Get Ready For Election 2008!

It's a shame that voter turnout is so low. Mainly because voting is the best way to voice your opinion, punish leaders who are not doing their jobs, and reward those that are. Apathy helps no one. Stop thinking that politics don't matter. Sure, there needs to be a hell of a lot of reform, but it does still matters. Your vote can send a powerful message to Washington about what you want done in the next four years. So if you're registered to vote, please go vote on November 5th.

If you are not registered to vote, Rock the Vote has a list of registration deadlines for every state. You can also register to vote on this site. It only takes a minute, so fill out the form.

Not sure who to vote for?
Barack Obama - Joe Biden
John McCain - Sarah Palin
Cynthia McKinney - Rosa Clemente
Bob Barr - Wayne Root

Two aid workers kidnapped

From BBC News:

Two aid workers working for Medecins du Monde in Ethiopia have been abducted from the Ogaden region that borders Somalia, the French aid agency says.

Nothing is known about the aid workers other than that it was a man and a woman who was kidnapped. Aid workers who go to conflict zones to help people are putting their lives in danger, and they know it, but their courage to help people no matter what the conditions are is amazing. I hope these two are released safely and quickly.

So, police state or not? What do you think?

This is from a CODEPINK rally in Denver:


The officer has been pulled from the protests. Here's to hoping this hater of free speech will be fired.

More from Rocky Mountain News

CREDO Mobile

CREDO Mobile is a cell phone company owned by Working Assets that allows the user to donate to an organization of their choice every time they make a call. There is a long list of groups that you can support through the company, covering civil rights, economic and social justice, peace and international freedom, the environment, and voting rights and civic participation.

I love seeing new ways to make effortless changes. How hard is it to sign up with CREDO verses Verizon or Sprint? Unfortunately, at the moment the coverage isn't as good as the more well-known companies (I was disappointed to see my area not yet covered). However, maybe the advancement of companies like this will encourage the big-name corporations to start making changes.

CREDO Mobile

Women: Meat on the Pole

I'm a little behind on writing about this. It's been sitting in my bookmark folder for a week, but it still makes me mad.

A new vegan strip club has opened up in Portland, OR. In a widely heard quote, owner Johnny Diablo's idea was to "put the meat on the pole, not on the plate."

He actually referred to women as meat.

I'm always happy when the world gets a little more vegan. But I'm not happy when women are treated as things. This isn't alone. We've all seen the PETA ads of half-naked women in lettuce bikinis. PETA thrives on using women in the same way.

What's wrong with promoting veganism through example and activism? There's no need to set back women with another strip club. Show people that being vegan is healthy by being healthy yourself; show people what veganism really is without resorting to something demeaning and offensive.

KPTV Portland

Grassroots Mobilization

In reading my agonizingly long American Government textbook, I found this wonderful quote.

"You may ask, Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path? You are quite right in calling for negotiations. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.... My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is a historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.... We know from painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." - Martin Luther King Jr.