Hansel and Gretel; Tale of the Lost Children

It occurs to me this whole primary and the splitting of the Democratic Party, PUMA, Just Say No Deal and all of theresulting chaos caused by the DNC Rules & By-Laws Committee and there erroneous decision on May 31, 2008 are indeed VERY much like a Fairy Tale.

I see it as a newer, re-spun version of Hansel & Gretel. Let me elaborate. Hopefully my coffee intake will sustain my brain and typing skills this morning.

Hansel and Gretel were walking through the forest when they came upon a group of lost children who were running from a gingerbread house controlled by a group of Hardcore Repuglicans led by a particularly evil albeit inept and clueless maniac named GW. They had barely escaped with their lives not to mention their legal ability to think and act as individuals!

They clamored around Hansel and Gretel eager to be lead back to safety and sanity. They wanted to go back to living life as free people again. They wanted to get back to working on improving their lives and the world we live in. They wanted to get back to a time when they felt more in control of their own destiny, their own reputation and the ability of people to speak freely and participate in government.

They excitedly murmured about having such good fortune! After so many years of searching for someone to lead them who was strong, smart, capable and fierce enough to stand up to GW and the Repugs they had a surplus this time! There were TWO such leaders here to lead them home! Joyful chanting ensued.

CHILDREN: “NO MORE BUSH! NO MORE BUSH!” (dancing and singing the children all have big smiles)

GRETEL: “OK! Well I think we all know what has to be done here! I say we turn around right now and go back to our homes! We’ll clean house and return to a better way of life. A more sane and caring way of life without insane wars over oil and policies that favor only the very rich and powerful. I know the way back and I’ve got some great ideas that we could talk about to make things even better for ALL of us!”

GRETEL: “Folow me! I’ve left a trail of policies and plans that we can use to find our way!”

HANSEL: “Um, wait a minute! No, I don’t know what she’s talking about! I mean really, Gretel is you know, old school, you know what I mean she uh, she’s just like the Repugs, uh, you know the same ‘ol same ‘ol.”

HANSEL: “I’M DIFFERENT! I’ve got a different plan. A plan for change and hope! We don’t need a trail of policies to find our way home! That’s the old way of doing things! I intend to lead you on a different path, a path I hope, I mean a path of hope that will get us home! Follow me, let’s CHANGE THE PATH and HOPE for a better tomorrow”

GRETEL: “Well I think we should all think about this carefully and discuss it. I still think following the existing trail of solid policies is the way to go but I’m willing to explore all the options. Whatever we do we must make decisions wisely or we will not get home and the Repugs will continue to hurt the people! Now Hansel if you have any questions about my policy trail I’ll be more than happy to answer them. Or if you prefer we can discuss this new trail of yours. I have some questions about it.”

HANSEL: “Well I see no reason to think about it or discuss it! We need HOPE and CHANGE! Thinking about it won’t make it happen! The Repugs are history anyway! People can’t possibly let them be bullies anymore! They’re fed up! They want ARUGULA!”

HANSEL: “You know folks, Gretel is trying to bamboozle you ‘cuz that’s what she does you know. I mean she’s a sweetie and all but seriously how can she lead us anywhere? I mean, she wants us to follow policies? Facts? I mean what’s next? She’s just old school and by the way did I mention she’ a racist? That’s right! She and all those who follow her too! YUP! She really has no morals you know, she’s a witch, I’ve seen it! She’ll say anything to get you to follow her. Plans! Policies! Who is she kidding right? You guys are the cool kids so your going to follow me right? Who needs Gretel and her policy trail! We’ll make a new trail home! Did I mention I’m half African American and Half Typical White person? Oh yeah and Gretel is White and she’s a GIRL! Can’t trust ‘em! That’s what I say! Let’s follow the trail of CHANGE and HOPE for tommorw! Ooops! I mean HOPE for a better tomorrow.”

GRETEL: “Yes it’s true I am a girl but that does not change the fact that I know a proven path. And I am NOT a racist! I said I’d be happy to answer any of your questions about my trail Hansel! I also have a few about yours. I want to know where is this trail? Where does it lead? Has anybody actually seen it? How will we find it? Is it clearly marked? How can we trust you to lead the way when you had to follow ME to get here in the first place?”

HANSEL: “Please Gretel! I do not have to answer your questions! I mean you clearly are a racist. I can’t believe you expect me to prove my trail is real or that HOPE and CHANGE are all it really takes to lead! Such a GIRL thing to say! I mean how racist and girly can you get? I’m not even going to talk to you anymore! You mean nothing!”

HANSEL: “Come on kids! We know who’s cool right? That sweetie Gretel well she should just step aside and let me take us down the path to unity where people like her are no longer allowed to speak! I mean she’s obviously a racist, ex-wife type who will try to enforce nightly toothbrushing and things like that! We want CHANGE and HOPE and oh, yeah ARUGULA!

Well I’ll have to finish later as I really should be doing something more constructive. I’ll post the updated version when I have time. Enjoy. Comments. Critique. Whatever.

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Democracy is Dying!!!

Entry for June 01, 2008

A Sad Day For Democracy

I watched the entire DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee meeting yesterday on C-Span via the net. It was a really long meeting and the committee also took a really long lunch (2 3/4 hours) and took that little opportunity to meet behind closed doors completely flying in the face of “public hearings” as we were led to believe it would be!

During this long meeting there were many impassioned speakers. I was quite proud of the truly brilliant statements of some of my fellow democrats. And then there were some who felt more strongly about their agendas than the democratic process itself.

Now before you start accusing me of partisanship, hear me out. No matter which side of the current fight for the nomination you are on the one side we must ALL remain on is the side of the people. ALL of the people.

While I am somewhat disappointed in the outcome in Florida I can live with it. It’s fair enough. The GOP also penalized them 50% for the perceived “high crime of timing” and they did allocate the delegates according to the vote as cast with each vote counting as half. I can live with that. I suspect most people can live with that. Not ecstatic but I can deal.

The thing that completely flies in the face of all that democracy stands for is the farce of a decision in regards to Michigan. Seated delegates with 1/2 vote as in Florida but here’s the kicker!

They decided first of all to award all the “uncommitted” votes to Obama even though it’s clearly in violation of party rules. Uncommitted is a legitimate option for presidential preferences by the very rules these folks claim to be perverting, er, I mean following. (Freudian slip) There was quite an argument on this as how do you determine who those votes were cast for?

During the days before the Michigan primaries it’s a well known fact that both Barrak Obama and John Edwards, having removed their names from the ballot, had large grass roots campaigns urging people to vote “uncommitted” in support of them. Michigan law prohibits write in votes unless a candidate agrees to such in writing ahead of time. They could not do this as they had already removed their names and doing so would be in effect putting them back on the ballot albeit, unofficially. (BTW Doesn’t THIS constitute advertising? Wasn’t the rule NO advertising in MI? Just sayin’!)

This point was actually used in the meeting as a rationale for giving the votes to Obama. Flawed. Obviously, some of those votes would have been for Edwards and some could really have been for “uncommitted”. The point is we have no real way of knowing what the intent of those voters was. In the past in accordance with PARTY RULES we have sent all uncommitted delegates to the convention as such. They are free to vote as they see fit at the convention like super delegates. I’ll get to the other part of their flawed argument shortly as it is the same flawed reasoning they used for the next travesty.

The next completely “bone-headed” thing they did (Hmmm…. heard that phrase somewhere before) was to decide between three options on the issue of allocating the delegates.

1. Fully reflect the actual vote count (giving the uncommitted votes to Obama because he took his name off the ballot)73 Clinton 55 Obama

2. Split delegates 50/50

3. 69 Clinton 59 Obama

WHAT? What’s wrong with allocating them as they were cast?

Here is the argument(s) put forth by committee members supporting Obama.

We have to consider the will of the voters who didn’t vote as well as those who have? WHAT? Since when have we counted votes that were NOT cast? Even if you could how do you determine who those people would have voted for? What’s the magic formula for that one? (I thought the way it worked is if you don’t vote you can’t bitch because you chose NOT to make your voice heard. Am I wrong?)

The argument was that if the primary had not been flawed and people had known their votes would count many more would have voted. OK I can buy that but how do they decide that those votes would be for Obama? Again we are supposed to read the minds of voters who were not serious enough to get off their you-know-whats and vote.

Also they want us to consider the 30,000 write in votes that were not considered or even looked at according to the very people making this argument. They were not counted and no one knows exactly who they were for because of it yet, they say that “most of those 30,000 votes we’re certain were for Obama.” Um, if you didn’t examine them and didn’t count them how are you “certain” they were cast for Obama?

Not to mention the fact the as mentioned above the voters know that write in votes would not count by Michigan law. So they were now claiming to be all about rules and in the same breath going against them. Oh, they said, the voters didn’t know that at the time. Is it not in the voter’s pamphlet? Oh, I get it we can’t expect them to read the pamphlet. Just like we couldn’t expect people to come out and vote. They can just stay home and let the DNC decide who they voted for!

So in reward for doing their patriotic duty by getting to the polls and actually, gasp, voting, the DNC committee voted to take away 4 delegates earned by Clinton (YES, I said earned as in real voters voted for her and didn’t stay home!) and giving them to the Obama campaign because you know, he really deserves it. I mean if people who had supported him had actually come out to vote…and if he hadn’t pulled his name off the ballot and decided not to bother competing there…and, and..well you get the picture.

So this is what we have come to? As Harold Ickes said so eloquently “That’s what I call democracy!” If you did not see the meeting or any of the snippets on the news go to youtube and check out the video of Harold talking about democracy and fair reflection a true and loyal champion of the voters he is!

In 2004 every democrat I know was screaming “COUNT THE VOTES” from the rooftops yet here we are in 2008 and we actually have Party leaders, the DNC Rules & By-laws Committee no less, VOTING NOT TO COUNT VOTES! Actual democrats arguing to change the actual will of the voters!

You cannot give delegates earned by one candidate to another. You cannot use “judgment” to discern the will of “uncommitted” votes and you cannot discern the will of votes that were not ever cast!

I have been a democrat since before I could actually vote. If this is not righted and the DNC is going to start substituting their judgment for the will of the people I will change my party! I have given a lot to the dems but if the corrupt forces within cannot be contained I and many others like me will be affiliating ourselves with a party that can adhere to it’s own rules and to democracy! I don’t want a republican in office but if they continue to shove this sub-par candidate for the nominee that is exactly what will happen!

It’s far from over! I love my party and I will fight for it! The credentials committee has the ball in their court now! Denver here we come! Democrats must stand for democracy! If this party has been hi-jacked so severely by far left opportunists that they cannot solve this dilemma I and many others like me will vote independent or even gasp, republican. (Not sure I could go as far as becoming GOP but it will have the same effect in the end.)

I’m sick of people screaming about party unity and in the same breath they want to distort the will of the voters! What they really mean is shut up and go along with what we want! Let’s be one big happy family, the family that takes one for the team. It’s ONLY democracy! Shut up and unify! WE already TOLD you who you voted for! Besides, YOU’RE opinions don’t matter! WE have NEW VOTERS! UNITY! SHUT UP! UNITY!

This is really all about affirmative action isn’t it? I mean affirmative action has it’s place. It is meant to give opportunities to those who otherwise might not get them however when it comes to the commander in chief I want the job to go to the person most qualified. Not the one who we “gave an opportunity” to because we feel guilty about our past history or because poor Barrak didn’t get a fair chance because his name wasn’t on the ballot and to know him is to love him so he’s sure those who didn’t show up to vote were either supporters being “kept down by the man” or people who just didn’t get a chance to know him yet. If they had they would have voted for him.

If they are really so sure their guy is the winner then why try so hard to distort the vote? Why if Hillary is really dead, done, toast as the media keeps telling us why can’t he close the deal? If he’s so qualified why do they keep changing rules and stifling democracy? Can’t he win on his own merits? Do we really need a nominee who needs to be given preferential treatment in order to win? One who constantly tries to push his opponent from the race rather than just try beating her in good old fashioned competition? Do we think other countries will cut him the same slack if he were to get elected?

COME ON! Democrats should NEVER allow the actual votes and the will of the voters to be changed! It is what it is! That’s what voting is about! It’s called DEMOCRACY! Let’s all try it!

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May 18th Rant

Entry for May 18, 2008

The DNC is going to pay a very high price for their BS biased, shove it down our throats attitude toward the primaries! We are sick of them telling us who we are niminating! It is still a democracy here right? I mean we have th right to vote for who we choose right? Or have we become a dictatorship and no one wants to tell us?

They have completely ignored the voices of millions of voters in Florida and Michigan, they have tried with all thier might to make it look as though Hillary is a Ron paul or a Mike Huckabee with no real measure of votes or delegates. They have continually ignored the fact that this is one of the closest races in history and the fact that NIETHER CANDIDATE can reach the magic number without the votes of the Super Delegates!

Complete bias by DNC leaders Dean, Ried, Pelosi, Brazille you know what I say Screw ‘em! What do they know? They and the media have gone to great lenths to cover up this man’s flaws, they have villified Senator Clinton at every turn, they have delighted in saying her campaign is over, dead in the water, has no hope scince Iowa.

What the hell do they know? They said McCain was dead too remeber? They are and have been in complete denial for months. They really believe if they keep telling us he’s the winner and keep screaming “The Witch is Dead” that we’ll swallow it! Really? Wouldn’t count on it Buckos!

They really think they can treat our candidate and us like this and get away with it? They really tink if they manage to railroad Obama into the nomination that we’ll “come home” and vote democrat because we should be loyal to them even if they treat us like garbage! What an outrage! Thjey don’t believe that we will cross party lines and vote against that loser in November? Watch me! Never voted GOP or anything but DEM scince I started voting but if they put this untested, inexperienced and unabashedly naive candidate up in November I will definitely NOT vote for him!

 

It’s not because he’s black, not because I think he’s some closet muslim, not because Hillary is a woman it’s because quite simply this man is an idiot and he is fatally flawed and CANNOT WIN AGAINST THE REPUBLICANS IN NOVEMBER!

To show how serious we are some of us have joined a group on the DNC website called DIRVAO – Democrats Independants and Republicans Voting Against Obama. Covert ops as my friend and fellow clinton supporter put it. We will use their own website to organize against their “Golden Boy” and maybe they will see we are serious. If they manage to push Hillary out of the race and continue to ignore the fact that she has more popular votes they will lose at least half of their party and voting base and yes their cash cow maybe for good. Or at least until we run these shysters out! This is just beginning!

Here is a link to the group for any interested in learning more or joining the group.

http://www.democrats.org/page/group/DIRVAOUnited

Pam

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