February 5, 2008 archive

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

For the past two weeks, ever since it became clear that John Edwards was no longer viable, I have been a precinct captain for Barack Obama in the city of Brea, my current home in north Orange County.  I have two precincts, in fact; as the one next to mine was not spoken for, and I didn’t want to leave it uncovered.  So for much of the past two weeks, I’ve been on the phone, calling voters.  Two precincts is about as much as I could handle; in fact, I didn’t finish calling the last 50 voters in my second precinct.  (I may try to catch some of them tomorrow.)  Still, I called over 600 voters — some of which were wrong numbers, not home, etc. — and now it’s time to reap the benefits of having laid that groundwork.

I didn’t have time to canvass homes in person — I don’t think that my talking to people in my own precinct on their doorsteps would be more useful than leaving messages with a large group of other people in the neighboring one.  But now that we’ve identified supporters and undecided voters, I did have time to do a lit drop this evening — about 70 houses.  I made up my own flyer to include with the campaign literature; it explains what I’m thinking and why I think it’s important.

I don’t think that the issue differences between Obama and Clinton are that significant, frankly.  Take health care, for example.  Both of them are wrong: the way to cover everyone, as Atrios says, is to cover everyone: automatic enrollment, with premiums for the base level of coverage included in taxes.  We don’t need mandates, etc.: we need to make that problem go away.  But because whatever the President proposes is not going to be what Congress passes, and because I think either of them will sign a decent bill, their current difference on that issue doesn’t matter to me.

What matters to me is winning the White House.  And so I wrote this letter, which was slipped into the screen doors of our supporters and to undecided voters.  It represents my own views as a campaign volunteer, and was not paid for the campaign.

Since I have came onto the little place we call the “netroots” I have written 63 blog posts. Many of them have been in favor of Barack Obama’s candidacy for president. So I thought it would be fitting the day before most of the nation votes, to write a sort of closing case for Obama. I have thought about many different ways I could explain my support. I could offer a wrap up of all the diaries I have written for him, I could make a new case, I could attack the other canidate. There were lots of ways I was thinking of doing this. But then this morning I read a article that pretty much summed up why I believe Obama is a better choice, a better choice for our party, our nation and our world.

The article is entitled “The Year of the Organizer” and it appeared on the American Prospect’s website. I’d like to explore that article and what it means to me.

I made another trip to the old house today and grabbed most of my power tools. shop vac, a small table and some other odds and ends.  There was a table down in the basement that needed some attention, I cleaned it up and tightened the legs, now it is in the living room with a small bankers lamp and a backgammon set on it.  The cats like it because now they can stare at teh bird feederz and the apple trees.  The two cats from the other house made it up  yesterday, they seem to like the place so far.  So now the total is 3 barn cats, 2 inside/outside cats,  2 horses, and one dog soon to be 2 dogs.

I ran through the electrical panels and verified the labeling was correct.  Found one live wire buried in the wall, fixed an outlet in the front hall that was never properly installed.  Installed a new phone as the one I had was old and kept breaking up.  The new one seems fine. There is a small leak in the shower unit but I have the tools to fix that tomorrow.  Started laying out ideas for vegetable garden locations, perennial beds, natural wetland areas etc.  There is a spot on the South side of the property that is perfect for the first garden area, I’ll just need to create a gate in the fence to access it and add a small composting area.

The horses were very active in the warm weather today, Rio seems to be the more inquisitive of the two.  They got a good brush down yesterday and are starting to respond to my voice.  They got fresh bedding today and rolled around in it right away.  

The most immediate neighbor stopped by last night, she filled me in on other artists living in the neighborhood.  She’s a professional writer and built her own active solar home for $75,000 about 5 years ago, she’s still working on the final touches.  She is very active politically and is trying to get some things done regarding pesticides and toxic wastes.  She has great energy and it is nice to know a like-mind is nearby.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

What I wanna know is this: historically speaking, who’s supporting whom?  With conflicting signals coming from all over the blogosphere, I have compiled a simple guide for undecided voters so that they can make an informed decision tomorrow aka “The Mother of All Election Days.”

No need to read intricate health care proposals.  Or, trying to figure out who’s for or against granting drivers licenses to undocumented aliens.  Or, agonizing over as to who has more experience or better judgment.  Or, wasting your precious time listening to talking heads on this or that cable news show.  Or, keeping track of which of the numerous Kennedys is for Obama or for Hillary.    

Folks, it ain’t that difficult to figure all of this out.  

Simply read my one-minute guide and I’m hopeful that you’ll do the right thing.  

Still not decided on who you might cast your ballot, or whatever, for?

Well The Real News have a few interviews with Jonathan Schell on his take on the candidates and their possible Foreign Policy Directions.

Who is Jonathan Schell, if you didn’t already know:

Based in New York City, USA, Jonathan Schell is a renowned anti-nuclear activist, prolific journalist, lecturer and best-selling author. He is a frequent contributor to The Nation, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine and Atlantic Monthly. He is also the author of The Fate of the Earth, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Schell is a board member of IWT – The Real News.