Oakland Action: Come join East Bay MoveOn phone bank this week

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Monday October 30, 2006 · 8:55 AM PST

2006/10/30 · 08:55

This is an offical, authenticated exhortation to my fellow Oakland/Alameda/Albany/Emeryville/Berkeley/El Cerrito/Etc East Bay Kossacks.

Short version: Last night I went to the MoveOn office in Oakland. These folks have their [expletive] together. It's fun, easy, and unintimidating. You can volunteer any day, any time o' day between 9 and 9. Even two hours is enough time to make an impact. If you have two hours in the day or evening between now and election day, consider coming down and doing some of the easiest, most effective volunteering you'll find this season, and being part of a huge effort that might actually make a difference.

Where: 360 22nd Street, Suite 210, Oakland CA (tween B'Way and Webster). Call Adam: 857-383-0736 for more info (or you could drop me a line at cv@cecilvortex.com).

The longer version is on ye olde flip.... Read More

Is tonight the night you give to the DNC?

cecil vortex

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Thursday October 05, 2006 · 6:38 PM PDT

2006/10/05 · 18:38

Just got a call from a volunteer at the DNC. She told me about an 80 year old lady who'd given $110 for the 110th Congress tonight. She told me she was calling from DC and the room was packed with volunteers. She told me she's been doing this for 20+ years and has never gotten the kind of response they're getting this week. I bought it all. And I kicked in.

So many of us here like Howard Dean and appreciate all he's done for us. And Howard and the DNC have gotten a world of grief over the 50-state strategy, and the Rahm dust-up, and questions about how much money they have on hand.

CA-11 / today's precinct walk for McNerney (and v. Pombo)

cecil vortex

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Saturday September 09, 2006 · 7:48 PM PDT

2006/09/09 · 19:48

Hi,
This is a quick diary to relate the experience a friend and I had today walking a San Ramon, CA precinct for Jerry McNerney.

Short version: great experience, highly recommended.
Lesson learned: even if (like me) you live in a deep blue district, there may well be a red(dish) district a short drive away. And if there is, now's a great time to go help give that campaign a little momentum. More after la jump.... Read More

What would it take?

cecil vortex

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Monday July 17, 2006 · 10:16 PM PDT

2006/07/17 · 22:16

I've seen a lot of posts this week about the way folks feel -- folks understandably freaked out by the war. Folks angry at Israel. Folks (like me) a little freaked out by some of the intensity of the anger at Israel. Haven't seen quite so much about what we could do long-term about the situation over there -- a 10 year plan. Seems like everyone's (and this goes way beyond DK) always talking about the past, the present, or the very near future. It's the 3-week or 3-minute plan. Nobody really expects to solve a problem that spans generations in that kinda timeframe.

There are some awfully sharp people on the site and I'm really curious what folks think. Assume Israel isn't going any where and isn't going to give up its identity as a Jewish state. Assume the Palestinians won't be electing a two-state-friendly party any time in the near future. Just for the hell of it, assume that most Israelis, Palestinians, and Lebanese hate this mess even more than us north american types. Read More

Danny Kaye, Kurt Vonnegut, and Al Gore

cecil vortex

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Friday May 26, 2006 · 3:08 PM PDT

2006/05/26 · 15:08

You know that old question "if you could have dinner with one person, living or dead, who would it be?" Well I never really had a good answer to that one.

But I recently asked myself a sort of related query: "if you could have a set of three sort of painterly desktop images of people living or dead, set in a bluish/textured frame, looking at a glowing orb, who would they be?"

And that answer was obvious. So I dorked around a little in Photoshop and, well, hey presto. Read More

"Stuck in the middle with Jews...."

cecil vortex

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Monday February 06, 2006 · 6:47 PM PST

2006/02/06 · 18:47

Speaking as a Jew, can I say: how classic is it that Iran is responding to those Danish Mohammed-themed cartoons by sponsoring a cartoon contest about the Holocaust?

I mean (speaking rhetorically now, but still as a Jew), how did we get stuck in the middle here? Couldn't they sponsor a cartoon contest about Hans Christian Andersen?

Laura Bush: Chain Smoker

cecil vortex

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Monday May 02, 2005 · 7:30 AM PDT

2005/05/02 · 07:30

Laura Bush was recently in my neighborhood for a school event. And the word from folks who attended the event was that the First Lady is a chain smoker. I was curious -- has anyone else heard this anywhere? I'm a former smoker. This is not meant as an anti-smoking witch-hunt. But just from the media whitewash of the thing, it would be remarkable to me if America's Librarian was actually hanging out back behind the White House smoking Parliaments, making light chat chit re the benefits of recessed filters.

Can anybody else confirm or deny? And really, what did the president know about his wife's addicition and when did he know it?

Paranoia sets in part II / Iraq election edition

cecil vortex

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Thursday February 10, 2005 · 11:57 PM PST

2005/02/10 · 23:57

I've recently become very creeped out by the fact that the Iraq election has gone from the event of the millenium (purple fingers! soaring approval ratings! state of the union!) to a non-story. And the bonus fact that this disappearing act kicked in right around the time we got first word that mebbe our guy didn't fare so well....

I mean, I get that they're still counting the votes, and there may be a recount and all that. But this a watershed moment in biped history, right? conveniently timed just right for Bush's state of the union? woooo? Wouldn't you expect, like, hourly updates and analysis from the same six talking heads about the fifteen most likely scenarios and how they'll all help GW? Instead, silence. Read More

Palestinian girl's death / a short, sad diary

cecil vortex

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Saturday November 27, 2004 · 9:14 PM PST

2004/11/27 · 21:14

I'm a pro-Israel, pro-Labor, pro-Rabin (then and now), anti-Likud, anti-Arafat (then and now), anti-settlement, pro-peace sort of American Jew. And I just read the piece in the Washington Post about the insanely brutal and senseless and vicious murder of a 13-year old girl in the gaza strip. And I just feel it's a moral imperative, especially as a pro-Israel type, to speak up when this sort of evil happens and to name it as evil without qualification. God this makes my heart cold.

What a horror. And what a monster.

The article's here but brace yourself if you click through. It's rough rough going.

-Cecil

Power to the tin-foil hat people

cecil vortex

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Thursday November 11, 2004 · 12:10 AM PST

2004/11/11 · 00:10

You hear it all the time: "Oh you know, he's a tin-foil hat guy." And "I know I may sound a little tin-foil hat here but...". And "Hey! -- nice tin-foil hat, Betsy. Metaphorically speaking."

And I ask you: What about people who really like to wear tin-foil hats? Did anybody ever stop to think of their feelings? Read More

Jews and Bush

cecil vortex

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Tuesday November 09, 2004 · 8:10 PM PST

2004/11/09 · 20:10

Just read this on SF Gate, which takes it from the British Sunday Herald:

The Sunday Herald also noted, "[I]n all religious categories -- except [that of] the Jewish faith -- Bush beat Kerry. Jews make up only 3 percent of U.S. voters and voted 74 percent [for] Kerry, 25 percent [for] Bush."

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/worldviews/
http://www.sundayherald.com/45833 Read More

Of Trolls (and Charlotte's Web)

cecil vortex

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Monday November 08, 2004 · 12:06 AM PST

2004/11/08 · 00:06

(1) with Trapper John and DemFromCT and MB and the rest signing off, it feels a little like we're living through the closing scene in Charlotte's Web. "Goodbye Wilbur...goodbye!" And I dunno, I just wanted to share that thought.

(2) on a more pressing note: does anyone have any idea how to get folks to seriously pull back a bit on the Troll Alert pedal? It's starting to creep me the fuck out. It's like, anybody who says anything that's not party line is now an instant troll. Read More

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