liz_marcs: Jeff and Annie in Trobed's bathroom during Remedial Chaos Theory (Community_Organizer_American_Revolution)
liz_marcs ([personal profile] liz_marcs) wrote2008-10-31 06:06 pm

And North Carolina Goes Mad with Power!

I think North Carolina is just a leeeeeetle giddy about being a swing state.

The sheer hilarious glee of this GOTV ad from the Tar Heel state will have you cackling like a loon.

The tag line? "Please. Vote. It's the only legal way to cancel out your neighbor's."

Rock on, North Carolina. Rock on.



In other news, I suspect that I have more of a pinched nerve, rather than a pulled Achilles Tendon. I feel less in pain today than I did yesterday. I confidently predict that I'll be able to walk without hobbling like a 70-year-old arthritic woman sometime in the next week.

Finally, I hobbled my hurting self down to the city clerk's office to cast my absentee ballot (aka, Massachusetts' version of early voting) because some lunatic scheduled me for a client meeting first thing Tuesday morning. (Boooooooo!)

Voted Obama/Biden (natch!), and voted to return Kerry to the senate (I like Kerry). I also cheerfully sent my congressional rep back (Ed Markey) because he votes the way I like 95% of the time.

Then there were the state questions:

  • A big NO to abolishing the state income tax, primarily because I know that there'd be riots if our lovely state services were cut and our property taxes were hiked to support what was left. Plus, the biggest bitchers about our "declining quality of life" (quality of life is admittedly pretty good in this state) will be those who voted to abolish. Seriously. Have none of these people ever read a municipal or state budget? Sheesh.

  • A big YES to decriminalizing possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana (like 86% of the people around here). Now it's a civil fine if you get caught. Meh. It's a half-step. I want it made legal. Charging sales taxes on any and all marijuana sold in the state like we do for nicotine (which is actually more addictive than marijuana) and booze (far more destructive) gives me big ol' happy thoughts. Still, I'll take the half-measure as better than nothing.

  • Banning dog racing, voted NO. I admit it. I struggled. In the end I voted to keep greyhound racing legal. *ducks rotten fruit* Frankly, the two dog tracks we have in the state are under very, very close scrutiny and so tightly regulated that humane treatment of the dogs, both active and retired, is required if you want to stay out of jail. If the economy were better, I'd vote to ban. But the economy sucks, and I don't want more than 1,000 people put out of work in this climate. In the end, people won over the puppies. Yes. I feel guilty about it. How guilty? I almost switched my vote at the last minute to ban. *bites nails* I hope the puppies forgive me.


Well, I've voted. (*beams*) I'm put out that I won't be voting at the polls November 4 because, y'know, I love the ritual of the thing. But I won't be able to get to the polls otherwise if I don't.

And I do so want to contribute to the radioactive blue that Massachusetts. Heee!

Now I have to go put up my foot. Again. *snarl*
anonymous_sibyl: Red plums in a blue bowl on which it says "this is just to say." (Default)

[personal profile] anonymous_sibyl 2008-10-31 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm with you on the first two ballot questions. Before buying my house in MA (I was renting at the time) I also checked out houses in NH. Their property tax is outrageous and I never want to see mine get that high. Also, I kind of like having money in the budget to, say, fix roads and maintain schools. (Seriously, who are these people who want to abolish the income tax?)

I'd also love to see a tax on legal weed. Now that would boost tax money in this state! Also I think it takes up too much money and time for cops and courts to process some guy with a joint, you know? There are bigger fights to fight.

On the racing, though, I'm voting to get rid of it. I do agree that things in our state are well-regulated and I worry about the economy (especially with the latest budget cuts doing damage to non-profits which employ so many of us and with retailers like Whitehall closing) but I also know that even those who race here winter in Florida and the stories I heard while working with greyhound rescue were enough to make me want greyhound racing abolished everywhere. This is a tough one, I agree.

Odd, the other day when you first mentioned your Achilles tendon I'd just gotten off the phone with my mom who thought she'd pulled hers.

[identity profile] liz-marcs.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
The people who want to abolish the income tax are clearly people who forget they live in a fairly small, urbanized state with most of our utilities (water, gas, phone, electricity) underground. They also forget we have awesome winters. Forget fixing the roads. Let's try plowing the roads.

On Question 3: To make my vote even worse, I signed to put greyhound question on the ballot with the full intention of voting your way. And believe me, I feel guilty about my vote on that question, even as I suspect that my vote will be canceled out and that the ban will pass.

It's funny. My family's been discussing Question 3 for the past 3 weeks because none of us honestly know how to vote on it, and we all started out in strong support of it. The first two questions we're solid and in agreement. It's Question 3 that has us feeling the weight of voting, because...puppies! People! Puppies! People!

For. Three. Weeks.

Gah! *guilt*

anonymous_sibyl: Red plums in a blue bowl on which it says "this is just to say." (Default)

[personal profile] anonymous_sibyl 2008-10-31 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
You aren't kidding about the plowing. I'm in Billerica and during some winter storms my road doesn't get plowed until noon!

The greyhound one is a tough one. I dearly don't want to see any more people unemployed in this state (or anywhere).

[identity profile] woodburner.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh. Oh my god. I live in NC and I hadn't seen this. That is quite probably the most awesome politically oriented ad ever devised.

[identity profile] liz-marcs.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
The woman who runs the local GOTV for Obama phonebank here just moved up from North Carolina. (Heee!) It's like you guys are everywhere these days.

[identity profile] ladysmith.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
When the local dogtrack here in Florida closed with no warning at all, there was a huge number of racing dogs who ended up in the animal shelter because it was cheaper for the owners to just get rid of them.

If there wasn't a provision in that bill to take care of the dogs after racing was banned, I'd have voted to continue the racing, too.

[identity profile] liz-marcs.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
An angle I hadn't thought of, but the provision isn't in the bill, however, by state law the dogs have to be adopted out once their racing careers are over, so it may have been seen as redundant.

There are also some greyhound rescues in Massachusetts that specialize in placing retired dogs and they were among the primary movers and shakers behind the ballot measure. I'm fairly confident that they've already put a system in place if the owners decide to "dump the dogs" rather than keep them should the ban pass.

Then again, there's nothing stopping the owners from taking those same dogs to another state. *bites nails*

[identity profile] lizziebelle.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
That's exactly my fear. I'm afraid of what will happen to the dogs if it's banned. I think I'm voting no on that one, too.

[identity profile] a2zmom.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
The dog racing issue is a tough call, but I agree with you. Jobs are hard to come by.

And nothing makes me crazier than people who want to abolish income taxes. Do they think state services just come from nowhere?

[identity profile] vichan.livejournal.com 2008-10-31 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I've always wondered what it's like to vote in a state that ISN'T a swing state. Been in Ohio my whole life.

I'm put out that I won't be voting at the polls November 4 because, y'know, I love the ritual of the thing.
Dude, me too! We've got early voting here, too, but I'm still voting on November 4th. Before my sister moved to Illinois, we would compete to see who would get the earliest poll number. (My best one was 38.) Good times. :-D

[identity profile] nidoking.livejournal.com 2008-11-01 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
Is marijuana addictive at all? I didn't think it was possible to get addicted to it like it is to nicotine or alcohol.

Great commercial, too. I might have been voting years ago if I'd thought of it that way. Then again, Obama's picking up steam here in Indiana and it's STILL not considered a swing state, so...

[identity profile] drmercurious.livejournal.com 2008-11-03 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
I have a good friend who's done a large number of drugs in his past days ranging from marijuana to acid to shrooms to peyote, and he claims that marijuana isn't /physically/ addicitve. Then again, I suspect he has a high addiction threshold, so make of that comment what you will.

[identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com 2008-11-01 07:46 am (UTC)(link)
Lovely ad - best of luck with the election!

[identity profile] dlgood.livejournal.com 2008-11-01 02:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Plus, the biggest bitchers about our "declining quality of life" (quality of life is admittedly pretty good in this state) will be those who voted to abolish. Seriously. Have none of these people ever read a municipal or state budget? Sheesh.


It's fun extra irony. In my neighboring state of Virginia, the biggest bitchers about the cost of taxes invariably are the people living in Southern Virginia. People who receive far more in payouts and services from the state than the people in Northern Virginia, who are 75% of the state's tax base and suffer from horrendous roads and traffic.

Most of the people who complain about taxes, do so entirely disconnected from awareness of the benefits taxes give them. They generally just assume the government is doing it wrong anyway.

[identity profile] texanfan.livejournal.com 2008-11-03 01:44 pm (UTC)(link)
That is a wonderful ad. It is scary to think of some of the people who make the decision on issues like the next president. While I expected no less from you, it's always wonderful to hear someone put as much thought into their local issues as they do the presidential race. It's important!

I'm so sorry to hear you're still in pain. I hope you are correct and you'll be up and around in no time but don't try and tough it out if things don't improve. Nasty stuff can happen if you try to ignore what your body is telling you.