Forget about voter registration fraud…

…fake people cannot vote.  The real problem I’m worried about is good, old-fashioned…voter supression.  I suppose I’m not alone in my concern.

Watch this.

I’ll buy it.

Nice info-mercial for Obama.  I haven’t heard this much actual planning from McCain yet.  Perhaps the silence from his end says more about HOW MUCH HE BELIEVES EVERYTHING WE’RE DOING RIGHT NOW IN AMERICA IS A-OK.  Was it too extravagant? Some people will say so.  But it is also a dignified message from someone who has been fighting the B.S. and mud slung about him throughout the campaign–and he really wants you to know that he is for the Progress of America.  Just keep hammering the truth in over and over and over…”America can be great. America can be great! America can be Great!! America Can Be Great!!! AMERICA CAN BE GREAT!!!”

Seems to be working, eh?

I am STILL voting for Obama

The implications of “8 more years”

Barack Obama has consistently used the message “8 more years of failed Bush policies” to discredit McCain–effective, but vague.

Last night, I really got to thinking what this would mean.

8 more years of Banks “gone wild”

8 more years of broken government agencies (like FEMA)

8 more years of “saber rattling” and international bullying

8 more years of real socialism–Corporate lobbying and outright greed

8 more years of international allies and NATO turning away from us

8 more years of empty nest eggs and retirement savings

8 more years of inadequate, inaccesible medical coverage

8 more years of Congressional misdeeds corruption on a grand scale

8 more years of human rights violations, a la Guantanamo Bay and the death of Habeus Corpus

8 more years of rewarding non-intelligence while belittling education and innovation

8 more years of botched “Domestic Surveillance”

8 more years of sanctioned gay-bashing

8 more years of violating women’s rights to their own bodies

8 more years of a Fundamentalist Christian agenda in a country of many faiths

8 more years of legislating through fear

8 more years of cronyism

8 more years of substandard education for ALL children

8 more years of religious and cultural intolerance

8 more years of preconditions

8 more years of minorities falling further behind

8 more years of “lassez-faire” on important domestic issues (not abortion and gay marriage–energy and 21st century education)

8 more years of poor judgment

8 more years of inconsistent facts

8 more years of declining in the world’s ranking system

8 more years of poorly cared for returning war veterans

8 more years of supressing your vote

8 more years of dividing Americans

8 more years of agenda injected into the highest court in America

8 more years of pretending global warming does not exist

8 more years of stomping on the Constitution

8 more years of so much more I don’t even know or can’t remember.  So far, this has been my adult life and I feel completely let down.  All of the previous shortcomings cannot be corrected immediately by just one incoming President, Democrat or Republican. Not in four, eight, twelve or perhaps even sixteen years will we be able to pull ourselves out of a rapidly deepening sinkhole…but we can change direction.  Similarly, some of the previous shortcomings are not necessarily the fault of the administration; rather, they are because of the current administration’s mindset.  After reading the list, I hope you can see that maybe–just maybe–we need a new mindset. There was so much promise for our future while I was growing up, but somehow Americans lost their way.  I hope we can close the chapter on “America’s Decline” next Tuesday, because we can’t afford to fall any further.

For the record, I no longer care who Barack Obama has been associated with. It is what can be associated with the United States of America that concerns me.  It’s not that image is everything, but how we believe we are being perceived by the world either depresses us as a nation or makes us extremely defensive (we’ve been both for a while now), and we no longer even know who we are or what we’re made of as a country.  I don’t believe John McCain can restore our sanity; he’ll be too busy promoting fear, as he has in this election.  I don’t believe John McCain can restore integrity to the office; he’s too entrenched in the way things were to step out any further than he already has.  I don’t believe John McCain can restore our belief in ourselves; he’s been so erratic we wouldn’t be able to focus on his message or call to action.  I also don’t believe John McCain is a bad man; I just don’t believe he has a good idea, either.

I’m still voting for Barack Obama.

ONE WEEK LEFT!

I haven’t written much in the past couple of weeks, and I really wanted to write about this sooner, but if you have any free time in your week, go to the Democratic headquarters in your area and volunteer!  I have been working for our local office and it has really opened my eyes–I don’t feel so alone in a Red state anymore.  Volunteer because it doesn’t matter if you’re in a safe blue state or a safe red state (like me), but definitely volunteer if you happen to live in one of the swing states.

With one week left, even in Alabama, Obama is running 34% to McCain’s 54%.  It would be truly amazing if we could get him even closer here.  But beyond that, I know our Dem HQ is sponsoring rides to the polls for those who can’t drive themselves–can you do that?  I’ll be taking a class to learn how to watch the polls this Saturday for the election on Tuesday–can you do that?  I’ve been phone banking for other Alabama Democrats (really good people, too)–can you do that?  If you have a free evening or two during the week, I strongly encourage you to at least call and see what they need.

There is the bizarre assumption that “White Shame” is stealing the vote for Obama–the idea that, because of injustices of the past, voting Barack Obama in as President will absolve white people (who might not even have been born or old enough to vote, etc) of all responsibility.  I have yet to meet anyone who is voting for Barack, overlooking his obvious intelligence, and, as a bonus, feeling better about segregation, Jim Crow, or slavery.  Highly unlikely for a thinking America.  As a black female, I guess that won’t apply to me anyway, but I have another reason that I feel might be shared among all races.

Americans should feel some sort of shame about our apathy–at least eight years of it, and especially in my generation. This apathy allowed me to hear/witness all of the decisions being made and directions our country–formerly a SuperPower, formerly a model for the world, formerly a helping hand (as opposed to a rattling saber), formerly a bastion of sanity and hope–was heading, but made me unaware of the connections that led us here today. I believe Obama knows this too, and will not let it happen again.  Definitely more on this later.

The point I want to make is, please consider volunteering so that we can “seal the deal”.  It has not been so impotant to elect the right people (including Congressional leaders) to offices in the United States in a LONG time, and this is a first in my lifetime.  I’m not advocating a filibuster-proof Democratic Congress, unless these are the sensible, just, concerned people that we need in charge of the nation.  Just remember that Rove-style campaigning has helped many of the most corrupt Republicans in Washington remain there. I’ll leave you to think about that, because this post is too long-winded anyway.