I'm "Famous"

Oakland North blog has a piece about my voter protection efforts.

Who I Am Voting For

This post will mean close to nothing to my non-Cali readers, and they aren't endorsements. Endorsements ain't worth sh*t (unless you're Colin Powell, I guess) . Putting aside the governing principle of my hero Norman Wilson ('the sanctity of the voting booth is the cornerstone of democracy"), here's how I plan to vote (early) tomorrow.

POTUS: Barack Obama. I think I've laid out my reasoning on this position ad nauseum, so I won't bore you with the details.

U.S. Rep: Barbara Lee. Ridicule the "barbara lee speaks for me" bumper sticker if you will, but the woman has been a truly progressive and independent voice in Congress.

State Senator: Loni Hancock. Loni's the only Democrat in this race, but I supported her in the primary because I thought she was the candidate with more vision and leadership. Those terms are typically empty, but in Loni's case, it meant that she took on difficult issues in creative ways, even if it didn't mean winning all the time. By contrast, her opponent championed little bills that gave her a tally of laws to her name but little real change.

14th Assembly: Nancy Skinner, though she has no competition. People I know like her, and she has a looong record as an environmentalist, but I don't know much about her. Still, her politics are in the right place.

Judge, Alameda Superior Court: Dennis Hayashi. His opponent is a former prosecutor. There are enough of those on the bench.

City of Oakland, Councilmember at large: Rebecca Kaplan. Rebecca's great, and I give her a real endorsement. That means, please tell other people to vote for her too!

AC Transit Director: Chris Peeples (and only because I've met him, so I am not even sure it warrants recommendation, although he seemed like a nice person)

Prop 1A: Yes. The basic lack of a rail system in CA is an embarassment. I was an avid Amtrak user in high school, traveling to DC, Boston and Providence often, and alone. It was safe, comfortable and fast. The fact that you can't get to LA, much less San Ho, from SF on the train is just baffling.

Prop 2: Yes

Prop 3: No. Not sure why this bothers me. My logic is awful here. I am tired of single issue bonds (but see Prop 1A) and I feel like medical care in CA/nationally needs an overhaul, not just childrens' hospital funding. Plus, the childrens' hospitals in Cali are among the most anti-union employers in the healthcare industry. So I am just not feeling Prop 3.

Prop 4: No. Anti-choice a-holes trot this out biennially. It aims to require parental notification before abortion. The fact is, an overwhelming majority of young women consult with a parent before having an abortion, and the ones who don't, feel that there are reasons why their parents will not be supportive. Those women turn to aunts, teachers, sisters, mentors. Parental notification just sends women underground to find abortions. If the lifers want to end abortion, they should support birth control, sex ed, and prenatal care, and a world where raising a child is not a debtors' prison for young people.

Prop 5: Yes. Rehab over incarceration = good.

Prop 6: No. Again with the micro-budgeting by ballot. Let the legislature control the purse strings.

Prop 7: No. I haven't fathomed the reasons, but am willing to go along with every major environmental group on their renunciation of Prop 7 and 10.

Prop 8: no, no, no, no, no, no, NO.

Prop 9: No. This is the supposed victims' rights prop. Its redundant, a poor use of money, and while it tugs on one's heart strings, its mean and vindicative. I am just not a retributionist.

Prop 10: No. Same reason as 7.

Prop 11: Yes. And here's one of these props where I part ways with my friends in Labor, who oppose this. Prop 11 would create a multi-partisan commission to study and redraw legislative districts, in order to end gerrymandering by the dominant party in the legislature. Labor (and other special interests) do not like this because it minimizes their voice in the process of creating legislative districts. My view is, we hate gerrymandering when the Republicans do it. Why is it okay or any less democratic when we do it? And I know that the existing process has resulted in districts which are represented by members of groups largely excluded in the past but is also means there is almost no competition for seats.

Prop 12: Yes. Notwithstanding my previous positions on micro-targeting budgets, I like veterans and think they can use a hand when they leave the service. Plus, I believe that investments in veterans pays dividends. During the recent passage of the newest GI Bill, I heard Jim Webb say that this country got back $7 for every $1 it spent on GI education and mortgage subsidy. Maybe it was more.

Prop N: Yes.

Prop NN: No. I am for more police, but the city of Oakland has not met the last hiring goals from 2002 yet, and can't manage its finances at all, so this is a bad way to tie up city money.

Prop OO: No. Pits parks and recs against after-school programs, and deprives the city of funding regardless of city needs. Let the city council do its J-O.

Prop VV: Yes.

Prop WW: Yes.

Still awake out there?

Concerted Activity Lives Another Day

Call Center workers walk out rather than read anti-Obama "robo-call"- esque script. The best part about this story for me is not the pro-Obama part of it; its the fact that workers are acting together against working conditions which offend them. This is the second direct action I have seen reported that relates to Obama. Earlier this month, West Virginia coal miners walked off the job when the NRA came to their workplace to film an anti-Obama video.

Given the historical precedent of American presidents and striking workers (think the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., and PATCO), even I am wary that there will be a return to collective action under an Obama administration. On the other hand, Obama is an organizer at heart, and he understands effective direct action as the fastest way to solve most problems. Its interesting to me that two small groups of people who are in Obama's demographic Unlikely list (Hoosiers and West Virginians) respond to him (or against McCain/NRA) so strongly as risk economic retribution from their employers. Given how hard it is to get people to act in their own economic interest, its remarkable to see people acting in their political interest.

Something about Nothing

One of our secretaries is doing GOTV work in New Mexico, and she's blogging about it at Jilala for Obama. She got the shake Obama's hand on Saturday night. How does he manage to be so sincere after nearly 2 years on the campaign trail? It's amazing.

That said, I am super-ready for this election season to be over. I am very anxious and almost sick of my own candidate. The closest feeling I can conjure is the way I felt in the days leading up to my wedding. For those of you who were there, you may recall that I was basically a basketcase, I was so nervous. I have never really figured out why. Anyway, in the days before, I was so excited and anxious that it made me mad at Mr. Scobie. How dare he make me this happy!? Obama being elected would not exactly be as awesome as marrying BD, but in the context of our current political/economic environment, its pretty awesome. And I feel like crap being so excited.

I joined Twitter today because Laura Ingalls twitters. After trying it out a couple of times, I think I have social networking system overload. I am now on blogger, facebook, linkedin and twitter. I don't bother with friendster. And sadly, I never even get to hang out with most of my friends. It bums me out. A dude with 700 facebook friends held and party, and only one friend came. Too depressing.

And This Is Funny

I am pleased to say I can't think of anyone to send this to, but maybe you can. Click here.

Why Doesn't The NYT Do Its Own Work

Today's New York Times has three articles (2 news and 1 op-ed) that cite Politico as the breaking source of news. That's a website. Isn't the New York Times like the biggest and most important paper in the universe? Do they no longer do investigative reporting? I know they do, but they feel particularly lagging right now.

Okay, now watch this:

My Yes On Prop 2 Post, plus more on Prop 8

Thanks for all the kind words on my No on Prop 8 post. Although I teared up when I wrote it, it wasn't hard to write. Especially not hard when you consider what it's like for loving couples to have their marital status subject to the whims of the Mormon Church, who are outspending everyone to pass Prop 8. For all y'all who didn't already click over to No on Prop 8 to donate, please do so now. Or you can donate at ActBlue Equality for All. Thank you.

Now, on to Prop 2. Prop 2 is one of those "only in California" propositions. Its easy to be dismissive and annoyed by the micro-legislating that happens in this state. Prop 2 requires farmers to provide animals with enough space in their cage to turn around. Not that big a deal. The people who oppose this measure - Corporate Ag, for example - say that it will make it cost-prohibitive to provide so much space to chickens, and that "foreign" farmers (like those in Nevada) will be able to provide lower cost eggs. These are myths. And its the same clap-trap that was floating around 100 years ago when The Jungle was written.

An analogous argument by the No on Prop 2 group goes like this: "We can't take the mercury/lead out of this product because then you'll buy it cheaper from China with lead in it." No one buys this argument, right? At least not any more.

I also think that this humane approach to our food is a healthier and better way for us to live, and leads to healthier lives for humans, as food consumers and as workers. Let me tell a story: For years, the farmworkers union lobbied for a law that would require growers to provide fresh water to farmworkers. Every year, the measure was soundly defeated by legislators who had been lobbied by growers who said that it was cost prohibitive, blah blah blah. Finally, it occurred to someone to amend the Penal Code, adding "and farmworkers" to a law which required that circus elephants have fresh water available to them at all times. Once the legislature realized that it was criminal to keep water from elephants, they were shamed politically into making sure workers got it. The way we treat animals in our society is a marker for the way we treat other human beings. Please vote yes on Prop 2.

My No On Prop 8 Post

One of these days, seriously, I will get around to discuss some down-ticket races. For now, I want to write about the other race that fills my mind, and my heart, Proposition 8.

Let me tell you a story: June 26, 1983, was my parents' 12th wedding anniversary. I was barely awake that morning when my dad told me to sit on the couch. I had been away at camp the previous week, and was wiped out from the mediocre food, very little sleep and the terrifying tales of the campers that died before me at Camp Dick Runyon. My sister and I say lumpenly on the couch, too sleepy to be curious. I don't remember the exact speech, but my father told us that he was moving out and that he and my mom were splitting up. I remember that they said it wasn't our fault, but they had never fought with one another that I could recall (well there were a couple of instances but nothing ongoing), so it must be our fault.

Later, my father called a good friend who shared their wedding anniversary to tell him the sorry news. I was laying on my parents' bed listening. My father was systematically dismantling a life that they had chosen together.

1983 was a bad year to be a gay man coming out of the closet, but it was also the first year that it was really possible, at least in rural Indiana. In November, my mom moved us back east, and my dad moved to Fort Wayne, where there was a surprisingly supportive gay-ish community. Although I knew my father's boyfriends over the years, I never told anyone that he was gay until I got to high school, and even then only told a couple of friends. By college, it made me a novelty. My father's journey was probably harder before that day in 1983, and my mother's was harder after it.

Now I am happily married. And the one thing that I wish for both of my parents is that they could have had this marriage when they were young. An honest marriage. An in-love marriage. Now that I have children, I have the same hope for them. And I now live in a rare place in history, and in geography, and in the law, where that is possible, no matter who they fall in love with.

I highly doubt that I have readers who support Prop 8, which would write discrimination into the California constitution by banning gay marriage. You probably already knew how I felt about this, and were planning to vote NO on Prop 8. But please take the extra step, and please DONATE to No on Prop 8.

Liking Clinton Again

Just as some predicted, the wounds inflicted on the Democratic Party by the prolonged primary season have started to heal. All but a few high profile Clinton supporters have gone over to Obama, and most people, including Obama, acknowledge that the long pre-season made Obama a much better debater and candidate. Without that primary season, Obama would never have known the extent of his weakness among Appalachian voters in PA, for example.

So are we ready to like the Clintons again? Bill Richardson is, even if Bill Clinton doesn't feel the same way. And while some grouse that Hillary doesn't seem to be doing much for Obama, I suspect she is being very helpful to him in targeted ways, and being extremely helpful to her Congressional colleagues, buying back a lot of good will with her fundraising talents.

So what about me? Can I like them again? I had been feeling neutral on Hillary, and annoyed with Bill Clinton for his failure to step up for Obama, and then I read this bit in Politico. From th Al Smith dinner, by Jonathan Martin:

And on the former president's odd pledge to avoid campaigning for Obama until after the Jewish High Holidays, McCain "you've got to admire that ecumenical spirit."

"I just know Bill would like to be out there now stumping for Barack until the last hour of the last day," he said. "Unfortunately, he is constrained by his respect for any voters who might be observing the Zoroastrian New Year."

Hillary got a huge laugh at this.

This is a pretty insightful vignette. Bill really wanted Hillary to win. She didn't. For the sake of her career, she needs to get over her loss. But does Bill? In fact, if he got over it faster than she did, wouldn't that be a dog sort of thing to do? That's what loving husbands do. They stay mad for you. Everyone has always wondered at the Clintons' marriage, wondering if its one of convenience, or love. I think now love. He really really wanted this for her, believed that she'd be the best. Why should he have to give that up now? Obama would feel the same way if Michelle were in Hillary's position. This really humanizes Bill Clinton for me.

Dare I admit it? I may yet like Bill Clinton again.

Inside Joke

Who is T&A Lady's favorite world leader?

European Commission President Jose Manuel Beeroso.

Lemme tell ya, I was cracking myself up all the way to work with that one.

DARE to Say No (to McCain)

Check out Partnership for a McCain-Free White House. Now I just hope they re-do that "brain on drugs" ad with the eggs.

A Few More Thoughts

And I won't embarrass myself by enumerating them and then forgetting what they all were.

Betty White, f-in hilarious:



The Reverse Bradley effect. I think this could happen. My only evidence, aside from what I read in the blog-o-net, is that my mom and stepdad in Virginia support Obama.* They would admit it to pollsters on the phone, but my mom has described certain perceived pressures in her neighborhood which would make her reluctant to boast a yard sign for Obama. And George Packer has an anecdote in an article in The New Yorker about voters in southern Ohio about a young man he meets (who answers the door in his underwear actually) who admits to being an Obama supporter, and says he knows others, but wouldn't admit it. The young man didn't go on record, either. I can understand this. I remember in high school that taking an unpopular position (like writing "No Blood for Oil" on your backpack during Operation Desert Storm) could illicit actual anger and derision from other 18 year olds. If you didn't have gumption/chutzpah/brass balls, it could be intimidating. But as Norman from The Wire says, "The sanctity of the voting booth is the cornerstone of our democracy." I just hope my fellow Americans get over it, and do the right thing.

* This isn't shocking coming from my mother. I just hope she isn't annoyed that I have broadcast her preference on the inter-tubes. Like Norman from The Wire, my mother would never disclose who she actually voted for, usually saying, "I wrote in Angela Davis" when I asked her who she voted for.


Some minor ways I am noticing that the economy is way f***ed up: My husband has begun to worry; there were only 3 tables occupied tonight at our local spaghetti joint (called Bottle Running by my son because the above poster is on the wall there) when usually the place is jammed; the parking lot in our office has more spots available, leading to conjecture that there was a layoff in the company on the floor above us. Also my 401(k) is down probably 10%, and that's great news. Awesome timing on quitting my job, huh? I don't think that's what they mean when they say "timing the market."

Unless something incredibly hilarious happens at the wedding I am attending, don't expect any posts this weekend. I am flying to Detroit very early tomorrow. I have to go to a party directly from the airport, and (I've never done this before) so I have to dress nicely for the flight. Usually I am either in work clothes or looking like a hot mess, so I am unusually anxious about this. I have no idea why dressing nicely for a long distance flight freaks me out. Maybe because it is something I secretly criticize other people for doing. What is her deal? Why is she dressed like that?, I hiss, in my mind. I'm mean like that.

And no, I am not drinking.

Two Other Thoughts

Where is all the money? I am referring here to the global economic downturn. Was all that "value" just on paper, or are the super-rich hording their money or what?

Oh shit. I can't remember my other thought.

A Lot of Things Rattling Around in My Head

I am maga-busy these days, making it hard to focus on blogging anything more than a few sentences at a time. So I will stick with what I know, and just blog about all the topics that pop into my head.

• McCain wants to suspend the mandatory age for 401(k) withdrawals. Putting aside whether this is a prudent proposal, doesn't it seem like its extremely micro-targeted? The target group being people who are about to turn 70 and a half, of course. How many of those folks were not going to vote for McCain already, who would be swayed by this?
  
• A haiku for the lady I saw in SF today: Lady on the street/where did your eyebrows go to?/Is your forehead cold?
• Ryan Lizza described Obama as a "left conservative", a phrase coined by Norman Mailer, in a New Yorker podcast I heard the other day. Thought that was interesting, and accurate.
• Just as Bill Clinton was considered our 'first Black President', I think Obama will be considered our 'first female President.' He operates in such an empathic, consensus-building mode of leadership that we haven't seen before. It also has a certain poetic justice to it.
  
• My brilliant kid (the older one) asked the other day where helium comes from. I actually had to look it up. A co-worker suggested I say, "From the Party Warehouse", but frankly the Big Bang** is easier to explain.

** All helium in the universe was created in the Big Bang.

An update on Norbert

No, not Norbert the storm. My mother reports: “At Lacordaire during my tenure (9/1964 to 6/1967), Sister Norbert, O.P. was an RN and our school nurse. She wobbled like a weeble and slowly toddled the halls like a three-toed sloth. She was dubbed 'Sister Morbid'.” Mom offers to check Lives of the Saints, if anyone is interested in the origins. I, for one, am interested.

 

That One

I am sure you have heard that McCain called Obama "that one" during the debate last night. Here's what McCain's campaign had to say in reaction to the, well, reactions:

Nicolle Wallace, a spokesman for Mr. McCain, said in a statement: “I am shocked that at a moment of national crisis, where our economy is on the minds of every single person, I am shocked that they are again proving to be the fussiest campaign in American history.”

Shocked at fussiness? Chick needs to chill out. Try being shocked that this war is still going on, that we just set aside $700 billion for companies whose CEOs may not take the money if it means giving up the golden parachute, that people beat children, that the Cubs made it to the playoffs. There's a lot to be shocked about in this world, but "fussiness" does not cut muster. I don't know how these people keep themselves in such high dudgeon. I guess this is what losing looks like. But doesn't all the shock lose its shock value after a while?

Oh, and for the headline alone.

Your Obama Blog of the Day

Yes We Can (Hold Babies). Adorable.

(Giggle)(Head shake)

From Matier and Ross:

And finally: First, the big new Federal Building in San Francisco was late and over budget. Then workers complained about needing sunglasses and umbrellas indoors to shield them from the glaring sun.

Now comes word about another bit of embarrassment at the $144 million "green" behemoth at Seventh and Mission streets.

Officials recently installed four giant, stainless-steel plaques near the entryway in recognition of the many planners, architects and others who helped make the eco-friendly building possible.

Only it wasn't long before office workers were making pilgrimages to the wall - and snickering at the engraved name of one "Hugh G. Rection."

That plaque is now gone. Of course, so are all the others, temporarily - seems they were installed crooked.

More of Nothing

Debate: Tried to watch it. McCain annoys me too much.

Feeling unproductive? This factoid should make you feel worse: rapper Too Short got his start doing "special requests", which are customized rap songs for individuals. At the VH1 Hip Hop Honors, he claimed to have done about 50,000 special requests when he was starting out. 50,000 individualized rap songs. I cannot write one. I can barely write discovery responses these days. Or emails.

There's a hurricane called Norbert? What are the hell?

Last night, I woke up around 2am to get Q some milk. I don't know if it was something else outside or me walking around in the middle of the night (some windows were open) but a skunk sprayed in our backyard. It was awful. I almost cried. The house was totally infused with skunk funk. And that's on top of all the unattractive boy smells that already permeate my life. I was wishing for a desensitized nose, then, my friends, also. Anyway, now I hate skunks, even if they eat snails.