Californians' most important vote: NO on "h8"

Hi everyone,
Well of course the most imporant issue to the world right now is that Obama is elected President and McCain/Palin are denied their chance to bring about Armagedon.

Since California is probably in the bag for Obama I titled this blog, Californians' most important vote. For this is a very pressing issue and it is disturbing that proposition 8 has a chance to pass. It is vital everyone gets out to vote No and to spread the word to their friends and colleagues and even their neighbors with whom they may disagree. This is a civil rights issue and one worth standing up for.

The ridiculous proposition would amend the California State Constitution to prevent same sex marriage. Now regardless of how you feel about marrying someone of your own sex, amending the constitution to limit the rights of a portion of our society is plain WRONG! Imagine if a majority decided to vote that Blacks and Whites should not marry. This is Tyranny of the majority and should not be allowed.

Of course the arguments for prop 8 are rooted in hatred and bigotry but they use all sorts of lies and distortions to convince the electorate to vote for this awful law.

This is supposed to be the land of the free, well let people marry who they want. Two consenting adults should be able to marry each other regardless of race, religion, or sex. Period.

Now this morning I heard a radio ad for prop 8 that said this issue is all about school kids and that kids will be taught about gay marriage if this passes. Well as a teacher who has worked in a number of schools I can say this amendment will have little or no effect on that. Kids will be taught about same sex couples regardless. For our job as educators is to teach children to respect diversity. This diversity certainly pertains to different types of families for at all the schools I have worked we have had kids with two moms or two dads and there is no teacher I know who wants those children to feel like their family is wrong or weird. Of course I live in the Bay Area where people are ahead of the curve on this basic human right issue. But nonetheless teachers need to create safe learning environments for their students and this means teaching students to respect each other in all their wonderful differences.

In school we talk about kids having two moms or two dads, we do not get into the details of whether or not the parents are legally married. We do not discuss what would happen if one of them died and the other could not have legal custody of their child or if one was sick whether or not they could be with them in the hospital and make legal decisions regarding medical treatment. These are rights that laws like Prop 8 could take away, which is one of the reasons to vote it down.

Even if you are against all this, do really want to start a precedent of allowing the majority of voters to amend the constitution to limit the rights of minorities in this country? Amendments to the constitution have a history of granting people rights, not taking them away.

For this reason alone proposition 8 must fail.

This is a human and civil rights issue and everyone needs to get out and vote!

Thanks,

Danny

the most important action you may ever take

" Those who say it can't be done need to stop interrupting those already doing it!"

Please stick with me through this convoluted essay. There are lots of points I will try to make briefly. Basically I am arguing that every one of us MUST take action (beyond voting) because we have an opportunity to spark a change in world history as monumental as the industrial revolution, and the cost of inaction is likely to be very dire indeed. We must use this grass roots enthusiasm for the November election and the widespread concern over the economy and national security to put pressure on our elected officials to take immediate and drastic action toward a future of green, clean, domestic energy. This will reduce our dependence on and financial support of the middle east, it will put our economy back on track driving innovation and creating jobs, and it will put us back as leaders in the world in addressing the most pressing global issue of our time; global climate change. To anyone who says we cannot afford to this we must say "we cannot afford not to".

(This blog was written and then I saw today's headline which said the economy may prevent either candidate from addressing global warming. This is the fallacy we need to expose! We just threw $700 billion at to save wall street. What about saving the world? What if a country threatened to devastate an American city (Like New Orleans) we might launch a $3 trillion war (like Iraq) to prevent it. Well if we don't act we will have moreKatrinas , we will see war over water and food resources throughout the world, do you think terrorism in the world will be more of a threat in the world if this happens, of course. And we must remember that efficiency can go a long way towards fixing the problem with relatively little investment and will create jobs which will grow the economy. The more domestic energy production we have the more money we will keep circulating in our economy. Also green energy lends itself much more towards the creation of small companies than does say oil and of course small companies help our economy much more than do large international corporations. But I digress)

A few months ago I wrote a journal entry about what I see as the coming paradigm shift in humanity and how I am dedicated to doing my part in bringing it about. I will turn this into a blog in thenearish future but it basically was about a future of social and environmental justice, a future where economics, environmental stewardship, human rights, consumerism, energy, politics, international trade, national security, and other issues are thought of systemically and through a moral lens of cooperation, empathy, efficiency, and the right of all living things to exist unharmed by the actions of others.

Now I had envisioned this taking an unknown amount of time and my main niche for helping to cause this shift is through education of our younger generations to understand their sense of place in the world and how they can live as a contributing member to the world rather than a destructive force.

But since I wrote that the world has changed. There is a window of opportunity that has presented itself since then and many experts argue it could be the last chance we have. Two factors have opened this window and provided lubrication for us to slip through it. One is the financial crisis and failure of the "free market" and two is the election of a new president and new congress.

OF course we do not know at this point who the next president will be and if there will be a shift in the congress (to say a Democratic,fillabuster proof majority). Regardless of who wins we must attempt to do what I lay out below. I think Obama is much more likely than his opponent to actually take the steps needed and he will only have the power to do so if there is a majority in congress who will agree with him or push him in the right direction. Of course if Obama is elected there is no guarantee he will be thetransformative president we need. That is where we come in. If elected Obama and congress will have industry lobbyists and Washington nay sayers filling their ears with garbage. Trasformative presidents of the past acted because the groundswell of citizens pushing for change was too much to ignore. This is what we need again. This is the defining moment of our time, how we shapeObama's presidency in the first few months could change the course of the world and honestly if we fail the world's leading experts now agree the situation will be dire.

So the economic collapse is a double edged sword. On the bright side it has gotten usually apathetic Americans to wake up and pay attention to the issues and to want a solution. It has also exposed the deregulated free market as fundamentally flawed and forced even Republicans to take steps to "socialize" or "federalize" the banking industry. In other words they can no longer argue that there is no role for government to play in all this.

On the down side the crisis has drained even further our coffers. With 700 billion dollars thrown at the problem we are even further in debt and even less likely to be able to muster up large amounts of money to pay for programs that the people want and need. Cities, States, and Federal agencies are all slashing budgets at a time we need investment in our future.

Luckily doing the right thing is also good for business and can SAVE us money. For EFFICIENCY is gonna be one of the most important first steps. Efficiency alone can help us get off fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, drive innovation, and will save us money!! Just a small example. If we were to introduce basic energy efficiency to this country's public school system we could save $6 billion! That is enough to hire 30,000 new teachers. McCain is right, we do not necessarily need to throw more money at the problem to solve it. Imagine the savings to be had in the Military budget!!! Let's bring our troops home and employ them to make our nation's buildings energy efficient!

Now back to global climate change. There is a magic number that scientists said is the point at which we cannot avoid climate change that will greatly effect our world and its ability to provide food, water, and stable living conditions for those of us who live here. That number is 350 and it represents parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. (Go to 350.org to learn more and take action!) We are already PAST that number which means we need to take immediate and dramatic action to freeze and reverse the current trend. In 2009 the world community will gather to try and agree on a global plan to address this issue. (Leading experts warn this is most likely the world's last chance to address this problem effectively. We need, as "the leaders of the free world", in this country, to take a lead on the issue and we need our President to go to this meeting in '09 and be able to say, "here are the steps WE ARE TAKING, and we hope the rest of the world will join us". (again for the naysayers who say "what about China, India, etc. Well China right now is actually doing more than we are, they are not necessarily unwilling, in fact they are less entrenched in the old way of doing things than we are. And when developing nations realize it is actually cheaper and more sustainable to be green, clean, and efficient do think they will hesitate?

To elaborate on the cheaper part of it. In a time of abundance it is easy to be wasteful. Americans throw out 25 % of the food we buy. (During the depression do you think this was the case?) The standard light bulb wastes 95% of its energy producing heat. Our cars get half the miles per gallon than the cars in Europe. If we increased the fuel efficiency of cars we would not have to "drill baby drill" or even import oil from the middle east and it would cost less for Americans to get to work/school/etc. So as oil prices rise so do food prices and as the economy turns down people need to save money. Efficiency is the easiest first step and it happens to also be the best way to be an "environmentalist".

So back to politics. Our government is by the people for the people. So we the people need to be engaged. We need to be a voice that can be heard over the chatter of coal industry lobbyists. We need to say no to new coal and we need to say it loud. There is no such thing as "Clean Coal" - this is just a theory and the fact Obama talks about it shows us what we are up against. But I strongly believe that Obama has the intellect, foresight, and heart to grasp the problem and chose the right solutions. But we must let him and our representatives in congress know that this is important to us.

The take home message must be that we need to address global climate change and in doing so we will solve our economic and national security problems and without doing so any attempts to fix the latter two problems will fail! It needs to be done through efficiency and clean, renewable energies like solar and wind, we need to stop using coal and nuclear power, reduce our use of oil and natural gas, and end the wars which are draining our resources and destroying lives and the environment.

This sounds like a lot but it must be done, in fact it is already being done. For example through the efforts of nonprofits and foundations who came together to revolutionize how these two sectors work together, taking a systemic, cooperative approach, the RE-AMP initiative has made huge progress in the countries most unlikely region. RE-AMP is a seven-state network of nonprofits and foundations, striving for Midwest leadership in 21st century clean energy by reducing electricity sector global warming pollutants 80 percent by 2030. This group has been so successful that the governors from each of the states involved have signed on to the plan. And RE-AMP has done this with investment in the millions (pennies for the federal government).

And if you think industry won't like it then get them to talk with Ray Anderson. A dozen years ago he made the audacious goal of turning his $1 billion dollar carpet manufacturing company Interface, INC. , into one with a ZERO environmental footprint! He is now halfway to his goal and each and every step the company has boosted profits by more than he could have imagined. Green is good for business!

So what can each of us do? There are a few things we all can do, MUST do!

(before you think you do not have time, we all can admit that we have some time we could devote to saving the world. Turn off the TV, put down your magazine, and get to work!

1) The first small step is VOTE! And make sure EVERYONE you know is voting.

2) Join 1sky This is a very well organized group pushing politicians to fight global climate change through green jobs and green energy. At the least join them, better yet, get everyone you know to join, and even better still become a precinct captain to make sure we succeed in this mission.

4) Go to the Presidential Climate Action Project, learn about the Plan and sign your support.

5) Go to 350.org and invite Obama/McCain to the 2009 global summit on global climate change.

6) Call and write letters to your congressional representatives as well as key members of congress and federal government and tell them you think this is of utmost importance. To find out who to contact and how to do it go to USA.gov.

7) write letters to the editors of every newspaper and magazine you can think of!

8) spread the word to everyone you know!

thanks for taking the time to read this and even more thanks for passing it on and doing your part to be an engaged citizen of this country and world.

Peace and God Bless the World,
Danny

what I hope Obama says tonight in the debate

So I am gonna preemptively comment on the last debate which is tonight.

In the past weeks McCain/Palin have been attacking Obama, saying he does not love America, McCain has asked "who is the real Obama?" They say he pals around with terrorists, that he does not love America, that he does not think America is a force for good in the world and they insist that he answers these questions to the America public.

Interestingly enough, these typical republican strategies of character assassination, have not worked like they have in the past for the simple reason that the economy has people interested, for once, in the issues, to the point they have been turned off by the attacks and lack of leadership that McCain has shown in a time of crisis.

Now as the lunatics in the crowds are yelling "kill him" this rhetoric enters dangerous territory.

I had hoped Obama would take McCain to task during this last debate over this issue. But as the polls show it has all worked against McCain I suspect Obama will continue to take the high road since it has been working. But McCain actually said that he is gonna bring up the William Ayers thing during the debate!

Boy I hope this happens! Then Obama will have the chance to answer and this is what I hope he says:

First he should mention that he is not interested, and neither are the American people interested, in such baseless distractions, but since McCain brought it up he must address it.

second he needs to address the bigger picture. How can McCain/Palin question Obama's patriotism and love of this country? Obama never questions McCain's nor Palin's. In fact it is safe to say that everyone running for the office of President loves the country, in fact every senator loves the country, there is no need to question their patriotism, that is exactly the divisive politics that McCain preaches he is against. In fact he answers every question with the statement that he is the one to reach across the isle.

third, to suggest Obama is friendly to any terrorist is beyond the pale, absurd.

so what is the relationship to Ayers? Well a conservative Republican and supporter of Reagan started the Annenberg Foundation which has an institute for education reform. Annenberg hired Ayers to work for the foundation since he is an expert on Education Reform. He also asked Obama to be on the board. So Obama and Ayers both worked together on this mostly republican foundation. End of story. Ayers involvement in the Weather Underground happened when Obama was 8 years old.

Of course Obama won't mention it but he could mention the following story:

McCain Official Helped Saddam Lobbyists

The McCain campaign, meanwhile, is facing new scrutiny over a top official’s ties to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The investigative journalist Murray Waas has revealed the head of McCain’s presidential transition team took part in a lobbying effort to lift the US-backed sanctions imposed on Iraq after the first Gulf War. The lobbyist, William Timmons, worked closely with two other lobbyists later convicted for acting as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein’s government. Timmons helped the lobbyists on a deal that would have granted a contract to resell Iraqi oil. Timmons stood to share a $45 million windfall if the deal was approved. Timmons reportedly consulted on public talking points and lobbying strategies with top Iraqi officials, including former deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.

so who should we be concerned with, those with ties to Saddam or a professor of education?

The most important comic book ever written!

Hi,

There has been lots written about how the last two elections were stolen. It is one of those facts that many Americans refuse to believe because it sounds like a "conspiracy theory". There are a number of tactics they use including voter purging and passing laws that will make it harder for many to vote. Greg Palast and Bobby Kennedy Jr. have written a free comic book that tells how this happens and more importantly how people can make sure their right to vote is not taken away.

Well there is nothing theoretical about this conspiracy, it is a fact. Just look at what is happening in preparation for this election as reported in the New York Times and elsewhere. 10's of thousands of voters, (probably millions actually) are being purged from voter rolls, especially in swing states like Colorado and New Mexico. %19 or 1 in 5 voters have been removed from the voter registration rolls in Colorado. The woman who did this in Colorado was since promoted by Bush to work nationally on the election.

How can they do this you ask? Well they have many reasons but the excuse is the claim that voter fraud is a problem ie: people are voting twice or illegal aliens are voting. This scare tactic has helped them cloud the issue and go about their anti-democratic business. Of course this claim is false. In Ohio, for example in 6 years there have only been 4 cases of voter fraud according to Ohio's current secretary of state. Bush appointed a republican prosecutor to go after voter fraud cases and after years of not being able to find any legitimate cases Bush fired him for what the prosecutor says was because he "refused to prosecute innocent people".

So the excuses they use to purge names include people with felonies (anyone with the same name as a felon would be purged) and people who are no longer at their residences where they are registered such as people who have been foreclosed on or people who are in the military and are being deployed to Iraq. When people show up at the polls to find their name has been removed they are given a provisional ballot. Then these ballots can be thrown out using the same excuse they used to remove the name. In 2004, according to Palast, more than a million provisional ballots cast were thrown out!

of course another trick they use is to make stricter laws such as requiring people to bring a picture ID. On the surface this seems fair but it effects many poor and elderly people who do not have a drivers licence or passport. In fact 1 in ten Americans do not have a government issued ID so for instance in Indiana, a swing state, the new law will prevent 100,000 black people from being able to vote!!!

So go to the website and download or order copies of the Palast/Kennedy comic book called "Steal Back Your Vote"

This is a non-partisan comic book made to help teach people how to prevent their voting rights from being taken away. Regardless of your party, voting is the key to democracy.

The book is free (you must donate as little as a penny). Once you download it they encourage reproduction, there is no copyright.

It is especially important if you know anyone in swing states to get this info to them. They can order boxes of the comic and distribute them.

the link is http://www.stealbackyourvote.com/

check it out and spread the word

read the New York Times article at: voter purging in Times

Thanks,

Danny

Palin/McCain incite fear, hatred, racism, and worse

Well I just had an exchange with my mom that we need to be positive. But I also feel the need to call out injustice when I see it and right now Palin and McCain are reaching a new low.

Now that they are behind they are pulling out all the stops and quite frankly their rallies sound more like KKK rallies than political ones. At a recent rally Palin was claiming Obama palled around with terrorists who want to bomb America. She said "I am afraid Obama does not think like us (code word for white people). That he does not think America is a force for good in the world" someone in the crowd yelled "kill him!" and she said nothing. That is the kind of hate and fear they are summoning right now and not only is that un-American and un-Christian it is illegal and down right dangerous. These people deserve to be in the big house not the white house.

At McCain rallies people chant "terrorist" when he mentions Obama and McCain lets it slide. The fact is he encourages it.

They also encourage hatred towards the press and the crowds at the rallies are getting hostile towards the press and recently told a black media crew guy to "sit down boy!"

And of course the ties to terrorists are lies and have been discredited by the media a long time ago (when Hillary made the accusation in her desperation during the primaries.) Claiming Obama is a terrorist is just simply ridiculous and a classic tactic by the fear mongering Republican party.

The next few weeks will be frightening and I hope to god these sleazy Republicans don't rile up the wrong crazies and convince them to do something horrible.

Obama is gonna win this election easily, unless the Republicans succeed is stealing it, which they are working over time on as reported in the New York times. I will blog on this next.

vote early if your state allows it and tell others to do the same.

Vote, Democracy Depends on it

where's the debate?

Ok, people say the two candidates agree on too many issues during the debate. Well that is in large part because McCain lies and lies and lies. But besides that the Democrats and republicans are both guilty of blocking out third party candidates from the debate. And this is a crime to democracy.

Without third party candidates in the debate the two major parties are able to leave out view points in the debate that quite frankly would resonate with the American public. Examples of topics which needed some wider debate are energy, the economy, and war.

Both candidates agree on nuclear power - what about the view that this is too dangerous and is expensive without the 100s of billions of dollars of subsidies they receive from the tax payers. Or the fact that exporting this technology helps to spread nuclear technology which can be used to make bombs.

Both talk about clean coal even though this technology does not even exist.

Both candidates agree we gotta talk about killing people and occupying foreign countries with our military. They may disagree which countries we should bomb. But where is the view that our progress in both Iraq and Afghanistan is proof positive that invading, bombing, destabilizing, and occupying a foreign country is not a successful way to help them get democracy or a way to reduce the threat of terrorism here or abroad. What about removing our military and using the UN to take military action when necessary in case of genocide or something. And what about talking about bringing those guilty of 9/11 to justice rather than saying we will "kill" them. And they say they are Christians.

Where is the view point that the 700 billion dollar bailout was a bad idea? Many top economists think so. When the House failed to pass it, the subsequent drop in the stock market was said to be proof that they needed to pass it. Of course after it was passed the stock market continued to drop, so much for the bailout. What are some of the other ideas out there on how to fix it?

Our country spends more than the rest of the world COMBINED on our military and we are deeper in debt than any other nation as well. Neither candidate dares to suggest reducing our military budget as a way to help us out financially. Where is the view that we could provide better for those here at home if we spent less on our military?


where is the opinion that a single payer health care system which the majority of Americans support might be better than those proposed by either major party candidate?

And of course there are issues like the environment which get forgotten every presidential election.

You get the point.

peace and be sure to vote!

quick reaction to first debate

hey everyone,

Well I just watched the first debate and I need to just jot down my initial reaction so I can let it rest.

First trying to be unbiased and just commenting on style. Obama was very present, looking at the moderator and McCain, laying out very precise plans, and basically demonstrating a command of the information and understanding of the issues. Obama also spent very little time commenting on specifics of McCain's record . (which of course is full of possible ammo to be used against him)

McCain on the other hand, looked at the floor and off into space, he looked tired and even bored, absent minded and uncomfortable at times. He rarely, if ever, gave any specific plans, rather he attacked Obama's record, gave general talking points, and told stories.

Obama was on it and awake, in command. McCain looked tired and struggling. On energy alone I know who I want as our President.

More specifically, for example on the current economic situation Obama listed one by one the things he would add to Bush's bailout plan. McCain on the other hand said general stuff like the dems and republicans are working together to make a plan. Funny, Obama was one of those making the plan, McCain really had nothing to do with it.

So I guess that gets me into the meat of the debate. Obviously I think Obama kicked ass. Of course I agree more with him than with McCain. McCain had a tough time because he has been on the wrong side of every issue. So he cannot really talk specifics. Just attack and throw out talking points. McCain really has no vision.

McCain was talking about cutting out millions of dollars of earmarks (which actually create jobs) while Obama was talking cutting out hundreds of millions in tax loop holes.

So plenty of people will dissect this debate, I wanna go to sleep so I will not do that any further.

The one thing I will do is say where I disagree most with Obama and that is his militaristic approach towards Afghanistan and Pakistan. The wars in Iraq AND Afghanistan have proved, once again, that military intervention and subsequent occupation of middle eastern countries does not bring about stability or end terrorism. It in fact flares anti-American sentiment with every civilian killed and every home destroyed! Instead of arguing which wars should be fought I wish Obama was arguing that WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER. Instead his disagreement on foreign policy with McCain boiled down to McCain wanting war with Iran and Iraq and Obama wanting war in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

That being said I strongly believe that Obama has the good sense, the vast knowledge, and the good judgement, to do his best to avoid war and to wield the hammer of the American Empire with some empathy and foresightedness while McCain I believe has no concern for human life (as he jokes about killing the Iranians) and would gladly use war as a tool without any remorse or thought for the future repercussions. That is one reason I will gladly vote for Obama despite my pacifist views.

Oh and Obama really nailed McCain a few times, there were some real knock out blows, perhaps I will discuss these more later.

for now good night, it will be interesting to see how the mainstream media spins this.

peace,
Danny

oh, and of course the point I was bummed got missed was about Georgia/Russia. McCain said twice that Barack was wrong because he said BOTH sides need to show restraint. It is absurd to say that this is the wrong thing to say when people are killing each other, regardless who is to blame. And of course the point that Georgia started the violence was never made.