Hey everybody,
I just want to be sure, since my absentee ballot came, that everyone knows that when they are deciding who to vote for that Rue Furch is who I chose.
For one thing, she's a friend of mine. Never hurts. We are on several committees together, some of which she doesn't list on her site: http://www.ruefurch.com/
Rue has been subject to a real unfortunate situation with the press... much like our beloved Barack. For complicated reasons I don't want to get into.
So permit me to say that as a Roseland resident, formerly from Petaluma, I know Rue to be a very competent, honest, assertive individual who is MORE than qualified for the position of 5th District Supervisor.
If you haven't sent your ballot in, it's VERY important that you learn a bit more about her directly. I think her views are quite on par with Obama's in many regards. She's extremely excited about this historic election. We talked about it for hours last night over chips and the best tomatillo salsa ever at a backyard barbecue.
Rue is BRILLIANT. She knows a great deal about our economic situation, she's sympathetic to other people and is someone to whom you can ALWAYS make an appeal to. That distinguishes her, in my mind, from many other politicians.
I was torn, originally, because Eddie Alvarez is another friend of mine who lives just around the corner and whom I also have done political work with, and I thought it would be nice to see more minority representation, but he dropped.
I will NOT be voting for Lynn Woolsey again, although there are no alternatives. She has NOT made herself available to me in spite of repeat letters of question and concern.
So if you have a CA ballot with "Rue Furch" for Fifth District Supervisor on it, get your pencil out and mark it down. You'll be making the right choice.
And if you have ANY questions about Rue, ask away and I'll get you an answer just as quick as possible :)
Thanks!
Please email around Sonoma County, because like I said, the press has done an awful number on her and she is the best qualified to tackle the concerns of this county, by and far. She has the judgement, the compassion, the commitment to our economic crisis as well as our mental health center crisis, our immigration issues, she is a very good, solid progressive Democrat.
VOTE RUE FURCH!!!!
http://www.ruefurch.com/
It's been a really good day! I had an interesting discussion with a 55-year old, white, working class former-Huckabee supporter today at my kitchen table :)
Really. I can't make stuff this good up.
He's my boyfriend's stepfather.
He's a former Viet Nam veteran and a Teamster both. We were talking about Barack winning the election, and he expressed a grave concern about Barack being able to win the white, male, middle-aged working-class vote. I looked at him and said, well, given the choice, are you planning to vote Obama or McCain? I squinched my eyes up as I was windexing the table.
OBAMA OF COURSE! He said, before absolutely railing about the insult of the gas tax holiday.
I walked over, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, I think Obama just won the white, middle-aged, working class, male vote you know.
He was blustery.
"But, but..."
Look, I said. Are your friends going to vote McCain, he's going to wreck our economy and our health care. Do they know that.
"Yes," he said, and added, "all my friends are going to vote Obama, but I'm afraid some people in the country aren't going to vote for a black person."
I asked him if he thought they'd rather vote for a very old person who appeared to be going senile and told him about McCain holding the microphone upside down yesterday.
I said, look, they'll have two choices: a smart black man or an incompetent man after 7 years of George Bush. Are you really nervous about this?
"No!" he said, suddenly getting it.
Next thing I know, we're dancing around the kitchen and he's saying Obama's going to win! Obama's going to win!
Okay, maybe you had to be there, but that man is secret weapon number one.
Secret weapon number two requires a photo:
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/821/grandmathelmahf7.jpg
That there is another former Huckabee supporter, a lifelong Republican evangelical Christian with a heart of gold. That is my very dear Grandmother, as white as can be, from America's heartland, 80-something and the daughter of a popcorn farmer.
This year, for the first time in her life, she's voting Democratic.
For Obama.
She thinks he's just like JFK.
Whom she regrets not voting for.
She's NOT racist and never has been.
She's a good Christian woman.
And she, and Rick will both be voting Dem their first times ever: for Obama.
If you live in Sonoma, Marin, or Napa County, please join us!
Today's newspaper article (yes, there will be the usual Minutemen, all the more reason to please show support against the hatred the people of my community are terrorized with): http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080501/NEWS/805010357/1033/NEWS&template=kart
Turnout is expected at 8-10,000 people. Free food (being cooked in the other room right now... looks like, beans and rice and tortillas, I'm guessing that's tacos), anti-NAFTA education, speakers, Know Your Rights Trainings in English and Spanish
12 pm, 665 Sebastopol Avenue & 12:30, Juillard Park
Today is:
International Workers' Day May 1st March and Rally in Santa Rosa, CA
The May 1st Coalition is planning a march and rally in Santa Rosa to commemorate International Workers’ Day, a sequel to the previous two year’s marches for Immigrant Rights. The Press Democrat reported last year that 15,000 people gathered. This years’ focus will be Solidarity with All Workers, with emphasis on the ineffectiveness of NAFTA, calling for the stopping of immigration raids, and the campaign for a County of Refuge in Sonoma County.
The May 1st event begins at 12:00 noon in Roseland, at the Old Albertson’s lot, 665 Sebastopol Road. At 1:00 pm, the march will start its way to Juilliard Park on Santa Rosa Ave, near downtown Santa Rosa (about two miles). Speakers will address the theme of the event. There will be teach-ins and activities for all ages to engage in to inspire understanding and cooperation in the community.
Teach-ins/discussions will focus on concerns of workers and the immigrant community. Topics will include, “Free Trade” agreements, like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) made between Canada, US and Mexico, which break down barriers for products, money, and industries, making it so that the functions of the government are put into the hands of private interests. On the one hand, industries in the US are moving to places where they find cheaper labor, creating unemployment here, and at the same time, because products from the North flood the markets in the South (i.e. Latin America), people cannot compete and end up immigrating north. the campaign for a County of Refuge in Sonoma County.
Awareness about immigration: Families are being torn apart, children being detained in border detention facilities, people living in fear whenever they step out the door. How can we do better as a society and as a community? The government must respect human rights and put an end to the raids. the campaign for a County of Refuge in Sonoma County.
Campaign for a County of Refuge in Sonoma County: The Sonoma County Sheriff is collaborating with the Federal Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), supposedly focusing on gang members but unfortunately deporting young men who have no gang ties, in some cases without having committed crimes. This collaboration does not create a sense of trust with the immigrant community and could create crimes and criminals going unreported. San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, and Los Angeles have already passed resolutions prohibiting this type of collaboration. With a large population of immigrant workers in the various industries in this area, Sonoma County needs to be a County of Refuge. the campaign for a County of Refuge in Sonoma County.Contact: 707-318-2818
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFSVG7jRp_g&feature=related
After taking a University Course last semester on Hip-Hop Culture, this is a sharp video about Barack Obama and hip-hop culture. Long misunderstood, hip-hop culture is an incredible art form (whether you personally like it or not, it's a valid form of self-expression of a marginalized people) that has reached the limits of its own designs.
Now, at a crossroads, it needs Barack's message of Hope and Change.
By the way, the hip-hop experience is all about socio-economic status and geography, and not much about race these days. In fact, this year it was the most popular musical genre out there, squeaking out country music for the first time ever.
For the hip-hop curious (and you should be, it's an ENORMOUS cultural force that shapes all of us whether or not we listen to the music), I recommend the following books:
Jeff Chang "Can't Stop, Won't Stop"
Luis Rodriguez, "Always Running"
Brian Ascalon Roley "American Son"
Anna Deavere Smith "Twilight in Los Angeles"
Jervey Tervalon "Understand This"
Michael Eric Dyson "Tupac Shakur" (I think it's called, very interesting and highly readable)
Assorted Essays "That's The Joint!" (a masterpiece of textual analysis for scholars)
I listen to a ton of music personally, and am mainly a fan right now of new Bhangra, any out-there Dancehall, and French pop like Coralie Clement, but I'm not sure I can put my finger on a favourite band... but I literally listen to a little bit of everything... including hip-hop. My favorite HH artists are Dead Prez, Aesop Rock, Immortal Technique, Atmosphere, Deltron 3030, The Grouch, Living Legends, NWA, Public Enemy, Nas, and Mos Def. Who am I forgetting?
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What kind of music do you like? Do you feel that the messages are important or are you more concerned with if it sounds good will driving or makes you want to dance? Name a band you really love!
Hey friends! We've been having some problems with exercising our very legitimate first amendment right to free speech and peaceful protest in Santa Rosa, CA for some time now.
Many of you know me through my posts, but you may not know that I organize marches and rallies, as well as participate in them actively. They've always been peaceful -- as a Hindu I am a pacifist!
At any rate, Santa Rosa's city council is considering ordinance that would impose a $1500 permit fee on any march of more than 3000 people. This is another attempt to stop our Constitutional Right to protest. Today we have 3,000 people who will be celebrating Cesar Chavez Day and it becomes, once more, an issue.
Can you PLEASE take a moment and sign my petition to the Santa Rosa City Council? You do not have to be from this area. This goes directly to the heart of Barack's Constitutionally Protected Activities and is very much a reflection of the type of barriers we've dealt with during the repressive 7 years of Bush. They are trying to increase the fee from $75 to $1,500. Something NONE of us can afford! Thank you! I deeply appreciate it.
http://www.petitiononline.com/srfeesp/petition.html
When Barack Obama is elected, we won't HAVE to deal with this ridiculous type of political oppression, particularly of a constitutionally protected right.
P.S. I didn't author it, but the man who did is a friend of mine for 18 years, and we work together in the loose activist community.
President Obama,Whom I call president, because I will never think of you in any other way, nor have I ever trusted any other person to stand in a position of authority over my life, my child's life, and the lives of all Americans. Whom I bless with this title forever, as in my mind it was today that you won this election because you spoke truth to power, while giving power back to the hands of this democracy for overdue self-reflection.Many are stunned. Many are frightened. Many are healed. Your words -- yes, words of "just words" fame -- moved people to tears all over this Nation today, and their tears joined them irregardless of race, religion, sexual preference, gender, age, or other tired Cartesian categories. Today, you asked us to think beyond the binary, beyond the boxes where we place our living corpses numbly like so many statistics, in denial of our complex humanity. Are people ready for change? That is no longer the question. The question is are they ready to lift the blinders of apathy, hatred, fear, and illusion and embrace not only one another with love but moreover, themselves. Can we trust in ourselves to be more moral, you asked us?And yet my words fall short as I try to synopsize the already perfect statements you lay forth, plain and simple for the grasping.Today, I joined the tears across an America too stunned by the honesty of your words to know what to say, what to think, how to respond. You bypassed my intellect completely with your oration, taking me by the hand into the place where my heart and soul lie instead. So together we all wept, joining you in your vision of unity, rejoicing that for one moment The Emperor Wore No Clothes. We wept because you took us beyond words.I am an eloquent woman, a writer even, but there is nothing more I can say to the pure fire of the spirit that you glowed with today. There is no commentary I can add. I cannot reduce your speech to analysis or punditry. The words became a heartbeat we all felt at once, sharing in the embryo of a singular American Dream, waiting to finally be born.Nothing can ever take this experience away from us.You've already always won.
~Straight from the heart, sorry but not even going to grammar check this, it would only diminish my point.
