5 More Days and a Wake Up!

I know some of you are tired of all the political commercials, phone calls, knocks on the door, etc., but this is the price to pay to change our country. ABM is sending out big props to everyone who is volunteering and/or contibuting to a campaign. It's never been more important so let's see this through til the finish.

Also the ABM doesn't want to hear any whining or complaining about how you waited in line for 5 hours. We will wait that long for concert tickets or to see a movie on opening night, so we should be willing to wait to cast the most important (and for many first) vote of our lifetime. So wait! Take snacks, your IPOD, a good book to read, your best friend to talk to...whatever it takes to get you through the wait. Vote early if you can because polls will be madhouses on election day.

Finally, if someone says you are not on the rolls or can't vote or try to intimidate you or anyone else in any way, call 1-877-874-6226 to the Voter Protection Center. They have lawyers on call all over America to help clear up any issues.


Once again, much love to all you out there fighting to make America better. The ABM hopes this video will help to inspire you to fight a little harder, because...it's 5 more days til a wake up!

Undecided? Need I Say More...

Ok, there's still a few clowns out there who are "undecided". Hopefully this will help them make up their minds...

Here's Johnny!

Ok, I watched last night's final debate and really didn't take a lot away that I didnt' already know. McCain tried his best to goad Obama into losing his temper and acting unpresidential...didn't work. Obama must have ice water in his veins...the kinda guy I want with his finger on the nuke button.

McCain however seemed to be doing his best to practice what they taught him in his Anger Management classes. I could swear he was forcing himself to smile (more on that dastardly smile later) so hard he nearly busted a gut! He was seething and didn't do a good job of masking his intense dislike for Senator Obama. I could tell he was silently counting to ten, saying the alphabet backward and memorizing his grocery list...anything to refrain from jumping up and choking the #%$ out of Barack, lol.

Everytime Senator McCain smiled that bezerk, mad-scientist grin, I got a flashback to Jack Nicholson in The Shining! He looked like he was plotting a masacre while trying to appear pleasant and gracious...all while getting ready to blow up the building! Don't thnk I want him walking around with the nuke codes in his back pocket...he may forget his Metamucil one morning and...bang! he decides to bomb Canada. And the rest of the night when he wasn't displaying that diabolocal smile, I just kept thinking Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men...

I don't think he did anything to help himself in any of the three debates. Each time he seemed more irritated, like he needs to eat more fiber. Each time he showed America that he really is a frustrated, foul-natured man who wouldn't be much fun in the White House. More importantly, he has displayed that he does not have the temprament to be President. I think that came through loudly and clearly to most who viewed the debates. Hopefully they will remember that image on November 4th...

Sara Smile...

Watching last night's VP debate, I was actually impressed that Sarah Palin is a quick study. She didn't fall on her face as many predicted. She held her own and avoided confusing her talking points. That said, she was pretty thin on substance. Right off the bat, she told us that she would be answering the questions she wanted to answer, not necessarily the questions that the moderator actually asked.

Throughtout the night she continued to remind us that she is strong on energy...even when the dicussion was about Iraq, the Wall Street bailout or how she would pursue bipartisan solutions to our problems. In fact it sounded like she was lobbying for the job of Secretary of Energy rather than VP.

The most irritating thing, however, was her attempt to use her beauty and charm to deflect questions and mask her ineptitude on many critical issues. With a wink and a smile she sought to change the subject many times to something she actually knew about....Alaska. Too many times she smiled her dazzling smile (ok, she bested Biden on "cute" points) and told us she would not bore us with actual answers, rather she would give us straight talk. When she really wanted to emphasize he unwillingness to answer questions, she added an even cuter wink to the aforementioned smile. I kept thinking Biden is losing this debate...he's just not cute enough to be VP. (after all, isn't this what people really want after 8 years of a decidedly "uncute" VP). Yes, that will bring America out of its economic doldrums...more cuteness.

In fact I think cuteness is really underrated in America. After all, who needs competence on foreign policy issues when you've got cute. Just look at how the newly inaugurated (and newly widowed) Pakistani President Asif Zardari drooled over her in their brief photo op meeting in New York during the UN General Assembly. Yes the man who recently lost his wife former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to assassination only a few months ago, almost asked McCain's hottie running mate out on a date! Now that's what I call real international diplomacy. Here her cuteness helped to forge stronger relations with Pakistan (even despite the fact she still cannot find Pakistan on a map).

Next we can send her down to Wall Street where she can end the world credit crisis with her cuteness. You see that's what the problem has been, not a lack of liquidity in financial markets, but a lack of cuteness. Give Governor Palin a few hours and with a wink and a smile she will put our economy back on track (after all, her running mate said our economy is sound so all it should take is a little cuteness to clean up this mess).

As I write this, the McCain-Palin team is working hard to develop a strategy to use said running mate's cuteness to end the war in Iraq. I doubt those evil Al Qaida terrorists will be able to stand up to an unrelenting barrage of intense cuteness.! Who needs shock and awe, when you can bring your enemies to their knees with a wink and a smile?

Meanwhile the Obama-Biden campaign is working furiously to amp up its "cute factor". Good luck Team O-B...you've really got your work cut out for you as your message of hope and change is really no match for cuteness.

(below is a Sara Palin Debate flowchart that I really wish I had been clever enough to come up with - special thanks to http://www.adennak.com/)

*photo courtesy of 23/6 Comedy News

I voted today...

I am 42 years old and have never been in a voting booth. Before you say "ABM, you've never voted?!", let me explain. I am in the military and am a resident of Florida but am never there at voting time so I have always voted absentee (and for the record, since I turned 18 I have never missed a presidential or congressional election).

Today I filled out my abseentee ballot and sent it off. Since it is such a historic time for America, I wanted to capture my vote in a photo. Now that I've done my duty I will continue to spur others on to do so, because if you don't vote...you get no love from the ABM.

Voting today made me very reflective. As I have shared before, I am very fearful about our country's future. Maybe I've been spoiled, never having to worry if the sun will come up for America tomorrow, but I worry more than ever what kind of America my kids will inherit from my generation.

So today...I voted for them. I voted my interests and I voted theirs. I cast a ballot to protest the sad state of affairs that the Repugnicans have created in the country I call home. I voted to say, "No more". No more of the insanity we call the US government. No more to a myopic, disasterous foreign policy. I voted for democracy...not that sham of a system we have lived under for 8 years and try to force on others.

While I was at it, I voted for justice. No more to the erosion of our civil rights, to election manipulation, to bold faced lies and outright theft. Yes, today I voted for truth, saying no to a government that would not know the truth if it hit it square in the face.

Today I didn't vote for a candidate...I voted for a philosophy. I would never vote for a candidate just because of the color of his skin....Dr. King wouldn't be proud of me for doing that. Rather I voted for the philosophy that government is supposed to protect us...rather than hold us down while rich thieves steal from us. And I voted for the belief that torture is wrong even if the torturer speaks English as a native language.

Finally, I voted for hope. I didn't even read Obama's book about hope...didn't need to. All I needed to do was look around me and see the devastation wrought by the party that promised everything and delivered less than nothing. The Repugnicans have destroyed hope and I want a President who will bring it back.

We as a nation have been sleep at the wheel. Meanwhile we've been raped, pillaged and plundered. Something has to change...and today I did my part in making that change a reality.

I won't even think about telling you who to vote for, ABM would never be so presumptuous, but here in ABM's house if you don't vote you get no love. In fact nothing makes ABM angrier. If you are happy with your present and optimistic about your future then stay home, don't even waste the gas to get to the polls. Sleep in late that day and have a two hour lunch. Make sure you hit a happy hour before going home...while you still have one. If you wake up one morning and no longer recognize the country you live in, suck it up, deal with it, apply for your unemployment and food stamps, find a good homeless shelter and a nice soup kitchen. Do what ever you have to do to survive, but, whatever you do, don't blame me...because I voted today.