November 2008 Archives

It was raining for the past few days here in Vegas, so I guess that's why the song is in my head.

Yesterday was beyond hectic. Making the usual Thanksgiving meal with a three-month old is waaaaaaaaaayyyy beyond my expectations and energy level. The dishes are washed and things are put away but WOW! We were beyond tired last night.

A good day though. We had thirteen people all told plus a couple babies come by to eat. We actually moved it over next door to Leslie's office conference room as, well, we happen to have bouncers and swings and such we didn't have before.

A good meal with helpful dishes and sides and desserts brought by our guests. The turkey was magnificent and I really think I got the yams down this year. Found a pumpkin bar recipe that was a big winner as well.

It was good to take a break. And yes, it *was* a lot of work but it is always nice to sit with the students and staff and friends we have here and share a big meal. I think I'll probably miss it when we just have family Thanksgivings. Weird, huh?

Our thoughts go out to those around the world who are decidedly NOT having a peaceful time right now, particularly those in India dealing with the aftermath of terrorism and our troops in the field. God bless.

Amen.

I'm thankful for my baby and my family and friends. And I'm thankful we can hope as a nation again, instead of just being subjected to hatred and fear.

This week's address by your President-elect:

And this doesn't even count the extra $800 billion from this week.

Read this. Be smarter.

Finally! California is going to investigate the amount of influence the LDS church had in pushing Prop 8 down people's throats.

You know, separation of church and state and all that still applies in this country.

I hope they yank their tax exempt status and tax them into the ground for cramming their narrow belief system down the throats of millions. No, this isn't an anti-Mormon thing, I think a lot of evangelical churches need to be fined and taxed for violating the spirit of America in their hateful, bigoted way.

This just makes me seeth.

Honestly, let's go whole hog on this. If we own companies that name stadiums and if Rethugs swear Obama is a socialist, then let's name the Mets' new field the People's Metropolitan Stadium.

I can hear neocon heads exploding as I type this. Good.

You've probably seen the sappy, vomit-inducing commercial of uneducated nitwits thanking Sarah Palin for running (her party into the ground). Here is the 236.com take on it that appeals to me.

Here is a somewhat broad and incomplete list of Mormon-owned businesses. Basically, if they can't support civil rights in this nation and want to be allied with the worst forms of religious bigotry, they don't deserve my money.

More on the rough patch for actual thinking LDS members who think becoming more hateful than a Southern Baptist bodes ill for their church.

More here.

The way we treat our wounded is well and truly vile. Get a hold of any politician representing you to change the situation the article describes.

If true, something to be truly thankful for this year.

Read this. Thanks.

A scene from Florida.

Some folks have had it with religious intolerance and are quitting their churches. Most recently it has been LDS members leaving the Mormon church over their intolerance against gays, and financing political stunts like Prop 8.

Here is one testimony and a letter of resignation from Signing for Something.

Here is another former LDS member writing at Salon.

"The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so."

In a study published in the Journal of Religion and Society we find that that high rates of religious belief also lead to "higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion". Is it the intolerance and lack of discussion on key issues? Perhaps.

I forgot to mention it earlier, but the Mormon church is back to it's old practice of "converting" dead people. Lately they've been picking on Holocaust victims, which, predictably, has pissed off a lot of Jewish folks.They've also done this to Catholics in the past.

In response, at least one gay blogger has decided to "convert" dead Mormons into homosexuals. Seriously, read the prayer. Funny stuff.

This is a good read. Funny as hell as well as instructive on the topic of working with zealots.

First, I have a Modest Proposal of my own. Let's find every church that has preached politics from the pulpit and given out highly partisan "voting guides" since the 2000 elections and strip their tax free status for the next, say, 20 years.

Also, since we're busy taking their rights away, let's let gay couples - especially the ones whose marriages will probably be invalidated - to be exempt from all federal taxes, as well as state taxes in places that explicitly ban their marriages.

If you hit the hatemongers in the pocketbooks, maybe they will learn to separate Church from State and let people truly live their private lives without fear of intolerant repression.

Going back to the evil churches, a few examples from across our great land. This is from Kansas:

From Greenville, SC Catholics are being denied communion for voting for Obama. But this is a problem across the Catholic Church. Yet another reason I'm not a practicing Catholic.

Aside from being against the law, this level of hate coming from supposedly "compassionate" conservatives is just plain mean. And you wonder why millions are turned off on religion.

But it gets worse. Racism writ large is on the rise in the US, with more reports of hatred and bigotry across this land. Here's another report on this, plus the apology from the mayor of the Idaho town where students chanted "Assassinate Obama". The superintendent of said school blames the media and not the intolerant parents. Figures.

This as threats against Obama are on the rise. Stay classy GOP.

Incidentally, since the founder of Home Depot says any retailer not supporting the GOP should be shot, then fired, I'm totally only shopping at Lowe's.

Bonus BS: Can you hear me now? Fuck Verizon. Asshats there have spied on Obama's calls. If they are ballsy enough to spy on the next president, how safe do you think YOUR records are?

More racists plus commentary.

I'm really becoming a fan of this guy. Cesca on calling out crazy Rethugs when they are speaking crazy.

Republicans - and Lieberman - are busy kissing Obama's ass while their "base" is busy revving up over 200 racist incidents since the election. Then again, they predicted the crime wave. They just didn't say they'd be performing the crimes.

A fun story on how the McCainiacs are losers even at the card table.

Want another indicator on how bad the economy is getting? Spam production is at an all-time high.

From last week but still highly relevant, this episode of Fresh Air features a wonderful conversation with Bill Moyers as well as a very honest conversation with Mickey Edwards, who helped found the conservative Heritage Foundation. Even he admits that the Republican Party has to step away from divisive hatred and get back to a sensible platform. Granted, *I* probably won't like said platform but I'm all for an actual intellectual discussion instead of angry Palinite mobs.

Picture pages. Photos of Obama, Biden, and his families from election night as well as this fine collection from Callie Shell spanning the entire campaign.

Another list of things we could do with all that bailout money. My favorite?

6. Find a cure for whatever George Bush has.

Net neutrality may finally happen in an Obama administration.

This is awful. Our newest vets are also our newest homeless.

Kids in Idaho chant "Assassinate Obama" on the school bus. Can we at least drag their parents in for some hard questioning for teaching their kids evil at so young an age?

The hard transition and the folks who will help Obama.

But seriously: Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State? Really? Whatever man, I just hope you have a job for Bill Richardson. Just don't send her ass to Kosovo. Just saying.

Since Bush disowned any American not with him years ago, I can start saying that I look forward to my new president's radio addresses, which will now be placed on YouTube as well. Here is last week's transcript and audio, courtesy of Bob Cesca.

Intelligent conversation and some level of transparency from our leader? Amazing.

Also, I contributed to the Obama campaign, not the DNC. Let's keep that info to ourselves please. Thank you.

I at least bookmarked, if not posted, links to where to find free airport wi-fi. But, more importantly, I ran into this site that advises you on where to find unused power outlets at a number of airports.

Enjoy.

Kind neat story on how some of our more famed tech products got their names.

From Urban Dictionary:

Palin

1. An applicant lacking even basic job skills

2. Someone supremely un-self-aware or lacking any relative sense of what he/she does or doesn't know.

HR sent me another Palin for the marketing manager job.

Turns out the Secret Service may be linking Sarah Palin's hate-filled rhetoric into a rise in Obama death threats. Gee, big surprise.

Early reports on the schism between the McCain and Palin camps.

Meanwhile, Palin is blaming Bush for their loss. Apparently running a lie-based, racist campaign doesn't count?

If any of the following is true, I'm amazed Palin can breathe without assistance. And she thought (and STILL thinks?) she should lead America?

But as we all know. It isn't just Sarah Palin. Unfortunately so as one would hope racism disappears with her race to irrelevancy in Alaska.

Even among those who wish Obama well lies the taint of dark days ahead.

Even as the New York Times applauds the diminished role of the South in our politics, the hate simmers out across America.

In Mississippi, you can be kicked off of a school bus and suspended by the basketball coach for even saying the name "Obama".

Thankfully, a little more justice in Pittsburgh, where a teaher's aide was suspended for making offensive statements about Obama. Comments included Obama would be shot and killed, but only after replacing the US flag with a KFC flag and change the national anthem to "Movin' on up".

Stay classy Rethugs.

And then there is gay marriage. Mormons have gone WAY beyond the pale in trying to take rights away from Americans, gay Californians who ALREADY HAD legal marriages until last week. Yeah, their rights were taken from them.

Look, I have LDS friends and while I think I know how they think on this, I don't want to damn them, but what the fuck people?!

And then there's sci-fi author Orson Scott Card. Now, after reading his last book, Empire, I realized he was pretty conservative kook, but I did not realize he wanted to violently overthrow the American government if support for gay marriage was ever approved.

Here's some video from the LA protests of the Temple there:

Plus reports on the coalition building against the LDS, and Utah in general, in Salt Lake City.

It has gotten to where folks think it is fine to beat up a lesbian couple outside their son's school. I don't know if the assailant was of any religious persuasion but, given his behavior, I'd have to say he might be a Satanist.

The last word on this goes to Keith Olbermann, for taking a stand against this particular brand of hate as only he can.

Being Veteran's Day, I wanted to link you to Community of Veterans, a site set up by the IAVA and the Ad Council and others. More on this effort here.

Thanks to all of you who served.

Frankly, the whole thing has exhausted me. Plus, Gabriel has been a little sick and keeps us up all night. So, yeah, I've waited a week to post a lot of this.

I've re-read and re-watched most of it and am still so proud of this country. Yes, there are evil, dirty racist dirtbags that mutter hate and I will get to those cretins, but enough of us stood up and said Enough! to hate and division, at least for one bright, shining day.

Thanks everyone.

"A Night to Remember"

Newsweek's How He Did It.

"The festive scenes of liberation that Dick Cheney had once imagined for Iraq were finally taking place -- in cities all over America."

From the New York Times editorial board, as well as opinions from Frank Rich on the election and Nicholas Krisof on the return of intellectualism.

Other African-American firsts:

Unrequested advice is pouring in from all over for Obama. That's not to say it is all bad but it makes for interesting reads.

Ron Elving's Memo to the President. Also from NPR, a request to not censor or meddle with science as Bush has done. Plus the challenge of fixing the Justice Department.

Consult every other political site in the world for similar discussions.

Obama's message to his supporters.

The moment history was called:

Plus a longer version:

The election night speech at Grant Park:

Bob Cesca's take on election night.

The Secret Service came out with the First Family code names:

Will.i.am's latest, "A New Day"

Things to look forward to:

- A PRESIDENT Obama will close Gitmo
- He will also turn back Bush's anti-science, anti-freedom, anti-intellectual, anti-American presidential signing statements
- Unlike Spanky McAbacus, Obama will appoint a technology czar to keep him up to date on the cutting edge of innovation

Something ELSE to look forward to:

Also, 50 things you might not know about your next president.

Our president-elect may also be a geek. Of course, I see this as a good thing.

A very cool story about some elderly folks who couldn't stay at Grant Park, and came out the better for it.

Plus, a very interesting conversation with Obama's campaign brain trust on 60 Minutes this week:

Also, leftovers from last week: The Tide is Turning

I'd be more gracious, but the vehement and vile militant Rethug fringe is making it hard to do. I'm essentially quitting my position in an online gaming club after eight years because I don't want to be associated with that vermin.

Paul Krugman on monsters. Let us banish them back under the bed.

Check out these maps that show the GOP power base shrinking. Hopefully we can find a way to keep them down until the party rejects it's cancer of racists, hate and fearmongers, and Talibangelicals. Then we can talk sense to our opposition again.

This idiot at the Wall Street Journal laments that we have been too mean to Bush. Hell, the guy authorized torture and spying on American citizens and got re-elected. I call that getting off real light.

Speaking of Bush screwing this nation over, a list of crimes still waiting to be committed.

President Barack Obama.

Go ahead Republicans. Add the Hussein. Doesn't matter. That's his name.

And he's YOUR President.

Get used to it. And get on board. We need you too.

Yet another tool to use. Grain of salt though. Courtesy of the AP.

Courtesy of Bob Cesca's Goddamn Awsome Blog.

"In most of us colored folks was the great desire to [be] able to read and write. We took advantage of every opportunity to educate ourselves. The greater part of the plantation owners were very harsh if we were caught trying to learn or write. It was the law that if a white man was caught trying to educate a negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence. We were never allowed to go to town and it was not until after I ran away that I knew that they sold anything but slaves, tobacco, and wiskey. Our ignorance was the greatest hold the South had on us. We knew we could run away, but what then? An offender guilty of this crime was subjected to very harsh punishment."

-- Former slave John W. Fields

Now, I'm not saying I approve of violence, but I can totally see why the Black Panthers would be on guard to protect black Obama voters.

The comments are being heavily filtered and STILL the trash remains. Ironically, before YouTube admins got on the ball, there were 666 comments. Ironic, no?

"Don't think for a minute that power concedes."

- Barack Obama

Go Vote. Watch as needed.

If you haven't voted yet, get off your ass and go do so.

Be Proud

A view from Dartmouth College. Sullivan has many more "The View From Your Election" entries coming in, check them from this search.

In New Mexico, some humor to the thieving Rethugs stealing Obama yard signs.

Obama, last week, on the silly charges he is a socialist:

More happy news from Obama, Japan.

And damn, THIS is moving.

Be Angry

THIS is what Republicans think. So much for the sanctify of life or dignity of death.

Rachel Maddow on making sure you don't get sidetracked:

She is also correct in that long lines are a form of poll tax.

The Toledo Police are parading around polling places in riot gear. No, that doesn't qualify as voter intimidation, right?

Be proud of who you are siding with. Be angry that so much hate and anti-democratic bigotry is arrayed against us. Vote FOR Obama and AGAINST fear. I don't care if you do it for yourself, our nation, or a little child. Just go do it. Thanks.

More "compassionate conservatives".

I hope you all choke on a pretzel.

VOTE! If for nothing else, to ensure THESE idiots lose their voice in governing our nation.

In Mississippi, Republican Senator Roger Wicker is masquerading as a Democrat to try to win.

Some GOP troll left a severed goat's head on the doorstep on a Democratic congressional candidate in California. Nice.

Voter information in Florida found on the side of the road. What? Again?

Some GOP scumbag is calling Democrats in Pennsylvania helpfully telling them to vote on Wednesday.

In Ohio, folks are being told they can vote by phone.

Possible charges in the Virginia flyer telling folks to vote on Wednesday.

And Paul Krugman says the first sensible thing since he clung to Hillary's coattails: the GOP is in danger of being home to radical Palinite racists.

Republicans are pieces of utter total shit. They don't deserve to have a voice if the following is all they have to offer.

Read the vile comments on Barack Obama's grandmother's passing and tell me I don't have a right to be pissed.

I was reading the following Huffington Post article about how the RNC is attacking Barack for visiting his gravely ill grandmother. I was thinking about how low they have fallen as a party, and how reprehensible such an attack is, when I got a news update that the worst has happened and that Madelyn Dunham has passed on.

My family's best wishes and condolences to the Obama family in their time of grief.

My loathing for a party of cretins that would speak family values and act on politicized hatred. Shame on them for their loathsome behavior.

Vote for Obama. Get others to vote for Obama. Drag them if there are willing but unable to get to the polls. Offer them a sandwich, or a beer. This is not a time for lethargy and slacking.

Barack is having a horrible day today. Let us work to make tomorrow one he can be pleased with.

I figure I'll either be spending tomorrow night camped out on the couch with laptop nearby or holding Gabriel or changing diapers all night. It depends. Hopefully I don't get pissed enough to take out the TV.

Anyway, there are some handy online tools for keeping track of the election that I plan to use and want to pass along.

Key is the Poll Closing Times map, courtesy of the Swing State Project.

For other races, consult the Daily Kos election guide, also in PDF form.

For an overall picture, consult either the Daily Kos scoreboard or the Talking Points Memo scoreboard.

For the record, we'll probably watch serious news on MSNBC and flip to Comedy Central when things get tense.

Here is the MSNBC national tool:

...and for Nevada:

HuffPo lists some things to look out for.

Joke of the day:

Plus, McCain vs. Palin, the Debate

What a piece of shit. I'll take my chances voting against fear, torture, war, racism, and bigotry in general.

I'm pretty sure I know where God stands on those things.

First off, to get a smile on your face: the Obama Hustle

A great endorsement from The New Yorker.

Obamania in Obama, Japan.

The toll of the campaign.

An Obama win and it's effect on Chicago.

Looking back at how Paul Simon laid the groundwork that allowed Obama's career to flourish.

Plus, the return to Grant Park for the Democratic Party.

Join 109-year old Amanda Jones in voting for Barack. If she can do it, so can you.

Here's When We've Won:

Posted by JumpyPants

We've won when John McCain gives a speech to his hotel ballroom full of constituents on national television.

And not a moment before.

National polls are not a win. State polls are not a win. And we all know that after 2004, exit polls are absolutely, positively NOT A WIN.

John McCain calling Barack Obama to concede? Not a win. We know that from 2000, when the shoe was on the other foot. The networks calling it for Obama? Not a win.

It is a win when John McCain makes his concession speech.

Until then: GET OUT THE VOTE. Call voters. Talk to your family, friends and neighbors. Volunteer to drive voters to the polls. Please, please, please don't sit back or sit things out.

Watch the following and protect your vote:

Over 80,000 people have already complained about irregularities with their vote. Don't be one of them.

For you Nevada folks, specific voter info for our state:

To find your state info and where to vote, go to Vote for Change.

An update on the hopes and challenges of the election from Nevada.

The upside of having a newborn is that you don't have a lot of time to watch TV or focus on anything other than changing diapers. Not sure when I'll finally post this but it will be an ongoing bunch o' links and editorials and the like.

The message: get off your ass and vote on Tuesday if you haven't already. If you have, make sure everyone around you goes to vote. Barring Reagan's 1984 win, I cannot envision this nation EVER having a Republican president if EVERYONE got out and voted. Stop that from happening this time by casting your ballot.

And hell, if you want any inspiration, watch this. Sorry, the BBC doesn't do embedding yet I guess.

Last night we were at Babies R Us and since they only have a "Mother's Room", I sat around and read news on my Blackberry while Leslie fed Gabriel. Below are the relevant opinion and news articles I found of interest.

Nicholas Kristof on rejoining the world.

Frank Rich on how far we haven't come.

The weighted value of your vote:

Your electoral vote bar chart, according to the latest polls.

Some McCain troll won't give candy to Obama supporters. What an ugly person. Gotta love the neighborhood response though.

Here is how McCain think he can win New Hampshire. A GOP-aligned secretive company does the vote counting.

More dirty McCain campaigning. Hell, Hawaii has had to verify Obama's citizenship to counter GOP claims to the contrary.

Question: Which candidate was born on a piece of property this is currently not US soil? Yeah, it is McCain. They've got a lot of balls sinking to this level.

The GOP refused to expand early voting in Georgia. This is what the lines looked like on the final day of early voting.

If you can do so, get out the vote:

Time presents 7 Things That Could Go Wrong on Election Day. Personally, I think they're leaving some things out.

And Republicans voting for Obama to prevent against a President Palin.

This saddened me. If you have never read any of Stud's works, you really owe it to yourself to go do so.

He did not write so much as be the scribe for Americans of all stripes. Through him, I heard stories of World War II I would not have heard elsewhere. Not to mention discussions of race, of the working class, or stories of the Depression my grandparents would never have tried to burden us with.

All this pass, as do people, but I don't know if we'll see the likes of him any time soon.