I have two friends that worked as poll workers this election season. There wasn't any funny business at either of their precincts, but there are some interesting stories they had to tell.

The first friend worked at a polling location in downtown Salt Lake City. He told me that only 15% of that precinct's registered voters came out to vote. He mentioned that the poor showing was not a good example of "democracy in action". While thinking about his experience, I wondered what would have happened if 90% of that precinct had voted. Salt Lake City is a liberal stronghold in the state. If other Salt Lake City polling locations had similar turn out rates and generally have a population more liberal than the rest of the state, could we have changed some outcomes? Would these absent voters been enough to turn things around for Pete Ashdown? Would Sim Gill have won his race?

Strangely, the same phrase "democracy in action," was used earlier Tuesday at work by a co-worker in a conversation about voting. He was asked if he had voted, and he replied that he accepted the political reality of Utah and found that Utah was not a good example of "democracy in action" and given the political reality of Utah, he had better things to do with his time than vote. Judging by my first friend's experience, there were probably several others who felt the same way. The irony here is that if more of those people had taken the effort to vote, it may have changed things enough that we could shatter the collective perception that progressives don't have a chance in this state. The results of this election will simply re-inforce that idea to those who didn't vote and it will be the same the next election, so on and so forth.

My suggestion to those who feel hopeless about voting in this state, is to sign up for a perpetual "vote by mail" ballot which will be mailed each election season. No effort has to be expended on Election Day, and you can treat your mailed ballot as an investment in a future where Utah is more sane, than as a vote to win a particular election.

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My other poll worker friend is a blogger on LiveJournal, and I just got through reading her account of the day. One aspect stood out for me:

"I can't believe more people aren't understanding how HUGE an issue the "Personal Choice" snafu was! For those unaware, the way the next button is positioned, along with the lack of ability to skip by the straight party page easily caused many voters to accidentally vote for the Personal Choice party. As a pollworker, I can tell you that I was helping confused people backtrack in the process and fix their mistakes AT LEAST 2CE/HOUR! At high voter turnout times it was much higher than that. And these were not all elderly people, many of them were fairly computer literate people. This wasn't an unknown issue, I know of at LEAST two people (including my TST) who informed county of the potential of this to cause problems. Neither of these people apparently were taken seriously though because they weren't "computer people". Yes, and neither are most of the voters. All one has to do is look at the abnormally high rates of people who voted Personal Choice in Salt Lake County to see what an issue it caused. If you weren't diligently reviewing your votes, you could accidentally misvote because of that issue very easily! I suspect it may have even altered the outcome of my local state house race. I'll be curious to see if any protests are made about it."



I had noticed the unusually high numbers for the Personal Choice Party, which surpassed many of the other 3rd parties. I think this could definitely have been a problem. I'll be curious as well to see how this will get resolved.

A few weeks ago I was asked about raising activist kids from a Salt Lake Tribune reporter. I'm not sure that I'm exactly an expert, but I was willing to talk about my experiences.

The story was in today's paper . The bit that included me and my kids is below, with my comments or corrections in green:

Jennifer Killpack-Knutsen, a member of Salt Lake's Radical Cheerleaders, a group that brings levity to potentially volatile situations, has experience with consciousness-raising. It wasn't until she was in college (well, actually it was 9/11; college is when I first felt the urge but did nothing) that "I realized that I could actually do something other than complain about the state of the world. But it's also therapeutic, one of the best things I ever did. I learned that doing anything at all, even if it's small, helps me feel less frustrated by things that are out of my control."

Killpack-Knutsen takes her daughter Terra, 3, to rallies in her stroller.(It's actually my ultr-supportive husband who does the strollering so that I can play cheerleader) "She enjoys watching all the goings-on and seeing people we know. But [daughter] Autumn is 12 and she's becoming less interested. So at the last event I went to, I gave her a camera and paid her to take pictures." (I hired her to take photos that I could post on my blog)

Killpack-Knutsen also makes sure her daughters have opportunities to pursue individual interests. "I'm a vegetarian based on my concern for health (health wasn't a major concern, it was more about the environment and for spiritual reasons) and environment, but I realized it would be hard for Autumn to have to take special food to school. So I decided I just wouldn't cook meat at home but let her eat what she wanted elsewhere. When she was 8, she told me she wanted to be a vegetarian for a different reason - she cared about animal rights."

Happy Halloween!

I contributed for the first time today on One Utah, the most widely read Utah political blog. I wrote a horror story about trying to vote by paper ballot yesterday in early voting (okay, perhaps "horror" is too strong a word). It's worth reading if you are as suspicious as I am of the Diebold voting machines that the state rushed us into getting.

Voting on paper ballot? Don't forget to wear your tinfoil hat.

I've been keeping and eye on the issues with voting machines and Diebold here in Utah and around the country for the past couple of years. With all the problems that have been cropping up on Diebold, and with California de-certifying the machines there, I've been trying to find a way to add an additional paper trail for at least my vote — and hoping that others will do the same.

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I contemplated absentee voting, but the thought occurred that it might take longer to have my vote counted if I did it that way.

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I have a couple of friends that will be working at the polls on Election Day. One of those friends told me that there will be paper ballots available for those who don't want to use the machines, but that they won't be counted until a week after the election.

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So when I heard about early voting, I thought that it might be a way to possibly get my vote counted earlier. I packed up my voter registration, I.D. and a bill with my current address (just in case) and headed to Northwest Multipurpose Center with my 12 year-old to find out if paper ballots were available.

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I'm directed to fill out a sheet of paper with my name and address, and then I approach the sign-in table.

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Me: "Can I vote with a paper ballot in early voting, or do I have to wait until Election Day to vote?"

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Female poll worker: "You can vote paper here. Can I ask why you want a paper ballot?" I'm assuming that she's been instructed to ask this question of anyone who asks for paper.

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Me: "I've been reading and doing research about Diebold machines and the problems with the machines–"

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Her (interrupting): "Was that in Utah?"

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Me: "Well, in Utah I know about Bruce Funk, the Emery County clerk who had Black Box Voting come out and test the machines and they were able to hack into it in 5 minutes—"

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Her (interrupting, again): "These machines can't be hacked into. They aren't even connected to the internet."

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I could continue to argue with her because there's a lot more to say – but I don't want to get into the issue Diebold's support of the Republican Party in general and Bush in particular or about the election irregularities in 2004 in Ohio and many other places, so I try to end it with:

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"I'd still like a paper ballot, please."

Read the rest at One Utah

 

There was a very un-American piece of legislation passed last week -- you may have heard about it. It's a piece of legislation that says that the U.S. can detain any non-U.S. citizen anywhere for any reason -- without any trial, any confronting of accusers-- potentially remaining in prison with who knows why kinds of conditions and torture until death.

Those of us who are U.S. citizens are supposed to be comforted that we will be protected from this kind of law -- at least for now. I wouldn't put it past Bushco. and any neo-con that follows him to change that as well. We've seen so much that used to be unbelievable and unimaginable come to pass in the past 5 years that I simply would not be surprised to see us sink more and more toward a facist dictatorship.

What you may not know is that many Democrats joined the Republicans in passing this law -- one of them our own "Democrat" Jim Matheson. I recently got into it on the One Utah blog, where someone mentioned that voting 3rd party or independent was a vote for the Republican. Another Utah Democrat joined in the debate after I talked about the "lesser of evils" saying that we in Utah had 4 good Democrats to vote for this election -- and he named Jim Matheson as one of those good Democrats. Yes, the Jim Matheson that voted to give Bushco. war powers, the Jim Matheson that voted for CAFTA, the Jim Matheson that believe that women do not have a say what happens to their bodies after impregnation.

I knew about this legislation being passed on Friday, and I was pretty sure that Matheson had voted for it, but I put off checking to see. Part of me really wants the Dems to be the good guys -- the Greens are new and struggling with infighting, and all the other progressive parties are so small that it will be a while before there's anyone who can replace the Dems as the opposition party. For the sake of the planet and humanity, we need the Dems to be the good guys -- and I'm sorry to my friends that are Dems, but so many of them are not. Sadly, I read that Matheson supported this plain as day on Nate Smith's post on One Utah.

Here's my comment to Nate's Post:
Wow .. look at all the Democrats that voted for King George..s despotic legislation. Still think I should vote for Matheson over a 3rd party? I think this highlights perfectly why voting 3rd party or independent is NOT voting for the Republican, it..s voting against bad candidates, be they Dem or Repub. A vote for Matheson is a show of support for legislation like this. If Matheson is always safe in getting the lesser of evil votes, what motivation is there for him to change the way he acts in congress?

I..m perfectly willing to vote for good Democrats .. the ones that believe in peace and justice, equality and rights for all people, and of course the well being of the planet. That..s why I..ve supported Rocky and Dennis Kucinich among select others.. but apparently those that stand firm in the ideal sof peace, justice, equality and rights for all people are considered far too radical left for much of the Democratic party. What is so radical about those concepts?

It's time to boot out the Rubber Stamp Congress. Vote out anyone, Dem or Repub, that rubber stamps the corrupt laws that Bushco supports. Make it clear that going along meekly with a despotic ruler will lose you your seat in Congress.

Ryan Kummer at The New Citizenship Project has an interesting history lesson that we can all learn from in our current "War on Terror" -- it seems that the ancient Romans had a similar problem back in 68 B.C., and it further seems that we are dooming ourselves to follow in their footsteps:
"For in the panicky aftermath of the attack, the Roman people made decisions that set them on the path to the destruction of their Constitution, their democracy and their liberty. . . By the oldest trick in the political book .. the whipping up of a panic, in which any dissenting voice could be dismissed as ..soft.. or even ..traitorous.. .. powers had been ceded by the people that would never be returned." Please read the whole post if you can -- you may know how true that those who "don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it".

Utah Peak Oil has also learned a bit of history -- the part where American car companies bought up rail companies so that we'd all be forced to buy cars and drive everywhere.

SLC Spin is posting a lot about the proposed 4th congressional seat. The World According to Me is having a Mention Mitt Romney Weekend (MMRW). Ed at Part of the Plan is posting a lot these days: from bribery in congress to polls that show that the Iraqis want us to leave yesterday. Deanna at Dee's 'Dotes is posting about corrupt military recruiters. Cliff at One Utah is hopeful that Chris Burridge can topple Chris Cannon.

(This post was originally posted at Jen's Green Journal )

Cliff Lyon over at One Utah wrote a critical post of the organizing efforts of the August 30th committee: The Untold Story of the August Organizing Committee.

I do agree with a lot of Cliff's points, but I also feel that there was a lot of good that came out of the event.

The event was moderately successful and a lot of fun. We got some amazing out-of-state press coverage which helps to  change an outsider's view of Utah's image of lockstep conformity to that of a diverse state with a thriving progressive community. Showing strong opposition to Bu$h and Co. in the "reddest of red" states is also another step to change the political tide back to one closer resembling sanity.

The first 3 meetings were excrutiatingly stressful. When the opportunity came to work on the program subcommittee, I joined that group and stopped going to the larger planning meeting. By the time the first program meeting came around I was tired of fighting and so only made token resistance to stuff that I didn't think would work for the rally, all of which was predictably ignored.

Being a part of the organizing list has also been trying, as there is a lot of negative emails dealing with disagreements by various individuals that fill up my inbox on a daily basis.

I had the opportunity, while working on this committee, to work with a few of those folks on the other side of the Green Party breach -- and while we may not be to the point of fully trusting each other again, I feel some of my angst over that breach recede as the planning went on -- a kind of first step in healing for me at least

I was pleasantly surprised by and enjoyed working with Crystal and her husband Joel, newbies to the rally planning process. Their positive energy and a ability to breeze past the hostilities that were immobilizing most of us was a kind of lifesaver to the planning committee. They were tireless, wonderful organizers. I also really appreciated the work done by Heather, who was always a fair and effective facilitator at any of the meetings that I was able to attend.

This process has had a profound effect on my personal philosphy. I found myself re-thinking my attachment to principles to the point of destroying a group or a movement or the important work we should be doing. I found myself questioning my political affiliation and wondering if blind loyalty to principles and political parties -- even here on the left -- are bad for society and bad for the real work that we want to accomplish. Being involved on this committee has also pushed me into deeper thought on combining spirituality and activism and what that might look and feel like.

I'll continue to formulate this new emerging philosophy and will be sharing more of my thoughts on this topic soon.

(Originally posted on Jen's Green Journal)

So everyone is making a big deal of the 5 year anniversary of 9/11. My husband and I had a rare opportunity to see a film together today sans children and we chose to see "World Trade Center" in honor of the day. I knew it would be an emotional film for me as everytime I'd seen the preview for it in the past few months I'd have to fight back tears.

For me it's the remembrance of the towers collapsing -- disintegrating almost-- that really gets to me -- knowing that so many lives were being snuffed out so quickly while I watched.

I can't see any depiction of that day without tears. I now feel more pain about that day than I did on that day. On top of the loss of life and the loss of my mistaken sense of blissful safety, I've added the sense of fear somewhere deep inside that we have lost our country. It's trapped beneath the broken concrete and twisted metal and toxic dust of lies, greed and bloodlust. It's bleeding, dying inside and time is running out fast -- and I feel helpless to stop it.

One of my LiveJournal friends reposted an especially moving speech that a Pastor Christopher Joiner made at the high school that he works at this morning. It, too, brought tears to my eyes -- and re-ignites a glimmer of hope: Two Roads

Ever wonder what it would be like to have a president that would have a "State of the Union" address that both kicks a** and is not full of lies and spin -- one that strives for peace, works tirelessly for the health of the environment, isn't bigoted to any minority group (except corrupt politicians), cares deeply and would work to end genocide and suffering around the world? Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Express your thanks to Mayor Rocky Anderson for standing up and speaking truth to power here: Thank You Rocky Anderson

Link to Rocky's Speech here (written)
audio Link to Rocky's Speech

Haliburton Watch http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

Free Speech 101 http://freespeech101.wordpress.com// (should be of interest to those who are familiar with the not-to-distant UVSC/Michael Moore controversy)

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"You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it."- Malcolm X

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, the soul of America dies with it." -Edward R. Murrow

 

 

 

 

Gandhi once famously said that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. He also apparently commented that if we each bring light to one dark corner then the world will be full of light. Finally Gandhi tells us that we must Be the change.

The Christmas Lights campaign seeks to help you achieve all three things: make a positive change to our world, start putting any green guilt you carry around to rest and finally, but perhaps most importantly, this campaign will help all of us be the change one dark corner at a time.