Obama

I'm a member of a mailing list with a broad cross-section of women on it: Very conservative, very liberal, and everyone in between. The undecideds on the list asked both me and the resident Republican activist to write up why we support the candidate we do, with as little bashing of the opponent as possible. This is the letter I wrote them about why I support Barack Obama. If it can help you with your undecided friends, please pass it on.

I was asked to tell the undecideds here why I support Barack Obama. I've been thinking hard about this; I want to talk to you honestly. You all know where I stand on things: I am a libertarian Democrat (small L, big D). Government is rarely the best solution, but when it is, it had better serve the common people. Initially I had a much, MUCH longer statement, but instead I have decided to boil it down.

The short version: I support Obama because he's right on the issues, and he has the right temperament for the times.

i tell you what, them there GOPs sure don't want to be associated with Bush. it's like they are trying to channel 'ole Ronnie, right down to their refusal to listen to song lyrics. "Born in the USA"; "Barracuda". choose songs about abused Vietnam vets and vicious bastards and make 'em your own! anyway, that poor Cindy looks like she is one rung short of downing the last of her pain pills, borrowing a gun from Palin, and climbing a rooftop. they pulled her hair too tight. she looks very unhappy having to imitate Nancy Reagan all the time.

VOTING IN OREGON: The 2008 Democratic Primary gives you a peek into the mail-in elections that Oregon employs, as well as the inside of the Lane County Convention Center where the results came in the evening of the 20th.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.

OBAMA IN OREGON (PT. 3) concludes our trilogy featuring Obama's rousing event that energized the town of Eugene, Oregon as well as the University of Oregon, and packed McArthur Court to overflowing on March 21, 2008.

• Part One here.
• Part Two
• The Making Of narrative

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

BILL CLINTON spoke last night at the University of Oregon in Eugene in behalf of his wife's candidacy, and of course, your trusty citizen journalist Nezua was on the scene.

The speech was attended by about 800 - 1000 people. I didn't count, but the venue was switched at the last moment from a ballroom at the EMU that had a capacity of 700, I believe, to an outside courtyard which wasn't quite full. I asked Hillary's press liaison what necessitated the change, and she told me that there were more people in line than would fit in the rather small ballroom. The switch was after the security sweep was done and everyone's credentials checked and everything locked down. Because of the last minute move, the lighting and sound and security went from controlled and having a feeling of being well-organized to an "on-the-fly" and very thrown together situation, in some ways quite lacking. But nothing that prevented us from doing our jobs.

LAST WEEK we watched a young man (whom one person wrote me and called "arrogant") engage the democratic process as he questioned Hillary Clinton during her Town Rally at the South Eugene High School (April 4, 2008). The bold student wanted to know if when all was said and done the Senator was more interested in her own candidacy than preserving or encouraging the viability of the Democratic Party's eventual as-of-yet-unselected nominee. In Part 4, this conclusion to our four part series, she responds.

(Please excuse the audio buzz that can be heard for aprx. the first 50 seconds.)

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.

I PROMISED YA I would relate my arduous tale of shooting the Obama event here in Eugene (Parts 1 and 2, 3 still to come), and so I now point you to a lengthy and well-illustrated blog wherein I relate the story of A Hunger for Truth (and Tomato): Shooting the Obama Trilogy. It oughtta be at least a little fun for political junkies as well as Eugene fans, as well as for camera/editing hobbyists and pros, iPhone owners, and sandwich lovers.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.

OBAMA IN OREGON (PT. 2) continues our trilogy of Obama-in-Oregonity as promised last week! Peep through the Lens O' Nez and once again, enter "The Pit" in Eugene, Oregon—which is really not as gruesome as the name might sound, but instead a rather invigorating and some might even venture, rousing venue.

Part One here. Part 3 soon to come. Watch this page or subscribe to this feed for announcements.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.

Once upon a time there was a high school. It was a beautiful high school, and rich in history, being more than 200 years old, and everybody in town wanted to attend it.

With its fine roots in liberal education and the almost unprecedented power over their own destinies that it bestowed upon its students, it was unlike any other high school in the district, or indeed, the state. At the turn of the last century, whole families, many of them Irish and Eastern European, moved across town so that they'd be zoned for it. The high school welcomed them with open arms, but the students weren’t so kind.

It is my sad duty to report that many of these new students were beaten up, or had their lockers vandalized. Thankfully, things settled down, and the high school was once again a harmonious whole.

In the 40s, there was a shameless and dangerous power grab by a school superintendent a few districts over. He was intent upon eventually absorbing every school in the state into his district, under his control, and decreeing with a wave of his hand who could stay and who could not.

Fortunately, the president of the student body, a well-liked disabled guy named Frank, worked tirelessly with the other schools until the superintendent was voted safely out of office.

But our story begins about fifteen years ago with the election of a Jock to Student Body President.

The Jock was a nice guy, everybody liked him, and there was no denying that he had charm. He was a great guy to grab a burger with, and, whoever you were, you felt like the Jock knew where you were coming from. At this time - actually, to this day - the Jock was going steady with someone who defied high school logic.