‘Vote. Vote your rights. Vote for the rights of your friends, neighbors. Your family & children. Vote human rights. Gay rights. WOMEN’S rights. Children’s rights. victims rights. Vote for kindness & goodness & please vote for choice. Vote for education and the arts. Vote love, not fear. Please.’
My “content” statement was simply a comparison to the harsh road, filled with potholes, that is the political process in the USA, compared with the alternative if the vote went the opposite way.
Of course, I’m not content if the act of voting is the end of the process rather than the beginning.
Time will tell if contentment is swallowed by disappointment. I hope not.
But I am content that something good ahead is possible now.
I won’t be happy, however, until women are no longer hindered by bias, opinion, policy, law, fear, and evil.
If we let our guard down, if we don’t participate, we only have ourselves, in part, to blame if women remain controlled, in any way, by others. We each much find a way to contribute. You, Amanda, by writing. Others by volunteering. Myself, by empowering my patients. Whatever, however, as long as we all remain vigilant and, indeed, engaged, contentment can turn into happiness.
Contentment is a beginning. It is certainly not the goal.
hcohen: I’m with you. It appears that we have great difficulty living in the NOW. I think it is appropriate to savor the moment, savor the win. It came as a result of steady action and culminated in a vote that moves us forward. Yes, there is much more work to be done, but look what we have already accomplished! Yes we did, and yes we can keeping the momentum moving.
Amanda, can I quote you!? Perrrfect. ” voting is the gesture; staying informed and actively engaged is what keeps things moving forward in ways that may align with our higher visions for our communities, ourselves, the world. “
“And if last night’s vote accomplishes nothing more than that, then I’m content.”
well…. i have to say that i am not content if that’s all it accomplishes, because voting is just the beginning of the process. it’s not the end of the road for those who seek to control women’s reproductive rights, and so it can’t be the end of the road for those who would defend them. (and i know you all know this, but i’m saying it anyway.)
as the back of one local voter guide proclaimed:
“DISCLAIMER — BALLOT IS NOT EFFECTIVE WHEN VOTER REMAINS DISENGAGED AFTER ELECTION.”
voting is the gesture; staying informed and actively engaged is what keeps things moving forward in ways that may align with our higher visions for our communities, ourselves, the world. i’m not saying the icky political stuff won’t happen. i know about the compromises and twisted ideals end whatnot. i’m just saying that i’m not content if all that happens with these votes is that they get tallied and recorded and set on a shelf, while the icky stuff goes on.
don’t get me wrong — i am thrilled with many of yesterday’s outcomes! but i’m not “content.”
🙂
And vote we did.
Yes, politics will prevail, red tape will confound, things will not get done as planned or perhaps even desired. Compromise will water down results. Paybacks will be paid back. Promises will be bent, spindled and mutilated into something less than their intent. Governing is a sometimes de-humanizing process.
But vote we did. We voted for human rights, women’s rights, and couples rights regardless of sexual preference ( at least here in Maine ) .
And if last night’s vote accomplishes nothing more than that, then I’m content.
Him?! Barack Obama.
It’s also respect for him isn’t it
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20233064
And liking: when he spoke to someone on the phone who obviously didn’t know who he was his reactions are just so generous, so sane. When he said every time he goes on the campaign trail he is so heartened by the people of America. That’s important too. How he includes everyone even Romney even the Romney voters. It may be calculated (think Mandela with the rugby (Invictus John Carlin)) but not entirely, there is warmth there too.
And Eric, even in the face of the Eisenhower legacy, it does make a difference if the President is running with the pack, or still thinking his own thoughts doesn’t it.
I feel respect, and warmth and well wishing. A long haul guy.
Women won. Money lost.
Good trade.
maine passed same-sex marriage by referendum!!! wow.
and as one of my friends said tonight, “the rape gang all lost” — meaning those whacked-out right-wing candidates spouting bullshit about “legitimate rape” and rape pregnancies “ordained by god.” whew.
‘Americans found their fabled political system beset by the kind of glitches more akin to a fledging democracy than the world’s only superpower.’
Surely the US has to rethink their voting system. So many issues can’t possibly produce an accurate outcome.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/9659688/Makeshift-polling-booths-and-four-hour-queues-US-election-beset-by-glitches.html
“Dine at the Y”
yes luckydriver, and here is that voter’s story that he posted with his video, quoted from the story in the examiner :
http://www.examiner.com/article/youtube-video-shows-2012-voting-machine-altering-votes-from-obama-to-romney
I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted. I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney. Being a software developer, I immediately went into troubleshoot mode. I first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting Jill Stein to actually highlight Obama. Nope. Jill Stein was selected just fine.
Next I deselected her and started at the top of Romney’s name and started tapping very closely together to find the “active areas.” From the top of Romney’s button down to the bottom of the black checkbox beside Obama’s name was all active for Romney. From the bottom of that same checkbox to the bottom of the Obama button (basically a small white sliver) is what let me choose Obama. Stein’s button was fine. All other buttons worked fine.
I asked the voters on either side of me if they had any problems and they reported they did not. I then called over a volunteer to have a look at it. She him hawed for a bit then calmly said “It’s nothing to worry about, everything will be OK.” and went back to what she was doing. I then recorded this video.
There is a lot of speculation that the footage is edited. I’m not a video guy, but if it’s possible to prove whether a video has been altered or not, I will GLADLY provide the raw footage to anyone who is willing to do so. The jumping frames are a result of the shitty camera app on my Android phone, nothing more.
also:
if you experience an anomaly (such as this) please call a voter hotline such as 1-855-444-6100.
Bring your camera phone and document the problem.
Yes, vote and pay attention when voting! Here is a video posted by a man who kept trying to vote for Obama today, and instead, his machine defaulted consistently to Romney. He tried to alert the staffers at his polling place, who did not seem so concerned, so he made a video of his experience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QdpGd74DrBM
Amanda, I LOVE this! Reposting it right now!
Amanda: Thank you, absolutely correct. The only way to keep the sky from falling is to honor those who hold up more than half of it. To paraphrase Beyonce, put a vote on it.