Political BS.

The red haze is finally lifting.

Praise {insert favorite deity here}.

I just got back from voting. All in all the entire process took less than five minutes. I was voter number 211 at our Town Hall today. I was disappointed to see no baked goods for sale; before we moved in 2003 our old voting place always had some civic organization selling baked goods. At the primary elections in September I was voter 59 at 6:00 p.m., today I was 211 a little after noon so I think there’ll be a good turnout. I was sure to thank the voting officials as I left the building. I admire them. I hope to be one someday.

Growing up we rarely talked about politics in my family. There were no heated debates at home of who was a good candidate and who was a bad candidate. At the family owned business was another matter, there were often loud, boisterous discussions amongst the older generation, but not at home. My Mom and Dad would always do their part and vote. We’d get into the car and drive down to the local fire/bingo/meeting/recreation/voting hall. We’d see the local folks from the grocery store or whatnot in their capacity as “election officials”. Mom and Dad would check in and sign the big book and then go into the machine with the curtain. Jennifer usually went in with Dad to watch, I was allowed to go in with Mom. Afterwards, she wouldn’t reveal who she voted for and I believe my father just hit the buttons across his party’s row. To talk about it would go against the unspoken “politics are not to be discussed” rule that applied at home. I think this was his way of maintaining peace and quiet because there were so many arguments at work about politics.

When I voted today I was happy to see the tried and true mechanical voting machines that have been present in this part of the state for a long, long time. I also smiled as I cast my votes, because while I was making what I thought were informed, intelligent decisions and it ended up that I was doing as my Dad did and going right across a party line.

I think it was a different party though. I could be wrong. We never talked about it much.

Turn on the television and you can’t avoid the advertisements for why Politician X is the best choice for Office Y. Tomorrow is Election Day here in the United States and Earl and I encourage everyone to get to the polls and make informed, thought out decisions for the candidate of your choice. Some say “they’re all crooks, they’re all liars, there’s no good choices.” If you don’t vote, you don’t have a voice.

Speak out on Election Day.

Electronic voting in it’s current form is a very, very bad thing for this thing we call democracy. While the author of this article tries to explain how to steal an election in simple terms, some might find this reading to be long winded and boring due to the technical detail.

I ask that you take the time and read it, just to learn about how untrustworthy electronic voting is.

Again, here’s a link to the article, “How To Steal An Election”.

Over the weekend our Fine Folks in Washington tacked an amendment banning online gambling onto a Port Security bill. Can someone please take a moment and explain to me what the hell online gambling has to do with securing the ports of the country? Who does the government think they are in banning online gambling anyway? How dare they decide that they’re my babysitter and tell me what to do with my hard earned money. If you’ve got a problem with my gambling habits, well, quite frankly its none of your business. You mind your business and I’ll mind mine. You don’t like gambling? Don’t do it! And don’t come crowing to me about I’ll end up on welfare, blah, blah, blah. If a person loses all their money gambling then they deserve to be out on the street.

By the way, has the entire country lost their mind? School children were killed at a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pa. today. That has to be one of the more tragic things I’ve heard in quite a while. What the hell? The Amish are probably one of the most peaceful people left in these parts and their children are gunned down.

Then we have this whole constant fear thing going on. My sister can’t take a tube of toothpaste on a flight to Russia because she might build a bomb with it. Are you kidding me? They blue chemicals in the airplane toilet are probably more dangerous than a tube of Crest. She’s flying 12 hours and can’t brush her friggin’ teeth. Unbelievable. But I bet you they’re still serving alcohol in first class, never mind that alcohol can be quite ignitable. As long as they have bad breath, I suppose the world is safe.

I am so sick and tired of all this fear mongering going around. Be afraid of the terrorists, they could get us at any moment. You know what? Someone please tell the current administration to shut the fuck up and go stand in the corner and don’t open your mouth until someone asks for your opinion. I’m sick of all this chatter about how something bad is going to happen. When is something good going to happen? Why doesn’t anyone tell us that? By the way, as it stands right now, the *American* death toll in Iraq is higher than the number of Americans killed on 9/11. This number does not take into consideration the thousands of Iraqi civilians killed. You know what they say about “two wrongs”.

Everyone has flipped their lid? The news media is jumping for joy because gas is at $2.50 a gallon. “Oh look, gas is so cheap now.” Are you kidding me? Two years ago it was half of that. What in the world are these people thinking? Has everyone turned into a mindless zombie?

I just had to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening.

Earl and I did our American duty today and voted in the local primary elections. Thankfully, we had the luxury of using the tried and true mechanical voting machines that many are familiar with and many more miss.

I am gadget freak. I love computers. I think technology can do wonders for one’s life.

Electronic voting machines are a bad thing. A very bad thing.

First of all, many if not most voting machines are made by the Diebold company. They are what we call “closed source”. Closed source software means the software is proprietary. Somewhere there’s a group of programmers putting together any given software program. Only these programmers know the inner workings of the program. They’re the only ones that know how the software works and in some instances, how the software breaks. Another example of “closed source” software is just about anything made by Microsoft (Windows, Office, etc.)

The opposite of “closed source” software is “open source” software. The often mentioned operating systems built around Linux are open source. Anyone can see the programming code that makes up that particular piece of software. The kernel, or foundation of Mac OS X, is open source. Anyone can see what makes open source software tick. There can’t be anything hidden or detrimental in the code because it’s available to anyone. In theory, a closed source based voting machine could be programmed to jimmy votes in any given direction based on some random input on a touchscreen. (For example, a programmer could code the program so that if a voter touches spots 1, 18, 73, 24 and 91 in that order within five seconds, move 10% of any non-republican votes to the republican column). That couldn’t happen with open source software because someone would see the code required for that sequence to work.

Another concern with electronic voting machines is the fear factor. There are people in the world that are afraid to use a computer. They don’t use the ATM. They don’t check themselves out at the grocery store. They don’t even have a touch-tone phone. They don’t like electronic gadgets. To force someone leery of technology to use a computer based voting machine is wrong.

And my last problem with many electronic voting machines is the lack of a paper trail. There’s no way to confirm the voting machine tallied the correct number of votes in the proper column. Should the machine fail, there’s a chance that it could take the day’s counts right with it. With a mechanical system, if the voting machine locks up it’s not going to reset the counters. It just “locks up” or freezes (remember when the old cash registers at the grocery and department stores would occasionally do that?).

So when you vote in the mid-term elections in November and are faced with an electronic voting machine, ask if there’s a paper based alternative for you to use. Express your concern with electronic voting machines. If there’s no alternative for you, then do the right thing and still vote.

Always vote. It’s your right as an American. And we’ll all hope your vote is counted properly.

The casinos in Atlantic City, among countless N.J. state run agencies, were ordered to shut down today. Think what you may about the morality behind gambling but it’s just wrong to put thousands of workers on an “unpaid absence” simply because the government can’t get its act together.

I don’t understand budgets. I don’t pretend to. I can’t even bluff my way through a debate or conversation regarding the government and its sea of red tape. I think the answer to money problems is simple: print more money. Worried about government spending? Then stop spending!

Some newspaper articles covering the budget mess in New Jersey were talking about how law makers had to come into session on the 4th unshaven and wearing t-shirts under their sportcoats. The poor souls apparently had to skip their holiday plans and work at coming to a budget resolution. It didn’t happen. So this morning, the state basically remains closed, and since the casino has state funded overseers on site, the casinos shut down as well.

I feel bad for the casino workers. The money isn’t that great, the job isn’t really that great and now they’re told to stay home without pay. All because the state government can’t get its act together.

I’m a little fired up about this. I don’t even like New Jersey. I hope the folks there make their dissatisfaction known come election time.

This morning my alarm went off at 7:30, right on schedule, to the unnerving tones of Bush Lite. With all the money that is being spent by our government you’d think that someone could work up a few thousand dollars and get this man some public speaking lessons. I know we were spoiled with President Clinton’s speeches because he was one smooth speaker that was easy to listen to. I’ve completely given up Bush Lite, because he always has this “I can’t believe I’m president” look on his face, sort of like a bewildered child fascinated by all the bright lights and loud noises in the middle of Wal*mart. Listening to him speak isn’t any better and quite frankly whomever writes his speeches should be fired because they’re obviously using words that are entirely beyond his comprehension. I’ve never heard a public speaker mangle so many consecutive polysyllabic words in my life.

I’d like to think that I was able to shrug off the effects of my alarm clock this morning, but it’s lingered with me throughout the day. Working with a customer over the phone, the customer kept firing off question after question while I kept saying “Please bear with me as I look up that information” to no avail. He asked one question right after another without hesitation, in this whiny, completely unbecoming fake-Italian accent until I finally said, “SIR. Please give me a moment while I look up this information for you.” I thought I was quite reasonable because I really wanted to say “Would you please shut the fuck up for a moment and let me do my job?!?”. His chattering finally ceased and I was able to help him a little bit.

Now I’ve just realized that I’m going on and on so I’m going to take my own advice and just sit and think for a moment.

I’m becoming increasingly fired up about this second round of gay marriage debate that is taking a hold of the capital. It’s very obvious to many why this is being bandied about again; the current administration is failing miserably and know they are going to pay the price for it in the next round of elections, so they are doing everything they can to secure the ultra-conservative vote in November. Senseless deaths in Iraq, a failing economy and international concerns be damned, we need to make sure that Bruce and Bruce don’t get married. In their eyes, it’s blasphemy.

What a crock of bullshit.

The issue of separation of church and state aside, one of the arguments we hear is that marriage is for the purpose of building a family. I wish someone had told my 80-year old grandfather that back in July ’95. He was marrying for the second time to a woman he wanted to spend his final years with. I have no doubt that he loved her very much. I also have no doubt that they wouldn’t be having children any time soon. By the whackos’ rules, they shouldn’t have been getting married. But they lived in marital bliss right up until his death. No houses fell, no fires engulfed them, but horror of horrors, they were married but weren’t having children.

It really is amazing when you see two people in love. It’s truly a sight to behold. Oh, there are many that say they’re in love, and they fake it really well, but I believe you can tell when you see two people united as one. They’re best friends, they’re two parts of a whole and their relationship transcends this mortal concept of “marriage”.

If by the slim chance that this waste of time amendment somehow becomes part of the U.S. Constitution, then I propose this: All “normal” couples getting married be submitted to fertility tests. I mean, if they can’t procreate, then there really isn’t a need for them to get married, right? Can you see it now? “I’m sorry Tim, but this test shows you’re unable to have kids. I know you’re 23 years old. I understand that you love Jenna very much and have been together for a long time, but no, you can’t get married.” Why, if that happened to an affluent family in Texas, they’d be jumpin’ higher than the mother’s hairdo to get the situation corrected.

I have news for anyone opposed to gay marriage. Hear me and hear me well. Earl and I were married on December 26, 1996. I have had a wedding ring on my left finger since that blessed event. Nothing, and I mean _nothing_ is going to take our marriage away from us and nothing is going to make it any less sacred. We will do everything in our power to protect our marriage. You can tax us, you can ban us, you can tell us we’re going to hell (and that is such a stupid thing to say as I think it’s quite evident that _this_ is hell), but it’s not going to weaken our union. Hardly. It’s not going to make us stop loving each other. It’s going to make us stronger and bring us closer.

Every citizen has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No ifs, no ands, no buts. Period.

So Dubya is speaking about the importance of banning gay marriage at a federal level by way of a constitutional amendment. This would be the first constitutional amendment that would deny rights of U.S. citizens instead of granting them. It has little chance of passing the proper channels to become an amendment. But he’s going to go ahead and talk about it and what not, to prove to the religious right that he’s still on board with their crusade.

What a bunch of heartless ghouls.