Terrorcotta Warriors, While Supplies Last!

Well, terracotta fever has struck Atlanta, what with the opening of The First Emperor exhibit at the High Museum just a couple of days ago.

As a result, we are pleased to be able to offer this limited edition, more-than-life-size set of our very own Bush administration terracotta figurines - the terrorcotta warriors, as we like to call them.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you to purchase the complete set of 6, including Alberto (Torture Boy) Gonzales, Condoleezza (Condi) Rice, George W. (Dubyah) Bush, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Donald (Rummy) Rumsfeld, and, of course, the Emperor himself, Richard (Dick) Cheney.

Act now and you will receive, as a bonus, a kneeling Michael ("Heck of a Job, Brownie") Brown statuette - a favorite with the kids and among the New Orleans, Louisiana diaspora community.

This collection makes for a wonderful holiday gift and will be a particularly welcome fixture at the celebrations accompanying the inauguration of President Barack Obama in January. It's the kind of personal treasure that you can enjoy yourself and ultimately pass on to your children, or that you can - as with the original terracotta army of the Qin dynasty - bury in some undisclosed location with the hope that no one will see hide nor hair them for 2,000 years. The choice is up to you.

Order on-line at our secure website. Keep in mind, these guys are history!

Victory Lap for the Obama Obicycle

Thanks to my friend and fellow bicycle advocate, Sara Fuchs, she I and the Obama Obicycle were strategically positioned at the election night party at Manuel's Tavern. Among the revelers and news hounds snapping our picture was Jessica McGowan of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, who got a photo of me with the bike included in this Atlanta Reacts Tuesday photo-stream (number 23, last time I checked).

Although work for the campaign is thankfully done, I decided to outfit the Obicycle with a last celebratory sign and do a victory lap or two around intown Atlanta. It will be a fitting tribute to the Obicycle before it's retired at the end of the week.

Congratulations to us all for being part of this historic victory!

Also, very special congratulations go out to my niece Hilary and her husband Javier who welcomed their new daughter, Luna Eden Fernandez, into this world last night at the exact moment polls were closing on the East Coast, making her, perhaps, this nation's first Obama Obaby.

Yes we did!

Obama Obicycle to the Obarricades

We should distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes. - Henry David Thoreau

I guess I'm just going to have to disagree with Henry David on this one. Tomorrow is election day and if the Obama Obicycle stays dressed up as a partisan campaign counter-puncher then any area within 150 feet of a polling place would become a no-fly zone, so to speak.

So it's back to fair-and-balanced, stealth operating mode for me. That way I can let people know that there is a non-partisan hot line number for them to call (1-866-687-8683) and a website to visit (www.866OurVote.org), if they encounter any resistance while trying to cast their ballots. These resources are offered gratis, thanks to the hard work of folks at the Election Protection coalition. (A big thank-you goes out to Nettie Bernard for putting me on to this wonderful organization!)

Your polling place opening late or closing early? Then give 1-866-OUR-VOTE (same as the number above) a call. Faulty equipment or voting machines there? Do likewise. Challenged because of lack of photo ID or mix-up on the registration rolls? They can help. If the circumstances warrant, and if one is available, an election protection volunteer will be dispatched to your precinct to try to resolve the problem.

One thing to keep in mind according to the experts at Election Protection,

Provisional ballots are a LAST resort because they will only be counted if the county clerk can verify your registration status before the election is certified.

So it is a priority is to find a way to vote coventionally or by paper ballot, if at all possible.

We all have come this far with registration and campaigning. Now it's time to make sure that our precious votes - and those of our our friends and neighbors - are counted.

Please, share this information with anyone who may need a hand tomorrow.

Obama Obicycle a Witness for Hope in Georgia

It's been particularly fun tooling around town on the Obama Obicycle in the run-up to Tuesday's election. The excitement here is truly palpable, and, as recent riding companions Joy Rousso and Chester Perry can attest, you can't travel far with the Obicycle without being greeted by the honking of a friendly car horn or a proudly raised arm sporting a big upturned thumb. Chants of "Oh-Bah-Mah" are not uncommon, as well.

So what does all this mean for the Peach State? Is Georgia likely to cast its electoral votes for Barack Obama?

I've been asked this question a number of times while out on my bike - both in its deceptively-bipartisan, under-the-radar, register-to-vote costume and in unabashed, taking-the gloves-off, fully-partisan campaign regalia.

I always answer frankly. "No, it's a long-shot," I say, trying to suppress my heartfelt disdain for the Electoral College system.

[People who get upset about how votes for president are counted should keep in mind that, in considering each and every piece of legislation that comes before the U. S. Senate, the voices of the people of Wyoming - population 522,830 (2007 estimate) - weigh in on a par with those of the people of California - population 36,553,215. We are cursed with this echo of the Electoral College every day of the year.]

But I also remind them that a strong turnout for Obama in this state puts Democratic Senate candidate Jim Martin in striking distance of upsetting Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss, a George W. Bush yes-man, if there ever was one. This is an outcome that no one considered even a remote possibility as recently as two months ago.

More importantly - the Electoral College be damned - the votes for Obama will count, if he wins the election, however Georgia commits itself in the official constitutional tally. What I mean by this is that the Georgians who cast their ballots for Obama will feel as if they have genuinely contributed to his election and, as a result, will see themselves - some for the very first time and others for the first time in years - to be part of an revitalized progressive political process in this state and in our nation.

This is the hope that an Obama victory brings to traditionally-red states, such as Georgia. This is why I believe that a Georgia vote for an Obama victory will count, no matter what. This is a change that I can believe in, because it's happening right in front of me, right now.