LaurieWrites

November 4

It seems unbelievable that this day is here but it is.

Last night I went with two people from my program to cover the Obama rally in Manassas, Va. It took us three hours to get there and two hours to get home, where we finally landed at 3 a.m. It was brutal but it was another life-changing moment, much like sitting in Invesco Field watching him accept the nomination in August.

I cannot believe I've been there for the things I've been there for, speaking inarticulately.

I sat on the media stand on a really, actually beautiful night in Virginia, praying I wouldn't fall off the riser and break my neck, smooshed on one side by a tiny camerawoman from a Japanese news media outlet and a man to the right of me from who knows where who wasn't pleased that I found a spot on the "floor" between their two tripods. For a not-small woman I can compartmentalize into these spaces pretty well when I want to. There were almost 100,000 people in those fairgrounds - a magnificent mix of color, age, gender and fashion sense. There were many, many people in wheelchairs and using canes to pick through the uneven ground to get out there and wait for a man who lost his grandma today, which I could tell by the look on his face and the almost-imperceptible slump in his demeanor.

The admittedly kind of shady but well-meaning video that I captured is on my YouTube channel.

I wrote this while I sat there:

I really never want to forget how I felt, sitting in these chilly fairgrounds in southern Northern Virginia. This has been a long, ridiculous eight years and whether or not this man can even begin to piece some things back together, I'm not willing to bet any more of my country's future on a short-sighted party that sold it out to the atrocities of war and domestic oppression.

80,000 people in Manassas, in November, at 10 p.m. on a Monday night. My friends, this is change.

I slept for two hours so it's a good thing the adrenaline is kicking in. I'll be in a few places today. I'm going to stop into my local precinct and vote, then go to campus to pick up some last-minute footage and news for the YouthVote Blog. TerpsVote and College Dems and Republicans are holding events all day.

I'm on Twitter at @lauriewrites, which I expect will heat up when I'm with the awesome list of bloggers expected to be at NPR tonight with me as part of their election coverage. My friends Jill Miller Zimon and Shireen Mitchell (aka digitalsista) will be there, along with several others - mostly women, amazingly. As much as after two years of this I want to be on my couch with a beer and a pizza, this is such a cool opportunity and I can't wait.

I'm going to vote now. For the rest of the day, if you're interested, you can find me on what I randomly called LeftRightLeft, the small corner of this site where I allow myself to get political. I can't promise wisdom, not at all, but what I can leave you with is the reason why all of this happened in the first place, in two small parts.

In 2000, I knew very little about politics but I knew in my heart that something was wrong. I had been back in Maryland for a year and my life was sort of messy (nothing like the airtight awesomeness it is now! Haha. ;)) The Gore loss - the election day actual real-time debacle and the eventual legal loss - changed my life and my mind forever. It altered my concept of what is fair and just, and what a country can really do. I learned then that things are not always as they seem, that sometimes in fact they are quite horrible no matter what kind of a pretty dress you put on them, and nor are they as they ought to be, at least not from my spot anyway.

I got seriously fired up for the first time but clearly not the last and I dragged everyone I knew and loved with me through my growing sense of frustration and disenchantment with the political process and the rightness of leadership in this country that has not abated since. Nice, right?

In 2004, my life was a little more together and things seemed like they might be looking up. I sat up all night hoping against dying hope that even though I knew that John Kerry the windsurfer didn't have what it took to get us out of the hole we were in, that some kind of universal force (call it God, call it what you will, I'm open) that opposed an unjust war killing many thousands of people would cause a miracle to happen and let him take over for awhile.

When I am told I need to be unbiased as a journalist I respect this - on paper. But as a fully living, beyond-opinionated woman living in this crazy world, I can't be. It stresses me. It challenges my communication skills, because I have too many ideas and have drawn too many conclusions to pretend I haven't. Because, see, I want equality for people of color and for women. I want - as I said - an end to an unjust war, and a slimmer chance that we'll end up in a series of other ones, with nothing but axes to grind forevermore.  This is my central issue, I admit it, beyond the economy even, even though I know how very serious this is. This is my heartbreak, and anyone who says this means I don't support troops or my country - well, okay, I'm all about freedom of speech, but they're wrong.

So that's why I'm here. I may never work in a traditional newsroom because of this (and let's face it, at my age I'm cool with that - they can't afford my starting salary.) I'm a teacher and a writer at heart so I'm okay if I just do those things. I'm not going to be silent today, except when it makes sense because I don't want to get punched. Today I'm going to say on my little corner of the Internet what I believe in my heart, my most impassioned heart that was very battered along with millions of others eight and four years ago. Today I'm going to say like I have not before in this cycle that if things go the way I hope they do for a man who has managed to stir millions of people the world over with an undeniable sense of promise, the right thing will have happened. I'm saying this because I've finally decided that I should, and because even when I didn't I caught hell anyway. I'm saying this because yes, I can.

Seriously, drop by the other page later if you feel like it. We're going to tear it up at NPR, I promise. There may even be a webcam involved at some point.

The L-Word

What? Loser? Lesbian? Lay-a-bed?

I've always liked that one. Lay-a-bed. Anyway, I hate headlines that make me work. And in this case, the fact that I didn't automatically know they meant "liberal" either makes me completely stupid, burnt out on all things Obama, or...something.

And yes, this does mean I'm back, deconstructing American mainstream media so you don't have to, and now you'll have more time to peruse People.com. Relieved? I know, me too. 15 hours of sleep since 4 p.m. yesterday and I think I'm pretty much ready to rock and roll, until sometime tonight when I pass out again.

But first, tonight, a welcome home Girlyman show! I can't think of a better way to come back home than two days of sleep and one of my favorite bands playing live. It takes away an infinitesimal (which is to say almost nonexistent) bit of the sting of walking in the door completely wired and exhausted to a dogless house and a beautiful package from Heavenly Days that includes what remains of my little guy. My feelings about this are the size of the world, shrunk down to the reentry lunch with my mother when we talked about it so I'd understand exactly what happened, and the half hour I spent sitting at the dining room table with him as soon as I got home. I have lots of tears for him, it turns out, 13 years of memories worth, I guess, which makes them the most essential kind.

As much as I knew it was true, I still can't believe it. I can't believe that's him in there, topped off with a sympathy note and a guardian angel pin of a dog with a halo and wings. My mother made all of his stuff go away because my parents couldn't stand it (I can't imagine what it was like, being here) and didn't want me to have to either, but it's still terrible, either way. I came downstairs when I finally woke up to the sun shining through the screen door and call me crazy, but because it's early spring and the perfect slice of light was hitting the entry way, I was genuinely surprised not to see him stretched out all Punkin-yoga style in it. It's really quiet around here.

McCain's Menagerie & Kittens for Clinton and Obama: Pet Power in Election 2008

Crossposted from BlogHer.

Super Tuesday has come and gone and the presidential candidates have moved into a race for delegates in the states that have yet to vote. Lots of humans have weighed in about who they think will be the best person to lead our country, but one question remains: who gets the animal vote?

Much has already been made of the Obamas' plan to get their daughters a dog when they make it to the White House, but cats are dominating the Obama pet blogosphere lately. First of all, and I'm sure anyone familiar with the LOLCats craze will agree, it had to happen:  Yes We Can Has (Cheezburgers.) This one's for Dana in Wisconsin:

(Via Boinkology)

Cats For Obama is on the stump as well (and in a similar vein, don't miss I Can Has Nomination or Lolbama.) Also check out Dogs for Obama on Flickr, where Honey's for Hillary, while Chili hearts Huckabee.

Gina Spadafori got serious at Pet Connection, writing about "The Politics of Dogs and the Dogs of Politics":

Nope, Westminster is over, and while our buddy David Frei and Uno the Westminster-winning beagle make the rounds of the morning talk shows, I’m thinking of that other beauty pageant, the presidential primary races. My thought for the morning: What do the pet-food recall and Barak Obama have in common? Give up? The Internet.... The fact that we’re people, not demographics, is why some of us can enjoy the Westminster Kennel Club dog show and still rescue and foster pets. Because life is not as black-and-white as some believe — it’s about shades of gray. Or maybe, about a man with a Kansan mom, a Kenyan dad who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii and has the middle name that any consultant would have sworn was as deadly as last spring’s pet food. As they rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic embarassment of the Clinton campaign, somebody ought to be paying attention. We’re not “demographics”; we’re people.  Miss that point? Well, here’s your hat, there’s the door. The “good ol’ days” are over, and thank heavens for that. The poodles aren’t winning any more at Westminster.  As Uno the everyman beagle would say, “Ahhhhhhh-rooooooooooooo.”

Commenter Emily was less than enthused with the encroachment of politics on one of her favorite pet sites:

I for one vote for being actually non-partisan rather than requiring Hillary supporters to sit through this kind of stuff which even Obama supporter Dogged Blog described as “She had a nice gloss of non-partisanship all over it, but yo, Gina, I’m so onto you. She’s an Obama fangirl, just like me.” That was how I read it too, but with less joy that one of my fav non-political blogs is now starting to join in the Obama fangrrl squee parade.

Christie Keith wrote in support of the Pet Connection post and shared her own beliefs about how politics and animal welfare intersect.

I believe mandatory spay/neuter harms animals and the people who love them. I believe it's designed to impede pet ownership in furtherance of an anti-pet agenda, not to reduce the number of animals killed in shelters. That's why I fight it. I believe that the way to change things is through free expression, speech, persuasion, and education, not legislation. I believe that the only way to shut down puppy mills is to dry up the market, because there's no just way to legislate them out of business without trampling on people's freedoms, and in the end, harming the human/animal bond. But I believe that as a liberal, and as a dog lover, and as the opponent of the mass commercial production of puppies, and someone who is against the sale of puppies and kittens in pet stores. And I don't find any of those things a contradiction.

The Baltimore Sun Mutts blog kept tabs on the current candidates' pets.

The undisputed winner in the pets-at-home category is John McCain, who has 22 pets; the loser is Barack Obama, who has none, but who -- it should be pointed out -- has promised his children that, win or lose, once the campaign is over, they will get one. So what he lacks in pets, he makes up for in being responsible enough to know that amid a run for the country's highest office is not a good time to bring a pet into one's young family. His opponent in the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton, is down to one dog now, a Labrador named Seamus. Of the Clintons' White House pets, Buddy passed on, and Socks was given to White House Secretary Betty Currie when the Clintons left office. While some at the time criticized Hillary Clinton for "dumping" Socks, that act, like Obama not having a dog, might also have been the more responsible choice, especially considering both she and Bill are allergic to cats.

Caitlin Flanagan wrote an essay called "No Girlfriend of Mine" in the Atlantic Monthly last July detailing her displeasure with Clinton, including her treatment of Socks.

In the annals of human evil, off-loading a pet is nowhere near the top of the list. But neither is it dead last, and it is especially galling when said pet had been deployed for years as an all-purpose character reference. All presidential pets become famous, but the national affection for Socks during his time in the White House was unexpected and politically miraculous. He did the impossible: He humanized the Clintons. Socks stood for Chelsea (whose cloistering lent her allure) and for something Hillary desperately wanted us to understand about herself: that no matter how powerful or successful she becomes, first and foremost, she’s a mom; that no matter how incomprehensible her marriage may appear to outsiders, at its deep center is the only imperishable bond a man and a woman can share—a child. Conveying these two simple facts during the long and punishing 1992 campaign had eluded Hillary, and by the time the family was crating up its belongings to move to the White House, even those of us who had helped punch their ticket thought they were odd ducks... Hillary’s insistence that we follow her example in pet ownership, when she should really be on Cat Fancy’s Most Wanted list, makes her a tiresome bore. But exploiting the emotions of good-natured people (including “many of the retired servicemen and women who live at the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home in Washington, D.C.,” whose bravery and patriotism she honored by having them send out kitty-cat “greetings” to Socks’s correspondents)—well, that’s just another example of her three-decade-long drift from the girl she once was to the woman that circumstance and ambition have made her.

In the Pink Texas disagreed:

What will female voters think of this, as Hillary tries to convince them that she’s human? I’ll tell you what this female voter thinks. Me. Ow. At least she didn’t strap Socks to the roof of her car on a family vacation. “In the annals of human evil, off-loading a pet is nowhere near the top of the list,” writes Caitlin Flanagan in the current issue of The Atlantic. “But neither is it dead last, and it is especially galling when said pet has been deployed for years as an all-purpose character reference.” Oh, lighten up, Flanagan.

Sarah Baxter wrote another comparative piece in the London Sunday Times about the candidates' pets.

A dog is an essential tool of government. There is nothing like a furry friend to feature in a distracting publicity photo during a domestic or international crisis and to provide private consolation when times are hard. President Bush once said about Iraq: “I will not withdraw even if Laura and Barney [his scottie] are the only ones supporting me.” With McCain vowing to keep American troops in Iraq for 100 years if necessary, it is perhaps as well that he has a number of pets. Socks the cat was a star of the Clinton years, but should Hillary’s fortunes revive she is unlike to take back the elderly family pet that she dumped on her husband’s White House secretary when his presidency ended. There is still Seamus, a chocolate labrador who replaced Buddy, the second dog owned by the Clintons to be run over. Mike Huckabee has three dogs, Jet, a black labrador, Toby, a King Charles cavalier spaniel, and Sonic, a shih tzu, but his son, David, was accused with a friend of torturing and hanging a dog at a Boy Scout camp in 1998. Animal rights groups in Arkansas, where his father was governor, were outraged and the 17-year-old was dismissed as camp counsellor.

FourDogMom made her own tally:

It's not a good sign that Obama doesn't have any pets. McCain, on the other hand leads the group with 22. I would expect nothing less than pound rescues from Kucinich, the candidate I am most closely aligned with politically.

Hallie Sue's lab speaks up at Go Dog Go while she's at work:

Given the above information, it is really a shock that the candidates are not talking more about dogs and our concerns. It seems like labs are really an over represented breed with this group, so labs everywhere should unite and make their voices heard by their humans. As I like to say, “Go Dog Go.”

The Humane Society Legislative Fund is another source for the intersection of pets and politics. The Humane Index 2006 rated Sen. Clinton over 100 percent in animal welfare, and whereas Obama scored lower he has gotten other good marks from the organization as well.

After the Cups linked to the Fund For Animals ranking, where again Clinton came out ahead, in spite of continued scuttle over the transfer of former first cat Socks to Bill Clinton's secretary Betty Currie and the demise of Buddy the lab

I'm a total nerd for politics, but what with the US elections and everything I thought maybe other people might be interested too. This site ranks both Senators and Representatives by their voting records on various issues, including animal rights according to the agendas of the Humane Society and the Fund for Animals. I realize that neither of these groups stand up the standards that most of us have, but they still serve as some sort of baseline of what we can expect from members in regards to their voting records on animal rights... It looks like Hillary has a better voting record for animal rights than Obama or McCain based on this data at least. She voted line line with the Humane Society agenda 100% of the time, Obama 60% of the time, and McCain 40% of the time. (if anyone is curious Kucinich was of course at 100%) You can obviously look up your own members as well if you feel like writing people angry letters.

PawsConnect held a less formal but spirited competition late in 2007 to determine the pets' favorite candidate. Lizzy from Catpaign won the grand prize, and felt that Clinton came out ahead.

I'm Lizzy and American politics has gone to the dogs. I'm fed up with the good ol' boys and it's no stretch to see who's the right candidate. Look at these hound dogs: Mutt Romney, Bark Obama, Joe Bite 'Em. . .It's time we put a little feline power in the white house. After all, what would you prefer? A smelly old lazy dog or a nine-lifer that knows her mind? Hillary's the cat's meow. She puts the purrr in Prrresident. It's time to let sleeping dogs lie. Cats of America Awake! Hillary Kitten in '08!

Youtube/CNN Debate - Liveblog

The incredible Morra Aarons is at the Citadel doing the primary coverage of the CNN/YouTube Presidential debate for Blogher.

I'm liveblogging the Internet chatter about it to back her up. Blogher. Join in!

Candidates Address Planned Parenthood Advocates

I'm in DC today, ostensibly live-blogging the Planned Parenthood Action Fund's roundtable, where Elizabeth Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton are speaking. Edwards and Obama were on this morning, and I was poised and ready to do the "on the scene" coverage that gives me that crazy rush, but get this: NO WIRELESS in the Ritz Carlton downtown. No internet at all, as a matter of fact. If you're going to invite bloggers to the table - which in fact wasn't a table at all, but a row of chairs in the back of the ballroom - you need to have the wireless, friends...the connectivity, if you will. Typing in Word felt weird. It felt like I was writing a term paper instead of really processing what was going on and putting it into some kind of wordy form on the page as I went, but that's what I got. And that is why I am not struggling to find a place in the downtown Borders that has an electrical outlet and a place to sit. The twain aren't meeting, so I'll go with whatever power I have left to talk about this morning.

Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood and daughter of the late great Governor Ann Richards, opened the day. She said they're aiming for one million new members this year to join the fight for reproductive rights in the political realm. "I have a dream – that George Bush is the last anti-choice President in the United States of America. The American people are on our side. They support Planned Parenthood and the values we represent."

Planned Parenthood volunteers - teens and young adults - are introducing the candidates. The first was a girl who started the student chapter at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Having recently driven through North Carolina twice, a state I love but where I'm not sure I could ever live because it is so conservative, I can say that there are many, many pockets where Edwards' poverty fight needs waging - hard. And where the girls there could go for birth control, I have no idea. The student said, that for "young people it’s impossible to find someone who speaks truthfully and from the heart on issues we care about," and she puts Mrs. Edwards in that category.

And I have to say - I really get a good feeling from her. I have nothing whatsoever to base it on, but she seems to have this strength about her that's admirable and it doesn't strike a false note, which is uncommon. She'll be at the Blogher conference too, so today was a nice chance to see her before all that madness starts. John Edwards wasn't able to attend because he's on his poverty march or train - I'm not sure how he's traveling, but anyway, he's on the road. His wife delivered her remarks on his behalf, and I'd say if a person is going to go into politics, they're well served by an articulate, thoughtful person like her. Wow.

I mean, really, that is love, on some level - to support what is undoubtedly by now a mutual ambition, but is still ultimately his race, and to do it through illness and parenting and all the other demands that life brings day to day is true commitment. I got to thinking about that while she was talking and how partnership is still really fascinating to me on that level where it seems to work. In Lady Bird Johnson's obit on NPR the other day, they quoted her as saying that "In our case, we were better together than we were apart. And I knew that, and I loved my share of life with him." Of course the article goes on to say disappointingly that "throughout her marriage, she remained fiercely devoted to her husband, despite his extra-marital affairs," which led me to wonder if ANY man in office can keep his hands to himself, but that's another matter.

Edwards is on message with the poverty platform, definitely, and it's true that it does present those who are in it with limited options. I mean, I have friends who DON'T live in poverty who are under- or uninsured, but most of those people would still have someone to bail them out if things got really bad. And in most cases we're all armed with enough information to avoid undue trauma, but not all of it. Dip down about twenty thousand dollars or more, and it's a different story entirely. Here are a few of her quotes:

"John is pro-choice. Always has been. It is not a political calculation. John Edwards would never equivocate on his belief in a woman’s right to choose. This right is too precious for that. As a lawyer, a senator, a candidate for vice president and now president, he has stood his ground. I promise you he will support it today, tomorrow, the day after that, and every day after that."

"This is a fight for women’s equality and for dignity. We’ve been on a very long and difficult journey for dignity and equality. Women’s rights to control reproductive rights are central to this."

"Even a debate about whether a woman can be trusted with a choice about her body is demeaning, By continually suggesting that women make this choice lightly and for frivolous reasons...(says that we are) selfish children who need guidance from some legislature so we don’t behave too recklessly.”

"Extremists do not get a monopoly on defining values...We are all people of values and...some of us of faith."

"We as women must value women enough to trust their judgment about their bodies. Who should not be involved? The government. If I wanted Rick Santorum’s opinon on what I should do, I would call him up.
If the government wants to be involved, it can work with organizations such as Planned Parenthood to support prevention...comprehensive sex education, not just abstinence only...access to family planning services - that would be a nice change, birth control and emergency contraceptives...medically accurate prenatal care...replacing it’s decision making and categorical judgments with the medical and personal judgment of women and their doctors."

"With respect to the Supreme Court’s decision on the Federal ban on abortion, we are one justice away from overturning Roe vs. Wade...the recent 5/4 decision is evidence of that threat...(We have) retreated and taken the most radical step in a generation against reproductive health and rights...We need a pro-choice candidate, elected on a pro-choice platform. John is such a candidate and will be such a president."

"John has a true universal healthcare plan, not a promise that we’re going to have a healthcare plan in the future. This is a real plan that covers every man, woman and child in America. Since woman are disproportionately under the uninsured, only a truly universal healthcare plan guarantess that every woman will have her healthcare needs met. All reproductive healthcare, including pregnancy termination will be available components of his plan."

"John understands something that all of us know, that reproductive health is primary healthcare for women, that it needs to be comprehensive, provide a range of services...make and act on legitimately informed decisions in safety and dignity."

"Choice is about more than abortion. In order for a woman to make a real choice, she needs acces to sex education, affordable child care, a living wage, a life free of violence and coercion..."

"The news revealed the fallacy of the opposition's arguments again...(they have) long suggested that any information other than abstinece (was negative)...(that the) use of condoms would result in more underage sex activity and births. (These are) not a permission slip for teenage sex. It heightens awareness, results in more deliberation in sex activity."

"Good science and medicine includes birth control and sex education. John wil follow this. Whoever thought anyone would have to say this in a campaign? John will appoint a surgeon general committed to medicine... driven by science and not ideology...He will release to taxpayers all reports, if taxpayers pay for it, they oughta be able to see it, and without any editing by political operatives."

"People who oppose the right of women to terminate a pregnancy also oppose access to the tools that prevent that pregnancy."

"...(He) supports abstinence as part of a medically accurate program - children’s lives are too precious to provide them with inaccurate information. There is no time too early to give your children information to protect them from these diseases. (Edwards will support) comprehensive stream of sex education programs throughout the country."

"In the US – nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended, fifty percent end in abortion... A million and a half of unplanned pregnancies could have been prevented, if women has info about and timely access to emergency contraception."

"These issues are so important and values so central that to position ourselves out of them is to lay down the mantle of leadership. John will face political opposition when he believes he is right. Women’s lives are at stake and our lives are not fodder for compromise. There is a time when compromise means capitulation."

"You can’t be a little bit pregnant, and you can’t be a little bit deprived of the right to control your own body."

"Hiding behind the curtain in the theatre of politics is not just distasteful, it’s unecessary."

J will be a strong and committed leader protiecting choice and health issues for women, as gwb has been endangering them
He will not delay or defer, shy away or compromise, he will not equivocate.

This is not just a campaign promise. It is consistent with a philosophy that underlies all issues, that fuel him, animate him...the commitment to ending poverty, providing universal healthcare, bettering the lives of individuals, and the equality and rights of women."

"We are a voice for a lot of people who are not in this room, meeting with John today, who are counting on you...that promise to those women is as sacred to John as it is to you, and that promise will be kept."

That's as much as I have the battery power for, but I thought she hit on all the points and it's clear where the priorities are for the reproductive rights community. I'll follow up with Obama and Clinton later.