It Rests In Your Hands

I am uneasy this election season because it matters more than ever in my lifetime, and because it rests in the hands of young and first time voters. It rests in the hands of the generation that can’t be polled. The generation that has grown up always owning a cell phone. And I hope you know that it’s your future we’re talking about if you are of that generation. We are at a tipping point. Maybe we have passed it, I’m not sure. I grew up knowing that the first time I voted I was really an adult. It was a right of passage. It was a responsibility. I took it seriously. But I grew up in a family that talked about politics. It was a topic of conversation at the dinner table. So was religion, and the right to question, the obligation to be skeptical, and need to learn. I learned these lessons and when I encountered compromise on questions of political principle I was indignant. I was a fierce critic of my father’s having taken a loyalty oath in order to keep his teaching job. This oath grew out of the McCarthy era and in order to teach one had to vow on a bible that one had never been a member of the communist party so help you God. There are two things wrong with that. It stomps on two constitutionally guaranteed rights. This is also what is so horribly wrong with the hysteria concerning gay marriage. In the land of liberty we want to say that certain of our citizens are not guaranteed the same rights as every other citizen? This is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Those of you under thirty are probably the least racist and homophobic demographic in our culture. We’re counting on you. Vote. It’s important.

Crossposted at Utah Savage.

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“Vote” A Hollywood Epic

Steven Spielberg and friends have a message for everyone.

Part 1

Part 2

It’s not too late.

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Google Polling Place Maps

Thanks to Google maps, there will be no excuse not to vote on November 4 because voters can’t find their polling place.  Check out the 2008 US Voter Info map, key in your home address, and Google will display a map with your pollling place indicated.

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Bob Herbert: The Mask Slips

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert has a great column in yesterday’s Times titled “The Mask Slips”, he makes the point of how important it is for to not abdicate our responsibility and to vote, and vote with our heads, not our guts:

The lesson for Americans suffused with anxiety and dread over the crackup of the financial markets is that the way you vote matters, that there are real-world consequences when you go into a voting booth and cast that ballot.

For the nitwits who vote for the man or woman they’d most like to have over for dinner, or hang out at a barbecue with, I suggest you take a look at how well your 401(k) is doing, or how easy it will be to meet the mortgage this month, or whether the college fund you’ve been trying to build for your kids is as robust as you’d like it to be.

Voters in the George W. Bush era gave the Republican Party nearly complete control of the federal government. Now the financial markets are in turmoil, top government and corporate leaders are on the verge of panic and scholars are dusting off treatises that analyzed the causes of the Great Depression.

Mr. Bush was never viewed as a policy or intellectual heavyweight. But he seemed like a nicer guy to a lot of voters than Al Gore.

Herbert continues his column with a nice summary of all of the wrong headed, egregious decisions taken by a government influenced by partisan, conservative Republicans.

Well, I’ve got my absentee ballot in hand, and this afternoon I will be voting for the Democratic ticket, it’s the least I can do to help my country when we are in such deep shit.

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Ahh, the joy of driving sassified people to get their vote on

A bitch adores voting.

I truly do!

Not only is voting a necessary part of renewing my license to practice the fine art of bitchitude (wink), but it is also an opportunity for this bitch to hang out with my Voter Education students as I drive their sassified selves to the polls.

ABB’s Vote-based Field Report - Shift #1…

Picked up Voter Education students at the shelter and was greeted by a festival of fussing over who was going to get to ride in the front seat. A bitch went off after 3 minutes of that mess and sounded freakishly like my mother (shudder).

Obviously amused students entered Miss Sister Girl Cabrio then proceeded to have giggle fits all the way to the elementary school where they then got their vote on without incident. Upon exiting the school said Voter Educations students indulged in another festival of fussing over who was going to get to ride in the front seat on the way back to the shelter.

A bitch went off…again.

This resulted in another round of giggle fits and eventually a bitch joined in on that shit. Upon arriving back at the shelter my students announced…

“Ms. Shark-Fu that was fun! You crazy! Let’s do it again next week!”

Mercy.

A bitch is exhausted and I’ve got three more of these cab-esque trips to do today!

***logs off whilst sending thanks to the Divine One that elections are not a weekly thang***

Crossposted from the Angry Black Bitch..whom I love and respect with a passion~Dusty.

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A political presence pondering…

Words of wisdom from the great and wonderful Shark Fu..please visit her blog here.~Dusty

As most of you know, a bitch is politically involved

(wink).

After years of teaching Voter Education classes I have learned that many people are unaware of the multitude of ways they can and should participate in the political process. At the same time I’ve noticed that the political dialog is influenced by those who do participate.

Oh, I’ve heard all about how the powerful silence certain voices but a bitch is loud

as hell and rarely silenced by anyone

(wink).

Read more

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By request…To speak, oh yes to vote!

A great message from a wonderful writer..the Angry Black Bitch speaketh..and you better listen and take notes!-Dusty

A certain Isis from Chi-Town sent this bitch an e-mail asking my advice on how to motivate the black women in her family to vote.

Cough…sip yummified iced green tea…continue…

You got it, sistah…but this shit applies to everyone as far as this bitch is concerned.

Every election is a job interview between the masses and the candidates. Oh, I know that’s easy to forget when the media is focused on clothing choices and fundraising goals rather than an individual’s qualifications…but when you step into that voting booth it’s just you and the choices and the fluff be damned.

I teach a Voter Education class and each session my students ask me why the hell they should give a shit about politics in general and elections in particular and I usually reply…

Do you eat food? Because your government’s policies and the agencies that enforce them impact everything that goes into your mouth. Tired of the recalls and worrying whether that salad you had for lunch is going to land your broke ass in the hospital? Well, the detection of food-based rancidity depends on screening and screening depends on staffing and staffing depends on funding and funding depends on the priorities of the head motherfuckers in charge.

Blink.

Do you use electricity…water…the toilet? Do you drive a car, have car insurance or home insurance…do you have a credit card or a savings account?

Do you have children or grandchildren…are you planning to have children, adopt them or not have kids at all…do you want to marry but can’t or do you want to divorce and just can’t afford to…do you pay taxes for a shitty school system or pay too many taxes for a fantabulous one?

Do you have children of draftable age…blink but don’t sleep…or do you have people in your life who actively serve in the military…or do you have anyone in your life who plans to?

Do you want to make medical decisions with your doctor or the Supreme Court?

Do you want to be proud of your country or pray for forgiveness?

Do you want to have a voice or do you want to be spoken for?

Sigh.

Read more

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