November 4, 2008 archive

Election Day Stories

So, JBK and I are up before dawn, stumbling around trying not to trip over the cat, who can’t figure out why we’re up so early and can she please have some espresso, too?  

We head off to the polling place, still dark, that is packed with cars and trucks and people. We hop the jeep up over the curb, park, and dash off to join the line.

It’s a long line.

The doors finally open.

And, a really cool thing happens.

A couple of three youngens behind us yell, “Hey Dr. JBK!”  JBK turns around and there are three of his ex-students from that gawd-awful university in that gawd-awful place in rural red that we’d hoped we left miles behind in the dust, well, except for moments like this.   🙂   So they chat, and the lines are crazy snaked, everyone opting for the paper ballot v electronic, and nobody quite knowing where the lines are, since we’re sort of all jammed in the middle of the room.  JKB is  a gregarious fellow, loud even, and utterly unaware he and his ex-students are now “the” entertainment in the polling station.  They talk math, and physics, and doctoral programs, and masters degrees, and teaching.  (Robyn, I think there was some number theory talk, I couldn’t understand them.)

An elderly black women chimed in that she forgot her glasses and couldn’t read her Bible. She smiles.

I realize at this point that I’m in the middle of party central, so I started chatting to the Bible-toting women and others who are muttering emphatically about wanting to be in the paper ballot line. There are some words about the ability to hack the machines.  There’s a lot of chaos.   It was damn fun.

We voted.  Did you?   🙂

You say Obama is a Muslim?

I really needed this!!

I believe I just hit on our next Texas Common Sense put to Good Writing and Humor, though my guess is he’s been around for a while, and that would be one John Kelso.

Docudharma Times Tuesday November 4

The Day Of Change Is Here




Tuesday’s Headlines:

Fear and loathing divide two Americas on eve of vote

UN appoints Nigerian to mediate peace deal

UN aid workers stunned to find camps empty

Taliban forces advance across ‘valley of terror’

Bomb threats to embassies ahead of Bali executions

Celebrated Le Palace to open once again

European Press Review: Obama the Better Choice

In Lebanon, pragmatism tempers jihadist aims

Iran minister faces impeachment

Two top state police officers slain in Mexico

The ’08 Race: A Sea Change for Politics as We Know It



By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Published: November 3, 2008


The 2008 race for the White House that comes to an end on Tuesday fundamentally upended the way presidential campaigns are fought in this country, a legacy that has almost been lost with all the attention being paid to the battle between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.It has rewritten the rules on how to reach voters, raise money, organize supporters, manage the news media, track and mold public opinion, and wage – and withstand – political attacks, including many carried by blogs that did not exist four years ago. It has challenged the consensus view of the American electoral battleground, suggesting that Democrats can at a minimum be competitive in states and regions that had long been Republican strongholds.

As China’s Losses Mount, Confidence Turns to Fear

Officials Use Bailouts to Forestall Unrest

By Ariana Eunjung Cha

Washington Post Foreign Service

Tuesday, November 4, 2008; Page A01


SHENZHEN, China — When Chong Yik Toy Co. went bankrupt, the bosses fled without meeting their payroll and angry workers took to the streets in protest. Less than 72 hours later, the local government came to the rescue.

Armed with bags full of cash totaling half a million dollars, accountants began distributing the money so the 900 former employees would have something to get by on. The Chinese officials who made the emergency payments on Oct. 21 called it an “advance,” part of a “back-pay insurance fund.”

 

USA

In Birmingham, Obama’s run is more than just politics



By Tony Pugh | McClatchy Newspapers

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – On the night before Tuesday’s historic presidential election, city leaders here summoned voters to the scene of one of the most appalling events of the civil rights movement.

From the pulpit of the 16th Street Baptist Church, where four young girls were killed in a 1963 bombing, speakers Monday night urged the mostly black crowd to make sure they vote.

It was a familiar appeal from a familiar venue.

At the height of Birmingham’s bloody civil rights struggle, 16th Street Baptist was a frequent meeting place for local black leaders, but Monday’s rally drew its energy and urgency from an unprecedented development – the chance to elect the nation’s first African-American president.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

Words


Lurking

Blueprint

A notion

and intention

initially

Ideas congeal

words emerge

slide into place

some locked

some fit

to be tumbled

pliantly capable

of movement

until unity forms

Structural collapse

conceptual disintegration

and verbal desertion

are neighbors

skulking

on the other side

of walls too thin

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 18, 2008

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

Not very random poem


The Lure of the Gold

Entitlement

Shouldn’t entitlement

be an increasing function?

Should not our children

be entitled

to more freedom

liberty, joy

and happiness

than we were?

Shouldn’t their children

if they have any

deserve still more?

Or do you speak

of material things?

Do you look to me

as the reason

you don’t have more?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 14, 2008

the “A” word

i’m miles away from home. it’s morning here and the polls haven’t opened back home yet. i wonder how late i can stay awake tonight…

cross posted at Daily Kos and Wild Wild Left

The Stars Hollow Gazette

I had intended this as my Obama endorsement piece, because have no doubt I’m going to drag myself across 16 miles of broken glass and barb wire to vote for him today.

In Stars Hollow it’s not actually so bad.  I’ve only ever had to stand in a 3 person line once or twice, mostly you chat up the poll workers to keep them awake.  Now that we have optical we have 27 booths and one reader.  The Poll Watchers, both of them, say that if the ballot goes through you’re good to go.  I hope so.  I’m mostly afraid the Flair™ in the booth will be dry and I’l have to flag someone down.

There is a part of me that says bring a spare.

I’m not entirely optimistic as you may suspect.  There are people tugging the other way and it’s a big iceberg.  They’re not going to quit and neither should we.

A little victory, and part of the tugging, will take place tomorrow.

I hope at least for devastating Republican defeat- Red States hemorrhaging blue all over the map.  One party government, dead as the Whigs.  And I’ll dance on the ashes in 2010 before we toss them in the dustbin of history.  This is a mere pre-requisite.

As always we will need to hold Our Representatives accountable for their actions and the clock don’t start ticking tomorrow because I wasn’t born yesterday.  I’m not distracted by shiny objects.  Primary challenges need to begin Wednesday!  Are you better than Club for Growth or not?  You outnumber them 95 to 5!

We have to reform our Corporate Media.  This is at once the hardest and the easiest thing to fix.  It’s the hardest because of the Hypnotoad-

hypnotoad

You watch, I know you do.  And you buy stuff too.  Lots of people ride the bus in Montgomery.  Your attention counts more than anything, by merely shifting it you can have an impact.  While I recommend more, uhhh, active actions like changing your habits and expressing your opinions most people are shy and I understand that, but it’s right there beside you.  C’mon.

What makes it the easiest thing to fix is that these preening popinjays are extraordinarily sensitive to public opinion.  These nattering narcissists are so vacuous that without the beaming sunrays of audience approval they shrivel into dust and blow away like a reverse vampire.  Complaint letters are like garlic and a boycott a stake in the heart.  Interestingly enough Bram Stoker’s Dracula was killed by the stroke of a Bowie knife.  Sorry to spoil that for you.

The Man Who Calls The Elections For Fox News

    America’s Barack

It may be a little early, but I’m already getting ready to celebrate. But first, a short story about media cronyism.

Tomorrow is election day, children. It is one of the most cherished privileges of being an American citizen, and one of the most solemn responsibilities as well.

Many people take great pleasure from having the ability to help to choose who will lead our great nation, and they believe that by voting they are playing an important role in that choice. However, most are unaware that sometimes this process is not as straight forward as one might think.

After millions of well intentioned consumers citizens have gone to the polls to cast their votes, our friends in the media spend many minutes, and millions of dollars, figuring out who really won the election. They add up numbers given to them from computers and pollsters and other pundits, and when they are certain that they can make a reasonably close guess – BAM! – they announce it on television and America has a new president.

So where does this abundant and unregulated power reside?

What happens on election day?

This article is original to All Over the Board:

So, as I write this, tomorrow is the big day. The people of the US get to choose their next President. There’s a good quote on this over at Socialist Appeal (UK):

Rep. Murtha, Marines and Haditha

As a veteran, I fought to protect our Constitution, not just for one party, but, for all Americans.  As a veteran, I also believe that veterans who have put their lives on the line have a special place in voicing their opinions.  While we are all Americans, I simply believe that the people who put their lives on the line deserve the right to push that envelope further than anyone else.  Also, as a veteran, I know that our service members try to protect their own no matter what.

Overnight Caption Contest

GBCW (Updated with waffling)

In an incredibly ironic twist, my identity has been exposed due to my own incompetence.  Trying to maintain a sockpuppet account, logging in and out of two accounts, can be fraught with peril.  I blew it, thinking I was typing a reply as Caribou Barbie, but posting it as myself.

I can’t continue making fun of Sarah Palin if I’m no smarter than her.  And I only had one more day to go before the election.  I’d have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!  No…no…I have no one to blame but myself.

Thank you for indulging me.  I had a blast, and Docudharma is a great audience!  I hope everyone enjoyed it half as much as I did.  Now let’s all hope that Caribou Barbie’s spectacular failure on Docudharma is a harbinger of things to come tomorrow!  

Update:  The whole sorry episode happened here.

Update 2:  OK, I’m starting to waffle on the GBCW thing and here’s why.  It’s lookin’ like nothing can stop Palin from running in 2012.  I would expect she will take a little time off after the election.  And then?  Move to Iowa and camp out right here in my own back yard (I live in Des Moines).  It just occurred to me that I’ll have to put up with her gibberish for THE NEXT FOUR FUCKING YEARS.  I may need Caribou Barbie to retain my sanity.  

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