Congratulations to our new President-elect Barack Obama!
There was an amazing voter turn out today! Let’s all take a moment to be thankful that we got to be a part of history. I’m looking forward to the next 4 years. Let’s hope we can get past the Republican and Democratic positions, come together as one, and create some positive change in our country.
Rebecca_SF
Filed under: Politics | Tags: amendments, candidates, election day, state representatives, voting
Alright everyone… we’re getting down to the nitty gritty, only 12 days left until election day!! By now, everyone is obvioulsy aware who the main candidates are for presidency, but don’t forget that it’s also important to read up on all of your state’s amendments, and state & local representatives.
The last few days I’ve been handing out voter’s guides for my affiliated party and I can’t express enough how important it is for you to know and completely understand what it is you’re voting for. Believe it or not…this stuff does affect you! If you’re registered (which I hope all of you 18+ are!!), I think most states have probably mailed you the “bible” describing all of the amendments, and some of them may even have cheat sheets that you can bring to the polls with you to help speed up the process. If not, then I strongly suggest googling your states amendments. The last thing we want you to do is vote for something you don’t understand, so if that’s the case then please skip it on the ballot.
Kelsey – Vail, CO
Don’t vote. Who cares about issues like what’s going to happen to your 401k or your bank, or your job, the environment, education, taxes, the war… None of that stuff really matters, right? You’re not affected by any of those things, right? You don’t like politics, blah, blah, blah.
If that’s the case, then you must be living in another world. Whether you like politics or not, the country I’m in needs help and needs people to speak up for what they want. All of those things and more affect me directly, so I’m definitely going to vote and I really think you should to, but you have to register first. The deadline is days away in some states, so you better hurry. Try Rock The Vote or Declare Yourself or just google it. They make it pretty easy for you. You’ve got no excuses!
Rebecca_SF
Filed under: environmental issues, Food for Thought, Politics | Tags: Chris Jordan, Running with Number, US Statistics
I got this in an email a couple weeks ago and thought it was very interesting in a disturbing yet artistic kind of way. Artist Chris Jordan has put together a unique collection of art involving quantities of specific items based on statistics of the American culture.
The images below depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds….
Partial Zoom
You think this is impressive? … Visit http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=7 for more.
Kelsey – Vail, CO
Just wanted to give the world a little analysis after attending my first caucus! Let me tell ya…it was AMAZING!!!! To give you a little background, Colorado is a closed caucus. So each party has their own event and one has to be a registered affilliate in order for their vote to count. Over 450 democrats showed up on Tuesday…that probably sounds pretty small to a lot of you, but I live in a small town and to make it sound big, only 55 people attended the previous one. To say the least, the people in charge were extremely overwhelmed…in a good way.
To start the night off, we got to hear from a few of the county representatives as well as some folks in the running for State Congress. After all of their speeches, everyone broke out into their different Precincts. Now, I imagine the bigger cities do this a little differently, but it was nice because my Precinct only had 9 people in it, which gave a lot of room for discussion. We all talked about our favorite candidates and discussed their views and plans on all of the issues. There was a little debating here and there, but everyone stayed very calm and were open to hear other peoples opinions. There didn’t seem to be the typical political conversations that occur when someone ends up feeling uncomfortable for speaking their mind.
Something I never knew is that we get to vote 2 times (non-private). How it works is the group takes a poll to see who is supporting each candidate. In order for a candidate to get any delegates they have to receive at least 15% of the votes. If a candidate doesn’t receive the 15% they are not considered a viable candidate. At this point the people that voted for the nonviable candidate can change their vote to a candidate that has met the 15%. This is when the rest of the members lobby to get people to support their candidate. After all of the voting was done, we got to choose 7 delegates who get to attend the County Convention in a couple of weeks. I am unable to attend the next convention, so I was not one of the chosen delegates, but I did sign up to be on my Precinct Committee!
I can’t express enough how important I think it is to be involved with the election process. The right to vote is one of our most sacred duties as American citizens, it is a right many people have fought and died for. So if you are not registered to vote, please do so before the presidential election in November.
Kelsey, Vail, CO
Filed under: environmental issues, Food for Thought, Politics | Tags: GOOD magazine
I wanted to share a link to this amazing song http://yeswecansong.com . It’s truly inspirational! As Super Tuesday approaches, don’t forget to vote if you haven’t already! It’s our chance to make a difference in our country and have a say in how things are done.
-Rebecca, San Francisco
As we all know, this is the moment where thousands of people from various states are coming together to support and possibly predict the next President of the United States. For all of us 18 and olders (including women and different races)….this is a very important moment of our lives…a moment where our not forgotten countrymen have fought in order to allow us to be a part of this important selection.
In this year of 2008, I feel extremely privilaged to vote! Not only is this the first year to make history by voting for “The First African American President” or “The First Woman President”…it is also the first year that I will be taking part in the Caucus System myself!
If you feel uninformed or would like to find out where each candidate stands on particular issues, check out the links below…..
http://pewforum.org/religion08/
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/index.html
This is your time to take action…This is your time to make a difference! So get involved and “Rock out with your caucus out!”
-Kelsey, Vail, CO
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