Car Talk

It is a truth universally acknowledged, at least by me, that as soon as I have a comfortable monetary cushion on the right side of solvency, my car will inevitably develop a need for that very amount.  When I went downtown to pick up my Indian visa yesterday, I managed to park in a tow away zone and came back to find my car gone and 3 tow trucks hauling other unlucky cars off to the city impound lot.

I was at 6^th and Mission, and a diverse little spot it is—pawn shops, one advertising “gold teeth”—hope they’re buying not selling; porn shops, massage parlor, the Sharma Vi grocery store and the FuWar Chinese restaurant.  The Indian visa office is plunked right in the middle of all this, and has the same kind of iron gates to protect its glass at night as the other businesses on the street. 
 

The impound lot is at 7^th and Bryant, so I could walk to it. Although it was further downtown than I remembered and it was getting darker the closer I got to the very heart of darkness:  the Hall of Justice on Bryant, home of the southern police station and the criminal courts—by its very nature a criminal magnet.  Luckily the lot was between Harrison and Bryant so I stopped short of the HOJ.

There were several people in the waiting room so I thought I’d have to sit around for awhile but my number was called immediately.  I later realized the other people were waiting for someone to come down and give them some money to get their cars out of the lot.  I paid the enormous fee--$450-- to get my car back, and then walked through the darkening parking lot under the freeway. They assigned me a guide to the underworld to help me find my car. 

It felt like a scene from Blade Runner, with blinding bright lights at the entrance and gloom toward the back of the lot, and giant tow trucks rattling in the gate every 30 seconds with another vehicle.  My guide, his face hidden in the depths of his hoodie, informed me that he had escaped the city and moved to the east bay where seldom was heard a discouraging word from the parking forces that be. He hasn’t had a ticket since he moved there. 

I haven’t gotten a tow away ticket in 30 years myself. And, as the young cashier said, at least I could pay the money on the spot, and didn’t have to wait for someone to come and lend me cash.  Realistically, it just means that my credit card payment will be the minimum amount this month.  So, technically, I remain solvent.

 

Always look on the bri-i-ight si-i-de of life….

 

 

Politics Again

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

When the pundits say the Obama ground force was targeted, this is what they mean.

The organization was astounding.  New volunteeers were welcomed, signed up, name-tagged and trained in groups of 8 to 10 by more experienced volunteers.  Within half an hour they would be oriented and pointed toward the phone bank tables.  There were at least 150 people all day on weekends. Sometimes we had to wait a few minutes for another list to come our way, so many people were working.

Every phone bank volunteer was handed a list of approximately 20 names to call in a particular battleground state.  Every list contained information on each voter, including name, gender, party affiliation, how many times the name had been phoned before and the results of the phone call.  Results could be not home, wrong number, refuse to talk, deceased, already voted.  When we got a live person on the phone (we were not supposed to leave messages) we asked if they were supporting Obama, and marked how committed they were. 

The amazing thing to me was that the lists included the polling place for each voter, and every table had lists taped to the table of every battleground state's polling hours, required ID, number to call for a ride, number to call to report voting irregularities.
Every list included a script.

A few weeks ago, the scripts were more general and pretty much a fishing expedition.  How likely are you to vote for Obama?  are you willing to volunteer?  If the Undecideds were willing to chat, we could offer some reasons to vote for Obama from a list of his accomplishments and target them to the particular voter.  We would mention to young women, for example, the Lily Ledbetter act for equal pay, freedom to choose, inclusion on their parents' insurance policies until the age of 26, the expansion of the student grant program, the cleaning up the student bank loan boondoggle. To a middle-aged man, I mentioned the Detroit auto bailout as having noticeably worked.

The SF office was connected electronically at the hip to "Chicago." So everytime the Chicago team discovered a county that needed attention, they would instantly send us new scripts and new lists with those targets.   This explains why I talked to so many Latinos in Nevada, and so many African Americans in Ohio. Volunteers walked around collecting the complete phone lists, and handing out new ones. When a phone list was turned in, the results were entered into a computer   Some people brought their own laptops and entered data from the phone lists. All the "already voted"s and "deceased"s etc were removed from the list, and a new one generated.   Sometimes we'd have to wait ten minutes for a new script because there were so many volunteers using them.

Every time a volunteer talked to someone who was definitely going to vote for Obama, we got to ring a bell.  So satisfying!

On the day before and the day of the election, the scripts were designed to noodge anyone who hadn't voted to vote, and get them to commit to a time.   You're going after classes?  The polls are open till 7:30.  Do you need a ride? No, you can walk to your polling place?  Great.  You've already voted for Obama?  Wonderful!  Ding! Thank you.

There was food. Volunteers walked around handing out cups of water, pizza, bagels, baked goods.  There were extension cords and power strips for phone chargers.
More experienced volunteers helped the newbies.  People were engaging and cheery on the phones.  Frankly, I was amazed that anyone would even talk to us.  I haven't answered my own phone at home for 2 months.

I drove by the campaign headquarters yesterday and the whole operation was cleaned up, with only red, white and blue balloons floating outside as a sign that anything had gone on there.  I really hate to see this organization shut down.  It's a powerful tool.

Halloween

Watching the World Series parade on tv—no way will I join 1 million Giants fans lined up along Market Street, with another gigantic crowd waiting at Civic Center since 5 AM. Everyone is in very high spirits, as has the whole city been for the past 3 days. I can’t believe how much orange clothing items have been hauled out of storage for this; all over the city the most ordinary citizens are sporting orange shoes, scarves, turtlenecks, hats and of course every imaginable item of Giants merchandise. 

This must be why all those people were lined up around the atrium outside the Giants Dugout store at Stonestown Mall on Monday--they were picking up some items to wear or wave at the parade.  Nice that it’s Halloween and all the orange and black gear can morph right into Halloween costumes. 
 

The team members drive by in open convertibles, which still makes me very nervous to watch.  I’m impressed with how young they are, and of course, how cute.  A big difference from the 2010 team, many of whom Barb Brown said were reminiscent of Dog the Bounty Hunter.  My favorite today is Sergio Romo who’s not only sporting, but drawing the crowd’s attention to, his great t-shirt which says “I just look illegal.” Love it.

 

 

 

 

Politics

 

I made some phone calls for Obama last week.  Most of the few people who answered their phones on what must have been an outstandingly beautiful day in Colorado were, luckily, Democrats.  However, toward the end of my 2-hour shift, I got a live Libertarian on the phone.  and was he pissed!  He ranted about too much regulation paralyzing business, that businesses were not creating jobs right now till they saw how the election was going to go.  Same with banks: they weren't lending in case Obama got re-elected.  I put in my 2 cents:  that too little regulation is what got us into the worst recession since the Great Depression, that business, the airlines, the utility companies simply will not regulate themselves.   Big businesses were sending our jobs overseas, not creating more here in the US.  And generous tax cuts for the rich have had zero effect on job creation; they're all just sitting on their cash.

It became clear that the poor guy was about to have apoplexy on the spot, so I broke into his raving and said "So, I guess I'll put you down as a no, right?"  I think he wanted to yell some more, but I'd had my fill and said goodbye. Then hung up. If you say goodbye they can't accuse you of hanging up on them.  

There is a lot of anger out there; no point in adding to it.