We must renew our commitment to our veterans...

He may be a comedian,
but he's serious about politics

We must renew our commitment to our veterans.
Even as our overseas commitments stretch our military to its limits, many who claim that Democrats don’t “support our troops” are consistently failing to support our veterans. President Bush has sent budgets to Congress that actually contain cuts to veterans’ health care. Republicans in Congress tried last year to cut in half research into traumatic brain injury – the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have to do better for the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States into battle.

~Al Franken

Read more about Al Franken's stand on the issues, and his proposals for bringing about much needed change on AlFranken.com.

He's running for US Senate here in Minnesota, and I am positively inspired by his sincerity. He always shown he's willing to openly discuss the elephant in the proverbial livingroom, and that's just what we need more of right now. He loves our country, and loves our troops, and loves his home state of Minnesota. And more to the point, he has the cojones to get the job done.

Caucus night

Results

Super Tuesday 2008.

We live in Minnesota where delegates for presidential candidates are selected by caucus. My Mister and I went to our DFL Party precinct caucus in support of Barack Obama. It's late, but I wanted to jot down my impression of the event before turning in for the evening.

People caucusing for the Democratic candidates had the option to arrive at the appointed hour, cast their ballot for presidential candidate, and then leave. And many people did do just that. By the time we arrived they had run out of the official registration sheets, and were making due with additional pads of paper. The Chair from another precinct came by to see if we had any extra forms or pens (they were in another room of the same building), so apparently other precincts were also unprepared for the numbers of people who showed up.

We chose to remain to participate in the rest of the evening's proceedings. The room was full, so many people remained standing from just before 7:00 PM to shortly after 8:00 PM. There were people of all ages there, many of whom (like us) were caucusing for the first time. Our precinct is fairly ethnically diverse (for Minnesota) and I'm glad to say the people in the room seemed to be a decent cross section of the local population.

My Honey and I opted to become district delegates. Our precinct is allowed 30 delegates, and 32 people nominated themselves. Two of them volunteered to be alternate delegates instead, so the numbers worked themselves out such that the nominations did not need to come to a vote. So March 15th, my Honey and I will be attending the county-unit convention as precinct delegates.

In addition to choosing delegates for the county convention, resolutions were raised, debated and voted upon to be sent on for consideration in the party platform for 2008. The vote breakdown among those 141 people was:

John Edwards 1
Hillary Clinton 34
Barack Obama 106

Of the 141 people who came to vote for a presidential candidate, 50 remained behind for the rest of the event, which I understand is roughly 5 times the number who usually choose to participate in this particular precinct.

We held a straw poll among those remaining 50 people to determine how support for the candidates for Senate broke down. Those (non-binding) votes were:

Al Franken 28
Mike Ciresi 6
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer 3
Undecided 13

Among the resolutions that were voted upon there were several regarding support for affordable health care, one opposed to profiteering by corporations in industries that are part of the country's infrastructure (oil, telecom, etc.) and two on the topic of education.

Resolution-wise, the most notable, IMHO, was one stating the precinct's position against any attempt to alter the state constitution to discriminate against GLBT couples. There have been recent attempts by the conservative politicians in Minnesota to add an amendment to our constitution banning same-sex marriage, and the issue is likely to come up again with the next legislative session. They've been unsuccessful so far. And I'm happy to report that this particular resolution passed unanimously, so our opposition to such amendments has gone on record.

So as I wrap this up, Minnesota has reported results of 67% of the vote going to Obama. Hillary is still ahead in nation-wide results, but not so far ahead that it's definitely over. My Mister and I are holding out hope that when they divvy up the delegates and the Super Delegates make their commitments Obama can still pull out a win.

See more of my photos and additional comments on the caucus in my flickr photos.

People are scary

So I was watching the news tonight on BBC America to see what our primary elections look like to other folks, and I just about choked on my beverage.

They showed a radio talk show host taking calls from his listeners, and a lady was calling in to complain about McCain's policies. Specifically, she complained about his being against torture. She then, in a civilized tone of voice said, "I'm pro-torture."

First of all, well DUH, McCain is against torture. I mean, come on lady, the man was a prisoner of war and on the receiving end of torture. And how can a person in a country that takes pride in words like "freedom" and "justice" wrap her mouth around words like, "I'm pro-torture." I assume to people like that "justice" is only valuable when it's applied to people of their choosing.

Ick.

Ick ick ick ick...

Did we ever have just a little bit of moral high ground to stand on? Can we have it back, please?

Does that anonymous woman realize that by advocating torture, she's giving up any right to be outraged if torture is used on our own people? I have family in the military. Are they worth protecting, even if she thinks torture might be useful? Which, I do not believe it is. But even if it were useful, is it worth that risk? That sacrifice? What about civilians traveling abroad? Where does the line get drawn?

I mentioned it to my friend, Tym, and he said, "People are scary."

That sums it up for me right now.

This is one of the big reasons I'm going to vote in the caucus tomorrow. This is a real part of why I'm voting for Barack Obama and Al Franken.

* * *

Our biggest problem with the Bush administration is that for us it's déjà vu all over again. We spent six years watching the man as governor of Texas, the basis for our 1999 book, Shrub. We were tempted to begin this book by observing, "If y'all had've read the first book we wouldn't've had to write this one." Cooler heads prevailed.

From Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America
By Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose

Al Franken Meet and Greet

Al Franken and My Mister
Originally uploaded by Pockafwye

What a satirist does is looks at a situation, finds the inconsistencies, hypocrisies, absurdities, and cuts through all the baloney and gets to the truth. That’s pretty good training, I think, for the United States Senate. ~ Al Franken

Photos from the Al Franken for Senate meet and greet are now up on my flickr page in my Politics set.

It was a small, neighborhood event. His daughter was there as well, along with State Senator Dan Larson and Representative Ann Lenczewski.

The microphone wasn't having a good day, so Al did without, and shared some of his background with us; filling us in on why he cares so much about his home state of Minnesota, and his vision for progress. Then he spent quite a bit of time chatting with individuals in the crowd and answering questions.

My Mister and I attended the event with my friend, Kat. I'm fully confident that he can win against Norm Coleman if he gets the DFL party nomination.

For more information visit Al Franken's official site.
There was a good article on his campaign not long ago on the New York Times website.

To caucus, or not to caucus...

Fanfare
This photo belongs to
Al Franken for Senate on flickr.
Visit their photo stream to see more.

I've decided to caucus on Feb. 5th, 2008.

I'm from California where they have elections, one person one vote. Every vote counts. Even if no one else votes as you did, your vote speaks for your preference. But now I'm in Minnesota, and have been for long enough to think of it as home.

This will be my first time participating in a caucus.

Not because I think it will make a difference in the race for democratic presidential candidate, which I don't.

I've finally decided that between the remaining presidential hopefuls, I would most like to see Obama become president. Kucinich's endorsement of Obama was one of the things that tipped it for me. Edwards remains a close second. But I honestly don't believe that by the time "Super Duper Tuesday " rolls around individual Minnesotans will really have a say in the matter.

Most pundits are predicting that the Democratic nomination will be "locked up" before then. They seem to miss the mark a lot of the time, but on that I think they may be correct. And I don't have faith in local caucuses as vehicles for individual voices in national politics.

Nope.

This year I'm going to caucus because it is the event that will allow me to support Al Franken in his run for US Senate against incumbent Norm Coleman. My best friend at work has also decided to caucus this year for the exact same reason.

While I still don't much trust the caucus system, at least at a state level my vote has a greater chance of making a difference. At least Iowa, South Carolina etc. haven't already removed half of my options.