Political Rants

...this one made me cry*. A great song and web film.

*Caveat: I also cry at Hallmark commercials and weddings, so...

Thanks to Margaret on my undergrad class listserv.

...and Dogs are Republicans.

Just got this joke via email from my buddy Todd. A little light political humor:

How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to change a light bulb?

1. one to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed,

2. one to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed,

3. one to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb,

4. one to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the light bulb your way or for living in darkness,

5. one to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb,

6. one to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner: Light bulb Change Accomplished,

7. one administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally in the dark,

8. one to viciously smear #7%2,

9. one surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along,

10. and finally one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

I think they forgot: claiming that the billion-dollar light bulb monopoly needs a massive tax break; declaring that to change a light bulb is to be with God/freedom/democracy, whether the lightbulb wanted to be changed or not; and creating a new Amendment to keep same-wattage light bulbs from lighting up together.

Bill Clinton had (and has) what my father once called "a presidential quality". I had my problems with his administration, I admit, but I really I miss that quality. The current office holder thinks he has it, but he doesn't, not by a long shot. Even those who hated Clinton couldn't deny his attraction to voters. For proof, see yesterday's Kerry rally in Philly where 100,000 people came out--mostly to see Bill. No one was denying it. He's got drawing power.

One thing he said, which was quoted on NPR yesterday, struck me as exactly what I've been saying for months:

"Now, one of Clinton's laws of politics is this, if one candidate's trying to scare you, and the other one is trying to get you to think, if one candidate is appealing to your fears and the other one is appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope. That's the best."

The thought that a majority of the electorate will vote based on their fears--not on their needs or wants, or the needs of their neighbors--frankly terrifies me (no pun intended).

Meant to put this up a week ago...A great new film about why young women should vote.

Great new Flash film from Planned Parenthood at SaveRoe.com.

More young women voted for American Idol than in the last election. That is sick and sad. When women vote, progressives win.

The Supreme Court has spoken and Ralph Nader is off the Ohio ballot for sure.

What I still want to know is why he's not been investigated in the 34 other states where he IS on the ballot? If they used fraud to get him on in Ohio, why do we assume that every other state was valid?

You might check out votepair.org to see what vote pairing might do to alleviate the "Nader effect" we remember from 2000. There's a box on the right where you can choose your state, say which candidate you'd want to vote for, and it will tell you if voting for another candidate might be more 'strategic'.

%

A timely piece of political satire written by mon pere, published in Sunday's Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Seriously, how can anyone think this administration is keeping us SAFER? Where are people's brains?!

From the NY Times today:

The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives...are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.

The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year. [emphasis mine]

Vanished? 380 TONS of material "vanished"?? Do YOU feel safer? I don't!

If you don't have a NY Times free login, you can see the article at johnkerry.com.

And are we not supposed to care about the 50 soldiers dead just because they're Iraqis? My heart is big enough to mourn them. Is yours?

What a mess. We literally cannot work hard enough this next 9 days.

...it's for a cause. In the last week, I've met any number of prominent politicians, and a few celebrities. On Thursday, I went to an amazing breakfast where, among other remarkable women from politics, the military and elsewhere, I met Roberta Flack. More on that breakfast later (once I get my camera downloaded), but suffice it to say she was very interesting, discussing her past as a schoolteacher in rural North Carolina, then in the inner city of Washington D.C. Fascinating.

We also had Ron Livingston here, stumping for Kerry-Edwards. Literally. They had him out on the streets going door to door. Now, he's from Iowa (grew up in Marion), so this made a certain amount of sense.

I gather Sharon Stone has also been here, again stumping for the Dems. And billionaire George Soros. I gather Rudy Guiliani has been here for Bush.

It really is amusing to be in the capital of a battleground state during a close election race. Saturday morning, I was at the Dem Victory 2004 HQ, getting some precinct captain training and info, and listening to some Gulf vets discussing the war. After the first of the vets spoke, a man came up the side of the room, in sweaty jogging clothes, and was handed the mike. We all realized that it was our Iowa Governor, Tom Vilsack, out for a Saturday run--he'd stopped by to give us a little rah-rah time (picture to follow). Some out-of-towners who were there, including a couple of the vets, were flabbergasted that the Governor would do that. I said "Welcome to Iowa!".

Seems one Republican Congressman in Louisianna is sending out $1 bills to try to get votes.

And Dennis Hastert seems to think that "We have a race in Oklahoma that we are probably not going to win" "That's a Republican seat we are probably going to lose."

Thanks, Tracey, for this link to an environmental/political flash.

Cuz it's been keeping me up nights! My Political Week:

Thursday: Thursday night I attended a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, where Senators Kerry and Edwards and their wives were to speak. Also Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), our governor, Tom Vilsack, and others. I got there late due to other obligations. Good thing! Some friends had called me to tell me they had been standing out in the cold October air since 6pm. I arrived about 8pm, and still stood in line for 1/2 an hour! The crowds were enormous! I got in just in time to hear the candidates speak--they'd just turned off the metal detectors to get the crowd through in a reasonable amount of time, and so I ended up behind barricades, so I couldn't stand with my friends. No problem--I made new ones And with the giganto video screen, I saw just fine. However, my friend Bill had a MUCH better view, and got a great pic of Kerry speaking. He's using it on his desktop, I gather:



I was so proud. According to my 'gal' at Victory 2004 HQ, they were expecting up to 10,000 people, but got over 15,000! Many of whom stood around for up to 4 hours in the cold! I'm so proud of the commitment I see here in Iowa. There was remarkable energy. If only we can get all of these people, and all of their friends!, to vote by Nov. 2nd. My 'rally buddy' Julie and I made a date to go to another big Dem event on Saturday. Because of the delays with the crowd, and the subsequent traffic, I didn't get home until nearly midnight on Thursday. Very tired on Friday...

Saturday: Saturday was the annual Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner for the Iowa Democratic Party. This is a big deal. Last year, we had nearly all the candidates there, I gather (I missed it). This year the slate was supposed to include Vanessa Kerry (who I'd heard in September), Sharon Stone (?!) and--and here's why I paid to be in the balcony seats--Al Franken. We heard first from Congressman Boswell, who was really bad (what were you thinking, Leonard?!), then from Governor Vilsack, who was amazing! He was On Fire! Every year he gets better and better...I just kept thinking "2012, 2012...". He spoke passionately and personally about, for instance, the flu vaccine problem. It turns out his sister got the flu and it got into her heart. You could hear the anger in his voice when he talked about the warnings the Bush Administration had received on this problem as early as Spring of 2001, about which they did little or nothing. Fascinating to watch.

Vanessa Kerry spoke--I'd heard her before, but I was once again impressed by her poise, intelligence, commitment and passion. If she can use these gifts in her medical career, health care might just be saved.Sen. Harkin spoke--he always does a good job. I like Tom. He works hard for us. I had to leave during his speech to go down to the Civic Center to house manage (briefly) a local production of Hair, which will become relevant later...

As a result of this, however, I missed some of Al Franken's talk. Luckily, my friend Julie took notes He was amazing. Really raised the roof. Brought the funny at first, but then got serious about Why we need to win and What we need to do. Very passionate in his own right. Huzzah!

After the speech, we sneaked down into the expensive seats and got autographs and photos of Al and his wife Franni. At first he wasn't moving over to where we were standing, so Julie started shouting "We love Franni, We love Franni". She laughed and came over, and then brought Al over, cuz she was so amused Thanks, Julie!

After drinks with Julie, I returned to the Civic Center in time for intermission and the 2nd half of the show. Why is this relevant? Because (and this is why my friends at StageWest mounted this production again) the anti-war theme of the show is very relevant, again, today. In particular the conflict within the Berger character as to what he is supposed to do--go to war, or burn his draft card and 'drop out'. The finale had me in tears. That may have been in part because this show was the late show, and finished close to midnight. Another late night for me!

Sunday: my friend Michael was coming in to teach some classes around Iowa this week and next. I'd found out a couple of weeks ago that Michael Moore was going to be coming to ISU in Ames for a free lecture (part of his Slacker Tour) on Sunday night. My Michael very kindly went up early (I had to work all afternoon) and stood in line. As a result, we were only about 8 rows back. Impressive, considering that 6000+ people showed up! However, once again, we had to wait. His plane was delayed out of Wisconsin, then wasn't immediately allowed to land in Ames (there were murmurs of conspiracy...whatever).

I wrote down some highlights, but suffice it to say, he's really good at dealing with hecklers. A pro-Nader heckler went after him, and Moore agreed that he (Moore) had supported Nader in 2000, in an effort to remind the Dem party about their liberal end. However, as he said, Nader getting pissy cuz the Dems didn't allow him in the debate in 2000 is NO excuse for "Ralph...working out his anger issues at the ballot!"--this election is too important.

He read from his latest book, Will They Ever Trust Us Again?, a collection of letters written to Moore by soldiers in Iraq and their families. Quite moving.

As I said, there were thousands there. Which is why I was so proud when he asked those who were not registered to vote to stand and get a form, and only a few dozen stood. He was impressed. We were his half-way stop, #30--he has 30 more campuses to visit in 2 weeks! You have to admire the commitment.

I have photos, etc., but my camera was flaky today, so I'll update with my own photos tomorrow.

The latest Zogby analysis of the polling data. This interested me:

Pollster John Zogby: "The two candidates go into the third and final debate tied. TIED!!! There is no major sub-group movement to report, but the undecided voters give us the real key to what is happening behind the scenes. Today's three-day track reveals that only 11% of the undecided voters feel that President Bush deserves to be re-elected. That is the lowest figure yet. Two in five -- 40%-- feel it is time for someone new and 49% are undecided about his future.

The third debate is crucial.�

Elsewhere in politics...

Quote from the recent Vote for Change concert tour:
*James Taylor: "I was interviewed recently and they asked me if I had any advice for undecided voters. I said, well, take a real close look at both of the candidates...and then vote for the Smart One!!"

Thanks to Todd G. for reminding me about Show George the Door, the site created by True Majority's PAC to organize and aggregate the various volunteer and donation sites for the progressive causes. As a librarian, I approve the effort to make information more accessible and useable.