Dear Oklahoma City Council members and Mayor Mick Cornett:

“Pity the members of the Oklahoma City Council.” Thus began an editorial, stunning in its contempt for democracy, published today in The Oklahoman, which decreed that the location of the Crosstown is a done deal, and it’s a waste of time for the very important people running this city to bother themselves with the dissatisfaction of their constituents on the matter.

Since it is already all too easy to dismiss dissenting voices of the non-rich and non-connected that are shut out of any real input into decisionmaking around here, certainly council members can ignore without much discomfort or guilt those few tenacious souls who show up for their brief chance to make a last-ditch case at public meetings.

But the rabble does manage to find a few places to express its ire about the way things work around here. Ironically, the comment thread beneath the online version of today’s editorial became such a place.

I would strongly urge you city representatives to read every comment posted there — if, of course, you can bear to waste a few minutes of your time discovering what a large number of your constituents think. I hope that it is just the editorial board of the state’s largest paper that would entertain such an elitist attitude, and that someone like yourself, who does at least have to get elected occasionally, might not be so anxious to ridicule citizens who care deeply about their community.

Here’s the link.

The people of Central Oklahoma have again and again expressed their desire for decent and affordable mass transit, again and again, they have been ignored. I think it’s time that average people, and not just rich business owners, got what they wanted. A slight change to the Crosstown relocation would be a good place to start.

Serena Blaiz

But I was moved intensely enough write a poem that those who have seen my small body of work say is probably the best I’ve written. Anyway, I really identified with the man, since I was working then (much as now) as virtually a full time peace and justice activist. His solitary statement was a symbol of individual resistance, the importance of even just one person making a stand for what is right.

Today is the 20th anniversary of Tank Man’s stand. In some ways, it seems to me like much longer, but I also feel like it was not but a year or two ago. Most of those 20 years have not been particularly productive ones for me — but that’s another post. It’s a time to remember, and to be grateful that democracy continues to be sought and practiced more and more around the world, however imperfectly. Some of the students who were at Tienanmen Square 20 years ago even say that China itself has become better (an article in today’s Oklahoman quotes a man who now teaches as OSU), though there are many who would argue with that. There are protests taking place in cities around the world, to call for real change for the people in China.

The fact that China has blocked a lot of internet sites for the past week or so doesn’t indicate much improvement to me — except for the fact that the intrinsically democratic medium of the Internet is a bloody headache for tyrants to control. In my opinion, if the US really wanted to spread democracy around the globe, they would make broadband freely available via satellites to every spot on the globe.

Images of Tank Man are continuing to be newly revealed — enhancing our understanding of that moment — and art created. Because passion for and commitment to love, peace and human rights will always inspire.

So here’s my little contribution to the genre. I have only altered it from the version I produced in a few hours 20 years ago in that I removed Roman numerals over each stanza, which I now do not know why I thought was a good idea. It was previously published in the Palmetto Post, a newspaper of the Florida Green Party.

(I’ve posted the poem as an image, because I have not figured out yet how I want to publish my poetry, if at all, and would like to lessen the chance of it being used until that time. I would ask that if you want to share it, that you link to this post rather than download the image. Contact me for other arrangements. Thanks.)

Of course, I have blogged very sporatically, and using at least five different URLs and using the following blog tools

• Movable Type
• Blogger
• Wordpress
• Xoops
• Wordress again
• Drupal
• Wordpress again

What have I learned? Unless something revolutionary happens in open-source software for running blogs, I’m sticking with Wordpress.

If I had it all to do over, I would just use Blogger. The main reason is that it doesn’t require any software upgrading, and — a factor getting more and more important to me as I start to recognize my own mortality — it will exist after my domain registration expires, my hosting account is closed, and I am no longer able to drag myself to the keyboard. If Blogger decided to finally add an import feature for non-Blogger formats, I’d probably use it.

There are several downsides to Blogger, and for some projects it’s not the way to go. I’m just talking about a personal blog.

If I were advising a new blogger with limited tech skills who doesn’t care much about the design of their site, I would point them at Wordpress.com for a free blog with a very accessible and easy to use interface, that is probably also relatively timeless.

When I started with Movable Type, I didn’t know markup or code of any kind. I downloaded the manual and taught myself how to completely redesign the templates. Although I soon thereafter abandoned MT when its owners revealed hostility towards open-source, I did get a good idea of the general principles that are used by all the php based blog platforms.

In 2004, I got a book on X/HTML and basic CSS, and taught myself the basics. Deconstructing an HTML site design that was contributed to the Oklahoma Green Party(where it’s still in use) in order incorporate it with blogging software, I learned a couple of very useful php commands that make life easier for web-keepers.

That’s about the extent of my code knowledge, but by experimenting with a ridiculous number of open-source software offerings, including (in addition to above) Xoops, B2, Mambo and its derivatives like Joomla, I’ve learned that I don’t need to know how to create what people smarter than I are creating and giving away. I also am constantly scouting out free scripts and services that are available for bloggers and web-keepers.

I believe in the democratic principles behind blogging, the netroots, copyleft and open-source technology. I encourage — and provide hands on help where I can — progressive activists to become bloggers. I read and/or participate in (probably way too) many blogs in the loose leftist confederation that has become known as the Netroots, which I consider the revival of grassroots democracy in this country, and the hope of democracy around the world, lighting even its darkest corners.
That the Internet turned out the way it did (thanks to the corporate entities who didn’t see its potential and passed on buying into it during the early stages), is a miracle. Without the Internet, I think it’s possible that the past eight years would have been the decimation of our beloved form of government in the U.S. Through the instant global communications provided by the Internet, advocacy campaigns were created and activists mobilized in new and powerful ways. And we are only at the beginning of that process.

What’s more, now we will have a president who understands and appreciates this resource, and will use it to improve government and policy. I believe the Internet and the open-source movement and the transparency principles that guide the blogosphere were instrumental in guiding Obama’s political ideology and agenda.

For these amazing tools, and all who have embraced and expanded them, I am eternally grateful. However strange it may be to those who think of Thanksgiving as a time to forgo technology and focus on “real” communication, for me, Thanksgiving has become the tech holiday, a time I think most pointedly about the digital threads that have connected all the world in a global family that 20 years ago was only science fiction, and a time to renew my commitment to use its power for the common good.

Barack Obama isn’t wasting any time promoting and setting up a process for implementing his plan for change. There is a new web site up, CHANGE.GOV, where his governing agenda and transition process will be accessible to the world.

Very impressive. This clearly has been planned for a while, and you can bet that John McCain would not, could not, have done this.

Of course there’s an interactive component to the site and the project; that is, after all, a huge part of what got Obama elected. “An American Moment” lets you share your story about what the campaign and election mean to you. And, showing that he means to listen like he promised, there’s a page for inputting your “your vision for what America can be, where President-Elect Obama should lead this country.”

An overview of the top priorities are in the sidebar

1. Revitalizing the Economy

2. Ending the War in Iraq

3. Providing Health Care for All

4. Protecting America

5. Renewing American Global Leadership

Under the “Agenda” tab there is a more detailed menu of the new administration’s ambitious plan for change:

• Civil Rights
• Defense
• Disabilities
• Economy
• Education
• Energy & Environment
• Ethics
• Faith
• Family
• Fiscal
• Foreign Policy
• Healthcare
• Homeland Security
• Immigration
• Iraq
• Poverty
• Rural
• Service
• Seniors & Social Security
• Taxes
• Technology
• Urban Policy
• Veterans
• Women
• Additional Issues

In “Civil Rights” for example, a list of specific policies that address hate crimes, the courts and sentencing, pay equity and voter suppression. An excellent start.

And check out the America Serves tab:

America Serves

“When you choose to serve — whether it’s your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood — you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That’s why it’s called the American dream.”

The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.

If you are interested in a more traditional job in the administration: Apply here.

The transition process is promised to be transparent. Yes, there’s a blog.

Another feature I re-e-e-e-e-ally like about the site: a countdown timer:

74 Days Until Inauguration

Update [2008-11-09 23:45]:

I meant to post this yesterday. Seems that soon after I browsed change.gov, there was a significant wipe of the site. The tale is covered by Boing Boing (with links to cached pages), where Xeni seems sanguine about the strange unveil/reveil. In the bigger scheme of things, I don’t think this is a huge red flag, but it seems very strange that they would publish the site with surprising speed, then quickly pull chunks of it pertaining to the agenda. BB comments suggest various scenarios to explain this behavior, and also note that there is a copyright notice, which is certainly not usual for a government web site, which is, you know, paid for by the people.

Maybe after running such a seemingly near perfect campaign, making a series of rather doltish mistakes like this (and the Nancy Reagan joke at the press conference), is just so unexpected.

A new era is beginning, which, based on my experience, I can only liken to the Kennedy presidency, when a generation of young people felt a dawning of a new world in which their work, their dreams and their ideals, mattered. Public service was the ultimate job. Governing in a democracy was the most honorable vocation. Justice was the light that led the way in dark moments.

I expect to have many issues with the policies, the compromises, that Obama will bring forward. But I trust that he is the perfect person to lead this country, indeed “the free world,” at this moment, with its many and considerable problems.

I only hope that the majority of those who supported someone else will be able to find the strength and good will to come to terms with the new world that a President Obama represents.

The job Obama has sought and today has gained is by nature the most difficult in the world, but now its difficulties have been multiplied exponentially by the misguided values and incomparable incompetence of George W. Bush. Although I am not religious, I will be literally praying that Obama has and can maintain the courage, the intelligence, the temperment and the skill that he will need to navigate this perilous sea.

That his victory has historical ramifications beyond all that was evident in the faces of the people at victory parties across the county who were shown by MSNBC during their coverage. Jesse Jackson (the first black man I voted for) and Oprah Winfrey were shamelessly crying. A woman in Harlem was brought to her knees. Students at Spellman College were radiating disbelief and joy.

In his acceptance speech, Obama referred to a woman in Atlanta who, at 106 years old, voted for Obama. Her life has stretched through three centuries, and she’s seen amazing changes, many of them critical and not to be diminished. But the meaning of having a person who looks like you in the most important position in the world cannot be equaled. Many white men, who take for granted their birth-given rank in the world, have a hard time understanding these symbolic mileposts.

But today is the first day of a new reality. And now we all have to live up to it. Celebrate, cry, pray; then get to work with more passion and purpose than ever before.

Online Petition Text:

To: President Bush, Senator McCain, Governor Palin, Attorney General Mukasey, Governors of Key States, Congressional and Republican Party leaders and members of the media

In the days leading up to a historic election, there has been a massive, illegal attempt to suppress votes, particularly among the poor, communities of color, and students.

These tactics include:

–In Ohio, the Republicans attempted to illegally challenge the registrations of 200,000 new voters.

–Voters, like in West Virginia counties, have reported that electronic voting machines visibly changed their vote to John McCain when they tried to cast their vote for Barack Obama.

–Students in Colorado, Virginia, and South Carolina were told that they would lose their scholarships and that their parents could no longer claim them as dependents on their tax returns if the students voted in their college towns.

–In Georgia more than 50,000 voters were improperly purged from the voting rolls, a clear violation of federal laws that prohibit massive purging within 90 days of an election. Approximately 4,500 of them have been wrongly identified as “non-citizens”.

–In Indiana, Republican officials filed a lawsuit to close down early voting sites in three key Indiana cities—Hammond, Gary and East Chicago. Indiana’s population is only eight percent Black, but Black voters are heavily concentrated in the three cities targeted by the lawsuit.

–In Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Virginia and Wisconsin, right wingers are using the Jim-Crow practice of ‘caging,’ where they send out mass mailings to low-income neighborhoods.  If the letters come back unopened, then those voters are challenged at the polling place.

These are just a few of the tactics that have come to light in the recent period which are part of an ongoing pattern of racist disenfranchisement–an illegal campaign to deliberately deprive people of the hard-won right to vote.

I demand:

•    Stop police intimidation of voters.
•    Keep polls open until everyone has the opportunity to vote.
•    Full emergency staffing of polling places to meet the widely-expected massive turnout.
•    STOP all voter suppression – count all ballots.

Make your voice heard NOW! Sign the online petition and send a strong, clear message to the White House, Congress, Governors of Key States, and the media. You can sign online at http://www.iacenter.org/stopvotersuppression

Make an immediate donation to help stop racist voter suppression in an urgent national campaign.  Donate at http://iacenter.org/donate.

Anyway, here’s the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where and why):

Saturday, Nov. 1 – Tuesday, Nov. 4
Sat. 12-5 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm , Monday and Tuesday, 12 – 6 pm

Democratic Party Headquarters, 4100 N. Lincoln, OKC

Bring your own cell phone, call 18-29 year olds and remind them to vote on Nov. 4.

Oklahoma DP candidates will be stopping by to say thanks and lend some encouragement — maybe bring pizza?

If you are of the Democratic persuasion, under 30, and in the OKC area, this would be a good time to volunteer for your country. Take it from a political veteran: you will have fun, and feel pride about the effort for the rest of your life.

From email announcement:

This election cycle is almost over but we have one more important task. Young people all over the nation are pitching-in these last few days to help Get Out the Vote. Young Democrats of Oklahoma are no exception. We are planning the largest GOTV phone bank in the history of our organization.

It’s easy, fun, and most of all effective. All you have to do is call another young person 18-29 yrs old and say “Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday”. That’s it, can you help?

Sign-up Now.

We really need people for Saturday, Nov. 1st and Sunday, Nov. 2nd. We’ll provide you with a list to call, info for any questions you might get, and food and drinks. Also, we’ll have at least two chances to win a new iPod Nano. Are you in?

Sign-up Here.

Young people have one last chance to make a difference in this election. This will be our last offensive strike, and our last chance to show people how effective, engaged, and relevant young people can be in an election. Will you be there?

Sign-up here and help make history.

See you next weekend,

Josh Smith
President
Young Democrats of Oklahoma

Warning: I hope to come by with a camera.

This video is from from Color of Change, an inspiring grassroots group based in New Orleans that grew out of the horrific injustices during and after Hurricane Katrina. They have come up with some great tips for making sure your vote gets counted, and counted they way you intended. It’s a sad fact that there are forces in this country who still seek to disenfranchise groups of people. So it’s important to know how to protect your rights, especially the right to vote as you see fit without hassle, intimidation or unnecessary delay.

5 Ways to Protect Your Vote

If there’s one thing we see every election, it’s that Republicans will try to manipulate the rules any way they can to prevent some people from voting. Don’t be discouraged–be prepared. If we’re armed with the right information, we can beat most of these dirty tricks.

1. Be Prepared, and Conquer the Lines. We can’t let long lines stop anyone from voting. There are several ways you can reduce lines and make sure they don’t prevent you or anyone else from voting:
   • Vote early if you can. You can find early voting times and locations at govote.org.
   • Double-check your polling location before you go to vote. You can look it up at govote.org.
   • Have a Plan & Have Fun. Have a plan in case there are lines. Bring some food, drinks, friends, books, games, a chair — anything that will prevent you and other voters from walking away. Have fun while you wait and encourage your friends and neighbors to stay in line so their vote is counted.
   • Don’t give up–don’t walk away without voting.
2. Two numbers you should have in your phone. Put these numbers in your phone so you’re prepared to report problems and help other voters find their polling place:
   • 866-OUR-VOTE is a hotline that’s been set up to collect information about problems on election day–lawyers and election protection advocates are ready to respond. It’s the best way to make sure someone addresses any problems you see.
   • The number for your local election board–in case you need to tell someone where they can vote. Enter you zip code at govote.org, then look for “Contact [your county] election officials” on the right.
3. Beware of lies, misinformation and dirty tricks; spread the truth.
   Republican operatives are spreading plain lies to frighten new voters. In Philadelphia, anonymous flyers in Black neighborhoods have falsely claimed that voters with unpaid traffic tickets or outstanding warrants will be arrested at the polls. If you hear a scary rumor, it’s probably a lie. Call your local election officials to check it out–and make sure your friends and neighbors know the truth.
4. Leave the Obama gear at home.
   In some places, you won’t be allowed into the polling place if you’re wearing clothes and pins that support a given candidate. This isn’t true everywhere, but it’s best to play it safe. You can contact your local board of elections to find out if it’s a problem in your area. If it is, bring some extra plain T-shirts or sweaters to loan neighbors who show up unaware of the rule.
5. Read the ballot carefully, and ask questions!
   Some ballots can be confusing even for smart and informed voters. Read instructions on the ballot carefully, and if you’re not sure you understand something, ask a poll worker to explain. Remember what happened in 2000 in Florida–a confusing ballot caused thousands of people to mistakenly vote for the wrong Presidential candidate. Don’t let that happen to you!

I don’t know that many of these issues exist in Oklahoma — I haven’t heard of any in my time living here — but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Swing states are where the real problems are found, for obvious reasons. But, still, we should be vigilant. If irregularities happened here, what watchdog media would report it? … Yeah, insert crickets here.

But I read something today that made me proud to be an Oklahoman (albeit a relatively new one), and gave me a little hope.

The amazing Glenn Greenwald, whose blog you should read if you aren’t already, posted Tuesday on the lack of Congressional oversight in general, and, in particular, of Tuesday’s House hearing on the FBI’s investigation of the anthrax case from 2001. He published while the hearing was still in session, because, really, we all know how it will go, or not go, as the case may be.

Of course, being a sentient human and American patriot, he decried the failure of Congress to hold the executive branch accountable for its flagrant law-breaking, of refusals to testify, of blatently dishonest or stonewalling testifying, etc., continuing his valiant series of brilliant reporting and opinon. I have no idea how he maintains his resolve and pace with the current state of our government, but thank goodness he does.

Anyway, in an update, he excerpted from a later hearing in the Senate. I was surprised to see who it was he was prominently featuring.

UPDATE: Long-time former GOP Congressman Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma testified before a Senate hearing today on the rule of law and said this:

There are a great many salient questions facing the American people and those of you who are charged with the responsibility of enacting the nation’s laws: access to affordable health care; repair of an aging infrastructure; reducing energy dependence; ensuring the national security. But not one of those issues – and not all of them combined – is as important now or for the future as securing our position as a nation governed by the rule of law. . . .Let me be both candid and clear: the current greatest threat to our system of separated powers and the protections it affords stems not just from executive overreaching but equally from the Congress. America’s founders envisioned a system in which each of the branches of government would guard its prerogatives and meet its obligations, each acting to serve the nation through the empowerment the Constitution grants and to protect our liberties through the constraints the Constitution imposes.

For most of the past eight years, and for many years before that, the Congress has failed to lived up to its assigned role as the principal representative of the people. . . .

Here is the challenge, stated as candidly as I can state it. Each year the presidency grows farther beyond the bounds the Constitution permits; each year the Congress fades farther into irrelevance. As it does, the voice of the people is silenced. This cannot be permitted to stand. The Congress is not without power. It can refuse to confirm people the President suggests for important offices; it can refuse to provide money for the carrying out of Executive Branch activities; it can use its subpoena power and its power to hold hearings and above all, it can use its power to write the laws of the country. . . .

Do not let it be said that what the Founders created, you have destroyed. Do not let it be said that on your watch, the Constitution of the United States became not the law of the land but a suggestion. You are not a parliament; you are a Congress — separate, independent, and equal. And because of that you are the principal means by which the people maintain control of their government. Defend that right, and that obligation, or you lose all purpose in holding these high offices. That is how you preserve and defend the rule of law in the United States.

So, I wasn’t around when Edwards represented Oklahoma in Congress, and from what I read, his record isn’t sqeaky clean, and he was an advisor to Reagan’s campaign in 1980, not a role I really hold in high regard.

But he’s dead on here, and I applaud him for telling those fuckers what they need to hear — what they shouldn’t have to be told.

Not that it will do a bit of good.

Like I said, Happy Constitution Day. You may want to get a copy of that quaint document and bury in it your backyard or something. So you can show it to your grandkids when you hope Big Brother won’t notice, and tell them how we used to have a country of laws.