http://www.gravitymonkey.com/gravity/monkey/redblue/

the night i got into oakland we went to berkeley to get something to eat. the only place we could find was top dog. we caught the guy behind the counter taking a toke of weed and watching cheaters. he was a real jerk, so don’t go there, or if you do, got there and give him a hard time.

i took my brother to the airport this morning; he went to colorado to hang out. we left the house at 430 this morning and got to the airport about half an hour before his flight left. the new sfo entrance is beautiful, the main road is decorated at the front, lots of christmas lights and a huge slate gray sign that says “san francisco international airport” all lit up in neutral lighting. i highly recommend visiting it if you get the chance.

on my way back here the sun was coming up, but the moon was still out and the sky and road and building were all bathed in a cobalt blue glow, and i was hoping i’d be able to see the sun and the moon at the same time, but i had no such luck.

-a bunch of liberals put together a list of companies that donated to the republican party and specific candidates. here’s the list.

-everyone should have seen the cbc photo essay on the arcade fire by now, but if you haven’t, you really should check it out. remember that one they did on john k. samson great stuff. there’s also a weakerthans photo tour diary.

my sleeping pattern is all messed up. i’m going to l.a. next week, maybe gonna see if i can make some money doing what i used to do down there, watching movies.

i’m starting to write more letters. i tell ya, that daily kos is a wealth of information. the neocons are looking to reward the evangelical right by passing abortion laws with the spending bill they’re trying to get through the house right now. i wrote a letter to jay inslee commending him on his vote against the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and soon i’ll write another one supporting barbara boxer in her effort to curb the erosion of women’s rights. writing letters is fun, check out the congress.org website to send emails and letters to your elected officials.

it’s late, i’m going to sleep.

a few things quickly here:

-remember the grey album? of course you do. well, someone went ahead and made a video for encore, and spliced images of the beatles with some desaturated jay-z concert footage. ringo does some scratching, john some break dancing. check it out at greyvideo.com.

-there’s an interesting article at kuro5hin about learning new languages. you know, that’s how most people end up being spies, i think it’s one of the most sought after skills in the CIA, so if you want to do that, which i wouldn’t have think was such a bad idea if i could only get over the idea that i wasn’t working for the administration but for the country, but who the hell am i kidding i barely got through second-year japanese but anyway, there’s lots of good tips about learning languages.

-did everyone see the cover of the stranger this week? it’s a great cover, and is probably one of the most resonant messages from the defeat at the beginning of the month. if you go to the url they indicate on the cover, i don’t know many people that did, which is a shame, you can read all about the urban archipelago.

the article or rather, manifesto, is long and busy and terribly, terribly sharp and arrogant, it’s typical reading for the stranger audience but has some poignant moments, many of which i’ve seen echoed throughtout the liberal portions of the internet.

one of the most reassuring facts is that cities continue to grow, and cities are overwhelmingly progressive compared to rural america. i read a long and hilarious tirade that jason sent me entitled, “fuck the south” which was comparable to the sentiments expressed in the urban archipelago– stuff about how the cities of america are where the technological, cultural, economic and otherwise advancements happen, where the money is made, but essentially, not spent according to the stranger’s numbers, wyoming gets more federal money per capita than new york city.

before the show at the funhouse the other day i went to shorty’s with things explode and had a great discussion with some of the guys about the election, democrats and republicans, faith-based voting, etc. i kept pushing the fact that we need to leave all the nonsense about wooing the moderate vote and push towards the liberal and progressive vote. this stranger article only furthered my reasoning for this– if the urban areas continue to grow at the rate expected, then the urban population will outweigh the rural population 4 to 1, probably the best-bet route to create a new democratic majority.

i’m hoping things in seattle are finally changing. with the monorail vote, and thank god eastsiders didn’t get to vote on this, seattle may finally get another chance at revitalizing its bid on progressive urbanism. i read earlier that google is coming to kirkland, which may or may not help the cause, i’m hoping the former.

in any case, the article really made me feel like i needed to be closer to seattle, if only to be around a percentage i’m comfortable with. that, though, is almost antithetical to the nature of politics and debate, i guess there’s more than one way to skin a cat, but i would highly doubt anyone convinced of anything other than the progressive agenda the stranger has would find anything worth valuing in the urban archipalego. which is a damn shame.

one significant thing that wasn’t touched on at all was the role of cities on foreign policy, but i suppose could be related to the culturalism and melting pot mentality that is represented in urban centers.

another aspect they covered, which is indicative of the difference of the fundamental difference in the perception of the role of government between republicans and democrats:

In November 1960, a black 6-year-old girl named Ruby Bridges entered the newly desegregated William Frantz Public School in New Orleans. In reaction to her admission, white parents withdrew their kids from Ruby’s class and she completed the first grade alone, with instruction from one teacher and support from a child psychiatrist. Ruby’s walk to class on the first day of school inspired Norman Rockwell’s The Problem We All Live With. In this painting (one of Rockwell’s best, as far as we are concerned), a very black Ruby Bridges is escorted to school by four big white U.S. marshals. The image is powerful because it represents the federal government as an institution and enforcer of reason. The white bigots of New Orleans can complain, bitch, and threaten the lives of black boys and girls all they want, but in the end the federal government steps in to ensure that the rights of every American are protected.

anyways, though it’s full of attractive liberal ideas, some of this is refuted here and goes to show you there’s a ton of learning everyone needs to start doing in order for us to start winning hearts and minds for ‘06.

i’ve been sick all weekend. it’s been a while since i’ve been sick, but it’s probably due to the fact that i got very little sleep last week and haven’t eaten much. i called everyone i knew in seattle to go to the things explode show, but no one showed up, sadly, only the bands that played stuck around for te, but it was good show and nice to see some familiar angeleno faces. it’s weird to be back in seattle and have the nicest thing be talking to people that used to live in los angeles.

i’m down to about four dollars, so if anyone job leads, has any odd jobs that they want to pay me for, or if someone wants to buy, uh, i don’t know, like anything from me, then hit me up. i’m going back to california this weekend. i really need a fucking place to live. i’m stressing out, man.

or maybe it’s just the sickness.

i just got back from seeing ted leo and the pharmacists at neumos tonight. despite the band being the hardest touring band in the business today, this is only the second time i’ve seen them, and i wonder why it’s taken so long to get back to a show of theirs.

the reputation, the lashes, and lucero opened up, and i couldn’t help but feel anxious to get on with the show, even though i respect the other bands, i still felt like the lashes were trite, and that lucero was a little over-doing it. i think though, that this was mostly due to the fact that i came to the show looking for a little relief, to identify with someone that i knew cared as much and was as disappointed with last week’s defeat as i was. i felt like the lashes and lucero (i didn’t have much of a problem with the reputation at all) were being disingenuous.

i guess i just wanted them to say something about anything, but it wasn’t so. even ted leo kept the message to a minimum, he did all the talking in the songs, which was fine by me. he came back for two encores and i finally got the chance to shake my fist and pound it into the wood barrier in front of me during “ballad of sin eater.” my throat is still sore from screaming the chorus.

leo got as overt as he would all night when he said goodbye for the first time, “the pressure is on, keep the pressure on.” i kept thinking that if everyone in this room watching this guy work his ass off for us would work their ass off to get the country back on track, then we could really start getting somewhere. i have to keep reminding myself that right now it’s easy to be politically consciousness, but political activism and involvement is where the music takes off and you have to start taking on.

if my books weren’t sitting in a storage unit 1800 miles away, i’d look up that article that lester bangs wrote about the clash and the political message in their songs. he asked them whether or not they thought that their message was actually getting into anyone’s heads or if it was just music to them. i’d look that up and see if he ever really came to a sincere answer. trouble is, i don’t think he did. he wanted to be able to say, “hell, yes” the message comes across, but i don’t think he was able to.

but i suppose they got at least one person to think about it. i went to the ted leo show to get inspired, and thank god i did.

with all the job-applying, stress-inducing election talk, and general business boring day-to-day drudgery of not doing anything at all and feeling like i should be doing so much more, i’ve forgotten the joys of watching strong bad. i just found the first item on my christmas list: the first 100 strong bad emails on dvd.

i just finished mixing a song that i’m sending over to montana and should be out on a comp that may be possibly coming out sometime around february? i don’t even know yet, but i’ll let you know asap. my little brother has a song coming out on magic marker records comp that should hopefully be out by the new year, and we’re still waiting to hear about the asaurus smashing pumpkins comp tape which should be out the soonest.

i have 30 bucks to my name as of this writing, and i plan on spending a third of that on the ted leo show tomorrow night. if you haven’t visited his site in a while, you should head over there and read about his first few days of tour and be grateful he’s still coming out.

also, everyone in the seattle area should head out to the funhouse on thursday, where friends things explode, from los angeles, will be making their seattle debut with sfahm friends slomo rabbit kick and suretoss.

big ups to the folks in colorado for nominating not one, but TWO democratic Salazars. that’s right, bitches.

while my comments yesterday can be interpreted as urging each other to have the tolerance and open-mindedness to see each other’s view points in order for a better understanding of each other, i’m still pissed off at the “other” vote. i am also human, and am also depressed, shocked, angry, and disillusioned at the events and sad that my own words sound counter-productive.

i thought about stringing together some words about how much these next four years will decide the future of our country, how much the last four years did. how much i want to say that revolution will only come quicker, but fuck that, that’s what i heard and repeated in 2000. i want to be able to say that in another four years we’re going to be able to try this over again, and maybe next time without a withering candidate, maybe with a stronger base, maybe with less apathy from people i called my friends.

i really want to say that this means that we’re in for another hard four years, and that just means we have less time to rest. that just means that everyone that worked hard this year needs to work harder in the coming years. in 2000, i was so out-of-touch with what i really thought about my politics that this year seemed like an epiphany. i don’t think it was an epiphany. i think the next four years will be what takes me from where i am now on a political involvement level, to the next level. i can sit here in this reclining chair, looking outside at leaves falling and feel a little perturbed by what just happened, and then switch on the tv and try and avoid anything related to the election so i’ll feel better. i did it last night, in fact, watching a little fresh prince of bel-air, then i went to bed.

i couldn’t sleep. i laid in bed reloading cnn, la times, ny times, seattle times, the ohio papers, the daily kos, instapundit, anything i could find. i fell asleep around 3, and the election hadn’t been called yet. nbc had me thinking it was over. i woke up this morning around 730, popped open my computer and saw that it still wasn’t called yet. well, now it is, and i really want to just turn on the tv and avoid watching kerry’s concession speech, eat some food and forget that we even had an election.

every person i talked to in my insulated group had all the right ideas about what was wrong with the country. we talked passionately and intelligently about what it will take to turn this country around. of all this talking, i talked to one person voting for bush. that was my dad. i indirectly talked to my sister, who was undecided. i didn’t convince two people who weren’t voting to register and get them out to the polls. i didn’t fucking do enough. i didn’t care enough to not give up on those people or to move on to others, people i didn’t know and try to have a civil and persuasive debate with them. i wasn’t out there signing people up to register or giving rides to the polls. i didn’t canvass. i sat at home, idle, and watched things unravel before my very eyes. i didn’t do enough.

that won’t happen again

it’s cold and stormy and a little creepy outside right now. the post today was going to talk about who i was voting for for washington governor, sec of state, etc, but i’m mostly voting dem* and i have a lot of other stuff to talk about so i’m gonna get on with it. it’s mostly aimed at undecided voters and those that are close to me that are voting republican today. please forward this to anyone you know that hasn’t decided or you think may benefit from reading this plea. and it is a plea.

i’m a registered green. i vote democrat often. i believe party lines are made to be crossed. i don’t believe the bush administration is simply “evil” or that they are just stupid. i don’t believe that everyone that votes for bush is ignorant or uninformed, deluded or mislead. i think there are some very smart people that voted for bush in 2000, and there will be smart people that vote for bush today. this does not change my opinion that voting for george w. bush today is detrimental to the majority of people of the united states as well as those outside of the US. i think it is detrimental to the environment, the economy, the future of america. it’s easy to say that, because i believe it. for a bush voter, it’s easy to say the opposite, because they believe it.

i’m basing my vote this year on the perception that what has happened in the last four years has been harmful in every way, shape and form to our society. a war in iraq and i hear “100,000 innocent iraqis are dead” or “1200 US soldiers have been killed” or “no weapons of mass destruction have been found” and much, much more news like that. i read news stories and see incompetency, unpreparedness, and a brash, disrespectful and belligerent administration.

the bush contingent sees “45 million liberated” or “the spread of freedom to people who wanted it” or “a mass murderer neutralized” or “a threat quelled”, none of which can be indisputably refuted. we can argue about iraq and the war, but we won’t be talking about the same thing. it’s simple in it’s complicatedness.

the economy, civil rights, the environment– all our judgments on these issues are on different floors of the same building. even if we could agree that the economy were in bad shape, i could never get you to admit that it’s because the administration hasn’t done enough to help it. i say, “tax-cuts for the rich”, you say, “natural economic cycle.” i say, “the patriot act has eroded our civil rights; our protection from such tyranny of government has been transformed from a sharp instrument to a dull stump.” you say, “it’s a necessity for protection against terrorists.” i say, “this administration has enabled more and more forest to be cut down for lumber, diminishing acres and acres of land of trees.” you say “it’s actually helping the forest by preventing rampant forest fires.”

partisan politics. without a dialogue, without smart people arguing issues, without examining the tangible and ignoring the irrational, we’re never going to get anywhere. liberals antagonizing conservatives by comparing bush to the devil, writing off our government officials by calling them evil or just plain stupid; conservatives brushing liberals off as radicals, hippies, and anti-patriotic terrorists; it’s a waste of fucking time. if we don’t keep an open mind in trying to understand the other side or to even take them seriously, then no one will ever be convinced of anything except that their preconceived notions and stereotypes of “left” and “right” will be on the mark.

what i’m trying to say is that people need to vote their conscience today. if you believe everything you’ve heard, really and truly, and you can honestly say to yourself that you have given the other point of view an honest-to-goodness analysis, listened to every argument against bush with an open mind and you still find yourself voting for him, then by all means, that’s what you need to do.

but if you’re casting your vote based on your faith or party or fear or hunch or position on the political spectrum; because of intangible perceptions like personality, because you “just don’t like him” or you “don’t trust him”; then you really need to re-examine your politics. you may find you haven’t really examined them at all.

*the only exception to this is that i am voting for sam reed for sec. of state, because i don’t like ruderman all that much. my guilty conscience feels like i need to justify this, but i honestly have run out of time and patience trying to find statistics and real facts about her, whereas i can base my assumptions on how reed will do on the last four years he has been acting secretary of state.

**since i didn’t go into detail about why i’m voting for kerry, here’s a laundry list of pundits that do get into it and articulate themselves better than i do myself: andrew sullivan, mickey kaus, david corn, jonathan wallace, and a couple funny ones. get the fuck off the internet and go vote.

NO on I-872: this one is the measure that allows voters to select
among all candidates in a primary. this at face-value sounds like a great thing, but is rife with problems and loopholes that can and very likely will hurt washington state’s ability to have elections with a variety of candidates from different political parties.

the way it works, the top two candidates in a primary that receive the most votes, regardless of political party, will show up in the general election. that means that if the two candidates that are democrats get the most votes, they will be the only two that show up on the ballot in the general election. greens, libertarians, republicans are all in the same boat. regardless of partisan politics, the people should have the right to dissent, and choosing between two dems/republicans/libertarians is even LESS of a democracy that a dem/rep vote.

more information and reasons to vote no on i-872 are here: washington defense, democracy for washington

APPROVE R-55 and YES on i-884: approving r-55 will make starting charter schools in washington state legal. voting yes on i-884 will raise taxes 1% to fund a 1 billion dollar trust fund for washington state education. i’m stipulating that an approve r-55 vote is MORE IMPORTANT than a YES on i-884 vote. i’m voting yes on both because i believe both will help, but i-884 alone is NOT educational reform, it is providing more money for more of the same*. that’s the only thing i’m going to mention about i-884, the rest is r-55.

every single reason i’ve seen on the reject r-55 website has been half-truths and non-sequitor arguments.

i was going to refute every argument, but the approve r-55 website has done it swimmingly already. if you go to the reject r-55 website, you’ll see questions like “why reject r-55″ and answers like “because we voted it down before” or “because it doesn’t do what we voted on before, like make classes smaller or provide better teachers for students” (when in fact, it CAN do both) or “they’re supposed to help disadvantaged students, but they’re not required to”. it’s really infuriating from a logical vantage point, and if you see what’s really behind it, it’s pretty obvious that opposition to r-55 is fueled by political concerns.

unions and labor associations are lobbying against r-55 because it will diminish their power; charter school teachers will be able to start their own unions, and the WEA is no longer a collective bargaining chip for all public school employees.

democrats, greens, and other liberal parties are against r-55 for other reasons, including the fact that charter schools put education back in the hands of the parents, teachers, and students of the schools, and farther away from those of the government at the state and federal level. some believe that charter schools are one step closer to privatization of education and essentially pit schools against each other for grants**.

first of all, to believe this is negative, you have to believe that a free-market is negative and that innovative education can be reached through governmental rules and regulations. classic example: no child left behind. nclb boils down to standardized tests. do you want to be judged the rest of your life by your SAT score?

an insulated education system is not working. what we are striving for is a better education for every student, and to believe that something like i-884 alone will solve washington’s education problems is to believe that the only problem is lack of money in inner-city schools and lack of well-paid teachers. to believe that is to believe that traditional public schools are working in method, and that every student that passes through the doors of every elementary school learns the same way, can attend an 8-3 school day everyday and can succeed in the same exact environment everyone else does. to believe that overlooks a fundamental issue in education.

it comes down to a value judgement on this point: we need change in our public schools. is a better education worth a step closer to privatization?

charter schools provide a choice to communities that did not have one. really what we’re saying is that a charter school runs like a commune, a stronger school community that students tend to value more, that has students, teachers, and parents putting more investment into the school, and making students feel like they should stay because they belong and can succeed there.

parents and students are allowed to judge what they value most in education. if you don’t believe those involved know what is best for education and trust the government to decide this for you, then you that is your decision. send your children to traditional public school. providing more alternative schools for more disadvantaged populations is providing options to those that don’t believe their traditional public school is working.

education reform is an absolute necessity in this country. legislation is made to evolve and adapt, and that’s what initiatives and referendums are for. a vote for i-884 alone is not a vote for change, a vote to reject r-55 is a vote against change. charter schools are solutions to problems we can solve NOW. more on r-55 pros and (suspected) cons in your WA voter’s guide.

*owl’s old school got grants ($$$) for their school, and the administration decided they needed to buy new computers for the school and laptops for the teachers. one of the teachers at the school could not get into her classroom for weeks because of a leaky roof. the computers sat there in an empty classroom. the air conditioner was broken in owl’s classroom for two weeks, so she couldn’t teach her kids in there because it was too hot. the computers sat there in an empty classroom. money alone is NOT the answer, especially if the school is run by dumbasses and adminstrations that enjoy padding their wallets. people say that charter schools aren’t held accountable, do you think these traditional public schools were?

**grants are only a minor aspect in charter schools, grants DO NOT provide them with all their money, some are tax-funded. if you don’t want your money to go to charter schools, it doesn’t, because your child is going to a public school. your money goes to where your kids go.

NO on i-892: more slot machines to lower property taxes. i’m not gonna spend much time on this because A) tim eyman is involved in this initiative and that guy is a total fuck B) the thing is ridiculous and C) haven’t we fucked over enough native americans?

YES on i-297: stop the dumping of nuke waste in eastern washington. there’s no organized opposition to this initiative, and i have a sneaking suspicion that it’s redundant and unnecessary, but don’t see too much harm in it passing. chime in if you do.

i’m stopping for now and posting this since it’s so damn long. i’m gonna hopefully do another one of these for tuesday, since you all know i’m voting for kerry, i’ll probably put a list of reasons you’ve already heard. i’m going to try and do more research on washington state candidates for senate, gov, etc. believe it or not, i been working on this shit for days.