It has been a month since the Deaf Democrats blog published a special tribute to Marcella M. Meyer, the last of true Deaf warriors. The outpouring has been rather huge, and this tribute became our most popular posting, with the highest number of hits ever for a single posting. This goes to show the kind of impact Marcella M. Meyer has had on our lives.

Ever since the special tribute came out, a memorial service honoring Marcella M. Meyer took place at the Greater Los Angeles Agency for the Deaf (GLAD) on Sunday, June 14th, with approximately 350 people in attendance. Furthermore, the Los Angeles Times newspaper ran two obituaries on her, one in the regular obituary section and the other one as a feature story published after her memorial service.

As further evidence of Marcella M. Meyer’s widespread reach to people from different walks of life, the Los Angeles City Council proclaimed this past June 14th (the day of her memorial service) as Marcella M. Meyer Day throughout the whole city. On June 23rd, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors closed its meeting with a tribute to Marcella and issued a proclamation in her honor. The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is currently working on a special feature honoring her to be included in the next NAD NEWS issue.

The family of Marcella M. Meyer has been deeply touched by all this and some family members have not realized the extent of Marcella’s influence until now. The Deaf Democrats editors want to thank everyone for expressing their sentiments through various avenues. It is still a challenge for many of us to comprehend a world without Marcella M. Meyer; however, we can take great comfort in knowing that our lives have been made richer by her impact on us all!

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The day of May 26, 2009 brought another milestone into the history of the Los Angeles Deaf Community and everywhere else, with the passing of Marcella Mae Meyer. As one of the founders and as the CEO of the Greater Los Angeles Agency of the Deaf (GLAD), Marcella brought upon incredible changes affecting the lives of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people everywhere.

Affectionately known as MMM, Marcella M. Meyer deserves this special tribute from the Deaf Democrats editors because of her steadfast behind-the-scenes support of this blog. Marcella had been a long-time supporter of the Democratic Party and held the distinction of being the first Deaf delegate to the California Democratic Party convention. Another compelling reason is that the current chapter in our Deaf history would not have been made possible without Marcella breaking barriers in a very GUTSY manner.

Marcella M. Meyer, (1925-2009), now belongs to a group of legendary Deaf leaders who stood at a pivotal period in our community history, leaders such as Frederick C. Schreiber, Don Pettingil, Ed Carney, T.J. O’Rourke, Jerry Jordan, Frank Bowie, Boyce Williams, etc. This group led the Deaf Community at a watershed point when civil rights, services and access came flooding into our community. One of Marcella’s enduring legacies stemmed from her creating the Greater Los Angeles Agency of the Deaf, Inc. (GLAD), using a concept derived from a Leadership Training Program position paper at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). There at GLAD, Marcella M. Meyer reigned supreme for 24 years.

Marcella M. Meyer used the GLAD platform to bombard the world with legislative and social changes. Her favorite means of bully-pulpiting were her renowned feature, Marcella’s Musings, in the GLAD News magazine, and at GLAD Council meetings and staff meetings. She provided a true and fine example of the famous conventional wisdom: Whatever happens in California, the rest of the nation will follow.

Among Ms. Meyer’s early victories was winning a legal battle for the right to sit on a jury, a precedent picked up by the rest of the nation; another victory involved the legislation requiring telephone companies to impose surcharges on all consumers to establish a telephone access fund. This resulted in both a statewide relay service (California Relay Service) and a free TTY equipment distribution program, with both models being copied by other states.

One of Marcella M. Meyer’s most colossal battles brought changes to the sign language interpreting evaluation systems. This all began when she challenged the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) and its interpreter evaluation process by establishing a GLAD interpreter evaluation system. Her creation was adopted by the California Association of the Deaf (CAD) and then by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). This process evolved with RID and NAD merging their evaluation systems into one, now known as National Interpreting Certification (NIC) system. These are only a few examples of Marcella’s achievements.

Also, one can say that Marcella M. Meyer was the very original queen of social justice, as she had the foresight to set up innovative programs dealing with issues that no one dared to touch — issues such as mental health, substance abuse, women’s issues, HIV/AIDS, smoking cessation, to name a few. More often than not, the issues and practices that she advocated would end up becoming buzz words or concepts in the mainstream society. One cannot help wonder where she got all her insights into the needs of our community and the world. Marcella herself was the epitome of this adage: A good leader leads people to where they want to go. A great leader leads people to places where they feel uncomfortable going.

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An excerpt from the GLAD News magazine
upon Marcella M. Meyer’s retirement…

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Marcella M. Meyer was such a trailblazer that she left a transforming impact on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities. However, all her efforts and victories did not come without blood, sweat and tears. Her brash manner in creating social changes oftentimes ruffled feathers everywhere she went, as she seemed impatient with conventional methods and would rather see concrete results in the shortest time possible. An example of the legacy of her driving force was the acquisition of the current GLAD headquarters / community center at a historical landmark building in a Los Angeles suburb.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri during the Roaring 20’s, Marcella M. Meyer grew up and lived in a world where job opportunities for Deaf people were limited to manual labor such as printing, dry-cleaning, factory work, housecleaning, etc. Also, Marcella’s life paralleled that of the 20th century American history, being a factory worker during the Second World War and holding several different jobs during the booming postwar economy. Additionally, Marcella was one of the people who contributed to the creation of the postwar baby boomer generation by bearing three hearing daughters, with her first husband. During the 1960s, after going through two marriages, she took her daughters to California to start a new life which included another marriage, this time to Lenny Meyer, a teacher at Selaco High School in Downey, California.

Nowhere in Marcella M. Meyer’s life story up to this point was there any indication of the greatness she would achieve later in life, the qualities that would propel her to national and international stages. However, a close examination on the latter part of her life shows that the tipping point most likely came from her three daughters. They got involved in social issues of the day and causes such as the women’s liberation movement, and they brought a social awakening and political awareness to their mother. The rest was HERSTORY!!

Of all her achievements, Marcella M. Meyer often said that her greatest accomplishment was the raising of her three daughters – Jamalee Plank, Coleen Ashly and Michele Balfe. This statement of Marcella’s is not too surprising because of her renowned mothering instincts which she also shared with the Deaf Community. These days, stories from countless Deaf women and men abound about her incredible mentorship which included her pearly words of wisdom, her earthy and sometimes bawdy sense of humor, along with barrels of tough love!

Marcella’s daughters have taken on her superb mothering instincts while raising Marcella’s five grandchildren. Now some of her grandchildren are following Marcella’s example in providing active public service, including a granddaughter becoming an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), a grandson in the military, and an attorney granddaughter who recently argued before the Ohio State Supreme Court.

Marcella M. Meyer was one amazing woman who rose to the challenges of her times and who responded in a splendid manner and turned our community upside down. To give her our due honor and to remember her with reverence, a memorial service will be conducted at the Greater Los Angeles Agency for the Deaf Headquarters (2222 Laverna) on Sunday, June 14th, 2009, starting at 2 p.m. Also, you can read her obituaries in two newspapers, Los Angeles Times and Kansas City Star.

(Editor’s note: After the memorial service honoring Marcella M. Meyer at GLAD, the Los Angeles Times ran another obituary, this time with a feature story on her.)

To Marcella M. Meyer, the last of true Deaf Warriors, we doubt if we will ever see the likes of you again. We shall miss you TERRIBLY!

(Written by Christine “CB” Buchholz and Vikee Waltrip)

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Marcella M. Meyer with her daughters –
Coleen Ashly, Michele Balfe and Jamalee Plank

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Kudos to President-Elect Barack Obama and supporters for breaking the barrier and placing the first African-Amercan President in the White House.  Since the historic election on November 4th, much has been said that the Promised Land has been reached.

‘Promised Land’ was the phrase used to lead the Jewish people to the Promised Land of Israel.  Centuries later, in the 20th century, it was used represent the symbolic leadership of African-Americans to empowerment.

But what exactly does Promised Land mean?  And did we really reach it or did we reach an important milestone on the way to the Promised Land?

In 1988, we in the Deaf Community also experienced our own Promised Land.  We took over Gallaudet University and refused to yield until the incoming hearing President of Gallaudet University was replaced by a Deaf President.  I was living in California at the time and remember the exact moment, when I was at a gas station filling up my tank when someone who knew I was Deaf came running over to tell me she had just heard on the radio that the incoming Hearing president would resign and be replaced by a Deaf President.  There were others with me at the station and we were running around jumping for joy.  What a scene we must have made for passersby who thought we were a bunch of young kooks.

This incident was just over 20 years ago already, and it still represents one of the most historic moments in our Deaf History.

But did we truly reach the Promised Land that day? No.  But we did pass an important milestone.  There was still more work to do.  However, because we passed that milestone, it became the impetus to yet another important milestone two years later.  The Americans with Disabilities Act.  Now, not only were we empowered to take charge of our destiny in 1988, we were also promoted to equal class citizenship in this country.

But we still hadn’t reached the Promised Land.   Technology held us back.  In 1992, a piece of legislation was passed to mandate that all new televisions include a built-in closed-captioning decoder chip, despite strong resistance by television manufacturers.  I still remember the quote I read by one industry lobbyist before Congress at the time.  “If Deaf people couldn’t afford to buy a decoder, what makes you think they can afford to buy a television?”  What boneheaded statements made about a cheap $5 chip, compared to the spiraling costs of televisions today without any concern by these same manufacturers about its burden to consumers.

Technology has taken a huge lurch forward in the 21st century and clearly benefitted us in the Deaf Community.  Already a close-knit community, we’ve expanded our ability to network amongst ourselves and to quickly be aware of what’s going on out there outside our world.  Information is instantaneous to any of us.  Videophones have virtually replaced all other telecommunications devices we have used and now even our relay conversations with hearing callers are near-instantaneous.

So, are we now in the Promised Land?  There’s still employers out there who discriminate against prospective Deaf hires, who become fearful because they do not understand what being Deaf means and how they would have to work with such a person.    There’s still people out there who think being deaf means you have a lowered sense of intelligence and ability to fit into society.  And there’s still many misconceptions about us that exist out there.

So, when I hear the phrase “Promised Land” repeated often over the past week, I can’t help but wonder what does it mean and did we really reach it?  A single man broke the barrier and won the job of President of the United States.  But to really prove that we’ve reached the Promised Land, America has to prove itself in the years to come.  Sadly, but truly, there will still be discrimination in the workplace, there will still be people walking the streets fearful when they know an African-American is walking behind them, there will still be persistent and negative stereotypes of African-Americans.

But Barack Obama represents the Promised Land for all of us, not just African-Americans.  The plans he has talked about represent some significant changes in how we address institutional discrimination and equality.  But they are not the perfect ultimate plans.  There’s still much work to be done.  The problems we have experienced in our society did not melt away the day Obama was elected, and they will not go away the day Obama is sworn in.

The Promised Land represents two important components to achieve the goals of the Promised Land.  One:  There needs to be a leader.  It appears today that President-Elect Obama is that leader.  Two:  There needs to be followers who march towards that goal.  And it appears we have a significant coalition to help us all march towards that goal.

Hidden in the results of the historic election day of November 4th, 2008 were two sobering obstacles.  While the Electoral College represented a huge landslide, the popular vote was separated by just 7 million votes.  Out of 119 million voters, only 7 million made the difference.  There is still a significant division of ideology in America.   Take for example, California.  The state that voted for a very liberal candidate, also voted for Proposition 8 which banned same-sex marriages in its state constitution.  How did a state vote liberally and conservatively at the same time?

But we’re not there yet, and the road still isn’t very clear yet.  How we get there, and when we get there depends on all of us as Americans coming together, regardless of your race, creed, gender, physical ability, or relgious beliefs.

But I do believe the Promised Land is within sight…

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Well, I just got home from voting.  I was voter #70 in my precinct.   There was definitely no line at the pollicing place, which actually has two polling centers in the same building covering two precincts.   You’d expect with all the excitement going on, there’d be a line around the block.  But the media likes to zero in on just a handful of polliing places around the country and say that’s indicative of what’s going on everywhere.   Nor was there any line at one of the 50 early-voting polling places near my home, despite news coverage last week that the lines were going for hours here in Chicago.

In any case, I really didn’t know who I would vote for when I left the house this morning.  I still had strong misgivings about either of the major candidates and I wondered whether my vote really mattered in this lop-sided election.  If I vote Democrat, it is just one more vote in an extremely blue state.  If I vote Republican, it is nothing more than a token vote where it won’t really change the electoral college outcome of Illinois.

Nevertheless, I walked the 4 blocks from my house, feeling quite disappointed that I still had no decision in mind, yet reminding myself that to not vote at all is the most offensive thing I can do as a citizen.  I’ve never missed an election since 1988 and I wasn’t about to start now.  I only hoped the answers would come to me when I saw the ballot.

So, I entered the polling place, and as always, was greeted by the precinct captain inside the door.  Sigh, you know, those guys aren’t supposed to be anywhere near the polling room.  But this happens to be one of the last remaining Chicago machine-politics wards, and such impropriety is on its last leg.

I showed my identification to the polling officials and was handed a very large ballot.  Clutching that ballot, I purposely took my time scanning the room for an available booth because… FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, I still had no idea how I would vote.

I see an empty booth and walk to it.   I fumble with the ballot which is actually larger than the booth’s tabletop!  I take a brief moment to read the flyer explaining that Illiinois has a Constitutional Convention proposal on the ballot and then quickly went to the ballot itself.  I flipped it over so I could vote for the smaller offices first before getting to the ultimate office “President and Vice President of the United States of America.”

Oh lordy,,, I’m getting closer to the top of the ballot, and still no idea.  What am I supposed to do???

Finally, I come to that most feared and revered spot on the ballot.  And in that moment, something magical happened.  As I stared at this section, I instantly knew what my choice was.  It shone out to me and my conscience said, “That’s the one.”

I cast my vote, received my receipt and walked away feeling better than when I had entered the building.  I didn’t vote to make a difference, I didn’t vote because my vote would change the outcome of the election, I voted purely on conscience.  I felt that this was the most significant vote I had ever cast in my life.  And that’s what makes voting a sacred right in a free society.

These days all the media pundits have been speculating over the Electoral College while the polls are based on the popular vote. Several readers requested that this blog provide an article explaining the Electoral College as they expressed some bewilderment over this topic.

WHAT IS THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?

The Electoral College is a body of electors who formally select the President and Vice President of the United States, on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December of a presidential election year. This body consists of 538 popularly elected representatives; this number reflects the number in our Congress (both the House of Representatives and the Senate) plus three from the District of Columbia. Therefore, in order to win the presidency, a candidate will need to win 270 electoral votes (one more than the exact half).

HOW DOES THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE WORK?

The electors are decided upon on Election Day, the day of the nationwide popular vote. When a candidate carries a state, he/she wins electors from that state. The number of electors in each state is based on congressional districts; i.e., the state of California consists of 53 congressional districts and 2 senate seats; therefore California carries 55 electors. All the states except for two are winner-take-all states; the two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska where a candidate collects electors based on the districts he/she wins on Election Day. These electors themselves cannot hold office in the United States Congress.

Several weeks later, these electors meet at their respective state capitals to cast their votes.

WHY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?

To many people, the Electoral College does not make sense and needs to be abolished. In the beginning of our nation’s history, the Electoral College made sense and was considered an innovative tool of the American brand of democracy. The Electoral College was established by our Founding Fathers when they wrote up the United States Constitution. At the Constitution Convention in 1787, the smaller states such as Delaware and Rhode Island sought to protect their states’ power without being overpowered by larger states such as Virginia and New York due to differences in population numbers. Also these states did not want the Congress to have extra power by picking a president and vice-president without any popular vote, so this power was switched to the citizenry.

At that time, some politicians believed a purely popular election was too reckless, while others objected to giving Congress the power to select the president. The compromise was to set up an Electoral College system that allowed voters to vote for electors, who would then cast their votes for candidates. The Founding Fathers believed the Electoral college itself reflected very much the U.S. Constitution itself which was based on a compromise between population-based and state-based governances.

This is how we ended up with the Electoral College. Yes, our presidential elections are really based on a two-vote process – the popular vote and the Electoral College.

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Each day brings more bad news for the Republican Party, better known as the Grand Old Party (GOP). The G.O.P. ship is definitely sinking, and all the mice are now escaping the ship like crazy, escaping in the disguise of Republican leaders and major newspapers proclaiming crossover endorsements of Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for President. To make matters worse, several recent events cast a very long shadow on the Republican Party and the McCain campaign, events that occurred beyond anyone’s control.

The list of prominent Republicans who crossed over party lines to endorse Obama has steadily grown on a daily basis. Such Republicans included columnist Christopher Buckley (son of the late William F. Buckley); former Secretary of State (under the current president) Colin Powell ; Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana; former governor of Minnesota, Arnie Carlson; former press secretary in the current Bush White House, Steve McClelland; Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island; and most recently, former governor of Massachusetts, the ever-popular William Weld.

Major newspapers who endorsed Senator Obama included the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Arizona Republic along with many other major newspapers. At the last count, the tally of newspaper endorsements of Obama and Senator John McCain stands at a lopsided 194-82 in Obama’s favor.

The claim to the most stunning newspaper endorsement of Senator Barack Obama probably belongs to the Anchorage Daily News in Alaska, the home state of Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee. Read below how the Anchorage Daily News explained its case yesterday (Sunday, October 26th):

Gov. Palin’s nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency — but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.

This was the rationale behind the endorsement by the Anchorage Daily News for Barack Obama.

In the past few days, three events took place that did not portent well for our nation. Last Wednesday, a McCain campaign volunteer in Pittsburgh, a white woman, claimed that she was robbed, raped and beaten by a black man who was an Obama supporter. After interrogating this woman and performing a lie detector polygraph test on her, the Pittsburgh police declared that this was a sheer fabrication on the woman’s behalf. To make matters worse, a McCain campaign official disclosed the details of the alleged assault to a local TV station BEFORE the police had a chance to finish its investigation, which raised suspicions of race-baiting within the McCain campaign.

Today, two major pieces of news came out that the McCain campaign probably wished would never happen. The first one was today’s announcement of a guilty verdict in the Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens’ corruption trial, a verdict that could greatly affect Senator Stevens’ re-election next week. The other news was that the federal agency, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), disrupted a plot by ultra-right wing skinheads in Tennessee and Arkansas to assassinate Senator Barack Obama.

On top of all this, almost all national polls point to a resounding Obama victory next week. And now reports are coming out in trickles describing major discontent within the McCain campaign. The full inside story may not be known until long after the election. However on the Meet the Press show yesterday, Senator John McCain guaranteed a victory in the presidential race:

“We’re going to do well in this campaign, my friend. We’re going to win it and it’s going to be tight, and we’re going to be up late. This is going to be a very close race. I believe I’m going to win it.”

Hello? Hello?? We shall see….

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A classic American political term, “October surprise” refers to a news event that can impact the outcome of an election, particularly one for the presidency. This term derives from the fact that elections are held in November, and any event occurring during October has a great potential to swing votes. These October events, as history has shown, can be either manufactured or as occurring beyond anyone’s control.

The October surprise first emerged in October 1968 during the presidential race between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. The incumbent Democratic President Lyndon Johnson announced a complete bombing halt of North Vietnam, at a time when polls showed the Republican candidate Nixon in a comfortable lead. Johnson explained that progress had been made in the peace negotiations and he believed that the war would be over before the election in November. Well, the war did not end, but this announcement almost erased Nixon’s lead, down to only 500,000 popular votes over Humphrey on Election Day.

Four years later, when President Richard Nixon raced against Senator George McGovern, his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made a startling announcement that “peace was at hand” with North Vietnam, due to a major breakthrough in the Paris peace negotiations with the North Vietnamese. With the help of this announcement, President Nixon defeated McGovern by a 20-point popular vote margin in one of the largest landslides in American history. The irony of this announcement was that the war continued until 1975, three years later, only after Nixon resigned from office due to the Watergate scandal.

Eight years later (1980), Democratic President Jimmy Carter attempted to create an October surprise by organizing a commando mission into Iran to rescue the American embassy hostages held there, a mission that collapsed when several helicopters crashed into each other, killing some commandoes. Then the Iranian government came out with its own October surprise, that the hostages would not be released until after the American election, a surprise that favored the Republican nominee Ronald Reagan. The hostages were eventually released, on the day of Reagan’s inauguration. This fueled suspicions that Reagan himself might have made a deal with the Iranians prior to the election, suspicions that have never been proven or disproved to this day.

The 1992 presidential election was overshadowed by an October surprise when Caspar Weinberger, former President Reagan’s Secretary of Defense, was implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal, for participating in the transfer of missiles to Iran and then lying to the investigators about his role in this transfer. This announcement jeopardized President George H.W. Bush’s re-election chances, losing to Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas. The Republicans angrily accused the Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh over the timing of the indictment for political purposes. On Christmas Eve, before leaving the White House, President Bush pardoned Weinberger several days before his trial was scheduled to begin.

A few days before the November 2000 election, a Fox News reporter discovered an old report that Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush had been arrested for drunk driving in Maine in 1976. Bush held a press conference immediately to confirm this incident, resulting in his poll standings being affected greatly. However, this only led up to a very hotly-contested presidential race that ended up in the Supreme Court deciding in his favor against Vice President Al Gore.

In the 2004 presidential election, two October surprises came on the scene. On October 29, the Arabic news agency Al Jazeera aired a video of the terrorist Osama bin Laden who claimed, “Your security does not lie in the hands of Kerry, Bush, or al-Qaeda… Your security is in your own hands.” This is believed to have helped President Bush’s campaign as it thrust the war on terrorism back into the public eye.

The second 2004 October surprise took place on a 60 Minutes broadcast with this remark: “Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told us that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election to ensure the US economy is strong on Election Day.” In other words, this promise from the Saudi prince helped deliver a Bush victory.

The most recent October surprise occurred in the last national election two years ago, again through two different events — North Korea’s underground test of a nuclear weapon and the other event being the Mark Foley scandal, in which the Republican congressman resigned over sexual computer messages with underage congressional pages. The Foley scandal broke on September 28, 2006 and dominated the news in early October.

ELECTION YEAR 2008

This year has been rather unprecedented in terms of record-breaking fundraising efforts and voluminous news events, so much events that media pundits are still filtering to see if an October surprise, one or several, has already taken place. On the surface, one can say that it is the economy on the brink of collapse, or the government bailout, which effectively nationalized our financial institutions in the socialist fashion. What about Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe makeover? Joe the Plumber? A McCain campaign worker lying about being beaten up by an Obama supporter? Or is there a real October surprise still waiting to happen?? But then again, we may not see one in during the month of this October.

Looking back to the last election cycle, news came out that the Saddam Hussein trial verdict would be rendered on November 5, 2006, just two days before the U.S. midterm elections, leading Tom Engelhardt of liberal magazine The Nation to dub it the “November Surprise.” Maybe we ought to wait for a “November surprise” instead of an “October surprise”??

Will it be October? Or November?? Still holding my breath…

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The presidential race has become more bizarre these days and now taking a dangerous turn. Each day brings in major news at a breakneck speed that it becomes rather difficult to digest news and write up posts for this blog. Also, it seems as if the line between reality and fantasy is becoming blurred in American politics.

Since our last post on this blog, a government report on jobless claims came out for the month of September—159,000 new claims. Then the Congress passed a $700 billion bailout plan with a new name — economic stabilization plan, but this did not prevent the Wall Street from crashing in 8 consecutive sessions, devaluing stocks by 40% in one year and erasing 2 trillion dollars from retirement savings nationwide in 15 months. Also, two debates (both presidential and vice-presidential) took place, revealing even more disturbing aspects of the Republican ticket.

At the second presidential debate, Senator John McCain continued to minimize the Democratic nominee Barack Obama, calling him “that one” and still had not improved his eye contact with Obama. Also during that debate, McCain proposed yet ANOTHER bailout program, this time to buy up “bad mortgage loans” totaling $300 billion. The vice-presidential debate provided more fodder when Governor Sarah Palin created a spectacle of Obama raising the white flag in Iraq. However, she raised multitudes of red flags when she explained the need to expand the role and power of the Vice President of the United States, something ALREADY defined in the United States Constitution.

The tone of the presidential campaign has become more venomous with Senator Barack Obama being blamed by the Republican ticket for everything under the sun. One example was an attempt to connect Obama with terrorists and radicals such as William Ayers, one of the Weathermen from the 1960s when Obama was only 8 years old. Another example was that Obama was really a “foreigner” and a Muslim.

In the meanwhile, Obama and his running mate Senator Joe Biden have focused on the economy, since roughly 60% of the Americans considered the economy as the number one issue these days. Yet the McCain campaign chose to focus on frivolous claims against Obama rather than discuss the economy, claims so frivolous that Senator Biden accused McCain of taking the lowest road possible to the highest office of the land.

McCain’s behavior these days is resembling more and more that of the crazed prison warden Dwight McClusky in the Oliver Stone film, Natural Born Killers, a role memorably played by Tommy Lee Jones. This character was so out of touch with reality and very stuck in his power trip. When a prison riot broke out, he came up with solutions and options that backfired on him. Now the national media is delivering a verdict on McCain’s leadership in two words — erratic and uncertain.

Governor Sarah Palin is another story. Each week brings more and more revelations from the great state of Alaska. At the same time, the American public flocks to the ever-popular TV show, Saturday Night Live, to get a “reality check” through Tina Fey’s impersonation as Sarah Palin. This show is now enjoying a 48% jump in its ratings, its best showing in 7 years.

News coming out of Alaska included a videotape of Sarah Palin being “ministered” by an African pastor who claimed success in “curing” witch doctors, a tape that was repeated continuously on several TV networks. When asked about this videotape, Sarah Palin kept thanking this pastor for putting her on the right track.

Another piece of news from Alaska disclosed Sarah Palin’s husband Todd being involved with Alaska Independence Party for several years, a party that advocated secession from the United States of America. Members of such groups are usually recruited from fundamentalist Christian churches, and these ultra right-wing members are considered domestic terrorists by our government. While the Palins maintained that Todd Palin was no longer a member of this party, it was recently disclosed that Sarah and Todd Palin continued to attend their annual conventions, the last time being last year when she spoke there, telling them to “keep up the good work.” This brings up the question as to where her loyalties lie, although she has been paying lip service of being a proud American citizen.

Then there is the Troopergate, an investigation into whether Sarah Palin misused her power. Upon becoming a governor, Sarah Palin tried to get her former brother-in-law fired as state trooper. When this failed, the public safety commissioner was fired for not following her orders in this attempted termination. During the investigation, she and her husband refused to comply with the subpoena. Later on her husband changed course and testified. As of yesterday, the legislative report out of Alaska concluded that Palin abused ethics, using her office to apply pressure for personal gain. This whole fiasco really disproves the Republican ticket’s claim of being reformers and mavericks.

In several TV interviews, Sarah Palin fumbled through them, providing a wealth of material for Saturday Night Live spoofs. At the vice-presidential debate, she declared that she would not answer questions from the moderator and would address to the American people instead. She also accused the media of limiting her participation in this debate by imposing timed responses like 90 seconds or two minutes! She was starting to come across as the Queen of Blame. In response to Palin’s comments about “expanding” the vice-president’s role, Joe Biden called Dick Cheney as the most dangerous vice-president in the United States history. Still Sarah Palin wants to out-do and outshine Dick Cheney!

When you look at Sarah Palin’s overall behavior, you have to wonder about her attitude towards rules, laws and especially the United States Constitution. Does she really think she is above all of these? Are we witnessing a new dictatorship ticket being formed by McCain and Palin? Their whole tone is now affecting the presidential race.

This past week, someone in the Georgia senator race debate screamed “Bomb Obama.” At several other Republican rallies, people have screamed Traitor, Terrorist, Killer, etc. whenever Obama’s name was mentioned. On Friday, October 10th, in a Minnesota town hall meeting, a woman expressed to McCain her concern about Obama being an Arab; at that, McCain grabbed the microphone from her and said this had to stop and that no one should be scared if Obama became president. For his defense of Obama, McCain got booed by the audience.

Because of these incidents, some conservative newspapers are accusing the McCain/Palin camp of creating a “lynch mob” mentality across the country, and the Republican party leaders are saying “enough is enough,” bearing in mind our nation’s history and our predisposition toward violence. This is a dangerous turn in American politics today where we need to stand ready to express our displeasure.

What McCain DOES NOT UNDERSTAND is that the American voters are an intelligent lot; that all the twisted slogans, accusations and sound bites are working counterproductively; and that he cannot continue to insult our intelligence. Furthermore he does not understand that in this economic crisis, we are now facing the thin breaking point which can beget several forms of violence. This may explain why Obama is now maintaining an 11% lead in national polls. If this tone promoted by the McCain/Palin ticket keeps up, we just may see a Democratic landslide come November 4th. These times of crisis require calm and steady leadership, which McCain has constantly failed to demonstrate and of which Obama is providing shining examples.

The bottom line is that this presidential race has come down to this choice — the Democratic ticket versus the Dictatorship ticket…

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Thank you- DEAF DEMOCRATS Editors