(or maybe the title of this post should be “Election 06: When Good Things Happen to Good People”)

(from BoingBoing by reader Brian Topping)

Can I get a woot woot!

Random thoughts from political land…..

Yes, on a local level, we lost some truly good races with good people - but the the thing I MOST wanted to happen in San Francisco happened. Chris Daly has been reelected as Supervisor (well, as of this writing he hasn’t technically won - but that will change). For everyone out there who still doesn’t understand why I think this is so great, I’ll say this: Last night at his victory party, every activist I knew who did something important locally - whether it was homeless issues, or housing and tenants rights issues, or gay stuff, or environmental stuff - the people who I KNOW are actively trying to make San Francisco a better place, were there & many of them said the same thing: “When I realized Chris was in a close one, I came in to help out.” Another telling sign is how much money downtown interests spent getting Chris buried. They spent something obscene like $700, 000. Chris spent a fraction of that & won on grass roots support. That should tell you something too. Rock On Chris!

Yes, on the state level, we lost some really important things that would have made a real difference: public financing would have been the best thing to happen to CA in a long time & oil taxes are “hella good” as the kids say. But I can’t help but feel relief: the defeat of 90 was the thing I most wanted to happen & was most scared about. Just a few weeks ago, 90 looked like it was going to win & it had the real potential to be the worst thing that has happened to CA in a long long time.

Then on a national level, the two things that I most wanted to happen have happened - Richard Pombo, perhaps the worst threat to the planet in the House of Representatives, was defeated soundly by Jerry McNerney in neighboring Pleasanton. I spent a few days working over there & damn does that feel good. The other thing I wanted most was control of at least one house of Congress & to get the House & a virtual tie in the Senate (at least) is damn fine. The national election’s large Democratic sweep means at the very least there will be some check and some balance in our “checks an balances” system of government. I’m not sure how much I should hope for (leaving Iraq seems perhaps more disastrous than staying) and the Congress may not be able to get serious about global warming… but nonetheless - today is a very very happy one.

Finally on a personal note - yesterday I started thinking about everything I had done politically this cycle to figure out why I was so burnt out:

• coordinating putting out 25000 SF League of Conservation Voters endorsement slate cards in 3 districts here in San Francisco - a major amount of work (big props to everyone at SFLCV who helped)
• hours and hours of candidate interviews with the SF League of Conservation Voters (thanks Michelle Jesperson for getting all this going this year)
• chairing the SF Bike Coalition’s endorsement committee & all the work that entailed (thank god for Leah Shahum who did so much more!)
• some last minute canvassing for Jerry McNerney with the Defenders of Wildlife (big props to Liz Pallatto for forcing my ass out to Pleasanton)
• a little tiny bit of canvassing for Chris Daly (and learning a little about the reality of supportive housing in SF)
• a little work with Alix Rosenthal (who ran for Supervisor, but lost - I’m keepin’ the faith Alix!)
• writing the ‘Deep Slate - my own personal recommendations which I email out to hundreds of friends & local acquaintances (thanks to everyone who asked me for my opinions)
• giving money to McNerney, Daly, Rosenthal, Jane Kim (for School Board - congrats Jane!), and Emily Drennan (for BART Board - sorry Em!)

All the while working my ass off at work & coming up with a major Halloween costume. This is why I’m soooo spent. And why I’m sooo glad that it is finally November. I get to hang with my peeps. And watch basketball. And eat turkey.

Can I get a Hell Yes!

happydeepy

.ps

Adrian sent me this awesome quote from Thomas Jefferson today - sums it up nicely:

“A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long
oppressions of enormous public debt. If the game runs sometimes against us
at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an
opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game
where principles are at stake.”

* From a letter of 1798, after the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Thanks Adrian!

(my thanks to “The Onion” for the inspiration for this post - see below)

Siiiiigh. I’ve been outraged at this administration so long, I’m starting to forget all the reasons…. Outrage is really hard to maintain, and I have to hand it to Team Incompetent/Team Evil (not sure what they want to be known by) for doing such a great job at being so GIVING during their occupancy of the White House. But despite their best efforts, I find that rage, pain, and fear are very difficult emotions for me to hold onto & sometimes I’m reduced to just the random unfocused expletive. Worse still, I’m starting to lose track of the bounty of outrages this administration has bequeathed us in their largesse, & thus I’ll start writing them down….

So let’s focus on outrages. By “outrages” I don’t mean really bad or even evil policy decisions, I mean things that are so beyond the pale as to defy belief or challenge the very foundations of our government or what we as a nation stand for. You know, things like giving the rich vast tax breaks or undermining the EPA don’t count because, well, they’re just evil but not EVIL. So let’s take a stroll down Affronts Against All Notions of Decency Lane…. together. I find singing the Smurf song as you do this helps (la la la-LAL LA laa lalalla la la… la la la-LAL LA laa lalalla la la):

PLEASE HELP BY ADDING YOUR FAVES TO THE COMMENTS & I’LL INTEGRATE THEM as long as I was honestly aware of them at the time & truly outraged… Also, if you have any good news stories for me to link to as examples, please send ‘em on.

• The War on the Geneva Conventions (Round 37) - please “clarify” them - in fact let every country in the world “clarify” as needed
• The Presidential signing orders to circumvent THE LEGISLATIVE Third of our government
• Illegal Wiretapping is fun!
• Well, I don’t like the FISA Act spelling out the LAWS on this matter, so I’ll ignore them
• Well, we’re just tapping a few phone calls abroad - not inside the country. Oh. Never mind. We’re doing that too. Well - umm… … Look a terrorist! Boo!
• Katrina & the ridiculous Federal response (Brownie you’re doing a heckuva job)
• Dick Cheney’s Heroic Fight To Save Torture. Ahhh the Vice President of the United States of America, waging a massive campaign to save our right to torture people.
• Keeping People Indefinitely At Guantanamo - rule of law? Schmool of law!
• Sending our prisoners to other countries to because they torture better than we do. Great.
• The lack of accountability after Abu Ghraib
• Abu Ghraib
• Invading Iraq under false pretenses - pick your favorite false pretense:
• Saddam’s nonexistent links to Al Qaeda
• Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction
• To bring democracy to the Middle East, at the end of an M16… what? Oil? Here? You don’t say… I had no idea!
• Invading Iraq despite the idea of the rule of law that America is supposed to stand for.
• Opening Guantanamo for the express purpose of holding prisoners without having to apply U.S. Laws
• Leaving Afghanistan before we finished the job
• Passing the USA Patriot Act. Yes Civil Liberties are important… but… Look! A Terrorist! boo!

Damn - see here is where my outrage begins to fade & I KNOW I was SERIOUSLY PISSED BEFORE THAT - any help? I’ll try to remember - but I better get this post published before the NEXT outrage…..

Nostalgia outrage - ahh I remember being “outraged” back in 2001 - before 9/11 - before I really knew the meaning of the word…. you know about cute things like Cheney meeting with energy companies to formulate energy policy, or the EPA trying to loosen Arsenic in Drinking Water standards… ahhh - the good old bad days….. Comparitively speaking though, these “outraages” were soo cute - almost cuddly.

La la la-LAL LA laa lalalla la la… la la la-LAL LA laa lalalla la la.
‘deep

*The title of this post comes from a hysterical but now quaint article from The Onion: Nation’s Liberals Suffering From Outrage Fatigue from July of 2004! hah! We had only really warmed up the outrage!

I’ve been following all of this Katrina madness avidly. I could go off on so many things…. but here are today’s:

George W. Bush on Friday 9/2/05:

We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we’re going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we’re going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)

here’s the link

& then there are his hiring decisions

FEMA head Mike Brown was “asked to resign” from his last job: the head of National Arabian Horse Association.

here’s the link

Funny. And SOOOO not funny.

Man I wish I was making this up. Click HERE for more…

Hey folks -

The Red Cross is saying that the death toll from the tsunami could hit 100,000. This more I think about this, the more it breaks my heart.

One of my favorite personal pathologies is avoiding sadness (even those times when it would be good for me) so here’s today’s drug of choice.

The Network For Good site provides a list of various organizations that are doing work in Tsunami relief.

‘deep Click HERE for more…

I’m beginning to think that all of us who voted for Kerry just have a bad attitude. Maybe they’re right - we are “nattering nabobs of negativity”**. Well, I’m going to change my tune, here are things I’m looking forward to from another 4 years of our beloved President:

1. By cleverly melding the Bible with the U.S. Constitution, civics classes & Sunday school can be integrated, saving time for teaching more important subjects like “Creationism Science” and “A Preschooler’s Guide to Modern Urban and Desert Combat.”
2. Admit it, having Iraq and Iran side by side on the map was really confusing. (Hell, til about say 1991, you couldn’t remember which was which anyway.) In 4 years or so, no problem: Say “Hello” to Haliburtistan!
3. Sure, it will probably disrupt our global food supply leading to starvation & wars, and yeah, it will definitely result in even more mass extinctions, but global warming could bring us a warmer, more tropical San Francisco! (& probably more hurricanes bashing %$^&*ing Florida)
4. An evil, toothless, atrophying regime in Iraq was boring. A ineffective puppet regime nominally presiding over a bloody, terrorist-friendly, fiscal-nightmare quagmire is a PARTY!
5. After the first four years, there were a few rich people who weren’t better off and a few poor folks who didn’t get the shaft. We’ll get all that straightened out.
6. Geography, once a national weakness of ours, gets really simple when you divide the world into “Us” and “Them” & with four more years, probably everybody will be “Them.” Think of the savings in map colors!
7. OK - can any of you actually remember (no looking it up!) each amendment to the Constitution that make up the Bill of Rights? The good news is that you won’t have to anymore!
8. Well maybe we can’t get around to getting health care for all Americans, or reducing our dependence on foreign oil, or even keeping kids from having too much arsenic or mercury in their water, but damn skippy if we aren’t going to keep all those homos from getting married! Hallelujah!
9. Roe. v. Wade was what? 1973? 31 years? Can you say: STALE! Hello?! Cluephone!
10. Being a newly converted Bush supporter, I can stop wasting time on the dumb things I used to do like: THINKING!

Did I miss any? Send ‘em in!
‘deep

*The “I, for One, Welcome Our New **** Overlords” meme is from the Simpsons!
**Evidently this was a Spiro Agnew quote. I coulda sworn I heard it from Reagan though….. Click HERE for more…

Wow. I didn’t expect that. I’m writing this in the back of the plane on the way home to blessedly left-wing San Francisco.
Just a couple of thoughts:

• I guess the polls were right. A razor close election.
• I guess I was expecting a tiny victory or a landslide victory (because of massive young & undersampled vote).
  I wonder what happened - did the young people not vote? James Carville recently said something like “You know what a they call a campaign that expects to win because of youth vote - ‘a loser’.”
• Yeah we got massive turnout, but so did they. I wonder if this means the country is massively, equally Dem & Rep - or is this really more about security fears than party affiliation.
• Arnold went to Ohio. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for that.
• I’m glad I have SF to go home to. Many of my co-campaigners have places like Texas & Georgia to go home to.
• I have to say that I am proud of what we accomplished in FL and the way we accomplished it. Of all the many volunteer efforts I have ever been involved with, that was the smartest, best organized and most focused. I often get to points in a campaign where I say to myself about some part “This is dumb! I could do this better.” That never happened once here. They were so organized with what they were doing and did it so well, I was always happy to be a foot soldier.
• A quote from “The Lord of the Rings” that helps me in times like these “Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt.”
• The only solace I have in my mood of quiet devastation is knowing I did everything I could have.

OH GREAT - I JUST noticed that the woman beside me on the plane is reading “Slander: Liberal Lies About The American Right” by Ann Coulter. Sigh.

She smells like a chemical toilet. All conservatives do.*

‘deep

*Oooh look! I JUST made “a liberal lie about the American right!” - the back of the plane on the connecting flight had the same problem!

OK - it is now many hours later. I’m on BART (home home home!) - I have to admit we (me and the conservatives sitting beside me) had a remarkably decent & respectful debate about very deeply held beliefs and facts. Thank god they were at least nice people. Click HERE for more…

Hey folks -

Eric & I are here in Orlando and working HARD. There is so much LCV is doing here and we are GO GO GO. The coolest thing is that I feel like we are really making a difference vote by vote. This county is VERY split and it is GREAT to be in the thick of the fight.

Here is the COOLEST thing I have seen in a while. LINES:

These are the lines for Early voting here in Orange County. This is one of 8 sites. On one hand it is kinda lame that they aren’t better prepared, but on the other hand, this is awesome. I have always hoped that there would be so much interest in voting that there would be LINES. Like in South Africa. Well this is the US. Americans. In line, for voting. Think about it.

I think turnout is going to be colossal. No - seriously. COLOSSAL. (Yes cynic-chorus - I know that we have to get them to count) but think about it. Fantastic.

I don’t know what is going to happen, but I’m so happy to be here in it. Gotta go!

For all of you out there WORKING for change - I salute you & love you. I hope some more of you can help MoveOn make calls - Click Here

ROCK ON EVERYBODY! FIGHT!

‘deep and Eric in Orlando!

(.PS - CLICK ON MORE BELOW - TO SEE MOVEON’S PLAN FOR CALIFORNIA HELPERS) Click HERE for more…

Hey folks

A couple of times I’ve heard the refrain “If Bush wins I’m moving to Canada.” I know that mostly this is just an expression of dislike for Bush - but it bugs me anyway.

Picture yourself in a crowded room. There is a madman right beside you and he picks up a loaded gun from the floor. Do you run, or try to get the gun away from him?

Bush is the madman. The US is the gun. Leaving for Canada is the equivalent of running for the door without doing anything to stop him. America is too powerful and too important to leave to the right-wing extreme.

Regardless of next Tuesday, I plan to stay. Click HERE for more…

Before I left for Florida, I spent a lot of time trying to understand how people could possibly be undecided in this election. And also how decent folks could support Bush.

Now I feel like I understand a lot more about undecided & Bush voters than ever before. A lot of this has to do with this FANTASTIC book I’m reading called “A General Theory of Love”, an article in the NY Times on the undecideds after the 3rd debate, and my experiences talking to voters in Florida (more on that here in my other FL blog entry).

In one of the chapters in “A General Theory of Love”, they explain a series of experiments and observations that describe intuition and intuitive people: Click HERE for more…

The last few weeks have left me obsessing about the upcoming Presidential election as if it were a movie with hobbits in it, in fact I’m so obsessed with it, the movie would have to have hobbits riding dinosaurs fighting sharks…. and somehow Charlize Theron would be involved…. Wow….

Sorry, anyway, my obsession has lead me east and I’m writing this from ground-zero itself, Florida. That’s right, Hurricane Deep has hit FL!

Click HERE for more…