Still Crying...

At 109, Slave's Daughter Revels In Historic Vote

Oh, THAT was yesterday. Here's today's, an address by Barack Obama to the 2005 American Library Association conference.

Samantha Bee on McCain and abortion

"Barack Obama will win: It's all in 'The West Wing'."

Remember how sweet the victory of Jimmy Smits' Matthew Santos was over Alan Alda's Arnold Vinnick in the wonderful fantasy world of West Wing?!

It's all true, as it turns out: NYT

$4,716.49 for hair and makeup

Remember that $400 haircut of John Edwards- seems pretty reasonable in comparison with over $4,000 for hair and makeup. Looks like the RNC has shelled out $150,000 in “campaign accessories” for Caribou Barbie.

I wonder how much SNL has had to spend to knock off the look for Tina Fey?

Let the games begin...

When I was trained to register new voters (a skill I sadly never got to use), I recall this checkbox and remember it seemed like a recipe for disaster. (Being me- I thought what a potential nightmare to support in a train-the-trainer set up.)

"With only a week left before the start of early voting, more than 6,000
people who registered to vote aren't eligible to cast regular ballots yet
because they failed to check a box on their registration forms. The number is
expected to rise since county clerks are still working their way through
last-minute registration forms that came in before last week's deadline..."

Death and Taxes

Misc.

Concert for Change
Thursday, October 23, 2008 from 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Oriental Theater 4335 W. 44th Avenue, Denver, CO 80212, 303-455-2124

Tickets are available at the door for a suggested donation of $10 or FREE to any
volunteer working a minimum of one 3-hour shift at the NW Denver Campaign for
Change office. Featured artists include well-known singer Mollie O'Brien
and guitarist Rich Moore playing the blues, vintage roots covers and gorgeous
ballads, Denver-based singer/ Songwriter/ Guitarist/ Teacher/Activist JT
Nolan and comedian Matt Vogl, a Comedy Works regular.Drink specials, including a
“Blue Baracktail” concocted especially for the event will be offered. 100%
of ticket sales will benefit Colorado for Obama. Attendees are asked to
bring a canned food item for the Bienvenidos Food Bank. Canned fruits,
meats, vegetables, juices, soups, tomato sauce and paste and dried pasta are all
especially needed.

Palin's kind of Patriotism (Shooting fish in a barrel)

'I only wish she had been asked: “Governor Palin, if paying taxes is not
considered patriotic in your neighborhood, who is going to pay for the body
armor that will protect your son in Iraq? Who is going to pay for the
bailout you endorsed? If it isn’t from tax revenues, there are only two ways
to pay for those big projects — printing more money or borrowing more money.
Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in
taxes from Americans?” That is not putting America first. That is selling
America first.'

Losing Bingo Squares

If you had "Maverick" or "Palin" on your Bingo card for last nights debate- you were out of luck. Perhaps Tina Fey's last parody saved us from the Maverick crap.

Did anyone else notice that McCain seem to age over the 90 minute debate? He appeared to be physically limping by the end. And what was up with the furious note taking? He had his Sharpie out before the first question was asked.

Apples & Oranges

They don't always compare, but this NPR graphic just condenses the election into a bite-sized piece of info, doesn't it?

From NYT

Oh, I miss the West Wing...
OBAMA I didn’t expect you to answer the door yourself.
BARTLET I didn’t expect you to be getting beat by John McCain and a Lancôme rep who thinks “The Flintstones” was based on a true story, so let’s call it even.

The Pinocchio Test

It's about time! The Wash Post blog has created a campaign Pinocchio Test to rate truthiness.

What we aren't hearing about....

... The McCain health plan would treat employer-paid health benefits as income that employees would have to pay taxes on.

Something smells fishy...

Perhaps Rove's comments can be taken at face value but it just seems unlikely... Does anyone else see horns and tail when you hear his name?

"McCain has gone in his ads one step too far, and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent-truth test," said Rove.

"In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove - the man who held the previous record - said McCain's ads have gone too far," said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Hope and Ick

DHP shared this gem: Women against Sarah Palin. The diversity of the voices on this blog are pretty impressive. Very hopeful that so many folks see through Palin.

And for the most anti-woman Palin policy of the week: I nominate the practice of charging victims for rape kits. Ick.

Candidates on Service

If you missed the televised coverage, here are 8 video segments letting the 2 candidates say their piece on national service, following up on the issue of TIME that promoted national service.

I'm biased, but I thought McCain was creepy, off-message, and avoided articulating any specifics, while Obama eloquently spoke about his superior knowledge and specific plans regarding the issue while reaching out to say that government and military service are equally important as community service. I did think that the interview questions left much to be desired; I thought they were biased towards Obama's views and also let the candidates talk about whatever they wanted.

$1 Billion Wish List

What could America do with $1 billion dollars...my rough estimate of what will be raised and spent on the presidential race (open to more accurate figures here):

Reduce this year's contribution to the deficit
Buy 10,000 prosthetics for Iraqi war veterans
Seed the National Housing Trust Fund
Add $3 to everyone's stimulus check
Incentivize wind energy
Shore up our Social Security savings

Eat Shit Sarah Palin. A lesson in Community Organizers.

While Pitbull Palin is trying to figure out what a vice-president does, I thought I'd share something about the role community organizers play in our society. This is, of course, in response to her making fun of community organizers in her speech. "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”

Ya, the mayor of a po-dunk town in Alaska has a ton in common with these folks ...

Jesus Christ - former carpenter who got a core group of 12 to serve on his "steering committee", a second tier with about 72 and after that thousands of followers. Went around healing the sick and feeding the poor for about 3 years in Galilee.

Martin Luther - put together a band of followers around his protest against the Holy See in Germany. Published a translation of the Bible into German to empower local peasants who couldn't read Latin.

Sam Adams - created the Sons of Liberty in Boston Massachutsetts in response to acts of British Parliament. Without it we would still be singing God Save the Queen.

Benjamin Franklin - created first public library system, first volunteer fire department in America in Philadelphia. Organized Continental Congress, founded the nation.

George Washington - put together a little group called the "Continental Army" to fight the British. Originally a volunteer organization known as the "Minutemen" in April of 1775..defeated world's most powerful military by October of 1781 in Yorktown.

William Lloyd Garrison - founded the American Anti-Slavery Society that fought for abolition of slavery in the United States.

Lord Baden Powell - After campaigns in Africa during the Boer War, put together a little organization known as the "Boy Scouts", now a world wide youth organization for boys and young men.

Juliette Gordon Low - founded the Girl Scouts of America to provide opportunities for girls and young women.

Clara Barton - A nurse during the Civil War, created the American Red Cross - still today a volunteer organization that does phoenomenal work helping victims of natural disasters and home fires.

William Booth - Founded the Salvation Army which takes care of the needy and provides shelter to the homeless.

Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Ralph David Abernathy, John Lewis, et. al. - Founded the SCLC and fought for equal rights for all Americans regardless of race during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's.

Susan B. Anthony - led the women's suffrage movement culminating in women being granted the vote in 1919.

Sir George Williams - Founded the Young Men's Christian Association or YMCA which provides opportunities to learn and grow to many young people.

Mahatma Gandhi - organized a community known as "India" to rebel against British rule through non-violent protest. Freed India from colonial rule in 1947.

Absolutely Not....Censorship!

Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question., from the NYT, but search for yourself.

John McCain is a father of CIPA, 2001's Children’s Internet Protection Act, which while paved with good intentions, is another filtering requirement that every librarian knows how to circumvent if necessary. 'Cause goodness knows you can't have anything with the word 'breast' coming up if you're researching cancer....

How important is this discussion?? I don't know, it's YOUR First Amendment rights--that's free speech, for the uninitiated, and librarians are fierce defenders. Not to mention that the American Library Association challenged CIPA (just one of several internet filtering laws passed for our safety, because we're idiots that need protection as students must be taught math and reading rather than decision-making) at the Supreme Court level, but lost.

Links

Steinem Op Ed: Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton.
And why we heart Jon Stewart:

Full Jails in St Paul

I saw a stat on the news last night that almost 300 people had been arrested at the RNC on Monday compared to 150 all week at the DNC. And then I just got this action alert about Democracy Now Journalist Arrest.