am drowning in accumulated medical bills and put off going to the doctor more often than not.

Well, I probably would have been better off watching The Hudsucker Proxy which I picked up at the library this afternoon. Sigh.

Musing on Election 2008

I am having a very hard time being excited about this election. It isn't that I cannot get behind Obama. While he is not perfect, I can and do support his candidacy. I was briefly excited and hopeful during the convention, but now I just feel defeated and beaten down. I don't want a yard sign, I don't want a bumper sticker, I don't want a button.

I think what I really don't want is a repeat of election 2004. It was so disheartening. I liken this feeling to my third pregnancy after my second child died. It is hard to get invested and trust that everything will be alright. I kind of just want to curl up in a ball and not come out until everything is over. (Except to vote, of course. With my heart in my mouth.)

Yesterday I picked up my copy of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's Faith and Practice. (For readers of this blog who are not Friends: Faith and Practice is the name of books compiled by each Yearly Meeting, containing pertinent passages gleaned from the writing of historical, as well as modern Quakers. They are intended to support Friends in living in the faith.) I opened to a section on "Belief" and found this, from the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1969:

As Friends we believe that love is the unifying force in human relations. Let us understand what brotherly love is and what it is not. Love is not self-seeking; it is self-giving. Love does not try to make up a deficiency in that of God in another from an overabundance of divinity in ourselves; it opens us to the divine Light in him and rejoices in it. Love does not mean agreeing on all questions of belief, values, or rules of conduct; it means accepting with humility and forbearance such differences as cannot be resolved by open and patient give-and-take. Love does not recreate our brother in our image; it recreates us both in relation to each other, united like limbs of one body yet each distinctly himself.

So, what does this have to do with anything? It made me realize that, all other issues aside (and there is so much at stake in this election) the thing that is so striking in Obama is that he projects humility. That is something I can really get behind. The thing is, one can be humble and still kick ass. It is all about what's at the center. Obama may be ambitious -- how can you run for higher office and not be? -- but it feels as if a call to service is what's at the center. I believe that a good politician (in the good sense) is a community organizer writ large. And now he needs to hold true to that center, get out there, and speak Truth to power. With humility.

I am so sick of hubris. We need humility. We need decency. We need a human being for president.

Free Fuzzy Thing!

I signed up an email newsletter from Michael Palin for President (no spam, ever, spam,) and all I got was this free fuzzy thing! Get your own free fuzzy thing here.