Civic duty

A friend lectured me sternly about my duty to vote in this mid-term primary, pointing to a judicial election that can make a big difference. So I went online, found out where my polling place was, and voted after work.

It is much harder to vote in New Mexico than in California. In California I received notices of my polling places, sample ballots, forms to request absentee ballots, analyses of all propositions, etc. We used to vote in several locations, depending on the size of the election, but we always knew where.

In New Mexico I have to dig it up myself. Voter information here sucks. Thank God for the internet. They do post the information online. In fact, you can even see which elections I have voted in as my record is online.

I confess, I spend so much time tracking national and international politics that I give scant attention to local politics. I know they are vital but that is not where I budget my time.

Work was one of those "double Mondays" that follow a three-day weekend. Non-stop calls. After a voting I came home and had a stiff drink, chilled, did one load of laundry, napped, and tossed this bit of fluff out just so y'all know I'm alive. I also have a noticeably darker tan after yesterday's outing.

Sweet dreams.

--the BB

Colorado residents - voter alert!

The company charged with sending out absentee ballots failed to send out over 5% of the mail-in ballots requested in Denver. The story is here.

NearDenver writes:

Any Colorado voter who has already signed up for a mail-in ballot but has not received one, should immediately contact your county clerk's office to verify the status.

You can also check the status of your mail-in ballot online using the following link at the Colorado Secretary of State Elections Center

One voter I know who used the Secretary of State's website last week discovered he was not signed up for a mail-in ballot even though he thought he was! This can easily happen in Colorado because if you do not check the box for a permanent mail-in ballot, they will only send one for a single election cycle. If that cycle has come and gone, you will not receive a mail-in ballot again for this current election without requesting one again.

Please vote in Colorado via a mail-in ballot or during early voting. Do not wait until the likely long lines or other problems that may arise on election day.

Thought you should know. Pass the word to friends and family in Colorado.
--the BB

If you live in NC or TX you need to know this before voting

There are dangers involved in voting straight Democratic ticket and they are different in the two states. Just go read about it here. Make a mistake and your vote may not count.
--the BB

This time last cycle

There was talk of Bush's anger during the debate. Now it's angry McCain. Four more years?

Ron [Fournier], AP: "As he fought to keep his emotions in check in a testy, personal debate with Sen. John Kerry, the president asserted 'That answer almost made me scowl.'... Several answers brought Bush's emotions to the surface, for better or worse, as he sought to curb Kerry's momentum.... Bush was the most aggressive, at one point overrunning moderator Charles Gibson's attempt to pose a question.."

From thirdparty's diary of 10/9/2004

Lest we get cocky, consider this:

Consensus in last night's debate is summed up in this headline on Bloomberg News:

Bush Fails to Stem Kerry Momentum in Second Debate, Polls Show

On October 10, 2004, we get this from Hoffmania:

Y'know - this is fine for judging talkshow hosts, baseball players and sizing up real potential friends. But call me nuts - I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to have a beer with my president. I want them brighter than me, smarter than me, classier than me.

Oh, yeah. I also want my president to be more sober than me. I'm just crazy that way.

Why is this still a valid question in the eyes of the press?

How about this tidbit from the Washington Post on 10/10/2004?

For Marines, a Frustrating Fight
Some in Iraq Question How and Why War Is Being Waged
By Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 10, 2004; Page A01

ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq -- Scrawled on the helmet of Lance Cpl. Carlos Perez are the letters FDNY. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York, the Pentagon and western Pennsylvania, Perez quit school, left his job as a firefighter in Long Island, N.Y., and joined the U.S. Marine Corps.

"To be honest, I just wanted to take revenge," said Perez, 20.

Now, two months into a seven-month combat tour in Iraq, Perez said he sees little connection between the events of Sept. 11 and the war he is fighting. Instead, he said, he is increasingly disillusioned by a conflict whose origins remain unclear and frustrated by the timidity of U.S. forces against a mostly faceless enemy.

"Sometimes I see no reason why we're here," Perez said. "First of all, you cannot engage as many times as we want to. Second of all, we're looking for an enemy that's not there. The only way to do it is go house to house until we get out of here."

Perez is hardly alone. In a dozen interviews, Marines from a platoon known as the "81s" expressed in blunt terms their frustrations with the way the war is being conducted and, in some cases, doubts about why it is being waged. The platoon, named for the size in millimeters of its mortar rounds, is part of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment based in Iskandariyah, 30 miles southwest of Baghdad.

More on debating and campaigning, this time a Daily Kos diary from DemFromCT:

Well, there's the new confidence amongst Dems that Kerry is moving up. You can see it in the way Friday's debate and this week's campaign is framed. As noted before, Kerry thinks it's October and is running to the middle and going after weak Bush and undecided swing voters while Bush is still, after all these months, shoring up his base and trying to make the election about Kerry, not about him. Kerry goes positive, in other words, while Bush goes negative.

This article by John Edwards was in the Windy City Times:

It was almost six years ago that we learned the name Matthew Shepherd. We might someday have learned about how this bright, kind and compassionate man contributed to our country. But we learned Matthew Shepard’s name because of the terrible way he was killed on Oct. 12, 1998.

We still remember the fence where Matthew died. His brutal murder opened our country’s eyes to the hatred and violence that many gays and lesbians endure. Yet here we are, almost six years later, with a president who refuses to support legislation barring hate crimes based on sexual orientation.

According to the FBI, crimes committed in 2002 due to bias based on sexual orientation represent 1 in 6 of reported hate-crime incidents. There were more than 1,200 incidents and 1500 victims in 2002 alone.

John Kerry and I want an America that is stronger at home and more respected in the world. We know we cannot achieve that goal until we recognize that all Americans, including gays and lesbians, are part of the fabric of America’s family. And when it comes to family, we must protect each other. We must recognize that crimes against people because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation have no place in America.

That is why John Kerry and I firmly support the bipartisan legislation that will add new protections against hate crimes motivated by the real or perceived sexual orientation of the victim. George Bush has said that this kind of legislation amounts to “special rights.” But there’s nothing special about the right to be free from hateful violence.

In America, people ought to be able to take that right for granted.

Of the Bush campaign Lambert wrote this:

Truth isn't even relevant to these guys. They just make shit up, throw it, and if it sticks, so much the better.

I hope y'all enjoyed this little tour into the not-so-distant past. The resemblance of the McSame campaign to the Bush campaign should remind us how mavericky John McCain is NOT. The confidence over Kerry's debate performance versus an angry Bush should give us pause. Especially since various counties in the United States still use electronic voting machines that can be hacked and maniulated.

Never give up. Never give in.
--the BB

Updates from Zimbabwe

There's this from the Guardian:

Riot police in Zimbabwe yesterday raided the offices of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change as well as those of independent election observers, seizing computers and documents and arresting scores of people in the biggest crackdown since last month's disputed election.

...

Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a coalition of 38 groups that monitored the poll, was raided at the same time. Files were confiscated under a warrant authorising police to search for "subversive material likely to cause the overthrow of a democratically elected government". Police are reported to be searching for the group's chairman, Noel Kututwa.

Oh, and this:

Yesterday [Mugabe] again accused western countries of trying to oust him by conspiring with the opposition. The Herald added to his vitriol, describing African leaders who have criticised the withholding of election results as "myopic stooges".

And there's this from MSNBC:

For the first time in 28 years, the opposition wrested a parliamentary majority from Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF in a March 29 poll, triggering a recount of 23 out of 210 constituencies.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said 14 out of the 23 seats had been recounted so far, and the original result was confirmed in all of them.

BBC notes this:

Earlier, US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said the level of government intimidation in Zimbabwe was now so high that a fair run-off would not be possible.

She said the only solution was an inclusive government, led by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Zimbabwe Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa called her comments "patently false, inflammatory, irresponsible and uncalled-for".

We all know Mugabe will not go quietly. Iron-fisted dictators never do.

Pray for the people of Zimbabwe.
--the BB

Ah, free and fair elections... remember them?

Condiliar had this to say:

”At this significant moment in Cuba’s history,” Rice said, “we reaffirm our belief that the Cuban people have an inalienable right to participate in an open and comprehensive dialogue about their country’s future, free of fear and repression, and to choose their leaders in democratic elections.”

John Amato at Crooks and Liars observes:

I have no problem with that, but I guess she forgot that our Supreme Court stepped in and decided the 2000 election for the very free and fair people of America.

Do members of the Bush maladministration ever listen to themselves?

Oh, right. Their heads would explode.

And their would be shit everywhere.
--the BB

For a good giggle

... and some very good political advice, head on over to Pseudopiskie's place today.

It's what we don't hear

--the BB