Ohio Recount - Thanks to the 3rd parties

It looks like a vote recount in Ohio is going to happen, thanks to the Cobb/LaMarche campaign (Green Party) and the Badnarik/Campagna campaign (Libertarian Party). A formal letter
has been sent to the election director in each of the 88 counties in
Ohio. The Greens and Libertarians and supporters have raised the
required $113,600 to file for the recount and have been raising
additional funds to cover attorney fees and other costs that will be
incurred. If you would like to help, you can donate here.

It is ridiculous that we cannot have confidence in the elections in the
United States of America. It is shameful that so many elections
officials have been reluctant (to put it mildly) to support the idea of
a paper trail for electronic voting. What do they fear? Surely one
cannot object to honesty, to the ability to have a real audit trail.

It would be a lot to hope for that Ohio would end up going to Kerry,
and I am pretty much resigned to 4 more years of the Bush madness. My
main hope is that the Ohio recount will result in public awareness
of the need for greater transparency in the elections process. Supervisors of elections, just like judges, should be
non-partisan. With something as serious as supervising elections, it is
important to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. With the
Secretaries of State in Florida and Ohio also serving as chairs for the
Bush campaign, there was an obvious conflict of interest.

This will be
interesting to watch.

Kim Simmonds

Kim Simmonds,
originally uploaded by Joe Litton.

The good folks at SOHO Tampa sponsored Kim Simmonds (blues legend and leader of Savoy Brown) on Friday at St Bart's Island House in Tampa. It was just what we needed :)

Shirley and I first enjoyed a wonderful leisurely dinner at St Bart's. OMG! Any of you in Tampa area need to check out the great food and atmosphere at St Bart's! Then we walked over to the house across from the pool and courtyard at the restaurant. Kim played 2 incredible sets in a very intimate environment (the picture was not taken with a zoom). There were no more than 100 of us, seated in what had been the living room of the house many years ago.

I used to think of myself as a guitar player, but I tell you what, this guy can pick!

SorryEverybody

Dear World,

Many of us here in the United States realize that we make up less than 5 percent of the earth's population and need to be taking better care of the planet and need to be more mindful of our fellow humans. Many of us worked hard - very hard - to try and get John Kerry elected. We failed. We are doing our best to learn from our mistakes and plan for the future. Please accept our apologies for the outcome of the election.

Although we cannot change what happened on November 2, we will do our best to watch the Bush Administration carefully, to make noise and LOTS of it as we sense bad things happening, to try and send lots of positive feedback when they do something right (I really hope we get that opportunity frequently), and to strive to ensure that in the next election we put folks in office who reflect the values of those of us who are TRUE liberals - people who care.

Thousands (actually millions) of folks here feel the same way. About half of the country, actually. Many of them are posting pictures and comments at Sorry Everybody.

Peace

I am social liberal / fiscal conservative

During the election cycle, I was called a 'liberal' because I posted
about the lies of Bush, Cheney, et al, and posted about my support for
John Kerry. None of that makes me a liberal.

What does define me as a social liberal is that I subscribe
to the classical liberal ideas that emerged a couple of hundred years
ago in the early United States of America: that we must strive to
improve the well-being of all people - not just the wealthiest.

"Liberalism has stood for an economic system that
betters the lives of average working people, and for a democracy that
gives voice to the little guy. That liberal tradition animated American
abolitionists of the nineteenth century who fought against slavery. It
inspired suffragettes who demanded that women have the right to vote.
And it motivated civil rights workers who put their lives on the line
for equal rights." - Robert Reich

What defines me as a fiscal conservative is that I believe
that the United States is bankrupt, and that we need to either
immediately raise taxes, or curtail spending, and most probably we need
to do both. You would be a fool if you earned a net of US$2,000 per
month, and consistently spent US$3,000 per month. But that is quite
analogous to what Bush is doing. We have a record deficit, and that is not
the worst news. The really serious problem is that this president
continues to push to reduce the nation's income (taxes) while
increasing the nation's spending. Such a policy is insane!

As a liberal and as a parent, I care deeply about the future facing
our children and grandchildren. There is absolutely no way they can
hope to avoid a dramatically heavier tax burden, unless we as a
nation wake up to the financial reality. We need to be responsible and
pay our bills. To blindly continue to cut taxes and drive the debt
ever-higher is to irrevocably mortgage the dreams of our offspring.

How to visit your life partner in the hospital

I enjoy the rights of a privileged class. I am a married
heterosexual. Therefore, if my wife were in the hospital, I would have
the right to visit her. There are many other rights we enjoy as part of
this privileged class. For the millions of gay Americans, however, visiting one's life partner in
the hospital is just one of the many challenges posed by a homophobic
society. It didn't get any easier last week.

Well, in 49 of the 50 states (Utah is the exception), there may be a
simple solution to being able to visit one's spouse - even if the law
does not recognize the couple as spouses: become ministers. My wife and
I are legally-ordained ministers in the Universal Life Church. The doctrine of the church is simple and universal:

Do only that which is right.

In all states except Utah, we can legally officiate at marriages,
visit the sick in hospitals, etc. If you wish to be ordained, you can do so right now online.
It is free, it is fast, and it is legal (with the exception of Utah,
where Internet ordinations are not recognized). Once you are ordained,
you can pay a very modest fee and receive a wallet-sized laminated ID
card to identify yourself as an ordained minister.

Personally, I believe that the mission of each of us is to increase the
happiness of the universe. Some aspects of this fall under what some
would call ministering to others. It's unfortunate that folks seem to
get so ridiculously caught up in labels. Nonetheless, we must live
within the parameters defined by the laws of the land. Whether you
choose to consciously 'minister', or to officiate at weddings, or simply
to be able to visit a loved one when they most are in need of comfort,
you may wish to consider ordination.