President Obama will be in Arizona-proper on Wednesday:
An “extremely limited” number of tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis at 10 a.m. Monday at the main entrance of Dobson High, 1501 W. Guadalupe Road. There is no school on Monday, due to President’s Day.
There will be a one-ticket limit per person.
Looks like the President will be in the Grand Canyon State next week to stump for the economic recovery plan currently winding its way through Capitol Hill. We’re still waiting to get a visit in Tucson, but I digress.
After hitting four states in four days this week, Obama will continue to visit with Americans next week to try to convince them that his economic stimulus plan will get the job done. The president is planning stops in Denver and Phoenix on Tuesday and Wednesday.
hat tip Democratic Diva
It’s been over two weeks since I had the honor to attend the swearing-in of the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. It was a trip that I promised myself to make the night of November 4th. That night, tears of joy escaped my eyes for only the second time in my life.
The first time was when I was a small child. We were living in Oklahoma and had to make a sudden trip back home to Arizona in order to visit a dying grandmother. The town I grew up in, and most of my family’s roots sprout from, is nestled in a breathtaking valley of mountains that are aptly named Superstition. When we turned the corner after the drive up the pass that leads to the valley, the familiar and yearned-for sight of the rock sentinels sent me into a fit of tears. It was a release, and one that was deep enough to not be repeated until a few months ago.
I have been horrified by the direction taken by my country over the past decade. On September 11th, 2001, I was not one of the countless who went into a revenge-fueled blood lust for war, rather I felt compelled to pray. And pray I did, along with hundreds of others who gathered for a candlelight service we planned on the lawn of my church.
“There has to be another way” – it is a silent and sometimes spoken aloud musing of mine. It is something that guides me in my everyday dealings, even when I put on the macro lens and ponder the world around me.
You can imagine my blood pressure levels during the Bush regime as torture became sanctioned, habeas corpus rights dashed, and political maneuvering signaled a declaration of war against latinos through the not-so-subtle tying of border security with the fight against terrorism. Sadly, just the tip of the iceberg that also involved the beginning of the current economic nightmare unleashed for many of us.
When tears flowed down my face on election night, it was a moment to finally let go of all the anxiety, fear and anger that has been my constant companion as latino culture and latino identity has been under assault. We all have felt the repercussions of Bush policies in our own way, I’ve written many times here about my own dealings with the fear-based reality that was created.
Inauguration, and the swearing-in of President Obama, was meant to be a clean break. Change. And in many, many ways, things are already starting to move in a more sane direction, but there has been so much pain wrought and the seeds planted for future hardship, that it is hard to remain patient and trust that justice will someday be served or that government will begin to work for the people rather than against it.
I am barely sharing my thoughts now because the past couple of weeks have been utterly horrendous in Arizona. Former governor Janet Napolitano’s exit has presented the real possibility that education will be thoroughly gutted at all levels in our state. As a longtime employee of schools, this is something that I’ve obviously monitored closely. We are bracing ourselves for destructive cuts that will violate the long-term strength of our society. How can education be the thing that motivates saliva of uber-conservative legislators who are given the sacred trust of holding political office yet govern on the premise that government should be defunded and destroyed? I will never understand it. There has to be another way.
So reality has slapped me across the face painfully since my return to the desert. Instead of being able to bask in the amazing experience I had in Washington, D.C., the entire eight days has now turned into a deep breath. One that I must have known I was taking at the time. A deep breath of preparation for what was undoubtedly on its way. An oasis of solace that I fear makes our lawmakers too comfortable and insulated from the horrors that are lived in the streets as jobs are lost, tuition rates double, and concentration camps rise in our cities.
It is why we must hold our elected officials accountable to what is happening in our lives. We need to continue calling, faxing, marching and voting so that our system of democracy returns to its rightful place of assistance not a roadblock to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There is another way – and if I learned one thing after being in that gigantic sea of humanity on Tuesday, January 20th – it’s that we are not only on this journey together, we are also the makers of the map that will ultimately lead us to treasure.
Realizing this all over again, each day, I can only take a deep breath and then take a small step forward.
The view from the Key Bridge between Georgetown and Rosslyn
The extremely long line to the Purple Gate
The Washington Monument, as viewed from the FDR Memorial
There was snow on the beach, but I had to make a pilgrimage!
Yes We Can Netroots Nation Party
Mariachi Los Camperos De Nati Cano at the Latino Gala
The Great Hall at Union Station for the Latino GalaYes, I’m going to be one of those crazy people you see on teevee at the inauguration freezing my desert-rat tail off. We’re having low/mid-70 weather here and that will certainly not be the same environment I find when I step off the plane Friday night at National Airport.
Still, I. Can’t. Wait.
I passed up the opportunity to go to the convention in Denver last August and promised myself that if Obama won, I would definitely be present at the inauguration. I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I am that it all shook out the way I hoped. It was bizarre to have the person I voted for actually win the presidency!
That being said, I’ve never considered President-Elect Obama a savior figure, as some on the right would characature. One of the biggest things that earned my respect during his campaign was his call to empowerment of the people. I honestly feel that the new activist base he’s tapped in to must hold him and all power brokers accountable to the ways the policies of the government affect us all in the streets. There has been such a disconnect, especially over the past eight’ish years, that unless that whole relationship is repaired and mutual respect given back to The People (La Raza Cosmica…ahem), the democratic system in the U.S. will be forever tainted.
I’m honored, and frankly borderline giddy, for this moment in history.
The day after the inauguration I will be joining other human rights activists in the nation’s capital for a show of solidarity.
A New Day for Immigration
We are living in a historic moment of change.
The election of Barack Obama has given the country renewed hope for just and humane immigration reform and worker justice.
On January 21st, we will celebrate a new America. We want to transform our society so that workers don’t have to fear raids, families stay together, and no one lives in the shadows. We want workers to have the freedom to organize and demand fundamental change. Everyone in this country must be entitled to dignity and due process. Our country must welcome the contributions and cultures of immigrants from all over the world, and celebrate the vitality they bring to our country.
In our new America, we work together to rebuild our economy based on solutions that put the needs of workers, tenants and homeowners at the center of policy making. We need to heal the wounds wrought by 8 years of punitive immigration policies, end the raids, unjust deportations, and neighborhood sweeps that have terrorized immigrant communities and separated our families.
Join us on the first day of the new administration to celebrate this historic moment, and to renew our commitment to realizing just and humane immigration reform.
I’m also planning to party while I’m in D.C. (who wouldn’t?).
On Sunday I will be attending the 2009 Latino Inaugural Gala featuring a slew of amazing musical artists like War, Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Lila Downs, Alejandro Sanz, Marc Anthony and others. I bought a ticket last week and then learned today that I won a raffle through Voto Latino for a pair of tickets at their invitation, so I will be able to bring my friend that I’m staying with for the week. Very excited for it and very appreciative to the generosity and hard work of the good people at Voto Latino who continue their work to empower and engage voters to participate in the civic process.
I’m also planning on going to the Netroots Nation YES WE CAN Party on Monday night, rendevousing with several friends that I’ve met online and some in real life as an extension of my blogging. As you can see, it will be a busy week of networking, celebrating, marching and living!
Stay tuned…
How does one even begin to rationalize with these people? Answer: You can’t.
In the outer cosmos of the blogosphere, the presidential election isn’t over.
Barack Obama, now busily forming his administration, isn’t just the wrong person to lead the nation, claim Web sites such as America Must Know and Right Side News.
He is, they contend, constitutionally ineligible to be president.
The argument is over his place of birth — Hawaii, if you accept statements by Hawaiian officials, his 1961 birth notice in a Honolulu newspaper and a certified document his campaign obtained 18 months ago.
Still, legions of anti-Obama bloggers are so convinced he was born in Kenya that they’ve filed more than a dozen lawsuits nationwide.
Normally, such idiocy wouldn’t deserve the time it takes to crank out a blog post, but as we’ve seen over the past several years, the extremists outside of the realms of power have activated the inner-crazy of those inside.
[Supreme Court] Justice Clarence Thomas distributed to his colleagues a request that the high court weigh in before the Electoral College makes Obama’s victory official later this month.
No word on whether Thomas had a contingency plan to investigate Panamanian John McCain’s citizenship status had he won on November 4th…
It’s not Janet
President-elect Obama has decided to tap Eric Holder as his attorney general, putting the veteran Washington lawyer in place to become the first African-American to head the Justice Department, according to two legal sources close to the presidential transition.
Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration, still has to undergo a formal “vetting” review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final and is publicly announced, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified talking about the transition process. But in the discussions over the past few days, Obama offered Holder the job and he accepted, the source said. The announcement is not likely until after Obama announces his choices to lead the Treasury and State departments.
As an Arizonan who happens to be sane (most of the time), I’m breathing a sigh of relief that Governor Napolitano wasn’t selected. Don’t get me wrong, I think she would be a phenomenal AG, but for selfish reasons I hope she sticks out the rest of her term through 2010. Janet’s veto pen is the only thing that stands between the loons in control at the state capitol and those of us who would have to endure the wingnut gauntlet they would enact under a Governor Jan Brewer (R).
A sampling of examples from the archives here, here, and here.
While the polls for the presidential contest have been tightening in recent weeks between Senators Obama and McCain in Arizona, the effect of the Democrats’ ability to register, empower and organize voters will be felt more powerfully on the state level.
Tonight, we have an opportunity to flip the state House of Representatives to the Democrats by netting four seats. The sea change that will represent cannot be overstated. Governor Napolitano has been the only firewall for the past few years against a far-right, nativist led GOP caucus in both chambers of the state legislature. These are the jokers that have repeatedly put up anti-migrant and anti-latino initiatives up for vote; the same crazies who want guns in bars, restaurants and school campuses. If the Democrats get their vote out today, the era of Russell Pearce-dominated politics under the capital dome will be at an end.
On the federal level, 2006 brought an even parity of Democrats and Republicans to the congressional delegation with Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords earning seats to represent Arizona. Ann Kirpatrick will almost undoubtedly become the newest face to the scene in CD01. She’s run a fantastic campaign and probably worn out several pairs of walking shoes from all the visits she’s made around the huge district (it’s bigger than the state of Illinois); and if a tsunami strikes the GOP tonight, we can also say hello to Congressmen Bob Lord in CD03 – we’ll see what happens.
Ballot initiatives will be a mixed bag. I fully expect the anti-migrant proposition 202 to pass as it gives nativists and haters a chance to take out their agression since the issue has been largely absent from the national dialog. The “Bigotry with a Smile” proposition 102 that will amend the state constitution to define marriage between a man and woman only is hopefully going down to defeat (again!), but have to admit that the Yes people have been very visible with signs and commercials this cycle. As I said before, if there is a progressive wave from all the work the Obama campaign has done in the past few months, we’ll see it in ballot lines like these.
Polls are open until 7PM local time (9pm Eastern).
Don’t forget your ID.
Acceptable forms of identification with photograph, name, and address of the elector
- Valid Arizona driver license
- Valid Arizona nonoperating identification license
- Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
- Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification
An identification is “valid” unless it can be determined on its face that it has expired.
Acceptable forms of identification without a photograph that bear the name and address of the elector (two required)
- Utility bill of the elector that is dated within ninety days of the date of the election. A utility bill may be for electric, gas, water, solid waste, sewer, telephone, cellular phone, or cable television
- Bank or credit union statement that is dated within ninety days of the date of the election
- Valid Arizona Vehicle Registration
- Indian census card
- Property tax statement of the elector’s residence
- Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
- Recorder’s Certificate
- Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification, including a voter registration card issued by the county recorder
An identification is “valid” unless it can be determined on its face that it has expired.
I’ve been following this poll for the past few months, as it’s locally based and the people that do the final sampling know how to interpret the realities of the state better (my opinion, of course).
TEMPE, Ariz. ––Republican John McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by two points (46 percent to 44 percent) in Arizona, a margin that makes the race too close to call, according to a new Cronkite/Eight Poll. The poll of 1,019 registered voters in Arizona was conducted Oct. 23-26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. According to poll director Dr. Bruce Merrill, “The race in Arizona is very close. Supporters of both candidates are highly committed to their candidates, with 94 percent of Obama’s supporters and 93 percent of McCain’s supporters indicating that they are firmly committed and won’t change their mind before Election Day. In addition, the undecided vote is very low, which means that there are few people remaining to be persuaded during the last week of the campaign. Obama has been closing the gap by attracting independents and women to his campaign. McCain does well among conservative Democrats and evangelicals. Still, a week is a long time in a political campaign and anything can happen. Who wins will be determined by which candidate gets their supporters out to the polls on Election Day.”
Mwahahahahahaha
LatinoPolítico.com 