Category: politics

I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived- yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace. What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women- not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.\
And…\
bq. The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough- more than enough- of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success.\
All from John F. Kennedy. I guess he was wrong about the second one. We’re getting pretty good at starting wars. I wish we weren’t.

I really don’t want to write this, but I said I would. I read Ed Schultz’s Straight Talk from the Heartland over the past week or so. I was expecting a lot from this book, probably unfairly. Ed Schultz is a talk radio guy from North Dakota, and is apparently a rising star in the progressive talk radio world (it’s a small world, I know). Unfortunately, I’d never heard of him. But, from the info I saw before I got the book, it looked like just what I was looking for: a book about progressive values for conservatives. I’ve been dying for one, and it just doesn’t exist (that I know of… if you know of one, please clue me in). Books from authors on both sides of the ideological divide are usually cheerleading affairs for their own kind. From Al Franken to Sean Hannity, they’re not trying to convert anyone.\
I was hoping this was the one. It’s not. It’s so not, it’s not even a good cheerleading book. I didn’t learn anything new from this book other than “Big Eddie” has a healthy ego and played some college football. His writing style is probably the same as his speaking style: a Limbaugh-ian false modesty wrapped in short, punchy sentances. It works great on radio. In a book, it makes for painful reading.\
Like I said, maybe I’m expecting too much from this book, and this review is a reflection of my dashed expectations. But, at its core, this just isn’t a very good read. It takes a while to get started, and well, feels like it never really does. If you’re a listener of his show, you’ll probably like it because you can imagine him speaking. Actually, this would probably be a pretty good book-on-tape. But, compared to Al Franken or Joe Conason’s books (my two faves), this is junior varsity material.

Well, that was fun. Fun, as in not really fun, extremely stressful and heartbreaking. Congratulations to the winners, and a pat on the back for all the losers (including me). Before anyone starts thinking it, or assuming I think it, I don’t don’t think anyone “stole” this election. I think the GOP won it. I don’t like how they won it, but it was well within the rules and no dirtier than our side played it (from what I know now, you never know). I think everyone misjudged the fear that ran as an undercurrent of the election.

What have I learned from this election? It sucks to lose. It sucks worse to lose when you’re personally invested. I hate losing. I’m not good at it. Today has been horrible, but tomorrow should be better. I told Daniel this morning, “I’m sorry. I tried.” I did. I wrote here about why everyone should vote for Kerry. I volunteered, although not enough. I could have done more. Next time, I will.

Some good things happened because of this election. People who’ve never run for office ran, and some of them won. People who had completely checked out of the process woke up and voted. More people voted in this election than any in the last three decades. More people voted against Bush than have voted against any sitting president in history. Young people got involved in the process in record numbers, along with record numbers of minority voters. We, once again, have an engaged electorate. Hopefully, this means that some of the things politicians were able to get away with while the public was asleep won’t be so easy to pull off now (on both sides, I’m against chicanery in a bipartisan way). The more people watching and speaking up, the better.

As bad as I feel today, I’m more committed than I was yesterday. Spending those three hours at the polls yesterday was energizing, an experience I’ll never forget. I was a part of the process, however small. Our district went for Kerry, one of only seven in Loudoun County. I’m surprisinged at how proud of that I am, even though I had very little to do with it. Instead of going away and hiding, I’m going to get more involved. I’m going to do more, not less. Next time, I don’t want any doubts about what more I could have done to help.

I’ve been thinking a lot about activism, local politics and being part of a community – three things I’ve never really been involved in before. I’ve never felt like a part of something, like I belonged. I’ve written about that before in relation to Church, but I feel the same way about my community as well. Before living here, I’d never really lived anywhere long enough to put down roots. It’s time. It’s time to get involved. It’s time to stand up. Being an activist is a good thing. It means you’re active; you’re a part of a larger whole working for something you all believe in. It’s the only way things change. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

I want to be a part of that group.

I just woke up, and apparently, the world’s gone crazy again. The one small consolation I can take from all of this is that our precinct went Kerry. A lone spot of blue in VA’s sea of red.

UPDATE: Another small consolation: even though I spent last week eating out in California, my blood pressure is way down, and I lost seven pounds last month. Again, it’s a small consolation, but today, I’ll take whatever I can get.

I wanted to get this down before the polls close, and would have done it sooner, but Jen had to go get her hair cut (looks fabulous, by the way), and Brian was cranky. I haven’t seen any exit polls, so this is the same prediction I made last week in California, and the same prediction I made to anyone who would listen.

Kerry is going to win, and it’s not going to be that close. He’ll be outside the “margin of litigation” in Florida and Ohio, and will probably take a couple surprise states like Arizona or Virginia and maybe Arkansas. He’ll get more than 300 electoral votes, and we’ll know tonight who the winner is.

There you go. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong; but, I believe this one. I’ve never felt more strongly about an election, and I actually got a little choked up after voting this morning, and then leaving the polling place this afternoon after volunteering. The Republican presence was almost non-existant, and they had no visible Get Out The Vote activities going on. The Democrats were mobilized, organized and dedicated, some volunteers getting there this morning at 5:30 and staying until 2. If we lose, it won’t be because we did anything wrong, or missed an opportunity.

Please go vote today. If you’re in Sterling, and you vote at the Farm Heritage Museum, I’ll be there from 12-2. I hope to see you there.

Go Kerry!!

The Nation comes up with the W list to end all W lists (from Dawson). There are a couple stretches in the list, but 90% of it is right on, and pretty hard to argue with.

And the best part is… I didn’t have to compile it myself (because I was planning on it, I really was).

I get to give my snide comment here. I just read my brother’s anti-Kerry diatribe, which reads like the RNC’s talking points. I have one thing to say. Even if all of those things are true, Kerry is still a better choice than Bush.

Why? Kerry lives in the real world, not some fantasy land of far right illusion and coddled fratboys.

Speaking of Bush, I was thinking this morning about how he goes on and on about “a culture of life”, as it relates to abortion. That’s all fine and good. But, does he really believe in a culture of life? Bush presided over more executions in his time as governor in Texas than any governor in history. He openly mocked Karla Faye Tucker before signing her death warrant. He started a war in Iraq, against a country that wasn’t a clear and present danger to us (Steve, all those biological weapons you’re talking about? They’re either scientific samples, debunked, or “lost” from before the first Gulf War – look it up). That war has cost almost 1100 coalition soldiers’ lives, 14,000 Iraqi lives (that’s the most cautious number, could be as high as 20,000), changed over 7,000 U.S. troops’ lives through injury, and injured tens of thousands of Iraqis, with no end in site, no strategy to win the peace, and no one willing to help out while Bush is still playing the cowboy. He’s also presided over the highest increase in children below the poverty line since those numbers have been tracked.

It seems to me that if Bush was really for a “culture of life”, he would worry a little more about those already living in this world that those about to come into it. Oh, and on abortion – abortions have actually gone up while Bush has been President.

So, Bush is a miserable failure on more than one front. He’s botched the war on terror. He’s botched his “culture of life”. How does this man deserve a second term?

If you live in Sterling and you used to vote at either the Sterling Community Center Annex or the Satellite County Offices, our voting location has changed to the Farm Heritage Museum in Claude Moore park. The address is 21668 Heritage Farm Lane. You should also check the Sterling District polling locations from the County. It has all the polling places, not just this one.

There’s a good chance that Claude Moore isn’t your polling location. You should use the election officer, but I didn’t get the forms in on time, so I’m going to be a poll worker for the Kerry camp. I know it’s a stretch to think that Kerry will win Virginia, but it’s close. It’s really close (three points last poll I saw), and with registrations through the roof, I think all the polls may be wrong and this could be a blowout for one side or the other. It all depends on who those new registered voters are, and if they actually end up voting.