Don't forget to vote

Just so you know.

Yes We Did

Last night, at some friends' house, we watched our first black President-elect give a call to a new nation. The long horror of the Bush administration will end soon. The country has repudiated conservative ideology. We are not a conservative country and never were. The slumbering electorate, long content to be led by simpleminded dogma, has awakened to the need for thought again.

The glass isn't full. The passage of Prop. 8 is a big turd floating in the punchbowl. The gains in Congress were less than I had hoped. Scumbags like Michelle Bachmann and Mitch McConnell retained their seats. But, for the second election in a row, we won. The left is energized, organized and on offense again. This is our moment. This is our time.

Happy Halloween

This is a hurried and blurry photo of the Skeletal Protester character for this year's Halloween display. The body is a cheap Bucky skeleton with a glowing head and hands. The sign says "On all the important issues of our day, I have been totally in agreement and support of President Bush," which is what McCain said on Meet the Press in 2005. With it is a photo of McCain hugging Bush in 2004.

I had to put it on the front step to keep it out of the fucking rain. We're supposed to have rain tonight through Sunday. It couldn't have waited two more days?! I took tomorrow off to finish building my cave in the garage. Hopefully we'll get at least a couple of kids. I can't do anything in the garage until tomorrow because we park the cars in there so I'll be busy. The zombie Nixon is done though, and I should be able to finish before it gets dark. I'll keep the garage door closed as long as possible but I'll have to finish hanging the cobwebs from the ceiling when the door is open. If everything works ok, then I'll try to post a better picture.

5 days until the election! Don't forget to vote early if you are able to and haven't done so. I'll hit the phonebank over the weekend and maybe get out in the street for No on 8 if I can.

In a nutshell

From here.

2 votes in the bag for Obama

Lee J and I filled out and mailed in our absentee ballots. If you are voting absentee or are in a district where you can vote early, please do so! There is going to be a huge turnout for this election and the earlier we can get our ballots in the easier it will be for the election officials to count them. This will also give the Republicans less of an opportunity for messing with the process and making false claims of vote fraud.

California's propositions for 2008

Here's my two cents over the propositions on November's ballot.

Prop. 1A Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act. I've been on the bullet train from Paris to Lyon and it's amazing. Whisper-quiet at 250 mph. This would get people of the overstrained highways and airports. Good for the environment, too. Yes.

Prop. 2 Standards for Confining Farm Animals. Initiative Statute. I like meat, but there's no reason for my meat to live in misery. Yes.

Prop. 3 Children’s Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program. Initiative Statute. Single-payer health care is what we need, but this is a step. Yes.

Prop. 4 Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Another cut at Roe v. Wade. No.

Prop. 5 Nonviolent Drug Offenses. Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation. Initiative Statute. People shouldn't be in jail at all for these offenses. Until people get common sense over drugs and legalize them, we can limit the effects of this witch-hunt mentality. Yes.

Prop. 6 Police and Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Penalties and Laws. Initiative Statute. More lock-ups for kids? No.

Prop. 7 Renewable Energy Generation. Initiative Statute. Badly written and counterproductive. No.

Prop. 8 Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Deny gays the right to marry? Hell, no.

Prop. 9 Criminal Justice System. Victims’ Rights. Parole. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. More punishment and prison overcrowding. No.

Prop. 10 Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy. Bonds. Initiative Statute. Swift Boat funder and oilman T. Boone Pickens is behind this. That's snake oil you smell. No.

Prop. 11 Redistricting. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. More election game-rigging by the Republicans. No.

Prop. 12 Veterans’ Bond Act of 2008. Extends benefits for veterans. Yes.

Take it for what you will. See you at the polls, bitches.

Register to vote

If you haven't already done this, you can do so here.

Something is happening

I had planned to spend Labor Day weekend finishing off the summer with barbecues and yard work but with taking down my reef aquarium and some short-notice volunteering it became pretty busy. I received an email from MoveOn asking if I could join the Obama campaign at our local Safeway and register voters. Since it's just around the corner from me, I signed up for a couple of hours. In a short time, I was running out of forms, needed a couple more clipboards and had people signing up three abreast. Young people, people who'd moved and people switching to Democrat wanted to be a part of history. I even registered a few Safeway employees who wanted their chance to vote for Obama.

On Sunday we attended the opening of the local Democratic party headquarters in downtown Santa Rosa. They had optimistically expected 100-150 people on a holiday weekend that usually means few people would stop by. Not this year. Well over 300 people showed up, overwhelming the office space and spilling out over the sidewalk. Buttons, bumperstickers and signs vanished as people waited in line to volunteer. Our local representative, Lynn Woolsey spoke and even though I was only 20 feet from her, I could barely see the top of her head through the crowd.

We're in an indigo-blue district, so I'd expect Democrats to be popular. But people can be complacent out here, with progressives winning regularly and with comfortable margins. There's a buzz this year, however, even more so than '06. Obama is deadlocked in the polls with McCain so far, but when I look at the trees instead of the forest, I see energy like never before. Something is happening in America.

98 no, 99 si

We two competing eminent domain measures on June's ballot. Measure 98 is actually a trojan horse attempting to eliminate rent control. 99 is basic. It stops eminent domain from giving developers private homes. Vote no on 98, yes on 99.