Meteor Crash Caught on Tape

This video was taken from a police car camera in Edmonton, Canada.



Pretty sweet.

An Example of "Sunshine and Rainbows"

gloriousnoise,com

Derek Shearer, our former ambassador to Finland and overall Clinton guy, wrote a blog post today at HuffintonPost. I didn't read it. I only needed to see these two lines:

"Obama was not elected by the world's citizens. He is the American President after all"

"George Bush was worse."

These statements are fundamentally wrong. Barack Obama is not the American President. This is something that might happen in the future (I say "might" because it's in the future). George W. Bush is the present-tense President. George W. Bush was nothing. He is the President with nothing to lose who is rapidly speeding up his process of destruction.

This guy, Derek Shearer, and many people like him who are high rankers in the Democratic Party, are thinking and writing in a reality that exists only in their heads. The problem is that while they are waxing poetic, George W. Bush is planting moles in our government, raping our land, and hording our Treasury.

If we allow this to continue for 60 more days, Barack Obama might end up President of a hollow shell.

Nothing Has Changed

November 4th has come and gone but the Bush administration and the Republicans are still in power. It's cool that Barack Obama won the election. I'm happy about it too. But we need to stop pretending that everything is fixed and it's all sunshine and rainbows. The truth is that on November 4th, we received a better chance of future change. Nothing has changed yet.

Here are two new examples of how painfully true this is.

Utah Land Grab

The Bush administration used the fact that we were distracted on Election Day to hide their plans to hurt our country for their own gain...again. On the afternoon of November 4th, while we silly citizens were all voting and waiting for the results of the election, the Bush administration's Bureau of Land Management announced a December 19 land auction that will put oil drilling platforms around a National Park so beloved that it is pictured on Utah's license plates.


Here's how AP described it:

SALT LAKE CITY – The view of Delicate Arch natural bridge — an unspoiled landmark so iconic it's on Utah's license plates — could one day include a drilling platform under a proposal that environmentalists call a Bush administration "fire sale" for the oil and gas industry.

Late on Election Day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced a Dec. 19 auction of more than 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels alongside or within view of Arches National Park and two other redrock national parks in Utah: Dinosaur and Canyonlands...

In all, the BLM is moving to open 359,000 more acres in Utah to drilling.

They’ve been using the Department of Defense to steal oil profits from the Middle East. They’ve been using the Environmental Protection Agency to stall any progress towards alternative methods of energy. They’ve been using the Justice Department to cover up their crimes. They’ve been using Congress to allow the purchase of legislation by companies. Now they are using the Bureau of Land Management to steal land.

Missing: 2 Trillion Dollars

They are also using the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve to steal every last dollar that they can from our government. We thought the “bailout” was the first time that they had handed out massive amounts of cash. That was a $700 billion shock (to compare, those “stimulus checks” we little people were bribed with back in May only cost $150 billion). Now we find out that an additional $2 trillion has been handed out without our knowledge or permission.

To whom? Who the hell knows? The Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke and the Treasury Department’s Henry Paulson refuse to tell us what they did with the money. We only know that it's gone.

This was never approved by Congress. It also appears to have started well before “the bailout” was passed on October 3rd.

These people got balls.


From Bloomberg (who filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for this information):

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return...

Total Fed lending topped $2 trillion for the first time last week and has risen by 140 percent, or $1.172 trillion, in the seven weeks since Fed governors relaxed the collateral standards on Sept. 14. The difference includes a $788 billion increase in loans to banks through the Fed and $474 billion in other lending, mostly through the central bank's purchase of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds.

How much more damage has to be done before we stop these guys?

It’s like our house is on fire, but we tell the firemen, “Hey, just wait it out. It'll rain in January.”

The lame duck Congress needs to come back and impeach these guys now. Unfortunately, especially with the money grab, a scary number of Democrats might be in on it too.

(Photo taken by AFP/Getty Images on October 3rd, 2008 - the day the "bailout" passed)

Stay awake, my friends. We're still in big trouble.

President Obama Homework Assignment: #1

Share your stories about the work that you're doing:




Here's my first story.

I worked the at the Kaimuki High School polling place on Election Day, November 4th.

I woke up at 4:15am. I sometimes don't get out of work until 4am so it was not my normal schedule. I was originally supposed to work at the Ala Wai Community Center but I got switched at the last minute to Kaimuki High School because they were understaffed. Kaimuki is closer to me distance wise, but the Ala Wai Canal, a dirty river with a billion toxic fish, is between me and the school, so even though I can see the high school from my window, it was a 2 mile route. I don't have a car but I just got a bike.

The bike paths here are horrible. They are in spotty places and never seem to connect. They are not lit at night, or when it's still dark in the ridiculously early morning. There are tree stumps popping out of the ground. There are tree branches that hit you in the head. The paths (and sidewalks) themselves literally disappear underneath your tires.

Perfect Hawaiian weather and riding a bike sucks. That's gotta change.

But they are constantly fixing the 6 lane roads.

What's cheaper to fix? A six lane road or a bike path?

Just saying.

Anyway, I got to the high school at 5:30 am and met my new co-workers. I took a quick tally: 2 people under 18, 2 20-somethings, 5 boomers, 2 "experienced" workers.

For most part, I'd say that everything went smoothly. We had 10 paper ballot booths and one voting machine. Over the course of the day, people overwhelmingly wanted the paper ballots and I didn't see anyone use the evil machine. The paper ballots were put in a scanner and collected. Everything seemed legit and nothing was sketchy (unlike in my last hometown of Los Angeles County, where the entire system is a mess).

The most common problem was registration, but they had a great communication system between the Chairmen and the Office of Elections (Chairmen were all issued pre-paid cell phones). People were being added to the ballot all day, instead of being turned away.

As it should be.

My favorite part of the day was handing a ballot to the couple who were voting for the first time. They wanted to be sure that they were filling the ballot out correctly. The man beamed when he told us they were just approved for citizenship. They were so excited. It was the first of a lot of unforgettable moments from Election Day.

I didn't know that Barack Obama won until after I got home at 7pm, but I had heard enough to be really hopeful. In Hawaii, we are 2 hours behind the West Coast and 5 hours behind the East Coast. The sun was still up when I heard Obama took Ohio. By the time we got our next update, the polls were closed and I no longer wanted to know. I wanted to find out at home.

I raced back and got a call from my boyfriend. He couldn't hide the excitement in his voice. But I still told him, "Don't tell me!" because I was just locking up the bike downstairs. I walked in and the guys had paused the tv on the beginning of John McCain's concession speech and tried pull the "It went badly. Oh, just kidding!" gag, but it was too obvious. Obama had won. In a landslide. Took Colorado, 37,000 registrations purged and all. We overwhelmed the fraud and took our elections back. I didn't realize it until now, but I really wasn't expecting logic to win. I was expecting another 2004.

All I felt in that moment was relief. I didn't jump or cheer or celebrate. I grabbed some food and collapsed, exhausted from a long day and a long two years. A long eight years.

I no sooner hit the couch than Barack Obama began his acceptance speech. The first time I cried was when Barack said, "I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree". I'm so glad he said that.

What a difference 2 terms makes.

Since the election, it's been hitting me in waves. Little waves of happiness come over me when I think of the now possible opportunities. My boyfriend is a mechanical engineer with a passion for energy efficiency. This meant pushing paper during the Bush years, but his opportunities will grow exponentially in a time when the government isn't holding us back. Waiting tables might not be our best option for long.

Maybe I can work somehow towards getting a bike path system in Honolulu. Oahu voted "Yes" to installing a rail transit line from Pearl Harbor to Waikiki. They advertise an integrated system of rail, buses, boats, biking and walking paths on the buses. It's definitely possible in my community.

It's been a few days since the election and I'm still feeling my happy waves, yet still the anxiousness I felt before the election has not completely gone away. There will be a President Obama and the list of opportunities is growing by the minute but the start line is not until January 20, 2009. The Dark Side still has the ring of power. I won't be comfortable until they are completely sidelined.

I want this new Congress, with the support we've given them despite their failures, to use the momentum they now have to get Bush out of office. Don't let him finish his term. For the wars, and the economy, and the bad reputation, and the Constitution destruction laws, and the overall Dickishness. Let's fire these guys once and for all, and turn the historical page a little early.

As a bonus, the removal of Bush and Cheney would give us our first woman President in 2008. The primary battle of "First Woman" vs. "First African-American" would end up in a tie. How beautiful would that be?

Gold is to Ari as Lyman is to Rahm

Interesting fact from the 2005 Rolling Stone article about Rahm Emanual, the person Barack Obama has picked to be his Chief of Staff.

Many of us already know that Ari Emanuel, Rahm's brother, is the inspiration for Ari Gold, my favorite character on Entourage.

Apparently, soon to be Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has a Hollywood connection of his own. He was the inspiration for Josh Lyman on The West Wing.

Interesting.

We Won

I just got home from working the polls in Hawaii. I walked in 5 minutes before Barack Obama's acceptance speech. I didn't know he won before that moment.

First thought: Thank God.

And thank you. Thank you for thinking. Thank you for reading. Thank you for questioning. Thank you, thank you, thank you for voting.

By the looks on everyone's faces during that speech, I don't think I'm the only one feeling a huge sense of relief.

I'm so excited for the future, but I'm not really feeling it. I'm still in shock.

For the rest of the night, I will be partying. I'll be starting at home and then going out to a bar where there are a bunch televisions because I will be watching Al Franken's race in Minnesota all night long.

I read a few of Al Franken's books and one chapter has stuck with me. The book was written years ago, not long after Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The book was one of those that served to open eyes. It was chapter after chapter of outrages. However, the last chapter was different. It was a vision of the future that included Barack Obama winning the presidency and then the country impeaching the Bush administration between the election and January 20, 2009.

Al Franken, the author, has the chance to become one of our Senators. This guy will cut through the bullshit better than anyone I could possibly think of. He will also make C-SPAN watching much more entertaining.

He will go after the Bush administration. I want him to win so badly.

With that, thank you again, my friends. Have fun tonight. We made history... and for the first time in a long time, we made history in a good way.

The American way.

Booyah.

Evidence of Voter Suppression

I have worked on this week's Monday morning post for approximately 15 hours now and I am on information overload. I have been reading through the articles I have saved about the Republican effort to stop lots of us from voting and sorting the articles' contents by state. Unfortunately, as Election Day draws nearer and early voting has already taken place, 27 states are already on my list. I'm finding article after article, video after video, and blog post after blog post, creating a mountain of evidence of our votes being eliminated in one way or another. I have too much information to comprehend, let alone categorize.

And then I found this.

The Election Protection Coalition (1-866-OUR-VOTE) in a non-partisan organization that is documenting problems people are having with voting and helping voters with their questions. They have taken over 40,000 calls so far from people having problems voting. They are posting the contents of those calls online for all of us to read.

I'm going to keep working on the original post because if McCain wins tomorrow, state by state voter turnout suppression will be the reason why. If Obama wins tomorrow, voter turnout suppression needs to be one of the first problems we solve in 2009. Identifying the problems will be key. For now, I'm posting some of the call entries that caught my attention from a few key states.

In order to keep busy and not go crazy, I will be working at the polls tomorrow so I will be not be able to obsessively read these while waiting for the election results. While watching television tomorrow, I would love it if some of you could highlight some of the most interesting calls you've found on the Our Vote Live website for me. With over 40,000 calls registered before Election Day even begins, I know I'm going to miss some fascinating reports between 5:30am and 7:00pm in Hawaii.

Tomorrow night, by the time I'm released from the polls, the election will be over. Two years of societal obsession with a small group of candidates have been leading up to that moment. No matter which way tomorrow goes, whether the news is good or bad, we will finally know the outcome. I'll be drinking either in celebration or in fury, but by God, there will be drinking.

On Wednesday, I'll get back to work. Good luck voting tomorrow. Many of us are going to need it.

Colorado (702 reports)

Nov 3, 3:54pm: Voter intimidation problem

"Caller received a call at aboaut 3:20 PM on 11/2/08 urging him to vote for Obama and saying that the election will be held on Nov. 11. The call came from a Los Angeles number, 213-251-7800."

Nov 1, 9:19pm:

"Concerned because recieved something in the mail indicating that she was not registered and may not be able to vote"

Oct 31, 3:19pm: Registration problem

"Had checkbox issue - mailed in solution last week still not listed."

Oct 31, 2:41pm: Registration problem

"Tried to reg (via ACORN) 2 months ago - but does not show up on rolls - has stub"

Florida (3,569 reports)

Nov 3, 12:29pm: Registration problem

"Caller's niece was sent a notice that she failed to selct a political party and was notified that she could not vote in the 2008 election."

Nov 3, 12:08pm: Polling place inquiry

"Caller received flyer indicating there was a new polling location, which differed from the the address on her voter registration card."

Nov 3, 11:53am: Voting equipment problem

"Elderly voter filed initial ballot having made X marks in circles instead of filling in, and machine rejected ballot. Poll worker gave him a second ballot, which he filled in correctly, but the machine rejected again with an "over voted" error message. Voter did not approach poll worker again."

Nov 3, 11:38am: ID problem

"Voter stated that she has gone to DMV twice in St. Petersburg to get a photo id (on Friday and today) to have an id that matches her present address and that she was told that she cannot get a drivers license because the system is down state wide."

Nov 3, 9:57am: Registration problem

Letter from the state that registration not valid because of issue with SSN.

Nov 2, 11:56pm: Polling place problem

"long lines - people are leaving. Caller went at 3pm today to early vote and caller just came home - at midnight."

Nov 2, 4:41pm: Polling place problem

"The precinct used manual ballots that required the use of either a No. 2 pencil or a blue/black ink pen. However, the precinct ONLY provided felt tip markers for the voters. When the voters asked where they could obtain either a No. 2 pencil or a blue or black ink pen, the workers informed the voters that the markers were all that were available."

Georgia (1,644 reports)

Nov 3, 4:15pm: ID problem, Registration problem

"Received letter from Secy of State stating that the records don't match. Need to prove citizenship; has voted has passport feels this is voter suppression"

Nov 3, 3:46pm: Poll worker problem, Registration inquiry, Registration problem

"Voter was told that she had been deleted from the lists because she hadn't voted in the last 2 elections. Voter claims that she has voted. The poll worker refused to give her a provisional ballot during early voting."

Nov 2, 4:27pm: Polling place problem

"Caller's parents went to the polling place twice. Each time were told that they couldn't vote because their names were purged from the list b/c they didn't vote in the past two years. Refused to give them provisional ballots."

Nov 2, 1:18pm: Polling place problem

"The caller reported ballot problem in Henry County, GA, polling location #30228. The presidential candidates' names were on the ballot, but at the local level, lots of democratic candidates' names are NOT on the ballot and that she had to TYPE them in."

Nov 1, 11:18pm: Registration inquiry

"Registered to vote. Voted on 10/27. Received letter from GA Secretary of State dated 10/28, saying she is not a US citizen. Voter was born in the US and has always lived in the US. No questions she is a US citizen (with all necessary ID, and has been voting since she was 18). Voter VERY concerned her vote will not be counted."

Oct 31, 2:18pm: Voter intimidation problem

"Caller's home was contacted by a McCain campaign worker, who asked for her (but spoke to her mother). The campaign worker asked her to confirm that she had voted in 3 primaries recently. The mother, answering for herself, rather than the daughter, replied that the information was incorrect. The McCain rep then informed the mother that she was going to take her "off the list" and "report her for voter fraud." The caller used *69 to obtain the campaign rep's contact information. It is not clear whether "remove from the list" referred to the call list, or to the voter registration list. Caller was under the impression that it was a reference to the voter registration list."

Oct 31, 1:39pm: Polling place problem

"Lee Headquarters Library on Bellcreek, in Jonesborugh in Clayton County, GA - there is a 6 hour wait for voting - they said that machines are down, and that they are short on machines. They are sending voters to different locations to vote. The line and wait keeps getting longer and longger."

Oct 31, 12:45pm: Polling place problem, Voter intimidation problem

"Lack of availability of parking (cones blocked off parking) and cars are being towed (lack of information telling people where overflow parking is) at advance polling station (4700 Austell Road, Austell, GA). Officers were blocking off parking lots and directing people to places without parking. Officers were also waiving people past the precinct. It took close to 5 hours to vote."

Nevada (212 reports)

Sep 12, 5:23pm:

"Caller is member of Washoe Tribe which he says is 100% democratic. Everyone around the Reservation is Republican. The Douglas County Clerk has removed the polling place from the Reservation making it a mail in only district. Before removal of pollilng place, 100% of elilgible voters (160) voted. In May, only 12 voted."

Ohio (2,234 reports)

Nov 3, 4:04pm

"There's a radio station in Cincinati 700WLW - Bill Cunningham is the host - who is telling people on his program that Democrats are voting on Wednesday November 5th instead of tomorrow."

Nov 3, 3:58pm: Polling place inquiry

"Got phone call telling her polling place was different than what was listed on voter registration notification."

Oct 31, 12:24pm: Other Inquiry

"Deceased husband. Wants to ensure he is not registered due to fear of voter fraud."

Oct 30, 7:58pm: Voter intimidation problem

"is nurse, patient sais patient's brother was arrested wwhen tried to vote today for unpaid traffic tickets. she called her pastor who went down to voting place. people being arrested."

Oct 30, 3:10pm: Registration problem, Voter intimidation problem

"republican prosecutor in columbus ohio telling obama campaign workers they must decline their registration"

Oct 29, 6:52pm: Other Inquiry, Registration problem

"Mother called because she received confirmation saying 2 year old daughter is registered to vote. She had received several forms asking daughter to vote and finally received confirmation saying daughter is registered to vote."

Virginia (1,837 reports)

Nov 3, 5:04pm: Polling place inquiry

"Received flier with a different polling location than her registration card. Hasn't moved since she registered."

Nov 3, 3:45pm: Registration problem

Voted in 2004 and 2008; not on rolls.

Nov 3, 2:13pm: Absentee voting problem, Student voting problem

"Only allowed to vote for Pres and vice pres because was student. She tried to vote in annandale. lives in falls church. Both in Fairfax co. Submitted provis. ballot. Would still like to vote for senator and other positions"

Nov 3, 2:01pm: Voter intimidation problem

"Virginia Commonwealth University -- certain professors are telling students that they will drop their grade a full grade if the student misses class to vote."

Nov 1, 4:34pm: Polling place problem

Richmond City Hall - experiencing significant delays for early voting. Caller was in line at 8:45 and didn't vote until 3 pm. Elderly and handicapped voters not given any priority in voting. Many voters left polls without voting. Only 4 machines.

Oct 30, 6:34pm: Absentee voting problem, Polling place problem

Doesn't think she got the right ballot form b/c there were only options to vote for president and senate.

Oct 30, 5:13pm: Registration problem

Although she is registered, when she called the local board of elections at 703-792-6470, they told her that voter registration was cancelled, and that she could not vote.