I'm on a strike team. I'm not 100% sure what this means because I try to avoid labor law like I do my worthless piece of an uncle, but sure enough, someone is going on strike tomorrow at midnight, and I am on the five person strike team. The reasonable question might be why I'm scare of strikers and unions. Well, the answer is simple. When I was an impressionable summer associate in New York City, who was already too friendly for the likes of NYC and called "midwest" all summer long, our firm took us to MoMA for a social event. The museum was closed and we had a reception, etc. Meanwhile, the employees at the museum were on strike. When they learned that my lawfirm was going to MoMA for a reception, they were out in full gear. They had squirt guns (not a major issue, but they weren't filled with water. Not piss either, so get your mind out of there. I wasn't sprayed by them, but I was told that it was vinegar) and a huge inflatable rat named "Ratterman" (a play on the lead partner's name). That was all ok. The screaming, the chants and the blowhorns and noisemakers and their little kids out there holding signs were intimidating, but ok. No, the part that scarred me forever from unions and strikes was that as the 84 summer associates walked on by, they starting throwing EGGS at us. EGGS. We were just a bunch of law students, all dressed up for this event, getting eggs thrown at us. It was disgusting. So I am scared of unions. Especially with me as the person taking affidavits to go file with the court? What am I going to get thrown at me when I'm actually working? Ugh! (You can read about our event here (second story down) but they (for some crazy reason) don't mention the eggs...)

(Remind me to later tell the rest of the story, where we ended up at some bar and prostitutes stole my purse.)

Other points of interets to me this evening, Matthew is writing a article on "the recent proliferation of laws that allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraception if they find that morally or religiously objectionable." This troubling subject caused Matt to ponder the subject as well. Both have made excellent points. As have those commenting about the subject. Go on and give them a read. It's quite possibly the most interesting intellectual discourse I've seen in a while. I won't sum it up for you; go read their posts and comments. You'll learn a lot, I promise.

And speaking of learning a lot, Angry Girl has posted 20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA, WITH citations, that are guaranteed to raise your blood pressure. It starts with the fact that 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S and ends with the fact that serious voting anomalies in Florida -- always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation. The other 18 are just as irritating. Important. Check it out. I think what it comes down to is a feeling that it can't be trusted. When people can't trust that their votes are being properly counted or are not subject to fraud, there is a problem. I'll post the 20 Facts here but go check out her original one for all the supporting citations:

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of General Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (There is a movie of it actually occurring).

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.

18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.

Finally, on The Amazing Race (yes, I'm addicted), I'll just repeat my weekly mantra that Jonathan is the most evil person ever. I liked the father/daughter, but they weren't able to really compete. But seriously, Jonathan just has to leave. If he wins I'll be disgusted. He so abuses his wife, Victoria. I'm worried that one of these times he's going to go off and hit her on camera.

Oh! Speaking of reality tv shows, the big news at our office today is that one of the plaintiff's lawyers in town that we deal with a lot is on the next edition of Survivor. Some are guessing that she is the first of the 20 booted off. I've never actually dealt with her, but I've heard stories. Though what she is as opposing counsel may not have anything to do with what she would be on Survivor. I will say this though: she is friends with Bitch Counsel from this past summer. Still, it's kinda cool, so I do actually wish her luck.