ARDIRI

SF Olympic Torch Relay

Today, April 9th, is the day in which San Francisco will host the Olympic Torch Relay and--just like in Paris--there shall certainly be plenty of protests against China's policies regarding Tibet's freedom, China's economic. military, and political support of the genocide in Darfur, and the oppression of the Uighurs (Muslims of Turkic descent in the Chinese Province of Xinjiang).  I am hoping for a day free of violence; that the protesters will engage in civil disobedience of the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi.  Perhaps protesters could simply turn their backs as the torch goes by?  Please, please, please no violence.

(Image credit: Reporters Without Borders, rsf.org)

Vote, Texans! Vote, Ohioans! VOTE!!!

And now for today's not-at-all-subliminal message:

And a pee-wee league cheer: "Barack, Barack!  He's our *human*, if he can't do it, nobody can!"

So why did I--as a democrat--end up choosing Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton?

• Hillary Clinton failed to vote on the FISA Bill and, in my opinion, her failure to show up to vote on such an essential civil liberties bill is a tacit approval of the bill which would "(1) [...] render retroactively legal the President's illegal spying program by legalizing its crux: warrantless eavesdropping on Americans, and (2) to stifle forever the sole remaining avenue for finding out what the Government did and obtaining a judicial ruling as to its legality: namely, the lawsuits brought against the co-conspiring telecoms.." (Glenn Greenwald, "Amnesty Day for Bush and Lawbreaking Telecoms", at Salon.com).  For a more impassioned and better explanation visit this entry at Six Hours a Week: Adventures of a Sudden Patriot.

• I am ready for change.  That is, I am tired of dirty politics and the mudslinging that Clinton (and her hubby) are engaging in--i.e. putting out "the picture" (Obama wearing traditional tribal costume and turban).  Either they are trying to make him "not black enough" or not "American enough"--and that is essentially a lame, dirty, and weak political move in my book.
  

• I originally felt I should vote for Clinton as a woman, as a feminist, as the girl I was (fifteen or so years ago) in eighth grade who didn't believe it was possible for a woman to be president in America--at least not in my lifetime. But then the more I thought about it, I realized that voting for a woman—just because she is a woman—did not fit my feminist thinking and in fact was a failure to see that it should be the right person (or right *human*), for the right job.  And I see Barack Obama or even, gods forbid, Ron Paul (cross my heart, hope to die, I can’t believe I just supported Ron Paul so straightforwardly; especially since he sees Roe Vs. Wade as a state issue and not a federal issue!) as the right candidate--OBAMA--(#1 choice for me), or as a better candidate than Clinton due to the race he is running (clean, straightforward on his Libertarian beliefs--Ron Paul).

• However, I must say that I do think that countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iran could benefit from having a female president/queen/prime minister or what not—especially when they arrest a woman for having coffee with a male coworker at Starbucks or when they stone women to death for alleged cheating on a husband.  I think that countries that so rigidly and so back-ass-wardly treat the female population could certainly use female leaders (and female leaders who don't practice Sharia Law.  For a good overview of Sharia Law visit this entry at American Thinker.com). 

• Of course, one could say that I am being paradoxical in saying that the U.S. doesn't need a female commander, while other countries do.  To this I reply: America has had some excellent female (and male) feminist who have made great strides towards gender equality in the United States.  Iran and Saudi Arabia--among many others--are simply in the stone age in regards to the treatment of women.

Super Tuesday!

and, DAMN, it felt good!

Did you vote?

Lord, Save Us (and U.S.) from Huckabee

(Image credit: ubrgk.com; found via Digg.com)

Alright, all kidding aside--Huckabee won the Iowa straw poll and I have just got to say:

Lord, Ishvara, Zeus, Allah, Lakshmi-Vishnu, and any and every possible god, please save us from the mistake-that-will-be (if elected President) Huckabee.

Come on, republicans, Ron Paul is the TRUE Republican in every sense of the word.  Why the hell are you supporting some huckster like Huckabee?  Do we really need another man in the presidential office who believes God speaks directly in his left ear (and sends him false messages like we should go attack Iraq to revenge being attacked by Saudis on 9/11?)

As for the Democrats, I'm glad that Obama won.  But I wonder if  America is capable of electing a black man to the oval office?  I hope so, but I do worry about the strong undercurrents of racial prejudice flowing throughout our fine fifty states.

Gore won!!

Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize!

Perhaps now he'll actually throw his hat in the ring for the 2008 presidential election?!
(And, yes, I do believe he won the presidential election in 2000.)

Bush-Whacked!...Yet Again!

The commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence is JUST WRONG! 

If Martha Stewart was sent to jail for hindering a government probe on insider trading, Scooter's butt should be scooted and swatted straight to jail as well!

At this moment, this is how I feel about Bush:

(Photo courtesy)

VOTE!!! That's Right, Today's the Day!

Take a moment to do your civic duty:
VOTE!

Type "Failure" Into Google and You Get...

The Biography of George W. Bush!

I SO have to learn how to "google bomb"!

Heard on NPR's Morning Edition:

Technology Pushes Politics into New Frontiers

                                         

Morning Edition, October 31, 2006 · Joe Trippi talks about how new technologies are being used in political campaigns, from YouTube to Google to MySpace.com. He tells Renee Montagne that the landscape has changed markedly in the last five years. Trippi was Howard Dean's presidential campaign manager.

Call Me Paranoid or Just Laugh Nervously With Me

Funny and sort of scary...

Diebold...We Won't Rest Until Our Candidate Wins.

• And from our wonderful-but-dead pal, Benjamin Franklin:

"There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government."  

• And, as we all learned in Civics class, good ol' Lincoln reminded us of what our constitution guarantees for us citizens:

"[...] that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth" (from the Gettysburg Address).

P.S. Please don't just laugh nervously with me--write to your senators, state representatives, and local representatives to make sure they know you don't approve of a paper-trail-less balloting system.  We need to ensure that every vote counts and is recountable/auditable via paper documentation that each voter can verify and place in a locked ballot box.  A DEMOCRACY can only truly function by the direct action and the  constant vigilance by the people.

November 7th: A Few Things to Think About...

In keeping with my civic pride/duty and with the upcoming election in mind, I have a few things to share: 1) a hilarious, but true video; 2) a scary, but necessary video; and 3) a slow, slightly boring, but ESSENTIAL video done by Princeton.

First, the FUNNY, but TRUE:
Colbert's "The Word: Sherlock"

Second, the SCARY, but NECESSARY:

And the ESSENTIAL:
Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine
(link to journal article and link to video)

P.S. Don't forget Guy Fawkes Day (the American-ized version):