Tag: Election

MA Special Senate Election

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow GazetteMassachusetts voters went to the polls yesterday in a special primary to select the Democratic and Republican candidates who will vie for the seat vacate by John Kerry when he became Secretary of State. This should be a no brainer but never underestimate the stupidity if the electorate.

Representative Edward J. Markey, who has spent almost four decades in the House, has cleared the first hurdle in his drive to become a United States senator, easily defeating a fellow congressman, Stephen F. Lynch, in Massachusetts’s Democratic primary on Tuesday.

On the Republican side, Gabriel E. Gomez, a former member of the Navy SEALs and a newcomer to politics, won a three-way primary. [..]

Mr. Markey, 66, who has one of the most liberal voting records in Congress, has promised to continue his fight for gun control, a clean environment, abortion rights and Mr. Obama’s health care law.

Mr. Gomez, 47, ran more on an outsider platform of institutional reform. He promised he would “reboot” Congress by imposing a pay freeze, term limits and a lifetime ban on lobbying.

This is from Charles P. Pierce at Esquire’s Political Blog:

Gabriel Gomez, a former SEAL and a businessman who, according to Tiger Beat On The Potomac, is campaigning for political office on the grounds that he is largely apolitical.

   “I’m running against two fine men … but combined, they’ve got 40 years of political experience. On the Democratic side, there are two guys with 60 years of combined political experience…I’ll wear it with a badge of honor that I have zero political experience.

He also has taken a position on Dzhokar Tsarnaev’s legal status on the grounds that he, Gomez, is not a lawyer.

   “I didn’t need to be a lawyer or a career politician to come to the conclusion right away that we need to hold this person as an enemy combatant,” said Gomez.

If you don’t understand how inexpertise can become a political boon, especially on the Republican side, you haven’t been paying attention for three decades. Of course, Gomez isn’t quite the political naif that he’s selling to the Commonwealth. He was the spokesman for the group of SEALS who accused the president of using the raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed for crass political purposes. He even made an ad to that effect, and the organization that sponsored it is raising money for his current campaign. He also wrote a letter to Governor Deval Patrick in which he auditioned to be appointed to the seat in question when John Kerry left to become Secretary Of State. This is called playing both ends against the middle. Guess what, Gabriel? You’re a politician. Ask around.

Yeah, thank the dog, he’s not a lawyer and his business, private equity. This should be interesting. The special election is June 25. Stand by, there is more to come.

Post Election Redux: What Republicans Have Not Learned from Losing

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

While Republicans at the federal level appear to understand that they have a huge demographics problem with Latino and women voters, the lesson of the loss has failed to reach the Republicans at the state level. As Rachel Maddow explains in states where Republicans control the legislature and governorship, they are taking further steps to pass legislation that cracks down on undocumented immigrants, gay rights and women’s access to abortion and reproductive health care:

But where Republicans are really in control of government, as in Kansas for example, Maddow said the party is taking steps to “crack down on immigrants who want to go to college.” She also said that the Republican leadership in Indiana is moving to add a constitutional ban on gay marriage to the state constitution-in a state where gay marriage is already illegal. In Ohio, Maddow said, one of the first things the state government did after the November election was hold a hearing on defunding Planned Parenthood. [..]

Maddow added that Republicans at the state level are still “waging wars” on issues like immigration, abortion, and gay marriage, even though members of the party seem to be saying otherwise on a national level. Speaking of the differences between Republican messages, Maddow said, “Somebody should tell the Beltway, or maybe it’s funnier if we don’t.”

Keep in mind some of these same Republican governors, like Wisconsin’s union and women hating Scott Walker and Louisiana’s creationist Bobby Jindal, are considered top contenders for the 2016 presidential ticket. And you thought they couldn’t do worse that Mitt Romney.  

Before it passes into history

I would like to note, the Mississippi of New England, the rock-ribbed Republican refuge for disaffected New Yorkers wanting to “live free or die,” the New Hampshire state motto, elected an all female liberal Democratic governor, senator to match the one previously elected, and both representatives.  They did go for one standard issue conservative – Obama – but it is hard to see how they had much choice.

There is progress but sometimes it is hard to see.

All the newly elected but one upset hard rightwingers.

Do anything like that in Californ-I-A?  [I asked my sister. :-)]

BTW the purported female Delaware Indian [there never was any Delaware tribe as such] elected in Massachusetts is at least a match for Bernie Sanders.  Elizabeth Warren is sure to be a pain for Obama as he attempts to do for bankers and gut Social Security in order to be loved by everyone except we desecrable “professional leftists.”

What a great election we had.

You might note that God has been taking His rightful vengeance on us here in the northeast even before the election.  If only Odin and his fully equal goddesses were the national religion but you have to start somewhere.

Best, Terry

Vote Like A G6!

Far East Movement – Like A G6 is sitting at the top of the Billboard 100 right now!

When we drink we do it right gettin slizzard

Sippin sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6

Now I’m feelin so fly like a G6

Like a G6, Like a G6

Now I’m feelin so fly like a G6

FYI of you the uncool, “sizzurp” is a mixed drink mixed with promethazine and codeine, a G6 is a Gulfstream 650, and promethazine is a relatively boring sedative except when used in conjunction with narcotics like codeine, and then it produces euphoria, irritability, dizziness, constipation, and confusion in the elderly, like flying upside-down in a Gulfstream G650 or voting in a fucked-up election.

The Orange British Academy Film Awards 2009 - Dinner Arrivals

Why I am going to vote

Alex, I will take INEPTITUDE over RUTHLESSNESS for $1000.

Back home, my REDSTATE friends have convinced me to vote.

I was going to sit this one out – first time to miss a voting cycle since Clinton was elected. This is the first year in over a decade that I have not canvassed or volunteered for a campaign.

I am pissed about Guantanamo, Insurance Reform, TARP, the lack of accountability and refusal of this administration to restore the rule of law – both in financial and military paradigms.

I am also pissed that the top tier of the Democratic Party is so dismissive of us – the BASE. There can be no pragmatic solution to working with the lunatics on the right.

I am pissed about it – REALLY PISSED!

Which brings me to the reason I am voting.

My REDSTATE friends are GLOATING. Not only are they gloating, they think their lunatic ideas are going to be implemented – even enforced. Their ideas are disjointed, lack cohesiveness, lack clarity, and lack compassion.

Although, I thought maybe sitting this one out will show the Dem Party the importance of the base, someone vulnerable will be affected by WINGNUTS if they gain power…. and that’s a big reason I joined progressives – to give a voice to those most vulnerable. That means more to me than spite.

So I thank the REDSTATE  WINGNUTS, for reminding me how important this is.

The end. 🙂

Three Green candidates that could seriously shake the boat in their states

Just a note before I begin.  These are just the candidates that I know of from my work in the Green Party and what I can glean online.  There are plenty of other strong Green candidates for state offices all over the country.  Not to mention, there are tons of strong local Green candidates.  You can find Green candidates near you at NewMenu.org.

With these three candidates representing just one part of a group of strong state legislative candidates the Green Party has running across the country this year, the party has a chance to make history.  Since its founding, the party has had four state legislators in office, with one of them being the result of a party switch.  There’s now a good chance that they could elect that many state legislators in a single election.

1.  Ben Manski. Manski is an environmental and democracy advocate running one of the strongest Green campaigns in the nation.  He’s widely regarded as a fierce competitor against the Democrat in the race, while Constitution and Republican candidates are also running.  He is running for the Wisconsin Assembly in the 77th District, which is in Madison.  Manski has racked up an impressive list of endorsements, ranging from local firefighters’ and teachers’ unions to over a dozen current elected officials to statewide figures in the Wisconsin Democratic Party.  With a platform that includes support for ending the war on drugs, the creation of a state bank, and only sending the National Guard into combat when a war is authorized by Congress, Manski is impressive not only because of the likelihood of his election, but because of his bold politics.

2.  Hugh Giordano. Before the election, I’ll be putting up another post about Giordano, because I’ve been volunteering for his campaign for several months, so I’ll keep it short for now.  Hugh is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met, and when he’s out knocking on doors he’s a union organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers.  He has garnered endorsements from several local unions who have been helping with the campaign, as well as from a former Democratic candidate in the race and former US Senator Mike Gravel.  He has billboards up, he’s got signs throughout the districts, and he’s got tons of support, especially in the Roxborough neighborhood, where he’s lived for most of his life.  (If you donate to Hugh, which I highly encourage!, please use the mailing address and not paypal, as the campaign has been having troubles with paypal.  Thanks!)

3.  Jeremy Karpen.  Karpen is going against the heart of the Chicago machine, a Democratic incumbent whose father is also in government.  At one point he actually outraised the Democrat, although that ended once the machine’s corporate interests caught wind of it.  Just like Giordano and Manski, he’s been raising an impressive amount of money for a Green and he’s garnered some impressive endorsements, including the Chicago Progressive Democrats of America, a local teachers’ union, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune.  When I interviewed Phil Huckelberry, a co-chair of the Green Party of Illinois, he insightfully pointed out that having even a single Green in the notorious Illinois legislature would give the body a clear conscience, and it would have the potential to create a movement in the state for clean government.

To me, that is what’s most significant about these campaigns.  They reject the corruption and compromises on principle (or lack of principle from the start) that are inherent in the Democratic Party.  Hugh Giordano’s opponent likes to say that she would remain independent even while being a Democrat in the legislature, but that’s ridiculous.  Without the support of the Democrats, she would be nowhere.  Yet Giordano, and all other Greens, can prove that better, more honest politics is possible by winning without the support of any machine.

The Republican War on Reality

Everett Dirksen is one of my heroes. The Senate Republican leader from 1959 to 1969, he pushed strongly for Vietnam escalation and took conservative stands that I’d have strongly disagreed with on economic issues. But he joined Lyndon Johnson in going to the mat to pass the Civil Rights and Voting Rights bills, and for that I admire him immensely.

Folk Wisdom for the Modern Era

At meeting this past Sunday a Friend’s message asked for help. Specifically she described a particular situation that was troubling her, namely the latest development of our militaristic society, the way that technology-based warfare can create atrocities just as easily as human hands. In so doing, she asked for specific prayers from those gathered for worship. I believe she was lamenting, in part, how human achievement can be so useful and so destructive at the same time. Many Friends rose to fulfill her request. They were so numerous, honestly, that I now have trouble now recalling all of them. One woman recited aloud the Lord’s Prayer, which I memorized at a young age, as many do. Others provided words of comfort that were utterly foreign to me, but no less intriguing.

VoteVets Runnin Ad Campaign

VoteVets sent out an E with three new ads they’ve started running and over at their Vet Voice site have a couple of posts up with explanations of.

View the ads and then give them a hand getting them out or passing them on especially to residents of the states representatives targeted.

Take action for 3 important Green candidates

Dan Hamburg, LeAlan Jones, and Jill Stein are running three races that are very important to the Green Party this year.  In California, Hamburg is a former Democratic Congressman hoping to be elected as a Green to Mendocino County Supervisor.  In Illinois, Jones is the only African American in the Senate race and has polled as high as 14%, in a state where the Green candidate for governor got over 10% in 2006.  In Massachusetts, Stein is less than $1,000 away from qualifying for the rest of the debates, and about $38,000 away from qualifying for matching funds.

I’ll make this as simple as possible.  Here’s what each one needs from you:

Some news from Hugh Giordano’s Green campaign for state legislature in Philadelphia

I’ve been gone all summer – traveling, gardening, volunteering a bit, and doing some other things – and as much as I had a lot of fun, it is nice to be back.  In all that time, some interesting things have happened with what I consider to be one of the better Green campaigns in the nation this year, and one that I’m very involved with, Hugh Giordano’s campaign for state legislature as a Green.

In case you don’t know who Hugh is, he’s a 25 year old union organizer running as a Green in PA’s 194th district, which is mostly in Philadelphia and also a bit in Montgomery County (for locals, it encompasses Roxborough, Manayunk, parts of Lower Merion, and some surrounding areas).  He’s been running a great campaign, knocking on doors, holding fun fundraisers, getting in the newspaper, and raising as much money as a typical Green congressional candidate.

Anyway, below the fold is some news from the campaign, including an endorsement from a fairly prominent local Democrat.

Blog Talk Radio – Progressive Independence Radio – 8PM EDT

We’ve got a lot to talk about tonight: Ohio’s Green Party gubernatorial candidate Dennis Spisak, one of incumbent and Democrat Ted Strickland’s creatures stalking Spisak on the ‘net, Don Blankenship and why he should be in prison, more about the Full Court Press (I talked with fellow blogger Jeff Roby last week on the subject), and finally, porn starlet Stormy Daniels’ run for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana to replace GOPer David Vitter.

The call-in number is 1 (347) 884-9121 if you want to call in and talk with us.  The URL is here.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/p…

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