Did “You” Show Up?
Posted by Michelle Moquin on November 3rd, 2010
First of all, thanks to all of you who showed up at the polls and voted yesterday!
And thanks to all of you who took the time and volunteered for weeks and months or even a day or an hour. You made a difference. Thank you for voting and for getting the vote out because you wanted stand by our president and the Democratic party, in support of all that got accomplished, and the plans, and the promise of more…for at least the next two years.
Second, I want to especially thank my mother, who ever since I suggested that she get involved, she has been volunteering her time to the Democratic party making phone calls and attending rally’s at least 2-3 times per week.
A few weeks ago I asked her if she enjoyed making those phone calls. My mother told me that she “hated” it. This surprised me because my mother is a very social talkative woman who loves connecting with people. However I found out the reason why she “hated” it was because in the numerous of phone calls that she made she rarely got to talk to someone live on the phone.
But my mother, in spite of her “hating” it, she continued to do it for many weeks, knowing that she was doing something good…knowing that her involvement was making a difference, not necessarily for her future but for the future of those who would be around much longer than herself. I was so proud of her.
I wished at that moment that others would do something and in spite of what they felt, in spite of hating it like my mother, they continued to do it for the greater good. We all have things that we don’t like to do in life but many times the results we achieve…the blessings…the gifts we give, are worth it.
When I called my mother last night, she had been at the Democratic headquarters in Marin since 11:00 am that morning and had just gotten home at 9:00 pm that night. She had been making phone calls all day. And she had loved it. My mother, who doesn’t own a computer loved the system of making calls from the computer. She had learned something new and she was delighted.
The energy was of course different than most of the other days that she was phone banking. And now with so much action and a celebratory vibe, she was in her element. She loved the comaradderie that she felt amongst a crowd that had a common purpose. When I spoke with her, in spite of our big lose in the House, she was on a natural high…her peeps were winning. :)
I told my mother how grateful I was that she had put so much time into this election…and she thanked me for lighting the fire.
Now…to those that didn’t go out and vote, and I seriously doubt it was my readers but I will express my two anyway. I am holding those who didn’t vote responsible if our country goes in “R“everse leading us to hell in the proverbial hand basket. Yes, I’m blaming the “Eh! Why bother? Dems” who decided not to bother showing up.
What is it with the Dems? It’s really that simple: Support your fellow Dems and Just show up! The Republicans will always support each other…they will always stick together…and most likely, they will always lie, cheat, and steal their way to success if they can. And if they can, they will. All the Dems had to do was show up and vote. Simple. And we could’ve kept the majority in the Senate and the House once again. But no…they decided to sit this one out, probably so they can bitch and moan about all that’s not getting done later on.
This was my experience yesterday that left me quite enlightened: I went to the bank yesterday afternoon and asked the teller if he had voted yet. He was a young man, and he said no, he wasn’t going to vote. I asked him what party he was with and when he responded “I am a Democrat”, I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me? And you’re not voting?” We exchanged a few more words. And then I handed him my cheat sheet list of who and what to vote for, and made him copy it off and promise that he would go to the polls after he got off work. He was grateful and said that if it were not for me he would not have voted. He walked away to make his copy.
In the mean time, a woman was waiting to speak to this particular teller and I asked her if she had voted yet. She also informed me that she was not planning on voting. (!) She was also a Democrat. I’m sure there was a look of shock on my face, (again!). I thought, “This is unbelievable.” Then the teller came back out and I asked him to please make another copy for this woman. He smiled, turned around and left again. He came back a moment later and handed her my cheat sheet. They were both grateful and I made them promise me that they would vote. Promises were made, but were they held?
I left the bank feeling less hopeful of the outcome of this election. I had asked two people about voting and both were not planning to go to the polls and vote. And I thought to myself, “If this was happening to me here, this is probably happening all over the country.” I felt sick to my stomach.
People who live here couldn’t even motivate themselves to got to their polling place. Doug has been working out of town for the last few days. He left his job and drove for three hours just to get back home in time to vote before the polls closed. Distance wasn’t going to prevent him from exercising his right to vote, yet people living here were too lazy to go 5 minutes down the street to exercise their right.
There was no excuse not to show up. It is such a privilege to have a voice…it is such a freedom to be able to express our choices…it is so easy for us to exercise our rights…it is so simple to just show up when asked. “Give a shit!”, is what I say. - stop asking for others to do it for you so that you can bitch when it doesn’t get done! Ugh! It seems to me that some people would rather be lazy so they can have something to bitch about later. How illogical is that?!
I am dumbfounded by the stupidity of the Democrats. “Wussies!”, I heard someone say last night about the Dems. Oh how I dislike that, but it is hard to disagree.
Maddow showed us just what has been accomplished in the last 21 months. More has been accomplished in 21 months than any other past president, even in spite of the party of no Republicans. Hell…even the weather was great thanks to Madaline. I’m disappointed and quite frankly, a little pissed off. And no doubt Maddie is too. She worked her ass off.
If the Dems had just shown up…if the Dems had been team players. – This was a team effort and half of the team decided not to show up.
Oh well…
..it could’ve been worse. At least we still have the majority in the Senate, even if we lost seats in the House. Goodbye Nancy Pelosi. Hello John Boehner. “I’ll never let you down,” said House Republican leader John Boehner. All I can say is, with the Republicans in control of the House, it will be very interesting to see how much will actually get accomplished over the next two years. Will the economy turn around or will it get worse? Are we in a gridlock? Their sweep of the House could be a blessing in disguise if the Republicans don’t accomplish what they say they are going to do…if they don’t keep the promises they are making. Oh…And that’s the downside too.
In the mean time, we got the best results we could get considering who actually showed up at the polls. We have made our bed, and now we will have to sleep in it. As Madaline says, “Let them suffer for the next two years.”
Oh I HOPE not, but I guess we’ll just have to see how it all plays out, work on what we can, and HOPE for the best. And HOPEfully learn from this. How much change occurs or doesn’t occur because of the shift of the balance of power, will show us just how important the outcome of these midterm elections were, when it comes to how it will affect the 2012 Presidential election. The next two years will certainly be interesting to say the least.
Readers: There is so much more to say about the outcome of this election (Propositions, and I’m so bummed about Alan Grayson, but of course delighted over Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown, not to mention the downfall of O’Donnell and Angle., etc.) and answering questions such as “How did this happen?”, and “Why did it go this way?”, taking so much more into consideration than just the fact that the Dems didn’t show up. The voters voted they way they did for so many reasons. I’m done for the day, but I’d love to hear your take on all of this. The blog is open (hopefully). Comments? Thoughts? Blog me.
Peace out…
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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November 3rd, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Michelle in a strange way I think it is God’s wisdom that has put the republicans at the helm of the House. Now they will have two years to show the country just how fucked up they really are.
Lois
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Exercise Bands
Joan Price
Stretchy latex strips about three feet long and six inches wide, exercise bands are small and light enough to carry almost anywhere. Cost: $2 to $6 each at sporting-goods stores and online.
Buy four bands—two each at two different intensities (levels of resistance). Use the easier low-intensity bands for arms and shoulders… use higher-intensity bands for chest, back, lower-body and abdominal exercises.
For a full-body workout: Moving slowly, do eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise below. If an exercise seems too easy, move your hands closer to the center of the band to create more resistance. For seated exercises, sit in a straight-backed chair.
BICEPS CURL. Sit, feet together, with center of one band anchored under feet. Hold ends of band in either hand, palms up, elbows bent to 90° and tucked into your sides. Raise hands toward shoulders… lower to starting position.
TRICEPS TONER. Stand and hold end of one band in left hand, elbow bent so hand is behind head (palm facing you) and band hangs behind your back.
With right hand, grasp band at waist level, palm facing out. Keeping right hand still, straighten left arm above head… return to starting position. Repeat on other side.
SHOULDER RAISE. Use two bands. Sit, feet six inches apart, each heel anchoring one end of a band. Hold free ends of each band at hip level in either hand, thumbs up, elbows slightly bent.
Raise arms out to either side until upper arms, elbows and lower arms are all at shoulder height… lower arms.
CHEST PRESS. Sit or stand and wrap one band across your mid-back. Elbows bent, hold ends in front of you at chest height.
Push forward, straightening arms… hold for two seconds… bend elbows to bring hands back toward chest.
BACK ROW. Sit, feet together, knees eight to 12 inches apart, center of one band anchored under feet. Hold left end of band in right hand and right end of band in left hand, so band crosses between knees.
Start with hands at hip level, elbows bent, palms facing each other… pull elbows back and up, bringing hands to ribs… hold for two seconds, squeezing shoulder blades together… return to starting position.
LOWER-BODY SQUAT. Use two bands. Stand, feet hip-width apart, each heel anchoring one end of a band. Bring free ends of each band up and over shoulders from behind… grasp ends of bands… wrap bands around hands once or twice to create as much resistance as you can.
Sticking buttocks out behind you (as if taking a seat), bend knees until thighs are parallel to floor… hold for two seconds, not allowing knees to come forward of toes… slowly rise to starting position (resistance from bands increases as you rise).
AB CRUNCH. Lay band straight out on floor. Lie face-up on top of it, knees bent, feet flat, tailbone anchoring one end of band and other end extending beyond head.
Reach above head and grasp end of band with hands to create a “hammock” for head. Contract abs to lift head and shoulders off floor… hold for two seconds… return to starting position.
Women’s Health interviewed Joan Price, a certified fitness instructor and motivational speaker based in Sebastopol, California, and author of six books, including The Anytime, Anywhere Exercise Book (iUniverse). http://www.JoanPrice.com
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Hafa adai
Shortly before midnight Tuesday, almost four hours after the polls closed, the first unofficial results of the General Election started trickling in, with six of the 58 precincts tallied.
The slow counting continued through the night and into the early morning hours. It wasn’t until 6 a.m. that the Guam Election Commission had completed its vote tally from all 58 precincts.
With the slow going of the count of ballots from this election fresh in mind, we need to start looking at ways to improve the process for the next General Election, in 2012. Namely, Guam needs to take a hard look at how it conducts elections, and look at the best options for upgrading election technology.
After the 2006 elections, the Legislature banned the use of electronic voting machines after problems caused by poorly trained election officials mishandling the machines.
It was a poor solution to the problem. There was nothing inherently wrong with the machines, only in how they were handled.
Reinstituting the use of electronic voting machines would make it easier and more efficient to count ballots. These machines also would eliminate the growing problem of spoiled ballots in the Primary Election, which most often are caused by crossover voting.
In the 2004 Primary Election, there were 2,700 spoiled ballots. In 2006, there were 2,500. This year’s primary, however, had 4,150 spoiled ballots — about 14 percent of the total votes cast. In some districts, about 20 percent of ballots cast were spoiled.
This can’t happen with electronic voting machines. They don’t allow you to crossover vote, or choose too many candidates.
Another option is to use tabulation machines at the precincts. This year, the Philippines leased 80,000 tabulators from a U.S. company. Voters filled out ballots, then fed them into the machines, each of which could hold 1,000 ballots.
Using this method, workers at election central would simply have to add up the counts from the individual tabulation machines, instead of going through every ballot box, reconciling the ballots and then feeding them through tabulators.
Either option would be a much better way for Guam to handle elections by increasing voter confidence in the process and making the counting of ballots much easier and more efficient.
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:38 pm
We have just begun to take our country back from the spicks, niggers, slopes, jews, wet backs, fags, socialists, and anti-christian scum.
If only we could open the ovens again, the white race could be purified.
Next the nigger in the White House.
Jeffery
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:41 pm
I didn’t vote because I hated all the nastiness from both sides. I am a democrat that wants more civility in the election process.
Burt
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Now we need to set about repealing that social health program. Why should my tax dollars pay for some bum to live. I say let the bastards die. Cremate them and live will be better for all.
You have just witnessed the power of the white man’s anger. DON’T PISS US OFF!
Clark
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:53 pm
I have nothing to say, wussies is right and I hate to say that also. As evidenced by Burt above, the dems decided to give it away – more or less – in the name of ‘civility’ – sigh. If course I dislike immensely the animosity created by our two party system but it is what it is and if you’re not going to vote then not much will ever change. I’m thinking at some much later date we will evolve as a species but obviously it isn’t now. Jeffery must be Georges brother and apparently there are many who feel as you do. What can you but live and learn. California worked out fine bc it’s a liberal state for the most party anyway. And I was and am stunned at the amount of Dem friends who didn’t ‘make it’ to the polls…hmmm…
Hi Misch : )
Luv, Zen Lill
November 3rd, 2010 at 9:35 pm
So, for today’s recap… (just funnin at all of our expense…)
Lois thinks God is working within the Amerikan political game…
(God doesn’t micromanage)
Peter thinks that politics and politicians are going to help Guam make elections more fair and efficient…
(That is like a screen door on a submarine, or a picture window on a tank, or…)
Jeffery got lost on his way to the Nazi gathering and stopped at Starbucks to log in and comment…
(…right)
Burt didn’t vote because he is waiting for politics to become more civil…
(…right)
Lil is stunned by the complacency of the lazy, arrogant demos…
(perhaps one day the dems will get a fucking clue as to how politics really works and grab their balls and go and take what they say they want and stand for something besides trying to compromise with people that don’t know how or care to whatsoever. Bush did it for eight years. However, the people and politicians on the dems camp still wait for one man to do all of the work. The laziness and complacency of our society will be the demise, just as in Rome)
just another day in Amerika, and another joyous “day in the life…”
November 4th, 2010 at 9:05 am
I couldn’t have said it better Doug.
November 4th, 2010 at 9:14 am
Hafa adai
Regretfully, I have to agree with you too Doug about the help politicians would be to Guam. As for the mainland. The arrogance is beyond imagination. There they want to deny a building which is not even a Mosk. while coming here to our land and planning on blowing up our ancestral burial grounds for target practice.
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DEDEDO, Guam – Groups opposed to U.S. military plans to build firing ranges on ancestral lands in Guam peppered the Navy with questions during a three-hour public meeting Thursday.
At the open house, held at a local high school, Navy officials said the live-fire ranges could be built with minimal damage to the land that has archaeological importance with its ancient graves and medicinal plants used by the indigenous Chamorro people.
The fate of that land is tied up in negotiations between the Guam historic preservation office and the U.S. Defense Department. They are trying to work out an agreement on how to deal with such historic sites during a U.S. military buildup on the island. The controversy over the ancestral land known as Pagat has become a main friction point in the U.S. military’s plan to relocate 8,600 Marines from Okinawa and transform Guam into the base for Marine Corps operations in the Pacific.
Local civic groups, such as We Are Guahan and the Boonie Stompers, are against any military use of the land, saying the ranges will damage island history and culture.
But Donald Schregardus, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for environment, said Thursday that the firing ranges planned at Pagat will be relatively small with large surrounding safety zones that could be preserved and used by the public. The U.S. is looking to acquire 2,100 to 3,400 acres of land — some of which is on sacred ground — for the three firing ranges.
“Those safety zones do not represent an impact” to the environment, said Schregardus, who was on Guam for the open house.
Guamanians could get access to the land at times when there is no training, he said.
But the U.S. plan would still severely limit the public’s ability to visit Pagat, which would spoil a spiritual center and symbol of resiliency for Chamorros, said Hope Cristobal, a member of the Boonie Stompers, a group that leads nature hikes and advocates for the environment.
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“The U.S. is the richest country in the world and has the mightiest military in the world, so why pick on our poor indigenous lands?” Cristobal said. “We will feel so defeated if they take Pagat.”
The process of moving Marines to the island has been held up for months because to the controversy over Pagat.
Lynda Aguon, historic preservation officer for Guam, has pressed the DOD for more public hearings for the local civic groups. The public input at the high school could clear the way for an agreement on using historic sites – if the Navy heeds the concerns of groups such as the Boonie Stompers, she said.
“It depends on if they take the public comments and use them and not just go through the motions,” Aguon said.
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Who are these people? They let the name of God drip from every sentence they utter while having non of the compassion of the God they claim to represent.
The word HYPOCRISY can really describe these people. Maybe Robert had it right when he quoted the Cherokee Indians when they called whites “creatures.”
Maybe they are creatures masquerading as human beings to destroy us from within.
Peter