"NARWHALS": New Favorite Signs from Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity

This is real. And here are a few more ideas I had for rally signs that I never put up:

And here are some featured in the epic Huffington Post slideshow of rally signs that made me feel good:

That last one is a personal campaign of mine. And here! I'm thrilled to see someone was either inspired by my sign suggestions (I proposed "Protect the Third Amendment! No More Quartering!") or came to the same idea independently:

Unrelated plug: Friends Around the Campfire's Stuck Home Syndrome now available as a $5.99 digital album. Narwhals!

"Protect the Third Amendment!" Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity - Protest Sign Suggestions

The Huffington Post commissioned signs for Jon Stewart's forthcoming Rally to Restore Sanity. I sent in a half dozen, so far only one has been added to their 144-deep slideshow, but here's the rest:

There's other good ones at the huffpost here. Here's Stewart's original announcement of his rally, including some splendid sign suggestions:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rally to Restore Sanity Announcement
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

Teabagging Review

The Huffington Post had a slideshow of the most offensive Teabagging signs, here are three:

And Hendrik Hertzberg linked to this MSNBC talking head, who packed more teabagging puns onto cable television than I thought was allowed:

CHOCTOW

Another in my series of shape-note tunes called Western Harmony. Click on the image for a larger, print-sized version. Stay tuned, I'll be recording solo versions of some of these songs when I get home, & hopefully eventually choral recordings. The lyrics:

CHOCTOW

Glorious harmonies of my freedom,
A chariot carries me to my home;
I am Jack Abramoff,
No, I'm not,
No, I'm not!
A trumpet calls me to arise!

Signs of salvation are in the sky,
Agnostics look up & question why;
I am Jack Abramoff,
No, I'm not,
No, I'm not!
They burn with faces of surprise!

I fly with gladness of Thy Nation,
On wings of love earth's vices I shun;
I am Jack Abramoff,
No, I'm not,
No, I'm not!
I believe in eternity!

Jack gambles & drinks with abandon,
But in Truth's campaign Jesus has won;
I am Jack Abramoff,
No, I'm not,
No, I'm not!
I will rest in my certainty!

another brilliant grassroots effort

I noticed yesterday when walking around in the subway and on the street with Obama signs, we got a huge response from people too young to vote- especially black kids, ranging from 5 year olds through 17 year olds. I thought it would be great to put together a flyer- basically saying

'do you think Barack Obama should be our next president? even if you can't vote, you can help...
write to your representatives and tell them that you support Obama and they should support him at the democratic national convention in August
their votes as super-delegates at the convention count for a lot, and if you tell them that you support Obama, they will too!

put at the bottom of the flyer names and addresses of the reps in whatever state you're canvassing in, and then
pass the flyers out to kids in subway stations and on the street at 2-5pm when they are getting out of school.

when I was in the train station at atlantic-pacific yesterday at 3 or so there were TONS of kids who were all screaming like crazy when they saw our Obama signs....I don't think it would take much to get them interested in helping out.

I think Charlie Rangel might be affected by tons of his constituents below voting age writing to tell him to support Obama, don't you?

I think this idea could also be put into effect anywhere else in the country...slightly differently from place to place, I'm sure, and also expanded to get older people, not just kids to put pressure on our reps (all democratic reps are super-delegates), and democratic mayors, where applicable (they're super-delegates, too), also former democratic speakers-of-the house, former democratic presidents and V.Ps, etcetera. to support Obama at the Convention. The selection may come down to these people's votes, and constituent pressure is the best way to make them choose Obama.

to find out who your senators and representatives are, contact them by e-mail, or EVEN BETTER, write them a real letter, look up their contact info, mailing addresses etcetera, at www.congress.org

"I'd rather vote for Mussolini"

My boyfriend Jeremy and I spent about 5 hours this evening (prime time- 4 to 9 pm) standing in the cold drizzle outside of a public school in southeast brooklyn, holding Obama signs that we made ourselves, which read "put wisdom back in the white house", "because he's not just talking about what your country can do for you, but also about what you can do for your country", etcetera, etcetera. It soon became clear that this polling spot (which was our coverage assignment from brooklyn for barack) is situated in the middle of a large orthodox and conservative Jewish neighborhood, and adjacent to a large african-american neighborhood, so that is pretty much who showed up to vote.
interesting surprises:
- there were many more orthodox Jews for Obama than I would have expected.
by far the best moment of the night for me, was when a very very old Orthodox man wearing wide-brim hat, side-curls, etcetera paused on his walker-assisted shuffle to the door of the polling place to read my sign. He read it, nodding, and then gave me a thumbs-up and a wink.

then there was the hasid who jogged away from the poll after voting pumping his fists in the air triumphantly, calling out "we love barack!we love barack!"

-Alternately, older black women were not having Obama at this particular polling station. They were very adamant about voting for Hillary. which was made even more outstandingly stubborn by the fact that the grandchildren accompanying them to the polls were invariably yelling "Barack Obama! yeah! go Obama!" until their grandmothers had to plug their ears in agitation.

wierdest comment of the night: man who glanced at Jeremy's sign and then said in a bluster:

"I'd rather vote for Mussolini"



hmmmmmm.

Doggerel Accusation of Molestation

I have been asked to be immortal thru my poetry,
But I would rather be famous in my lifetime, & then live forever.
Finish your collard greens,
Let your garments be always tusk-colored jeans.
We are gentle in our success, together our lives are one terrific endeavor.

I have thousands of beautiful children,
Thank heavens my wives were unfaithful.
Like the man from Kentucky
Who let his morals become unstucky,
Now he preaches bone-abstinence to the dogs in the meat-hole.

But I must follow road signs & underwear signs.
I sit here perplexed by a one-piece jigsaw puzzle.
The words of my heart shall be discovered
Like mold spreading in the back of the cupboard.
My sphincter has been scrubbed with bleach, but the geyser still doth guzzle.

Your sisters rode atop Futalognkosaurusus,
But mostly the system is not that tiny.
With the bad son & the diarrhea-patient you have to share it,
So don't complain about which portion of the infinite you inherit.
I have stumbled over the rock of offense & you have lusted after the super-skinny.

Coffee has heightened my awareness of ursine dangers,
And Jane Goodall has deepened my understanding of omnivorousness.
Go to the desert alone
Sand & wind you become.
My love is like a lifegaurd at a carwash, our rhymes are a pure form of justice.