Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves!

I chanced upon this firsthand account of the Alaskan women’s rally against Palin’s nomination. It was heartening.

Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage.  The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators).  This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state.  I was absolutely stunned.  The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by.  And even those that didn’t honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute.  This just doesn’t happen here. – ‘Alaska Women Reject Palin’ Rally is HUGE!

Alaska Women Say She Be Failin’

A couple of hours after Gov. Sarah Palin returned to the Outside, as Alaskans call the Lower 48, her local critics swarmed an Anchorage intersection to correct the widespread impression that the whole of the Last Frontier endorses her candidacy.
…
“The whole thing grew out of frustration,” said Charla Sterne, one of the organizers, who like several people at the rally declined to say where they worked (several said they were state employees and feared retribution). – In Anchorage, an Anti-Palin Protest – Washington Post

I couldn’t resist including a sample of the signs:

• Bush In A Skirt
• Palin: She Be Failin’
• Jesus Was a Community Organizer
• Palin: Thanks But No Thanks
• Smearing Alaska’s Good Name One Scandal @ a Time
• Candidate To Nowhere
• Rape Kits Should Be Free
• Voted For Her Once: Never Again!
• Community Organizers are the Real Patriots
• Barbies for War
• I Shall Not Be Pandered To
• Give Palin Your Vote AND Your Draft Age Child
• Sarah Palin: So Far Right She’s Wrong
• Coat Hangers for McCain
• Sarah Palin, Undoing 150 Years of American Feminism
• Hockey Mama for Obama (on a hockey stick)

 

Socialization of Wall Street

For the past decade, much brouhaha has been made of privatizing social security, formally known as the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. That private individuals will better manage their own retirement funds than the federal government can. That it doesn’t perform as well as private pension funds do. That, all in all, it is in the best interest of the individual to invest directly into the financial markets than to turn over that money for the government to safekeep until due time.

The present Bush administration has been a strong proponent of the privatization of social security. In general, they extol the virtues of the free market. That deregulation can only be a good thing.

Fast forward to September 2008

Treasury chief Paulson unveils historic government takeover of twin mortgage buyers. Top executives are out. – U.S. seizes Fannie and Freddie – CNN.com

and

Acting to avert a possible financial crisis worldwide, the Federal Reserve reversed course on Tuesday and agreed to an $85 billion bailout that would give the government an ownership stake in troubled insurance giant American International Group. – Fed to Loan A.I.G. $85 Billion in Rescue – The New York Times

I’m really confused…

Fear and Loathing – Let Us Not Indulge

I hadn’t realized until yesterday that some Obama supporters have been regarding HRC to be conspicuously absent from the campaign because, in large part, my political radar had been tuned to pick up Obama’s presence. Although now I can’t find the specific Salon.com article through which I became aware of this acrimony, the eagerness and vehemence with which some Salon.com’s readers thrashed HRC with charges of being a selfish saboteur and traitor were alarming. Especially in light of the fact that HRC has been out there campaigning on Obama’s behalf:

• Hillary Clinton: Sarah Palin Exciting But Not Vote Worthy, ABC News, September 16, 2008
• Clinton Stumps for Obama, but With Little Fire at Palin, The New York Times, September 8, 2008
• Obama Camp Turns to Clinton to Counter Palin, The New York Times, September 4, 2008

While I too share the anxieties resulting from the past two weeks’ surreality, it does no good to to cast unfounded aspersions on HRC, insisting she isn’t doing enough to win it for Obama. Besides the fact that winning this election is the responsibility of Obama, his campaign, and his supporters (by which I mean me and you, that is if you want to see Obama in the office), we can do better. We can start by stepping back so that we can get a better view of what actually is happening and what needs to happen.