A Prop 8 Musical? Why Not!

I do like this video. Marc Shaiman’s music (he’s at the piano) and quite a group of talented performers makes for something funny.

more about “A Prop 8 Musical? Why Not!“, posted with vodpod

 

Happy Zombie

Ah, there’s nothing like trundling off to bed about 2:30 in the morning. Though I know I dozed a bit on the couch last night. Yes, falling asleep while sitting up with my laptop in my lap. Hey, I had to read everything about Obama’s win last night.

So, sometime after midnight I woke up  enough with a whiplash  effect (sleeping sitting up is just not great for the neck), and instead of going to bed I stayed up a few more hours. Now? I am a zombie.

Yeah, I woke up to read more about election night. I wanted to see how the Al Franken/Norm Coleman race came out — it’s heading for a recount. Plus the Oregon and Alaska senate races weren’t called last night. Today it looks like a convicted felon will hold on to the Alaska senate seat and the Oregon ballets are stil being counted. Even better, the Georgia race still had plenty of early ballots to count and the senate race will go to a runoff in December (Georgia requires at least 50% of the vote).

My zombiehood is a happy one. Obama won decisively, and though he didn’t win Arizona, he won lots of other states. Plus, Ann Kirkpatrick won the Arizona CD-1 congressional seat vacated by Rick Renzi. Yay!

It wasn’t a perfect election (Prop 8 passed in California and so did Prop 102 in Arizona — both anti-gay propositions). Arizona’s legislature will ralso emain too Republican. Still, I’m pretty happy.

Now if only I could stop being a zombie, even if I’m a happy one. I have things to do!

Damn

It’s going to be so great to have a president that can talk in complete sentences. Obama is amazing.

Wrong Number?

So there I am, making calls from the Coconino County Democratic Party Headquarters. Things are going fine. I’m leaving messages or talking to very nice people. I hang up the phone after finishing a call and the phone rings. I pick it up and guess what? It’s a John McCain robocall!

I’d say they’re calling the wrong number, wouldn’t you?

Phone-Banking Fun

Okay, “Phone-Banking Fun” is not an accurate title. Phone-banking is not necessarily fun. Sometimes you talk to an enthusiastic potential voter and it makes up for all the voice mail messages you have to leave, but I’m still not going to define it as fun. Sometimes you get a grumpy person that you have to cheerfully urge to go to the polls. Nope, fun is not the word.

My goal tonight was to remind people that Tuesday is election day. I’d tell them where to vote, plus remind them that in Arizona they better bring some ID. You know, some folks were happy to talk to me; some not so happy, but overall, us voters in Arizona haven’t had many phone calls this election season. The last couple of elections it seemed that I would have at least three messages waiting for me urging to vote for someone. This year it’s been awfully quiet. Though I do hear that John McCain has decided to do some robo-calling to remind us that he’s our senator and Obama is dangerous…or something like that.

Ugh. Robocalls. At least when I’m phone-banking at county Democratic Party headquarters I’m a real live person calling. And I’m trying to provide information to help the voters. So there.

Yeah, it’s not fun, but it does feel good doing the calling. I urge everyone to vote if they can and to ask others to vote too. Having a record-breaking turnout on election day voting for Obama and change is my idea of fun.

Volunteer Time

Today I worked at the local Dem Headquarters. I’ve been rather lax in my election volunteering, but scheduled time for today, for Thursday, Saturday, and as I’m taking off all next week, both Monday and election day.

My job today was to call folks who requested an early ballot and to make sure they got the ballot and ask if they’ve sent it back. Easy-peasy. This weekend will involve neighborhood walking.

At HQ we were all excited by the latest polls showing a tightening race in Arizona. There’s been three polls in the last few days, putting the race within 5 points or less. DailyKos has a good roundup of the polls. Knowing that the race is close makes volunteering so much more fun.

McCain in Trouble in Arizona?

I heard rumors, but this is exciting news… as long as you’re not John McCain. McCain is barely ahead in his home state of Arizona. Kos just posted this information at DailyKos.

Likely voters
McCain 44
Obama 40

Early voters (34% of sample)
McCain 46
Obama 47

The polling is from Myers Research and Groves Insight with a 4% margin of error. Kos also mentions that another poll from ASU will be released soon with similar numbers.

Wow. Could McCain lose Arizona?

Opie and Richie and the Election

You may have already seen this video making the rounds, but if not, you’ll enjoy watching this from Ron Howard.

more about “Opie and Richie and the Election“, posted with vodpod

Bassetts for Obama

Tbogg, basset-lover and blogger that he is, brought this video to our attention. There is something about floppy basset lips that makes me laugh. How about you?

Debating about the Debate

Do I really want to listen to the debate tonight? Maybe a movie would be a better idea. Shoot, maybe categorizing my spare change would be more fun.

The debates have their moments, but they usually just seem a waste of time. I’ve already voted. Nothing is going to change my mind at this point.

Well, here’s something to play with if you get bored watching the debates. Do click on things and see what happens: Palin as President.

Obama Got One Vote Today

No, this isn’t an inspirational anecdote about someone who decided to vote for Obama. No, this is just a post to say that I went out and voted today.

I love voting early. I just have to go down to the county offices and you can get in and vote. If you live in Coconino county, here are the locations you can go and vote: Early Voting Sites.

My biggest issue with voting is that the list of propositions can confuse me. I must study them, discuss them with others, and then make my list. This year it’s easy. Vote no on all of them except the last one. Not many would agree about the last one. That’s the proposition to increase the state legislators’ salaries. It rarely passes, but my belief is that the low salary only allows the wealthy to run for office. And who knows? Someday I may want to run for office — it would be nice to have a salary greater than $26,000.

I also usually fret over the judges section — where we are asked whether this judge or that judge should be retained. How the heck should I know? I don’t want to vote to retain someone who is a judicial idiot, but i don’t want to vote to get rid of someone who’s been doing a decent job. Usually I just don’t vote that section. Until today’s discovery: a site that reviews the judges’ performances. The Arizona Commission on Judicial Performances gets feedback from attorneys and other judges. I checked the list that Coconino county voters would vote on and the three judges look pretty darn good.

So I voted today, and you know what? It feels pretty darn frakking good. Fingers crossed, prayers said, and may this election turn out good.

Tonight’s Debate

Okay, I got to hear a good chunk of the debate, but missed the first half hour due to working late. I’m thinking Obama won tonight, but it’s hard to tell how it looks to people when you only listen on the radio. Of course, the debate also seemed pretty boring. I’m falling asleep here.

I’m going to vote this week. I love early voting. The debate hasn’t changed my mind…like it would. Please let’s get some grown-ups in charge. I’m voting for Obama.

VP Debate Survival

I survived listening to the Vice Presidential debate. Whew. Palin survived, using lots of those “Mavericky” talking points. Biden was engaging. I bet it doesn’t change much in the race.

I’m happy I didn’t do the Palin debate drinking game. Words like “doggonnit” and “maverick” were used enough to give alcohol poisoning.

More Conventional Me — I’m Jazzed

Man, what a great set of speeches tonight at the Democratic Convention. Jeez, Bill Clinton is amazing. The speech started slow, but when he warmed up I did not want the man to stop. His ability to lay out what the Republican rule did to us just got to me:

“…he (McCain) still embraces the extreme philosophy which has defined his party for more than 25 years, a philosophy we never had a real chance to see in action until 2001, when the Republicans finally gained control of both the White House and Congress. Then we saw what would happen to America if the policies they had talked about for decades were implemented.

They took us from record surpluses to an exploding national debt; from over 22 million new jobs down to 5 million; from an increase in working family incomes of $7,500 to a decline of more than $2,000; from almost 8 million Americans moving out of poverty to more than 5 and a half million falling into poverty – and millions more losing their health insurance.

Now, in spite of all the evidence, their candidate is promising more of the same: More tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy. More band-aids for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families and increase the number of uninsured. More going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our security and restore our influence.”

Update: Video of Bill Clinton

And I bet most people missed John Kerry (I gather the TV networks have to have network talking heads pontificating about the speeches and not actually showing the speeches), but Kerry was awesome.

Update: Video John Kerry’s speech

The Bidens finished things off with verve and then Obama showed up. It was a great night.

I am so excited about tomorrow night and Obama’s speech.

Conventional Me

I’m sitting here listening/watching the convention. I’m listening to NPR while keeping the video streaming from MSNBC.com. I’m looking forward to Michelle Obama’s speech. I also thought it was great to see Teddy Kennedy on stage.

It’s rather nice to sit back and relax and listen to this. No commercials, lots of options for seeing what’s going on — NPR cuts out lots of speeches, but I can catch them on the streaming video, yet if NPR has something fun to talk about, I can mute the video.

I hope Michelle does a great job. I love listening to her talk. She’s not going to be a bland First Lady, that’s for sure.

Update: she delivered a wonderful speech…and her daughters are too cute.