Americans on my flist:

[emmagrant01]

In case you haven't seen this, please check it out. And PLEASE pass it on to everyone you know.

We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce — on the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate — that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present and future daughters. To date, she is against a woman's right to choose, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she repeatedly brought up the question of banning books), gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears.

We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and all together devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and that we've so demonstrably benefited from.

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.

Therefore, we invite you to reply here with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation.

Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence.

We will post your responses on a blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin," which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please send us your reply at your earliest convenience-the greater the volume of responses we receive, the stronger our message will be.

Thank you for your time and action.

VIVA!

Sincerely,

Quinn L. and Lyra K.
New York, NY
womensaynopalin@gmail.com

Women Against Sarah Palin

In a little over a week, they got a huge response:

On Wednesday, September 3, we sent out an email to 40 friends and colleagues asking them to respond to Sarah Palin's candidacy as Vice President of the United States. They forwarded the letter to their friends across America. To date, we have received more than 100,000 responses from women of all ages and backgrounds. Below are their voices.

Go add yours, if you're so inclined.

Comments

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Done. Thanks for the link. :-)

[daisy-chan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing this out, Emma. I'll be sure to add mine to the pile.

I'm still reeling from learning that during her administration, women had to pay for their own rape kits. W.T.F.

[joesther.livejournal.com]

I can't vote in this country (yet; I'm working on it), but if I have your permission, I'd like to repost or link to this (you tell me which you prefer, if you are okay with it) in my LJ.

ETA: Oops, just saw your plea to pass it on to everyone I know. Will do. Thanks.

[qurinas.livejournal.com]

This is driving me fucking nuts!

Gah.

The poll bump from her is nuts.

Like I said before, only the Democrats could lose this election. *sighs* They need to stop being wusses and campaign negatively.

I hate it, it sucks, but negative campaigns win elections. Obama has sold out enough on his positions, I can't see it really hurting his crand that much. It could be zero if done right.

At least he took the liberal 527s off the leash. Another evil, but if the Republicans are using them, it is dumb not to until they are banned.

[lunalovepotter.livejournal.com]

I am SO there. Thanks for the link!

[capra-maritimus.livejournal.com]

I'd love to, if I were an American. As it is, our own election is tending toward the conservative as well. :P:P:P

[garlicfiend.livejournal.com]

and polar bears.

While I wasn't aware that polar bears were a specific plank on the feminist platform... how can you be against polar bears? They walk around in places where there are no people eating other wildlife and having cute babies. WTF?

It's late and I may be not reading things right but...

[sciencegeek.livejournal.com]

how can you be against polar bears?

Apparently if you're Palin you can be - putting them on the threatened species list threatens the oil and gas development in Alaska, and you sue the government

[romaine24.livejournal.com]

Thanks Emma! I just spent some time reading some of the letters. It appears that ARPA is out in full force. The majority of the letters I've read were from women in their 60s, 70s and 80s, which I think is terrific. They know what we are about to lose.

[ladymorgana13.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this. I just forwarded it to everyone in my address book, of all genders. Just talking about her puts me into a rage.

[lynnette-lacy.livejournal.com]

You're fools if you think any politician represents the American people anymore. It's all hidden agenda, manipulation, and head games. Face it, the government is not trustworthy. Good, upstanding citizens no longer go into politics because they are crushed by the snakes and sharks. All we have less to choose from is the pond scum.

This election (like every election in this century) is about choosing the lesser of two evils. And let's please be less melodramatic and remember that the executive branch is but one of three branches of government. Face it, even if she did become vice-president or (god forfend) president. She does not have the POWER to MAKE LAW! What people should TRULY be concerned about is the legislature. It's the senators and the representatives that are enacting law that is harming our economy and our country.

The president of the United States is ONE man (or woman, but hopefully not for a long long time) and his powers are enumerated in the Constitution! One person alone will not be ABLE to destroy this country.

Vote in the senate races for god's sake if you're really concerned about how the country is run!

[ice-is-blue.livejournal.com]

To date, she is against a woman's right to choose, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she repeatedly brought up the question of banning books), gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears.

*wonders why the major US news media can't put it as plainly as that*

Then, again, they are the US news media.

*shakes head in dismay at her country*

Re: It's late and I may be not reading things right but...

[garlicfiend.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I do recall hearing about that, though I didn't realize Palin was involved. How dare those polar bears live in sensitive environments on top miniscule oil deposits which will make domestic oil companies millions of dollars but do nothing to solve our own energy problems! Obviously, they are Russian polar bears sent across the ice cap to sabotage our energy developement!

[prilbrum.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I will certainly sign and send along.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

One person alone will not be ABLE to destroy this country.

You know, I used to believe that. But the last eight years of George W. Bush changed my mind. If you don't think who is in the White House matters, then YOU are the fool, I'm afraid.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Thanks for passing it on!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

It's interesting, isn't it?

Re: It's late and I may be not reading things right but...

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Yep, this. :-P

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Yikes!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

:-D

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Obama definitely seems to have lost some steam lately. I hope to hell he gets it back soon.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Thanks for passing it on!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

The idea of someone that conservative (far more than W from what I can tell) being a heartbeat from the Presidency cares the shit out of me!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

:-)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I totally agree.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

*nods*

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

:-D

[http://users.livejournal.com/_houdinilogic_/]

As a European grad student of Political Science I get all the frustration but none of the voting rights...yes, I'm backing you fully on this one. Remember millions of people on the other side of the pond are with you when it comes to willing the Democrats in power - I hope that makes for a mental backing if nothing else.

I could say a lot more about Palin's mechanisms but you wouldn't want to hear any of it. Let's just say I don't believe any of the opinion polls so long as it's not November yet.

I love your icon

[just-meeh-here.livejournal.com]

If I applied for a job and didn't know what it did, I would not expect to get that job. Now I am sure that MOST Americans dont know what a vice prez does, I mean really most of us can't name all the states, but shouldn't she as a governor should know BEFORE jumping into the race.

Also, the biggest cause for debate is the on going war. She was quoted saying that she had not given much thought to it. What the hell is that. I do not know anyone personally that is over there right now. But I have given it some thought. I have done research. I know my position on it. This is a war that her son is in!

I dont care how many times it is said, I will not vote for someone because we share reproductive features. We have already had eight years of global embarrassment. We do not need four more. And that is the LEAST of the reasons I am not voting for the Republican ticket.

[girlthatsaidno.livejournal.com]

I wish I could vote in this election but I still have to wait 5 more years to become a citizen (I legally immigrated to US when I was 16 and I will be 32 by the time I am a citizen. Immigration system is a black hole that plays with peoples lives but that's another story). I am trying to persuade anyone and everyone around me to vote democrat. Since, I live in VA any vote really does count. I am horrified at the thought that Sarah Palin might actually become president. If people do vote in McCain, I decided that I will seriously re-evaluate my decision to stay in the US. Australia looks pretty good right now. Or, I can always go back to Europe where people actually believe in science.

*Frustrated*

[lynnette-lacy.livejournal.com]

George Bush never acted alone. The first task of a president is to appoint their cabinet. People who work in the area of the government and advise them on what actions to take.

And I would like to point out that we didn't start having real problems until 2006. And what happened in 2006? The Democrats took control of the legislature.

What charges do you lay at his door?
Are you mad we went to war? We took down a dictator who was killing his own people. What's wrong with that?

The war is the only thing people seem to think about. What else has he done wrong?

Give me a break. The whole reason the colonies separated from the United Kingdom was because the government wanted to control them too much. One man, the King, had too much power over people he really didn't understand.

That's why our system of government is the way it is. It's called checks and balances. The three branches work together and against each other so that not one group of people have all the power.

Both the candidates suck! There is nothing we can do about it! It's a choice of the lesser of two evils. Frankly, I'm sick of hearing about it!

All I can do is hope that whoever gets in won't change the country too much for the worse in four years and that we can recover and have better choices next time.

Of COURSE the presidency matters, but I am saying that it will not be the end of the world no matter who wins. It will SUCK either way!

[lynnette-lacy.livejournal.com]

Yeah but in Australia, you have to more careful about the HP slash.

Is it really worth it?

[girlthatsaidno.livejournal.com]

Wow. You are right, totally forgot about that. There really is nowhere to go. The world is all gone crazy. *Sigh*

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

And I would like to point out that we didn't start having real problems until 2006.

LOL! Oh wait -- are you serious? If that's really what you think, no wonder we aren't in agreement here.

I believe politics matter. I believe voting matters. I believe single candidates can make a difference, and I've seen it happen at every level.

I'm truly sorry you're so cynical about our system of government. I imagine it must make watching politics all the more frustrating for you.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

A few weeks ago, I posted this:

I will not risk my reproductive freedom or my personal health to have
Sarah Palin at the Naval Observatory. I will not risk having
creationism taught in schools' science classes to have Sarah Palin at
the Naval Observatory. I will not put polar bears at risk to have
Sarah Palin at the Naval Observatory. I will not put the idea of equal
pay for equal work to have Sarah Palin at the Naval Observatory. I
will not agree that marriage should only be between a man and a woman
to have Sarah Palin at the Naval Observatory. I will not support
drilling in ANWAR or off the shores of Florida when the benefits are
so small and so far away to have Sarah Palin at the Naval Observatory.

It turned into this:


Emma, thank you for plugging the WomenAgainstPalin project. It's an important thing to do for the sake of our country!

And then!!!!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

She was quoted saying that she had not given much thought to it. What the hell is that.
And then! On September 11 when her son was heading off to Iraq with his unit she linked Iraq and 9/11, which is something the Bush administration hasn't even tried to do in over two years.

Was she knowingly linking two things that are not actually linked, which would be bad and violative of the "bear false witness" part of the Ten Commandments, or did she actually not know that there's no link?

Because the latter is scarier.

[lynnette-lacy.livejournal.com]

*big sigh*
Incredibly