Thursday, October 23, 2008

Greetings, from ferrethead the blogger!

Twelve days...I just keep telling myself, it's almost over, it's almost over. This campaign has been going on so long, I'm almost to the point where I don't care who wins - can't we just vote already?!?!?!





"Up yours, America!!!"



But then, it hits me - it most definitely matters who wins!!! In fact, I can't imagine a more important decision that the citizens of this country could make right now. So, I'm wondering, what - if anything - has each of us done to get our candidate elected? Or to support the causes that matter most to us?


For myself, I've just given money. Fortunately, as an accountant, I'm always lucky to have work, and I don't own a home or have children, so this abyssmal economy hasn't had an adverse effect on me, so far. So, I've given money - to Obama, to Democracy for America, to ActBlue (for various Democratic congress races), to No on 8 (civil rights for ALL). I was going to go to Nevada this weekend, for the get out the vote effort in Reno, but family obligations require I go to Seattle again this weekend.


Pretty lame effort, no phone calling, not even working the Democrats booth at the county fair. So, shame me with your efforts...please!

62 comments:

J.M. Ferretti said...

It's probably tacky to be the first post, but I SO want to make a t-shirt out of that photo! I think I'd make a fortune!!!

TedSpe said...

The hardest part was talking people who were so pro-Clinton, to not abstain

TedSpe said...

Man. I wrote this incredibly Jeffersorian post. But now, for safety sake, since I only post what I log in as, I went through this whole serpentine manipulation that kept requesting I ams what I ams that I lost my eloquence somewhere in Cyberia.
But believe me...it was brillaint.
:)

TedSpe said...

Ooh! Ooh! Mr. Kotter!
Something somewhat interesting about the 3 absatiners still in my life. Perhaps no reflection of anything but in my own little world, something to ponder.
All 3? Asian American Women.
First?
Parents, born in Shanghai pre-Mao. After Mao, parents "escaped" and eventually came to America 1959. She was born in San Francisco and has been here since day one of her life. Age? 46
Second?
Parents born in China. No issues with Mao. Moved to England where she was born. First emigrated to Canada, then moved to Walnut Creek circa 1970. Age? 34
Third?
Born in the Philippines. Moved to America when she was 9. Lived in Daly City or S.S.F. all this time.
Age? 29.
So...all Asian American females, all Ms. Clinton supporters, all with disparate backgrounds but none under any sort of chaos in their lives though their parents had some. All about 10 years apart in age.
And all...abstaining and I got NOTHING to change their minds.
Weird straw poll with 3 people.
But (and I haven't given up yet) all feel the same.
McCain's a Bush clone and Obama's an overreaching neophyte.
God I Love My Life!!!!

Mindful Life said...

This won't shame you, FH, it'll probably make you feel better. I bought a t-shirt for Hillary and Mr. Suza bought one for Obama. That is the extent of the money we are giving. Neither of us has given any effort other thana that, although we both just sent in our absentee ballots.

I was (and am) a Hillary supporter, but as long as I don't listen to the crazy, rabid, freaking out of their minds on some messianic trip Obama supporters I don't have any trouble voting for him. I'm happy to be voting for him.

Methinks those supporters will be sorely disappointed once he's actually in office (please god(s)) and turns out to be a regular politician type and not the second lefty coming.

Meanwhile, FH - I hope nothing bad is going on in Seattle. My good thoughts and prayers are with you.

ps - I would totally buy one of those t-shirts. :)

winkingtiger said...

I agree with everything Suza said...except I didn't buy the t-shirt... *sigh*

TooSense said...

suza, I'm also casting my vote for Obama in the *hopes* that he will be a regular politician type, rather than a despot like Bush or McCain. Frankly, although I believe Obama represents much more, mediocrity is something I can get firmly behind in opposition to complete incompetence or malevolence.
~
That said, I don't give money to politicians, but I vote and pay taxes. I know, I'm naiive and don't get that elections are bought. I'm an idealist.

Anonymous said...

Well, the McCain/Palin racist hate machine really hit the jackpot in Pa., huh? Apparently the young Repub. zealot from Texas not only faked a mugging by a black man and lied to the police about it, but she also carved a "B" into her cheek and blamed it on the fictitious Obama supporting thug?

And are any of those blue collar guys crowding in to see Palin of color?

Well, at least interest rates are plummeting along with everything else . . . .

Sorry, FH. Nothing else to offer. But you should rest easy -- your presence here and on the gate has won some Demo. votes, I'm sure.

winkingtiger said...

Ashley Todd
Was quite a broad
Her story: odd
A proven fraud

Anonymous said...

Now, I'm not one to stir up trouble. But I'm pondering these revelations about the hundreds of thousands of dollars the GOP spent to dress up and make over Palin and her family. And I'm thinking, is it not time to revisit the "lipstick" jokes?

Anonymous said...

I have a question for all of you Obama supporters.

Why do you want socialism? What's in it for you?

Dan Gonzales said...

Gina, what sort of lame question is that? Tell me, when did you stop beating your kids? I have news for you, honey, the U.S.A. has a mixed system, and there's no way that the system will be either all one way or the other during Obama's presidency. I mean, look at the goddamn financial crisis right now. Tell me how the Bush Administration isn't imposing a form of socialism on that industry.

Anonymous said...

Quit ragging on me, dragonbalz.

If you don't think this country is turning towards a form of socialism, think again.

And as for Bush, under his regime the government only grew larger. Kinda makes me wonder if Jr. was more of a moderate than he let on.

I think we're moving towards one world order, don't you?

Anonymous said...

At least I have children to beat...which is more than you'll ever contribute to the future economy.

I'm not your honey, you patronizing bozo.

And that's right, those free checks he wants to hand out to the 'poor' are just financial 'oportunities'. Let me guess, you make under 250,000 dollars a year? Poor you.

Mindful Life said...

gina, your posts are all over the place. honestly sometimes I wonder if someone else is sometimes posting under your name or if you've occasionally forgotten to take your medication.

of course, the first can be resolved by creating a personal login and the second can be resolved by setting an alarm to remind you.

J.M. Ferretti said...

gina - I like my socialized roads, my socialized police & fire departments, and my socialized military. I don't like the way that Republicans practice Socialism: Capitalize the gains, socialize the losses!

If you have allowed yourself to have your intention to vote for Obama dissuaded by the trumped up ACORN story - notice that we haven't heard anything about that lately - then you are just the sucker the wingnuts are looking for. They would be gratified to know that their BS is actually working on someone...

Anonymous said...

Gina, give it a rest. On economic issues Obama's a moderate, far from socialist (unfortunately).

And your railing against socialism really isn't very, uh, compelling. What's your point? Everyone should be free to starve on her own?

TedSpe said...

I don't quite get the nuances of the 700 plus billion "bailout" thing but the 250 billion infusion of the "government's" money into financial institutions "Capital" makes the U.S. government shareholders of publically traded corporations. That, technically, is already socialism.

It doesn't matter whether Obama or McCain are elected. It's already happened under the current executive administration and congress.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

This is fairly interesting, on the "socialism" issue:

http://tinyurl.com/socialistmyth

Dan Gonzales said...

Vindication! For those who may recall the controversy from 6 months ago:

And it is this America that Palin, Hannity, and O'Reilly are trying to preserve. Don't forget that not so long ago O'Reilly mused about a lynching PARTY against Michelle Obama.

Posted By: carowan | October 24 2008 at 06:44 PM

I was using my wife's new computer with super cool touch sensitive key board, so the first message above came out under her name (carowan) rather than mine (hartal).

Posted By: hartal | October 24 2008 at 06:59 PM

I knew they were one and the same.

And Gina, one of my points was that your alarm about socialism is somewhat tainted by your willingness to put up with it when practiced by your icons. The other, more simply, was that this country will *never* be all socialist, or all capitalist, because the practical nature of Americans will tend to mitigate against that tendency by adopting socialist methods or capitalist methods depending on which one works under which circumstances.

Dan Gonzales said...

In other words, sweetie, your views on this subject are all wet. Pity you can't be that way where it would do someone, anyone, some good.

TedSpe said...

dsgonzale6, yup. Exactly, my dear Holmes. I'm your Watson, chief.
carowan/hartal and, between you and me and everyone else here... that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more...one and the same.
Wrong forum here but...
I have evidence of other personas that keep matching.
Stay tuned...

TedSpe said...

Pity you can't be that way where it would do someone, anyone, some good
**
Oops. j.m. ferretti's gonna throw you in the penalty box again!!!
:)

winkingtiger said...

DSG: That is inconceivable! ;-)

winkingtiger said...

Oh, I almost forgot our daily dose of ontopic pop culture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh9BmNuqeiQ

Dan Gonzales said...

Ted, your recent identity problems may well be related.

Anonymous said...

Suza, dear, I'm rather preoccupied these days with building a chicken coop. I must say, it's a work of art. Maybe that would explain my thinking patterns?

And I wish I had some medication, althought those mushrooms out in the pasture are lookin' inviting...

I can't possibly address all of you, but please, don't you think most of you suffer from not being breastfed as babies?

And pisstoad tedspe, you need more sex, obviously.

TooSense said...

So the US has failed at capitalism the way other countries have failed at socialism. Why don't we just call it all greedism and be done with it? The current fearmongering around socialism is really pretty bewildering. Essentially what it boils down to is the right wing's typical lack of faith in Americans to do anything properly. Socialism and big government are two different things. We currently have a big government geared toward the financial betterment of the few and the social betterment of none. McCain is running for high position in government on a 'government is bad' platform. Government won't be good until we sweep out the incompetents, and those without belief in the importance of their jobs are the obvious candidates for dismissal. I'm with lefty here. Socialism beats the hell out of anything we've got going. The differences between the US and China grow smaller every day. And the ones on the front line pushing to make the divide even smaller-- the religious right-- have long since outlived their purpose in a free society. It's time Americans started putting legislation on the books to stop these cretins from redefining what Americans hold sacred. I'm not advocating discrimination. Religious nutjobs should be free to practice whatever voodoo they please, but allowing them to redefine the American Way is wrong and the bible says so, in the book of America. Shall we start by putting our brothers and sisters on the path of righteousness again by requiring them to file tax returns and following up with thorough audits? A nod from god. Life is good.

Mindful Life said...

I like my socialized fire department, police department, school system, road system and transportation systems as well. If not for them the class difference would be even greater. Can you imagine if you had to pay for insurance for the Fire Department to visit you in case of emergency? Forget to pay? Say buh-bye to your house. And your neighbor's house as well.

What would be really nice would be if we stopped subsidizing huge corporations. They are treated as human entities under the law, and seem to benefit from the largesse of most of our socialist policies. Tax credits, subsidies, and now a bailout.

Although all of the people I know personally who have been foreclosed upon were at best foolish and in some cases downright greedy and idiotic in using their houses as leverage for fast cash, that certainly doesn't mean that everyone who lost their home was greedy or stupid. In some cases I'm sure it was bad luck, being lied to, and being taken advantage of.

So, let's take the amount of money legitimately lost in individual homes vs. the amount of money squandered by these downright greedy and dishonest CEOs. And who is getting bailed out? The rich people. Of course.

That is how we prove we live in a capitalist society.

Anonymous said...

Geez, TooSense...I thought I had some farout ideas...

I think big corps would love socialism. Socialism, in my mind hurts the small business owner, the guy who's innovative, but hasn't made it big yet. To a big Corp like Wal-Mart, he's the competition. Get rid of him, pay your taxes, and you still come out ahead.
Big Corps like microsoft could pay 60% in taxes and still be wealtier than everyone else.

Anonymous said...

And Tedspe...being the DECENT person that I am, I'm going to do you the kindness and let you know that I only post on this blog, under one name. And, I repeat, I have not posted on sfgate for about a year now. I'm just not that devious or unethical as you might think some people are.

I have no reason to post under different names,nothing to gain by doing it.

TedSpe said...

gina, please.
I'm trying to be nice here.You posted under my name on the F*** Joe the Plumber thread.
You actually *used* my name and then complained about me on your *own* post.
If it means anything to you that you are, in your own words...DECENT...your words, not mine...log in before you post. That's why I do it every time now. So there's no question.

Anonymous said...

If you guys ever get bored, click back and forth from this page and see what word verifications you get. Out of the last ten, I got a few actual words like: lesser, genetatio(insert your own joke here), bootox (just in time for Halloween), aquarqui(What cokeheads use to start their automoblies or what mermaids drink.), and jarapi(an old Japanese car)

Anonymous said...

There, TedSpe, I hope you're happy now.

It doesn't mean squat, you know. A person could still post under a different name and not sign in. My guess, is that for some reason, you wanted something else displayed.

The Inner Eyeball said...

See?

J.M. Ferretti said...

Yogi - I know what you mean. Yesterday, I was checking in and my verification word was 'taser'....considering that Caribou Barbie prefers Tasergate to Troopergate, I thought that was quite apropo!

Gina - the great thing about logging in is that no one can post something horrible and claim it was you! It's a way to protect your good name... (Now, please play nice with Ted & TS...and DSG, okay???)

Dan Gonzales said...

I always play nice. ;) FH, am I still in the penalty box?

And my verification word was "shusbing".

winkingtiger said...

The other day, when we were talking about Socialism, my verification word was "colectio"...but I didn't think it worthy of note. Now I'm not so sure... ;-)

Anonymous said...

Ok, ferret. I love them and want to marry them all.

My word verification is 'janate'

The Inner Eyeball said...

Ooops. There's my borderline dyslexia again.

This time it's 'bravocta'

The Inner Eyeball said...

dsgonzale6 said...
In other words, sweetie, your views on this subject are all wet. Pity you can't be that way where it would do someone, anyone, some good.

October 24, 2008 11:13 PM

I just caught buffoon's nasty comment.

Ferret, are you going to stand for this from this little peckerwood?

TooSense said...

http://tinyurl.com/5mb5dl

Anonymous said...

Good news?

http://tinyurl.com/alfranken-sgonnawin

I would say so.

Dan Gonzales said...

Gina, as far as I'm concerned, you forfeited my civility towards you when you started trashing Ted for no good reason. And I'm going to shut up now before I say the six or seven really insulting things that come to mind right now, but trust me, they're good, they're on target, they're warranted, and our beloved hostess would definitely admonish me.

TedSpe said...

gina. thank you and please continue to post with the "blue letters"

And thank you j.m. ferretti and dsgonzalge6 for your logic and trust.

Now...let the pidgeons loose!!

Anonymous said...

Adele sings for me.
http://tinyurl.com/2vet5u
My word verification is ovess (a woman who donates her eggs to an infertile couple)

Anonymous said...

Yes, dsg, whatever you say. Do you honestly think I care?

Maybe you can answer this, though. I'm currently living at a ranch where there are a herd of goats. They're kinda cute, seem smart and are curious critters. Headstrong and combative, though. Will butt heads with each other for no good reason other than to establish a pecking order, I suppose. The only problem is that the herd has a billy. He's ok, but he stinks. I mean really, really stinks. Smells so bad I practically gag when I get too close, you know what I mean? Gag. It's bad.
Anyway, my question, since you're so knowledgeable, would be: do you know why he has to stink so much? I wouldn't ask, but I noticed your moniker is sometimes 'dsg' and thought perhaps it stood for 'dumb stinky goat'.

You're welcome, Ted.
This time the word is 'remet'.

The Inner Eyeball said...

Sorry, still figuring out this sign-in thing.

ableag...how's that word verification work?

Dan Gonzales said...

Gina, if you didn't care, you wouldn't have complained.

Dan Gonzales said...

BTW, Gina, you can call me names all day long. Doesn't bug me at all; in fact, sweetums, I think it shows you're kinda hot for me. Dig my new avatar.

J.M. Ferretti said...

gina - you were getting me a little worried there, with the whole 'goat story. Given that you recently told us your boyfriend was out of town, I wasn't quite sure where you were going with that...

I think I may need to rename my blog to "I'm rubber, you're glue". Sometimes I feel like my blog is populated by second graders - myself included!!!

Dan Gonzales said...

Fearless leader, are you ready to talk about Oliver Stone's W? We went to see it over the weekend and I was surprised at my reaction.

Anonymous said...

Is there a woman on Earth who has a more compelling speaking voice and delivery than her?
http://tinyurl.com/57b4g2

TooSense said...

I do like Laurie Anderson, but Fran Drescher comes to mind.

Mindful Life said...

oooh, come on FH - you have to make a posting about this:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/27/politics/p132118D83.DTL&tsp=1

ps - my verification word was sterserm...sounds vaguely natical and nasty at the same time...

The Inner Eyeball said...

dsg...I confess--you're absolutely right...I dig you--big time.

What size hat do you wear?

I had lots of fun in second grade, ferret, didn't you?

It's freiss, this time. Did I mention I was part French?

Dan Gonzales said...

I don't wear hats, they don't fit over the horns.

The Inner Eyeball said...

Hmmm. I see. Those must be mighty big horns you have there.

Dan Gonzales said...

Any bigger, and I'd be a bighorn sheep.

TooSense said...

AAH-OOO-GAH!

The Inner Eyeball said...

This word thing is too much. Is this rigged?

This time it says: 'innin'.

I swear to God.