The election was yesterday and your team lost.

Why?

I'll start.

Because the youth vote thought they had it in the bag, but never really got and out voted. Had they done so, we would have won.

It's my biggest fear. I don't know what it would take to get them off their asses and make a difference. I cannot tell you how wrong I hope I am about that fear.

If Republicans win, AND there was a GREAT ( not decent or good - it has to be GREAT ) turnout by Democrats and we still got beat, I could deal with the fact that I am in the minority. But the thought of losing what could have been a winnable election my make me do something that I would regret.

And this kind of outcome, for those kinds of reasons, would spark it for me;

Star Chamber.

Then again - just as a reminder; If Obama wins, I am outta here. Maybe Obama won't part the waters and heal the Earth - but I will find someone who can do that for me and I'll go off the grid. ( But I will keep asandwhichalwaystastesbetterwhensomeoneelsesmakesit.com - and salem.fm - and tobymyimaginaryfriendthatlivesinmyeyebrow.com - and releasethekraken.com - and bythepowerofgreyskull.com - and youresuchapotsie.com - and a few others ).

So should I disappear on Nov 5th, I love you all.

Goodbye.

If McCain wins I will sell www.barackobama.fm and let Vitalogy turn it into a butt-rock station. And with that profit from that sale, I will live on an island ( Sauvie Island ) in the dirt and ash until God wants me to move to Canada.

I'd would like a middle seat on the plane, God. I just want to look straight ahead and the fold-down tray in front of me and remember the country like it was in my tiny head...then I'll eat a fistful of peanuts and go to Heaven...or Manitoba. ( Depending on how many miles I have charged on my Visa Rewards Card ).

Either way, I will be taking all these drugs I have been hoarding since high school. I will grow shark fangs and zebra fur and will develop the ability to fly.

And I will be top story on The Statesman Journal. Which, of course, is the ultimate goal for me.

Hey, that sucks!!

Just so you know, I read that and was impacted more than I expected to be. I entertained similar thoughts --have entertained them since the Republicans more or less forced the matter over this very LONG two terms.

Along the way, here and elsewhere, I've made friends. GOOD friends. The kind I can talk to and with busy adult life, that's not something of little value. You are a part of that you know.

We've got music to talk about. Actually, there are a lot of music topics on form, color, visualization, mixing, and other things we should discuss way more than we do.

There is life, social oddities, and other such things.

Your style alone is worth the read often!

If you disappear, well ok. But know that just sucks ass, for what that's worth. I'll haunt you for it. Imagine bizzare Tiki themed dreams that wake you up at night wondering just what was in that drink earlier that evening. Be warned.

Me, if Obama wins, I'll relax some on politics in general. Probably take up some more technical advocacy again, like I used to do more of.

Won't relax completely though. Somehow my gut says there is enough broken that there will be discussion and reasons to get engaged on things.

It's pretty hosed up -->hosed up enough that there just isn't gonna be a quick fix, elect the right guy, everybody go home kind of deal to be had. Too many years, too much money, too many potential jail terms in play for that to be the case.

Remember, this is essentially a 30+ year effort here, derailed largely because Bush is just not all that good of a leader. Had somebody solid been posted up, I think many of the disconnects would still be there, we all might be talking, but we might also see far less hope than we do currently.

That kind of deep desire to redefine things and essentially break both the New Deal and the core of America isn't just gonna go magically away.



If McCain wins, I'm seriously gonna go off across the board. It won't be about specific issues. We all know the usual suspects, so I won't go into them again. It will be about very core process, like what being American means and why and how it's survived getting redefined.

That is really my disconnect in this whole thing.

It's not like I can't live with a stupid law, or deal with some social injustice. Been there, done that. For me, it's a lower level thing, like this whole idea of "We are all on our own". I don't like being exploited like that, and I'm quite sure that's not the deal the founders had in mind.

Up till recently with Bush, those kinds of things happened and I knew they would suck, but the core seemed solid. The core is not solid, many basic things have changed.

The damage to the expectation of what our Constitution means, the fact that I drive by FEDERAL cops on the roads, seeing peaceful protesters beat up, jailed and worse, all the renditions, Gitmo, torture, financial exploitation without seeing some serious jail time attached, you name it, it's here now.

(just how many people does one have to fuck over before it really, really means, go to meet Bubba in the pound me hard federal pen?)

I will go somewhat off grid. In fact, I have in many ways now. Didn't mean to, but there it is. It's happened.

I won't move, but I will start building for my own security, picking close friends carefully, and most likely will have to surrender some ideas I hold dear just to get along and wait for better times.

McCain, to me, is a puppet. Maybe he's a nicer puppet than Bush was, but he's still just a device being deployed by a greater force that really could give two shits about any of us.

If he tips over and we see Palin?

Shit! That's highly likely to be the beginning of a theocracy that I won't cope with very well at all.

This is a pivotal election for sure.

It's either back on the tried and true American path, or continuing along this not so tried and not so true path.

The kicker though, is the branch we take will not be the end of it --either way!

Took a long time to get to this point. It's going to take some time to get back.

I look at my kids and wonder if they really are gonna have to see me as the older model, living with older, outdated expectations, and such...

So maybe they are old, from their perspective! Fair enough. But they too will hit their 30's and 40's and wonder, "what the fuck?" just like most of us are!

Should we go down the McCain path, I strongly suspect they will be far more limited in their ability to persue the implications of that wondering than we are right now.

Doesn't that mean we have some stuff to do then?

I think so, and that's really what drives me right now. Not sure if I can deal until the core appears solid. Can you guys? Does that lower level stuff really matter, or is that fodder for discussion and perhaps other higher level things?

If McCain wins, I'm gonna get a stash of some really great drugs, before the "war" on drugs escalates to the point where doing so is too risky.

When and if it gets there, I'm taking them.

CJ, it would not be the same without you. I hope you make the cover of the S-J because you are celebrating with many other elated Oregonians around the Capitol Building on Inauguration Day. Dancing like a dervish in a big chicken outfit screaming "I love this country" until you get dizzy and swoon into the arms of the cheering crowd.

I am still willing to bet the youth vote comes out. I am still willing to bet they bring others into the process. The young people just had the living hell scared out of them last week by some reckless out of touch politicians. School has just begun, but they are still volunteering and registering voters. Rent, books and tuition are already kicking their asses, but they are still sending $20 a month to the campaign.

Stories and news are traveling even faster in their circles. They are a networked, text messaging, internet digging, fact finding army. Not only will they be technologically strafing friends and family to vote on November 4, they will be positioned to monitor the election. Funny business is not going to take months to get out like 2000, or weeks to get out like 2004, but will be available in a matter of minutes complete with video.

The young women have been galvanized already by McCain's votes against Equal Pay and the Violence Against Women Act. Palin wants the government to dictate the use of every vagina and uterus in the nation. That is a scary concept to try to wrap your head around. Even scarier coming from a Mom who didn't educate her own children on pregnancy.

The young men stand to lose out too. Reinstating the draft to keep a steady supply of troops for a hundred year war is an equally disturbing concept. Many may still wish to finish college and volunteer as officers, but McCain is not going to stand in the way of conscription.

There are no guarantees or even hints from the GOP that the next four years will bring any increase in wages, or new jobs in infrastructure, or green manufacturing and clean energy, or science and technology. There is plenty of evidence that a college degree will put you on the fast track for even tougher times. Many will be juggling student loans and working entry level jobs that cycle through lay-offs to keep from paying benefits.

Mom and Dad are worried about the mortgage. Mom and Dad are worried about retirement. Mom and Dad are not sure if they can chip in very much. Mom and Dad might need them home next semester to help pay the bills. Mom and Dad are silently fearful that their kids really won't have a chance to do better than they did. Mom and Dad are voting for Obama and making sure that their friends are informed.

The whole family knows that if McCain is elected, they will not be better off. The environment and science will be tossed aside. Civil rights will continue to slowly vanish. Social Security will be a stack of chips on red that disappears in one spin on the Wall Street roulette wheel. The whole family knows that jobs will continue to be sent overseas, the cost of living will stay high and poverty will continue to devour American dreams. The whole family knows that this is the most important election of their lives.

More and more of us know that this is do or die time for our democratic experiment. More and more of us take a look around, shake our head, and pray for a better day. The real question is how many of us will act on that feeling and make damn sure that our ballot is cast. Perhaps I should end my rant with a question for everybody: Are all of your friends and family registered to vote?

Whatever happens, I am awfully glad I met you and Missing.

Trust me, if Obama wins, there will be plenty to discuss here, because folks like Broadway, Herb, Deane will appear instantly saying "So, why hasn't he solved this, and healed that, and blah, blah, blah."

So please, stay. We need each other.

McCain can't possibly win, and here's why:

When the religious right came out to support the Shrub in '04 he barely squeaked by with a "win." McCain may have picked up some evangelicals with the choice of Palin (which may very well come around and bite him in the ass, 9 weeks is a long time for her candidacy to unravel) but not to the extent of their support for Shrub.

Young people today are going to be more motivated to vote because we now live in an age where it's commonplace for college graduates to move back in with Mom and Dad because of the job market. They are aware of the military industrial complex much more so than we were in the late 60's and early 70's. They know where all the country's money is going and could care less about most of the items held dear by the right wing extremists.

The right wing loonies have been amplifying. The left wing radical element seems unusually quiet. Their case is being mostly made by the more centrist Democrats and liberals. The GOP keeps moving right, not to the center. They are already outside the bell curve.

The media is lopsided. Everything they say and do goes to selling ads and creating hubris. Accuracy? Don't make me laugh. I spent 10 years over at KATU and I learned that news has nothing to do about anything except ratings. Imagine your favorite female anchorperson topless. That's the mentality that prevails in the newsroom. If they could, they would. Ratings, ratings, ratings.
Accuracy? Fairness? Maybe at home around your kitchen table but not in the media.

McCain is old. Very old. He has that evil Republican smile. I wouldn't buy a used car let alone a future from this guy. Research says older voters are very concerned about this.

McCain is a Republican. The Republican brand has been decimated by the Shrub (Still not sure whether it should be "The Shrub" or the "Shrub"). There are way more Republicans that will vote D than Democrats voting R. Way more. Don't believe me, do the research.

http://www.cato.org/research/articles/bandow-040420.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/us/politics/03crossover.html?ref=todayspaper

Sorry, my rambling got us way too sidetracked. It's my own fault. When I talk about leaving, I do so sincerely in a way to say " I plan on getting out and doing some things instead of talking so much about them. And if Obama wins, I feel that my contribution will be welcomed, certainly more than it would be now if I was trying to do some good under Bush, but even more likely to be welcomed by Obama than McCain."

I guess what I am getting at is a request to constructively critique the campagins. Pick out some weaknesses from your guy's campaign and state them. I know that is phrased, NOW, much more differently than I did originally. But I'm slow on the uptake sometimes.

9 weeks is a long time for her candidacy to unravel.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

We have a winner!

Obama is not capable of speaking with brevity and lower "for the greater good" precision.

That's a serious handicap right now.

Yeah, bumper sticker politics are low brow, and probably not worth the history books, or even serious respect. But, they do have some serious merit for their sheer framing impact.

Please, Obama. Just do it. You can explain later in nice fireside chats and all will be good.