Happy Thanksgiving

I'm still full from dinner...

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Good food. Got some stuff around the house and Ant had a hockey tournament. His team came in third. Not too shabby. It was a great time.

I have not been writing much lately. I'm hoping to change that. I've been doing a lot of reading lately. I've been trying to figure out what's going on in the world and what is a good way to contribute to change.

I have always been interested in politics. My first presidential election was 1984 Reagan Vs Mondale. I've been voting, plus or minus a few primaries, ever since. I have been to caucuses and rallies, but until this election, I had never volunteered. This year in particular it seemed very important to get involved. Ant and I worked for Senator John Kerry in New Hampshire. We knew that Kerry would win MA without a problem, but since NH was a swing state we decided we would focus our efforts there.

We met some very interesting and dedicated people and we actually had a pretty good time. Kerry won NH, so that was very gratifying for us. If only Kerry had done as well in Ohio...

Or did he...? The recount isn't finished yet, so it's hard to tell. I still have my Kerry/Edwards yard sign up. I'm waiting until every vote is counted.

I can't imagine that I will be able to sit here and wait for the next election. Once you get involved, I think you stay involved. We're only 2 years away from the mid-term elections and I think the Dems can use all the help they can get. I'm going to do my best to do my part.

Don't Get Mad, Get Organized

Keith Olbermann continues his coverage of voting irregularities on The Countdown. More details at Bloggermann

I have e-mailed CBS, NBC, CNN, and PBS asking that they also look into the matter of voting irregularities. I hope that I can inspire you to contact them as well. There are other networks and newspapers, for that matter that can be contacted, I just haven't had time to put a list together yet. ABC is not included on this list for the same reason that FOX isn't on it either. Nuff, said. I did however, nominate Keith Olbermann for Person of the Week, but if this week's choice is any indication of their position, I doubt Keith will make the cut. (This week is Karl Rove)

We need to shine some light on the issue of voting fraud/irregularities/screwups if we can ever hope to have an election that is honest, transparent and accurate. Whether or not the allegations are true, they should be investigated fully so that in the future American citizens can have confidence that their vote, regardless of party, will be counted.

This election has made an activist out of me. Pass it on.

And So It Goes.

I think I've now waited the appropriate time since the election to try to articulate my feelings about it. I had to wait because I could not figure how to spell out a primal scream.

Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed with the outcome of the election.

I have given the election a lot of thought and I think I can boil my disappointment down to one particular issue: I think that a president should appeal to our hopes and dreams and not manipulate us with fear, anxiety and bigotry.

There are some organizations like Black Box Voting.com and Black BoxVoting.org looking into voter fraud. I don't know what to think about that. It's worrying to me that some communities used electronic voting machines that don't have a paper back up.

Now that the investigations have begun, some in the GOP are saying that the Dems are whiners/sore losers/crybabies....whatever. It's obvious that there needs to be a more transparent electronic voting process with a back up, auditable paper trail. That will help both parties in the long run.

There was a great report on voter irregularities on The Countdown with Keith Olbermann. He covers a lot of this report in his blog
Bloggermann

Keith is the only reporter I know who is working on this. Show him the love at
KOlbermann@msnbc.com

There is lot more written about this and other post-election issues at
Daily Kos. That is the best blog out there, in my opinion.

Classy guys

Photo courtesy JohnKerry.com

'In his concession speech, Senator Kerry called on his supporters to "bridge the partisan divide."' (NY Times)

Ummm... The Republicans now control the Executive and the Legislative Branch, with the Judicial not far behind. What are the chances of "bridging the partisan divide?"

I'm taking bets on when the draft gets reinstated.

Well, whattaya gonna do?

I'm still a bit mopey over the election, so I think it's best to comment later.

Don't Forget to Hope

Courtesy JohnKerry.com

Election Day. It's finally here. I don't know about Bush and Kerry, but my tumbly is a bit rumbly about the whole thing. There is just so much on the line here, and you know what I mean unless you've been living in a cave. I have decided to take a break from the coverage. The spin on the cable news channels is just annoying. According to them, a long protracted recount is a foregone conclusion. The contrarian in me is thinking no way and here's why.

This morning at 9:30 a.m. when I went to my local voting precinct I was amazed by the lines. It wasn't just elderly folks either, there were lots of middle-aged and younger folks. The poll workers said that there had been lines since the polls opened at 7:00 a.m.

It just made me feel good that people are taking this election so seriously. I don't have a crystal ball - or a Magic 8 Ball for that matter, but I think people are ready for change. I think enough of them will turn out, that a recount won't be necessary (fingers crossed!). It never hurts to hope.

I'm Susan, and I approved this message.