These last few days have been sort of exciting, in a morbid sort of way. This past Saturday, the news broke that Justice Antonin Scalia had died in his sleep at a Texas Hunting park. And I gotta say, I wasn't sad about it. In fact, I pretty much was psyched. Not that I'd typically relish in another person's - any person's - demise. But this wasn't just anybody. This was Justice Scalia. A guy I could pretty much count on despising and disagreeing with any time I heard him speak on a decision, or simply in a 5 second snippet on NPR. He was about as conservative (and unreasonable) as they come, and he'd been doing it for 30 years or so. And remarkably, one of the first voices to speak out, was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying, essentially, that with over 10 months to go in his term, Obama should NOT send the Senate a nominee - that he should leave that for his successor. And that if he DID propose a nominee to replace Scalia, the Senate would NOT hold a hearing, and there would be no vote until after the new POTUS is sworn in.

But I got to thinking, (with the help of some NPR commentators), if the Senate drags its heals enough, they may start to see the blue state republican senators currently up for re-election start to face increasing risk of losing their seat, if their constituents start getting fed up that they're stonewalling the process. And maybe McConnell takes it too far, and finally gives in and we get a nice moderate to replace Scalia, and the GOP loses enough seats anyway, that the Dems get back the Senate, keep the oval office, and a walk away with a badly needed shift to the left in the Supreme Court.

So I've been listening a little more inteently to the radio on my commute to DHMC yesterday and today, and I feel this excitement in the air, with Bernie's humongous win in NH last week, and the numbers of people that are coming out for both Bernie and Hillary, and all the college students, and HS students, even MS students (my own 2 Bernie supporters), and it's starting to feel like 2008, with all the excitement in the air.

 And tonight, checking my email, I get this one:

It's Sara El-Amine, from BarackObama.com. I've seen her name pop up countless times on my inbox. But, in all honesty, I haven't really paid much attention to her of late. Or any of the other political emails I've gotten inundated with ever since 2008 when I enthusiastically signed up for all these mailing lists. I used to try and read them. But back before the 2008 election, the last part of just about every email morphed into an appeal for a contribution. And I made a LOT of those in 2008. Even to the "D Triple C". I bought Artists For Obama posters from OFA's website. Back then, I think OFA stood for Obama for America. He had his little red and white farm furrow logo with the sun coming up. And all this momentum swelling. And me and a million others making phone calls, writing letters, going to rallies. And then he won. And I bought stuff from the official election store to celebrate (and maybe make some money on it some day). And I think somewhere in there, OFA changed to Organizing For Action. But if you didn't follow it all closely, it all sort of blended together - OFA, BarackObama.com, DCCC, ActBlue, all of it. One big sort of machine that seemed to be born of the 2008 election cycle.

And the appeals for campaign money before the election turned into appeals for other causes, environmental, health, torture, arms, economy, abortion, and on and on. The issues seemed limitless, the need for money unbounded. And so often, it started with a petition drive. Just like the petitions/$ appeals from 30 years ago that came in the US Mail. "Do you care about this issue? Do you care enough to sign your name and send this back to us to pass on to so and so? since you're such a caring citizen, wouldn't you please give just a little $, to prove you care. We really could use your $ now."

30 years ago, in college, I did send $5 and $10 checks to the NRDC, and PETA, and Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. And that transitioned to political candidates by the 2000s. I think I never really lost that idealistic dream, that sense that I could, and "we" could make a difference, if we just raised our voices together. But the deluge of variations on that petition/solicitation theme eventually made me jaded and calloused. It was just too much. And I tuned out. Never un-subscribed, but over time it became easier to just delete the messages/appeals before even reading them.

But tonight I wanted to read it. Tonight, I saw what looked like a statement coming right from the president himself. From BarackObama.com himself.

I think it was probably the first message from Sarah El-Amine this week, and here it is Tuesday already. So they must've taken some time to think this one through. Each sentence would be carefully thought out and packed with meaning, and maybe there would be a powerful blow against Mitch McConnell in there somewhere (the loser!). So I opened the email, and read it with interest.

And here's what I read:

OK, there that nifty logo thingy, good - it's official. It's the man talking here.
And this is good, "we learned of the passing". Yes, nice.
Second sentence - um...wow! Really, you wanna go there already? But ok, it's a sort ofbackhanded compliment, passion, dedication, and it is true, we didn't "always" (more like didn't "ever" - but that's the diplomat in him). Ok, so far so good.

Um.. yeah. But it's kind of a 4 to 4 tie now, which is a helluva lot better than the 5:4 right-leaning court we had up until Friday. But yeah, if we could actually get a nominee we want heard and approved and voted in, that would be best.

"Shockingly" - hmm, kinda strong, and to be honest, not really, right? I mean, after that racist bastard's comments about dedicating himself to ensuring Obama didn't get re-elected to a 2nd term, the only thing shocking about this was McConnell was on the air before Scalia's body was even cold yet. But yeah, I'll go with "shockingly". It probably played good for the test audiences. And it does call it like it is. I mean, let's not pull our punches with McConnell - he's a prick.

But oh yeah, this isn't Obama's words - almost got misled there. This is Sarah El-Amine, speaking for Obama...right? Or is she speaking for BarackObama.com? Or...Organizing for Action?? Um...how does this all work? And she's just making a statement, right? Like earnest Josh Earnest making a statement, right? And she's not gonna like, hit me up for money...is she?

Ok, what else?

Oh shit. A petition. Well, come on, you knew that was coming, Chris. These emails are our calls to action. They're not just going to make a statement like a press secretary. This is the internet. This is emails, and hyperlinks, and the technological magic of stored credit card information. So should I read the rest of the email? Or should I press the hyperlink and "sign this petition now", as I'm being instructed.

I pushed the button. I signed the petition. I DO support a "fair nomination...." yes, yes, yes, I do all of that. I'll sign this petition. Then I'll go back and read the rest of that email.

 What? What's thi-? Oh, right. How could I be so naive? It's a petition to a request for $. I knew that was coming. It always comes. But this isn't Obama now anymore, is it? But there's his logo. But is this OFA now? But isn't that BarackObama.com? And isn't he the president? I mean, he must own BarackObama.com, right? If anyone can, it would be him. But why's he asking me for money? Isn't this a sort of conflict of interest? I mean, I know he and McConnell are not on the same page, but can the sitting pres, outright raise money from the public to do battle with the Senate Majority Leader? Shouldn't that be the job of some henchman, and POTUS keeps his hands clean?

And what's that at the top? ActBlue LLC? Um...this doesn't look that much like Obama, the Man, anymore. It looks like a third-party fundraising organization has been hired to pull in the bucks, and they get to use the farm field logo to do it. Kinda sketchy if you ask me.

Um..."Most people are giving $15"? Really? With a yellow highlighter?? Geez, I better do at least as much as "Most people", or else someone might be watching how much I give. I mean, they're watching "Most people", so they'll probably be watching me too. So I can get shamed into a donation, and feel a little paranoia along with it. Awesome!

Oh - "Express Donate", cause you guys really need this fast if it's gonna help keep the Supreme Court out of the hands of the crazy right wingers. And how nice - they already have my card on file. I don't even have to dig it out of my pants pocket. Now that's what I call user friendly. Weird that "most people" give $15 when the other options are all higher. I wonder if it was formatted like this beFORE "most people" gave $15, and people just picked the lowest option? Or if $15 used to be a middle of the road choice, and then the web lackeys shifted amounts so that $15 was the very lowest, and people could get guilted into "giving" more. Hmm... what's the rest say?

 So it is ActBlue, and they're independent, right? or not? Does OFA own them? Seems like a lot of cooks in the kitchen. And of course, each has to get their own piece of the pie.

Ok, let's do $15. It's just one time, right? And I don't want to be in the next round of statistics as the one guy who wasn't like "most people". She-yet, they might put my picture in the paper or on the website or something.

Yikes! That's a little scary. Did Obama choose that? This is all condoned by Obama, right? I mean, it's his website, or websites and everything, right?
Hmmm, "become an OFA Champion". I wanna do that. But I'm already doing like $5/month to ActBlue, for some other political cause from last year - I just never got around to stopping it. Just autodeducts from my CC each month. No, not gonna do the regular contribution thing, gonna "skip for now.

Tip? What?? No, I'm not leaving a f-ing tip! For what, just so you can squeeze a little bit more $ out of me? Wait a minute, if "most people" give 15%, either you're tip scheme isn't working, or else people are giving, like $13.64 as their "other amount", and then giving you a 10% tip, to get them close to $15. Sumfin's not right here.

Ok, yeah. It's suckin' the money outta my credit card now. Hope the bank doesn't flag it for fraud and make me wait 4 days for a replacement card.

 Ok, Barack. You got my money. You always have had my support. Oh, wait, it's still ActBlue. Or is it OFA? I can't tell where one stops and the next starts. How do I get back to Sarah??

 

 Ohhh - I can see my contribution history. Maybe THAT will make me want to give more. But forget anything happening any time soon. I'm feeling really burned out on this process now. Can't remember if I had an email I was reading.

 Ok, here's my receipt, good. I'll try to keep that. For tax purposes. ;- D.
Donated to OFA, but the last page says, "Paid for by ActBlue" so what's going on - who runs what?

I want to believe that intentions from most people are good, and that there's at least a genuine intent to use donations to make the country better for all. But this was a little too slick. Especially towards the end. I'm still wanting to get back and finish that email from my friend, Sarah, that started this whole thing. I want to feel that enthusiasm and youthful drive again, in the arts, in the candidates, in the supporters, and in myself. The way it drove Manifest Hope. The way it drove MeetUp back during the Dean Campaign.  Now, the asking for money thing is so ubiquitous, that it sort of corrupts the message. It's too much to process and keep the original meaning. They might get a little less money if they backed off the heavy handed requests, but they might get a whole lot more true(r) believers.

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meteorological
rigel - earth's orbit
smow melt to freeze means skate rink
leaving too much info for our children to have to deal with.