In early October, as the presidential campaign was hitting its emotional peak, the Republican National Committee mailed off a check for $6,000 to an art restoration company in Kensington, Maryland. What political purpose such an expenditure played is difficult to ascertain. An employee at Wimsatt & Associates declined to discuss the services it provided for its client, only confirming that the company deals in repairing damaged artwork, not in selling pieces. The RNC, meanwhile, did not return requests for comment. But it is hard to imagine, in the context of the current election, that $6,000 for art restoration helped the Republican Party's electoral standing.Remember, the McCain and the Republicans have been bellyaching by the huge war chest Barack Obama has built on small dollar donations from average citizens. Why on earth would the GOP complain when they cannot control their spending excesses? Look at the McCain Victory 2008 committee:... In the past two months, for example, the GOP ticket has opened up its wallet for elephant-shaped shrubbery, baseball tickets, a yacht rental, and lunches for Karl Rove.
Hoping to lavish big time donors with gifts of appreciation during the GOP convention in Minnesota, McCain Victory 2008 purchased 250 wine glasses adorned with elephant designs, at a cost of nearly $7,000, from a shop in Georgia. It was considered a deal....That same committee also purchased $3,589 worth of elephant shaped chocolates from a sweet shop in Dallas, Texas. "They bought about 1,000 pieces," said the storeowner. "About eleven ounces a piece in all three types of chocolate: milk, dark and light."
In addition to these items, the McCain campaign spent nearly $9,000 at a jewelry and political paraphernalia shop in Washington D.C., and $4,249.07 at the outdoor/clothing store, Lands End. The RNC, meanwhile, paid the Minnesota-based Tropical Plants Unlimited nearly $500 for an elephant-shaped topiary shrub.
...The campaign also bought items that cut against the Republican candidate's own political message. These included checks totaling more than $9,400 for an event at the Beverly Hills Hilton, roughly at the same time that McCain was criticizing Obama for going to Hollywood while the economic crisis stirred.
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted of seven corruption charges Monday in a trial that tainted the 40-year Senate career of Alaska's political patriarch.It's time to take out this trash too.The verdict, coming just days before Election Day, adds further uncertainty to a closely watched Senate race. Democrats hope to seize the once reliably Republican seat as part of their bid for a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Stevens, 84, was convicted of all seven charges he faced of lying about free home renovations and other gifts he received from a wealthy oil contractor. Jurors began deliberating Wednesday at noon.
Stevens faces up to five years in prison on each count when he is sentenced Jan. 26, but under federal sentencing guidelines, he is likely to receive much less prison time, if any.
...Despite being a convicted felon, he is not required to drop out of the race or resign from the Senate. If he wins re-election, he can continue to hold his seat because there is no rule barring felons from serving in Congress. The Senate could vote to expel Stevens on a two-thirds vote.
"Put this down: That will never happen - ever, OK?" Stevens said in the weeks leading up to his trial. "I am not stepping down. I'm going to run through and I'm going to win this election.
With Permission
I am a lifelong Mormon, a native Californian, and a descendant of Mormon pioneers. Like many other Mormons, I am anguished by my Church's endorsement of Proposition 8, a ballot initiative which would eliminate civil rights to marry now accorded to gay and lesbian people in California.
I am anguished for what this campaign would do in abolishing rights and protections now belonging to fellow California citizens. But I am also anguished by the consequences of this campaign for Mormon families and wards throughout California. Since June, I have felt the profound effects of the "Yes on 8" campaign in our church meetings. In my own ward, it has dominated the content of our Sacrament Meetings and auxiliary meetings, as well as our hallway conversations. What does it mean that we are being asked to give and are giving ourselves so zealously to this campaign?
I have wondered how the "Yes on 8" campaign connects with the core principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ-love the Lord with all thy heart, love thy neighbor as thyself. I have wondered how it relates to the first principles and ordinances of the gospel: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and laying on the hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost? Does it contribute to any of the three missions of the Church: to proclaim the gospel, to perfect the saints, or to redeem the dead? I understand that according to Mormon doctrine temple marriage is an ordinance necessary to exaltation. Still, I do not understand how the elimination of civil marriage rights for gays and lesbians in the state of California will do anything to bring more souls to Christ.
Instead, I have seen many negative consequences to Mormon spirituality from the "Yes on 8" campaign. The "Yes on 8" campaign has fueled a spirit of fear and misinformation in our California wards and beyond. For example, many bishops and other Mormons have circulated the document "Six Consequences if Proposition 8 Fails," which alleges that Mormon churches will be sued or legally penalized for opposing or refusing to perform gay marriages and that schools will be compelled to teach same-sex marriage to young children. Mormon legal experts affiliated with Brigham Young University have studied these claims and found them "misleading and untrue" (http://mormonsformarriage.com/?p=35). If the "glory of god is intelligence" (D&C 93:36), misinformation and rumor-mongering must chase the Spirit from our churches.
I have also witnessed how the "Yes on 8" campaign has unleashed and authorized broader expressions of anti-gay sentiment by Mormons, sentiments not in keeping with church teachings. The Church has come a long way in its treatment of homosexuality from the time our prophet Spencer W. Kimball described it as a base perversion in The Miracle of Forgiveness. But most members have not absorbed recent Church teachings that recognize same-sex attraction as an authentic form of sexual inclination that requires compassionate consideration and strict personal management. Just as many of us continue to hold unexamined, undoctrinal, prejudicial, archaic beliefs about African-Americans and the priesthood (false notions about the lineage of Cain, or "fencesitters" in the war in heaven which have no basis in gospel doctrine), we also continue to hold unexamined, damaging, prejudicial, archaic beliefs about homosexuality. From what I have seen, this campaign has become an opportunity for Mormons to feel triumphal in our antipathy towards gays and lesbians. In my own ward, my bishop started using the ward e-mail list to send several daily messages pertaining not to Proposition 8 but encouraging members to get involved in other campaigns in our area to oppose gay civil rights. Is it really the intention of the Church to systematically oppose the civil rights of gays and lesbians? Since the beginning of the "Yes on 8" campaign, I wonder how many of us have spoken uncarefully and uncompassionately about gay people, without knowing regard to recent Church teachings on homosexuality which ask us to have compassion for those inclined to same-sex attraction?
It is my observation that the zealousness of the "Yes on 8" campaign has unleashed a spirit of pride and political opportunism in our congregations. The "Yes on 8" campaign asks us to eliminate the current legal rights of thousands of actual families in California. Even though we have described the initiative as a "protection" for heterosexual marriage, the actual language and impact of the law (considered strictly and soberly) have nothing to do with strengthening heterosexual families. Instead, Proposition 8 eliminates the legal protections of marriage for same-sex couple families. Through our Mormon doctrinal lenses, we may not see gay families as families that will survive into the eternities. But to gay spouses, children, and other relatives, gay families are vital families. If we are to act with honesty and integrity, we must take sober responsibility for the fact that "Yes on 8" eliminates the rights of actually existing families. The "Yes on 8" campaign, strictly and honestly considered, is a mission of destruction. We must consider carefully what it means to undertake a mission of destruction in the name of God. In the Old Testament, Jonah asked God to destroy the city of Nineveh, and God gently rebuffed him, reminding him that even Nineveh was beloved (Jonah 4:11). The scriptures caution repeatedly that when we engage on spiritual errands, and especially those that bring judgment against our neighbors, we are at great risk of indulging our own self-righteousness and spiritual pride. We must do so with a great spirit of repentance, caution, and humility. And yet nothing in the spirit of the "Yes on 8" campaign as I have witnessed it obliges us to undertake this kind of repentant self searching. I have seen instead a sense of accomplishment, triumphalism, and pride in the reach of our financial and worldly power. I have not seen the humility and godly sorrow God expected of Jonah. Our God is also the God of gay and lesbian people; they are as beloved of him as we are. Their needs and sorrows are as real and meaningful to God as our obedience to the directions of our prophet.
I believe the "Yes on 8" campaign has distracted us from addressing our own internal matters of morality. The Savior plainly tells us to seek the "beam" in our own eye before we seek out the "mote" in our brother's (Matthew 7:3). Does the zealousness with which we undertake the "Yes on 8" campaign lead our attention away from our own spiritual lives and attending to our own failings? We all know that there are serious problems of morality within Mormon communities too, including sexual abuse of children in Mormon settings and knowing negligence by Church leaders that has caused the Church to payout millions and millions of tithing dollars in legal settlements. Even with increased direction from our leaders, patterns of sexual abuse continue in Mormon communities (http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10548248). Have we cleared the "beams" from our own eyes?
I know that the "Yes on 8" campaign has created deep divisions within Mormon families. As Mormons, we are obligated to search ourselves, to ask if our relationships with our family members are loving and appropriate. Do we reject or deny our family members because they are gay? Is the zealousness of the "Yes on 8" campaign an outlet for our own feelings of shame, revulsion, disappointment, and failure in having gay children or family members? Some of the leading Mormon figures with the California Mormon "Yes on 8" campaign have gay children. Does God want us to sacrifice our relationships with gay children and relatives in order to serve Him? God led Abraham to Mount Horeb to teach him that child-sacrifice, a common practice among pagan peoples, was no longer warranted. It was no longer acceptable to Him. Henceforth, only God would sacrifice His son, Jesus Christ, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, after that great and atoning sacrifice, the only sacrifice we are asked to commanded to offer is that of a "broken heart and a contrite spirit" (3 Nephi 9:20). Do we sacrifice our gay children to impress God?
I know that the zealousness of the "Yes on 8" campaign has created an intolerable atmosphere in many wards and stakes for thousands of gay Mormons, their relatives, and friends. What is our obligation to care for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters? Has the zealousness of the Yes on 8 campaign brought a spirit into our wards and families which makes it impossible for our gay brothers and sisters to find a loving refuge in their own church? I believe it has.
The "Yes on 8" campaign has directed more than $10 million dollars (so far) from Mormon donors to a narrow political campaign. Much of this money was raised after the Church reviewed its tithing records and identified wealthy Mormons to recruit even larger donations from, using special conference calls with Church elders. Why are tithing records being utilized this way? What does this reveal about the way the wealth of individual members has played a growing role in church leadership decisions? How many lives could this money save through the Church's Humanitarian General Fund? How many educations could this money pay for through the Church's Perpetual Education Fund? Why does our concept of morality focus so zealously on gender and sexuality at the cost of efforts to end death by disease or starvation, proclaim peace, relieve the debtor, or show stewardship for God's creation?
Finally, the "Yes on 8" campaign allies us with openly anti-Mormon churches, while alienating us further from other people of faith. As the Wall Street Journal reported, "Jim Garlow, pastor of the evangelical Protestant Skyline Church near San Diego and a leading supporter of Proposition 8, said, 'I would not, in all candor, have been meeting them or talking with them had it not been for' the marriage campaign." Why are we attracted to the same divisive political battles that have been the hallmark of the Christian Right, when the churches of the Christian Right have long expressed their disdain and enmity for our beliefs?
Mormons are a religious minority trying to maintain our faith in a rapidly changing secular world. Our pioneer ancestors were killed and chased by mobs from the United States in part because their plural marriages were deemed unacceptable by the society they lived in. Why do we now turn with such zealousness to eliminate the marriage rights of other minorities?
I present these thoughts only because I believe that a record must be made of how our actions as a Mormon community are affecting not only the lives of gays and lesbians but also the spiritual lives of our wards and families here in California.
Micah 6:8: "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
From the Jacksonville Times-Union:
Michigan's experience suggests that Amendment 2's passage will endanger domestic partnership benefits, said Randy Kammer, vice president of regulatory affairs and public policy for Jacksonville-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. The company provides the benefits to its roughly 6,000 employees as well as to a number of its customer companies.
"We've heard some horror stories from Michigan," Kammer said.
...
Proponents of both the Michigan and Florida amendments say not a single person has lost a domestic partnership benefit in Michigan.
That's because some state universities and some of its municipalities have reworded benefits language more broadly in order not to equate unmarried relationships as equivalent to marriage, said Dan Jarvis, director of research and policy for the Michigan Family Forum.
Not a single person? How about a single couple?
Yeh - that may not be the semantic game they're playing, but there is no such thing as a trustworthy argument (or arguer) in favor of an anti-gay marriage measure.
Still, even if that negative can be proven (which I doubt), the response should be: So? The arguments in favor of the Michigan amendment were deceptively designed to imply that there would be no effect whatsoever on domestic partner benefits - yet the same people who made thos arguments in the political arena immediately took to the judicial activism arena to argue otherwise.
And - they conned a majority of the Michigan Supreme Court into issuing an opinion which forced whatever action they're now relying on to claim that no one in Michigan has lost any benefits.
And, they're now attempting to con the people of Florida into believing that:
Proposal 2 is only about marriage.
If this involved anything other than politics, the Michigan amendment conspirators would all be in prison doing serious time for fraud. Florida: Don't be a new batch of dupes.
Look at this pathetic cry for help for homobigot Musgrave, via Right Wing Watch - the best part is the bleating about "homosexual activist billionaire Tim Gill":
I want to bring a special need to your attention. We are 10 days out from one of the most critical elections in our nation's history. While great attention has been focused on the Presidential race, numerous pro-family Congressmen are also currently running who desperately need your help!
One of these pro-family champions is Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave. She is an asset to the pro-family movementand has been instrumental in helping secure many pro-faith and pro-family victories, including being the original sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment. But she needs your help today!!!
She is in a tight race against a pro-choice, pro-homosexual liberal and is under vicious attack from the secular left. She is the top target of the pro-homosexual movement because of her firm stance on protecting traditional marriage at the federal level.
In the past two elections, Tim Gill, a homosexual activist billionaire, has personally funneled several million dollars through numerous organizations to defeat Marilyn. He recently stated that one of his greatest frustrations in life has been his inability to remove her from office, so in this election he has pulled out all stops and is pouring even more into the race against her. The homosexual movement has made it their goal to take out the most visible leader in the pro-marriage movement. Current polling shows that they are very close in their goal of removing her.
She needs your help today, whether it's $5-$10 or whether it's the maximum of $2300 per person; you can make a difference! Marilyn has stood strong for all of us, and now we need to stand strong for her! We don't want to lose her voice for our values in Congress.
Also, if you have some time available and can travel to her campaign office in Greeley, CO, or to the Victory Centers in Greeley and Ft. Collins, please volunteer to make phone calls or block walk and encourage people to early vote. By Election Day, over 85% of the district will have already voted - so she needs your help TODAY!
...
I have known Marilyn for years and have worked closely with her on a number of faith and family issues in Congress. I personally and heartily endorse her candidacy and ask you to consider making a contribution to her campaign -- either with time or money. (Each individual may contribute up to $2,300, but contributions of any size will be very helpful.) Any contribution you make will definitely be investing money in the future of a healthy America.
Please help make a difference in this race, for she is running for all of us!
God bless!
David Barton
Hello Blenders - I have been doing a lot more Twittering lately (I like that it updates here, Facebook, and in a few other feeds). I have a few announcements and comments, in no particular order...
1. Doesn't Pam just rock - that team of 8 Against 8 is amazing. I continue to be so proud of my Bloggrrl.
2. My very good friend Mario is very involved in volunteering and in making sure people get to vote on election day. He has been in the trenches and will be keeping me up to date on the shenanigans in his area (Conn and Penn) next week.
3. It was so incredible to be a co-host of the Live Blogs during the convention and the debates. For those of you who know N8nyc from the chat room and from the Blend, we are going to take the online fun one level further - we will be at the Half King http://www.thehalfking.com/ on November 4, Election Day, from 7 pm on. It's a great venue in NYC that has framed pictures of Obama all over. They will be piping the election results throughout the evening on all of their speakers that night. I was lucky enough to secure a bar booth. Let me know via the Tips email if you want to come!
It's so close folks, and such a lot is at stake. Has anyone been hearing any more about the US Army civil unrest training?
Update: w00t, w00t, Voter Suppression Wiki is mentioned in Noam Cohen's Casting a Ballot, and a Wary Eye in the New York Times -- and I'm quoted ("The interesting challenge - the story in progress - is how do we coordinate our efforts")! Mom will be proud :-)
| We're roughly at the midpoint of the Voter Suppression Wiki's Workshop on Last-minute strategies for reducing voter suppression. After brainstorming and identifying opportunities over the weekend, we're going to be starting to draft the report today. Tomorrow, we'll begin work on the press release as well, and issue both the report and press release Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. We made a huge amount of progress on our Saturday conference call, with some common themes jumping out -- in particular, opportunities for community organizations, media, and bloggers to supplement all the work going on. A good example: Linda talked about how when she discovered she had been removed from the rolls, she found a link on MSNBC that directed her to the 1-866-OUR-VOTE Election Protection hotline who helped her get in touch with the right people. If information like this was featured prominently on the front pages of mainstream media web sites, it could help a lot of voters ... |  |
As well as the mainstream media, we're also focusing on bloggers and online media. If you look at high-profile political blogs like Daily Kos or Instapundit, or news sites like The Drudge Report or The Huffington Post, there's absolutely no election protection information available. Even voting rights blogs like The BRAD BLOG and technology-in-politics sites like techPresident don't provide this information.
Future Majority, by contrast, is an excellent example of "best practices", with a handful of well-selected resources in a can't-miss position right at the top of the page. Most sites use this valuable screen real estate for advertising and self-promotion; for the last week before the election, it would be great if they prioritized voters' needs.
What's really encouraging about these recommendations -- and the other ones we're working on -- is that they can be acted on quickly, and so potentially have a significant impact by election day. Of course, as logical as it seems, that doesn't mean it will necessarily happen. It will be a challenge to get above the noise and get anybody to listen to us; we'll be working on a media outreach plan over the next few days, and with luck will be able to ride the coattails of the Twitter Vote Preport publicity juggernaut. Still, it's remarkable progress so far, and if we can keep up the momentum we've clearly got a chance to make a difference.
We'll have another conference call today at 8 PM Eastern/5 PM Pacific time; we'll post dialin information and a link to the agenda on the Workshop page. There will be at least one conference call tomorrow, and a media call timed with the report's release. Please join us, either on the phone or in the online discussions -- and stay tuned!
The Voter Suppression Wiki is a non-partisan hub of information and action around efforts to suppress votes in the 2008 U.S. elections. For more information, please see our strategy and talking points, Baratunde Thurston's launch post on Jack and Jill Politics, my series of posts on Liminal States, and the other links on our blogging about VSWiki page. If you'd like to get involved, please introduce yourself, check the help wanted, roll up your sleeves, and jump in!
Say you are the McCain campaign. You are short on resource, to the point that your campaign is conceding important swing states like Michigan and Colorado. Say you've pegged your last, best hope on carrying the handful of remaining swing states, despite the fact that you are trailing in a few of those contests. Say that in order to win you need to flip Pennsylvania from blue to red despite being ten points down in the polls. If you are the McCain campaign, what do you do with your dwindling resources in order to maximize your remaining opportunities? If your answer was, "send both McCain and Palin to Iowa," you would sadly be correct. Both McCain and Palin attended a series of events in the state this weekend.
Iowa, home of the nation's first caucus and a place where Barack Obama is ahead in the polls 52% to 39%, is where the McCain campaign has chosen to spend its limited time and resources during the waning days of the 2008 election. This is McCain's fourth visit to the Hawkeye state in nearly as many weeks. Once there, he and running-mate Sarah Palin attended three separate events to rally support to help overcome their 13 point deficit in the polls.
The fact that McCain is spending time and money in Iowa is further evidence he, and his political team, have accepted the likelihood of a November loss. Their only path to victory lies not in Iowa but in Pennsylvania, yet in Iowa they remain? The reason for this is likely the fact that in four years another Republican will attempt to sway the voters of Des Moines and Davenport, and it would be unseemly for McCain to abandon the gracious voters of Iowa this time around. Instead he will try and leave the 2012 Iowa caucus voters invigorated by the positive image of a Republican fighting to the last. McCain's hoping to sow his legacy into the fields of Iowa. By diverting much needed time and resources from his campaign, McCain is praying the next Republican in line (Palin?) can beat Obama.
In the mean time the Obama camp should continue to execute their "get out the vote" efforts while in the backs of their minds planning an acceptance speech because, if the McCain campaign is to be believed, Barack Obama is about to become the 44th president of the United States.
REMEMBER!!!! Obama only wins if you vote. So vote early, take a friend with you to the polls, and remind everyone you know that Obama will only win if you turn out and vote!
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