Two words

Perchance to dream...

What should be a slam-dunk election for Democrats is still too close for my comfort. I cannot fathom how Americans can look at Barack Obama and John McCain and not clearly see that Obama is, by far, the superior candidate.

I have not gotten a good night's sleep in weeks. I take my politics as seriously as a heart attack, so I am constantly on edge. Four years ago, I ended up in the hospital with exhaustion and an inflamed, arthritic back that I hadn't realized I had, from all the legwork that I'd put into the Kerry campaign. The doctor said that driving is extremely bad for the back. At the time, I was commuting 74 miles round-trip to work, plus all the driving and late-into-the-night campaigning and organizing that I was doing across Cuyahoga County.

This time, I promised myself that I wouldn't get as emotionally or physically involved. Hey, I've been doing this stuff for over 25 years--let the young 'uns take their turns. But, sure enough, even from the sidelines I'm having anxiety attacks. My sister called me the other day. She could tell that I was tense.

"What's wrong? You sound kinda down."

"I'm worried about the election. I feel like I should be doing...something."

"Uh, huh. You promised that you were going to take it easy, remember?"

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Easier said than done.

Mitch Bard at HuffPo very eloquently puts my feelings into words. I've watched numerous Democratic candidates for President go down in flames, beginning with Jimmy Carter in 1980, my senior year in high school. Watching all those snot-nosed rich kids at my Catholic school sit in the student center on Inauguration Day cheering Ronald Reagan still pisses me off. It was an early lesson that politics, like life, is not fair.

Now, there are but four days until E-Day. I know that I will get progressively less sleep over the next few nights. This weekend I will bake cookies and brownies for the poll workers--my small contribution down the home stretch. Tuesday evening I will commune with a group of fellow Democrats and progressives at a bar right after work to watch the verdict--er, election results.

If Obama wins, I will finally enjoy a decent night's sleep.

If McCain wins, I may never be able to sleep again.

DOJ tells Boehner to suck it

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), House minority leader, is popping an aneurysm that the Department of Justice won't do the Republicans' dirty work in trying to screw millions of voters nationwide.

The DOJ reversed a policy which would have sent federal prosecutors to the polls with election observers--in and of itself an intimidation tactic. With the R's putting on the full-court press to derail this election, Boehner is pitching a hissy.

That's fine with me. Too bad that we can't just throw some water on the sorry sonuvabitch and melt him.

The big, bad, scary "future" is now

While Sarah Palin goes around ranting about the "socialist state" that Barack Obama will usher in, Scott Horton at Harper's Magazine posits that we already have a near-fascist state--courtesy of the Bush Administration--that she doesn't seem to mind.

Desperate and dangerous

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." --Thomas Jefferson

The Republicans are already manning their battlestations to circumvent this election, going far beyond what I have already reported.

George Bush has sent the Department of Justice to Ohio to try and invalidate 200,000 new voter registrations. In Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State purged between 16,000-20,000 registrations; the state is currently being sued by voter-rights groups. Even the New York Times has called attention to the possible disenfranchisement of thousands of voters nationwide. In addition, poll observers are being harrassed, even arrested.

Expect the Republicans to pull out every stop in order to avoid the devasting losses that the polls indicate they will suffer.

Please--do whatever you can to support the GOTV efforts this last week. My friend Anthony has a list of things you can do at his blog, BlueOhioan. Poll observers are especially needed to make sure that there are no voter-intimidation shenanigans by the Republicans.

Seven more days, folks! Keep fighting!

O, sweet Jesus! Sarah's religious zealotry

The last thing we need in this country is a theocracy. If Sarah Palin and the religious fanatic wing of the Republican Party had their way, that is exactly what we would have. Here are links to stories and videos revealing the religious nuts that Sarah Palin has been palllin' around with.

Links to Information and Documentaries on Palin's Churches
Sarah Palin, 21st Century Theocrat
Very Bizarre 'Holy Laughter Annointing' Theology at Sarah Palin's Juneau Church

Republicans for Obama

While I'm in an atta-boy mood for sensible Republicans (known these days as Obamacons), let me pass along the link for Republicans for Obama. Of special interest is the list of Republicans and conservatives who have publicly endorsed Barack Obama so far. Go give it a gander.

Chuck Hagel for President--someday

I freakin' LOVE Chuck Hagel. He's a Republican who isn't afraid to call his party brethren out on their shit. He, in no uncertain terms, says that Sarah Palin isn't in any way qualified to be Vice President.

I'd vote for this guy in a heartbeat if he ever runs for President.

ApocaLypstick

While the Neanderthals in the Republican Party want to keep the majority of women chained to the bed or the stove, they apparenly can't keep their own womenfolk in check. After throwing a virtual straitjacket on über-bitch Ann Coulter during the past year, the GOP now has to deal with new shrieking harpies who have emerged to take her bat-shit crazy place.

Sarah Palin has become kryptonite to John McCain's campaign. Her unrepentant ignorance, incendiary rhetoric, and airheaded know-nothingness are proving to be a huge millstone around the Republican ticket's neck. When it comes to The Sea of Stupidity, she has on deep-water diving gear and weights.

• These are a few of the laughers gathered by (gasp!) Fox News.
• Another site, 23/6.com, has been keeping a videolog of Sarah's deer-in-headlights comments and rants.
• Here is her infamous checkbook online statement.
• On Wednesday, she proclaimed that "the vice president is in charge of the Senate." Oh, really? I leaned in fourth or fifth grade that the VP merely casts the deciding vote whenever there is a 50-50 split on a vote, which rarely happens. I guess they didn't show Schoolhouse Rock in beauty-queen school.
• She couldn't come up with one coherent idea when asked for examples of man-made causes of global warming.
• During a recent campaign rally, she asked notorious bigot/homophobe Rev. James Dobson to assemble "prayer warriors" to ask God to intercede on her ticket's behalf.
• She referred to certain parts of the country as being "pro-American" and others as being "anti-American."

Then, on the heels of all this verbal quicksand, comes Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who last week called for an investigation into the "anti-American" connections of Barack Obama in particular and Congress in general. Amazingly enough, the MSM actually did their jobs and got on her like ugly on an ape. The GOP has since disingenuously denounced her and pulled its money and campaign ads on her behalf. At the same time, her Democratic opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, is being showered with donations as a result of her fanatical comments. A seat that the Republicans considered safe is now very much in play.

Thanx loads, girls! Hugs and disses!!!

Maybe they should have stuck to just lipstick

My friend Brian once said of Tori Spelling, "All her daddy's money and the best plastic surgeons in the world--and that's all the ugly they could get rid of?"

I could say the same of the Republican National Committee's spending more than $150,000 American dollars on making over Sarah Palin. The frivolous expense is bad enough, but--for the love of Coco Chanel--is that the best they could do? She still looks as if she shopped at WalMart...during a clearance sale...with an extra 75% off.

Good Gucci...is there a stylist in the house?

George Voinovich is a liar

It seems that our senior Senator is going around calling Barack Obama a "socialist." This is just one example of the ugly desperation of the Republican Party at this point. Well, I decided to call dear old George out on his lie:

Dear Senator Voinovich:

I am writing to tell you that your characterizing Barack Obama as a "socialist" is unacceptable. Using such partisan lies as scare tactics should be beneath a U.S. Senator. Apparently, they are not. I am truly disappointed in you. For my part, I will make sure that everyone I know--Democrats, moderate Republicans, and undecided voters--is aware of your unseemly statement.

Just remember: you represent ALL Ohio citizens, not just the Republican ones. Those of us who will vote for Senator Obama will not forget that you tried to disparage him. We will use our votes this year and in 2010 to grant him the largest Democratic Congress possible. With a friendly Congress, he can try to undo all the damage that your party has done the last eight years.

If you want to challenge Senator Obama on real issues, fine. But the mudslinging will come back to haunt you and your party on November 4.

Best regards,

Veronica C. Johnson

I sent this message through his Senate website's contact form. I will also be calling his Cleveland office and his Washington office. I urge you to do the same. Be civil, but don't let Republican lies go unchallenged!

Washington Office
524 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3353

District Offices
Click here. Go to the bottom of the page to the map of Ohio, then click your area of the state.

Help beat Mean Jean!

Victoria Wulsin, the Democratic candidate trying to oust Ohio U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, (R-02) needs help. The Repugs have launched a vicious ad campaign against her in an attempt to retain "Mean Jean." Below is a request from EMILY's List, an organization that aids progressive, pro-choice women candidates.

U.S. House, Ohio - District 2 -- Vic Wulsin
Republican to defeat: Jean Schmidt

A chance to finally beat "Mean Jean." Democrats have in Vic Wulsin an incredible opportunity to unseat anti-choice zealot Rep. "Mean Jean" Schmidt, a former Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati president who barely won re-election in 2006. Schmidt, who famously called Vietnam veteran Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.) a "coward" on the floor of the House, has been joined in her usual nasty campaign rhetoric by the National Republican Campaign Committee, now on the air with a nasty -- and completely ridiculous -- attack blaming physician Wulsin for the nation's economic woes. Wulsin, meanwhile, has been endorsed by the Dayton Daily News as the "best bet" for the district and recent polling shows this race is in a dead heat. The race for this district in presidential battleground Ohio will go down to the wire -- Wulsin needs our help to raise $215,000 to st ay on television fighting "Mean Jean" and her attack machine.

Click here to make a direct and immediate contribution to Vic Wulsin.

Hell hath no fury like neocons turning on their own

Last month, The National Review’s Kathleen Parker called for Sarah Palin to step down in order to save the Republican ticket. Since then, Parker has been deluged with emails—12,000 at her last count—which have covered the gamut from calling her a traitor to outright death threats. One enlightened person suggested that Parker’s mother should have aborted her. How classy!

Not even the scion of TNR’s founder William F. Buckley has been spared. Christopher Buckley, in his blog on the website The Daily Beast, wrote that, for the first time in his life, he will vote for a Democrat. He purposely avoided saying so in his column in TNR because he wanted to spare the publication the grief. Nonetheless, no sooner than this entry was posted at the Beast, he started receiving the same sort of filth that Parker had: “In fact, the only thing the Right can’t quite decide is whether I should be boiled in oil or just put up against the wall and shot.” Buckley submitted his resignation to TNR s editor, which Buckley said was “briskly” accepted.

Parker and Buckley are just two of the traditional conservatives that have come out against the McCain/Palin ticket—something that the frothing-at-the-mouth neocons cannot abide. So much for free speech.

They are far from being the only conservatives jumping ship—or coming to their senses. Christopher Hitchens, David Brooks, Frank Schaeffer, Matthew Dowd, Ken Adelman, and Francis Fukuyama have railed against the ticket, saying that McCain does not have the temperament to be President, that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be Vice President, and that neither displays true conservative values—one of which is appreciation of intellect. That anti-intellectualism has become a rallying point for the GOP does not sit well with traditional conservatives. Gay conservative Andrew Sullivan, who seems to have come to the center over the past decade, excoriated Palin for her out and out lies. Even acid-tongued curmudgeon Robert Novak saw defections in the ranks on the horizon back in June.

But the most damning blow came this past weekend when Colin Powell endorsed Obama on Meet The Press. Powell “had been disturbed in recent weeks by the negative tone of Mr. McCain’s campaign, particularly its focus on Mr. Obama’s passing relationship with William Ayers.” He said that he feels that Obama is what America needs now. He also bemoaned the ever-more-rightward shift of the Republican Party as a whole.

Predictably, the neocons descended on the whole lot of them, particularly Powell, using the “blacks stick together” meme. Rush Limbaugh, George Will, Pat Buchanan, and “journalist” Mark Halperin ludicrously tried to insinuate that Powell is supporting Obama because they are both African American.

Step out of line, and the GOP neocons will mow you down. Nice bunch to associate with, huh?

The Republican Party and its ticket are unraveling faster than thread on a cheap shirt. Still, we cannot let down our guard. They pretty much have no choice but to try and steal this election. Let’s keep out wits about us—only fourteen more days until liberation!

Republicans for Obama
The Vanishing Republican Voter

How Anti-Intellectual is Sarah Palin?
The Class War Before Palin
Palin’s Failin’
The Right Choice?: The Conservative Case for Barack Obama
A Conservative Case for Obama

Blame game: GOP forms circular firing squad

Republicans Voting for Obama: In Their Own Words

Why McCain has lost our vote (Barry Goldwater's granddaughter)

Conservatives in crisis

GOP Sleaze-a-thon

AlterNet.org has a list of the ten sleaziest tactics that the Republicans have utilized so far in trying to steal this election. Learn to recognize and fight back against them. Even though there are only 15 days left until the election, don't let your guard down for a minute!

Financial Meltdown 101

Here is a great primer on how this whole financial mess happened.

Palin's foreign policy experience: Nothing + Nothing = ?

Here is the sum total of Sarah Palin's foreign policy experience. Good God!

GOP: Low-down, dirty (no) shame

With their ticket going down like the Hindenberg, the GOP is in overdrive mode to keep voters from casting their ballots. Meanwhile, left with nothing but empty rhetoric and snide comments to offer the American people, McCain and Palin are going uber-negative on Barack Obama, using invective that would shame the Devil. Palin whipped one crowd into such a frenzy over Obama that someone was recorded screaming, "Kill him!" A black cameraman had the "N" word hurled at him and was told to "Sit down, boy!" Not once did she bother to chastise the crowd. I guess we see her true COLOR now.

Folks, these last four weeks are going to contain some of the ugliest campaign tricks and tactics ever known to American politics--and that's saying something.

Get ON your butt and DO something!

You may ask yourself, "Self, what can I do to help win this election?" Believe me, there is PLENTY that you can do--right in the comfort of your own home, in your jammies, in front of your PC or Mac.

Below is a list of automatically generated letters. All that you have to do is click on a link (hopefully you'll eventually click ALL of the links), fill in your zip code, then enter your name and address. From there, you get to compose your own persuasive letter to editors of regional, national, and local papers; television stations; and advertisers. Afterward, hit Send, and you'll contact them all in one fell swoop!

Did I mention that you can do all of this without leaving your comfy chair? See the links below, and get typing!

Fight Back Now
Expose John McCain
Contact TV Stations in Ohio
Hit 'Em Where It Hurts
Fight the NRA attack ads
Fundamentally Wrong
Stop Michigan Voter Suppression
Keep McCain's hands off health care

Funny but, unfortunately, true

Separate and unequal

I stumbled across an excellent site called Working Group on Extreme Inequality. Their clarion call is that the economic divide between the top 1% and the rest of us is strangling both us as citizens and our economy as a whole. The middle class is quickly being eradicated. The working class and the poor are being worked to death like Hebrew slaves--and neither of the candidates for President even mentions them. The site also addresses the impact of economic equality on minorities.

Fortunately, the group suggests ways that the divide can be narrowed. They also list action items that each of us can take. There are also links to workshops and PowerPoint presentations that we can conduct. If everyone owned and executed just one of this actions, can you imagine what a difference it would make? It is time to stop bemoaning the state of the economy--make that the state of the union in toto--and get off our collective asses. It's time to take back OUR country!
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While I'm on the subject of the economy, here is a list of articles, organization sites, and books that make for enlightening reading:

Articles

The Rich and the Rest of Us
Meet the Wealth Gap
Our Gilded Age
Bottom-Up Economic Theory
Party in the White House Matters to Middle Class
Egalitarian Conservatism
To Reduce Economic Inequality, Protect Workers' Rights
How Big of a Deal Is Income Inequality? A Guest Post
The Wealth Trajectory: Rewards for the Few
A Sensible Plan for Recovery

Organizations/Think Tanks

Institute for Policy Studies Plan to Pay for Recovery
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (focuses on economy at the state level)
Inequality.org
United for a Fair Economy
Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality
AFL/CIO
Center for Corporate Policy
Citizens for Tax Justice
Demos
Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Tax Policy Center
Class Action - "Class Action focuses on the personal, interpersonal, and organizational levels of classism."
Population Health Forum

Books

This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation, Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt & Company, 2008)
Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?, Jared Bernstein (Berrett-Koehler, 2008)
The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, Stephen Greenhouse (Random House, 2008)
The Wealth Inequality Reader, Chuck Collins, Adria Scharf et al., editors, with preface by Jesse Jackson Jr. (Dollars & Sense, 2008)
Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill), David Cay Johnston (Portfolio, 2007)
Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lies of the New Rich, Robert Frank (Crown, 2007)
The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity, Robert Kuttner (Random House, 2007)
Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic Divide in America and its Poisonous Consequences, James Lardner, editor, with foreword by Bill Moyers (New Press, 2006)
Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class, Robert H. Frank (University of California Press, 2006)
The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer, Dean Baker (CEPR, 2006). Full text available online.
The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide, Meizhu Lui, Barbara Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rose Brewer and Rebecca Adamson (New Press, 2006)
Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity, Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel (The New Press, 2005)
Greed and Good: Understanding and Overcoming the Inequality that Limits Our Lives, Sam Pizzigati (The Apex Press, 2004). Full text available online.