This ain't no disco!

The GOP wants us (YOU) to believe that Community Organizers don't know sh*t about running anything; be it a grassroots effort to get funding for crumbling public schools or to clean up an oil spill on our local beaches, to change the Constitution so that blacks & women have the same rights as (white) men, etc. They most assuredly don't think a Community Organizer is fit to run the United States of America.

I beg to differ.

I've been on the fence a long time w/ regard to this upcoming election. I wasn't sure about Hilary (do we really need another Clinton, regardless of their gender?). There was also a time in my life when I actually liked John McCain as I was an AZ resident for over a decade & he did some good stuff for our state. I really thought Bill Richardson (NM) was the Bees Knees, and also that John Edwards was a pretty Cool Cat. But neither of them got very far now did they?

No, I'm not particularly over the moon for Senators Obama & Biden, but I will tell you one thing I do know... If McCain wins the White House in November, we are truly screwed. And my daughter? Her future is 100% f**ked.

Maybe you don't agree with me. Maybe you think Sarah Palin is the one actually running for President. G-d knows my Republican friends & family have gotten all fired up since she was nominated for VP. Maybe you get excited about the prospect of zillions of oil rigs off the coast of CA b/c who cares about us Crazy Hippy Commies out here in CA anyway right? Maybe you believe women shouldn't have a right to choose and that your G-d is better than my G-d, and that those things should trump everything else.

Or maybe you think I could be a little more enthusiastic for the Democratic ticket (I'm not a DEM & haven't been for almost 12 years - if you must know, I fall somewhere between Green & Libertarian depending on the issue). Maybe you think I've been indifferent to not have made up my mind until now about which candidate I plan to cast my vote for.

Maybe you have no opinion at all. You are able to fill your Hummer gas tanks without it affecting your wallet (or your family's dinner table) too terribly much. You have a job. You aren't struggling to pay your mortgage. You have two cars & a dog named Max.

Perhaps you don't feel the need to vote, you've never voted, or you'll decide at the last minute whether you're going to show up at the polls depending on the weather that day.

Whatever your beliefs, I implore you to do some real homework on both candidates. And don't believe what CNN or NBC, etc. tell you. Check out BBC, NPR, John Stewart, Mother Jones, etc.

Then I want y'all to go out and vote. Mmmmkay?

That is all. Enjoy the video.

Disenfranchised.

I voted on Tuesday, but apparently it was all for naught.

I should have seen it coming when the volunteers at the polling place looked at each other in utter disbelief when they looked up my address and saw my party affiliation...

And I quote:

"GRN. What's that?" [looks to her left in askance of the female volunteer sitting next to her]
"Green? Oh. Okay. A Green party ballot. Hmmmm... I'm not sure if we have any left. We didn't get too many of the Other Party ballots." [looking again to her compatriot in stupidity on the left] "Do we have any of those ballots left? Oh, here's one." [looking at me in semi-smug disbelief] "Well, we haven't had one of you yet today so I'm not sure how you are supposed to use this ballot, but the booth for Independents and Greens, etc. is over there in the corner. If you have any questions, let us know. Thanks!" [immediately turns her attention to voter in line behind me and seems relieved that he is NOT a Green like me].

Oh yeah. I should have known right then and there.

Don't they train these people? Or were these two particular volunteers just not listening at that brief point we non Dems and non GOPs were mentioned during the "How to work at a Polling Place" orientation?

When they called the state of CA for that Career Politician Woman, aka Hilary Clinton, so early on, well I again had to wonder... "How can they know so soon? When there are so many paper ballots in the county of Los Angeles alone, and when the State of CA had to de-certify so many touch screen voting stations in several other counties? How can they know?"

I hate CNN. And I hate poor ballot design. But I am increasingly convinced that these kinds of "snafus" are on purpose. Of course they are. They don't want "free thinkers" like me to vote. They want us to only have a choice between Clinton and Obama, or Mitt and McCain. And that ain't much of a choice IMO.

If I were allowed to cross party lines in a CA Primary election, I would have. Anything to keep that Clinton woman from winning! But I can't. You can't either, not even if you are affiliated with one of the two Super Power Parties.

So Ralph got my vote. But in the end, it didn't even matter. CNN says Clinton took CA, so it must be true. Which means we've lost.

Meh.