zdashamber: painting - a frog wearing a bandanna (Default)
2008-10-22 12:19 am

No on Prop 8

I volunteered for No on 8 tonight, doing phone banking... For those not keeping track, Prop 8 changes the constitution of California to ban same-sex marriage, whereas currently it's legal. There was a poll in early October showing the right-wing buttinskis winning, and the latest poll still has them winning, but it's only 48 to 45. So there is hope, but rather than sitting around hoping wingers stay home, it makes me feel a lot better to do something.

My personal sample size was 50 calls, of which there were 10 people who talked to me long enough to get a sense of where they were at, of which 5 were against and 5 were for. My big triumph was getting in touch with someone in San Jose who also wanted to volunteer... I just read _World War Z_ this weekend, so my thought was that recruiting another volunteer while volunteering was like being a zombie that sucessfully managed to bite someone. :)

Details about what the phone banking was like )

Phone banking is not that scary. It fulfills that desire that we all have, to go down lists and cross things off and sort them. Action is fun.

Sending money is good, too, though, if you're out of state, or whatever... This really will help all of America, if California gets to keep being free. GLBTAI people will be able to escape to here, to any number of industries or climates. We have nearly 12% of Americans living here. We can be a great big honking example to ease the way for other states. Help us out, here. Even a little bit is cool.
zdashamber: painting - a frog wearing a bandanna (Default)
2006-10-03 09:08 pm
Entry tags:

More about moral courage

Yay! My letter about habeas corpus that the Denver Post published Saturday is finally up on their website!

Following passage of the "it's ok to capture anyone the president claims supports terrorism, disappear them, torture them, and use the stuff they say while under torture as evidence" bill, I checked the voting and was particularly disgusted to see that Salazar was one of the 12 Democrats who voted for it. And I wished to do something more than boil about the bill on the internet, and the people/parts of California that I can reach are pretty solidly anti-torture. So, a letter to the editor of the main Colorado paper. I'm good at having slightly offbeat perspectives and being concise, and I was lucky enough that my perspective here was chosen for publication.

Go check it out! For those of you new to the LJ, see my last name connected to my first name!
zdashamber: painting - a frog wearing a bandanna (Default)
2006-09-13 11:18 pm

Assorted mostly place-anchored stuff

Portland stuff: those of you who will be in Portland either of the the last two weekends in September, I've come across something that oddly fascinates me: An Opera based on "Too Much Coffee Man." Click that, and look at the pudgy fellow with espresso for a head. Does that not intrigue you? Will you perhaps watch this opera and report back?

Oakland stuff: does anyone want to help me plant free daffodils in medians? The City of Oakland/Home Depot collaboration to hand out free daffodil bulbs to anyone who will plant them in public spaces continues this year. Bulbs to be passed out Saturday October 21. I have a shovel, and the median in front of the old folks tower near me is lonely.

Why aren't the old folks ever at the 7-11 across the street? )

On Nancy Nadel's website (where I went to put in a good word for a potential 42-story condo in the park 5 blocks away) (which site, BTW, I had to park in front of last Sunday evening, because there was after 20 minutes of circling no closer spot that didn't require moving the car at 8 AM) (Grrr) I find that next Friday is to be Oakland's annual "CarFree Day". I'll be in Seattle, so hey, no car moving from me...

Brief bicycle nattering )