New LBAN manager

Yes, it’s true. Chris Bowers has turned over day to day management of the Liberal Blog Advertising Network over to lil’ ol’ me. He made the announcement on the email list last night, and I just wanted to publicly confirm it. I will be putting together an introductory email later this week. In the meantime, if any network members have any questions, feel free to email me or drop a comment on this thread!

blank pages

Wow, it’s been a while eh?

I didn’t intend to let this page go blank, but after the election, to be honest, I needed to get some sleep.

And you know what? The night of the election, I slept like a baby for the first time in six years. And the next day, I woke up and it was like Christmas in November. And I slept again, then woke on the Second Day of Christmas. And yea, I slept some more.

Let me tell you, sleep feels real good when you don’t get any for years on end.

Other than that, I haven’t offered any substantial comment on the elections on this site. I’ve tried to keep my public – and strictly localised – complaints to a minimum, although I did let fly a few stray comments on TexasKaos. Ah well.

I’m still kinda saving those comments for a more opportune time, so I won’t touch on them at this time.

That being said, I could not be much more thrilled about how things turned out nationally. I really didn’t believe Claire or Webb were going to pull it out. In fact when I went to bed on election night they were behind. To be honest, I couldn’t have cared much less about Webb other than the benefit of taking out Macaca Goldstein and ending his Presidential ambitions. But I was really pulling for Claire McGaskill.

Originally it was simply because she was a woman – and god knows we need more women in Congress – but as I paid closer attention and read more about her, I knew she was someone who would make every Democrat proud. I donated to her campaign, personally investing with the hope that Claire would convince Missourans that it was safe to vote Democratic again. Then the stem cell thing blew up; along with the war and the economy, it provided a great wedge for the McGaskill folks to drive right through the heart of red Missouri.

And she did.

So yes, that and the election of many progressive or liberal democrats to the US House has made for good sleepytime.

I’m going to save the local stories for TexasKaos. You’ll have to look for them over there. There was both good and bad on that count, as you might imagine.

So while I slept, Iraq burned. I just don’t know what to say about that situation – it’s horrible, it’s tragic, and I opposed it from the get go. It’s a civil war and the media has finally admitted it (althought I doubt BushCo ever will), and people and soldiers are dying every day. When are we gonna bring them home?

I’ve got at least three Iraq War vets in one of my classes, and you can see the damage. It’s totally obvious. At least two of them have that look in their eye – you know, the one that says “I had to kill someone”. How many more of them are we going to put through the meat grinder? If only it was a Presidential election year… I don’t now nor have I ever had confidence that Bush would not turn everything he touched to Shit. Arbusto, anyone? It’s a piss poor comparison but it is what it is. I am just not sure if Iraq can hang on for another two years…

it’s MORNING in america – LMAO

what a GREAT thing to wake up to: claire mccaskill beat back jim talent in missouri, jim webb took out macaca goldstein, jon tester led a populist resurgence in montana… wow, what a night. =)

and as to our house victories, let me just say this: a pack of zell millers this is NOT! we sent some amazing folks to the house, including anti war activist carol shea porter in NH and kirsten gillibrand in NY. the murphys all kicked ass last night, and we even squeaked out a victory over uber-wingnut jd hayworth… finally, some sanity and balance has been restored to our goverment.

can we all agree now that the 50 state strategy is da bomb??? THANK YOU HOWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! fuck the naysayers!

and a BIG congrats goes to annatopia favorite paula hightower pierson, who took out toby goodman last night!!!! i called that one weeks ago, and massive kudos must be given to taking back texas, who worked that district like no dem has worked it before. arlington is sending two women to austin, paula and parentPAC-backed republican dianne patrick. although i backed david pillow, i could not be happier about how last night turned out. it is definitely a new day in texas and america.

now i’m off to vegas for a few days. the husband’s best friend is getting married this weekend. see yall in a few days!

A Bird And A Democracy

Well, the political porn is rampant. I am sitting here watching the pundits foaming at the mouth over the election results. And all I can think about is something that happened today, something that had nothing to do with democracy. I experienced something probably trivial, and yet somehow profound.

But let us start with the events of today. My dear wife was an election judge. She is committed to the process, committed to working for change, committed to making sure the process works like it is supposed to, and committed to getting her party in power. I support her because, well, I love her. But I am also supportive because I see how important what she does is to her and how strongly she believes in doing what she believes is right not just for the country, but also for the human race.

I sometimes wish I had her commitment to some process, to a group or cause. Maybe then I could be celebrating with her tonight, all giddy over who wins a seat in a race somewhere. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad I voted for some good people, and I hope those people win their races if for no other reason then because it feels good to be on a winning team.

I even participated today. I served as an election judge bitch, also called a clerk. I helped other people exercise their right to vote. I was both eerily cheerful and polite. And I must say I found myself committed to ensuring every person there got the chance to vote. I made many a phone call to find out what precinct folks needed to go vote in.

And I also experienced the horrible pain of having to tell someone the system had failed them, that they couldn’t vote today. That sucked, seeing the look of, hell, what do I know about what they felt. I am pretty sure it wasn’t good, having some guy they didn’t know telling them they couldn’t vote because of some glitch in the system. I can relate in someway, because I got my absentee ballet when I was stationed in South Korea two weeks after the election.

And yet I am more concerned about a bird. Or more to the point, a little bird of prey. You know, hooked beak, big talons. I’m not sure if it was a hawk or a falcon, because from what I can gather from the internet they can look a lot alike. But I think you get the point.

How does this bird fit into the day? Well, when I arrived at the polling place there was this bird there, sitting on the curb with an obviously fucked up wing. Right there at the edge of this parking lot being filled and emptied by people voting. The bird, as we shall call it from this point, was just sitting there, looking as pathetically pissed off as a bird can. There was a couple of guys standing nearby calling, I discovered later, the humane society. I went into the polling place to tell Anna I was there and then proceeded outside to, well, stand guard over the bird.

I don’t know why I suddenly felt some need to guard this particular bird on this particular day. But there was something about seeing this majestic creature stranded on that curb in a church parking lot in the suburbs, something that hurt deep inside.

After a little while the guys that were watching the bird with me left. So I found myself alone with the bird, trying to act as a buffer to the folks coming and going. I stayed a good distance back trying not to spook it, but I think I failed at this because at one point the bird dashed for a very busy road along side the parking lot. A feeling of dread filled me watching this wounded creature heading towards danger. The bird stopped three or four feet from traffic.

Talk about imagery. This wounded wild animal sitting on the mowed curb grass right next to cars whizzing by, people going about their busy lives. The wild untamed spirit and the mundane. Finally, an animal services person showed up, and we spent some time corralling the bird before the it was apprehended. The last time I saw the bird it was in a stainless steel cage.

I spent the rest of the day writing down names and telling people how to go through th voting process. What an experience in itself. My back hurts, I have a slight head ache, and I truly believe anna is crazy for wanting to work elections on purpose. But I am drawn back to the bird.

I guess I am seeing some strange parallel between two unrelated events. Trying to save this stupid bird, which for all I know had it coming, and the endless stream of people filing in to cast their votes, who I sometimes feel also have it coming.

Its not so much the people or the bird, but how I felt interacting with both. Or more to the point, how responsible I felt to them. What the fuck do I care if a bird dies or if some stranger doesn’t get to vote. And yet I did feel responsible, like it was important to care, like I was supposed to care. And beyond that I had to act in some way.

Hell, I wish there was something more profound to this story. Maybe if the bird had spoke to me, shared some wisdom or secret, or if I would have felt some deep patriotic stirring during the voting, this would be one hell of a good story. But neither happened.

No. I think what happened is that despite my best efforts, I realized I actually care. Who knew? A damn bird and a bunch of idiots, that’s what it took to remind me that I give a shit. I want to give them both a fighting chance. What a weird feeling.

I hope they both make it. What ever happens tonight, I wish them both the best. I played my part for a second in their lives, and for what it’s worth, I’m glad I did. Will the bird live? Will the people’s will prevail? Your guess is as good as mine. But what I can tell you is this: it feels good to care. This world is what we make it, and if we don’t give a shit it will turn into a living hell.

Cross posted at monkey’s blog.

GOTV!!

howard’s GOTV message

If we make big gains on Tuesday, we can thank Howard and everyone who supports the 50 state strategy. Now let’s GOTV and make it happen!

GOTV video of the day

this is awesome. i got it off a mailing list; apparently it came from a reader at eriposte.com:

update on TX-22 shenanigans

I’ve got an update on the shenanigans in TX-22. This comes from Martha at Muse Musings:

We are getting poll watchers here in Fort Bend on Election Day
courtesy of the TX SOS. I guess those phone calls about the
irregularities we’ve been seeing had some impact after all. And, I
guess they have been behaving themselves on the Clear Lake side of
22? At least I haven’t heard about the SOS sending poll watchers there.

I’ve told Martha to tell the Lampson & Matula folks to go ahead and get a few poll watchers in the heavy precincts just to make sure the SoS folks are doing their jobs. Since we have a GOP SoS, it’s best to send some Democratic observers in there. Thank you to everyone who called the SoS!

no campaign ads today

Instead, just some positive vibes going into the last pre-election weekend…. Here’s a bit of inspiration for ya. Just keep this in your head while you’re working the phones or doors over the next three days:

GOP hypocrites

hypocrite
1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.

Pastor Ted Haggard – President of the 14K member New Life Church in Colorado and President of the National Association of Evangelicals – has been outed by a rent boy. The male prostitute claims that he sold Haggard meth while carrying on a three year for-pay affair. Haggard has already admitted to some of the charges (buying meth – since there are audio tapes to back up the claim) and resigned. His accuser, Mike Jones, came forward after realising who Haggard was. Apparently Jones saw Haggard on the news talking up the Colorado anti-gay marriage ballot referendum. He realised he was sleeping with a huge hypocrite and outed Haggard.

And in Texas, Shelley Sekula Gibbs, write in candidate for TX-22, has been caught in her own hypocrisy scandal. Apparently she’s flip flopped on abortion. That’s not going to please the conservative base in Sugarland….