This comic and write-up explain exactly how I feel.

I liked him last time, I like him even more this time, and I think the world and America are ready for a strong, honest, moral, intelligent and innovative leader to help guide this country, and this planet, towards a much more positive future.

I almost voted for him last time, and I am seriously considering giving him my vote this time.

He knows what Darth Cheney has done, and he's calling him out publicly. That was introduced last Tuesday. I must say, I'm impressed.

This is an awesome Calvin and Hobbes, and such a very good question.

Pretty crazy that Gonzo and Rove are both on their way out. I wonder about the timing, but only time will tell. It does make me happy, though!

Barack was on the Daily Show tonight and it was a pretty good interview. Nothing earth shattering, although one part in the first half of the interview came off a little weird to me. Obama was talking about the campaign process, and he seemed to imply that people know you're not really telling the truth while on the campaign trail. And that seemed a strange thing to say. I guess I have to rewatch it to really understand what he was getting at, but on the first pass it sounded really odd. Here's the rest from after the commercial break.

Labels: interview, Obama, The Daily Show

Big article in the NYTimes about the Wikiscanner. Seems like there are a lot of shady edits by corporate shills. Don't they know that nothing on the 'net is anonymous?

I am going to assume that nobody is surprised that the the Feds and the Spooks are changing articles on Wikipedia to more closely match the hoped-for reality.

Wikiscanner is how they were discovered.

Another thing I've discovered is that outrage is dulled by disuse. You gotta keep paying attention to notice what's going on.

Can you hear the drumbeats yet ? Or did you already hear that Beach Boys cover by Straightalk McCain?

Another petition from the ACLU demanding that Pelosi and Reed stand up for the rule of law and revoke the new FISA laws.

I admit it, this makes me chuckle.

If you still have questions about the Iraq war and other US foreign policy this site might help.

I'm psyched. Been looking for it for a long time, but I finally found the Secret, Undisclosed Location of Darth Cheney when he's not kicking it in the House of White.

Figures it would be right across the street from our apartment in SF!!

Here are 3 "break-out" Q&A sessions with the Dem front runners from the Yearly Kos convention in Chicago that wrapped up a few days ago.

Hillary, Johnnie E and Barack, via Talking Points Memo.

Sorta cheezy little moment at the start of Barack's Q&A, but the rest of it is pretty good. He manages to stick to his talking points while still sounding sincere. And exactly as I've heard, he's an excellent speaker. He's smart, that's clear. He knows what's important to us, that's also clear. I'm just still not quite convinced he's got the oomph and killer instinct to truly lead this nation to a better future.

John Edwards is fired up, and he chose a podium-less format to highlight his "I'm just like you" theme. But there is still something about him that doesn't quite work. He's both too folkys and too lawyerly for me. Not that there's anything wrong with being a laywer, it's just not the style of President I'm looking for. The questions are a little strange for him, though, so he doesn't get to talk about the same types of issues as the other two.

Hillary gets some great crowd responses, and she does an excellent job. I trust her to be moral, clear-headed and strong when it comes to the important decisions that need to be made, and to do it with a deft touch. She seems to have a better grasp on the vast number issues that are at stake. Barack talks about 'hope' and 'change' while Hillary talks specifics. I like that. She seems more real, and more firmly grounded than the other two.

What about you? Which did you like and why? Have you been watching the debates? Let me know.

Each of these clips are less than 9 min long, so do take the time to watch them. Provided we keep the Diebolds out of the voting rooms and the chads out of Florida, one of these 3 people will probably be our new President.

I only wish the election were yesterday.

Here's a petition to sign from the ACLU demanding that Congress get its act together and revoke the sweeping changes to the FISA laws that were just put through so that the Dems could go home for vacation and not have the Repubs and W paint them as "soft on terrorism."

Instead, now we can label the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House who let this happen--as well as all those other fearful Dems who actually voted for it--as the weak, pandering, rubberstamp fools that they are. They were voted into power in Congress to stop this bullshit, not make it worse!

I really don't understand how they can both want to fire AG Speedy G *and* give him even more power to determine which Americans the government can spy on. Stupid doesn't even begin to cover it. Here's a post from Firedoglake that highlights Representative Sestak's concerns about these new laws, and why he voted against them.

Here's a nice liveblog of the Democratic debate tonight. I confess, I didn't watch it. I'll make sure to catch parts of it over the next few days. I did get a good sense of it, though, reading the above.

No canvassing tonight. Got home from an appointment too late and couldn't make back to the city in time.

It feels rather awesome to be at home in the evening, though. This is a time of the day I enjoy thoroughly and it wasn't good for me to work through it every day of the week.

Balance is key. I'm thrilled that I had that job for the time I did and I learned a ton in a very short period of time, but it was simply untenable. Onward and upward, as they say.

But stick around. There's a lot to talk about, and we're going to have some fun watching this shitstorm of a Presidential election season roll out.

Here's a great pair of links via BoingBoing that show where 18 presidential candidates stand on 24 issues, and also a way to select what you agree with, and therefore, who you should vote for. If you end up with Mickey Mouse, don't blame me.

Got to rock some blocks in my neighborhood this evening. Sure wish I did a better job. It was a rare night when a big fat goose-egg was laid in the "Contributions" column. I could blame the people for not listening or the streets for being hilly, but really the fault is my own.

Tentacles of vacation still slithered through my mind while the tenuous webs-strings of the coming future started to stick and bind. Simply put, I wasn't focused on the job, and the lack of new members proves it. I could have gotten lucky and found someone that was already into the ACLU, that was just waiting for the right moment, but it didn't happen. I'll get a bunch of them tomorrow on my last day canvassing.

I'm not going to stop posting on this blog, though. I need a place to rant and shout and spew about politics. Without canvassing as an outrage outlet I'll need accoster. even more. Maybe I can stop people in their tracks online, like I have been out on the street and at doors.

And there's plenty to be pissed about. Topic 1 being the new laws in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. NPR will tell you all about it. Check out the first portion of Talk of the Nation, then two short discussions on All Things Considered and Day to Day. There's something about this whole issue that seems to make my brain fizz and sputter, so I have to really listen. I have to make sure the whole "I cannot believe this is happening here, in America," idea doesn't drown out the actual, frightening facts of these new laws. Sometimes insanity/audacity is hard to focus on. Sometimes it is so hard to believe what I'm seeing that denial sets in. It takes effort to pay attention.

Vacation was awesome because I got to hang with my brand new nephew, spend time with with parents and see a lot of friends with new kids of their own. Figuring out what I should do for work won't be nearly as much fun.