At 4pm this afternoon I am meeting up with Willo & Misty to watch the election returns begin to flow in from the east coast, before heading to the Current TV/ Digg election night party.  Willo & Misty are 2 of the amazing 5 person team (including me) who dedicated 6 weeks of our lives to producing Barack ‘N Roll,  an event which really worked.  We hit our goal, we deployed volunteers to swing states. They campaigned for Obama. The volunteers we sponsored have been communicating back to us and it’s all posted on the Barack ‘n Roll website.  Please check it out.

Throughout the last few months – and year – There’s been a mad rush of passion and altruism, and today is the day that we will see the ultimate outcome. Today is the reason I can blog freely about how i vote. I am an american.  Today, the day we vote, is ultimately the reason why Harvey Milk  was stolen from us.  Today, election day, is a day of remembrance for me as well.  My life experience with elections is a bit abnormal. I’ve always been exposed to the rallies, to the speeches, to the passion, to the issues;  I was raised by a politician who held office for 25+ years.  The first time he won a state senate election, i was 5 years old.  The next day i was quoted in the paper.  A reporter called our home and as the story goes…I answered the phone and immediately said “He’s not here right now but my daddy won the election.” That quote was the opening quote of the reporter’s article.

If Obama wins AND Prop 8 is defeated, I’m changing my voice mail message.  “I’m not here right now, but obama won the election and Prop 8 was defeated.”  it’s dorky, but totally not shocking either.  Good luck tonight, Americans.  May this be the highest voter turnout in the history of our young nation.  Revolution starts with action.  A step away from apathy, regardless of the outcome, is a win for our future.

 My vote… NATIONAL & STATE RACES

President/ Vice President
I voted for Barack Obama & Joe Biden.  Duh.

Congress District 8
I voted for NANCY PELOSI.  She may not be ideal, but her staff is incredible.  I’ve met them, lobbied them with Rusty & Elise (Soma FM) & BAGeL Radio, and let’s face it: a politician is only as good as their staff.  Pelosi surrounds herself with  highly intelligent, hard working, and high functioning staffers.  I’ve met a ton of staffers. there are airheady staffers, and then there’s the group that Pelosi has assembled.  They are passionate and wise with their advise with regard to voting and vetting information. In addition the Harvey Milk Democratic club voted to maintain their endorsement of Pelosi.

State Senate, District 3
I voted for Mark Leno, even though he was supposed to speak at Barack ‘N Roll and didn’t show up….
Regardless, his record in the GA is pretty solid, and he is responsible for getting the state legislature to approve same-sex marriage.  Done. Voted.

Now let’s hope there is good reason to remember remember the fifth of November….

Good Luck, America!

I am a registered voter in the state of California, and I’ve given my polling booth a makeover. I’ve decided that revealing my vote and implementing a more Socratic method with regard to the voting process is a healthy change of habit.  Exposing decisions about how i use my power of citizenry is the least i can do to play a role in perpetuating healthy change while continuing to encourage power to people, as best I can. Here is how i voted on the CA State measures.  These are the propositions on your ballot with numbers.

CALIFORNIA STATE BALLOT MEASURES

Prop 1A – High Speed Rail Bond
YES! San Francisco to LA in 2.5 hours on a high speed rail = both fun and logical. Sure, $9.95 Billion is a lot of money but supposedly this thing pays itself off after 20 years.  Fewer cars, and more business gets done all at once. Yay earth.

Prop 2 – Farm Animal Protections
I’ve seen a lot of farms w/ farm animals raised to become your next meal, in general these farms terrify me.  I haven’t eaten meat since i was 14 years old. But i can’t vote against a bill that ensures the humane treatment of animals. can you? I voted a resounding YES.

Prop 3 – Children’s Hospital Bond
I voted yes. for the children.  Provides $$$ for hospitals that care for sick children. [quoting the simpsons] Won’t somebody please think about the children?

Prop 4 – Parental Notification & Wait Period for Abortion
This prop makes me cry. please vote NO so i can stop bawling. You think I’m kidding, but i’m not. i’m a passionate person and this really does make me cry. Why is this still an issue? No, and make it stop.  I am Pro Choice and I am Pro Life. Vote NO NO NO NO.

Prop 5 – Treatment instead of Jail
I voted Yes. I hope you do, too.  The current rehab system is completely broken. Addiction services for youth offenders and adults. Please Please Please vote YES. I worked for Attention Homes, a youth offender treatment center in Boulder, CO. Across the country, these are broken systems and as a society we are collectively training youth offenders (and adult offenders) to exist within the system by failing at our jobs as sharing a humane nation. Please, it’s time for change. Vote YES.

Prop 6 – Prison Spending
NO. rehab, yes.  sinking more money into the prisons themselves? no. can’t do it. no no no no no. I don’t support building new prisons, i support the funding of efforts and research which alters our current system of incarceration. I’m not against prison. People filled with evil are committing terrible crimes against individuals and all of humanity. A huge legal flaw is that in California and throughout the country we build prisons  and refer to it as “expansion” without expanding the fundamentals of the system to include actual solutions for a complicated problem.  We can’t keep adding new additions to the jailhouse. Leave that superfluous spending the folks with golden parachutes and too much time on their hands. Vote NO.

Prop 7 – Renewable Energy Generation
50% clean energy by 2025. But i read the measure. And then i read the bay guardian. and then i read the measure again.  I think this is a case of “rewrite, please” – so I voted NO.  Energy policy is important, but we should demand that it be written properly. Prop 7 is highly supported by Peter Sperling (John Sperling’s son) (Sperling is a famous supporter of medical marijuana)  – so i wanted to vote yes. However, the roles are ill defined in this measure. How would this policy be executed? it’s impossible to say based on the way it’s written. I’m going to side with guardian here – Vote No.

Prop 8 – Ban on Same-Sex Marriage
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
this literally makes me cry and cry and cry. i can’t believe this is on the ballot, i can’t believe people are voting yes, and i can’t believe it matters. i’m not kidding, this prop has caused me to cry more than a few times.  I want to believe that we are headed in a liberated direction, where living free includes allowing humans to be human.  Knowing this is on the ballot has caused me to wrestle with my faith in the nation, and then the tears come.  This is a scary measure. NO NO NO NO NO ON 8

Prop 9 – Restrictions on Parole
No.  See Prop 6.  this will create demand for expansion. puh-leez.  solutions, people! we need solutions. not “more of the same.”

Prop 10 -  Alternative Fuel Vehicles Bond
No: the dude who wrote this spent 3 million bucks to put it on the ballot. That’s b/c it’s subsidies on a first come first serve basis, and funds a proprietary solution: his.

Prop 11 – Redistricting Commision
I voted NO.  Gerrymandering is gerrymandering. but thanks, authors of this prop, for giving us another reason to say gerrymandering during an election year.

Prop 12 – Veterans Bond Act
I voted YES.  We send them to war and we owe them our lives.  $900 million in bonds to assist veterans with purchasing homes and even farms is simply not enough.  The fact that we are able to vote yes or no for this proposition is brought to us by their trauma during the war’s we wage. A resounding YES from me on this….war is bad but we’ve designed a system of fighting without considering the lives of the women and men who take the job we create.  Fuck the bail out of wall street. Veterans need our vote and money.