HFO & HAM

When I listen to wonderfull Hillary & Bill talk about the stakes, as heartbroken and enraged at the DNC (those rotten caucuses) as I remain, I'm reminded why, for all the principled temptation, I cannot be a puma but am an HFO & a HAM --- Hillaryette for Obama & Hillaryette Against McCain.

I'm really for our essential causes for which Hillary is such a brilliant and passionate champion. McCain cannot advance those causes of fairness and justice with health care, education, and a Green Future supplying jobs. So, with all the tears in my eyes, here I am, an HFO & a HAM.

Cheers,
caucusdebacle

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Voters' Declaration of Rights .. action update

Voters' Declaration of Rights

[Realize that Caucus States do not allow Absentee Ballots!]

The DNC (Democratic National Committee) should and must stand for the Absolute Right of Every American to Vote.

No Absentee Ballot, No Democracy.

Our Fellow Citizens who are disabled, have difficult mobility, are shift workers, have child care issues, or any impediment whatever to poll or caucus voting must be provided uncomplicated access to a Vote-By-Mail Absentee Ballot.

The Conscience of Democracy cannot endure the silencing of any citizen’s voice. We are all made mute, wronged, indeed shamed if we stand aside and allow a fellow citizen’s vote, their only voice, to be robbed of them by our Party’s action or inaction.

Our Democratic Party is a lie, is stained until we insist on simple, unambiguous, absolute access to Vote-By-Mail Absentee Ballots in all elections.
//

Sample Testimonies of Voter Suppression Shame
Voters in Caucus States are forbidden Vote By Mail Absentee Ballots
Iowa 2008.. 87-yr-old Vera “I can’t caucus, honey, I’m a cripple. If I can’t get there in my body, I don’t count.” ..82-yr-old Lorna, “Oh no dear, I don’t dare caucus, I’m off-balance.” .. 82-yr-old Ruth bed-bound by lingering pneumonia, “Just because I’m sick doesn’t mean I can’t think!” (Every 8th phone call in a Caucus State got me a similar anguished response.)

Nevada 2008.. Mary whose sister lives in a tiny town in Nevada, “My sister called me yesterday and said, ‘Mary, I can’t caucus. If my boss found out that I'm a Democrat and for Hillary, I wouldn’t have a job on Monday.’” (Caucuses don’t allow a secret ballot.)

Texas 2008.. In Texas Hillary's voters were plus 4% in the Primary & minus 12% in the Caucus on the same day! Suppose we had only seen the Caucus Results -- as we did in all the other Caucus States? This is appalling evidence of the Caucus Skew & Voter Suppression. This isn't about any candidate -- it's about the voters who couldn't vote.//

Six Years of Permanent Vote-By-Mail in California
I have Voted-By-Mail for 20 years -- since 1988 when I worked on a non-partisan SF Giants ballpark campaign & was poll watching far from my own polling place. The 2002 advent of Permanent Vote-By-Mail clearly saves paper & postage & aggro. Anyone who has used Permanent Vote-By-Mail loves it. Only those who haven’t used it have any concerns about it. Once you have spread your voting materials out in the unhurried quiet of your own home and voted in deep peace and profound responsibility, you will never go back to finding a parking place and having impatient voters behind you in line.

For 10 years Oregon has essentially voted totally Vote By Mail.
//
actions: write letters to editor; email DNC; email Howard Dean; email Senators & Congressfolk;
in Caucus States especially email State Senators & Legislators to demand Vote By Mail option for your state's citizens -- not just in the General Election, but at the time of caucuses!! Act now for 2012.

Write, call, email co-sponsors of HR 281, the Vote By Mail Absentee Ballots National Standards bill. Especially legislators from Iowa. I'd be grateful if you'd let me know when you get any positive or negative response for that matter. Knowledge will make our actions smarter.
//
contact caucusdebacle@gmail.com

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Only One Rule in a Democracy: One Person, One Vote

Dear Speaker Pelosi --

I say a clip today of you declaring that the superdelegates should follow "the will of the people." The will of which people? The Will of (Only the Healthy) People?

Housebound, bedbound, and disabled people in Caucus States were forbidden the Absentee Ballot so their precious voices and their will do not show up in the so-called elected delegates, their voices disappeared by 16% of the result in each Caucus State. These people don't matter to us Democrats? I spent my whole life since JFK was shot down on my 19th birthday fighting for the rights of the voiceless.

Superdelegates should be asked to THINK what the will of the people really is and judge wisely. The pledged delegates are a horrible indicator of the will of the people. (About 2000 voters gets you a pledged delegate in Idaho & about it takes about 11,000 voters to get you a delegate in a primary state.) The will of the people? I'm ashamed that such an emminent person in a place to educate us & reform us could be so hypocritical.

Intervene? I pray that you intervene on behalf of the true voice of voters, not snarled & inconsistent & arbitrary Party "rules." There is only one rule in a democracy: one person, one vote.

Sincerely,

:::!!::

contact caucusdebacle@gmail.com

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Are You Insane? (Letter to Capus & Matthews)

Friends,
I sent the following to bigwig Steve Capus & to Chris Matthews. I hope others will ewrite in a similar vein.

I'm agog.
Steve Capus <steve.capus@nbc.com>;
Chris Matthews <hardball@msnbc.com>
...

subject: Are You Insane?
Dear Mr. Capus & Mr. Matthews,

ANYone who imagines that Hillary was referencing anything but the primaries going into June with her 'my husband & RFK' remarks has lost their moorings in reality.

That grownups would sit around so-called seriously debating "what she might have meant" -- "Could she have meant she's waiting to see if Mr. Obama is assassinated" is simply insane & hysterical.

I'm ashamed of MSNBC and any commentator who would brook such nonsense for one second. Get a grip.

That I would have to write such a comment in 21st century America is embarrassing and shameful for you.

Sincerely,

contact caucusdebacle@gmail.com

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Hurray Our Hillary! Hurray Village!

Hurray Our Hillary! Hurray Village!

JFK was shot on my 19th birthday. I loved Bobby. MLK. And the dear hearts of Jimmy & Bill & Hubert & Walter & Lyndon & Anne Richards & so many.

But Hillary is my champion. She is our Strider. You can count on her through every trial, a candle in the darkness, and a beacon of shining dreams too. And the smart steps to make those dreams substantial in the lives of people. Thank you Hillary for being so brave and so gallant. The beauty of your spirit shines like the morning star.

Hillary is the champion for so many
whose dispossessed sorrow or rage
is transformed to courage at her example.

::::!!:::::::
Gave another $10.44.
email: caucusdebacle@gmail.com
image cathedral falls wva

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100,000 Disappeared Popular Votes in Caucus States

Dear Superdelegate: I beg you to add to your thinking re the nomination & the General Election participation, the horrible & hidden & huge
Voter Suppression of Hillary's core voters, housebound older women who,
forbidden the Absentee Ballot in Caucus States, are cheated, disappeared in the pledged delegates & popular votes count.

I am so grateful for your support of Hillary, the most electable & astonishingly prepared candidate of my lifetime. She is a champion for so many whose dispossessed sorrow or rage is transformed to courage at her example. You must forgive me if I sound a little overheated about the Caucus Scandal. It's been burning in my stunned brain since January. This information is distilled from 2400 volunteer phone calls.

The Will of the People?
Not housebound & bedbound older women people who are forbidden Absentee Ballots in Caucus States. "I can't caucus, honey, I'm a cripple,"said 87-yr-old Vera. "Just because I'm sick, doesn't mean I can't think," said 82-yr-old Ruth.
Not the blameless voters (also people except in the Democratic Party?) in Florida & Michigan who futilely imagined that their vote was their voice in their beloved Democratic Party.

In the Texas primary, Hillary's voters were plus 4. On the same day in the caucus with Absentee Ballots forbidden, they were minus 12. A 16% swing!
Suppose we had only seen the Caucus Results in Texas!
That's what happened in all those other Caucus States.
It’s a Mockery of Democracy.

Upon my life and sacred honor, I always believed that the Democratic Party stood in essence for the voice and vote of each American? (Suppose 16% of black voters were forbidden to vote for Mr. Obama? Would there not be an outcry? Of course.) Superdelegates are designed to see this kind of hidden & horrible injustice against democracy & take it into account.

I have so much more specific info on this 16% Awful Caucus Skew. I am desperate to get the info out. When this story gets reported, the superdelegate dynamic will change. Sincerely, & heartbroken at the death of democracy, 16% Awful Caucus Skew

email caucusdebacle@gmail.com
image matisse

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Dismayed by Speaker Pelosi

in Comment on Carl Hulse NYT On the Hill, Nancy Pelosi, Mystery Delegate 04.02.08

As a longtime follower of Speaker Pelosi, I am dismayed that she does not speak out for all the older women disenfranchised by the deplorable anti-democratic Caucus States. Older women are the backbone of the Democratic Party and it may be novel & thrilling to have a lot of new voters -- but you applaud them at your peril if you're willing -- in ignorance or in cowardice -- to allow your most faithful supporters to be silenced.

15% of Hillary's voters were cheated of their share of the pledged delegates because the antiquated caucus system prevents them from having an Absentee Ballot no matter how infirm they are. There is an epidemic in America of older women who have a deep dread of falling. They do not go out. They can't use a ride. They need an Absentee Ballot. (In Texas, Hillary was +4 in the primary & -12 in the caucus the same day. An Absentee Ballot, an Absentee Ballot, my democracy for an Absentee Ballot!)

I'm ashamed of Speaker Pelosi for not being a champion of these older Democrats. Only the will of (healthy) people counts in the Halls of Power, it seems. Don’t we expect superdelegates to think, to look, to account for? Do we really want superlemmings? Or superduperlemmings?

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Weekend Warrior . 03.30.08

I put all these lengths and versions in because the point of this blog is to show all the tweaks, facets, and angles of this The Math is NOT the Math argument. To give you angles and fuel for your own thinking & conversations or -- more 'n better -- your own LTEs (Letters to the Editor) or Comments & Blogs Out There in the Ether. I've highlighted some of the new phrasings.

///

profile on digg it, I think
The deplorable Caucus system has robbed Hillary's voters of 15% of their voice, of their share of pledged delegates and of popular vote. Without an Absentee Ballot, voters with a terrible fear of falling can not participate. A ride doesn't help. This Caucus Skew must be noted by the thoughtful fairness of the superdelegates and taken into account.

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on wapo(Washington Post Comment)

aeparsons is utterly right that if Mr. Obama were being required to *quit* -- the press would be Orcs from Mordor in their slavering and howling for the evisceration of those possibly suggesting such an undemocratic action. There really are Obama Rules & Hillary Rules.

I used to scoff when the *Right* complained about a liberal media bias. Piffle, I thought. Whew, now that I've seen the relentless jackal ferocity against Hillary, I am dumbfounded. We've come further re race than we have re misogyny. Snideness against a woman doesn't hardly cause a ripple of complaint. Hillary is a champion for a lot of us similarly lambasted by probably unconscious but deeprooted prejudice. ["deeprooted prejudice" was BO's rather nasty slur at G.Ferraro]
///

3-30-08 6:36:04 pm on washington post blog r
It is to be hoped that the superdelegates will take note that Hillary's voters were robbed of their voice by 15% in all those Caucus States. People infirm of body but keen of mind are prevented from participating because they have no Absentee Ballot. These are folks too off-balance to dare use a ride to the polls. Note that in Texas, Hillary's voters gave her +4 in the primary, but -12 in the caucus on the same day.

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on aol strawpoll 3-31-08 5:52:53 pm (8:56 p [edt] on aol ;
Note that in Texas, Hillary was +4 in the primary & -12 in the caucus on the same day. A 16% swing! (I found this shocking percentage in all my volunteer phoning in caucus states. 2400 calls is a good sample.)

Caucuses don't allow Absentee Ballots -- especially silencing older women who have a terrible fear of falling & do not dare go out to a caucus. "If I can't be there in my body, I don't count." The pledged delegates & popular vote that is stolen from these passionate Hillary supporters must be accounted for by the superdelegates in their thinking. Balancing out this kind of grotesque injustice is why they exist. Or maybe we mean only the will of the (healthy) people in America?

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Sen. Kerry a Quisling?

Dear Senator Kerry,

On my 19th birthday I was at Mount Holyoke when JFK was murdered. I have been a passionate Democrat ever since. I have never felt such shame in all these years -- but when I see the way you and others are bullying Hillary to get out of the race, you seem like a quisling to all the democracy means.

I haven't heard you crying out against the appalling anti-democratic Caucus Skew which has disappeared 15% of Hillary's pledged delegates & popular vote in all those caucus states. Infirm voters need an absentee ballot they can get by mail. Their terrible fear of falling prevents them from using 'a ride.'

The will of the voters? Which voters? Only the will of healthy voters -- is that what you really mean? I expected finer from you. I phoned my heart out for you in 2004. I couldn't have imagined that you would turn on Hillary, the champion for so many of us. Fie! For Shame.
[webmail Sen. Kerry ]
ps. a quisling is a traitor, from Quisling, a Norweigan who betrayed Norway in WW2.
contact: caucusdebacle@gmail
first posted 03.30.08

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