The sudden firing of millions right before President Obama signed the new federal equal pay law were no coincidence. Companies were trying to shut off old liabilities before the new law made them actionable.
Background: Previously, the Supreme Court had ruled that an individual had to sue for pay discrimination within 180 days of when the discrimination commenced, rather than within 180 days of the date, years later, when they finally found out about it. As in, the courts completely gutted the law by allowing corporations to brazenly violate it in secret, knowing they could get away with murder. If the woman didn't sue within 180 days of the first time her employer secretly paid the paid her less than a male for the same job, they were free to continue secretly screwing the female employee out of equal pay for her entire career.
The new law signed by President Obama today corrects that travesty. Now, the 180 day period attaches to each new paycheck that is less than that of a man with the same job. So, a woman who is kept in the dark about this pay disparity for years before finally becoming aware of it now has a legal claim at the time she becomes aware of it still happening currently.
The Preemptive Firings: My cynical mind tells me that the 70,000 people suddenly fired from their jobs this week, as well as the millions dumped last week, were all fired in anticipation of this act becoming signed into law. Suddenly, dirt they had pulled on their female employees for years and years would become actionable. So, I think they dumped all the women presenting this potential pay liability, and wrapped the package with enough male firings to try and cover up the true reason for their precipitous decision.
Why This Works - Severance Pay Releases: Employers are permitted to structure severance pay plans as not a right, but an extra goodie for employees if and only if the employees sign a release of liability in return for receiving severance pay. Virtually all employees will sign them in return for the money. But these releases are solid gold for employers, because they whitewash employers for liability for anything whatsoever related to that past employment, whether known now or only discovered in the future. Ahem!
So now, having quickly ditched all that liability for unequal pay, employers will start hiring again free of any past liability for their dirty deeds. AND, they will hire at lower pay for all, knowing that people will be damn grateful just to get back into the workforce. Plus, if there is any tax benefit to making new hires contained in the final economic stimulus bill, the employers will actually be PAID to take these people back at lesser pay! If the employer doesn't want its own employees back, out of work employees can all take one step to the left and get each other's jobs.
So, it's my cynical view that employers did massive firings to avoid the liability imposed by this new law, and my optomistic view that they will now proceed to hire everybody right back.
After a brief period when the employers all celebrate and pat each other on the back for being so clever, of course.
One of the signal changes leading up to President Obama's election was the stunning rise of the baby boomers once more. We're the generation that felt had, lied to, and abandoned by a government and corporate bureauocracy that that stifled us, tried to control the way we thought, and illegally sent our brothers and classmates to be killed in Vietnam. We were an entire generation of alienated individuals, too cynical about government to think our efforts made any difference at all.
Obama's candidacy represented all the ideals we had back then going mainstream now. What I saw in this campaign was an ARMY of people in their fifties and sixties once again hopeful that government would be responsive to their ideas and needs. While Obama effectively harnessed the enthusiasm of youth, I hope he appreciates the tide of emotion and strong feelings that he unleashed in older Americans as well. For once, our idealism had a place, and we could act on it. We felt renewed, worthwhile. And we got involved in droves. The result was that Obama actually had the combined power of generations behind his back.
This stunning reality was brought home to me especially in the last days before the Presidential election. Who were those busloads of people pouring over the border from New York to Pennsylvania with single-minded dedication to securing it for Obama? Baby boomers! Buses and buses and buses of them, as far as the eye could see. And who poured into Obama offices all over the tri-state area with the simple plea "I want to help" during the last two months of the campaign? Baby boomers!
Not that they weren't involved in primaries -- they were. Big time. But as their cynicism finally took a back seat to hope, more and more suddenly jumped into the fray and worked tirelessly for Obama.
We stand now, an army of revitalized people, ready to help President Obama dust off all our old ideals and make them come alive. I would ask that he appreciate this fact, appreciate us as a group, and ask more of us in the shaping of our nation and the continuation of his administration's efforts in the days of years head.
We're good for it. The sleeping lions have awakened, and they're VERY hungry for change.
True fact. He also correctly predicted our current financial crisis - ten years ago! (citation below) Frankly, his accuracy scares the living daylights out of me.
What can we do to avoid total financial meltdown and breakup as a country? Here's my two cents:
1. TOTAL HONESTY. Until anchorman Peter Jennings had the personal integrity to insist that the war in Iraq be finally and correctly publicly called a civil war because it had, in fact, long since degenerated to one, America wasn't getting the information that the situation was far worse, not better as Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld insisted in claiming. All of a sudden, American opinion changed and there were outraged calls for us to stop wasting our money and to get out of Iraq. We need that kind of total honesty right now, and we're not getting it from Bush.
2. SPEND HERE, NOT EVERYWHERE ELSE. It's time to stop the arrogance of supporting the entire world. We don't have the money to support everybody else's economies. Period. WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY. THE WELL IS DRY.
3. REORDER OUR ENVIRONMENTAL PRIORITIES. Quit spending billions to preserve the last known habitat of the Kingfisher and other minor actors on this planet. Species die out. There are plenty more birds, snakes, etc. Move on.
4. REFUSE TO FUND BUSH'S LARGESS. George Bush just gave a speech yesterday about how he was defiantly continuing to send money to other countries so that they could have economic progress, good homes, educaton, etc. Screw that. We are losing all of that right now, right here, in our own country. What does it take, giving away every last penny before somebody finally admits the horror is actually true? We need the money right here. Period.
5. STOP SPENDING ON THE ARTS. Now this will anger a lot of people. But right now, we don't need new little theatre groups, dance troupes, more art shows, etc. Nobody can even afford to go see that stuff now, anyway. Also, the phrase "starving artist" should not be a historic relic. After all, we've all now got starving neighbors. Everybody into the pool.
6. NO MORE HANDOUTS TO BANKS, COMPANIES, INSURERS, ETC. UNLESS THEY SHOW A PLAN. And that plan had damn well better show that the 25 top officers and managers in the company are taking a severe compensation package cut. Like, no stock options. No performance unit plan payouts. Base salary only for a few years. Oh, and salary freezes throughout the company, with voluntary, alternating short-term layoffs. The goal should be to preserve jobs, not the earnings potential of the fat cats. Why hasn't anybody followed the lead of Goldman Sachs on cutting executive salaries, I'm asking? And why the CRAP was it so important for the government to pay $400,000,000 for naming the new Yankee stadium the "Citi Center"? If it doesn't put food on the table or keep the roof over our heads, it's not critical, period.
7. ADDITIONAL REGULATION OF THOSE WHO ALREADY GOT THEIR HANDOUTS. Impose the same salary and compensation limits on those who stuck out their panicked, greedy hands already. Congress, get off your butts and pass a law, already.
8. STOP BEING BLEEDING HEARTS. This will sound heretical, but we need to stop throwing money at every single perceived ill. Everybody has their hand out all the time. Time for people to just get them slapped away. If it isn't critical to feeding people, clothing people, or putting a roof over their heads, don't spend on it. DON'T spend on it. Don't SPEND on it. Don't spend on IT. Think like a Republican when it comes to non-critical spending.
9. JUST SAY NO. We're spoiled as a nation. We've got closets full of clothes, shoes, accessories, suits, ties, etc. when a few will do. Two cars in many families because it's more convenient, a luxury. And just stuff, stuff, stuff that marketers tell us makes our lives more complete, meaningful and enjoyable. Just say no. Their marketing pleas fill their pockets with moola, not yours. Time to suffer. One TV per household, not one on every floor. Wear your scruffies and read a good book more often. Yes, companies will go bankrupt, restaurants will close, fewer movies will be made, etc. After one massive shakeout, we'll all be doing what we should be doing - paying more attention to home, hearth, and each other, and less attention to stuff.
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashrur.htm
Ok, sportsfans. Bill Clinton has promised to cooperate fully with vetting, scale back his relationship with his foundation, disclose his clients, and other limits, "anything they want," to help Hillary land the Secretary of State position. So what could possibly go wrong?
The Constitution, that's what.
Specifically, Article I, Section 6, Clause 2, which provides that "No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; ...."
Emoluments? Yep. Pay raises, among other things. And, wouldn't you just know it, Congress approved a pay raise for for cabinet posts during Hillary's current senate term. The Huffington Post quotes the Washington post for this tidbit:
"In Clinton's case, during her current term in the Senate, which began in January 2007, cabinet salaries were increased from $186,600 to $191,300."
As Keith Olbermann would say, "Oops."
There is another solution, however, successfully employed once before in the "Saxbe Fix," which evidently involved repealing the pay raise for the duration of an unexpired Senate term so that Sen. Saxbe could be appointed attorney general in the Nixon Administration, even though he was a Senator when the Attorney General's salary had been raised. This little end-run dates back to the Taft administration, and U.S. Attorney Generals have sometimes allowed it and other times declared it not constitutionally permissible.
For more fun reading, see the full Huffpost article and a nifty online exerpt from The Heritage Guide to the Constitution:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/13/hillary-clinton-secretary_n_143735.html?page=29&show_comment_id=18149463#comment_18149463
http://books.google.com/books?id=-_8N3UeXeesC&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83&dq=Saxbe+Fix&source=web&ots=kYTyZxZMRN&sig=mQGRqI7568yqqURydEIExjExhtY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result
The defeat of Alaska Sen. Stevens is cause for a sigh of relief. The U.S. Senate won't be forced to throw him out and Sarah Palin won't be able to shove herself through the back door to the Senate by getting herself appointed or elected to serve out his Senate term.
Remember Palin with her "if a door opens before me, I'm going to go right through it" campaign this last week? This was basically the "ME, ME, I'LL TAKE IT, I'LL TAKE IT, IT'S MINE, MINE, DO YOU HEAR ME? MIIIIIINNNNNE" tour, in case anybody missed her embarrassing total lack of subtlety.
Thank God that avenue is closed to her. This is one woman who should be denied a podium entirely until she has something useful to contribute to society, if ever.
I'm not the only one annoyed that Palin is grabbing for more than her 15 minutes of fame. Here's the ultimate retort to her efforts to hog the spotlight when the nation's business has long since moved on:
I'm dismayed by the number of newscasters who are counting down the days until Obama "rules" the nation. Were they not paying attention when a "ruling" GWB overran and trashed this country's laws, economy, and future? I want to see a president who RUNS this country, not rules it.
RUNS it. Like a well-oiled machine. Like people can actually speak up and talk back to him, and air their views without fear of retribution.
Despite all of GWB's actions notwithstanding, this isn't a monarchy. The press should be more careful in how it characterizes our government and the people who will be running it.
Alan Keyes is now suing to prove that Obama isn't a United States citizen. In my opinion, he's just a vindictive sore loser. Hawaii has already provided a certified birth certificate.
What, exactly, does it take to convince these loonies, and why should anybody else have to bear the litigation cost of their obsessions? What a total waste of everybody's time and money.
Guys, it's not whether Hillary has foreign affairs experience. She might block Obama's health care plan in the Senate in retribution for him beating her in the primaries and doing her out of the presidency that she considered hers. This removes her and gives her something entirely different to focus on. Also, once she takes it, not likely she can go back to being a senator, so the problem is dealt with permanently.
While this blog has slowed down, parts of the Obama community are as vocal and participative as ever. They're just doing it online. Several of the groups I participate in generate, together, about 100 emails a day, just by sending stuff to the group's listserve address and then yakking back and forth all day. (A few weeks before the election, it went up to almost 400 a day!).
I think this is a very healthy outcome - a community that has formed a bond and stays together. While it is hard to read everything, I'm interested in keeping up and hope the Obama website will stay put and keep the listserve addresses active.
The thing about the community blogs is that they zip by really fast. It takes a lot of concentration to pull up past pages to catch the day's conversation, and even more if you divert to read all the comments. I prefer to see stuff on this website, but I have to admit that the email dialog is easier to follow because you keep the record of it in your inbox until you can get to it.
So, I think both are healthy ways to keep in touch, and I hope both will continue.
The conversation has moved on, and it doesn't include Sarah Palin. Despite many talking heads giving her the widest possible berth on her recent behavior, just in case she again emerges on the national scene to create delicious fodder for their shows, they're peddling fraud.
Palin has to learn a hard political truth. If you blow an inverview or a campaign, there are no re-dos. You can't claim that an interviewer was mean and try to correct it weeks later. You can't claim you weren't found in violation of the law in the face of a government report that says you were. You can't take shots at President-elect Obama as if you could still win and he can still be brought down, when the campaign is actually done. You have to have the correct political instincts, actions and answers the FIRST TIME. Right then and there. Like national officials are required to have.
There are no re-dos weeks later when you are deciding to bomb a country.
There are no re-dos weeks later when facing a hostage situation or a national emergency.
There are no re-dos later when you decide and people act irrevocably on your decision.
Lives and livelihoods hang on your capacity to know, understand, analyze, evaluate and decide, IMMEDIATELY.
Good government depends on your ability to govern well, not whine about how everybody else is at fault for all your missteps.
This current campaign of Palin's to raise public opinion of her is so childish and immature that it's cringeworthy. The woman has no shame, in addition to having no judgment.
In the short time she was in the public eye, we learned heaps of horrifying stuff about her personal life - that she kicked her daughter out of the house when she first found out about the teenage pregnancy. And that Palin used private email for public business. And slept with her husband's business partner. And used the power of her office illegally. That she "cancelled" the Bridge to Nowhere but KEPT all that juicy, porky Federal money. And submitted thousands of dollars in questionable per diem expenses to Alaska. And shamelessly and selfishly blew a stunning amount of the GOP's money on clothes for herself and her family.
Who knows what other skeletons she is now burying . . . or ontinuing to create.
As far as politics goes, we learned that she can't think on her feet if her entire career and future depended on it. And doesn't know a thing about foreign affairs. And somehow missed some core concepts in elementary school geography. Oh, yes, and that she's a race-baiter, slanderer, and liar.
Palin thinks she can come back from all THIS? She sees Hillary is too old to make another run for the presidency and is determined to jump into the vacuum?
Whom, exactly, did she think she has managed to impress? Whom, exactly does she think would support her after all her shameless and nasty flailing around on the public stage?
Noooooooooooo, honey, you only get one try.
And BOY did you ever blow it.
WOW. Rachel Maddow, on her MSNBC News show last night, cited a Congressional oversight law that sets the prior May 15th as the deadline beyond which a new president can reverse regulations finalized by a former president.
If that's true, then all this current flap about how Obama could reverse regulations adopted "after Congress adjourns" would be solved. Pelosi could call Congress back into session without worrynig about forfeiting the opportunity to cancel regulations.
Anybody have a citation to this law?
Politico.com today references a little-known Clinton-era law that would allow a new president to overturn any new federal regulations adopted within 60 days of Congressional adjournment. This means that not only could the Obama administration overturn regulations passed within 60 days of his inauguration, but within 60 days after Congress adjourned - Oct. 3.
So as long as Congress stays OUT of session, Obama can repeal any damaging regulations finalized on or after October 4, 2008.
I see danger here. Pelosi is about to reconvene the House to start working on Pres.-Elect Obama's agenda. That would blow this opportunity, right?
A recent article darkly implied fraud as more votes magically appeared for Al Franken after Nov. 4th. I have another explanation - well-meaning people trying the best they can, sometimes hilariously so.
This year was the first time I accompanied the chairman of our local Democratic party to several polling places to check the percentage of voter turnout on November 4th -- election day. This task was both permitted and easy. The book that had to be signed by each voter for signature verification helpfully had the total number of registered voters assigned to that machine printed right on the cover page. And then the voter had to sign a separate sheet that numbered each voter. So we could quickly and easily check turnout against actual registered voters to see how high the activity had been. It was high - 60 to 80%, even though New York was a slam dunk for Obama. The president of the local Democratic party was pleased. He believed that a lot of interest in the election and high turnout was good for the country, however the elections might turn out.
We were at one of the polling places, a grade school cafeteria, when when the polls closed. "What time is it?" "Nine oh one," I said, pointing up to the huge clock on the wall. One woman clecked her watch. "I have five minutes of nine." "I have two minutes before." "Too bad we don't have a cell phone. That would be accurate." I whip out my cell phone. "Two minutes after nine." "Two minutes after nine," one woman repeats several times to the others. The group begins to start the closing process. The crew manning this particular location was a group of seventy- and eighty-year-olds who obviously had done this together for some forty years.
What transpired next was was like a series of comedy routines from old movies.
First, the curtains had to be folded in and the front of the machines closed. The front part folded up somewhat like an upright sleeper couch, and it wouldn't go all the way in if the curtains stuck out. The men were hapless, and the women came over and directed that they be folded in just so in order to get the fronts of the machines folded in and the doors closed.
Then, one elderly gentleman started to read off a medallian serial number from each voting machine. "I can't make it out." 'Here, let me," says another. Puts nose right up to the machine, and laboriously reads out the digits. "What?" says the hard of hearing lady twenty feet away who is writing it down. He starts over again. The lady interrupts,"Was that last digit seven?" "Which digit?" "What?" "I'll start again." I volunteer to read the number off the machine because I have excellent eyesight. They all pounce on me. "You can't. You're not authorized. Only people authorized by the Board of Elections can do this." It takes several tries to get that number recorded.
Then, they open up the back of the machine. There were rows of rectangular blocks that held the votes for each total, broken down by party and candidate, but displaying ONLY the number, not whose it was. Somebody points this out. "How will we know whose is whose?" "That's the way it always is. There are only numbers, not names. We just read them off and write them on the form."
The woman whose responsibility it was started reading them off. "A-1. Wait, I can't make it out. (The ceiling lights in this cafegeria were dim.) Does anybody have a flashlight?" "Oh, dear." She puts her face close up, draws back, goes close in again, but gets frustrated because she can't make out the writing. Two elderly, paunchy men look over her shoulders and start reading the number. "No, that's not it. The first digit is a six, not a nine." "No, it's a nine." "I can't make it out. I wish I had my reading glasses with me." The woman then pulls her glasses down her nose, peers over them, puts her face two inches away from the machine and laboriously reads out the number as the men check her over her shoulder when she pulls away. "A-1, ninety six votes. Is that right?" Two more sets of eyeballs pressed toward the machine. "Yes, ninety six." "A-2, thirty, uh, um, what is that second number?"
"WAIT," somebody cries out. "What do we write the totals on?"
Seven people now crowded around the voting machine look at each other. Everybody starts speaking at once. "I don't know, do you?" Nobody had a clue. "Where's the form? There's supposed to be an official form, isn't there?" "We don't have a form." "There's supposed to be an official form." "Do you have it?" "No, check over on that table." "There's supposed to be a form." "This is all I was given. I don't have anything like that." "Does anybody remember what the form looks like?" Nobody did. Everybody checked all their materials for each machine's station. Bound book to be signed by voter and signature then verified. Check. Separate sheet that everybody signed, that kept a running tally of people voting on each machine. Check. Sample ballots. Check. Form to record the final vote counts? None. Nobody had gotten one.
"We'll have to call somebody." "We can't." "What about the Board of Elections?" "I think the office where we got the materials from is closed." "Who can we call?" "I dunno." "What do we do?" "I dunno. Jeanne, what should we do?" "I don't know. Everybody look again."
Nobody had the form. And nobody was going to leave the machines without taking down the vote totals. It seemed to be out of the question. This group, which had been doing the same thing together for years, seemed determined to follow their normal routine and not to leave until the vote totals were taken off the machines. The janitor comes in, straightens the chairs around the cafeteria tables, and sweeps up a bit, frowning pointedly at this group staying so late and disrupting his building-closing routine.
This group had been here all day and was exhausted. The men had stood for hours, and the women had sat behind the tables for hours. Everybody's joints were achy and they all just wanted to leave. "We could just write down the numbers." "But they don't have names and parties on these boxes. How will we know whose is whose?" "You don't know. You just write the numbers on the form." "But we don't have the form!" "What do we do now?" "I dunno. George, what should we do?" "I dunno." "Somebody get a sheet of paper." "There isn't any paper." "None?" "No." Everybody searches the cafeteria. All anybody can find is two paper plates. Paper plates? No. The group rejects the notion of writing the numbers on the paper plates. Nor does anybody want to take down the student artwork so earnestly produced and proudly displayed on the wall in order to use the back. Little kids' art, it seemed, was sacrosanct.
One determined woman picks up a large sample ballot and says, "Here. Use this. Just write the totals in the boxes and we'll figure it out later." This was a genious move. The sample ballot had the line and column numbers on it, so they could actually put the numbers in the right place. Of course, folks could then see what candidates got how many votes in each of the elections going on, but this really didn't matter, since the Democrats were a slam dunk for the entire ticket, anyway.
"But what are we suppoed to record it on?" "We don't KNOW. Nobody TOLD us what to do in this situation. We've never not gotten the form before. Just use this for now. Make sure you write the totals in the correct spaces." She hands the sample ballot to a middle-aged woman. "We'll take this to the Board of Elections and explain what happened. Then it's their problem."
Nobody has any better idea, and all agree that this seemed to be a reasonable solution. The janitor had already set the doors to lock behind us and had left the building. We were all alone in the building, and on this group rested the fate of the precinct's numbers. "Ok, you read the numbers and she'll write them in the boxes on this sample ballot."
"You'll have to start over," said the scribe.
Three heads again lean over and peer at the machine. "A-1, ninety six. That's right, isn't it?" "Hmmm. Yes, nine, six." The third says, "Let me see. Ok." "A-2, thirty...."
"WAIT. I'm sorry, where is A-1 on this form? I don't understand what I'm supposed to do." Another two elderly ladies rush in to help the scribe, who apparently is a bit of a dim bulb, but somebody important enough that nobody dares suggest handing over the scribe duty to somebody else. One woman leans over and points to a box on the form. "There, there's A-1. Write the number there." "What's the number again?" "Ninety six." Three heads check the machine again. "Yes, that's correct. A-2, thirty nine. A-3 sixty seven. A-4, what is that? I can't make it out." "Here, let me look."
"WAIT. Where is A-2 on the form?" Then followed a short discussion between the ladies as the older one VERY patiently explained to the scribe what was happening and how to follow down the lines and write the totals in. Finally, they get to the last number in column A. "A-15, one."
"WAIT," says the scribe, now almost in tears. "There is no A-15. Column A only goes to seven." A confab follows. Our chairman of the Democratic Party, observing this spectacle with amusement and barely concealed eye rolls, helpfully volunteers, "You have to record all the votes by law. Just put it at the bottom and somebody will figure out what to do with it later." "Good idea," chime in about four voices. "Where?" An elderly woman leans over the scribe's shoulder and points to a blank spot on the bottom of the sample ballot. "Just put it there for now." "I don't understand." "Somebody pulled a wrong lever and we have to record that vote anyway. We're required to even though it's clearly a mistake. Just write it down here for now." "What was that number?" At this point, the elderly woman realized what a dim bulb the scribe was and took control. She put her finger on the blank spot and directed her, "Write 'A-15, one vote' right here." Others watched to make sure the scribe writes it in correctly.
From that point on, the group get into a routine. The three eyeballing the machine each look at the number, occasionally squabbling about one of the digits until they are dead certain and all three are in agreement. Several people would pass on the number. Then the elderly lady would repeat the number to the scribe and point to exactly where she should record it on the sheet, as she and two others watched over the scribe's shoulder to make sure she put down the correct amount. Occasionally she would fail to point, and the scribe would be clueless. "WAIT. What was C-5? I didn't get that one." "C-5, eleven. D-1, eighty five."
It became like a long line of people passing information to one another, except they were only inches apart. "D-2, seventy two." The first turns to the next. "D-2, seventy two." Each one turned to the next, standing only inches away, passing the information down the line as if nobody had heard it (which, in this case, could well have been the case). "D-2, seventy two." "What are we on, D-2?" "Yes, D-2. That was seventy two." The elderly woman would turn to the scribe, repeating "D-2, seventy two." Then, the scribe hunts all over the form for it, until the elderly lady patiently sticks out a well-manicured fingernail and taps on the correct box.
"D-11, one." "WAIT. There is no D-11. What do I do?" "Put it on the bottom for now." "Where?" "Down here." The well manicured finger reaches out and points to the blank bottom of the form, where other outliers had already been recorded. "But I don't understand. There's not a box for it." "Somebody pulled a wrong lever, but we still have to report it." "But I'm writing all these numbers down here where there are no boxes." She was getting hysterical, clearly not following along. "It's okay. There IS no box for that. We didn't have that many candidates. But we're required to write it down anyway. Just put it here, and when these numbers are transferrd to the official form, somebody will figure out what to do with it then." "Ok. What was that number again?"
It took almost forty-five minutes for this group to complete the process. Clucking like chickens, checking and re-checking each other because their eyes aren't what they used to be and repeating themselves constantly because their hearing isn't that great any more, either. What was amazing to me is that this group of highly dedicated citizens went at their own pace, fully understanding each other's visual and hearing frailties, and checking each other carefully and repeatedly without any judgmentalism, as if this was how everybody did it. These volunteer citizens tried to do their duty to the best of their ability -- earnestly, carefully, and completely.
And although I watched to make sure they didn't record the votes wrong, it's clear that this hilarious scene was probably played out countless other times across the nation that night. No doubt very well-meaning and completely honest people made mistakes.
That occasional polling place mistakes seem to always be darkly attributed to fraud is, after observing this hilarious spectacle, offensive. The elderly people who man many of the voting places across the nation do so with a fierce sense of responsibility and pride. Even if they unintentionally make a few mistakes, they do so in the clear belief that they are reporting the vote with scrupulous honesty.
They do the very best they can. And I for one celebrate their efforts.
You have to see this - so poignant!
Staring up at a steep front stairway almost two stories high, I began to question why I had taken the bus from Westchester County, NY to Scranton, PA. Nobody had mentioned the mile-long stairways up to the doorways. But as we huffed and puffed up the stairs, it became just another obstacle to be overcome in this long battle. Our "door knock" map put us smack dab on a steep hill, and dammity dam we were going to do it.
Every last house.
Not only did we age 50-hm-hm-hm ladies trudge through the entire assigned route, we got happier by the minute as we determinedly worked to get out the vote. Yes, already supporting Obama. Yes, I need a ride to the poll. The polling place has changed? Thank you for reminding me.
50 homes. Four hours. Nearly dead with exhaustion at the end, and half a mountain higher than where we started.
We were dropped off and later driven back to the office by another woman and her daughter from Westchester County who heard the call that drivers were needed, jumped into their car and joined the caravan. She and others dropped off teams all over Scranton in the morning, then picked them up and brought them back to the campaign's office in the afternoon. It was November 1st, and nobody was taking anything for granted. All hands on deck, everybody pouring over the borders into Pennsylvania and Ohio for one last big push.
The small team manning the Scranton office was well-prepared. They had handed out packets with literature, lists of homes to contact, questions to fill out, and a "walk map" complete with dots where our target homes should be on the blocks. After returning, we tallied them up.
Then came the astonishing news. Our office had completed 5,000 door knocks that day. The downtown Scranton office had completed another 15,000, fora total of 20,000 doorknocks in Scranton that day. The several busloads of stunned out-of-state volunteers erupted in cheers.
The news channels later reported that Obama volunteers had completed 1.8 million doorknocks in Pennsylvania and 800,000 doorknocks in Ohio that weekend.
I am so proud to have participated in this great campaign. So many small acts adding up to such a great wave of energy.
We did it together.
We changed a nation.
The big decisions are easy. You know in your gut what is right to do. And here, you know deep down in your soul that having Palin anywhere near the presidency is wrong.
1. She stonewalled an investigation into her abuse of power, trying to get it stopped.
2. Having failed to halt the investigation, which concluded she DID violate Alaska's ethics law by abusing her power, she blithely lies and lies, saying she was completely cleared and no abuse of power, not even a whiff of it, was found.
3. She made up her "extensive" foreign policy and trade experience, lied about opposing the bridge to nowhere (and kept money, too), and more.
4. She intentionally and deliberately tells lies about Obama "palling around with terrorists." Note particularly the plural there, when only one former terrorist is at issue.
5. She incites crowds to murderous fervor, and doesn't even think there is anything wrong with such conduct.
6. She is completely, dumbfoundingly, disturbingly unprepared to assume the office of president should that one cancerous heartbeat away suddenly stop.
7. She slept with her husband's best friend, if the National Enquirer's occasionally correct truth/proof squad can be believed.
Whatever you may think of McCain, his decision to select Sarah Palin, a completely unqualified candidate, was intentionally manipulative, crassly political, and just about the worst judgment he could have made for the country. Far from recommending him as our next president, it exposes the desperation and hollowness of his campaign. This is a man who wants power, any way he can get it, ethics and lack of experience be damned.
The choice could not be clearer. Nor easier.
McCain attacks: Obama can't pay for all these promises.
Yes he can.
He'll get us out of Iraq (an unwinnable war) and save $10 billion a month.
THAT'S HOW.
Barack Obama, by an accident of birth, shares a middle name that is the same as the first name of a sadistic dictator.
McCain? He's actually tied to that sadistic dictator.
According to the Huffington Post, the head of McCain's presidential transition team formerly lobbied to help reduce economic sanctions on Saddam Hussein.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/14/mccain-transition-chief-a_n_134595.html
