U.S. Senator Sarah Palin Returns to Nieman Marcus?

The Alaska U.S. Senate vote count is still a toss-up. Press reports at this hour have Democrat Mark Begich ahead of convicted felon Republican Ted Stevens by four votes with more ballots to be counted. I am making the prediction that if Alaska voters indeed re-elect the convicted felon, Stevens will exhaust his appeals in 2009 and ultimately be removed from office by his colleagues in the Senate. That scenario will lead to a special election in which Sarah Palin will run and probably win the Senate seat.

If this plays out, Palin will need to loot Nieman Marcus again in preparation for her move to Washington. The whole story would be an economic stimulus package for the retail sector combined with a sitcom, "The Wasilla Hillbillies Go to Washington." Maybe Tina Fey could star?

-- Rico Thomas Rico

U.S. Senator Sarah Palin?

Pix of the Week: Change Comes to America

The picture of the week captured the crowd reaction at Gone Wired Cafe when Barack Obama's election victory was announced. A sense of pride and community filled the cafe as people felt they were successful at taking back their country. You can see this sentiment in the faces of people on Tuesday night.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Change Comes to America

My Buddy Bill (Ayers)

I don't know Bill Ayers personally but, by association, you can call him my buddy because I attended and recorded his speech at Michigan State University on November 30, 2007.

I recommend that you listen to his 10-minute talk at the SDS reunion event -- provided below -- because his words from nearly 12 months ago resonate with new meaning.

In the ensuing months following his appearance in East Lansing, the repudiated radical right -- accompanied by a pit bull peep-squeak with lipstick -- tried to make Bill Ayers the Willie Horton of the 2008 Presidential election. The Karl Rove-like tactic did not work this time, but it is a tactic that won't go away.

Not surprisingly, you can still hear the Ayers name bantered about by radical right radio commentators, as these conservative spokespeople seem to be barking to themselves in a corner like they just suffered a nervous breakdown this week. It's nothing a little OxyContin can't fix.

Bill Ayers apparently managed throughout the election season, though he did not talk to the press during the campaign. He finally broke his silence on Tuesday and talked with the Washington Post. Ayers' post-election comments to the Post are worth reading as he talked about the radical right's attempt at turning him into a cartoon character and other issues.

Finally, one last admission about my association with my buddy Bill Ayers: We're both American taxpayers. Guilt by association.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Bill Ayers Speaking at

Michigan State University

November 30, 2007

Music Video: History is Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Turn your sound up and hit play. This is the music video using the pictures from the Election Night Celebration at Gone Wired Cafe. It's a feel-good week all the way around, let's enjoy it now before we get down to business.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED!

Obamania: Gone Crazy @ Gone Wired Election Night

Here are photos of the crowd reaction at Gone Wired Cafe in Lansing, Michigan on the night of Barack Obama's presidential election win.

The Big Blue - Obamania Rises on Election Night

The evening is electric here at Gone Wired Cafe as the gathering crowd watches the election returns roll in. One by one, Republican Senate seats are falling and Obama is picking up steam as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and more are going Obama Blue. CNN Live -- the Internet projected on the cafe's big screen (natch) -- is showing scenes from Chicago as our Midwest cousins are gathering by the thousands at the Obama Campaign HQ. But the feeling is coast-to-coast. It's the feeling of optimism and of community.

I walked the streets of south Lansing (Michigan) today, helping the Obama campaign get out the vote. Change was in the air. I was knocking on the door of one likely voter when he pulled into his driveway. He said he waited 90 minutes to vote and wasn't shy saying he cast his ballot in favor of Obama. He added one key observation: Another voter approached the line at the polls inquiring about the wait. Informed that it was 90 minutes, the guy said "It's not worth it" and started to walk. Before he got away, he was asked who he supported and admitted to being a John McCain supporter. "Buh-bye." The McCain guy didn't bother to vote.

I still predict we all will wake up tomorrow to a new challenge and a responsibility to turn this country around. Bring it on.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Si, Se Puede

We all, as a nation, have a date with destiny tomorrow. November 4, 2008. History. Me. You. Together.

It will be the dawn of a new era in the history of our long-suffering democracy in America. Regardless of the outcome, new challenges will greet us all when we awake on Wednesday morning.

A Facebook friend shared the video below with me tonight. Thanks, Patrick!

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Gas: No One Rides for Free

Admittedly I get a grin when I see gas prices on the road nowadays. Just today I saw gas at $2.24 a gallon while driving to Fowlerville, Michigan. Months ago -- even before gas prices hit record highs this summer -- I told one of the Kravitz Patch Sisters that gas prices would plummet just before the election.


Remember how angry you were with gas well over $4.00 a gallon? Remember how angry everyone was at the time? The oil conglomerates could not afford to have that kind of public anger boiling at election time because it would hurt -- even devastate -- the conservative Republican cause at the polls. So prices have been manipulated downward to alleviate some political pressure and, so far, it has worked. Still, the conservatives are going to take a major hit on Tuesday but not as bad as if gas prices were still at record highs.


My prediction was an easy one, as oil companies can be predictable when it comes to their patterns of gouging the public. Regardless, I still have some people who argue with me on this point. These gullible people just cannot see or believe that oil companies would try to influence the U.S. elections by manipulating gas prices.


Well, let's go on to my next prediction: Gas prices will start climbing again after the election and will continue to climb right up through January 20, 2009. I'll revisit this topic on January 20th and we'll see where prices sit.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

George Waldo Bush

Where in the world is Waldo?

I finally figured out what the W. stands for in George W. Bush.

The poster child of the Republican Party has come up missing again, this time just days before the election. N.Y. Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes about it today in her White House column titled (print edition), "A President Vanishes, And No One Asks Why." Bush, apparently, is deliberately lying low for the sake of the McCain-Palin ticket. He doesn't want to remind voters of the disaster that has been the ultra-conservative policies of the Republican Party and his presidency, all of which McCain and Palin have supported.

This disappearing act is his presidential M.O. As president he came up missing during the Katrina disaster. He was nonexistent in the Palestine-Israel issue for seven years. You couldn't find him at this summer's Republican Party convention. He has been an empty suit as the Wall Street meltdown has been unfolding. Now days leading to the election of his successor, George Waldo Bush is basically a shadow of his empty self.

None of this surprises me. I understand the Air National Guard is still looking for the AWOL Waldo.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Have You Seen George Waldo Bush?

For Whom the Bellweather Tolls

I have 'em - you have 'em.

They are "Bellweather" Friends. They are friends who are a fair measure of which way the casual political observer is going to vote this election year. These are the people who are not hardcore politicos who read 5 newspapers a day like some of us. They are the above average undecided voter who generally catch the drift of political messages and images and actually can be swayed by the messages.

I've been avoiding one such friend because of my experience in 2004. During that presidential election -- the Bush vs. John Kerry election -- my friend was clearly sauced on Swift Boat advertising and would say "John Kerry scares me; I don't know why but he just scares me."

I'd respond to my friend by saying "If Kerry scares you, Bush must be a heart attack." Still, in spite of his best interests, my Bellweather Friend voted for Bush.

So this year I didn't know which way my Bellweather Friend was leaning until he sent me the image shown below via email. It told me a lot. Soon after receiving this image, McCain-Palin cut-and-ran out of Michigan. Their polling must have been telling them for whom the bellweather was tolling.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

If the Candidates

Were Phones:

Some Serious Business

Desperation politics. That's what we are seeing now in these last days of our Presidential campaign. McCain-Palin are getting nastier each day as they roll out more nonsensical assertions against Barack Obama. The Republicans lack the issues -- not to mention a strong ticket -- so they sling the crud. That's all they got. In this new political era, this type of ugly politics is starkly distasteful.

Meanwhile, Obama continues to talk issues, ideas, and solutions.

Tonight I had to meet some serious friends to discuss some serious issues, so I missed Obama's 30-minute telecast. The initial responses posted on Facebook are giving it rave reviews. If you missed it too, you can watch it here with me when you get a chance. It is posted below.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Barack Obama's Telecast

Catlike Conventional Wisdom in the Late Election Season

With the election just over a week away, I probably should not have rented the HBO movie, Recount, for my Sunday night viewing. Terri B. recommended it when I bumped into her at the Haslett holiday craft show last weekend. I went ahead with the rental tonight just to remind myself that presidential elections aren't over 'til they're over, especially with Republican dirty election-year tricks always lurking in the shadows. Let's face it, they stole two presidential elections already, manipulating Florida results in 2000 and Ohio results in 2004. With that kind of experience, who says the Rovian tactics won't be tried a third time?

My catlike instincts have been on high alert over the last week. I just don't trust the polling with most of it showing Barack Obama running strong, a few showing McCain gaining back some strength, and some showing a number of swing states as toss-ups. With the economy in a shambles and the popularity of the Republican standard bearer, George W. Bush, at an all time low, the conventional wisdom is that Obama will win.

But have you noticed that we live in a topsy-turvy world? Wall Street bankers are wards of the state. Gas prices are at handsomely low prices again. The Michigan State football team whomped the University of Michigan Wolverines in the "Big House." And, to top it all off, an African-American Democrat is leading the polls for the presidency. Someone please pinch me.

I know this presidential race is not over. Already I am starting to notice the corporate press, in Newsweek as one example, prominently displaying stories about a topsy-turvy scenario in that the Republicans win the White House. And John "I-am-in-Striking-Distance" McCain has been smuggly dismissing polling results -- a la George W. Bush -- as if he has some electoral insider information.

I'm worried about this country. Over the last eight years under George Bush's Republican leadership we have a government that endorses the use of torture and kidnapping, spies on its citizens, illegally invades other countries, lets Wall Street and capitalists ruin our economy...and the litany of transgressions goes on.

So many myths of American exceptionalism have been exposed, died, or been killed under George W. Bush. The last notion of free and fair elections -- having been seriously damaged in 2000 and 2004 -- may not survive one more body blow if the votes are not accurately counted and the people's will honored come November 4th.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Democracy Isn't Free, Even for Media Conglomerates

I was surprised last week when CNN news anchor Campbell Brown suggested that Barack Obama and John McCain donate the projected $30 million-a-week in campaign advertising dollars to a food bank in Provo, Utah. She thought it would be a better use of the money. Feed people instead of running negative political ads.

I totally agree with Brown. However, I am afraid that her suggestion may pass as another innocuous statement made in the din of a heated presidential campaign. Her comment, exposes a much larger issue, one that I have been raising privately with fellow citizens. So let me raise it with you here.

My contention is that the American public owns the radio and TV airwaves. So why not let federal candidates have free airtime for their campaigns and end the need for candidates to raise and spend millions of dollars on advertising? Those valuable resources and dollars can be put to better use by those donors, including spending on food banks in Utah and elsewhere.

THE ISSUE AND THE DOTS
If you watch closely enough, it happens about a month after each major election. You begin to see stories in the media about charities running short of donations just before and during the holiday season. Homeless and hungry people in need – sometimes whole families – desperately go without services.

This year the same situation will be easily noticed, as the American economic meltdown will exacerbate the problem and touch many more people. The widespread hunger and homelessness across the country will be harder to conceal.

So let’s connect some dots here and free up some resources to help needy people.

Proposition 1: Too much money is spent on wasteful, superficial, and usually negative federal campaign TV and radio advertisements for Presidential and Congressional offices. The public does not benefit or learn anything substantive from the months-long, incessant advertisement campaigns.

Proposition 2: The candidates’ need to raise inordinate amounts of cash to pay for TV and radio advertising exposes the electoral system to inordinate amounts of influence of special interest groups that are more than willing to infuse cash into campaign coffers.

Proposition 3: The public owns the public TV and radio air waves.

Proposition 4: The money and resources that normally go to paying for federal political advertisements would be put to better uses.

The Fix: The public must exert its ownership rights to the airwaves and insist that federal candidates be given free TV and radio time. In doing so, it will eliminate the necessity for these candidates to chase money from special interest groups. Candidates will then be allowed to address, in detail, issues during various 15-minute and 30-minute time slots during designated times of day, including prime time. The full-scale campaign and free media time could be limited to 90 days prior to the election, thus eliminating the seemingly endless campaign cycles. Overall, the details of the free media plan would be set by a nonpartisan citizen’s panel and the plan would be structured to allow all political parties to be heard, not just the two dominant parties.

I have talked to people about this proposal. I usually get a stammering response. You can see in their faces their minds scrolling through a million-and-one reasons why such a proposal is oh-so-unfair to multi-million dollar TV and radio stations. These are the same TV and radio stations that operate and earn profits through the public licensing of the public air waves.

What part of “public” do people not understand? We the people – does that sound familiar? – need to require profitable TV and radio licenses used by media companies to allow our democracy access to free air time for federal candidates. Even conservatives would agree that democracy is not free, even for media conglomerates.

THE MONEY
Eliminating the need for candidates to pay for TV and radio advertisements literally frees up millions of dollars. What could society do with the money? Instead of paying for wasteful, counter-productive political commercials, we could feed starving people, house the homeless, and [fill-in your suggestion here].

Raising this issue and making people, including progressives, debate it is key. It’s never too late to start, either. The next election cycle begins Wednesday, November 5th. The topic could be “food for thought” beginning in November and December while we enjoy our holiday dinners with family and friends. What’s a little indigestion in support of democracy?

-- Rico Thomas Rico

____________



ADDENDUM: The editors at the Lansing State Journal failed to publish my response to the weekly policy question in today’s print and online edition of the newspaper. It should have been part of the “Talk About It” community panel discussion in the opinion section. The question and my response coincide with my discussion above.


LSJ’s Weekly “Talk About It” Question
What, if anything, should be done to make sure political advertisements are truthful?

My response – limited to 75 words – was the following:

We should end the 60-second political commercial. The TV and radio airwaves are owned by the public. As such, we should exert our right to give presidential candidates free TV time to speak to the public in minimum 30-minute time slots. In that manner, the candidates can have the opportunity to substantively address the issues and exhibit their character, including their truthfulness. This will significantly reduce the candidates' need to chase special-interest money through fundraising.

Check in Hand, Nowhere to Go

Just this one time I wish I had answered the phone.

A phone solicitor was asking for monetary contributions to the presidential campaign of a prominent U.S. Senator from a large Midwestern state. They needed money, I’m sure, for expensive TV ads to be broadcast over the public airwaves. These are the same ads that should, in actuality, cost little or nothing. (What part of “public” airwaves don’t we understand?)

Luckily, they got my wife on the phone.

It seems this particular U.S. Senator – who shall remain nameless for the sake of fairness – had the audacity of hope that we would donate to his campaign after he so rudely pulled out of the Michigan primary. He and a few other Dem candidates pulled out and promised not to campaign here. Of course, Mrs. Slick kept her name on the ballot. And Dennis Kucinich, like any good peacenik liberal with proper street cred, was running late and missed the deadline to pull out of the primary.

So now, the legislature must quickly peel out of their hunting clothes and pass some legislation to add all the names back on the ballot. Pass legislation? Yeah, right.

While we sit around waiting to see how it shakes out, please don’t send me any e-mail messages about how the Democratic Party is disenfranchising people by moving the primary up. For those who make this complaint, I need to remind them that they are already disenfranchised. Each and every time Iowa and New Hampshire leads the presidential election season – with their nonsensical claim to electoral superiority – you are disenfranchised. Usually by the time the primary reaches Michigan, the nominee is nearly locked up and the next thing you know a Michael Dukakis bumper sticker is on your vehicle.

I agree with Carl Levin, my former boss, the nomination choke-hold by Iowa and New Hampshire needs to end. The lead-off states should be rotated every four years to better reflect the make-up of the general population. Both parties would benefit by enabling us to make better decisions about the candidates. It’s all about democracy. Yeah, right.

I’ve got my checkbook out and an easy four-figure donation ready to go to a good candidate. But the candidate will be required to come to Michigan in person to get it. All I can do now is sit by the phone, turn on the TV, and watch “An Inconvenient Truth” while waiting for that good candidate to show up.

-- Rico Thomas Rico