Ligtning killed my Mac last night. Typing on this netbook is torture! My brother, sister and brother-in-law have all had their voter registration address changed without their knowledge or permission. My son's is okay but he lives in a very Republican county. Lord knows how many others they have done this to. Trying to find people who can alert people to check or they won't be allowed to vote when their I.D. doesn't match.
Glad the Mac survived! My motion detector lights will stay on all night after a lightening outage. And sometimes more. I just had to flip the entire circuit breaker to bring them back to normal this last time.
As for reasons to feel that Obama has not earned one's vote, I might suggest:
Unprecedented use of the Espionage Act to persecute whistleblowers; Abandoning the right of habeus corpus (a quaint anachronism, eh?); Extrajudicial executions; Wholesale adoption of Bush Jr.'s list of foreign friends and enemies; Avoidable AND abusive deployment of military personnel; Generalized very poor performance on foreign policy/internaTional relations issues; and Massive, brutal explusions of undocumented workers (much worse than GWB).
With a bit of effort once could surely come up with a few more. Like effectively condoning torture.
I can understand that the office often controls the office holder. But as a senator Obama struch me as very much a go-along-to-get-along sort of fellow, and that still seems basically true. As a contrasting example, consider Obama's claim that he can't shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay because Congress won't give him the money. TR was far weaker with respect to Congress, Cabinet secretaries, and political parties than Obama is; but when Congress wouldn't vote the money to send the Great White Fleet around the world, he pointed out that as Commander in Chief, and with the money at hand, he could order the fleet halfway around the world. Congress could decide whether or not to bring it back.
The "the other guy is worse" argument doesn't have much effect on me anymore. But California isn't Ohio, either. You son's vote is worth at least ten or twenty times as much as mine, Renee.
On a happier note, Renee, I sent Demetrius an e-mail about a possible small job a while back but haven't received a response.
Our REPUBLICAN Secy of State Husted set up a website myOhioVote.com (not sure that's the right addy). My brother went on there this morning to correct his incorrect address. So it goes like this:
1. Change you voter registration on the Husted website. 2. They notify your local Board of Elections 3. The local Board of Elections sends you A NEW VOTER CARD.
Okay, so that begs the question: Who changed my address in the first place? Why was I not notified? I certainly have not received a new voter registration card.
The last day to register to vote in Ohio is October 9. So if people aren't alerted to this PDQ there'll be a whole lot of voters losing their right to vote. (Which is exactly the way the Republicans like it).
I'm under a Tornado Watch until 10pm and Severe Thunderstorm Warning. Usually storms get me jazzed up but this one has me feeling tense. The storms are flaring up in a big way as they exit NY, and though they've barely made it to Lake Champlain, a half hour west of me, I can already hear the thunder. Heh.
Go to this site, and check the box for "storm cells" www.wptz.com/weather/radar You can zoom in or out as needed...even see your street!...hover over a storm cell symbol and see how long before it reaches you...click on a storm cell symbol to see what that cell contains! HIGHLY useful!!
The mean line of storms is over Catreona's head right now. Sure hope she's hunkered down and has fresh batteries for her book light. ;-) Sure hope she doesn't lose electricity so she can continue to use her reading machine (which is, I suspect, what has been keeping her from the blog). :-)
Our precinct has voted 100% absentee (as an economy measure) since before we moved in about 15 years ago. It's very convenient, but what campaign literature we receive (there's far less now than in the old days--guess they think we watch TV) mostly comes after we have voted. Interesting.
In short, inexpensive modern computerized network communication can and probably will replace very expensive TV campaign advertising. Think of what has happened to newspapers, and how fast it happened...
The guy sort of loses me because he keeps talking about ads. I automatically tune out ads of any type, just as I tune out staged theatrics such as political conventions. But there's no question the internet is a good way to reach and mobilize people. That was done pretty effectively a few years ago by a candidate I sort of recall. Let's see -- I think his initials were HD. Or MD or something like that.
Yah his name was HD MD as in High Definition Most Distinctive!
I'm with Mama Cat: he should have been asked to speak. How come they let Bill pinyon speak and not Howard Dean? Clinton may have been President, but he also threw it away. The party forgave him for effectively giving us GWB, and they can't let go of whatever they didn't like about Howard after his 50 State Strategy won the Presidency back?
Y'know I keep forgetting that I'm running as a Dem. LOL!
We got some halfhearted thunder around 8:00 and some decent rain. Nothing worse. Thanks for the concern, listener, but we're fine.
Indeed I have been hunkered down with my reading machine. Not quite comfortable with it yet, but well on the way. It comes with -- Have I said this already? -- a goodly supply of Public Domain books built in. I've been glued to Riders of the Purple Sage. What can I say? It's a great story!
Puddle, glad you enjoyed the poem. I too found it lovely.
Also, belated thanks for the link to the Rolling Stone article about Romney. Not only did I enjoy it, I shared it with a friend. She was funny. Said she had never read Rolling Stone magazine, and had spent hours reading the site. I came clean, admitting I don't read it either and telling her that a friend had pointed out the article.
She's a real hot ticket and just about the nicest lady I've ever encountered. If she were a Deaniac I'd have invited her here long ago. She's definitely right thinking though. Talking about Paul Ryan's denigration of unions she said, The boy needs to read American History.
Alan, I haven't lost my distaste for weevils. But in this case the alternative is just too appalling to contemplate.
Now, if Howard could have been persuaded to run, I'd follow him to the ends of the earth, Romney or no Romney. But he's too loyal, too committed to party unity to strike off on his own, even in the face of the snubs Obama has delivered.
Mum was very surprised to find that Howard didn't speak at the Convention and didn't appear to be there at all. I couldn't explain it beyond Obama's general cold shouldering of Howard. But I know what Howard's directive would be, and I'll follow it with less reluctance than last time.
I find Obama an intelligent, calming presence. Very far from perfect, to be sure, but a fundamentally decent man. That's something you can't accuse Dubya of being - Dubya should be serving time at the Hague for war crimes and crimes against Humanity with Richard Cheney and his gang! Nor can you accuse Romney of being a decent man. There's heaps Obama hasn't done. But I wonder if one of us was thrust into that position, realistically, how much could we do?
Howard's da bomb!!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletehttp://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/sept-7-polls-find-hints-of-obama-convention-bounce/#more-34231
Susan, question from last thread -- *how* do they require a valid ID for an absentee vote? Xerox copy?
ReplyDeleteYup.
DeleteLigtning killed my Mac last night. Typing on this netbook is torture! My brother, sister and brother-in-law have all had their voter registration address changed without their knowledge or permission. My son's is okay but he lives in a very Republican county. Lord knows how many others they have done this to. Trying to find people who can alert people to check or they won't be allowed to vote when their I.D. doesn't match.
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo! My Mac isn't dead after all. I just failed to poke it awake the correct way. A great relief.
ReplyDelete=WHEW!!!=
DeleteThank goodness!
DeleteMitt Romney's swing-state ad spend looks like a loser's strategy:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/07/mitt-romney-swing-state-ad-spend?newsfeed=true
Excuse me Susan, but I forget--which state are you in? It sounds like very serious criminal activity.
--Alan
I'm in Ohio, Alan.
DeleteSusan is in OHIO. . . . .
DeleteAnd Mitt needs some new advisers if he wants even a prayer of a chance. . . .
Ah, beat me, lol!
DeleteI hope what the Guardian reports is true. And, I hope Romney does not get new advisers!
DeleteGlad the Mac survived! My motion detector lights will stay on all night after a lightening outage. And sometimes more. I just had to flip the entire circuit breaker to bring them back to normal this last time.
ReplyDeleteSusan--I read the previous thread; Ohio, eh?
ReplyDeleteAs for reasons to feel that Obama has not earned one's vote, I might suggest:
Unprecedented use of the Espionage Act to persecute whistleblowers;
Abandoning the right of habeus corpus (a quaint anachronism, eh?);
Extrajudicial executions;
Wholesale adoption of Bush Jr.'s list of foreign friends and enemies;
Avoidable AND abusive deployment of military personnel;
Generalized very poor performance on foreign policy/internaTional relations issues; and
Massive, brutal explusions of undocumented workers (much worse than GWB).
With a bit of effort once could surely come up with a few more. Like effectively condoning torture.
I can understand that the office often controls the office holder. But as a senator Obama struch me as very much a go-along-to-get-along sort of fellow, and that still seems basically true. As a contrasting example, consider Obama's claim that he can't shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay because Congress won't give him the money. TR was far weaker with respect to Congress, Cabinet secretaries, and political parties than Obama is; but when Congress wouldn't vote the money to send the Great White Fleet around the world, he pointed out that as Commander in Chief, and with the money at hand, he could order the fleet halfway around the world. Congress could decide whether or not to bring it back.
The "the other guy is worse" argument doesn't have much effect on me anymore. But California isn't Ohio, either. You son's vote is worth at least ten or twenty times as much as mine, Renee.
On a happier note, Renee, I sent Demetrius an e-mail about a possible small job a while back but haven't received a response.
--Alan
Hmmm... some gratuitous capitals snuck in there...please disregard.
Delete--Alan
I just mentioned that to Demetrius, Alan. He will go check his other e-mail addresses.
DeleteOur REPUBLICAN Secy of State Husted set up a website myOhioVote.com (not sure that's the right addy). My brother went on there this morning to correct his incorrect address. So it goes like this:
ReplyDelete1. Change you voter registration on the Husted website.
2. They notify your local Board of Elections
3. The local Board of Elections sends you A NEW VOTER CARD.
Okay, so that begs the question: Who changed my address in the first place? Why was I not notified? I certainly have not received a new voter registration card.
The last day to register to vote in Ohio is October 9. So if people aren't alerted to this PDQ there'll be a whole lot of voters losing their right to vote. (Which is exactly the way the Republicans like it).
p.s. I'm not messing with that Republican website, I'm going straight to the local Board.
ReplyDeleteYeeeaaaggghhhhhhhh!
DeleteYeah but, can you trust the local board?
DeleteAnd happy Mac, Susan! Occasionally mine will get confused too; usually just holding down the off/on switch long enough will do the trick.
ReplyDelete--Alan
I'm under a Tornado Watch until 10pm and Severe Thunderstorm Warning. Usually storms get me jazzed up but this one has me feeling tense. The storms are flaring up in a big way as they exit NY, and though they've barely made it to Lake Champlain, a half hour west of me, I can already hear the thunder. Heh.
ReplyDeleteGo to this site, and check the box for "storm cells" www.wptz.com/weather/radar You can zoom in or out as needed...even see your street!...hover over a storm cell symbol and see how long before it reaches you...click on a storm cell symbol to see what that cell contains! HIGHLY useful!!
ReplyDeleteTornado Vortex Signature at the SW corner of Vermont. Hang on tight, Cat!! ♥
ReplyDeleteAll storms passed. Sweet peach of a sunset. Cool (59ยบ) -- good sleeping weather. Very.
ReplyDeleteThe mean line of storms is over Catreona's head right now. Sure hope she's hunkered down and has fresh batteries for her book light. ;-) Sure hope she doesn't lose electricity so she can continue to use her reading machine (which is, I suspect, what has been keeping her from the blog). :-)
ReplyDeleteWe had a bit of a tropical storm in Fresno the other day, with localized thundershowers (one in our neighborhood); Miyoko saw a rainbow.
ReplyDelete--Alan
Our precinct has voted 100% absentee (as an economy measure) since before we moved in about 15 years ago. It's very convenient, but what campaign literature we receive (there's far less now than in the old days--guess they think we watch TV) mostly comes after we have voted. Interesting.
ReplyDelete--Alan
I think it is, puddle.
ReplyDeleteThinking of campaign finance reform, here's a logical sounding take on it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nomiki-konst/political-campaigns_b_1862325.html?utm_hp_ref=technology&ir=Technology
In short, inexpensive modern computerized network communication can and probably will replace very expensive TV campaign advertising. Think of what has happened to newspapers, and how fast it happened...
--Alan
To some extent it already is. I hear both the Obama and Romney campaigns are putting a lot of time and effort into Twitter, for instance.
DeleteThe guy sort of loses me because he keeps talking about ads. I automatically tune out ads of any type, just as I tune out staged theatrics such as political conventions. But there's no question the internet is a good way to reach and mobilize people. That was done pretty effectively a few years ago by a candidate I sort of recall. Let's see -- I think his initials were HD. Or MD or something like that.
DeleteLOL Bill. Yeah, whatever happened to him? Kind'a cute, as I recall.
DeleteHiya Bill! Great to see you here.
DeleteYah his name was HD MD as in High Definition Most Distinctive!
I'm with Mama Cat: he should have been asked to speak. How come they let Bill pinyon speak and not Howard Dean? Clinton may have been President, but he also threw it away. The party forgave him for effectively giving us GWB, and they can't let go of whatever they didn't like about Howard after his 50 State Strategy won the Presidency back?
Y'know I keep forgetting that I'm running as a Dem. LOL!
Pinyon should say Clinton. My iPhone is eccentric!
DeleteWe got some halfhearted thunder around 8:00 and some decent rain. Nothing worse. Thanks for the concern, listener, but we're fine.
ReplyDeleteIndeed I have been hunkered down with my reading machine. Not quite comfortable with it yet, but well on the way. It comes with -- Have I said this already? -- a goodly supply of Public Domain books built in. I've been glued to Riders of the Purple Sage. What can I say? It's a great story!
Sooo glad you didn't get worse!! The radar was wide and red and spooky looking!!
DeletePuddle, glad you enjoyed the poem. I too found it lovely.
ReplyDeleteAlso, belated thanks for the link to the Rolling Stone article about Romney. Not only did I enjoy it, I shared it with a friend. She was funny. Said she had never read Rolling Stone magazine, and had spent hours reading the site. I came clean, admitting I don't read it either and telling her that a friend had pointed out the article.
She's a real hot ticket and just about the nicest lady I've ever encountered. If she were a Deaniac I'd have invited her here long ago. She's definitely right thinking though. Talking about Paul Ryan's denigration of unions she said, The boy needs to read American History.
Your friend sounds like a keeper!!
DeleteLord, I hope so!
ReplyDeleteAlan, I haven't lost my distaste for weevils. But in this case the alternative is just too appalling to contemplate.
Now, if Howard could have been persuaded to run, I'd follow him to the ends of the earth, Romney or no Romney. But he's too loyal, too committed to party unity to strike off on his own, even in the face of the snubs Obama has delivered.
Mum was very surprised to find that Howard didn't speak at the Convention and didn't appear to be there at all. I couldn't explain it beyond Obama's general cold shouldering of Howard. But I know what Howard's directive would be, and I'll follow it with less reluctance than last time.
I find Obama an intelligent, calming presence. Very far from perfect, to be sure, but a fundamentally decent man. That's something you can't accuse Dubya of being - Dubya should be serving time at the Hague for war crimes and crimes against Humanity with Richard Cheney and his gang! Nor can you accuse Romney of being a decent man. There's heaps Obama hasn't done. But I wonder if one of us was thrust into that position, realistically, how much could we do?
Donno if I'm realistic or cynical.
So, Bill, how was ChiCon?
ReplyDeleteI hear Stan Schmidt didn't get a Hugo...again. The natives seem distinctly restless. I've heard rumors of Grand Master.
That is, SFWA Grand Master
Delete