I started to write two different letters to the editors of local papers in support of Obama, but I’m just too tired to get the words out correctly. So I scrapped the idea for another day and instead went and signed up to attend two Dearborn Women for Obama events.
What did you do today?
P.S. Congratulations to Christine, aka my hetero life partner, who started volunteering at her local Obama office yesterday!
Here’s one local Republican’s perspective on what happens when you catch Palin red-handed, but let it slide:
“Executive abilities? She doesn’t have any,” said former Wasilla City Council member Nick Carney, who selected and groomed Palin for her first political race in 1992 and served with her after her election to the City Council.
Four years later, the ambitious Palin won the Wasilla mayor’s office — after scorching the “tax and spend mentality” of her incumbent opponent. But Carney, Palin’s estranged former mentor, and others in city hall were astounded when they found out about a lavish expenditure of Palin’s own after her 1996 election. According to Carney, the newly elected mayor spent more than $50,000 in city funds to redecorate her office, without the council’s authorization.
Carney confronted Mayor Palin at a City Council hearing, and was shocked by her response.
“I braced her about it,” he said. “I told her it was against the law to make such a large expenditure without the council taking a vote. She said, ‘I’m the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can’t.’”
“I’ll never forget it — it’s one of the few times in my life I’ve been speechless,” Carney added. “It would have been easier for her to finesse it. She had the votes on the council by then, she controlled it. But she just pushed forward. That’s Sarah. She just has no respect for rules and regulations.”
Commenter at CNN.com:
Republicans lowered my taxes, and will keep them low. But the value of my home has dropped 20%, my health insurance costs have doubled, gas costs $4 a gallon, and my investments are in the tank. Please, tax me.
Apparently I’m in the minority when I say that I wouldn’t mind if my taxes were raised. That is, as long as I’m getting a comparable service for my dollar. If my government would give me health care, child care, elder care – or just simply act like they care, well… I would gladly hand over more of my pay.
Horror stories about people dying in droves while waiting for treatment in a socialized health care system are nothing more than bunk to me. I’ve known more than one Canadian to tauntingly wave their health care card in my face. In fact, it’s not uncommon to hear of Michiganders that create counterfeit Canadian health cards and travel the 2 minutes across the border for treatment when they can’t afford health care here in the states.
That’s why all this talk about Obama raising taxes on the middle class means nothing to me… especially because it is also a bunch of bunk. I’ll pay more to a government that is willing to take care of me.
Dear readers, I have had a shocking and dramatic change of heart. John McCain and Sarah Palin have convinced me that overturning Roe v. Wade is a magnificent idea and we must pursue it at once.
John McCain particularly influenced me on this because he is a beacon of character standing up for the rights of the unborn. I’m positive he’s caught on to us miserable sluts having abortions willy-nilly and with the same frequency with which we sneeze. Obviously, we need to be stopped like the runaway trains of death we are. He is a very perceptive man. And, a maverick.
I am a maverick too. Thus, I have a plan~
To the women involved:
In the case of pregnancy by rape and incest, all I can say is, too bad lady – it’s not the baby’s fault and your uterus does not belong to you anymore. It’s a place for men to put sperm and public policy. Your body is to be referred to now as “The Uterus.” You will have and raise a baby born by rape, incest, reckless youth, impossible genetic defect be damned, by failed condom or pill you forgot to take. If you said “No” and he said “Yes” – well, that’s just the way he rolled. Congratulations to your uterus. Now plan a baby shower and get over it.
To the men involved:
Now, in exchange for banning abortions entirely, I would like to address another part of human anatomy which is your dick, sir. Once you put your dick in a vagina and make a girl pregnant such that her uterus is engaged with your child, in exchange for outlawing abortions, you will be aware that the following will occur (which you won’t mind doing because you people love babies, respect life and embrace fatherhood whenever it comes to you as evidenced by the millions of father free children we have now):
At 13 years old, “men” will register a mandatory DNA sample and sign a form for the Social Security Administration. It reads:
What I did yesterday to contribute to the Obama election was, well… technically, nothing. Not a good way to start my new pledge. But, in fact, what I did yesterday to support the Obama election was work my ass off so I wouldn’t get fired. Yup, I retained employment, allowing me to further contribute monetarily to the campaign.
So, that’s what I did to contribute to the campaign yesterday.
Today, I took some of that income that I made yesterday and contributed $25 to the campaign. It’s only 6:50 a.m. and I’ve already made a difference today. Rock.
What did you do today?
Statement from Senator Obama on the Situation in Financial Markets
This morning we woke up to some very serious and troubling news from Wall Street.
The situation with Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions is the latest in a wave of crises that are generating enormous uncertainty about the future of our financial markets. This turmoil is a major threat to our economy and its ability to create good-paying jobs and help working Americans pay their bills, save for their future, and make their mortgage payments.
The challenges facing our financial system today are more evidence that too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren’t minding the store. Eight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation, and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans have brought us to the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.
I certainly don’t fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. It’s a philosophy we’ve had for the last eight years – one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. It’s a philosophy that says even common-sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise, and one that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises.
Well now, instead of prosperity trickling down, the pain has trickled up – from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms of Wall Street.
This country can’t afford another four years of this failed philosophy. For years, I have consistently called for modernizing the rules of the road to suit a 21st century market – rules that would protect American investors and consumers. And I’ve called for policies that grow our economy and our middle-class together. That is the change I am calling for in this campaign, and that is the change I will bring as President.
One debate that I’ve recently had with a family member “on the other side” is McCain’s voting record. I asked how they could possibly expect me to believe that McCain stands for change when he votes the same as Bush 90% of the time. Their response was that Obama voted along party lines just as often.
Fact of the matter is, I’m okay with that. Voting along party lines is not really the issue. Voting exactly the same as the current regime for years on end, then touting that you are a Maverick and a change agent… well, that’s where we start to fall into the liar, liar, pants on fire category.
Facts is, McCain voted that same as Bush 95% of the time in 2007 and 100% to date this year. [Source]
Save the debate whether Sarah Palin actually is the Commander in Chief of the Alaskan National Guard, her sum total of national security experience is the fact that she has traveled to three countries (one she actually went to – the other two were refueling layovers on the plane) and the fact that, if she stands on a remote island in the Bering Straits of Alaska, she can see Russia.
I’ve sadly only been to two countries thus far outside of the US – Canada and Mexico. But I was actually in both for considerable amounts of time. Furthermore, I drive by Canada every day on my way to work. Don’t even have to stand on an island to see it. In fact, if I go the lunch room on the 13th floor of work to buy a candy bar and happen to gaze out the window, I’m looking at Casino Windsor.
Of course, the Canucks don’t pose the threat that the Russians do [or did]. But if you’ve spent any time in Canada, you know that they aren’t particularly fond of their neighbors to the south.
Therefore, I would like to submit that I have just as much, if not more, national security experience than Sarah Palin. What I don’t have, unfortunately, is a Jedi Master whose feet I can sit at for the next four years. Damn… game, set, match to Palin.
“She’s going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years, and most doctors think that he’ll be around at least that long,” said Charlie Black, one of Mr. McCain’s top advisers, making light of concerns about Mr. McCain’s health. [Source]
I don’t find that terribly funny. In fact, I find it terribly scary.
With a little less than two months to go before the Presidential election will be decided, I have decided that I will do one thing each day – no matter how big or small – to contribute to Barack Obama’s election. Today’s contribution was the creation of this blog. Again, just a smal blip on the radar… but perhaps it will help one person muddle their way through the sound bites and the lies making their rounds on popular media.
Yesterday I met with my neighborhood Obama organizer. It’s been a long while since I’ve volunteered at the local Obama office and I’ve made the commitment to get back for at least an hour a week. I’ll be meeting with all the local neighborhood organizers on Thursday.
Earlier this week Bryan and I signed up to house a paid organizer from MoveOn.org. We’ve yet been contacted to actually provide housing, but we made the effort.
