Two More Hours!

I am almost speechless with anticipation and excitement of today's transfer of power from a failed presidency to a new one representing hope and change. After eight years of marching backward in time socially, economically, and politically, America is finally ready to move forward again. You know, of course, that the forces of darkness are going to try to bring down Barack Obama at every turn because their focus is political and ecomonic power-- not what is best for our country. Obama needs the solid support of all progressives. Today is a day of celebration for us. Tomorrow we have to join with him in taking steps to repair our country on many levels. Si se puede!

[Author's note: I have to add that Jim Blackwood's show on KXCI today has been an inspiration to me in writing this piece and the one below. Check the music links above. He played these tunes this morning. Also, the image above is Change Has Come to America by Kate Pearson. It is part of Dinnerware's Soup of Change exhibit.]

Election Day 2008: Watching History Unfold

I probably should have put this post up yesterday-- election day-- but after the election of Barack Obama, I was too busying partying with Democrats across the country and progressives around the world. As Ronald Reagan would say, it's a new day in America!

I took yesterday off of work to volunteer to help the Pima County Democratic Party Get Out the Vote Effort. I have never seen so many people at the headquarters. There must have been 60-100 people making phone calls asking people around Southern Arizona if they had voted and/or turned in their mail-in ballots.
There were so many volunteers that some of us were outside under a tent making phone calls. Gabrielle Giffords, our Congressional delegate, and some state legislators stopped by to cheer us on. Here I am-- near my outdoor calling post-- with Gabrielle. After 4 hours of phone calls and some free food, I drove around looking for long voting lines to photograph but couldn't find any. I went home for a few hours, and later in the day I joined my fellow Drinking Liberally peeps (below) at Gentle Ben's for an election watch party. Drinking Liberally is a national organization of progressive political nerds who get together weekly to kibitz about politics and progressive issues. As the excitement mounted, we all headed over to the big Democratic Party Party at the Marriott nearby. The celebration at the the Marriott was amazing. The ballroom and most of the lobby were packed with noisy, excited Democrats of all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. Two big screens of election results and music by the Wayback Machine entertained the crowd. As we watched Washington, Oregon, and California turn blue, there was a roar from the crowd, and the election was declared for Obama. Men and women alike began cheering, screaming, hugging, dancing, crying, and offering high-5s to each other. It was exhilarating. I think the pictures tell the story.

Early Voting: How Cool Is That?

I just returned from dropping off my early mail-in ballot at the local City Council Ward 6 Office. Today is the last day in Arizona for early voting. I was shocked how many people were waiting in line to vote or dropping off completed early ballots. About 25 or so people were waiting in the noon-day sun to vote--before election day. Nina Trasoff, our local city council representative, and her staff were busily putting out chairs to keep the voters comfortable. Nice touch.

When my brother and I were kids, I can remember waiting in line in bad weather (in Ohio) with my mom when she went to the polls after work. It's great that we now have early voting in person and by mail-in ballot.

Now, let's get the rest of the voting hassles and barriers out of the way! I heard on NPR that the US has the most constrictive, convoluted voting system of any democracy in the world (ie, voting on a weekday, requiring registration in advance, requiring identification, challenges to voter registration, etc.) For example, Here are some items that I believe should be changed.

1) Do away with the electoral college.

2) Standardize voting procedures. It's absurd that in some states counties make the voting rules. Come on, people, can't we agree on nationwide procedures? Other countries can!

3) Make paperless voting systems illegal.

4) Make your birth certificate your voter registration. I heard Michael Moore on Democracy Now today. He said that everyone born in Canada is automatically registered from day 1. Seems like a simple idea that would actually save a lot of money. Only naturalized citizens would have to be registered.

5) Mandate shorter campaigns! In most countries, they campaign for 6-8 weeks. Why do we need 2 years?

6) Make campaigns publically financed... period.

Regarding next Tuesday, all I've got to say is, "Si, se puede!"

Image credit: I love this illustration of Obama. I saw it on the Free Will Astrology website. Here is the blurb about the illustration: "Artist Scott Siedman created this painting of Barack Obama, titled 'The Man from Illinois,' as a tribute to this extraordinary candidate. By placing him within the traditional American "heartland" mythologies, he celebrates Obama as a son of the Midwest, linked in metaphor to the land, to books, and to the possibility of connecting to Lincoln's 'angels of our better nature.' Prints are available at scottzart@earthlink.net."

McCain-Palin: Can Liars Really Be Reformers?

With all their talk about religion and family values, you'd think that John McCain and Sarah Palin would be just a tad more honest in their campaign strategies. Maybe even follow the Golden Rule.

Since that disgusting, fear-and-smear convention, the two have been spreading lies on the campaign trail, on the Internet, and on television. Are the American people dumb enough to buy these lies? Unfortunately, they believed George Bush's lies, and look where we are now.

Can liars be reformer? Personally, I don't see these two personality traits going together. Is lying a Christian value? They didn't teach it in my Sunday school. Is someone who has been in Washington for more than 25 years, an outsider, an agent of change? Nooooo..... who's he trying to kid?

Blizzard of Lies is a great editorial by Paul Krugman in today's New York Times. Here's an excerpt:

"...I’m talking, instead, about the relationship between the character of a campaign and that of the administration that follows. Thus, the deceptive and dishonest 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign provided an all-too-revealing preview of things to come. In fact, my early suspicion that we were being misled about the threat from Iraq came from the way the political tactics being used to sell the war resembled the tactics that had earlier been used to sell the Bush tax cuts.

"And now the team that hopes to form the next administration is running a campaign that makes Bush-Cheney 2000 look like something out of a civics class. What does that say about how that team would run the country?

"What it says, I’d argue, is that the Obama campaign is wrong to suggest that a McCain-Palin administration would just be a continuation of Bush-Cheney. If the way John McCain and Sarah Palin are campaigning is any indication, it would be much, much worse."

Bushback Mountain: The Truth Revealed

As the 2008 presidential campaigns gear up for the final contest, it will be interesting to see how John McCain re-invents himself. Although he has been portrayed as a moderate Republican with an independent streak, lately his speeches show how close his policies are to George Bush's policies. The picture above is from Alan Colmes' web log. Many commentators and bloggers continue to support Barack Obama's drum beat: McCain is running for Bush's third term. On multiple levels, the country can't afford Bush's third term.

Blog for Arizona has a very good historical account of McCain's decisions and his past connections to the Savings and Loan scandals of the 1980s (among other stories about McCain). Again, I am disapointed in the main stream media. Story after story about what Obama's minister said but nothing about McCain's role in this 1980s financial crisis.

Clinton Supporters for McCain: Fact or Fiction?

Hillary Clinton ran an historic race for President of the United States. She inspired women of all ages with her campaign. Finally, a woman was a real contender for president. No matter how many times the media slapped her down, she came back. The constant barage of insults from wind bags on the left and the right--like Ed Schultz--just strengthened her core supporters.

Sadly, now Hillary's campaign has ended. The media who tried to kill her race is lauding her strength and courage, yada, yada, yada. (Just a few weeks ago she was a witch who wouldn't give up.)

These days the other big non-story attached to Hillary revolves around her supporters: Who will they vote for in November? Story after story reports that a significant percentage of Hillary supporters will vote for McCain. Personally, I think this is hogwash. Shortly after Hilary's concession speech, I heard a news report that 20% of her supporters say they will vote for McCain, who has a dismal voting record on women's issues. Ok, then, that means 80% will vote for someone else-- most likely Obama. Hello, why is the media focusing on potential defectors from the Democratic Party????? Obviously, it's because they're trying to paint this behavior as the norm.

A story in today's New Your Times puts this issue into perspective. It outlines how absurd it would be for a Hillary supporter to vote for McCain. Author Frank Rich describes McCain's pitches to pick up women's votes, but then adds, "... while the McCain campaign apparently believes that women are easy marks for its latent feminist cross-dressing, a reality check suggests that most women can instantly identify any man who’s hitting on them for selfish ends." tee hee.... you betcha.

Franklin and Jimmy: Where Are You When We Need You?

If you've been paying attention to the news these days, you know that the US is in deep economic do-do (a technical term I learned in Econ 101 at OSU).

Bush, Cheney, and their Congressional Republican minions have run the economy into the ground with their tax-break-and-spend policies. They handily eliminated the Clinton budget surplus years ago and continue to build the LARGEST budget deficit in history. Their oil man perspective on energy and environmental policy has not only led them to ignore international treatees on reducing global warming but also to work against any regulations that would encourage fuel-effiecient cars or meaningful research into alternative fuels. Being "anti-big-government" (except when it pertains to gay marriage or abortion), they also turned a blind eye to risky lending practices, which have now created a stagering mortgage crisis across the country. If all this is not bad enough, gas prices are over $4/gallon in some parts of the US and rising; automakers are closing plants and laying off thousands of people; the dollar has tanked on world markets; the stock market keeps slipping; people are losing their homes and jobs; and the Chinese are beating the pants off us at our own games (ie, capitalism and conspicuous consumption of energy-- not baseball).

Whew.... what a list. So, why don't we have a parilentary system, so we could have voted these self-serving, self-rightous oil barons out of office before they destroyed our country? I digress...

Tonight, my question is: Franklin and Jimmy, where are you when we need you most? Of course, I'm referring to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter.

In the 1930s, the US was in dire financial straits; there was a banking crisis; people were losing their jobs and homes; and stock market volitlity led to huge loses. Hmmmm.... sounds familiar! Anyway, what did FDR do? Did he send everyone a $300 economic stimulus check so they could buy cheap imported goods? Noooooo.... he created social programs to give poor, sick, and elderly people a safety net and created jobs programs to put people to work. The alphabet soup of public works programs created by FDR went a long way to fix and build US infrastructure-- roads, sidewalks, parks, dams-- while giving people the work, money, and self-esteem to rebuild their lives.

We have people out of work, and we have infrastructure problems. Why not put the two together?
1) Politicians lack political will and long-term vision to take dramatic steps (even if they would benefit millions of people).
2) Sending checks is easier and very popular in an election year.
3) Sending us $300-600 dollars to spend not only helps some citizens but also helps business-- if we buy something.
4) Giveaway gimmicks are good PR amongst the poor and less educated. (Ok, sorry to sound elitist, but given some level of sophistication, you recognize the stimulus package for what it is.)

So, I've made a case of FDR, but why, you ask, do we need Jimmy Carter, too? Those of us who were around in the late 1970s, remember the last "energy crisis"-- long lines at the gas pumps, rising prices. Jimmy made a series of presidential tough-love, tighten-your-belts speeches on TV. He called on the nation to reduce energy consumption and to work together to develop an energy policy that would reduce our dependence upon foreign oil. He encouraged us to buy fuel-efficient cars, turn down our thermostats in the winter (55 at night and 65 during the day), and put on a sweater. (He wore a sweater when he gave one of these speeches.) I drove a Datsun B110 in the 1970s-- 40mph. People used to brag about the milage of their cars!!!! (Check out his speeches on YouTube.)

What is our president doing about our current energy crisis? First of all, you can't call it a crisis or people would really panic (especially since they're losing their houses and jobs, as oil and food prices rise). Are Bush and Chaney (his boss) asking people to conserve? Hell no! (Conservation is for wussies; that's what Ronald Reagan taught us.) Their solution is more oil production and exploration-- here and in the middle east.

What would the US be like today if we had re-elected Jimmy and continued to work toward energy independence? Sigh.....Of course, Americans aren't into sacrifice so we elected Ronny instead of Jimmy. Ronny said that there had been a "malaise" in the country and that now (with him as president) it was "a new day in America". Ronny (the great communicator) was selling us a "Don't Worry Be Happy" philosophy and we bought it. Magically, big cars were ok again, the energy crisis was a thing of the past, and global warming was a theory. Almost 30 years later, gas mileage for most cars is worse than it was in the late 1970s. Thanks, Ronny, George I and George II for allowing us to burry our heads in the sand, while you and your friends profitted from our ignorance.

So gasoline is fast approaching $4/gallon here in Arizona and has surpassed that mark in some states. This will put a dent in summer vacations, most likely, but what will the price of energy be in the winter when people have to heat their homes? This is a very scary thought, but, of course, except for NPR, no one in power is addressing this. (Winter is after the election, and, therefore, too far in the future.)

So, where are FDR and Jimmy when we need them? Will Barack Obama or John McCain be the type of strong, visionary president that we need now?

Sicko: What a Movie!

Tonight I went to see "Sicko", Michael Moore's latest documentary. What a powerful movie.

Several of my friends had seen the movie before me and had offered snipets of information about it. Although I sort of knew what to expect from "Sicko," I was overwhelmed by the movie and reduced to tears by the end. Yes, the personal stories were moving-- the guy who had to choose which finger to save, the couple whose medical bills forced them into backruptcy and their daughter's basement, the 9/11 rescue workers who were foresaken by our healthcare non-system, the little girl who died because care was refused, etc.

But above all of the personal stories, one commentary really hit home for me. An English gentleman said that American corporations and government want to keep US citizens fearful, uneducated, and disillusioned with the system because then they will be so pessimistic and hopeless that they won't vote. They fear citizens who are healthy, educated, and fearless because they can't be easily controlled. He explained that for Great Brittan free national healthcare came with democracy. (Huh? Aren't we the ones who are supposedly making the world "safe for democracy"? Isn't this our biggest export?) How come our democracy values money and corporate profits more than the health and welfare of its citizens? The current government hopes that we will stay uninformed and believe their big lie that the US has the best healthcare. A recent NY Times editorial offered a conservative but thorough comparison between our non-system and healthcare offer in other industrialized countries.

I liked "An Inconvenient Truth" and thought it was exciting how one movie could sigle-handedly push global warming into the collective consciousness of the American people. I hope that "Sicko" does that for healthcare.

Every adult in the US should see this movie and then take action: contact friends and encourage them to go to the movie; send e-mails or letters to legislators encouraging them to actually do something about the US healthcare scandal; blog about "Sicko" and healthcare in the US; send letters and comments to newspapers; march in the streets; and VOTE.

As Michael Moore said at the end of the movie, when are the citizens of the US going to think of "we" instead of "me"?

What would happen if the poor and disenfranchized citizens of the US all registered to vote and actually voted?

New Emblem for US Government

A friend of mine recently sent this bit of news for my blog.

"The federal government announced today that it is changing its emblem to a condom because it more clearly reflects the government's political stance. A condom stands up to inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives a sense of security while it's actually screwing you."

Sad but true...

Everyone needs to vote in every election!

As Jim Morrison sang, "They got the guns. We got the numbers."

Put It Back on the Table, Nancy!

Last week's Drinking Liberally get-together gave birth to a brilliant grassroots lobbying effort. Local DL regular Marlene Phillips gave an impassioned speech about impeachment of President George Bush. She and others urged the group to write letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi encouraging her to put impeachment "back on the table". You'll remember that soon after she became Speaker of the House she told George and the nation that impeachment was "off the table".

Letters are a great idea-- if you can get enough people to write custom letters. But Ken, another DL regular, offered a different suggestion. Instead of (or in addition to) letters, he suggested sending Nancy napkins with the handwritten message, "Put it back on the table" Or "Put impeachment back on the table." I love the napkin idea. Here's a link to Blog for Arizona where Marlene outlined the campaign a few days ago. At multiple political gatherings this week Tucson liberals were buzzing about the "Put It Back on the Table" idea. Let's do it!

Green Mayor for Tucson?

Life is full of disappointments. This spring I was seriously disappointed that the local Democratic Party did not have an opponent for Republican Mayor Bob Walkup. Tucson has a city manager form of government; consequently, mayor is a symbolic, ceremonial position. Ok, so Walkup really doesn't have much power, BUT Tucson is a city of Democrats and other independent-minded folks. Why do we have a Republican mayor who used to be a big-wig at Hughes Aircraft Company (now Raytheon)?

Personally, I believe that Walkup has survived as mayor because he knows the Dinosaur/Cockroach Theory of Survival. The dinosaurs stood tall and walked slowly through the forests. Cockroaches, on the other hand, lurk in the darkness and keep a low profile. When the lights are turned on, they scurry under back into their hiding places. The dinosaur's high-profile made them vulnerable to attack by preditors and eventually became extinct. Cockroaches have learned how to avoid preditors, adapt to their suroundings, and survive. They are still with us and stronger than ever. (I learned this survival theory toward the end of my long tenure as a State of Arizona employee. I was a dinosaur, though, and was laid off in 2004. That's a story for another time.)

So, since I am obviously unimpressed with BW, I am dismayed that he has no Democratic opponent. Enter the Green Party. Last night I went to a meeting of the Sonora Progressives and met Green Party Mayoral Candidate Dave Croteau. Normally, even though I agree with Green Party policies, I would not vote for the Green Party because I see them as a fringe group that can't win.

With no Democratic candidate, the Walkup-Croteau race is different story altogether. Here we have a lukewarm, unexciting, do-nothing Republican incumbent running against an unknown Green, who holds values that are closer to those of the Tucson citizenry. Here's a link to the Green Party's Ten Key Values, which include grassroots democracy, social justice, ecological wisdom, non-violence, decentralization, economic justice, gender equity, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, and sustainability. Croteau is a candidate who is knows that sustainability is an issue!!!! He also understands the concept of basing economic development on growing local businesses and working with our city's strengths, rather than spending millions to compete with other cities for the major corporations looking for cheap labor and tax breaks.

Walkup didn't beat Tom Volgy, his last opponent, by much of a margin. Here's an interesting blog post about Walkup's honensty (or lack of it); it also includes some information about the Walkup-Volgy and Walkup-McKasson races. If enough of us liberal thinkers organize, work for, and vote for Croteau, I think he has a chance.

Croteau is currently trying to raise donations from Tucson residents so he can get matching funds. He needs matching funds to be a viable candidate, since he doesn't have the corproate sponsors that Walkup undoubtably has. I urge you to go to the link above, print out the donation form, and send Croteau $10 - $390, so he can run a decent race against Walkup. Let's go Green, Tucson!

Arizona Sells Solar Energy to Other States

Ok... maybe you realized that this is a fake headline. Arizona is not currently selling solar energy to other states, but why not? Arizona -- more than any other state in the US -- has an abundance of sunshine that could be harnessed to create electricity. (In mid-July, some might say we have an over-abundance of sunshine. LOL)

During the 2007 session of the Arizona Legislature, Representative Steve Farley sponsored a bill to subsidize installation of solar panels for all Arizona residents who want them. According to Farley, if Arizona had around 90 square miles of solar panels, the state could sell solar energy to other states. Sounds like a great idea to me. We would be using something (sunshine) that we have plenty of, promoting the renewable energy, and making some money for the state coffers.

So, why wasn't this bill passed by the Legislature in 2007? The simple answer is that Republicans killed it. (Since they are the majority party in the Legislature, they control which bills get out of committee and which ones receive a fair hearing by other legislators.) Farley plans to introduce the solar energy bill again during the 2008 session.

I'd also like to know where the media was on this? I knew nothing of the solar energy bill until I heard Farley speak at a local Democratic Party event. I believe that many Arizona voters would see the benefit in this legislation. The media let the citizenry down my not publicizing this important bill.