Al Gore on SNL

Update: Via this Kos diary by brian77, here is the link to the Gore video online at Ifilm.


Thanks to Howie in Seattle for the heads-up about this. Al Gore was great in the opening sketch on Saturday Night Live, and I've been checking to see if anyone has posted a video. I haven't found one yet, but lavenderdiva at Democratic Underground transcribed it...

SNL opens with a space shot
Announcer: Scientists have long speculated that infinite parallel worlds exist (5 different earths on screen) in different ways than the world we know. On these earths, history has taken different paths, on one, dinosaurs and man coexist, on another, the Russians were the first man to walk on the moon, on another still, Clay Aiken defeated Ruben Studdard. Come join us as we travel through the fabric of time and space to one of these mysteries, one of these parallel earths (earth turns into U. S. Presidential Seal)

Announcer: And now a message from the President of the United States

(Al Gore seated at his desk in the Oval Office)

AG: Good Evening my fellow Americans. In 2000, when you overwhelmingly made the decision to elect me as your 43rd President, I knew the road ahead would be difficult. We have accomplished so much yet challenges lie ahead. In the last 6 years, we have been able to stop global warming. No one could have predicted the negative results of this. Glaciers that were once melting, are now on the attack. As you know, these renegade glaciers have already captured parts of upper Michigan and northern Maine, but I can assure you, we will not let the glaciers win.

And now, in the 2nd week of May, 2006, we are facing perhaps the worst gas crisis in history. We have way too much gasoline. Gas is down to 19cents a gallon, and the oil companies are hurting. I know that I am partly to blame, by insisting that cars run on trash. I am therefore proposing a federal bail-out to our oil companies because hey, if it were the other way around, you know the oil companies would help us.

On a positive note, we worked hard to save welfare, fix Social Security, and of course, provide the free Universal Healthcare we all enjoy today. But all this came at a high cost. As I speak, the gigantic national budget surplus is down to a perilously low 11 trillion dollars. And don't get any ideas. That money is staying in the very successful lockbox. We're not touching it!

Of course, we could give economic aid to China, or lend money to the Saudis--again. But right now, we are already so loved by everyone in the world, American tourists can't even go over to Europe anymore without getting hugged.

There are some of you, who would like to spend our money on some made-up war. To you I say, 'What part of "lockbox" don't you understand?' What if there's a hurricane, or a tornado? Unlikely, I know because of the anti-hurricane and tornado machine I was instrumental in developing. But, what if? What if the scientists are right, and one of those giant glaciers hits Boston? That's why we have the lockbox.

As for immigration, solving that came at a heavy cost. And I personally regret the loss of California. However, the new Mexifornian economy is strong. El Presidente Schwarzenegger is doing a great job.

There have been some setbacks. Unfortunately, the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Michael Moore was bitter and divisive. However, I could not be more proud of how the House and the Senate pulled together to confirm the nomination of Chief Justice George Clooney.

Baseball, our national pastime, still lies under the shadow of steroid accusations. But I have faith in Baseball Commissioner George W. Bush when he says, 'We will find the steroid users, if we have to tap every phone in America'.

In 2001, when I came into office, our national security was the most important issue; the threat of terrorism was real. Who knew that 6 years later, Afghanistan would be the most popular spring break destination? That 6 Flags Tehran is the fastest growing amusement park in the middle east?

And the scariest thing we Americans have to fear is LIVE FROM NEW YORK, ITS SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE!

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NY Times: Cheney wanted domestic spying after 9/11

In tomorrow's edition of the New York Times...

Cheney Pushed U.S. to Widen Eavesdropping

In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney and his top legal adviser argued that the National Security Agency should intercept purely domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without warrants in the hunt for terrorists, according to two senior intelligence officials.

But N.S.A. lawyers, trained in the agency's strict rules against domestic spying and reluctant to approve any eavesdropping without warrants, insisted that it should be limited to communications into and out of the country, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the debate inside the Bush administration late in 2001.

Click here for more. What is the deal with that guy anyway? Didn't get cuddled enough a small boy? Or did the scientist who created him just give him the wrong sort of heart?

In related news, click for the Truthout article, Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators by Jason Leopold.

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Howard Dean on values and reaching out

As Howie in Seattle has noted here, Howard Dean has admitted that he made a mistake when he said in an interview on CBN that the 2004 Democratic platform said that marriage is between a man and a woman. (Thanks to floridagal for providing a link to the video.) But, as Corinne commented at Kos, I'd like to see someone, anyone, travel as much as he does, give as many interviews and speeches as he does, and retain an extraordinary amount of information as he does and not screw up at some point. Enough.

Indeed. He misspoke. I shudder to think how many times I do that in a given day. And in this case, I can imagine that it *seemed* to Howard Dean that the Democrats wanted to be very clear about their non-support for same-sex marriage in the 2004 election, given this:

Dean recounts that one of the people Clinton called was a Dean supporter who described how the former president said that Dean "had forfeited his right to run for president." That was because, Dean writes, he had signed a law creating civil unions for gay and lesbian couples and Clinton believed Dean couldn't be elected as a result.

Also, as I noted in the comments of the previous thread, here in Ohio, I've seen the anti-gay crap *work*. Getting people riled up about the notion that "those Democrats don't share our values--they want to bring gay marriage to our state" is such a tried and true tactic, it was even used to get people to vote against ballot/election reform amendments.

Demetrius got robocalled before the election in which the Reform Ohio Now Amendments were on the ballot. He's gotten calls and mailings from the Republican party ever since he voted for McCain in the primary of 2000. He was encouraged by whoever to vote against the amendments because they are backed by those homo-loving abortionists. From out of state. Something like that. Not those exact words, but that's the effect they were going for. Booga-booga!

Here's an example of the kind of ad that was run against the *election reform* amendments that were put to a vote in November of 2005.


With all of this talk about Howard Dean doing something so nutty as reaching out to people who watch CBN, I was reminded of some of what he said when he spoke at an event in Columbus this past January....

"But what we really need you to do is reach out and talk to those who didn't vote with us the last time. People who disagree with us. Because the truth is, we have something in common with a lot of those folks. Evangelical Christians. People think they're all Republicans--it's not true. Because their values include making sure no child goes to bed hungry at night. A lot of Republicans are cutting school lunch programs. Their values include not leaving more debt to our children than we found ourselves. The Republicans are the largest borrow and spend thrift group I've ever seen. The largest deficit in the history of the country and going up. Evangelical Christians believe it is immoral to treat the earth that God gave us the way that this administration is. That's something that we have in common.

In fact, there's a lot that Americans have in common. You know what the greatest sin of George Bush and his administration is? It's not the Iraq war. And it's not even the enormous budget deficit which going to hurt us for years and years. It's the fact that he has chosen to deliberately divide America in order to win elections. To separate ourselves from each other. He's done more harm to this country, even than his lame-brained foreign policy, his incompetence in terms of the budget, by being willing to use divisive tactics to win elections. We can't do that any more, and when we get back in power we're not going to do that, because it's bad for America. (Applause.)

So I need you to reach out to people who you maybe don't know very well and who don't agree with you. Now, I'm not talking about the hard right, the intolerance of the hard right. But I am talking about a lot of the people who vote for them. Because, guess what? They're not that different from us. I'm going to tell you one quick story and then I want to get on to finish this up.

When Katrina hit, there were a lot of people at the DNC who had relatives and friends there and so forth. It was a very upsetting time as you can imagine. It was upsetting even for those who didn't know anybody there, to see how incompetent the federal government was in dealing with it. It was a really bad time at the Democratic National Committee. So we shut down our fundraising operations because we didn't think it was proper to raise money for politics while that kind of thing was going on. And we said to everybody, we will pay your salary for three weeks if you feel like you need to go down to the Gulf and help out.

So, a bunch of people did, including two young women who work in our finance department. And they went down there and they got teamed up with five ladies from the Southern Baptist Conference. Now, for those of you who know anything about the Southern Baptist, they're a somewhat conservative, to put it mildly, denomination, who often have preachers who preach that it's a sin to vote for Democrats. So, these two young ladies from the finance department sort of had a debate among themselves, "Should we tell them who we work for?" And they decided they would, in the interests of standing up for who they were. So they fessed up that they worked for the Democratic National Committee, and they sort of got this reaction, and thought that maybe they were thinking the word "Satan" when they heard that pronouncement. But everyone got along pretty well, and they were handing out food and water to people who really needed it. At the end of the time, one of the women said, "You know, we're all here together, and we're just trying to do things for our fellow people.

Now, I'll tell you why this is important. About a year from now, I can tell you that when these ladies from the Southern Baptist Convention go back to their home churches, some pastor in that church is going to stand up and say it's a sin to vote for a Democrat. And they're going to think back to the two young women who worked for the Democratic National Committee and say to themselves, "Now, wait a minute. I know two Democrats who work for the Democratic party. We were all in this together when we worked together." Personal experience trumps what the pastor tells you, and personal experience even trumps what your parents tell you.

That's why I want you to reach across the aisle and talk to people who didn't vote the way you did, but they are good, decent people who want to do the right thing for their country. Yeah, we won't agree on everything. But if they come to know you, they're going to listen to you more than they're going to listen to me, more than they're going to listen to Bill Clinton or John Kerry, or certainly George Bush. Because your point of view is going to be from somebody they've worked with, and they trust and they know that they have something in common with."

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Guantanamo - The Bleached Boys

Click for midi accompaniment

As sala'amu alaikum? No, we wanna take 'em
To Cuba. Osama? Don't look like we're gonna
Zarqawi, al Sadr? Lies not holdin' water

Turn off your cameras, please.
As we tour Guantanamo
With the group you'll wanna go - Don't stray away from it now.

On boxes they will stand
Electrodes held in their hands
Fit just like a glove
Don't step off, or they'll go *ka-blam*
In Guantanamo

As sala'amu alaikum? No, we wanna take 'em
To Cuba. Osama? Don't look like we're gonna
Zarqawi, al Sadr? Lies not holdin' water

Ooo, and when we get you to Guantanamo
You'll try to fast
But, feeding tubes will flow
Where? You don't wanna know!
Down in Guantanamo

Boys from Iraq, in pyramids we stack

We'll line them up to see
Who has a short or long wee-wee
And for fun engage in just little ol' depravity

Give them sleepless nights
Stress positions and dogs that bite
And when finally on the ground they lie
You'll give me "five" way up high
Down in Guantanamo

As sala'amu alaikum? No, we wanna take 'em
To Cuba. Osama? Don't look like we're gonna
Zarqawi, al Sadr? Lies not holdin' water

Ooo, and when we get you to Guantanamo
The time will pass
for you much, much too slow
It's where you don't wanna go!
Down in Guantanamo

No photo prints. Don't wanna give a glimpse.

(musical interlude)

But, Everybody knows
What goes on in Guantanamo
Even with FOX News' Tony Snow
Can't get away from it now.
Down in Guantanamo

We caught you. You fake it. We're not gonna take it.
Gee Dubya, D!ck Cheney. Truth we're seeing plainly
And Condi, and Rummy - No, I'm not a dummy.

Ooo, and when we get *you* to Guantanamo
The tables turned
You're gonna cry "Oh, NO!"
My "thumbs up" is gonna go
Down on Guantanamo

As sala'amu alaikum? No, we wanna take 'em
To Cuba. Osama? Don't look like we're gonna
Zarqawi, al Sadr? Lies not holdin' water

Ooo, we're gonna get you to Guantanamo

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Remembering one "hoopy frood"

Reminder: Howard Dean will appear as a guest on The Daily Show on Monday, May 15.

Last night, once it was past midnight, I looked at my phone and noticed that the date now read "May 11, 2006". The "May 11" part seemed like it must be signigicant for some reason, and after thinking about it for a moment, I realized that today marked the, er, "deathday" of author Douglas Adams. He died in 2001, and I remembered that it was 4 months before September 11--thus never experiencing the "post 9/11 world". As cynical as DNA could be about human nature in general and especially politics, I can only imagine what he would have thought of the events of the past five years.

Fans of Douglas Adams named May 25, "Towel Day" in his honor. Here's the Wikipedia page about Towel Day--which they list under the category of "Geek Holidays". As I suspected, International Talk Like a Pirate Day is included on that page, as is Pi Day.

Here's the official Douglas Adams web site. Also...
...an interview he did with The American Atheist
...fan site Floor 42
...the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy web project "the unconventional Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything. It's like an encyclopedia, only better because all the entries are written by people like you! "...
Life, the Universe, and Everything, a post from a year ago today on the blog The Daze of Our Lives.



...and finally the obituary on BBC News, So long, and thanks for all the books.

Miss you, Douglas.

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My Website Was Shutdown, Thanks To DHS

The following is a portion of an email I received yesterday from the domain host for the DFA group website I built. A similar letter was sent to all customers who have accounts on the same server.

Dear 2mHost customer,Around 1:00 pm Eastern time, Wednesday May 10, 2006 server alexandria36 which host your account for domain name alademocracy.org was unplugged by The US Department of Homeland Security agents to seize server hard drives (the main and backupd drive) beacuse of possible illegal contents (we believe its child porn contents), They removed the drives to analyse its contents and logs.
We believe that we will not get the drives back in timely manner. We sincerely apologize for the file lose and understand the seriousness of it, as well as the trouble it has created for you our valued customer.

WTF? I have never had an interest in, nor collected child porn. I deplore any abuse of children, and the mere fact that I have to state this is absolutely disgusting to me. The defense of children is critical, but I thought that the role of Homeland Security (and I despise the Naziistic label) was to protect this county from threats and natural disasters. My tongue is planted firmly in cheek on that one.

What I resent more than the loss of website files, is the idea of a massive bureaucracy that has the ability to shut down anyone's website, business, or livelihood, without Congressional or judicial oversight. Some weeks back, I read about a couple whose account was red-flagged by DHS when they tried to pay a large sum on their credit card. Is this still America anymore?

What's of even more concern is the potential that such an agency could pose to the rights of Americans who disagree with the administration in power - any administration. Given the unchecked power granted to such agencies, what's there to prevent planting "suspicious files" on anyone's computer or home, because you're a little too vocal in your opposition to war in your emails or at work? Does it not sicken you that you're more reluctant to say things you feel about certain people in power in your phone conversations?

By every account, the failure in preventing 9/11 was not the result of a lack of information, but the failure to act on the flashing red lights warnings that were right there in plain sight. The same was true of DHS's response to Katrina. I've always felt that the creation of such a massive government bureaucracy was nothing more than an attempt by the people who devised it to gain more control over our lives. This little incident does nothing to dissuade me of this belief.

We gotta get this country back, because the police state is knocking at the door.

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Comics Thread

Man, I get to working on a city council campaign (we're putting foot to hind-quarters, BTW) and drive by here just to find everyone hereabouts getting all depressed on me. Smile! Here's some comics:

Hopeless Endeavor
Separation of Citizens and State
Retail Shopping
GOP Oversight
Up Yours
Boris Backup
Chap, I'd Quit It
Both-And
FUBAR
Iranian Spitballs
Brokeback Terrorist
Idiotic Optimism
Oops
Naked Emperor
American Idol
Duh!
Same Scum, Different Product
Stay Out Of The Way
P.S.
Still A Cock
Just Like Dubya
In His Dreams

And my favorite for today: Undocumented Immigrants



Nite y'all!

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Open Thread

Chandra Election Night Thank You

Marc Dann reaches out (a letter to the Ohio blogosphere)

The Nehemiah Assembly: packed like sardines for justice (my post about the B.R.E.A.D. assembly the other night)

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DemocracyFest Update

New speakers and panelists for the 3rd Annual DemocracyFest are being confirmed almost daily now. Here's the most updated list (in alphabetical order, and there are more to come!)


Sen. Debra Bowen, Candidate for Secretary of State, Debra is currently a State Senator, Chair of the Senate Elections Committee, and a good-government watchdog.

Candace Bowie, Think Precinct Program, Colorado for Democracy.

Prof. Marjorie Cohn, Thos. Jefferson Law School, President-elect of the National Lawyers Guild, co-chair of the Guild's international committee.

Gov. Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman, founder of Democracy for America (DFA), 2004 Presidential candidate, former Governor of Vermont.

Jim Dean, Chair of Democracy for America (DFA).

Jim Derych, Author of "Confessions of a Former Dittohead".

Barbara Graves, Grassroots Champions Precinct Captains Program, Regional Director/CA Democratic Party.

Rep. Bob Filner, U.S. Congressman, 51st C.D., Freedom Rider, college professor, progressive leader.

Donna Frye, San Diego City Councilwoman, former Mayoral candidate.

Robert Greenwald, producer, director and political activist. Greenwald is the director/producer of “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” and "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism".

Paul Hackett, Iraq War Veteran and 2005 Democratic Congressional candidate in southeastern Ohio, where he came within 4% of winning in the 74%-Republican district.

Bill Harman, retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with a lifelong commitment to issues of social and global justice.

Rick Jacobs, Chairman of Brave New Films and the Courage Campaign, California campaign chair for Howard Dean's Presidential Campaign.

Wahu Kaara, executive director of the Kenya Debt Relief Network where she leads campaigns for debt cancellation and economic justice.

Debayani Kar, Communications and Advocacy Coordinator at Jubilee USA Network. Debi is responsible for the communications strategy for the organization, and has appeared on numerous radio shows and print publications discussing debt and development.

Matt Kerbel, Editor of "Get This Party Started: How Progressives Can Fight Back and Win" - A discussion of top line Washington Insiders and Political Activists.

Dr. William Lesher, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) residing in Berkeley, CA. He served as president of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) for twenty years.

Narges Niedzwiecki, Organizer of Day 1's " XYZ Vote" panel on the enfranchisement and disenfranchisement of young voters (18-40).

Lori Saldaña, Born and raised in San Diego, Assemblymember Lori Saldaña is the embodiment of a successful grassroots campaigner. One of the original “Dean Dozen” candidates.

Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values, former Philadelphia City Councilman.

David Sirota, Campaign strategist and author, “Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government – and How We Take It Back,”.

Kristin Sundell, Outreach and Congregations Coordinator for the Jubilee USA Network, the U.S. arm of a global movement to cancel the debt of impoverished countries without harmful economic conditions.

David Swanson, Washington Director of Democrats.com and of ImpeachPAC.org, co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org / CensureBush.org coalition, creator of MeetWithCindy.org and KatrinaMarch.org, and a board member of Progressive Democrats of America.

Colonel Ann Wright, resigned from the U.S. Foreign Service, while serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Mongolia, due to her disagreement with the Bush administration.


Check this page regularly for new speakers and panelists.

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Politics in Alachua, Florida

I'm the author of the novel Tortoise Stew that Charlie Grapski wrote about in a blog a few days ago.

I wrote this novel about politics in a fictional small north Florida town after covering politics in the area for several years. I began writing it three days after someone left a live bomb at the weekly newspaper where I was covering controversial growth issues (can you say Dollar General and Wal-Mart?). Fortunately no one was hurt so the FBI moved onto more important crimes.

I tried to make the novel as crazy as possible, exaggerating real life events and characters, but in Alachua they continue to write my sequel for me and how do I get crazier than what is happening there right now?

The City Manager/Police Commissioner tricked a citizen into city hall on a public records request and then had him arrested by two officers and the police chief on the charge of illegally tape recording a conversation between the city manager and the citizen the previous week.

The city manager has been quoted in the local press that he was making a statement that the city of Alachua will not be intimidated.

I remember countless phone conversations held with officials in that city over the years where I heard a steady and rhythmic tick in the background. No one told me I was being taped, but no one will convince me that I was not. Intimidating? It's all right as long as they are the ones doing it.


Patricia Camburn Behnke
Writer/Editor
P.O. Box 512
St. Augustine, FL 32085
pcbwrites at bellsouth.net
www.authorsden.com/patriciacbehnke


The following are screen captures from the slideshow at the High Springs Herald.







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MViMV Guest Blog

Tonight's MViMV guest blogger will be Marian Harris, Candidate, Ohio House of Representatives.

Please join Marian on the MViMV blog tonight from 8-9pm EDT.

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Hayden & 4th Amendment: Barely Acquainted

Gen. Michael Hayden, Bush's nominee to succeed Porter Goss as head of the CIA, doesn't know what the Fourth Amendment says. That comes as no surprise given that Hayden misled Congress about Bush's warrantless spying program.

Editor & Publisher:

Hayden, Likely Choice for CIA Chief, Displayed Shaky Grip on 4th Amendment at Press Club

Gen. Michael Hayden, expected to be named new director of the CIA, replacing Porter Goss as early as Monday, displayed a shaky awareness of the Fourth Amendment in an appearance at the National Press Club in Washingnon, D.C., on January 23, E&P reported at the time.

[...]

As the last journalist to get in a question at the Press Club, Jonathan Landay, a well-regarded investigative reporter for Knight Ridder, noted that Gen. Hayden repeatedly referred to the Fourth Amendment's search standard of "reasonableness" without mentioning that it also demands "probable cause." Hayden seemed to deny that the amendment included any such thing, or simply ignored it. He directly said "no" it did not include "probable cause."

This caused Landay to reply, "The legal standard is probable cause, General."

Entire story here.


The White House has indicated it is willing to go to the mat for Hayden's confirmation. I say, "Bring it on."

Update: Christy Hardin Smith, aka ReddHedd at Firedoglake.com, has this to say about Hayden's nomination.

And in other news, Think Progress is reporting this:

...in an informal poll to be aired on Dateline tonight, ABC reporters found that many members of Congress, including Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), could not sing the entire national anthem. One spokesperson spotted the film crew and sent out a warning to others: "Heads up. We have been informed that there is a news organization with a camera crew outside (between the Capitol and Longworth) asking members to recite or sing the national anthem."

I guess the National Anthem Project has its work cut out for it. (I'd advise Howard to sing it in the key of G. It's actually doable.)

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National Nurse Legislation ~ HR4903 ~ Update!

Thank you to listener for sending us this National Nurse update.

Sponsors!
We now have 13 co-sponsors to HR 4903 and welcome our latest additions to the growing list- Representative Henry Waxman (CA) who is a member of the House Health Committee and Representative Steny Hoyer (MD), the House Minority Whip.

The Team Travels To Washington D.C.
Teri, Alisa, and Terri, along with five other nurses and State Representative Marcia Moody (NH), will be traveling to Washington D.C. next Wednesday to meet with the health policy aides of Senators Craig, Kennedy, and Harkin. The team also has meetings with several leaders in the House Health Committee where the bill now sits.

Help!
The team needs your help with this venture. As you are aware, the cost of travel has gone up along with gasoline prices. If you could contribute (even $5) to help offset the expenses, Teri and the National Nurse team would be immensely appreciative. The National Nursing Network Organization is a non-profit corporation, but is not tax-exempt and therefore contributions are not tax-deductible. Donations can be made online.

Press Release For Next Week
Special thanks to Mac Prichard and Karen Greco who are helping with the press release that will be distributed in advance of the Washington D.C. trip. If you would like to receive a copy of what is being sent to the media for your own publication, please email teri@nationalnurse.info

Celebrate National Nurses Week!!
The National Nurse Team has a website, www.cafepress.com/nationalnurse with lots of merchandise to celebrate Florence Nightingale's birthday and National Nurses Week - May 6th-12th...including designs by our own bloggers jc and Demetrius! Please consider purchasing a button or bumper sticker to raise the campaign's visibility.

Send Us Your Stories and Health Tips
Have you contacted or visited your U.S. Representative? Do you have a health tip to share with the nation? Do you have feedback about HR 4903 you would like to share with others? Are you interested in having a post published at www.nationalnurse.org? Please send your stories and health tips for the public to teri@nationalnurse.info for consideration and publication.

On to DC!
Teri, Alisa, and Terri
Your National Nurse Team
www.nationalnurse.org

Teri Mills and Alisa Schneider

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Go forth, and light more candles...

Reminder: Howard will appear on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on Sunday, May 7. (Check your local listings.)

I first became aware of Charlie's situation when mprov made a comment at 12:53 a.m. in the Tuesday Night Open Thread at Howard-Empowered People. Well, that's not quite accurate, because I was asleep at that time. I first *saw* mprov's comment shortly before 6:48 am, when I made a comment of my own. And then I asked if one of the other bloggers at HEP could get a main post up, because I was on my way to work and would be unable to post anything myself until evening.

Corinne answered the call, and posted this during the day on Wednesday. Normally I would try to crosspost something like this, to help the story reach a wider audience. But it was the middle of the work week, and I was feeling entitled to at least a teeny-tiny sulk over yet *another* candidate I have been passionate about got beaten badly. And then I was coming down with a bit of a bug (starting to feel better, thanks). And then it was the National Day of Prayer, and I couldn't let *that* pass without comment.

This morning I saw a comment from Charlie in the overnight thread, and decided that I really did need to buckle down and post something for a wider audience. So, in addition to the post below, which features Charlie's own words, I crossposted excerpts from the High Springs Herald article about the arrest to Daily Kos, My Left Wing, Booman Tribune, ePluribus Media, and Democratic Underground. I tried to point people back here for discussion, but you know--herding cats, and all. Thing is, there's no way that I can keep up with responding to questions, comments and suggestions at this point.

Not to mention the fact that I *started* doing a post about this issue when I got up this morning, and now it is almost dinnertime. MUST...PRY...FINGERS....FROM...KEYBOARD.

Except that I can't, because I need this keyboard to work on some things for my class next week. So how 'bout I just close this browser window instead. But before I do that, I have a request. Check out the crossposts I linked above. If you are a member at one of those blogs and can answer a question someone has asked, please do. If you see a comment or link that you think others would be interested in, please post it in the comments below. If you see a suggested "someone we should tell about this", go ahead and do it if you feel so inclined.

Tag--you're it!

Or, to be a little bit more poetic, I lit a few candles today. If people use those to light more candles, together we can shine a whole lot more light on this thing.

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Shining a light on north Florida "plantation" politics

Charlie Grapski founded the online Democracy University, and was a presenter at DemocracyFest I and II. He is currently running for the State House of Representatives in Florida.

For background on this story, see the Wednesday, May 3 post at Howard-Empowered People, Charlie Grapski Arrested for Recording Meeting and the editorial 'Alachua Gotcha' in the May 3 edition of the Gainesville Sun. Also, thank you to Connie in the comments for passing along another article about the arrest and the issues surrounding it, State House candidate arrested in Alachua City Hall, published in the High Springs Herald.

When Grapski was finished reviewing the records, police arrested him.

Grapski was released Monday night on his own recognizance.

What we have down in the City of Alachua is literally a plantation mentality - and one should not forget that this state (and this county and this city of Alachua were at the heart of the good ole boy system of Florida for most of its history) was among the last to "give in" to the civil rights movement and desegregation. And this was only done by force.

The Supreme Court had to step in in the seventies to demand the "all deliberate speed" issue be taken seriously. It was not until the 1980s that Florida's politics really began to change as a result of the 1950s and 1960s and the civil rights movement (and really all that happened was the loss of the Southern Democrats total control over the state - led to a two party system in Florida - with the viability of the Republicans - who have effectively taken over the role of the former Southern Democrats).

Folks, I am not exaggerating when I say that this was a stolen election in Florida. And this has national significance - and particularly for the Democrats and their presidential aspirations.

We all know how Florida's election was, well, manipulated in 2000. But it has not stopped - and Florida, above all, needs to be reformed.

Florida is one of the key electoral college states - being one of the largest. And Alachua County is one of the two remaining Democratic strong-holds in the state. However - the Republicans (and locally the developers - who are often Democrats nationally but vote Republican locally) are engaged in a very strategic effort to try and find a way to take over Alachua County for themselves.

And the City of Alachua has a key strategic element in this. They are in control of that city. Literally in control - there is no semblance of legitimacy or democracy - it is run by a cabal of individuals and they use it effectively as their private plantation (indeed one of their new housing developments - and they have a large number that have now been "approved" is called "Plantation Oaks" - aptly named).

There was a major scandal with the bringing of the Dollar General distribution center, then the Wal-Mart distribution center, and likely a Wal-Mart supercenter (they want it in Gainesville - but they have not been able to break into a controlling power on the Gainesville City Commission - although they are desperately trying).

This was a major problem - and numerous illegalities. A series of lawsuits was filed - a local attorney took this on at his own expense - and they attacked him - and due to health problems he filed something late - the judge (who has been problematic in a number of other cases involving abuses by public officials) dismissed the case outright - without ruling on the merits - which is not appropriate - based on the lawyer's error (which was caused by his health problems - which were exacerbated by the attacks on him as a result of his efforts). That is inappropriate.

We are dealing with a very real problem here - if Alachua local elections can be stolen - then they can steal the presidential election through similar means as well. This must be addressed - and again - the national spotlight is necessary to bring enough sunshine onto this situation - which is really about deep seated corruption going to the highest levels of Florida politics and involving all sorts of criminal activities (think of the worst types of such activities - and you are likely thinking of what is involved here).

Take a look at the following - it is a novel entitled Tortoise Stew by Patricia Behnke - who was an Alachua resident and had owned a local paper (she's moved out of Alachua - as a number of people are being forced to do). Its a Carl Hiassen type novel (and Carl should get into this - he went to the University of Florida where he began his writing career) - meaning that it may be fiction, but its based upon the truth - the characters in this book - are the real characters I am dealing with.

From the review at The Author's Den...

"The bomb sat in a bag on Kelly Sands' desk for an hour before she noticed it."

And so begins a tale of developers and politicians so intent upon their plans to destroy some of the last rural lands in north Florida, they will go to any means.

Through it all, reporter Kelly Sands remains dedicated to uncovering their underhanded methods.

From a bomb to dead gopher tortoises to a dead commissioner, Tortoise Stew takes the reader on a mysterious and murky ride through politics - north Florida style.

Clicking the graphic above will take you to the Tortoise Stew page on Powells.com. The book is also available at Amazon.com

Also - to see the Wal-Mart issue - and related issues - see:

Moon Magazine (I'll try and see if I can digitize there articles - I don't know if their archives are still up on the internet - I'll see one of the founders of that magazine tommorrow and see if he has them digitized still).

The Alachua Post - this was created by those who became the ALA (Alachua Leadership Alliance) - and took on this battle a few years back. Unfortunately - they have been targetted for vicious attacks. (There is even now a "paper" - more like Fox News - in town which is "funded" very heavily (we don't know by whom - but we do know with what intent) - and originally hired someone from the National Inquirer to set it up - they are an attack dog for the cabal running that town (plantation)).

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Why I had a voice mail call from MS Dick Durbin

By Holly J

Some of you may remember that I had blogged a couple of months ago that I had applied for a scholarship program to be trained as an "Illinois Women in Leadership" program. It is highly competitive program and after reading the resume of previous accepted applicants I was compelled to throw the form in the trash last 2 years.

Now some of you really think the Democratic Party is hopeless and I have to say I have been more than a little discouraged a few times. But I have really taken to heart Howard Dean's challenge to "take back America" and like him feel the best way to get America going is to work through and with the Democratic Party. I honestly believe the true Democratic values include the belief that "we all in this together" unlike the Republicans actions that "you are on your own." I truly believe that if anyone is left behind all of America is worse of for it.

Some of you have seen from my posts telling how I am DFA organizer, am active in my local party and even ran for park district commission. But I was not sure if I was ready to take it a step further. I decided to take the leap and filled out the application for the IWIL program.

After my name and address the form asked for high school accomplishments!!! High School Accomplishments, that was 35 years ago. Was I really supposed to write I went to anti-Viet Nam war rallies? Then it asked for professional organizations and degrees. Degrees - plural??? My degree in physical therapy was a far cry from a master's in political science or a law degree. OK maybe that I lived in a town of 2000 would impress them.

Fill it out and send it. My resume needed updating anyway because I have worked at Easter Seals for the last 25 years.

2 weeks ago I got a call telling me I was a finalist. The selection committee which included state legislators. leaders in the IL dem. Party and CEOs would interview me. 25 people would be interviewed and they would select 12. odds 50/50.

I decided that I better beef up on IL politics. Who was Governor, Lt Gov. Sec of state etc? I also researched the interviewees. I prefer to know who I am talking to.

It also just so happened that the IL Dem Women's convention was taking place. I couldn't pass up a weekend with my cool democratic women friends and get to eat in the Governor's mansion. OK, I am a little star struck with politicians. I blame Howard Dean for this.

Typical with my history of studying, I decided to wait to review the information for the interview the night before but first I had a banquet to go to. Little did I know that the interviewers would seek me out and ask me questions at the dinner. Not until I was halfway through the conversation did I realize that I was talking to an IL congresswoman and an interviewer. Once I realize it, I went numb, chocked and then got my composure back. A POP Quiz. I WAS NOT ready for the interview here. I didn't have my mind set and I hadn't finished studying yet. When she asked my about a local State rep I confidently answered her question not knowing if the answers were right.

The next day I had a 4 hour drive to Chicago in pouring rain and had to decide if I should get stuck in a oil spill on 355 or in construction on the Dan Ryan. Knowing Chicago I gave myself an extra hour. With mapquest in hand, I threaded my way through downtown Chicago, parked and walked 2 blocks to the UAW building. After trying 3 doors with the doorman watching me, the doorman stated, "Holly Johnson, take the elevator to the 6th floor."

Waiting to interview before me sat a woman in her early 20's. OK-at least they will remember me for being the oldest applicant. A very friendly professional woman led me into the room with 6 women sitting around a long executive table. "Holly, we have been looking forward to meeting you" Did that mean the woman from last night had warned them about me or that they were so glad because I was the last interview for the day?

I looked around the room, there sat the circuit clerk, over there was Asst. director of Dept of Registration and next to me was an IL Senator. -- Hookay.-- But I have to say I do love talking about myself and that is what they wanted to do for 20 minutes. The more I talked the more animated I got. What I lack in experience I make up for enthusiasm. The last question was. "Tell me 3 words to describe yourself." I have never thought about that before but I quickly came up with, energetic, motivator and compassionate. I quickly added. "Oh dear that Republicans have ruined that word." They laughed and the director of registry stated, "We are taking that word back".

Today on my way home from work, my cell phone kept giving this little annoying beep. I kept driving, At a stop light I pulled it out to try to figure out how to shut it up. I opened up the phone and it said I had a voice mail but I had no idear how to retrieve it! I could see the number and it was a Chicago area code and I DON'T have friends who call me from Chicago so I knew it must be the IWIL people. I shook the phone, I click around and I still had no luck in opening up the voice mall. The mystery of whether I was accepted into the program would have to wait until I called my daughter to find out how to get into my voice mail.

After carefully following my daughter's instructions and racking my brain for the password, I opened the mail. "Holly this is Loretta Durbin and I want to let you know that you have been accepted as a delegate into the IWIL program, congratulations.."

I was going to save this voice mail for prosperity put I punched 7 instead of 3 and the voice mail disappeared into cyberland!

For those of you that can't learn enough about the program that I am now a delegate for, here is the link
http://www.iwilinfo.org/

Thanks all for sharing in my joy!

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Tim Tagaris' Goodbye Post (DNC blog)

Under the title GBCW--and since not *everyone* around the internets knows this, I'll add that those initials stand for "Goodbye Cruel World"--Tim Tagaris has posted his farewell.

About two years and a half years ago you would probably only find me working at Pinch Penny Pub or playing basketball everyday at "the rec" in Carbondale, Illinois on the campus of Southern Illinois University. Then one fateful night I watched as an otherwise anonymous candidate for U.S. Congress, Jeff Seemann (OH-16), posted an entry on the sorta-popular blog, Daily Kos. I don't know what persuaded me to abandon the pursuit of my Masters Degree (was done with all my classes, but hadn't finished my thesis -- sorry mom and dad!), but I packed my car and moved to Canton, Ohio.
...
As for me, I'm off to Connecticut next week to get that adrenaline flowing on a daily basis in a campaign setting -- I'm sure you'll be hearing from me again. But before I leave, I want all of you to know that I am grateful for the conversation we've had over these past six months. Oh, and one more thing ... shame on you, Jean Schmidt.

Read the rest here.

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Open Thread

Update: Howard will appear on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on Sunday, May 7. (Check your local listings.)

Holman (the puppy Mom is raising for Canine Companions for Independence) at 12 weeks.


'Night, everybody.

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Reflections from Howard Dean

I just visited the Democratic Party blog and found that they have posted a statement from Howard Dean on the National Day of Prayer. Before I go on, I just wanted to say that I am mindful of keeping a balance here, and figured that if I managed to get a new post up tonight, it would *not* be something else on the NDOP.

But, it's from Howard! Can you blame me? And for a post at Howard-Empowered People, it would just be wrong to merely tack a link on to my earlier post.

In a post called "Reflections"...

Governor Dean on a National Day of Prayer: For people of all faiths, prayer is a powerful act of devotion. Today, people of faith gather all across the country to reflect on our many blessings as a nation and to seek thoughtful discernment on the many challenges before us.

We know that the suffering of our neighbors, both domestic and around the world, is a burden we must work to alleviate. For the nearly 1 in 5 American children living in poverty, for the nearly 46 million Americans who are uninsured, for the millions of refugees around the world, and for the hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost to genocide in Darfur, we must come together around these and other common concerns to offer hope. Today and every day, we must strive to find the moral high ground to impact real change.Today we reaffirm our commitment to work to heal our nation and to come together around our shared values to rebuild our American community with honesty, security and opportunity and to demonstrate moral leadership around the globe.

I've been off looking for some pictures of Howard that would go well with this post. This photo is from his trip to Israel in September of 2005.



There are a lot of great pictures in John Pettit's Cloudview gallery here, but since there are pretty explicit directions that those photos are not to be published without written permission, I'll have to settle for posting a link to the gallery.

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Today is the National Day of Prayer

Today, May 4, is the National Day of Prayer. By presidential proclamation, no less.

I ask the citizens of our Nation to give thanks, each according to his or her own faith, for the freedoms and blessings we have received and for God's continued guidance and protection. I urge all Americans to join in observing this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

It is unfortunate that Bush only pays lip service to religious pluralism (as well as assuming that all Americans *have* a faith), because all of the official National Day of Prayer events are overtly Christian in nature. And not just *any* kind of Christian.

From an article about an inclusive, interfaith event taking place in Troy, Michigan, some details about the "National Day of Prayer Task Force":

The task force, run by Shirley Dobson, the wife of evangelical radio commentator James Dobson, requires each volunteer to sign a personal pledge as "an evangelical Christian who has a personal relationship with Christ."

Task force-sponsored events often focus on declaring the United States a Christian nation and praying in opposition to such hot-button political issues as abortion and gay rights.

"Those usually are things we pray about," Jim Weidmann, national vice chairman of the task force, said Tuesday. "We're looking at almost 2 million people who we expect at up to 8,000 events."

I do pray for our nation, and our president. Every day. Just not for the same reasons as the Dobsons and their cohorts.

Do read the article about the Troy, Michigan interfaith event. I like that some people are trying to turn the day into a more positive statement about diversity and inclusion. In Columbus there will be Interfaith Prayers for Peace. I think that is just a happy coincidence--or is it? But those events are always on the first Thursday of the month, as I recall.

Here's a blog you may not be aware of, that you might like to check out today: The Wall of Separation is the blog of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Also, here's that link again for the transcript of the PBS NOW program about the Patriot Pastors. And here's a link to an article about the Bible-reading marathon at the U.S. Capitol. (Events like that are taking place at state capitols too. )

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Blackwell's "Patriot Pastors": Must-see video

I had every intention of watching--or at least recording--NOW on PBS this past Sunday. It was to feature the report entitled "God's Country?", which profiled the "Patriot Pastors" group that is working to elect Ken "Diebold" Blackwell governor of Ohio. It also included an interview with Rev. Eric Williams, one of the Ohio ministers who signed onto the IRS complaint against Blackwell-boosting Reverends Russell Johnson and Rod Parsley. Fortunately, George at Buckeye State Blog pointed out this video, available online at Brad Blog. (George found the link via a comment at Bob Fitrakis's new blog, FraudbusterBob.com.) You can also read the transcript here. (Be very afraid.)

Some excerpts from the transcript, with accompanying screen captures from the video.

For Johnson, this coming Tuesday is d-day. That's when Ohio holds it's primary for governor. The real battle is on the republican side, between two candidates: Ohio attorney general Jim Petro, widely recognized as the establishment's choice, and Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, a conservative Christian.

Blackwell is the only candidate pictured on Johnson's website. And on the day we visited, a newspaper published by Johnson's group was hot of the presses, to be mailed to half a million homes across Ohio. These newspapers provide a guide to the candidates' stand on issues important to conservative Christians.

BRANCACCIO:
And there is more. Look at this videotape, obtained by "NOW." It's of a rally Johnson held in February outside of Canton, featuring Ken Blackwell.

BLACKWELL:
"Our times demand your engagement. Our times demand your prayers.

BRANCACCIO:
Hundreds of local religious leaders listened as Johnson praised Blackwell in no uncertain terms.

JOHNSON RALLY:
"When it came time to look for a leader, we found one, Ken Blackwell, who said yes, it's the right thing to do, marriage is defined by the bible as one man and a woman, and I will stand with you."

BRANCACCIO:
Johnson finished by giving candidate Blackwell what the Ohio restoration project calls its "courageous leadership" award.

On a related note, tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer, being celebrated all over the country in spectacles that embody the opposite of what Jesus advises in Matthew 6:4-6

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

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DemocracyFest Update

Here's a belated DemocracyFest Update:

Paul Hackett will speak at DemocracyFest on Saturday, July 15th in San Diego, CA.

I apologize that this update is not only a day late, but is also very short. I'm really overwhelmed and don't even have time to type up something nice about Paul Hackett. Ack! I'll just have to go ahead and assume you all know who he is ;-)

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Charlie Grapski Arrested for Recording Meeting

BFA's own Charlie Grapski, a University of Florida instructor and doctoral student who is also a candidate for Florida's State House, was arrested and briefly detained after Alachua City Manager Clovis Watson Jr. alleged Grapski recorded him without his knowledge on Friday, April 28.

Grapski had met with Watson "to discuss Grapski's request for public records relating to last month's Alachua city election." Watson alleged that he "left his office briefly during the discussion, and only realized when he came back in and saw a blinking red light on what appeared to be a phone that he was being recorded." Watson asked if the meeting was being taped and Grapski said it was and "since Watson is a public official, the recording was legal."

Watson disagreed. Grapski, in an e-mail to Watson, said "Watson could "clearly see" his recorder, because Watson "openly stated" he knew he was being recorded and because "as a public official . . . anything you say is deemed to be a public statement." " The two agreed to meet again on Monday where Watson told Grapski that the public records they discussed on Friday would be available.

Grapski arrived on Monday with co-chairman of the Alachua County Green Party Michael Canney. When Grapski was finished reviewing the records, police arrested him. Grapski was charged with "interception and disclosure of wire, oral or electronic communications."



While Canney believes the punishment was too harsh for the crime, Watson said the police department acted appropriately and that the arrest "was necessary to impress upon Grapski the seriousness of the matter." Watson charges that a felony was committed resulting in Grapski's arrest.

Canney points out that the arrest deflected attention from Grapski's reasons for requesting the records in the first place:

"Grapski was looking through materials relating to absentee ballots for the recent city election, which is being challenged by a lawsuit Grapski is participating in.

[...]

The lawsuit says city officials are "guilty of misconduct in conducting the absentee ballot portion of the election."

Grapski was released Monday night on his own recognizance.




UPDATE, from Charlie on BFA:


Charlie Grapski wrote on May 3, 2006 09:55 AM:

Thanks all,

Very interesting stuff Monica. I did not realize they arrested you in Alachua when running. There is a very serious problem in the City of Alachua - and when we say "plantation" - I mean that literally.

By the way - the statement that he "heard" his voice played back is false. The recorder was on at all times and plainly in his view - and we even discussed it - and he continued to talk while being recorded.

My view is that in Florida (especially because we have the Sunshine Law) - and everywhere - a PUBLIC official is exactly that. Anything he/she does AS that PUBLIC official - must be ASSUMED TO BE public. Thus anything they say or do - in their official capacity - should be considered to be done AS IF it were being recorded (and thus if someone recorded it - even without their knowledge or consent - that would be acceptable).

In this case, however, this was done without any attempt at "secret" recording. I can provide more details at a later time.

But this statute that is being cited - with the felony charge - is really intended for COVERT spying on individuals (kind of like the President has authorized - just the other way around - in this case the issue is the public "spying" on public officials in their public capacity). And no one has EVERY been prosecuted for what I have been alleged to do (or what I have actually done).

The only thing that could come out of something like this - although in this case since it was a public official and was done openly it should not - is that the tape evidence cannot be used as evidence in court.

But I made the recording - as I am doing with all interactions with officials of the city of Alachua - to DOCUMENT what happens and what they do. Particularly in this case of stealing an election.

You may recall that a few years back - two Floridians "intercepted", taped, and distributed a cell-phone conversation of Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) on a conference call with Gingrich and a number of other key Republicans.

They turned the tape over to the House Ethics Committee (Jim McDermott) - when they were investigating Gingrich's ethics violations. It woud up in the hands of the newspapers - and a transcript was printed in the NY TImes.

Gingrich tried to have them brought up on the felony charges and arrested (like what happened to me) - but they were not able to do that.

I believe they actually eventually pled guilty - and were fined $500.

But what they did - and what I did - are two completely different things. My actions don't even come close to that.

I am not worried - they made a major mistake - and have attempted to use their positions of power (and abuse them) for their advantage. I will indeed prevail on this - but more importantly - I will now have a much greater chance of prevailing on the exposure of the stealing of the election - and then the deeper corruption in the City of Alachua.

I'll share more of this later.

What is important is that last Monday, along with Prof. Joe Little of the Law School (who I have worked with for many years on such cases) - we filed a lawsuit challenging the election based upon improprieties of the election officials (including Clovis Watson - the City Manager and Police Commissioner - who is also on the Canvassing Board).

I filed a public records request on Thursday to review the absentee ballots and all of the related documents.

On Friday I tried to inspect those documents. Alan Henderson, the Deputy Clerk (Clovis is also the City Clerk by the way) who also is the Supervisor of Elections tried to stonewall me. I recorded that.

Then I was seated - with a witness - in Clovis' office when I would not be bullied by Henderson (and that is not an understatement - this is how the city officials treat the residents). I continued to record - and Clovis walked in - and saw and knew I was recording and spoke to me about the records request. He tried to find ways to delay or deny - but I was not taking no for an answer. Eventually we discussed the issue of recording - on the tape (which by the way he and the Chief of Police (who works under him) confiscated). (Also the Mayor is a defendant in the case). They thus took the evidence AGAINST them into their custody - by arresting me.

Now - the arrest happened after I appeared for an appointment on Monday to inspect the ballots. I made that appointment with Clovis.

No arrest was made on Friday - when he alleges the "secret" recording was made. He never went to the State Attorney to have me prosecuted. No warrant was issued for my arrest.

But instead - on Monday - he had the Chief of Police and two officers in his office waiting to arrest me (and then effectively sent out a press release about this!) - when I was reviewing the ballots.

The editor of the High Springs Herald was there - be


Charlie Grapski wrote on May 3, 2006 09:56 AM:

The editor of the High Springs Herald was there - because I was speaking with him - and he wanted a picture of me inspecting the ballots (he got a lot more than he - or I - expected).

While I was reviewing the ballots - in mid-process - they arrested me (as in the photo - those are ballots on the table).

There is something rotten here in Alachua, Florida. And it needs to be exposed to the light of day and remedied.

Charlie

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Tuesday Night Open Thread

Once again, here are the links for checking Ohio and Indiana returns. (For anyone who missed this story a while back and wondering about the other "Democrat" running against Sherrod Brown, click.) You can check Ohio Leftyblogs to see what the various Ohio blogs are posting about today's primary election and the incoming results.

Corinne has a new post up at We've Got Howard Dean's Back: Voter ID: Howard was right (again!)

And, for your late-night viewing pleasure, here is a picture from the Cats in Sinks web site. You'll what what that site is all about... ;-)

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Election Day Thread

Update: You can check on Ohio election returns here, and Indiana returns here.





Today is the primary election in Ohio, and if you're been around this blog at all for the past couple months, you know that I'm rooting for Subodh Chandra for Attorney General. He is in a contested primary, but the Ohio Democratic Party endorsed his opponent, so that means his name won't appear on sample ballots the party puts out.

I'd like to keep this thread up all day, so I have time stamped it for 7:30 p.m., which is when the polls close in Ohio--and if you are in line at 7:30, you are still entitled to vote.

In addition to using this as an open thread, I'd appreciate it if people could post election day updates. You might be able to find some of them through the Ohio leftyblogs feed.

I don't know if anyone plans to post another thread today, but if someone does so before 7:30, it will appear *below* this thread. So just give a shout-out to alert people to the new thread below this one, if that happens.

Thanks, and go Subodh!





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Beltane

Some links for the overnight. What with the National Day of Prayer coming up later this week, I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to honor the religious diversity of this nation. In addition to being May Day and "Loyalty Day", May 1 is also Beltane.

From the Religion and Ethics Newsweekly Multifaith Calendar:

Beltane (also called Beltain, May Eve [April 30] and May Day) celebrates the conjoining of the infinite potential of the Goddess with the life-sparking energy of the God in a sacred marriage, the basis of all creation. It is a time for balancing the feminine and masculine tides within the psyche as each celebrant prepares to participate in bringing the creative potential of the year to fruition.

Some diaries at Street Prophets:

Beltane?
Sex, love, and Beltane
The Meaning and Mystery of Beltane

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Quintus Jett liveblogging at MViMV

Now at My Vote is My Voice blog:

Quintus Jett is scheduled to join us tonight talking about voting in New Orleans. If his post shows up we'll join the discussion - in the meantime I'd like to talk about today's immigrant marches and meetings throughout this country. Particularly disturbing to me is that the current administration continues to turn it's back on the citizens it's represents - making us more and more, as individual's responsible for lack of government presence. Locally, apple growers would be made responsible - with possible fines and jail time, for hiring mirgrant workers without proper documentation - sent to them by the Dept. of Labor. I think we're definitely going in the wrong direction here - what can we really do about this collapse of responsibility by the government?

Click here to join the conversation.

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Reid: A Sad Anniversary of a Sorry Public Relations Stunt

Text of the floor remarks of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, as published in U.S. Newswire.

...To their families, to the families of all 2,404 U.S. troops who have fallen in Iraq, and to the thousands of families who have loved ones serving there now, our thoughts and prayers are with you. I know you are proud of your sons and daughters, and I am confident our nation's people are also proud of them. Their exemplary patriotism, dedication and competence speaks volumes.

Mr. President, I mention our troops and these fallen Nevadans for a reason.

Today, our country marks an unfortunate anniversary-the three year anniversary of President Bush donning a flight suit to declare "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

President Bush's dramatic landing on the aircraft carrier the Abraham Lincoln will be marked historically as a public relations stunt gone horribly wrong.

More pictures of Chimpy McFlightsuit at The Peace Pretzel. The pResident, on that day of the photo-op, proclaimed May 1 to be "Loyalty Day", and he is still calling it that.

Loyalty Day is also a time for us to reflect on our responsibilities to our country as we work to show the world the meaning and promise of liberty. The right to vote is one of our most cherished rights and voting is one of our most fundamental duties. By making a commitment to be good citizens, flying the American flag, or taking the time to learn about our Nation's history, we show our gratitude for the blessings of freedom.

Regarding that cherished right to vote, Upper Arlington Progressive Action has some suggestions for Ohioans going to the polls tomorrow.

Voting hours on Tuesday, May 2nd are from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM. If you are in line at 7:30, you are still entitled to your vote.

When you enter, ask for a Democratic ballot.

Ohio has new electronic voting machines in many places.
If you are unsure how to use the machine, ask a poll worker for help.

Review your ballot, and make sure you have voted for every candidate you intended to vote for.

Voting is your right, and nobody should be able to take it away from you.

Speaking of people who might want to take our right to vote from us, gubernatorial candidate/Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has been running radio ads encouraging registered Democrats to ask for Republican ballots in tomorrow's primary. Hamilton County Democrats have cried foul, and ask that Blackwell pull the radio ads or resign as Secratary of State.

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Open Thread

Another picture from Cute Overload. Yes, I'm feeling about that sleepy right now.

Before I turn in, though, I thought I'd share the news that the Columbus chapter of the League of Pissed Off Voters just endorsed Subodh Chandra.

Anyway, talk amongst yourselves. Good night, blog.

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Subodh Chandra--he's downright "Howardly"

Bear with me for a couple more days, folks. The Ohio primary will be held on Tuesday, May 2. But really--read some of what Subodh Chandra has to say, and I think you'll agree that this man is downright "Howardly" and deserves our support. Like Howard Dean, he is not getting the support of party "insiders", which makes support from the grassroots that much more critical.

The letter that he had published in yesterday's Columbus Dispatch certainly reminds me of the "What I want to know..." speech Howard Dean gave.

Although I regret The Dispatch did not join the overwhelming majority of Ohio newspapers that have endorsed my attorney-general candidacy in the Democratic primary, I respect the newspaper's right to endorse my opponent.

I take issue, however, with one word in The Dispatch's April 22 editorial. By calling me intemperate, The Dispatch has misinterpreted my motivations and misled Ohio voters.

Intemperance is the lack of self control. I'm not intemperate. I am outraged. There is a big difference between the two.

I'm outraged because instead of using the law to protect Ohio familied from harm and loss, our last two attorneys general have helped auction off our state government -- and our future -- to the highest bidder.

I am outraged that last year alone, 1 out of every 71 families lost their homes to foreclosure. When Cleveland and Dayton passed ordinances to protect homeowners, Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro fought for the predatory lenders instead of the families upon whom they preyed.

I am outraged that he failed to protect Ohioans against the gouging and market manipulation of natural gas prices that cost consumers millions every month.

I am outraged that instead of fighting for Ohio's children, our attorney general failed to join other states to force the federal government to pay for its unfunded mandate called the No Child Left Behind Act.

I am outraged that while Ohio has continued to destroy its public-education system, our governor and legislature have failed to comply with four Ohio State Supreme Court rulings determining that Ohio's education-funding system is unconstitutional.

Click here for the rest.

Also, this story of a Cornfield Conversion reminds me of the way Howard was able to reach out to Republicans. Here's the link to the "Flat Subodh" Demetrius has made available.

I might add more links to this post later, but I need to take my daughter to choir practice now. I'm hurrying to get this post up before leaving, because, well, this campaign is *that* important to me. So any help spreading the word would be much appreciated.

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Further thoughts on the National Day of Prayer

I crossposted What fresh hell is this? to a number of other blogs, including the Buckeye State Blog. As part of the discussion that came from that post, I just added the following comment, which I may as well reproduce here...

...I do object strenuously to everything about the way the National Day of Prayer has been handled in recent years.

I frankly don't like the "under God" being in the Pledge. And this is coming from someone who, if money were no object, would start the discernment process (for studying for the priesthood) tomorrow. But I wouldn't fight to have those words taken out, because there are more important fish to fry.

Now, some people have come up with another way to mark the day, calling it the "National Day of Reason", but, I guess in my mind that seems more like a "sez you!" to the National Day of Prayer. When people feel overtly opposed, I think the tendency is to "dig in their heels" and resist. Anyway, that's why my response last year was to say that we should repurpose the day as a National Day of Inclusion.

If you look at that link, which points to a Kos diary, you'll see that there are groups in some cities that very intentionally plan events that are inclusive and diverse. I have yet to see such a thing in Ohio, though. The only "official" action item I found last year was this one in the Columbus Free Press.

Anyway, I'm all about that idea of having a positive response to the day--one that celebrates diversity in a spirit of inclusion. (I know, I sound like such a liberal.)

Checking back at the Free Press, although this is not stated as an alternate event, I have discovered that the local Faith Communities Uniting for Peace group--which gathers for Interfaith Prayers for Peace on the first Thursday of every month--is holding a Quaker worship service at noon on Thursday, May 4. So, that would work as an alternative, inclusive event for people in my area.

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