Anyone who thinks they have all the Answers before they've even heard the Question - is Dangerously Deluded! Real Truth Requires Vigilance, Perseverance and Courage, regardless of Party and who wields Power. Left, Right, Center, Corporations, Government, Unions, Criminals or the Indifferent.
It's been a long time coming. President Barack Hussein Obama!
We've finally had our moment, it's like finally seeing Bobby Kennedy make it all the way - like seeing Malcolm and Martin's dream alive again.
But this isn't Black Thang, it's an America Thang. American finally has a chance, just a chance - to begin to fulfill it's promise of "We the People..."
But we're going to have to work for it, and work hard. We still have to LEAVE IT ALL ON THE ROAD - because this time we can't afford to fail or the dream will die and not return for another generation, if ever.
I'm probably going to be the first to say it - but we owe George W. Bush our thanks.
Thank You George W. Bush.
Thank you for being such a massive incredible fucktard that you made it blindingly obvious to so many Americans that we needed to go a completely different direction than we have during the last 14 years of Republican dominance in Washington.
Thank you Karl Rove, for teaching us how to stomp your sleazy smear campaign tactics into the ground. Thanks to Lorita Doan, Monica Goodling, Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney, Randy "The Dukester" Cunningham, Mark Foley, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Tom Delay, Brownie, John Ashcroft and your Soaring Eagles, John Yoo and your torture memos, Jay Bybee, Scooter Libby, Alberto "Someone may prosecute us for War Crimes" Gonzales (Ya think!), Condoleeza "It was a historical document" Rice, David "Fourth Branch" Addington and the Prince of Darkness himself - Richard "The Dick" Cheney.
If America hadn't seen how much all of you completely, utterly suck duck butter they might have elected John McCain. You all did America a great service.
Oh, and also thanks John McCain for being such a complete crazy horse maverick nut ball. Thanks to Sarah Palin, just take your hockey-mom pumps witcha on the way back to your witch doctor in crazytown Alaska, also... You Betcha. And thanks, for making sure America knew better than to dive down another dead-end rat hole along with Joe the (Not A) Plumber - not zesty.
Ok - I had to say it - because it needed to be said. And it has to be remembered because we CAN NEVER LET THESE PEOPLE HAVE POWER IN AMERICA AGAIN!!!
EVER!
So sure, we've had our fun - we've had our shadenfreud. We've had our party. Now it's time to get to work and start cleaning up all the feces strains these people have left on the reputation of our country. Time to get a bucket, some water, soap and start doing the heavy lifting. We have to remember that republicans still have over 40 votes in the Senate to road block just about anything, particular after they doubled the all time record for filibusters in the last two years. It's going to take more than cheering crowds to get the job done.
Today is the first day in the future of America, and we better be ready for the fight of our lives - because this will be The Fight Of and FOR our Very Lives.
We have to remember that we're fighting for an responsible end to the mistaken misguided Iraq War. To finally capture and kill Bin Laden, to bring everyone affordable effective health care, to make our companies and corporations take as much care of their workers and customers as they do their shareholders, to have genuine energy independance, to rescue our economy, to make our government both efficient and effective - there when it's needed and out of the way when it isn't.
This time it'll be different, this time we can't afford to give in to cynicism or apathy. We can't afford to sit back now, we can't afford to become complacent and expect Barack to do everything - NO, he taught us we can be stronger together than we are seperately and we have to continue to blog, lobby congress, discuss, review the facts and fight for a better America.
This is our moment, this is our time. Let's make it count. Let's leave it ALL ON THE ROAD!
It's not simply because of the very likely election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
It's not because he would be the first African-American to hold high office. It's not because he would be the first Democratic President with a Democratic House and Senate in 16 years.
It's because of how he reached this position.
It's because of US, it's because of YOU - because Barack has stood for the Hope and Promise of what American should be and can be rather than wallow in the fear and selfish greed that has come to define the cold stone heart of the Conservative Movement.
Tomorrow will be a brand new America, because the dark cancer of neo-conservativism will finally - be in Remission!
I know I for one have had a lot of anger and frustration of the litany of crimes, malfeasance and out-and-out bullshit that has come year after year from the right-wing.
Failure to respond to the Cole Bombing once the CIA and FBI agreed that it was done by Al Qeada in early 2001. Failure to respond all the warning of an impending attack from Richard Clark, George Tenet, the FAA and the August 6th PDB. Failure to capture Bin Laden at Tora Bora. Manipulation and distortion of the Iraq intelligence, including use of multiple forgeries and information gained via torture in order to begin a War that didn't need to be fought with an unarmed country. Ignoring the impending insurgency. More torture at Abu Ghraib, and Bagram AFB. Patriotism used as a weapon. Blowing the budget surplus, with tax cuts for people who don't need tax cuts and are perfectly fine shipping our jobs and healthcare to China and India. Turning ex-Soviet Gulags into Secret "Black Site/24 Wet Dream" Prisons. Illegal Domestic Spying on American citizens. Freedom Fries! The suddenly shrinking American Dollar. Ignoring New Orleans while the levees collapsed and the city drowned in it's own sewage. The Midnight Ride to save the brain-dead blind woman, Terri Schiavo. Bill Frist and his remote viewing diagnosis. Purple heart band-aids. David Safavian, first Bushie to go from the White House to Jail. Mark Foley the Fondler. Jack Abramoff. Bob Ney. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and his yatch "The Dukester!". Haditha. Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens. KBR and the showers of death. David Vitter. Tom Delay. KBR and their date-raped employees. Mamaudiya. Blackwater, the State Dept. own lawless gang of murderers. Voter Suppression. Disabling consumer protections and regulations while our medicine kills us, our toothpaste has antifreeze, our dog and catfood is poisoned, our toys are painted with lead, our rivers and fish are filled with mercury, our mines and bridges begin to collapse - and then our finally our banks fall apart too!
As of tomorrow - All This Crap is Over!
With all of this, America has been hijacked by a gang of thieves and thugs in the guise of "Real Americans". People that don't believe that government can work, should be running the government. It only goes one place - INTO THE GROUND!
None of this was an accident, although I wouldn't claim that it was a part of a rational plan. It was the result of two very simple things: Greed and Fear.
Protecting the public from real threats is expensive, so they don't bother doing that - but pretending to protect them from phony threats is a lucrative business venture. It's all about making a buck off the other guy, using them and their misfortunate as your stepping stone to prosperity. Of course they don't care if their fellow Americans are suffering, they figure that's an oppurtunity to make some cash.
They're incredibly afraid that a government that actually works is going to take all that away from them. They're afraid of The Gay. They're afraid of the young. They're afraid of the sick. They're afraid brown, the spanish, the jew, the muslim, and the black all "taking THEIR country away from them".
But it's not their country, it's OUR Country. All of us.
We have to come to realize that the conservative heart is cowardly. It may be easy to hate them for the hate that they fearfully project onto uthers, but we need to rise above hate and anger. In fact, it is more appropriate to pity them than hate them. Little do they realize the damage they have done, to themselves and to the nation. The past is done, the future is tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the day where we can finally show some courage.
Do we have the courage to trust a man who doesn't just talk about reaching out and working with people who may virulently disagree with him, but has actually done it with Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, Mr. Khallidi and even Republicans like Tom Coburn adn Dick Lugar- because he certain doesn't agree with them. We shouldn't have the SHUN people we disagree with, should we? We shouldn't have to inflict loyalty tests on each other. I've frequently wondered if the self-styled "Real Americans" will ever learn that?
Does America - Both "Real" and Virtual - have to courage to live up to it's convictions that all men have a right to disagree, agreeably? Do we have the courage to fight terror without using terror? Can we show the character and commitment to once more become the moral standard bearer for the world, that we've continually claim to be? Can we face all of our fears, terrorism, global climate change, a multi-national financial crisis, increasing health care costs, falling wages, and disappearing savings with a confident smile rather than a petulant snear?
I think we do. I think "Yes We Can".
We won't fix everything all at once. We won't always make the right choice on the first try. But we have to have the courage to try, with the knowledge that we can't go back to where we've been - we can't go back to the being scared.
Today will be our last day to live in fear. God Bless the Brand New America.
I know right now most of us are focused like a laser beam on the election, working the GOTV, canvassing, doing what we can to flip wavering republicans and family members into our column in order to bring profound change to this nation and elect Barack Obama as the 44th President with a significant democratic majority in Congress.
In all likelyhood - with a fairly stable 190 Electoral Vote Advantage according to electoral-vote.com, a 96.2% Win percentage via Nate Silver at 538.com, and absolutely no viable path to victory for McCain even if you give him each and every close toss-up state including both Florida AND Ohio via CNN 's Interactive Electoral Map - Barack Obama will be the next President.
I'm not dancing on the five yard line here, I'm just saying we need to start thinking about what happens when Democrats are finally on the hook for everything!
Before I get into the best case scenario, let's first look at worst - which of course would be that somehow, someway, McCain manages to pull an upset against all logical odds.
What the fuck would we do then?
Before packing our bags for Brazil and/or Fiji, I'm thinking we hit LAWSUIT City. Right now the only way for this scenario to play out is through ongoing voter suppression, caging, but most importantly massive election fraud and vote tally recalibration at the machine level, either in stand-alone voting machines or more likely - at the tabulators.
There's nothing can do after the fact for people who've been blocked from voting, but for votes that have been flipped - the party is only just starting on Nov 5th.
We may learn quite a bit about this tomorrow at the Deposition for Mike Connell, a virulent anti-abortion partisan who was instrumental in setting up the Ohio Tabulator systems which may very well have stolen the 2004 election from John Kerry.
Interview with Stephan Spoonamore, a cybersecurity export (and Republican) who has closely examined the activities of Connell and his rabid pro-life associates.
In the case of Ohio 2004, the only purpose I can conceive for sending all county vote tabulations to a GOP managed Man-in-the-Middle site in Chattanooga BEFORE sending the results onward to the Sec. of State, would be to hack the vote at the MIM.
IN REGARD TO THE DIEBOLD SYSTEMS, Formerly Global, DESI and now called Premier.
In my opinion, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY to make a secure touch screen voting system. None. Secure systems are predicated on establishing securely the identity of every user of the system. Voting is predicated on being anonymous. It is impossible to have a system that does both.
It is possible to design relatively secure optical scan machines, but even these can be hacked in even the best of cases. In the case of optical scan you have the ability to recount manually the paper ballot itself, and the ability to spot check the machines for errors against a sample of hand recounting.
Do not kid yourselves, the vote can be hacked: the vote WILL. BE. HACKED!
On November 5th, we need to be ready for this. Ready for strange and curious election results which seemingly have no basis in reality or fact. This year, I believe these attacks are almost certain to come - and with McCain trailing so far in so many states the attempt will either completely fail because not enough states will be involved in the tabulation flip or it will succeed and be blaringly obvious to everyone!
We can't let the media talk us into some B.S. "Bradley Effect" mindfuck. "Oh yeah, it was all the closet racists who lost it for Obama..." Like HELL, sure America has racists and even good people who just aren't yet comfortable with the idea of a Black President - but not enough to flip 7 or 8 States! We're gonna need boots on the ground, voters, poll workers and observers in key polling districts (minority and heavily democratic in red/purple zones) with Election Protection on SPEED DIAL in states that McCain HAS TO WIN such as Missouri, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
1-886-OUR-VOTE.
Burn that number into the back of your eyelids people.
If you can get involved in Video The Vote, to help document the election process before, during and after.
In 2004, only Senator Barbara Boxer stood up and dared to challenge the election results. Her Number is 202-224-3553. Lock that into your Cell RIGHT NOW! Also make sure you have both your own Senators and Congresspersons number at the touch of finger.
We're going to need to lobby the FRAK out of Congress to challenge the results in the Senate, then have them subpeona Spoonamore and Connell to testify with expert opinions on what did or didn't happen on November 4th. If necessary Congress may have to fix this by rejecting the results. It could get very messy, but we have to stay the course.
Our way of life depends on it.
And we still have to prepared for all this to fail and for the eventuality of a (shiver) President John McCain and Vice President (gak) Sarah Palin. (You Betcha. Also) Madre de Dios!
If that horror does happen - we have to remember that we still have a Democratic Congress with very likely either 58 or 59 Democratic Senators. It's going to be rough road, but we've been on it for sometime so we know all the curves. We know the house will pass some great legislation only to have it buried by Senate Republicans - and Lieberman. We know that McCain will probably follow in many of Bush's footsteps with Iraq, deepen the chasm with Iran, continue to ignore bin Laden and al Qaeda, continue to play Daddy Warbucks with his corporate cronies as we slip-slide our way into a deeper depression, and fully open the spigot that is spewing American jobs into China, Taiwan and India like a Firehose. Still, McCain might actually get a couple things right if the Wild winds of Crazy Horse Maverick-ness happen to blow the right way. I'm not sure what those will be - No one is, NOT EVEN McCAIN - but we need to be ready to help make sure there more of those moments, rather than less.
It's gonna suck donkey balls, but we need to realize that this massive Amazing organization the Obama has built doesn't need to wither away. WE CAN STILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE, but continuing to organize, by lobbying and petitioning Congress, targeting those few swing Republican Votes in the Senate to help break their blockade, to rally reluctant Democrats to stand firm and hold the line instead of wimping out - like usual...
And on the other hand if Obama Wins -
All the ABOVE STILL APPLIES.
We're still gonna have massive election fraud to deal with and cleanup. HAVA needs serious reform. Rove needs Jail, badly. The entire federal government is now filled with ideologues in permanent positions who will continue to press forward the Bushie agenda and undermine President Obama. There are thousands of ridiculous signing statements to undo. We've got to close Gitmo, repeal the Military Commission Act, get our troops safely out of Iraq while ensuring the ongoing stabiilty of that nation, finally get serious with Afghanistan and Pakistan, close off access to lose nukes, get our financial and economic house back in order, balance the budget, save Medicade and Medicare, permanently ban pre-existing conditions, get the FUCK OFF OF FOREIGN OIL and start building a 21st Green Collar industry, fight Climate Change, prosecute a big steaming pile of ex-Bushies for violating the Hatch Act, for War Crimes, Domestic/Political Espionage, Malfeasance and Negligence and general Shit-headerry.
We've got a lot of work to do - a whole heaping ton of heavy-lifting - win, lose or (shudder) draw - November 5th isn't the day we rest...
And this comes from a former Conservative , now voting this year for Barack Obama - and it's not about Barack, it's about Bush, McCain and Palin.
----------------------------------------------- When I turned 18, I made my family proud and registered to vote as a Republican. I could not have fathomed the political rollercoaster that awaited me.
Four years ago on election night I jostled for position around the bar in the band room of our fraternity house, it was like watching a road game. Almost all of us voted for Bush, including me, except for one die hard kerry supporter we were sure to mock every time they called a state for our boy dubya. Poor guy. He was the only one not drinking and I'm pretty sure I called him a "fucking pansy" a few times. I've tried to forget the other mindless drivel that shitted itself out of my mouth about Kerry; thank you very much to the winning combination of poor critical thinking skills + televised propaganda.
Two years ago, long after the reality of our foreign policy predicament was depressingly clear, I voted a straight blue ticket. If it were an option, I would've voted a straight "not-red" ticket. I kept my registration checked "Republican," for ideological reasons, namely my advocacy for smaller government, which I still feel is best.
Less than a year ago, I voted for Ron Paul in the Republican primary.
Today, I voted for Barack Obama.
I'm writing this for a purely cathartic, personal reason; because I'm quite sure I'll explode if I don't vent somehow, in someway, about this almost virally infectious political season.
[Rant]
Am I the only one who is locked in some horrifying political Orwellian nightmare? But it isn't just a nightmare, it's a crazy, quantum "what the fuck" circus nightmare of a nightmare. The kind of things nightmares have nightmares about when they're not being nightmares.... I honestly have no idea where to begin, or where I am, for that matter. Let's just pick something at random. How about that horrendous three word noun that has been force-fed to my cerebral cortex. Did somebody say "Joe the Plumber?"
Sweet Slidin' Jesus on a stripper pole what in the fuck is going on with Joe the Plumber? Truth be told I sent my mother a link to that video
