los anjalis to anjuquerque

When he was preparing for the Democratic primary debates, Obama was recorded saying, “I don’t consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, ‘You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.’ So when Brian Williams is asking me about what’s a personal thing that you’ve done [that's green], and I say, you know, ‘Well, I planted a bunch of trees.’ And he says, ‘I’m talking about personal.’ What I’m thinking in my head is, ‘Well, the truth is, Brian, we can’t solve global warming because I f—ing changed light bulbs in my house. It’s because of something collective’.”

(via brownfemipower. original source – Newsweek, November 5, 2008, “Hackers and Spending Sprees”)

If you’re registered to vote, PLEASE VOTE. And if you’re an Obama supporter, can you give JUST 30 minutes, to call a few dems and supporters and make sure they voted? IT’s so easy it’s absolutely ridiculous. Several of my friends and I have been doing this for a little while now. You don’t have to be a policy-wonk. You don’t have to be gregarious.

If you login to MyBO (create an account if you haven’t yet), you can make calls with two clicks, to 25 people in any given state. You receive a script on your computer, and it’s so very easy to follow. I’ve been calling Missouri folks today, and it’s so heartwarming that so many of them have already voted. Yes, some were peeved to get another phone call. And a guy told me he wasn’t going to give the phone to his wife (who i had called asking for) because “I know she woudn’t vote for that asshole.” But that’s ok, you don’t take it personally and you move on.

The sheer number of people who are so excited to tell me they stood in line for an hour at 6 am in order to vote in this historic election, or how they know for SURE that bismarck, Missouri is going deep blue this year, is wonderful. I’ve gotten a lot of “Well, heck, I done VOTED for Obama!”. One guy told me, in a strong Missouri drawl that I had to strain to understand, that he was definitely voting for Obama, and that Obama is AS AMERICAN as the next person. He said “HELL YES I voted for Obama. I will scream that in the street.”

Amen to that.

In summary, the rewards outweigh any risks. Callers are generally thankful, and sometimes don’t have important info on their polling places. 2 more hours (east coast), up to 6 more hours (mid and west coast). Let’s bring it home!

Can I just say that I’m not excited about any of the california candidates for governor for 2010? That being said, the sacramento bee has their (lack of) stands on the important propositions. Gives us great hope (sarcasm intended).

Meg Whitman’s going to regret her position on Prop 8. Jerry Brown declined to comment on virtually any of the props (what does that say about him?) and refused to answer why not (what does that say about him?). He only stated a No on Prop 5 position (what does that say about him? it says he’s being backed by the california correctional peace officers association aka the prison guards, in his bid for 2010 and i smell huge conflict of interest).

I’m not happy that so many of these candidates pander to the prison guards and other beneficiaries of the prison-industrial complex by voting NO or No Position on Prop 5. CA Governorship ain’t attracting any true progressive, in my humble opinion. Take away message — don’t let these candidates’ positions or non-positions guide your voting today.

Ok, so check this out. The California Democratic Party published their endorsements for ballot initiatives a while ago. Then, a few days ago, I receive the Official Voter Guide of the California Dem Party. Curiously, Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, is missing from the endorsements. The mailer doesn’t even LIST Prop 5. I just saw this today.

I’m going to try to get in touch with someone at the party’s office about this, but my only explanation right now? Some of the higher up dems — among them Diane Feinstein (US Senator) and Jerry Brown (CA Attorney General, former CA governor) — both running for governor in 2010 — put enough pressure on the party to omit Prop 5 from the flyer. If this is the case, it’s infuriating. Anyone have any other clues to why Prop 5 is missing on the mailer?

And if you’re wondering why some influential Dems might be opposed to Prop 5, check out “The Battle over CA Prop 5: Special Interests Overwhelming the Public Interest” in the Huffington Post and my blurb on conflicts of interest and Prop 5 at LAist.

The Courage Campaign put out a progressive voter guide for Californians, incorporating the endorsements of the Courage Campaign, the blog Calitics, the California Democratic Party, the California Labor Federation, the California Nurses Association, SEIU California, the Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters, the League of Conservation Voters, and Equality California. It’s pretty rad, check it out here if you haven’t figured out your positions on the propositions and you dig these groups.

I’ve also got a Prop 5 overview and a Prop 6 overview over at LAist.com. And we put together a roundup of LAists posts on the various propositions as well as links to voter guides.

And as always, please please please vote NO on Proposition 4 (mandatory parental notification of teenage pregnancy) and NO on Proposition 8 (looking to amend the state constitution to take away rights that same-sex couples have to marry).

It’s 10pm here in California, and the 1st official results are in for tomorrow’s election! Two of the smallest towns in New Hampshire — Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location — have a tradition of sending their voters to the town’s polls at midnight Nov 4th, when the polls open in the state. Didn’t know the polls opened at midnight in New Hampshire? Neither did I! Here are the results, if they’re any sign of the times, it’s going to be a party tonight.

Dixville Notch
John McCain 6
Barack Obama 15
Ralph Nader 0

Hart’s Location (PHOTO of the tally here!)
Barack Obama 17
John McCain 10
Ron Paul (write in) 2

And just to give some perspective on Dixville Notch’s previous voting record:
1984 Reagan 29 Mondale 1
1988 Bush 34 Dukakis 3 Kemp 1
1992 Bush 15 Perot 8 Marrou 5 Clinton 2
1996 Dole 18 Clinton 8 Perot 1 Browne 1
2000 Bush 21 Gore 5 Nader 1
2004 Bush 19 Kerry 7

Oh yeah, and Hart’s Location has not gone Dem ONCE since this whole “first-voting” at midnight thing started in 1948.

Karoli, who writes at Bang the Drum, wrote about her experience observing a Yes on 8 event in Camarillo, CA. The whole post is quite insightful and moving – check it out. Some excerpts below:

Insights on the talking points from the religious leaders who spoke about Yes on 8:

First point, repeated many times: This is a campaign of love. The first time it was repeated with no explanation for how that could be true. Several repeats later, I heard this phrase: “This is a campaign of love that should not be subject to the tyranny of the minority.” I also heard this: “They’ve got it all. Don’t let them have this, too.” The term “they” referred to gays. “This” referred to marriage. When I heard that, I immediately wondered what they meant by “got it all”. I also wondered how they were reconciling that statement with the idea of it being a campaign of love. Could it be that they were limiting the concept of love to the religious, the heterosexual, the married heterosexuals? Was that kind of intellectual dishonesty truly possible? It reminded me of the kind of love that abusive parents administer. They hold you close and hug you before knocking you across the room with one backhand to the face. That kind of love.

On Lawrence King:

Two men overheard as I was about to cross the street to leave, upon observing the couple with the “Remember Lawrence King” sign crossing the street: “Who is Lawrence King? Do you know?” “No, I don’t.” Barely able to contain myself, I turned with a smile and said “Lawrence King was murdered in cold blood in his homeroom class in Port Hueneme last February. In front of 40 eighth-graders. By a kid taught to be afraid of and hate gays.” I turned on my heel and left. This was front-page news here, and ultimately made the national news as well. It wasn’t a secret. Yet here were two full-grown men who had no clue who that poor boy was. Lawrence King was a resident at Casa Pacifica, a resident facility for troubled teens. It’s always struck me as ironic that, despite being part of a so-called traditional family, those traditional family values failed him. His killer is a troubled boy as well. I certainly don’t see where the ever-sanctified family was an asset to him either, other than to make sure a gun was accessible so he could put two bullets into Larry King’s head at point-blank range in front of his classmates…

I will never forget the tone and manner with which the line “Don’t let them have this, too.” was delivered. That tone will haunt me for the rest of my life, as will the image of Lawrence King’s sweet face… I printed his picture. I put it in my wallet. I will carry it with me to the polls on November 4th, and when I draw my line across the arrow on my ballot pointing to “No” next to Proposition 8, I will say a prayer that he is up in Heaven sending love our way.

After the speech he wiped away tears. What a tribute to the silent heroes of America.

Rest in Peace Ms Dunham.

The Huffington Post has a great piece on Madelyn Dunham, along with a slideshow of the most wonderful photos.

I must say I am honored to be here with Senator Obama tonight. And once again I thank him for inviting me.

I’ve spent 35 years writing about America and its people. About what does it mean to be an American, what is our duty, our responsibility, what are our reasonable expectations when we live in a free society. I really never saw myself as partisan, but more as an advocate for a set of ideas: economic and social justice, America as a positive influence around the world, truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and to a life filled with the dignity of work, promise and the sanctity of home. These are the things that make a life. These are the things that build and define a society. And I think that these are the things that we think of the deepest level when we think about our freedom.

But today those freedoms have been damaged and curtailed by eight years of a thoughtless, reckless and morally adrift administration. So we’re at the crossroads today. And I spent most of my life as a musician measuring the distance in my music between the American dream and the American reality. And I look around today and for many Americans who are losing their jobs, or their homes or are seeing their retirement funds disappear and don’t have health care, who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that dream and that reality have grown greater and more painful than ever.

And I believe that Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his own work. And I believe that he understands in his heart the cost of that distance in blood and in suffering in the lives of everyday Americans. And I believe as president, he’ll work to bring that promise back to life, and into the lives of so many of our fellow Americans who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning.

Now in my job I travel around the world and I occasionally play to big stadiums or crowds like this, just like Senator Obama does. And I continue to find out that wherever I go, America remains a repository for people’s hopes, their desires. It remains a house of dreams. And a thousand George Bush’s and a thousand Dick Cheney’s will never be able to tear that house down. That’s something that only we can do, and we’re not going to let that happen.

This administration will be leaving office—that’s the good news. The bad new is that they’re going to be dumping in our laps the national tragedies of Katrina, and Iraq, and our financial crisis. Our house of dreams has been abused, it’s been looted, and it’s been left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power, and for influence, for a quick buck. It needs strong arms, strong hearts, strong minds. We need someone with Senator Obama’s understanding, his temperateness, his deliberativeness, his maturity, his pragmatism, his toughness, and his faith. But most of all it needs us—it needs you and it needs me. And he’s gonna need us. Cause all that a nation has that keeps it from coming apart is the social contract between us, between its citizens. And whatever grace God has decided to impart to us, it resides in our connection with one another, and in our life and the hopes and the dreams of the man or the woman up the street or across town—that’s where we make our small claim upon heaven.

Now in recent years that social contract has been shredded. We look around today and we can see it shredding before our eyes. But tonight and today we are at the crossroads. We are at the crossroads, and it’s been a long, long, long time coming.

I’m honored to be here on the same stage as Senator Obama. From the beginning there’s been something in Senator Obama that’s called upon our better angels. And I suspect it’s because he’s had a life, where he’s had so often to call upon his better angels. And we’re going to need all the angels we can get on the hard road ahead. So Senator Obama, help us rebuild our house big enough for the dreams of all our citizens. It’s how well we accomplish this task that’ll tell us just what it does mean to be an American in the new century, what the stakes are and what it means to live in a free society.

So I don’t know about you, but I know I want by country back. I want my dream back. I want my America back! Now is the time to stand with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, roll up our sleeves, and come on up for the rising.

Again, this is definitely the season for brilliant political videos. Here the funny makers at 236.com video edited the presidential debates to present obama and mccain speaking synchronizingly (is that a word?) from one debate to the next.

Brilliant! Just brilliant. Just… the best way to go into the day before the election. With a renewed sense of belly-shaking, coordination, and attention to detail. I LOVE this comedy crew.

Get out and vote, yo. And shake that belly.

As always, so beautifully produced, a video by the Obama campaign about how to protect your vote. And as always, a wonderful mix of sound and voices and music and graphics. What struck me in this video was the calm and collectedness of the presentation. It’s an issue I or others can become so easily angered by. But I appreciate the rational presentation of the issue, and found the video educational and convincing. So, note to self…

I know, this is SO almost two weeks ago, but it makes me smile. Check it out if you haven’t — Ellen Degeneres calling up Obama. Obama shares thoughts on his dance skills, creating an ambassador to the Ellen show position, and his halloween plans with his daughters.

Press release of a community event against Prop 6 and 9 (more info on Prop 6). Sponsored by InnerCityStruggle.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SCHOOLS NOT JAILS

East LA & South LA Communities Unite to Get-Out-the-Vote for November Election

WHAT: Press conference to announce Get-Out-the-Vote efforts in East Los Angeles and South Los Angeles for Election Day, November 4th, 2008.

Community organizations, leaders and activists, representing thousands of East LA and South LA community residents, parents and youth will mobilize the community to vote NO on Propositions 6 & 9 and YES in support of Measure Q.

WHO: Hon. Mónica García, President, Los Angeles Board of Education Maria Brenes, Executive Director, InnerCity Struggle Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Executive Director Community Coalition Youth and Parent Leaders from East LA and South LA communities

WHEN: Thursday, October 30, 2008 – 10:00am – 11:00am

WHERE: Garza Primary Center, Front Entrance, 2750 Hostetter Street, Los Angeles, CA 90023

WHY: As the economy continues to decline, the people of California need to reprioritize its needs and spending. Currently, the state of California ranks 47th in education spending and 1st in prison spending as compared to the rest of the nation. InnerCity Struggle calls on voters to invest in SCHOOLS NOT JAILS by taking a NO position on Propositions 6 & 9. Californians must not lock away opportunities for our future doctors, teachers and lawyers- Props 6 & 9 threaten education spending. It is critical that voters in the City of Los Angeles support Measure Q. If passed, Measure Q will create over 270,000 new jobs needed to repair old classrooms and will provide funding to build new science labs across LAUSD to prepare students for a 21st century global economy.

VISUALS: To represent our future leaders, local high school students will be dressed as doctors, lawyers, teachers, and scientists. They will use images and props to demonstrate the choice Los Angeles voters will have to make between support for schools or prisons.

NOTE: If you would like to make arrangements in advance to interview any of the speakers listed above, or want more information about this event, please contact Lizette Patron 323-481-7346.

Props 5 and 6 are hugely important propositions for Californians. Prop 5 is likely one of the more innovative prison and drug reform policies, and Prop 6 essentially is more “tough on crime” which translates to more prisons, more overcrowding, more people being sent to jail for longer sentences. One of these will get my support, the other will not. I’ve detailed the pro and con side of Prop 6 in a post I wrote for LAist today — “LAist Guide to the Elections: Prop 6″.

I included two videos, as videos often share much more than words can. Check out both videos if you can. The video above, from the Labor/Community Strategy Center (a much respected organization in Los Angeles) is quite telling.

Remember to vote on November 4th! (or before then if you’re voting early). And hopefully after November 4th we can have a statewide referendum on propositions. I’m a little tired of amendments to our state constitution being proposed through the popular vote. Who’s with me?

I write for LAist.com, a rad website about all things Los Angeles.  The site gets tons of hits and spans a wide array of topics.  I profiled Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, which is being voted on by Californians this November 4th. I learned quite a bit about the California prison system through some pieces I read in the process of writing this post. Here’s the start of it:

Several of California’s ballot propositions this year could have wide-ranging national ramifications. Among them is the less talked about Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA). This proposition aims to fundamentally reform California’s drug-control policy by providing resources for rehabilitation and treatment of drug users a priority of the prison and parole systems. Up to eighty percent of California’s prisoners have a substance use problem and most receive no treatment. The rationale behind Prop 5 is simple — treating addiction and providing rehabilitation for nonviolent drug offenders is more humane and more cost-effective than simply imprisoning them, which currently costs over $10 billion a year. And the timing of Prop 5 is relevant — California’s prisons are severely overcrowded (with more than 170,000 inmates in prisons that were built for 100,000) and the state’s prison health care system is so broken that a federal receiver has demanded billions from the state’s budget to overhaul the prison medical system.

California did not always carry this reputation. In the 1950’s through 1970’s, the state led the nation in rehabilitation, psychotherapy, research, and innovative education programs for inmates. Judges had greater power over lengths of sentences for inmates and parole boards were set up to decide if an offender had reformed and could be released. Over the years, California’s governors and legislature did away with this power of judges and parole boards, took rehabilitation out of the penal code, and passed more than 1,000 laws increasing mandatory prison sentences.

So what does Prop 5 intend to do? Prop 5 would provide system-wide reforms in regards to drug policy…

Check out the rest at this link on LAist. As always, feel free to login to comment or to recommend the post!

One of the most respected military figures of the Republican Party endorsed Obama yesterday. He spoke eloquently, and he systematically broke down every argument and tactic that the McCain campaign has used. Full transcript here. He talked about the politics of unity versus division, spoke about domestic policy issues and supreme court judges even though he’s a foreign policy person, and called out the anti-American smears for what they were. He also essentially said that McCain put campaign first, not country first, in choosing a completely unqualified vice presidential candidate.

Here’s an excerpt that I was especially thankful to hear:

Now, I understand what politics is all about. I know how you can go after one another, and that’s good. But I think this goes too far. And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for. And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me. And the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift. I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that’s what we’d be looking at in a McCain administration. I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he isàIs there something wrong with being a Muslim in this countryàThe 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 presidentàYet, 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.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards—Purple Heart, Bronze Star—showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.

Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.

Thank you Colin Powell, for your judgment, your timeliness, your thoughtfulness.

(Cross-posted at Cure This)

It’s so exciting that health care is receiving top attention in the presidential election this year. The past few weeks have shown an unprecedented focus on the two major party presidential candidates’ visions of health care issues.

The fire quotes of this past week on health care were these two by Senator Obama. On McCain’s health care plan:

It’s like those ads for prescription drugs. You know they start off, everybody’s running in the fields, everybody’s happy. Then there’s the fine print that says, “Side effects may include…”

And on right vs privilege:

I think every single american has a right to affordable, accessible health care.

Of note, this statement received the largest roar of support from the crowd he was speaking to. Some video footage of a speech Obama gave last week:

Some things that Obama mentioned:

Senator McCain wants to pay for his plan by taxing your health benefits for the first time in history…

But the Wall Street Journal recently reported…it turns out Senator McCain would pay for his plan by making drastic cuts in Medicare — $882 billion worth. $882 billion dollars in Medicare cuts to pay for an ill conceived, badly thought through health care plan…

Time and again he’s opposed Medicare. In fact, Senator McCain has voted against protecting Medicare 40 times.

When you’ve worked hard your whole life, and paid into the system, and done everythign right, you shouldn’t have the carpet pulled out from under you when you least expect it…

UPDATE (Sat Nov 8th): I HAD A DIFFERENT MAP on this post, it looks like the folks at dailykos changed all maps to the actual count after the election. My actual map on October 13th was bluer — it included all the states that obama won, in addition to predicted wins for Obama in Montana, North Dakota, West Virginia, Georgia, and the way too optimistic surprise blue state Mississippi. I predicted a blowout with Obama receiving 408 of the electoral votes. Right now we’re at 365. I was alerted to this change by waltarrrrr, who commented on my post that my predicted map was very close to the actual turnout. that’s because the map below has been reverted automatically to the actual map. I *wish* i was so good at predictions that I could have predicted exactly this map!

Ok Just kidding, what do I know about politics or what the electoral map will look like on November 4th? Not much. But still, for the fun of it, here’s my supremely optimistic prediction for this election. Obama 408. McCain 130. A blowout, to say the least :>

Optimistic is the word here. There’s nothing mathematical about my map, I’m just taking all the states that are in the strong dem, lean dem, “toss-up” category and giving them to Obama, partially because his ground game has shown such success in this regard. And because this is the first election since 1980 where new voter registrations may actually swing several states. Furthermore, cell-phone only (no landline) voters aren’t being polled well at all. And voter registration in many states is just off the hook! In North Carolina, an otherwise solid red state, dems are being registered at a 6 to 1 ratio to republicans. In Georgia, over 300,000 new dem voters as compared to 30,000 new republican voters. And startling numbers in Ohio — almost 94 percent of ALL potential voters are now registered! And almost 40 percent of early voters in Ohio, on exit polls shared that a volunteer from the Obama campaign (or you or me) had called them to remind them to vote early. That’s what I call a powerful ground game.

For good measure I included North Dakota and Montana, even though they’re still in the lean republican category with polling. Oh yeah, and Mississippi, a strong Republican state.

Anyway, you can create your own race calculator at the DailyKos election map site.  Pollster.com has a nice map revealing polls and trends for the US, with posts about each day’s polls.  For some interesting historical perspective check out the Electoral Vote website. This Day in 2004 (Oct 13th), shows Bush clobbering Kerry a few weeks before the election. And we were still hopeful then that Kerry was going to win.

I’m quite unsure when this whole Anjali thinks she’s a pundit thing started. Someone do something, intervene!

Some perspective on this whole fiscal conservative thing:

National Debt

when Jimmy Carter arrived at the White House: $660 billion.

Added during Carter’s four years: $337 billion.

Added during Ronald Reagan’s eight years: $1.6 trillion.

Added during George H. W. Bush’s four years: $1.6 trillion.

Added during Bill Clinton’s eight years: $1.5 trillion.

Added during George W. Bush’s seven years, nine months: $4.5 trillion.

Portion of the $9.5 trillion added to the national debt during the past 31 years and seven months that came during Republican presidencies: $7.7 trillion.

Percentage of that $7.7 trillion added during George W. Bush’s two terms: 58%.

Could somebody explain again what “fiscal conservative” means?

Taken directly from the wise sage MeteorBlades, at Dkos.

Very well done. Brilliant, in fact. One of the best videos of this election. Brought to you by the gentle folks at 236.com.

Over at CrookedTimber, Righteous Bubba put Sarah Palin’s lines into a Markov chain (which randomizes words but keeps sentence structure, verbs, nouns, prepositions intact). It’s pretty funny:

We do not believe in American ideals, and they are violent and they are our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska. We have got to keep good relation with all of these leaders without preconditions being met. Barack Obama is going to find you some and I’ll bring them to you. I’m all about the reforms on Wall Street that are needed. And we have to look at track records and see who’s more apt to be cognizant of what the desire is in this terror. They need to pursue those and we have got to be, a military strike, a last option. Perhaps so. I mean, that is the group that can be looked to… As that leadership, that light needed across the world. I’ve never heard Henry Kissinger say, Yeah, I’ll meet with some of his government are extremely dangerous to everyone on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state. We shouldn’t second guess their efforts. Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state of Alaska, our international trade activities bring in many leaders of Israel and I would hope that’s not the case. No, I’ve worked all my life until I had kids. I was – I answered him yes because I have understood the world is through education, through books, through mediums that have provided me a lot of perspective on the table. I believe that they, too, want to rid not only their country, also. They understand the dangers of terrorists having a stronghold in regions of their country, also. I think, should include Ukraine, definitely, yes.

But honestly, Sarah Palin’s real response to Katie Couric’s questions in an exclusive interview this past week were just as funny (or scary). Here’s one response:

Let me be clear. As I say, inaction is not an option. We have got to shore up our economy. This is crisis moment for America, really the rest of the world also, looking to see what the impacts will be if America were to choose not to shore up what has happened on Wall Street because of the – the ultimate adverse effects on Main Street and then how that affects this globalization that we’re a part of, in our world. So, the rest of the world really is looking at John McCain, the leadership that he’s going to provide through this, and if those provisions in the proposal can be implemented and make this proposal better, make it make more sense to taxpayers, then again, John McCain is going to prove his leadership. … But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping the – it’s got to be all about job creation too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reigning in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity not as a competitive, scary thing, but one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

And Saturday Night Live brought Tina Fey back, to do an impression of Sarah Palin at her interview with Katie Couric. She actually uses some of the exact quotes that Palin used in her response, which makes it more stunning (life imitating art or art imitating life?):

OK, a correspondent directs me to John McCain’s article, Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American, in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. You might want to be seated before reading this.

Here’s what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

From economist Paul Krugman’s blog.

How telling.

The photograph is a picture I took from Kellogg Street, overlooking Shepherd Road, while a mass arrest of peaceful protesters was underway. This was probably the first time during the RNC that the police used “unlawful assembly” to arrest hundreds of people who literally couldn’t escape. The police allowed a crowd to gather, locked down the escape routes, and arrested everyone for unlawful assembly. As I reported at FDL, I saw a simlar tactic deployed on 7th Street later in the week–the police blocked off both ends of the street, encircled the protesters, and then issued the order to disperse. When over a hundred people couldn’t vanish instantly, the cops seized the pretext to tear gas everyone. The trick worked so well they repeated it on Thursday night on the Marion bridge where about 300 people were told they would be allowed to march even though there permit had expired. The cops let them proceed to the bridge over I-94 and then locked down both ends of the bridge and arrested everyone, including about two dozen journalists, families with children, legal observers, and medics.

From first-hand documentation of the protests outside the Republican National Convention, as photographed and observed by LB. This should settle some more doubts about whether the protesters “deserved” what they got or whether they were inciting riots and hanging out in places where they shouldn’t have been. Also in almost every photograph I’ve seen like this (where a wide view is captured), there’s clear evidence of cops in riot gear outnumbering the protesters.

Thanks LB and the others who documented the situation outside the RNC with much more objectivity than the traditional press.

If you’re a minority and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “token hire.”
If you’re a conservative and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “game changer.”

If you live in an urban area and you get a girl pregnant you’re a “baby daddy.”
If you’re the same in Alaska you’re a “teen father.” (Actually, according to your own MySpace page you’re an F’n redneck that don’t want any kids, but that’s too long a phrase for the evil liberal media to take out of context and flog morning, noon and night.)

Black teen pregnancies? A “crisis” in black America.
White teen pregnancies? A “blessed event.”

If you grow up in Hawaii you’re “exotic.”
Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you’re the quintessential “American story.”

Similarly, if you name your kid Barack, you’re “unpatriotic.”
Name your kid Track, you’re “colorful.”

If you’re a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual, you’re “reckless.”
A Republican who doesn’t fully vet is a “maverick.”

From John Ridley’s Pocket Guide to speaking Palinguage.

I’m not sure who pushed forward the GOP strategy to ridicule community organizers, but Giuliani and Palin offended Americans to the core yesterday, during their speeches for the Republican National Convention.

Giuliani on Obama:

“On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer… [intended pause]… “what?”…

…with a quizzical look and a smirk (only the kind of smirk Giuliani can wear), gaining quite a laugh from the Republican delegates on the floor. And Palin, in her speech:

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities.

Again, loud laughter from the Republican delegates in the audience. (more…)

Some photos from a talented photographer who was arrested today at the peaceful protest outside the Republican National Convention. Apparently 43 others were arrested together, paraded to the press (as Webster states) and then cited for presence without a permit and then released. This was Day 2 of the RNC. On Day 1, the riot police arrested 300 people, 250 charged with CONSPIRACY to RIOT (including a few journalists). The second photo above is of a mass detention of 300 people on day 1 of the RNC protests. On both days — pepper spray and tear gas used indiscriminately, as per passers-by and protesters.

Also of note — LB on the Poor Peoples March (check out the photo):

Do these people look like a ravening mob to you? A few minutes later, the police tear gassed the whole block after pushed the crowd back about a block or two.

What you can’t see in the picture is that bicycle and riot cops were surrounding groups of people on the sidewalk and blocking the intersections at both ends of the block.

And LB on infiltrators:

When the anarchist checked the photographs she recognized the familiar-looking guy as one of the officers who had raided the Convergence Space on Smith Ave. the previous week.

The Pioneer Press traced the license plate of the unmarked sedan to the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office.

Court documents also show that the police relied heavily, in some cases exclusively on the testimony of paid informants to lay conspiracy charges against certain defendants.

Keep these facts in mind when assessing claims that anarchists are responsible for various misdeeds at protests. If the authorities can infiltrate, they can also instigate.

This morning on my drive to work, I tuned into Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman (who was arrested for asking the police why her colleagues had been arrested). Among the insightful reporting on the constitutional violations that the riot police committed, she shared an audio clip of her producer Nicole Salazar essentially filming her own arrest. The audio was almost unbearable. And then this evening I saw the actual video:

Absolutely unbearable and horrifying.

What’s happening in the video: Salazar is filming (she’s a producer for a well-respected tv and video show, and she has full official press pass information around her neck). Riot police come swarming in from 3 sides. You can hear her saying Where do you want me to go? as they’re rushing the crowd. She screams “I’m Press! I’m Press!” as she’s being pushed by them. They take her down to the ground, stomp her face in the asphalt, one officer puts his elbow in her back, the other picks her up by her leg, she tries to keep her face up off the ground so it doesn’t get macerated from being dragged while elbow is in back and other is holding her leg. She ends up with a bloody nose and a scratched up face. And she’s still detained. (info from witnesses)

Her charge?

CONSPIRACY TO RIOT. What was she doing? Videotaping the protests and interviewing people. She’s still being detained. The Department of Pre-Crime (Minority Report reference) is in FULL EFFECT.

Salazar is just one of the 250 people who were detained or arrested for conspiracy to riot. And she’s a journalist — so not only are the riot police attacking her, they’re attacking the right of the free press to report. As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, here’s a video of Amy Goodman on the situation a short while after her arrest:

Amy Goodman, world-reknown and widely respected journalist broadcaster of the show Democracy Now!, being arrested for ASKING the police why they were doing what they were doing.

Yes, a woman peacefully holding a flower, getting pepper sprayed. (thanks to BFP for the video)

Just two examples of the violent protesters being nicely moved away by our police state. If this doesn’t infuriate you then I don’t know how you can believe in a free America.

- – - – -

As the DNC and RNC created “Free Speech Zones” far from the actual conventions, and as police are now pulling out tasers, concussion grenades, and tear gas at peaceful protesters at the RNC in Twin Cities Minnesota, and as police horses are stampeding protesters, and as cameras and cellphones are being seized without reason, and as police in the twin cities in Minnesota are jailing some without reason and threatening others, and as a friend of mine is involved in the Northstar Collective (a group of medics and others who have been preparing for months to provide medical and psychological support for victims of the police during the RNC), and as I’m hearing about victims of tear gas streaming into the Northstar makeshift clinics, I don’t know what to think.

Protests SHOULD matter, but increasingly they don’t, and people are criminalized and made out to be america-hating anarchists for it. Folks around America should be enraged, but it’s a bit hard to when the media isn’t covering it (and the media who IS is being arrested for it) and when the convergence of Palin/McCain and RNC media and Hurricane Gustav are all occurring at the same time.

In any case, I’m really proud of the folks who are tirelessly covering it.

The ColdSnapLegal collective is live-twittering (short live-blog posts) about up to date arrests and civil rights violations occurring at the RNC protests. Check out their messages here. And check out their website here. Thank you so much ColdSnapLegal.

Here are some of their latest twitter posts:

Cops threatening to arrest everybody @ river walk – 300+ ppl inc. medics, legal observers, journalists, concertgoers, kids. Tear gas used.

Mass arrests on Jackson & 9th, including Democracy Now! journalists Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddou, Nicole Salazar.

Ramsey Cty jail on lockdown – no lawyers allowed inside. St. Joseph hospital also on lockdown, denying people water.

Steady stream of folks with pepper spray injuries at the Northstar clinic; medic headed to jail with supplies soon.

2 medics arrested at 6th & Wall

7th & Jackson arrests at 30-40. Democracy Now! journalists among those arrested at Temperance. Lots of police brutality among these arrests.

Anti-capitalist bloc being tear gassed on Jackson by river.

Pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, concussion grenades being used in more locations than we can write in one tweet right now.

Person tackled by 5 SPPD in riot gear for refusing a search. Media was present for this.

~300 people being stampeded by police horses on 2nd & Kellogg

Cops are getting ready to gas funk the war blockade at kellogg and wabasha. Legal observers needed there now.

Others reporting on this (because the mainstream media is late to it):

Firedoglake (with videos and up to date reports)

The Uptake

Amazing to see so many folks using YouTube, Qik video (upload from phone), Twitter, and other social networking means for the dissemination of this much-needed information.

Last I checked, I thought we were living in the free world, not Beijing…

PLEASE donate. I just donated some money to INCITE! Women of Color against Violence — an organization that has done amazing work in health and healing in New Orleans (they collaborated with health practitioners to create the Womens Health and Justice Initiative and the New Orleans Womens’ Health Clinic). Please donate if you can, and PLEASE pass this on, forward this widely.

Dear INCITE! friends and supporters,

CLICK HERE to DONATE

On the eve of the 3 year anniversary of the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and subsequent government criminal negligence and assaults on the low income people of color on the Gulf Coast, our sisters from INCITE! projects in New Orleans (including the local chapter, the Women’s Health and Justice Initiative, and the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic) are bracing for the potential landfall of Hurricane Gustav, which is currently projected to hit the Louisiana coast on Monday or Tuesday at a category 4 or 5. Voluntary evacuation of New Orleans has already begun, and mandatory evacuation could be declared as early as today. INCITE! organizers in New Orleans have made over 700 phone calls to women of color and their families that make up the constituency of the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic, working to prepare and implement evacuation and safety plans.

Your assistance is urgently needed to help low-income women of color and their families evacuate safely if need be, stay safe for the duration of the evacuation, and return to the city as soon as possible so as not to fall prey to the pushout that has kept so many folks from being able to return to New Orleans since Katrina. Local organizers are using whatever resources and funds at their disposal to help women and their families evacuate, bond people being held in Orleans Parish Prison out, and support those who make the choice to stay in whatever way they can.

(more…)

I watched Sarah Palin’s VP acceptance speech, where McCain stood a foot or two behind her. I wondered how he could stare at her ass repeatedly while the camera was on him. WHILE SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT WOMEN GAINING THE RIGHT TO VOTE. It made me want to vomit. Good to know others saw that too — check out the video put together by Jed Report:

You can “Digg” the post here. And if you’re not convinced by the mockery video, check out some of the original un-cut footage, and just take a look at how many times he stares at her ass:

Obama’s totally playin’ the media into thinking his VP pick is going to be Evan Bayh. I don’t think that’s going to be the case. Other names that have been thrown around from insiders and speculators include Kaine and Biden. Yeah, I too was like “who’s Kaine?” And Biden’s great on foreign policy and a number of other issues, but I just don’t think he’s going to be the one. However, all this back and forth thinking is just the game Obama’s playing, which i think is very smart. He controls the media in a much more positive way that Bush/Cheney/Rove do (where they feed the media B.S. that the media spews, causing us to go to war and kill hundreds of thousands and displace millions). But it’s getting a little tiring (I’d like the media to focus on bigger issues and just wait on the VP pick). Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism and media reformer expresses this exhaustion in two 140 character messages (the size of a message on the popular service Twitter):

Press: “We can find out who your VP is going to be before you announce it.” Obama: No you can’t. Can too! Cannot! On yeah? Yeah! Riveting.

Obama: “I can get the word out to and through my supporters.” Press: “Not if we find out first and tell them, you can’t! Dun-dun-dun!!

And today I received an email from Michael Moore’s mailing list — an open letter to Caroline Kennedy calling for her to be VP (she’s the chair of the obama VP search committee). Obama-Kennedy!

But now on dailykos, folks are joking around about what the TEXT message that Obama’s campaign sends out will be. (Obama sent out emails to his supporters offering to text message the name of his VP pick as soon as he announces his pick).

Some of the funny ones:

“Obama chooses Maddow, D-Reality, as his vice presidential running mate. To make a donation to the campaign, visit my.barackobama.com.”

Oh and Yay Rachel Maddow will now have her OWN SHOW on MSNBC! Woohoo! So absolutely excited, that woman is intelligent, witty, analytical, humble, and queer, yay for queer women in media! Ok back to the texts…

Love this one (lolcats style)!:

“OMG LOL CLARK BITCHEZ!!!1111!”

Many think Wesley Clark would be one of the strongest picks for VP.

On fundraising and suspense:

“I have chosen…. 2 C rst of msg, snd $40 2 mybarackobama.com. Thx!”

On more of obama:

“Obama/Obama ’08! I haz cloned self. Ur welcom!”

On ambiguity:

“”It’s Bayhden”

On twitter:

“hmm why doesn’t he just post it to twitter?”

My brother’s addition to the discussion:

“Barack Obama picks Wes Clark as his VP. McCain, you’ve been PWNED!”

American idol style (hilarious!):

“text to 688888

your choice

1 for Biden
2 for Feingold
3 for Kaine
4 for Gore”

Whatever the text message will be, I’m sure we’ll all be surprised (hopefully pleasantly). But honestly I do wish the media would cover a broader range of issues, you know like THE NEWS. Let we the people gossip about VP choices or what the contents of the most anticipated text message in history will contain.

Lastly — thousands (or more?) have signed up for this service, and when the announcement is made, the texts will stream in around the same time (off by seconds, perhaps by minutes depending on the load to the mobile services distributing the texts). I’m imagining a birds eye view of the scene at the moment people find out… more from a cultural/anthropological perspective than a gossip-spewing celebrity-adoring perspective. Wonder what that will look like…

From BuzzFeed:

In response to Barack Obama’s calls for change, the Republican’s have unveiled their new “Change You Deserve” campaign for 2008. It turns out the slogan was also used to market the popular anti-depressant, Effexor. Sometimes those Republicans just get things so right.

Check out the link to the drug’s possible side effects! (akathisia, elevated blood pressure, memory loss, brain zaps, vertigo, nausea, wow! How telling, about the GOP’s proposed change we deserve…)

And here’s more information about the “Change You Deserve” intiative, from the republican house leader’s website. Make your own conclusions…

(cross-posted at Cure This)