Saintless

more graph humor and song chart memes

At least, according to Paul Begala.

“He says it’s a long-term strategy,” said Paul Begala, the longtime Clinton aide and Democratic strategist. “What he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose.”

You know, seeing Obama staffers here in Utah, and sometimes staying pretty late, after they’d finished making calls and wrapping up paper work, you’d think that if they were wandering around picking their noses, that I would have seen it. Oddly enough, I guess I missed that part. Or maybe that was just the 2004 election.

What I did see was them reaching to every corner of the state, organizing voter registration, calling campaigns and lots of good that was done both for the Obama campaign and for the Utah Democratic Party. They built on what we had started, and left us with organizing abilities that we did not previously have.

I believe that Utah has lots of potential for the Democratic Party, and that many Utahns, even those who may not vote for Senator Obama, appreciated that we were not ignored. Utah has far more unaffiliated voters than it does for both major parties combined. And though some may have short memories, it’s not been all that long since Utah was considered a Democratic state.

On top of which, the attention given to Utah from the Obama campaign in the primary election greatly helped the chances of Democrats running for state and local offices. People are more involved, and they are willing to work to achieve their goals. Hope, being the tagline of the Obama campaign, is really what we were given. Hope that we could make a difference in our own lives, instead of assuming that wealthy Republicans were going to win anyway, so why bother? Without that type of hope, they will win. But, with it, we are spurred to action, and we will be much better off for it.

And if staffers are brought back to Utah, I’ll buy the Kleenex, just in case.

This is very interesting, and I might consider signing up (it’s free) if I weren’t starting a new contract next week.

The future of our federal judiciary — particularly the Supreme Court — will effectively be on the ballot in November when voters choose the next President and new class of senators. This seminar explains why every American should care about who sits on the federal courts, and what’s at stake during an election year.
The Federal Courts at a Crossroads: Our Rights and the Courts’ Future at Stake in an Election Year, a free online course organized by People For the American Way, is now enrolling.

Over six weeks, you’ll cover the following:

• An introduction to the federal judiciary and the importance of the courts
• What’s at stake: Women’s rights, voters’ rights, LGBT rights and the environment
• An end-of-term wrap-up examining cases just before the Supreme Court
• Looking ahead: Rights at stake during the Court’s next term

Enroll today!

This course starts June 9 and runs through July 18. Enrollment will be open until June 11. Read enrollment instructions and course expectations.

Via DCist comes this story about making a police state out of our nation’s capital:

D.C. police will seal off entire neighborhoods, set up checkpoints and kick out strangers under a new program that D.C. officials hope will help them rescue the city from its out-of-control violence.

Under an executive order expected to be announced today, police Chief Cathy L. Lanier will have the authority to designate “Neighborhood Safety Zones.” At least six officers will man cordons around those zones and demand identification from people coming in and out of them. Anyone who doesn’t live there, work there or have “legitimate reason” to be there will be sent away or face arrest, documents obtained by The Examiner show.

An executive order, huh? As of late, that seems to be some sort of code for “we know it’s not legal, but we’re doing it anyway”.

Hillary Clinton has yet to admit that the Democratic Presidential Primary is a done deal, but the tone of media chatter that I’ve heard is that she’s going to - on a night of her own choosing, when she can have the spotlight on her for a moment. My personal feelings about that very, but at the moment, I feel like that’s an OK thing. Granted, her ‘offer to be Obama’s VP, in order to unify the party’ seemed rather out of line, to me. But, hey, I’d be happy to follow he lead and offer myself as Obama’s Technology Czar. Ezra Klein put it best, I think:

If you were Clinton and, on the one hand, you had your hated adversaries in the media clamoring for you to drop out, and on the other, you were mobbed, every day, by devoted supporters who had invested their hopes in you and begged you to keep up the fight, and you yourself wanted to continue prosecuting your case, well, what would you do?

I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that she’ll be Obama’s VP. In fact, I think McCain would be more likely to offer her the job than Obama, but we all know that’s not very likely, either. Obama will likely choose someone to round out his skills, maybe someone strong on foreign policy, to satisfy those who believe he needs more experience. I do believe he’ll make a wise choice, no matter who it is.

If Hillary gets a job in the Obama administration, I could see it having to do with healthcare, since that is one of her strong points, and the one she seems to be the most passionate about, at least if you narrow it down to things Obama and Clinton can agree on. And that would satisfy a lot of people.

Last night, about 5 hours after I scheduled the “Yes We Did” party, people began to show up at the SkyBox Grille. Kurt Bestor beat us all in the door, and was just beginning a snack as I walked in with Dimitrios and his girlfriend (sorry, I suck at names) to the back room where the big screen awaited us. Not long after, people began arriving, eager to own another little piece of this campaign. Many were people I’d never met before. Others were the people who I’ve known since this all started, like Theodore, Strider, Brandon, Janet Lee, Laurie Noda, and so many more. Rob Miller brought Utah Attorney General candidate, Jean Welch Hill, and Pete Ashdown and Robin Ballard brought their two youngest children. I would guess attendance at about 40 people. Which really isn’t bad, considering the short notice everyone had about the event.

Chris Vanocur, of ABC 4, sent down a camera to check out the activities. Halfway through Senator Obama’s speech, I was asked to do an interview, and so I missed much of the speech. I love technology, though. It’s all on YouTube, and I’ve put the video at the end of this article, in case anyone else would like to (re-)watch it. Kurt Bestor and Theodore Cowan were also interviewed, presumably because of their status as elected National Delegates for Senator Obama. ABC 4’s video feed isn’t allowed on this blog’s setup, so I can’t post it here. But, you can view it on ABC4.com.

KSL also had some interesting coverage yesterday regarding the Democratic Primary, including Donald Dunn’s take.

There were two other reporters there last night. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that they were reporters until it was too late, and they were gone. Apparently, one was from the Salt Lake Tribune.

The Deseret News had some other interesting news coverage yesterday. They quoted Wayne Holland as confirming rumors that I keep hearing, about Helen Langdon and Karen Hale switching from Hillary to Barack, as well as saying that Jim Matheson would be coming out for Barack. I’ve been hearing about the first two for a long while now, and from many different people. I had almost begun to think it was wishful thinking, but regardless, this is good news!

Now we can get on to the serious business of facing John McSame McCain. You know, Mr. 4-More-Years-Of-Bush, who thinks that spying on Americans is patriotic and on registering new voters across Utah. Watch for a summary very soon about the successes we’ve already had!

And now, on to Barack’s victory speech last night.

Utah for Obama is hosting a “Yes We Did” Celebration party to watch Barack Obama’s Victory Speech tonight at SkyBox Grille at the Gateway Mall at 7:30 PM.

After Saturday’s decision to finalize the Michigan and Florida delegates, 2,118 is the magic number of delegates to reach the Democratic Nomination. As of this writing, Barack Obama needs 31.5 delegates to get there. Tonight, after the votes are counted in Montana and South Dakota, the last few names of Super Delegates who will vote for Senator Obama at the DNC in August will be announced, and Senator Obama will make his victory speech.

According to my sources, his speech will happen at 8:15 MDT, just after the polls close, so make sure that you arrive by 8!.

This campaign is a movement of the people, and I cannot think of a more appropriate title for tonight’s event than “Yes we did”. Barack won this nomination because of you, and me, and literally millions of other people’s efforts. It’s not just Barack who won, it’s all of us. We have more work to do, but tonight it’s time to celebrate what we’ve accomplished.

And tomorrow, we can get on to the work of showing John McCain for what he really is - 4 more years of Bush.

Details:
SkyBox Sports Grill, 7:30 PM
4 South Rio Grande Street
Family-friendly event
Bring your friends, too!
Use Winter Parking entrance on north side of 100 South.
SkyBox is on the west side of Rio Grande Street, on the Promenade level

I love buying from local businesses, for a variety of reasons. Partly, I believe this is the answer to Wal-Mart. Buying locally made products or from local businesses helps Utah’s economy, and stimulates small businesses. One of my favorite reasons was reaffirmed for me last night, though.

I crochet a lot, and the yarn store around the corner from me recently moved, so I was buying my yarn from chain stores. But, they have such a limited selection. It’s 90% acrylic, with maybe 3 colors of cotton and some mohair thrown in. My recent projects have been cotton, and I’ve realized how much I despise the feel of acrylic.

Last night, I had about 2 hours before the Salt Lake Democratic Central Committee meeting, so one of the things I decided to do was find a new (local) yarn store.

The first place I stopped had mostly sewing items, and the lady talked to me about how when she first opened 20 years ago, she had lots of “yarn craft” items, but that the big stores were selling yarn for the same price she was able to buy it for, so she had stopped. She was able to tell me where the store around the corner from me had moved, but pointed out that Wool Cabin was just across the street.

Mind you, “just across the street” isn’t as easy as it sounds. 3300 South near 2000 East is a mess, due to a pipe that’s being laid in the middle of the road. So, I had to get back on 3300 South, turn right on 2000 East, pull into H&R Block’s parking lot, get back on 2000 South and then go through the light. Anyhow, I finally made it there, and what a treat!

There were 3 big rooms, just full of a variety of yarns, in a rainbow of colors. When I went in, the lady greeted me with a smile, but didn’t hover. When I asked her a question though, I found a wealth of information just waiting for me. Although she was a self-described “wool snob”, she showed me that not all acrylics are the rough “fiberglass” texture that I don’t like. She also showed me some great cottons, linens and wool yarns, along with blends. She was a knitter, not a crocheter, but she was very helpful when I was trying to determine what yarns I would need for the two patterns I had selected. They have tons of patterns in binders for very low cost (about $3) as well as some great books.

And that brings me back to my favorite “buy local” reason. The service! It was so nice to find the staff so pleasant, along with how knowledgeable she was.

I can’t wait to finish the projects I’m working on, so I can go back and find something to make out of the linen yarn!

Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation’s first female president.

While Hillary is conceding that Barack has the delegates needed, she’s not dropping out just yet. I’m not quite sure why, but regardless, we’re going to celebrate the fact that Barack Obama has won the Democratic nomination tonight!

We don’t have a venue yet, because this is just breaking. But, I’ll announce it here after we have it confirmed. And if you have a place you’d like to offer that has a tv and plenty of room, let me know!

It’s rather amusing to me how right on the spot that The Spoof was about this.

Update: Yes, I know that other sources say she’s denying that she’ll concede. However, look at the way they phrased it - she’s denying that she’ll concede the nomination. She can’t deny that Obama will have the required number of delegates to declare victory tonight. While Montana only has 16 delegates at stake, it’s expected that the remaining undeclared Super Delegates will be simultaneously announcing their support of Senator Obama, giving him the delegates needed. We will have won. And we’re gonna celebrate!

Last Wednesday, hundreds, thousands or some large number of people showed up at Washington Square for the Peace and Human Rights Rally. So, we decided that would be the perfect place to register new voters, and update others’ registrations. I had at least 6 people join me, including Cheryl, Theo, Brandon, Susan, Sherri, and Claire and her son. I swear there were a couple more but I didn’t do a sign-in, so I’m stuck with the ones my short memory will recall. Anyway, we were able to register 43 voters. Not bad for an hour’s work, right?

Here are some of the photos from the rally, much thanks to Theo for getting some of the better shots for me.

It took me 3 tries, but I finally got a full shot of this “Prez Lie Dispenser” sign.

These guys with the foil signs walked in front of and through the crowd several times.

Here’s a shot from near the back of the crowd.

One from the side.

Another from the side.

Here’s Rocky at the beginning of his speech.

I liked the signs put up from High Road for Human Rights. They said:

Our America Does Not Torture

America: Where Everyone Including The President Is Bound By Rule Of Law

Torture Is A Subversion Of American Values

Anyway, we’ve had a lot of positive stories about Vote for Change across Utah. Josh Der sent this email about the Logan Vote for Change event:

On Saturday, May 24, 2008, Utah State University for Obama, Cache Valley for Obama and the Cache County Democratic Party jointly organized a voter registration drive in Logan.

We had four volunteers and we collected 16 new voter registration applications, 6 of which were Democrats, 6 were unaffiliated and only one of which was Republican. This was a test-run and was a great success, considering it was nice weather on a holiday weekend without any big events happening in Logan.

One of our volunteers scouted the community for potential drive locations, one registered voters downtown and two volunteers worked outside of a locally owned, progressive coffee shop/deli counter.

We wore our Obama flair, but focused on registering people to vote. If they asked why we were doing it, we told them about the Vote for Change campaign. We were well received and connected with some potential volunteers.

By the end of the day, we came away feeling excited and energized. We also gave out free Obama bumper stickers to supporters who expressed interest. We didn’t really push the stickers, but still gave out close to 30 of them.

This registration drive represents something tangible, easy and proactive we can all do to promote Obama. The more we promote Obama in Utah, the stronger the democratic party will be on Election Day, regardless of how Utah’s electoral votes are cast. This means the possibility for REAL change on a local level, where we are most directly affected.

Here are a couple pieces of advice for organizers based on our experiences:

1) Identify locations before you start. Corporate-owned grocery store chains (e.g. Walmart or Albertsons, etc.) don’t want anything to do with politics, so don’t bother sending volunteers to these places, they’ll just get turned away. I’ve found locally owned businesses are much more receptive to this voter registration drive. Consider the management’s perspective; try not to bother patrons inside of the business, but rather catch them on their way in or out. Don’t block the entrance and don’t be too pushy. Look for places where you’ll get a lot of foot traffic. Consider your target demographic and go to where you are likely to find them (e.g. for youth, find the local hangouts or work on campuses; for Latinos or Asian Americans, go to an ethnic market or restaurant). If you can (and they will allow), get a booth or a table at a local festival or farmer’s market, otherwise get a lot of volunteers to work the crowd. In any case, its best to work in a location where people are not in a rush and can spend a few minutes to fill out the form or to chat with you.

2) Visit your County Clerk’s office. They are required to provide voter registration application books to organizations who are registering voters. They will give you 4-5 books of 50 applications. Each volunteer will need a book, so this may limit how many volunteers you can use, but if a few different people request them independently or you make a plea that you are working a large event, you may be able to get more. The books have carbon copies so you can give each voter a receipt that is proof of registration and will get them a ballot in case they don’t get their voter registration card or their application gets lost somehow. The books fit on a clipboard well and you don’t have to make any photocopies or carry stacks of loose paper or bulky state-printed mail in forms (however, its good to have a few mail in forms to give out to people who don’t have time, want their voter information kept private, or want to give it to a friend). Be sure to check that all the required information is completed and legible. When you finish a book, bring it back to the County Clerk and they will replace it.

Set up your own vote for change event: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/create

Lots of people are organizing small drives, and local businesses seem to be supportive, and often let people run the drive from there. In fact, Golden Braid Books contacted us, to offer a location. It’s easy, and even if you don’t want to run one yourself, you can join us at larger gatherings, like next weekend when we get going at Utah Pride. Check out events statewide.

There’s a rumor going around that I might be getting engaged soon. Since I’m hoping the rumor is true, I was happily surprised to run across this blog titled “Eco Bridal: DIY, Upcycle or Handcraft Your Wedding Dress”.

Not only does Leslie Richard list 9 different custom dress designers that are green, she also links to ecoparti, where you can get biodegradable ecofetti and other wedding/party favors.

I’ve told Dax that I want a white wedding, with all the trimmings. I guess now I need to re-evaluate, because a “green wedding” seems more my style. I still want the white dress, though.