Fun, politics and baseball
From Jen comes The Voting Time Warp spoof of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Think the Jib Jab stuff.
She also linked this game that is just addictive in a "this is so easy" kind of way. Umm....did I mention that I have work to do? The baseball game is good too. I'm talking on the phone...here's why I don't want to go back on my ADHD medication. When I was, I wasn't able to multi-task as effectively. (Perhaps its open to interpretation whether I'm effective now??)
What I really want to discuss is this alleged voter fraud going on in western Pa, (Meadville is where I went to college!) Ok, that little personal tibit aside, this is serious concern. The fact remains that most of these allegations right now are being made against the Republicans. (Ironically, despite these attempts, I heard today that Bush realized he has no chance in PA and is pulling his ads there to focus on...Ohio. Great...like we don't already have enough.) Despite this, I think that it's a problem with both parties rightnow, and groups supporting both candidates. Extremism is not unique to Republicans (it's just uglier on them...) ;-)
If I can (which may not be possible with my upcoming trial) I have a few plans for voting day. In Ohio, each party can have one "challenger" at each poll site to attempt to prevent individuals from voting under four specific grounds. The Democrats are going to have challengers only at lower income and minority areas. We fear/expect the Republicans to attempt to strike voters in these areas because they largely vote Democratic. In contrast, we do not plan to strike voters of our own. We are not going to largely Republican polling locations to strike voters we think would be more likely to vote Republican. Our sole goal is, when the Republican challenger strikes a potential voter, pull them out of the line (the concern is that the strikes will come at lunch or another busy time in attempt to essentially shut down the polling place while this is being dealt with) and make sure their claim is valid without preventing other voters from voting as quickly as possible. These challenges are all political. Even elections officials have said that challengers will slow down the voting by create longer lines. But the fact that this has to be done is really sad. (Oh, the reasons that someone can challenge a voter is simply to claim that they don't believe that you're old enough, a U.S. citizen or a resident of the precinct you're voting in. Not sure how you would know if they were a resident or not. Or a US citizen. It's not like they have tattoos.) Both parties say that they don't plan to strike people for the sake of striking them - but can you see how giving us this power is just a bad thing in general? Anyway, I was asked to be a striker.
Unless it's so far apart that it's obvious, this election is going to be contested due to this political mess. And here's my thing. The courts asked for this. Specifically, the Supreme Court asked for this. They stepped into politics in the last election and have turned elections into a court matter. It's not that I support it; I thought they compromised the courts and themself by doing so 4 years ago. But the fact is, they opened the door to this.
How does one now know their second cousin? Maybe it's because I'm Greek, but I can't fathom it. Nevertheless, I think it's hysterical that Bush's second cousins support Kerry for President. Their slogan is, Blood is thinner than oil. "Bush Relatives for Kerry grew out of a series of conversations that took place between a group of people that have two things in common: they are all related to George Walker Bush, and they are all voting for John Kerry." These are people who are EMBARASSED to be related to the president. (Me, I'm embarassed to have him as my president, so I understand their pain.) Some of the testimonals are dead on. "The mantra of 'You're either with us or against us' was certainly, as our president might say, decisive. However, what I sensed during these four years, for the first time in my life as an American, was the idea was that it wasn't O.K. for this country's citizens to debate the big issues facing us today."
The article discussing the website is found here.
Finally, baseball. WHY THEY HECK DID THEY BRING IN PEDRO?!? That might be the single biggest piece of jackassery that I've ever seen. Your (occasional) #1 pitcher was scheduled to start game 1 of the World Series, you are up by 7 runs, your starting pitcher was showing no signs of struggle or wear, he can't beat NY, he pitched Monday (so this is two days of rest) and probably now (pitching on Wednesday) he can't pitch again until...Monday. I even think Sunday is pushing it. So you've lost him until game 3 now (which is probably Tuesday, actually). Like I said, jackassery. To prove my point, he gives up two runs already. Idiots.
But let's assume, 3 outs into the future, that the Red Sox wins. Does the story become the Red Sox amazing come from behind win (which has never happened before) or is the story the Yankees collapse? Who will (or won't) Steinbrenner fire? (If Cashman is fired, anyway we can get him here in Cleveland?) Do they stick with Torre? Oh, I would LOVE to see Steinbrenner just go off.
She also linked this game that is just addictive in a "this is so easy" kind of way. Umm....did I mention that I have work to do? The baseball game is good too. I'm talking on the phone...here's why I don't want to go back on my ADHD medication. When I was, I wasn't able to multi-task as effectively. (Perhaps its open to interpretation whether I'm effective now??)
What I really want to discuss is this alleged voter fraud going on in western Pa, (Meadville is where I went to college!) Ok, that little personal tibit aside, this is serious concern. The fact remains that most of these allegations right now are being made against the Republicans. (Ironically, despite these attempts, I heard today that Bush realized he has no chance in PA and is pulling his ads there to focus on...Ohio. Great...like we don't already have enough.) Despite this, I think that it's a problem with both parties rightnow, and groups supporting both candidates. Extremism is not unique to Republicans (it's just uglier on them...) ;-)
If I can (which may not be possible with my upcoming trial) I have a few plans for voting day. In Ohio, each party can have one "challenger" at each poll site to attempt to prevent individuals from voting under four specific grounds. The Democrats are going to have challengers only at lower income and minority areas. We fear/expect the Republicans to attempt to strike voters in these areas because they largely vote Democratic. In contrast, we do not plan to strike voters of our own. We are not going to largely Republican polling locations to strike voters we think would be more likely to vote Republican. Our sole goal is, when the Republican challenger strikes a potential voter, pull them out of the line (the concern is that the strikes will come at lunch or another busy time in attempt to essentially shut down the polling place while this is being dealt with) and make sure their claim is valid without preventing other voters from voting as quickly as possible. These challenges are all political. Even elections officials have said that challengers will slow down the voting by create longer lines. But the fact that this has to be done is really sad. (Oh, the reasons that someone can challenge a voter is simply to claim that they don't believe that you're old enough, a U.S. citizen or a resident of the precinct you're voting in. Not sure how you would know if they were a resident or not. Or a US citizen. It's not like they have tattoos.) Both parties say that they don't plan to strike people for the sake of striking them - but can you see how giving us this power is just a bad thing in general? Anyway, I was asked to be a striker.
Unless it's so far apart that it's obvious, this election is going to be contested due to this political mess. And here's my thing. The courts asked for this. Specifically, the Supreme Court asked for this. They stepped into politics in the last election and have turned elections into a court matter. It's not that I support it; I thought they compromised the courts and themself by doing so 4 years ago. But the fact is, they opened the door to this.
How does one now know their second cousin? Maybe it's because I'm Greek, but I can't fathom it. Nevertheless, I think it's hysterical that Bush's second cousins support Kerry for President. Their slogan is, Blood is thinner than oil. "Bush Relatives for Kerry grew out of a series of conversations that took place between a group of people that have two things in common: they are all related to George Walker Bush, and they are all voting for John Kerry." These are people who are EMBARASSED to be related to the president. (Me, I'm embarassed to have him as my president, so I understand their pain.) Some of the testimonals are dead on. "The mantra of 'You're either with us or against us' was certainly, as our president might say, decisive. However, what I sensed during these four years, for the first time in my life as an American, was the idea was that it wasn't O.K. for this country's citizens to debate the big issues facing us today."
The article discussing the website is found here.
Finally, baseball. WHY THEY HECK DID THEY BRING IN PEDRO?!? That might be the single biggest piece of jackassery that I've ever seen. Your (occasional) #1 pitcher was scheduled to start game 1 of the World Series, you are up by 7 runs, your starting pitcher was showing no signs of struggle or wear, he can't beat NY, he pitched Monday (so this is two days of rest) and probably now (pitching on Wednesday) he can't pitch again until...Monday. I even think Sunday is pushing it. So you've lost him until game 3 now (which is probably Tuesday, actually). Like I said, jackassery. To prove my point, he gives up two runs already. Idiots.
But let's assume, 3 outs into the future, that the Red Sox wins. Does the story become the Red Sox amazing come from behind win (which has never happened before) or is the story the Yankees collapse? Who will (or won't) Steinbrenner fire? (If Cashman is fired, anyway we can get him here in Cleveland?) Do they stick with Torre? Oh, I would LOVE to see Steinbrenner just go off.
posted by -Me @ 10/20/2004 10:56:00 PM
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