Hip Hop The Vote

Just when I'm feeling all cynical about the craziness on the campaign trail, a friend sent me this. Niiiice.

Angry McCain 911 call

OK - John McCain did not (as far as I know) call 911 to complain about traffic. But his brother did (read it here)

Really, that's the story. McCain's brother was stuck in traffic outside of DC and called 911 to complain. The 911 operator asked him if he was calling to complain about traffic, and McCain cursed him out and hung up (what a punk move).

But the really interesting thing to me is this comment posted below the article:

Forget all the crap I'm been spreading about Obama, I've always meant to vote for him, but it was a job. The GOP offered me money to blog pro-McCain, I never thought they would stiff me.

Does this mean the McCain campaign is so broke it's not even gonna pay its blog trolls (those who, for money, post incendiary comments negative to the other side)? Wow. This really is gonna be a landslide.

Yet another made up accusation

Can we just get this damn election over already? Between black cameramen at McCain/Palin rallies being called nasty names, to Obama being accused of being a Muslim with a crazy radical pastor (I love that one), to Obama being hung from a tree in effigy, this has already gotten absurd.

Now it's getting dangerous. The latest thing is the return of the big bad scary black man. You better lock up your vulnerable little white girls (especially your fat ugly ones) cause there's nothing that we scary angry black men want to do more than rob them and mutilate them.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a snippet: (here's the whole story)

According to WTAE's news exchange partners at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, was using an ATM at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m. Wednesday when a man approached her and put a knife to her throat.

and of course you know the description of the attacker (but say it in your head before you read it next, just to see if you can predict what it will be):

The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes.

This shit would be funny if it weren't so damn dangerous. This shit is what gets us lynched. This is the kinda shit that cause police forces to detain anyone who matches "the description." WTF.

Kudos in advance to the Pittsburgh police for knowing this sounds fishy. Kudos to some on the right (Michelle Malkin for one) who said this don't sound right. And to the morons at Fox and the Drudge Report who have been making this a nationwide story - I quote John Stewart - Fuck all y'all.

UPDATE:
She admits (here), under questioning from the Pittsburgh police, that she made it up. Thank you Pittsburgh police.

We're voting for the n***er

I really don't know how to react to this. I guess it's progress. I guess we need every vote we can get. But damn...

So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!"

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er."

read the whole thing here.

Presidential Debate Preview: McCain Says He'll "Whip" Obama's "You-Know-What"

* I posted this in HufPo in response to a comment that took as its premise that Rev Wright is anti-American. I got tired of ceeding that point because quite frankly, it total crap. *

I don't know much about Ayers. I do know that while Rev Wright did say a bunch of stuff that was provacative, I would ask you this: what is the obligation of a person who loves their country and sees that it is doing wrong in the world and at home? Is it to blindly pledge allegiance to the king (I mean president), or is it his or her obligation (not right mind you) to speak up and demand justice?

You may not like the way he did it. (some times I didn't either). But I challenge you to find me an in context quote or example of where Rev Wright did anything against our country. Also, find me an example of where he preached race hatred. He spoke of differences for sure. But not hatred, not supremacy.

You want to see hatred and treasonous intention, look no further than the Alaska Independence Party, it's former president Vogler, and recent member Todd Palin and a recent speaker at its convention, Sarah Palin. Or ask the "witch" that Palin's pastor drove from her home under threat of violence. Violence, not Christian love and forgiveness, violence.

You want to see crazy things that are against the ideals upon which this country was founded, and against the constitution that our forefathers have built over the last 230 years, look no further than the lunatics that McCain and Palin are pallin' around with right now.


About Video On HuffPost
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Phone Banking to New Mexico

I went into the satellite Obama HQ for Northern California today to do some phone banking. (I had to go to the satellite location because the main location and it's overflow locations were too full of volunteers). They trained me on what to say, gave me a list of 65 people to call in the Albuquerque area, and sent me off armed with my cell phone.

First thing to note is that phone banking is not a bad way to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon, as long as you get to do it while sitting outside on the patio. Second thing was that very few people were home - or at least very few were answering the phone. The third thing is that New Mexico is not like Oakland - about half the people that I talked to were McCain supporters.

The weird thing was that judging from the names and the voices, I talked to a pretty broad cross section of folks. There were older white voters (judging by voice), Latinos of various age (name and voice) and a few young white folks (again judging purely by voice). I was not able to deduce any patterns about who was supporting whom. I had strong supporters of either candidate meeting all of the above demographic criteria.

The one thing that did stick out though was that the McCain supporters seemed angry and weren't really interested in saying why they were supporting him. The most memorable call was with a woman who seemed to be elderly who almost screamed at me that "I'm voting for McCain because that other guy hates our country!" And then she hung up on me.

I laughed, but really it just makes me sad. How filled with fear and hate do you have to be to believe such drivel. I guess some people really are scared that Obama is going to implement Sharia or something. Maybe he's going to send in the storm troopers to make sure that churches are closed down and everyone has to honor the Friday call to prayer? Maybe they think he's gonna really get even for slavery. Who knows.

Fortunately for my spirit, the next person that I reached rushed me off the phone because she was already an Obama volunteer. And the one after that explained that he didn't have time to volunteer for Obama because he was spending so much time volunteering for the Democratic senate hopeful - Tom Udall.

In any case, I'll be going back next Saturday. And maybe even sometime during the week. Wish me luck.

Prop 8 Madness

I really don't understand some people. Why on earth would social conservatives think that the government (who they frequently call the keeper of all things bad) should be required, or even allowed, to regulate who gets to marry whom. It's crazy.

So now the Connecticut Supreme Court has legalized same sex marriage there. To which I say it's about time. But check out this little nugget in the dissenting opinion from Justice Peter T. Zarella :

"there is no fundamental right to same sex marriage." "The ancient definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman has its basis in biology, not bigotry," and "If the state no longer has an interest in the regulation of procreation, then that is a decision for the legislature or the people of the state and not this court."

Let me rewrite that in English. The state has an interest in the regulation of procreation, and since the purpose of marriage is procreation, it has an interest in regulating marriage. In other words, since same sex couples cannot procreate (as a couple) they should not be allowed to marry.

WTF!?! The state regulates procreation? The purpose of marriage is procreation? Did I miss the memo or something. Is that in the constitution? What happened to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

I've actually heard this argument before, from a somewhat nutty Catholic college student (one of my frat brothers, sad to say). He said that people who won't or can't have children shouldn't be allowed to get married. So according to him, senior citizens shouldn't be allowed to marry each other. Individuals that knew they were infertile shouldn't be allowed to marry. In fact, couples who found they were infertile should be allowed (required) to annul their marriages. He told me all this stuff and I was just dumb founded. He said it was his religion. To which I say "that's nice for you, but I'll marry whoever I want for whatever she and I come up with."

But what about other marriages that the majority can be convinced shouldn't be allowed. Should there be a maximum age difference for marrying couples? How about an attractiveness difference? Since the state is regulating procreation (!) then maybe people should be required to meet certain IQ criteria. Or income criteria. The possibilities are endless.

So there's the real argument against Prop 8: a vote for prop 8 is a vote for the government getting to decide who you are allowed to marry. And that's just plain un-American.

West F*&king Virginia!

Damn! In the days after the McCain - Palin campaign have launched their most racist campaigns lines yet ("he's pallin' around with terrorists", "he doesn't see the country the way we see the country"), two huge polls have come out.

The first one I noticed was that Virginia had gone from "toss up" to "leaning Obama." This puts Obama over the magic 270 mark according to Real Clear Politics. That is just amazing because that means that Obama has only to keep the states where he is significantly ahead now, and does not need to get any new ones. In other words, even if McCain wins every "toss - up" state, he still loses.

But then I saw that West Virginia, a state that is almost designed to be vulnerable to the kinds of race baiting that McCain - Palin have launched, has moved into the toss - up category. And that's because the latest poll has Obama UP by 8 points. Wow!

And almost all of that movement has come in the last 2 weeks, the period in time when McCain Palin have been trying their best to make white, working class and poor people fear elitist, black, scary Obama. I guess the good people of West Virginia are smarter than McCain Palin think they are.

VP Debate: McCain's Big Gamble Comes Up Snake Eyes

I'm not sure which debate you were watching. But the one I saw showed two candidates who wanted to lead, two candidates with deep heart-felt ambition. But I only saw one candidate with command of the information and intellect to back up that ambition. Only one who will be able to participate honestly in the process. And only one candidate who would be able to, heaven forbid, lead a country in the extraordinarily turbulent period immediately after the loss of a president.

Remember that taking over the presidency after the elected president dies is NOT like taking over after an election and a transition period. It would be chaos. It would be emergency. It would require complete and total understanding of what needs to happen. Like him or not, Cheney was a perfect VP for Bush because he was an insider who was already working the levers of power. So if Bush did croak, the transition would have been seamless.

Palin would be a disaster as VP if she were needed to take the reins of power from McCain. She doesn't understand the essential functions of the federal government, and is certainly not able to reassure the country and the rest of the world that we are in good shape. On the other hand, Biden would be a perfect Cheney-like VP to Obama. He's knowledgeable, well known and respected by the movers and shakers in the government and completely dedicated to the Obama agenda. The rest of the world would see a smooth transition of power.

Both McCain and Obama have higher than normal risks of needing their VP (I cringe even while I type that). Their choice of running mates speak volumes of how much respect for the country they each have.

About Vice Presidential Debate
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Charles Krauthammer - Obama booster

Charles Krauthammer, a right wing pundit if ever there was one, has come full circle. Way back in 2006 he wrote this piece strongly urging Obama to run, but lose.

Now he writes this new piece basically saying the McCain is done and needs to step aside. OK, maybe he didn't go that far, but if you squint a little, and read between the lines on both pieces, you'll see that Krauthammer is gonna vote for Obama in November. For goodness sakes, he even compares Barack to Reagan, and for a conservative, that's a big deal!

While I usually don't agree with Charlie, I will say that I always agree that his positions are well thought out, interesting, and even quite thought provoking. In other words, he's a smart guy who tells the truth as he sees it. A thinking Conservative.

And if the thinking Conservatives have come over to our side, that means that we have the thinking Liberals, the thinking Conservatives and the non-thinking Liberals. I think that should be enough for a win.

Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO

He says it better than I ever could. The campaign should be promoting this speech with everything it's got, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and hell even West Virginia. Watch the whole thing, but really pay special attention starting at 4:25 or so.