Dear Etta,  
So sorry.  Like me,  Obama and Beyonce asked, "She's not dead?"
                                                                      Marianne
 

I have no memories myself, except a vague one of barricades being set up to keep protesters away from W. 

Was this a monumental crowd? 

One thing I am SURE sets this apart was the crowd singing, "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, good bye," as they waived goodbye as W left in the helicopter.  Amazing moment!

I hate to be paranoid, so could somebody tell me how it happened that in the middle of Obama's speech, the sound went off, followed the "required weekly test" message?  Then it stopped, and never went to the annoying beeping part, and the sound came back.  This was in Tampa Bay.  I think it bothered me because I happened upon some conspiracy theorist's youtube video about how on 9/11, there were training exercises scheduled, and those same exercises are scheduled for today (I swear I don't look for this stuff, it seems to find me).  My first thought was, "That nut job was right!" 

As for the speech, he certainly didn't go for the big applause-generating, crowd pleaser.  It was refreshing - no pandering.  I do hope he lives up to the ideals he described.

And I did like how the swearing in didn't go perfectly, though I'm not sure what exactly happened, as I do not have the oath of office memorized verbatim.  It looked like Obama was expecting something else;  maybe it was Roberts mistake.

Well, Happy Inauguration day all, and welcome to the brave new world!

He's a democrat, a minority, young inspiring.  Watching the rest of the world reacting to this election gets me choked up.

 

But the thing that brings me a feeling of peace is that this election has restored my faith in democracy. 

 

Several things conspired to lead me to the conclusion that our democracy was under seige.  Obviously, Bush v. Gore was the starting point.  I moved to Florida, so I personally felt my vote might not count.   In 2004, with Bush's unpopularity, the compelling case Michael Moore made against Bush  in Fahrenheit 9/11, the vast discrepanies between the exit polls and the election results lead me to believe that the Bushies may have stolen the presidency from Kerry.

 

Back in September I started getting this feeling of impendiing doom.  As it became clear that McCain was losing the election, the feeling grew.  My stomach hurt for months.  I felt that we (whoever "we" are) should have done more to ensure that votes were properly counted.   Then I made the mistake of watching Hacking Democracy, and listening RFK, Jr. (though I didn't read the book).

 

But the good guys won!   Floida wasn't even a factor.  We may not all live happily ever after, but I am believing that we still have a government for, of and by the people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They aren't arresting people at the polls, but you would think a state that represents the epitome of questionable election practices might want everything all spic and span this time around.  Not so.

Feds want access to polls, Florida official says no

Officials hope early voting could head off problems

I'm in Pasco County, a NJ transplant.  This ballot has SIX costitutional amendments, a bunch of local eletion and five judicial elections (they don't elect judges in NJ).  Except for the local elections, they are non-partisan.

 

My net search has been an exercise in futility.  I planned to vote early, so if I have a problem I can fix it, but  at the rate I'm going, I won't be ready by Nov. 4! 

 

I don't feel bad asking here, because I hope any sugestions might help others with similar quanrdies.

 

Thanks,

Marianne

Six degrees of separation, right?  Someone must know someone who knows someone who.... (my sister knows Kevin Bacon, but I don't think that's going to help.)

Dear Sarah,

Here is the link.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html

First, let me direst your attention to Article 1, Section 3:                        

"The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided."

The part of the constitution pertaining to the office you are seeking with which you are probably familiar, taking over the duties of president should he become unable to do so, is found in Article 2,  Section 1.   Our constitution has "amendments," and this section has two; 20 and 25.

Should you become president, you might think it would be cool to make the first dude your veep.  No can do.  This same section provides that the president and the vice president must be from different states.

Imterestingly, even with the amendments, it is not clear what is intended in the event that the president is permanently unable to complete his term.  It is only a tradition that the vice president finishes out the term of office.  I learned in law school that the Constitution says whatever the supreme court says it says.  Since no one has ever raised this issue, the supreme court has never interpreted this clause.  I mention this because I believe if you were to become president, someone might look into this.

You probably should have taken a look at Article 2, Section 2 before you became governor.  It seems you might be guilty of treason, as the foriegn policy experience you acquired in your dealings with Russia are clearly the sole realm of the president.  Oops!  (see also; Article 4 Section 4.)

I believe that covers it.  In fairness to you, you did say someone had to tell you what the vice president does.  Sorry I didn't tell you sooner.  I assumed (made an ass of "u" and "me"!)  that someone in the McCain camp would have told you.

 

Marianne

 

Okay, this is really going nowhere.  I amused myself with the headline, so I went with it.

 

Pretty much what they did Thursday.  And they had been on such a roll!

Here are the questions:

 

1.  Which is the true threat to unraveling the fabric of democracy?

 A] ACORN unwittingly registering non-existent voters who will never actually show up to vote; or

B] Leaving ballots in your trunk, rigging electronic voting machines, disqualifying voters for irrelevent inconsistancies between there voter registration cards and their motor vehicle records or there social security records, combined with various and sundry tactics of discouragement.

2.  Yes or no.  Do you support legislation that would require that a bucket of water be dumped on Michele Bachman's head every time she uses either the words liberal or leftist in combination with either anti- or un- American?

I have made a reasonably thorough search of a vast variety of all of the mediums regarding the shananigans in the McCain campaign crowds and the "accusations' of Obama being an Arab and/or Muslim.

One issue, obviously, and the one the media is addressing, is that it's just not true.

But I have not seen, heard or read anyone saying, "So what if he is?"

The MSM seems to have overlooked  the fact that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with being either a Muslim or an Arab!  I think it is at least worthy of a mention.

In case the reference in my headline is missed, it is from an episode on sensitivity training in "The Office," in which Michael poses that question to Oscar, an employee of Mexican descent.  Oscar's expalnation that it's not a derogatory term is totally lost on Michael.

We are going with "change."

In case you missed this, Robert Kennedy, Jr. weighed in on Palin and the environment.  After noting her chummy relationship with the oil industry, he said that the difference between Cheney and Palin .... "is lipstick."

In these contentious times, I asked what I could do to put country first.  I invite you to join me in suspending the use of lipstick until after the election.  For me, it will be Chap-Stick until November 5th.

Now that the conventions are over, I have few suggestions for 2012.

1. The flag is our nations symbol. The party with the most flags is not automatically the most patriotic.. Perhaps, it even cheapens it.  What do12 flags on the stage, plus the one on the green screen, plus the 20,000 little ones held by each person in attendance say what one tasteful flag doesn't?

2. Pick one patriotic expression at a time.  The most cringe-worthy moment in either convention was that country western Mod Squad doing a Simon and Garfunkle Silent Night / 7 o'clock News type thing to The National Anthem/Pledge of Allegiance.  Oh, and when singing the National Anthem, remember that not singing the same notes is not the same as harmonizing.

3.  If  someone is at the convention or watching it on TV, there is an excellent chance that they know which party is which.  It is redundant to put a stuffed elephant or donkey on top of your Star-Pangled head.  No need for the occasional moose or lei either.

Unless there is some real possibility that the nomination may be contested, there really is no need for each and every person to hold up the sign displaying their ticket.  It's a bit oppressive.  They belong in same scrap heap as those "D" and cardboard fence signs at every football game.

4.  Whoever is in charge of the music may want to avoid being too on the nose.  This may have been extra annoying to me bacause I checked in with the football game while the convention was playing Heart's Barracuda just in time to here them playing Benny and the Jets while discuussing Favre's new team.

5.  Know your newspeople.  And if you've thrown back a few too many, do NOT talk to Andrea Mitchell.

6.  About 18 months before the 2012 conventions, go on that diet and exercise plan you've been putting off.  The world will be watching.  

I know the past week has been a whirlwind, and even before that there were moose to kill and wells to drill.  But I'm pretty sure she has not noticed that she has a deaf baby.  If he's not, there is no such thing.

I was only periferally aware of the internet scrubbing following Sarah Palin.

Too bad "leftie bloggers"  are such an unreliable source. 

I was following a link from MSNBC, to the Boston Globe, to Palin's church, about a speech she gave to graduates, which was apparently cringe worthy, in that she was saying how she would do all she could for Alaska, but that Alaskans needed to be right with god, or something to that effect, I don't really know.  All I got was "operatator has taken this site off-line."  I used quotes, but I'm just typing from memory.  

Does anybody think there is someone whose full time job is to get things off the internet?