goofballs

Letter sent to my Republican cousin: I agree with two major points you make: (1) The Republican Party, as we know it, is at a crossroads (2) We need to get out of Iraq ...

But it's not over. We need to all get together and push the progressive agenda. The real work starts tomorrow.

President of the United States - BARACK H. OBAMA, DEMOCRAT United States House of Representatives California Congressional District 8 - CINDY SHEEHAN California Superior Court Seat 12 - Gerardo Sandoval California State Senate District 3 - Mark Leno California State Assembly District 13 - Tom Ammiano San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 1 - Eric Mar District 3 - (1) David Chiu, (2) Denise McCarthy, (3) Tony Gantner District 4 - Dave Ferguson District 5 - Ross Mirkarimi District 7 - Sean Erlsbernd District 9 - David Campos (1), Eric Quezada (2), Mark Sanchez (3) District 11 - Jahn Avalos (1), Randy Knox (2), Julio Ramos (3) San Francisco Board of Education - Sandra Fewer, Norman Yee, Barbara Lopez, Kimberly Wicoff San Francisco Community College Board - Milton Marks, Chris Jackson, Bruce Wolfe Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors District 7 - Lynette Sweet District 9 - Tom Radulovich State of California Ballot Initiatives Proposition 1A - YES Proposition 2 - YES Proposition ...

http://www.dailykos.com/ storyonly/2008/11/2/84051/ 4140/170/649703 http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=0rfea8iEGNw "I have close family members and friends who are a member of the gay and lesbian community. Those folks include my daughter Lisa, as well as members of my personal staff. "I want for them the same thing that we all want for our loved ones—for each of them to find a mate whom they love deeply and who loves them back; someone with whom they can grow old together and share life's experiences. "And I want their relationships to be protected equally under the law. In the end, I couldn't look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationship—their very lives—were any less meaningful than the marriage I share with my wife Rana. If the GOP hopes to survive into the future, they'll need more of this. That's certainly the case in California, but that will also be the case nationwide in the midterm. A party that has built its power by de...

I'm surprised no one has picked this up here, then again, the field is ripe with the fetid fruit sown of good ole fashioned American religious in(s)anity: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/30/obama_hell/index.html Columnist: If you vote for Obama, you're going to hell Still can't choose between John McCain and Barack Obama? Well, good news -- WorldNetDaily's Janet Porter has just made your decision much easier. Porter's latest column warns that a vote for Obama is irreconcilable with the Christian faith, and that those who do choose to vote Democratic this year have a terrible punishment awaiting them. "To all those who name the name of Christ who plan to willfully disobey Him by voting for Obama, take warning. Not only is our nation in grave danger, according to the Word of God, so are you," Porter wrote. What kind of danger are so many of us in? The really bad kind: Be forewarned: If you willfully disobey God on life and marriage because of...

From AP: Islamic clerics in Malaysia rule to ban tomboys By JULIA ZAPPEI Associated Press Writer Oct 23rd, 2008 | KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's main body of Islamic clerics has issued an edict banning tomboys in the Muslim-majority country, ruling that girls who act like boys violate the tenets of Islam, an official said Friday. The National Fatwa Council forbade the practice of girls behaving or dressing like boys during a meeting Thursday in northern Malaysia, said Harussani Idris Zakaria, the mufti of northern Perak state, who attended the gathering. Harussani said an increasing number of Malaysian girls behave like tomboys, and that some of them engage in homosexuality. Homosexuality is not explicitly banned in Malaysia, but it is effectively illegal under a law that prohibits sex acts "against the order of nature." Harussani said the council's ruling was not legally binding because it has not been passed into law, but that tomboys should ...

I see no one (well, hardly anyone) in the Obama camp calling for anywhere near the sort of violence to be visited on Bush, Cheney or McCain and Palin. There is a certain small minority calling for an organized campaign to place Karl Rove, John Yoo, David Addington, Roberto Gonzalez, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, and were they not under the protection of the Secret Service (SS anyone? no, too far?), Bush and Cheney under citizen's arrest for their war crimes. I am among that minority. ..and if I were for the death penalty, which I certainly oppose, I would say that for some of them "hangin' is too good". But I am a radical who believes in crazy things like if you are responsible for the unjust deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians you are a war criminal. That if you eavesdrop on millions of innocent people without a legal court order, you are a criminal. That if you peddle influence and deal in cronyism, you certainly have no place in a supposed democratic fo...

Forwarding from Writers for Obama, memo by Wade Hudson: [NOTE: After receiving lots of very positive feedback to my "One-pager?" post last night and some suggested changes, I've rewritten it a bit and reformatted it. If you want a one-page Word doc that you can print and distribute in your campaign work, email me and I will send it to you. Feel free to remove my name if you wish. Also, I've posted it on my blog at http://my.barackobama.com/ page/community/post/ wadehudson/gG5LY7 if you want to comment there or refer people to that version.] Barack Obama: Ready to Lead by Wade Hudson wadehudson@ progressiveresourcecatalog. org> Given his temperament, track record, and life-long commitment to public service, the American people can trust that if elected President Barack Obama will run the Executive Office effectively, with the common good foremost in his mind. He will also use the “bully pulpit” of the Presidency to rally ordinary people to counter the power of th...

I think the final tally was something like 5-to-1 Obama over McCain. Mind you, Linux World 2008 was in downtown San Francisco, which may be the "bluest" city in the world (eat your heart out, Eugene, Oregon!). What is it? Open Voting Consortium has designed and created a secure, open sourced version of the electronic voting machine. These run Linux, but I do not see any reason why they couldn't also support Free or Net BSD, Open Solaris or some other platform (even MS Windows or OS X). Instead of paying $4000 or more for a Diebold manufactured proprietary and closed-architecture voting machine, these machines run on commodity hardware with a price tag of roughly $400 or less. And unlike their proprietary counterparts, the OVC machine provides a paper trail with a securely signed receipt. More over, the ultimate value of this system is that peer review is possible for anyone who cares to download the code and read it themselves. Unlike today, to borrow a phrase from a movi...

Pass it on: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/23/politics/animal/main4376842.shtml Fournier Is At It Again By Steve Benen (Political Animal) FOURNIER IS AT IT AGAIN.... The latest piece from Ron Fournier, the AP's Washington bureau chief and the man responsible for directing the wire service's coverage of the presidential campaign, on Joe Biden joining the Democratic ticket, is drawing a fair amount of attention this morning. More importantly, McCain campaign staffers are pushing it fairly aggressively to other reporters, in large part because it mirrors the Republican line with minimal variation. Who is Ron Fournier? http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ron_Fournier Ron Fournier is the acting Washington bureau chief for Associated Press (AP). [1] He formerly served as the AP's chief political writer and subsequently as "online political editor". In mid-2006, Fournier was a founding member and editor in chief of the online political and socia...

I am ambivalent about this commercial, but stripped of its religious underpinning, I agree with (and who wouldn't) the underlying argument. In the 1990s, especially after the 1994 mid-terms and Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America", the hegemony of the right wing and the religious right became iron-firm (although it has its roots with Reagan, a draft-dodging Hollywood actor and sportscaster who beat last centuries most authentically religious president, Jimmy Carter, partially by appealing to "family values" conservatives). The net effect of the past 31 years of religious rule in America has arguably been a disaster for many people. The effect of the cynicism of "new" Republican rule and their systematic and intentional bungling of services can been seen on a daily basis in San Francisco, a city that is understandably liberal. Reagan's dismantling of services for the poor, the addicted and the mentally ill has now become my problem, as a San ...

Folks, As you know, Jerome R. Corsi of "Unfit to Serve: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" infamy has penned another precious tome to fuel the pulpy conflagration that is this election cycle, namely, " The Obama Nation ". This screed is poised to overtake, if it has not already, the #1 slot in the New York Times Nonfiction Bestsellers list, which is ironic as by most reasonable accounts the book is a work of fiction. Never mind that many book stores have received bulk orders of the book, some by the palette. Surely not all of the book's readership is also fictional. Yet, Corsi has enjoyed a plethora of media coverage, bolstered by the "fact" of his latest opus' "status" as a top selling book. If this offends your sense of fairness, Nation, you are not alone. The Corsi commentator conundrum requires containment. But what can be done? As you know, I would never, never, never recommend that we, as Obama supporters, take the tack of hitt...

See New Republican slogan and more funny videos on FunnyOrDie.com See more funny videos at Funny or Die Of course, its not just Republicans. Harold Ford Jr, head of the Republicans in Democrats clothing "Democratic Leadership Council" famously said "the constitution doesn't poll well." If that doesn't sum up the failure of the American body politic, and its constituency, surely the flat "Money Bomb" of the Accountability Now PAC is further evidence. On the entire Internet, only 2300 people could be bothered to contribute money to be used to hold politicians feet to the fire for their failures on FISA, the Global War on Terror, torture and so on. On the anniversary of Richard M Nixon's resignation, and here, 34 years later, we collectively shrug. Shameful. Once again, and near Alexandria, our empire feeds it's coffers with foreign riches. Abroad, too many of us for too long have been tempted to shield ourselves under the banner SPQA - S...

Part of being a good, career-minded systems administrator is knowing when to hold 'em, and knowing when to fold 'em. Knowing when to walk away, and knowing when to run. I quit my last gig in March. Part of the calculus of leaving a job which pays 6 figures in the Bay Area is having another one lined up; quickly. With rent at $2100/month, money disappears very fast if you don't jump from one job to another, and without the safety net I once had in previous jobs, I needed to cover my bases. My last day at the former job was on that Friday, and the next Monday I started at the new job. Initially, when talks began with my soon-to-be new employer, I was jumping from a faltering start-up with budget and management problems to a well-funded, well established start-up on the cusp of a possibly very lucrative public offering. But, during the vetting process, an industry giant came along and gobbled up the company which was courting me -- temporarily making me weigh the implications:...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/ greenwald/2008/07/19/law/ index.html Blanket criminal immunity will be granted before President Bush leaves office, not that it is needed because Democrats in Congress are too spineless to pursue investigations of lawbreakers in government and big business. Record numbers of Americans are imprisoned daily for non-violent offenses, but to enforce the laws of the land on government officials is politically verboten -- especially against the President; to paraphrase Richard M Nixon, "if the president does it, it's not illegal." It may never be known why Senator Obama voted for the FISA bill, forever closing the doors on any accountability for lawbreaking by officials and businesses. My theory is that the DLC, party leadership, wheelers, and dealers in the Democratic Party extorted the vote out of Obama by threatening less than enthusiastic support should their own duplicity come to light. Warrantless wiretapping, the fraudulent causus belli , an...

I know this is a little off topic, but I wanted to share the wisdom of our great Senator, Diane Feinstein, and my response. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Christopher Date: Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 12:09 PM Subject: Re: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to your message To: senator@feinstein.senate.gov , Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right SenatorObama- PleaseVoteAgainstFISA@groups. barackobama.com > Honorable Senator Diane Feinstein and staff, I am not an idiot, and I know this is a false dichotomy and a lie: If the Senate did not pass this bill, Congress would have been faced with two options: o Extending the temporary surveillance bill passed last August; or o Passing no legislation, meaning that surveillance on specific terrorist groups would expire and our Nation would be laid bare. Please allow me to congratulate you on the dubious distinction of having earned yourself an uphill battle for re-election when your current term end...