She was there for the Gold Star Families for Peace’s “Sit Down for Change, Stand up for Peace!” campaign in front of the Whitehouse, which started Nov. 6th and is going until Nov. 9th. I sooooo wanted to go to this, I kept getting the email updates and thinking how amazing it would have been to be part of that group. But I’m glad other people are there making it happen and hopefully it will be my turn soon.
Sheehan was charged with “interfering with a government function” after she and other protesters blocked the gate and ignored orders to move.
Another ridiculous example of our slow deterioration to a police state, aka Nazi Germany. I mean really, how big of a threat is a 49 year old woman working for PEACE in honor of her son who was killed in Iraq.
Keep fighting Cindy, we love you and appreciate all that you do!!
Read the full story on CommonDreams.org
While both the country and this state were able to take many positive steps forward after yesterday’s elections, there were also seven very negative and discriminatory steps backward. Yesterday, SEVEN states were so concerned with my ability to get married that they voted to ban same-sex marriage. They actually added discrimination to their state’s constitutions.
Since when does a state, lead mostly by a bunch of old white guys, have any say in who I marry? Who the hell do they think they are? Someone like me marrying someone like my girlfriend is such a horrifying thought to them that they are actually writing this ban into their state’s constitution thinking it will remedy all their marriage problems and protect all future marriages. Hate to break it to you religious fanatics, but gay people actually have nothing to do with the breakdown of the so-called “sanctity” of marriage. I would say it has more to do with infidelity, poverty, alcoholism, and spousal abuse. Why don’t they outlaw those things instead? Just make it illegal to get a divorce. There. Fixed.
And besides, don’t most religions teach LOVE and ACCEPTANCE? I don’t think Jesus said “love thy neighbor– unless they’re gay.” There are no ifs, buts, or unless’s attached to acceptance. Either you accept someone 100% or you don’t, and any conditions placed on this so-called acceptance is merely a personal attempt to justify discrimination and hypocrisy. And people wonder why I don’t go to church.
Anyone who still upholds the “Homosexual Agenda” argument against same-sex marriage needs to take a look at some of their political and religious leaders. Foley and Haggart sure have an agenda. As do lots of Catholic priests. Not to mention the fact that the Homosexual Agenda argument stems from a satirical essay whose parts were taken out of context. Satirical. Meaning not serious. Which anyone would know if they actually read it.
That’s some back-asswards logic you’ve got Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Lets not forget Ohio is only exempt from this list because they’ve already banned it. My own state can take my taxes but god forbid they let me marry the person I love and give me the same legal rights as every other married couple.
Alas, same-sex marriage bans only make us fight harder, live more proudly as who we are, and make us realize how little some people really understand their religion.
To end on a positive note, voters in South Dakota rejected a ban on abortion, what would have been the toughest abortion law in the country. As I always say, what business do men have telling women what to do with their own bodies? We promote Viagra and Cialis all over the place and then act offended by the existence of abortions? Good job South Dakota, way to see through that nonsense. And you can sleep soundly knowing that English is now the official language of Arizona.
Governor Ted Strickland.
Senator Sherrod Brown.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
Attorney General Marc Dann.
Treasurer Richard Cordray.
First Ever Woman Speaker of the House: Nancy Pelosi.
Ohio’s 15th District Representative: ???
What a night.
I am hesitant to concede victory to Pryce just yet, only because the margin is so narrow and the provisional (and some absentee) ballots have yet to be counted (up to 20,000 ballots remain.) Think about who gets those provisional ballots: mostly people who move a lot. Who moves more, rich people or poorer people? I bet it wasn’t the Upper Arlington folk using those provisional ballots and that is why I will patiently wait for the final results to come in the next couple weeks. Kilroy, hang on, don’t give up this fight! Don’t wuss out like President Kerry did.
I had a great Election Protection/Poll Observer experience at precincts 17-D and 17-E at Linmoor Middle School. The Dems swept everything in both of those precincts, I loved it. I have a list of +’s and -’s (in true City Year fashion) to report in detail tomorrow, but all in all I’d say the evening went well compared to other counties in Ohio.
As of right now, I can proudly say there are at least 37,864 other people in Ohio who supported Bob Fitrakis for Governor. I wish I could meet each and every one of them!
I have so much in the political blogosphere to read and catch up on tomorrow. I wish I could have continued my previous post further this afternoon, but I had to leave for poll observing. Fortunately there are great sites out there like As Ohio Goes that provided plenty of coverage.
It’s almost 1am and I have to work tomorrow so I’m gonna force myself to step away from the computer and CNN and go to bed. Perhaps when I wake up, we will have a Democratic controlled Senate to go with our fresh Democratic House of Representatives.
Oh what sweet dreams I will have tonight! Many thanks and great job to everybody who worked to make this election such a success, for Ohio and our nation!!
Peace, Love, and Democracy.
It’s here. It’s time. GET OUT AND VOTE if you haven’t already. You have until 7:30pm.
If you are in Ohio and you have ANY questions about your voting rights, your polling location, new laws, etc., contact me and I will get you an answer. LRobeson@gmail.com, AIM: peacechikn.
It’s gonna be a mess today and all because we can’t seem to figure out a nationally standardized voting system. With the first problem already reported and it’s barely 10am, I’ve decided to keeping a running list of Ohio’s voting problems as they happen (or are reported.)
If you have any problems or something to report, call 1-888-DEM-VOTE or 1-866-OUR-VOTE right away. If you can’t get through, contact me. Or submit your problem report online here or here. We need to document EVERYTHING.
Let the problems begin:
- 10:10am - Election Day Calls Crash Franklin County Phone System: A flood of election-related calls has knocked out the phone system serving Franklin County offices in Columbus. County Elections Director Matthew Damschroder says the phone lines have been overwhelmed by voters wondering where to vote and poll workers needing help with electronic voting machines.
- 10:12am - New rules, machines frazzle voters early: Programming errors and inexperience with electronic voting machines frustrated poll workers in hundreds of precincts early Tuesday, delaying voters in Indiana and Ohio and leaving some in Florida with little choice but use paper ballots instead. In Cleveland, voters rolled their eyes as election workers fumbled with new touchscreen machines that they couldn’t get to start properly.
“We got five machines — one of them’s got to work”
Willette Scullank, troubleshooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio elections board
- 10:43am - Long lines, problems with voting machines reported across Ohio: Long lines, problems with ballot-reading machines and some frustrated voters who left polls without casting ballots were reported early on Tuesday in Ohio’s first punch-card free general election… In Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and elsewhere, lines more than 30 people deep formed at polling places. In Athens County in southeast Ohio, the prosecutor warned voters to be leery of fraudulent calls claiming their voting precinct had been changed.
- 12:15pm - Broken machines in Cleveland Heights: “At 10:15 a.m., I was the first person to vote electronically at my precinct in Cleveland Heights. Having arrived at 6:30 when the polls opened, we were immediately told by poll workers that none of the five cards voters use to vote electronically were functional. In fact, I’m fairly certain that the majority of the cards came up as dead on arrival.”
- 1:51pm - Delaware mistakenly includes ’Learn and Earn’ slogan on ballot: The “Learn and Earn” slogan, coined by supporters of Issue 3, accidentally accompanied the ballot language on Delaware County voting machines, attracting complaints from some voters.
After all this is over, be sure to stay tuned to Video The Vote and ElectionProtection365.org for some good documentation of what’s happening today.
What are you doing this Monday evening?
Want to Get Out The Vote with an icon of women’s rights??
Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, and Gloria Steinem, feminist icon, journalist, and women’s rights advocate, will be at the SEIU Offices in Columbus (1395 Dublin Road) to participate in a voter canvass from 4pm-6pm and then have dinner with Planned Parenthood and America Votes volunteers until 9pm.
Can you imagine canvassing the streets of Columbus with Gloria freakin’ Steinem?! And then having dinner in her company? What an amazing opportunity and it’s happening Monday evening. I’ll be there for sure. Hope you will too!
See you in the streets!
P.S. Did you know Gloria is a Toledo, Ohio native? Neither did I, but how cool! Looks like Toledo has another thing to be proud of besides me, glass, and coney hotdogs. ;-)
“Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up
with you all night
Had I known how to save a life…”
-The Fray
I wrote something last night regarding all of this but I’m still debating whether or not I’ll post it. We’ll see.
