civic duty

I just helped someone find their local polling place. Beyond doing my civic responsibility, I've helped someone do theirs. yea.

I'm waiting to go vote until after school, so that I can go with Jr. Gopher#1.
Get 'em young - train 'em right.

So far, I'm planning to vote for people from 3 different parties; can't find any worthwhile GOP candidates this time.

never voted - yet

There was a fellow sitting across the table from me @ May Day a few days ago. His companion had asked where he was from, as he had an odd accent. Their discussion verged into his impending U.S. citizenship.

He is from South Africa, sort of. Born in the UK, he was an English citizen, but promptly left. Growning up and spending most of the first half of his life in South Africa, he never voted. "There was not point." he said. He never bothered to for 2 years back in the UK. He's lived here for 20 years. He can't vote here. In fact,

He's never voted.

Never.

There was a tone of amazement and eagerness in his anticipation of elections in November.

The first time I voted was in 1984. Walter Mondale & Geraldine Ferraro and John Rockefeller were on the ticket. The last time I voted was in April at the nominating convention for the Green party. I wish more American citizens would look at the opportunity to vote with the same awe.
.

Our Forefathers

You don't need to be a member of any specific political party to realize that our government is and has been for some time spending money just they way that the voters have been letting them.

It is our duty as Citizens to tell our representative what we want.

As Citizens, it is our civic duty to vote them out of office if they don't do it!

Our civic duty demands we risk of voting for what we want, rather than for a label. Too many people vote for a party rather than the candidate.

The Two Party system has the average person over a barrel. We fear voting for something else, which results in our representatives not bothering to vote Our Way. They don't need to! They realize that, once in office, they need never fear their own party ousting them.

If you’re dissatisfied with the current representation, find someone else to put on the ballot. Protesting in the streets is only as effective as its 30-sec sound bite before the sports & weather. Hit the streets and work for it.

Your voice only truly works at the ballot box. This is the ultimate place where you have the power to negate all of the obscene electioneering money.

It is our Civic Duty to be include the rest of America in our political decisions. Ourselves and our children. On Independence Day, we reverently read: “... Our forefathers brought forth onto this continent ...”

Each political decision should consider: "What kind of forefathers will this make us?"

Hey You! Election Day is Tuesday!!!

While not as immediately apparent in its importance as, say, last November, you

NEED TO GO VOTE!

Election Day here in Minneapolis is critical for two big reasons:

• The City Council is trying an end-run to consolidate power by eliminating the Park & Rec Board. Vote NO.
• The City Citizens will be able to use the Ranked-Choice (or Instant Run Off) Voting for the first time.

GO VOTE!

This method of voting requires a hand-count.

The fact there are no electronic machines involved means the election results won't be in until December. However, unlike the last election to-do here, this won't involve million-dollar law suits.

VOTE!

Here are video explanations of it from MPR. It's brilliant. Voting with Post-Its. Really good visualization.

If only one person gets to win: the Mayor



If more than one person can win: City Council


YOU STILL NEED TO GO VOTE!

If you're confused about how to vote, post your question here & I'll answer it. As long as it is before 10 p.m. Monday night. My civic duty doesn't superceede getting a good night sleep on this topic.

Whimsey of my life

Sex, Lies & Tee-times
The court also determined the $35,000 was a reasonable sanction when Ali Dunham was told that her golf schedule was not a factor to be considered in scheduling her deposition in the case, but she "disregarded that directive by deliberately choosing to play golf at the time of her deposition," the court said. "She then lied to the court about her reason for failing to attend her deposition, lied repeatedly under oath when presented with the true facts about her whereabouts at the time of her deposition, and now refers to her lies as a mere failure to 'volunteer' information." The court said Audian Dunham then lied to corroborate his wife's story.

Industrial ventilation design:
what exactly is a degree-day?

Do you want to rent space at the Mpls city public gardening area?
I have such a brown thumb. I've never been able to grow anything. I managed to keep a couple cacti alive at BioPort for 6 years. Then it died, too.

2 cents
Advice from one lawyer to his son, who was contemplating doing something socially rude:
"You're going to run into everybody again. They may not remember that you're a nice guy, but they'll certainly remember you're a jerk."

The Cup
So, I’m checking the NHL stats. I haven’t looked in the past two weeks. I can’t really watch the games, unless Yahoo is showing them on line, and that’s usually in conflict with the rest of my life. It’s in the final stretch. Boston, Washington, New Jersey, San Jose, Detroit, and Vancouver are at the top of the two conferences. No need to wonder who I want to win. Who do I think will? Well, Boston has been fantastic, and fantastically consistent. Detroit has, on more than once occasion in the past 20 years, fallen on their faces in the first round. Of course, they’ve also won 4 times in the past 12 seasons. Ultimately, I really want to be able to watch fantastic hockey. This is quite apparently not occurring today, with Columbus being pounded like a baby seal. “Columbus has an all-time record of 247-328-43. Detroit, meanwhile, is 288-254-1 ... but that’s just in playoff games.”

How many U.S. Senators are there? 100? No! There are only 99.
Minnesota can't seem to figure out how to make political assassinations feasible, and then take out the loser (in more than one sense) who's holding up our right to representation. Our senator has - like many in the country - been doing two people's work without adequate resources.

... hmm... maybe this might keep them in touch with the reality of the Modern Workforce? ... given their guaranteed unrelated to performance "pension", I doubt it ...

[Sen. Klobuchar] noted that she had originally predicted that the Senate race would be resolved by the time ice-out was officially declared for Lake Minnetonka -- which occurred last week on the same day as the ruling of the judges.

"Now I predict this will be done when Minnesotans are allowed to swim in our lakes, which is Memorial weekend," she said Sunday.- Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Seriously, what will it take to make the GOP satisfied? If the only answers is “I win”, they sound like my 4 year old. You lost, Norm, get over it and go find a job. Not that you actually need one, with your senatorial retirement benefits.

The man behind the scenes

well, if you're not from Minnesota, this probably is irrelevant to you ... but the on-going fascination with the state's senatorial recount is finally dying. No doubt due to the fact that Election Day was 5 weeks ago.

Yesterday, Sec. State Mark Ritchie was on MPR's Midday. The program was a discussion on the state's history with prior recounts. Which, unbeknownst to me, occur fairly routinely - just for less notable offices. Does anyone really care who won the County Commissioner election for Kandiyohi County?

Ritchie's speech/commentary was fascinating. As was the blatantly obvious passion & frustration in his voice. I could see him shaking, vibrating with barely restrained rage, while discussing some of the stupidity currently masquerading as political objectivity. He also included some suggestions for improving voting rules. Fascinating. I didn't vote for him, but I probably will, if he runs again.

still not Florida

St. Paul, Minn. — Recount officials in Ramsey County found about 200 ballots today that weren't counted on election night.

as of 12/1, 8:02 p.m. Franken is ahead by 4,108. As impressive as this sounds, Coleman was ahead by more than 1,000 on the last day's count. And, of course in the stupidity of politics, Coleman's campaign has been much louder about how many ballots Franken is challenging. The total of "challenged" ballots is up to 5,943 . 2/3 of which are from Coleman.

The Secretary of State has released images of 1,000 of them, which range from WTF (voter)? to WTF (counter)? i.e., Why can't they read the damn directions? to How could anyone possibly doubt what the voter meant?

The last Monster Recount held here was in 1962, inspiring a ditty to the tune of I'm Looking Over a 4 Leaf Clover, which included:
What causes these switches is sons of bitches,
Who can't hardly count to ten.
So, we're counting over the votes from Dover,
And counting them once again.

revised: 12/2 8:02 p.m. vote count: Franken up by 2,535 , challenged ballots over 6,000 Sec. State asking candidates to cut the crap. Gelbmann says previous canvassing boards have average three minutes a ballot. At that rate, even if they worked nonstop, eight hours a day, it would take more than a month to analyze 6,000 ballots.

Holy Senatorial Cow

Wow. I am truly dumbfounded. The U.S. Senate may wind up deciding who wins our senate seat. A summary of what the Senate is allowed to do is here.

Basically, the Senate is the final arbiter of who gets to join their club. Normally, this is simply accepting the results of the state's election. But it doesn't have to be. Smith said the Senate last weighed in on a serious election contest in 1974. So, despite all the hanky-panky here with "objected" ballots, or who's counting what ... Coleman & Franken can get their other club members to weigh in. Considering that Sen. Reid is already opining on our election, it seems to be a much more interesting Constitutional issue than Florida.

According to Smith the Constitution allows the Senate to be the final arbiter of its membership. Smith said the Senate does so by determining the qualifications of each member. On most occasions, Smith said the Senate simply accepts a state's election certificate, but it has diverted course a few times.

"There is a motion under Senate rules and precedents that allows any Senator to make a motion to refer the credentials to a committee, presumably the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which has jurisdiction over election matters, in order to delay action on it," explained Smith.

In 1974: The contest involved a dispute between two New Hampshire candidates. After several recounts, the Senate moved to seat the Democrat. The motion was brushed back several times by Republicans who filibustered the issue. After months of wrangling, the Senate declared the seat vacant and ordered another election, which the Democrat won. Wow.

Sure, the senate probably won't get involved. But, wow ... how badly do they want it? and are they willing to set enough prescedent to screw themselves with the next election?

North Star State Makes the Big Time: the Daily Show

Minnesota: Crazier than You Think

2 Jews battle it out for power in ... the Land of Lutherans ?

(Link for funny clip won't load here)

Images of Idiocy

New Math

2.9 Million + 87 = 1

The recount has begun. Both candidates have lost votes. ... wtf ...?

Δvote = 206

1,211,565 vs. 1,211,359

The Never Ending Saga of our state's senate race: Franken(DFL) is trying to get Hennepin County (where Minneapolis is) to re-assess absentee ballots. County says "it's not our problem, it's the state's problem". Coleman(R) is claiming:
Matt Haapoja, an attorney with the Minnesota Republican Party, accused the Democrats of trying to create votes. "This was clearly an example of the Franken campaign trying to find more votes where there aren't votes," Haapoja said.

Let me guess - the Republicans will graciously decline any 'made-up' votes for Coleman?

Where are those 207 votes Franken hopes to find? There is no state standard for storing votes, so he'll have to look:

St.Louis County: "They've (Rep.) had representatives [in front of the elections office] since Election Day," Tynjala said. "There's three of them. Apparently, they had them out in the car over the weekend." 400 ballots are locked in a safe in Hibbing ... The rest of the ballots are all up in our attic"

Douglas County: "They're locked in a secure room in the courthouse. There are only two keys to the room, and I'm not going to tell you where that room is."

McLeod County: "... in effect, incarcerated her ballots in the county jail. "They're in a cell, and the jail correctional officers have given me both of the keys to the cell, so no one can go in there...".

Chisago County: locked in next door office

Polk County: locked in county jail

Other popular locations: closets, secure safes, vaults

I must admit this seems much less of a C.F. than Florida 8 years ago. Although the accusations of voter fraud and legal charges are already making lawyers rich.

There are other opinions, of course. "I have no reason to think at all that the four judges and the Secretary of State who sit on the canvassing board are going to be affected by all of this bitching and moaning that the two campaigns are engaged in right now," Smith said.

My favorite suggestion, so far is:

The MN Statutes website is down, so I can't make a direct citation. But what I remember is that in the event of a tie, the election is to be decided by "chance", not necessarily a coin flip. For example, some ties have been decided by drawing cards and the high card wins.

I propose that the "chance" be the purchase of 10 Powerball tickets for every drawing (2 per week) until one of them wins the jackpot. That way, we can draw out the suspense AND keep either of these Bozos from occupying the Senate for quite some time.

Under-age Voting Results

Kids Vote! held elections concurrent with ours. The results came in - apparently they were even more impressed with Obama, which says a great deal about name recognition for the younger children. (I'm pretty sure Jr.Gopher 1 doesn't actually know who he is.)

Love their logo: Vote Young! Vote Forever!

#231

Was at Powderhorn Park at 8:45 a.m. There are 2 different wards(?) voting in the same building. The line was gone by 9:10 when I left.

25 minutes for no line?

Jr.Gopher#1 was with me; I wanted him to see the election experience. I figured I could show him my ballot & what I do with it.

Much to my surprise, there was a "Kids Vote!" sign, complete with ballots and a miniature voting booth. This is the coooooolest thing. The kids could get a kiddie ballot with the choices for the president and federal senate/house. It also had the 3 ballot options (for Mpls/state) and it had the choices for the Minneapolis school board. The candidates all had pictures next to their name. After turning in his ballot, he got his own "I voted" sticker which looks different than mine. The ballots are on bubble paper, and I was informed that, yes, they really are going to be counted. The results will get posted on-line & (they hope) published in the newspaper.

I didn't tell him who to vote for, but apparently he recognized Barak Obama and decided that the Constitution Party candidate ought to be elected to the senate and the DFL candidate for the house.

Minnesota the Voting Capital: I just can't get over the huge number of people who turn out here.

Minnesota uses optical scanners: fill out the paper ballot, put it in the machine, and it gets instantly counted. I was voter #231, according to the machine.

Already messed up ...

... and we haven't really started yet.

What's already wrong?

long lines & stupid bureaucratic activity don't surprise me, or even get much beyond raised eyebrows. Malfeasance, however:

# Common Cause of Colorado and two other groups sued Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman after he purged 20,000 voters from the state's registration list within 90 days of the general election. After the two parties reached an agreement last Wednesday, Coffman purged 146 more names from the list—a violation of federal law.

# The Americans for Limited Government Foundation, a group committed to "rolling back government" at the national, state, and local levels, sent a threatening letter to approximately 11,000 donors to left-wing causes. (Thanks to James Horwitz for the tip.) The letter reads, in part: "Your name has been put in our database. We are monitoring reports of a wide variety of leftist organizations. … Should any of these organizations be found to be engaged in illegal or questionable activity, it is our intent to publicize your involvement."

resume for Failin' Palin Replacement

So please, people, write me in on the ballot in November, or write me in New Zealand, where I'll be making my new home.
- RoseAnn Cash,
Why I'd be a Better VP than Sarah Palin (or, The Bridge to New Zealand)

hee hee hee

21 - 16 - 0

I actually need to pause and consider who to vote for in the US Senate election next month. While it's a pretty safe bet that I'd vote for the DFL candidate ... I'm not so doctrinaire that I wouldn't at least consider the Republican. And, of course, having a viable (currently holding 18% in polls) Independence Party, I have a 3rd to think about. And, before you think "god, 18%?" -- the other 2 have 36 and 39%.

Minnesota Public Radio has a Pick the Candidate page to match your opinions vs. the candidates on 11 policy questions. The Healthy Gopher matching rate was:
Franken (DFL): 9/11
Barkley (IP): 8/11
Coleman (R): 1/11

hmmmm... maybe I don't need to consider Coleman so much after all. The fact I concur with this position on stem cell research pales, utterly pales, in comparison to funding education, health care & energy.

Got Vote?

Think nationally, act locally.

Miller points to the ouster of ACORN's founder earlier this year after the controller, the founder's brother, had embezzled nearly a million dollars. --- maybe he should move to Alaska. --- Lewis, ACORN's chief organizer, says the group's profile has never been so high. "This election, this linking us to Obama in order to try to damage him, that's a great opportunity," she says.

And, since "others" (i.e., the RNC) are complaining about ACORN nationally (accused of getting people to register multiple times), the Hennepin County (i.e., Mpls) attorney is checking into them for potential fraud. ooooh, horrid! Fraud, in this case, means holding the registration cards for longer than the 10-day submission deadline. A deadline intended to avoid a document log-jam for the county, since they enter the registrations on the same day they receive them. Strangely unmentioned here is the fact the county attorney also said they would accept all of the registrations as valid; it's just that they might nail the poor schmuck in question anyway.

On an 80% positive note:
The Sec.State expects an 80% voter turn out, while achieving a 90% voter registration by Election Day (we have same-day-at-polls-registration).

A recent surge in Minnesota voter registration — 60,000 new voters in a little more than a month — has pushed statewide voter registration to an all-time high.

An analysis shows half of the new registrations come from three (most liberal & most populous) counties that voted heavily for John Kerry in 2004, potentially giving Democratic hopeful Barack Obama a boost in a critical battleground state as the 2008 presidential election enters the homestretch.

"These results actually reflect our strategy of focusing aggressively on new voters and current nonvoters and getting them engaged in this election," said Jeff Blodgett, Obama's state campaign director. StPl PiPress

Those 3 counties have been referred to as "ground zero for our get-out-the-vote efforts" (by DFL). Someone has been hammering voter registration on campus. I just got an email from the U's president reminding me to register to vote. My Tuesday evening class professor gave us permission to miss class for voting, since most have either work or a long bus ride rather prohibiting getting to class by 4:40. I've been accosted twice to get me to register. There have been postings all over the school of public health to get people to register (although I didn't notice which group posted them).

See, class, you should have paid attention in math class.

3.13/3.7

The Secretary of State has set a goal to get at least 80% to actually turnout and vote on election day.

As of last Friday, 3.13 million people are registered to vote here in Minnesota. The total eligible voters are 3.7 million. So, at the moment, 85% of the population is registered, with another 5,000 every 2 weeks.

Considering that we're allowed to "register" at the polls, it's expected that the state will pass the 77% turnout in '04. I think they're trying to keep the "highest percentage turn out in the country" title here.

On my way to school today, there was someone getting out the vote. "Excuse me! Do you know if you're registered to vote?" occasionally followed by "at your current address" and once "are you eligible to vote?"

Just so much fun ...

As Mr. Healthy Gopher observed, the longer Palin is in the race, the funnier she becomes. Funny like bizarre.

Palin: "community organizer? what's that? who cares? I am a governor"

Jesus Christ was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor.


The following observations are from one of the news blogs here during McSame/Palin's shindig up in Blaine yesterday:

• This woman scares me, I don't see how any foreign leader can take her seriously. I'd buy Avon from her, but not vote for her for serious office. It's like the Ketchup couple woman on A Prairie Home Companion running for office. Maybe I need some ketchup with its mellowing agents to calm down.
• When this over so I can turn my radio back on? I really find it annoying to listen to someone this stupid. It's like listening to Bush speak.
• Gov Palin says "We'll never forget we're there to work for you. It's about you. I've never forgotten who I'm accountable to." ... As long as 'you' and 'the rule of law' aren't the same things.

Placard/protest signs from Alaska Women Reject Palin protest in Ancorage, AK last Sunday. Which, if the head-count of 1,500 is correct, means that 1/4 of a percent of the entire state population was there.

Bush in a skirt
McCain/Palin - Unstable & Unable
Real Leaders don't have to Cram for the Interview
Pittbulls make poor Diplomats
Wrong Woman, Wrong Message
Hocky Mom for Obama
Sarah Palin: Fundamentally Wrong
Bristol Got to Choose: Why Don't We?
I Support My Choice (very pregnant woman holding sign)
Another Bush We Can't Trust (now, I'm not 100% sure how to take this, but I'll assume the artist was willing to be subtle, and consider this awfully, awfully damned funny)
I'll Need Reproductive Rights One Day (8-yr old girl holding sign)
I Don't Like Hockey! Figure skating Moms 4 Obama



Potential amendment to my Election Rules:

A multi-partisan commission will be established.
It will review advertisements and speeches.
The accuracy of claims will be established, regarding what the candidate claims to have done or what the opponents have done.

The commission will awards points for false statements. It will aware more points for each time the statement/ad is repeated after the first issuance of points.

For every 10,000 points you get, your side loses one electoral vote.

The above amendment is from bigalmn at MPR's blog, who added: "If we did this today both sides would likely be in the negative electoral votes overall and the Independence Party would win by default since they have no money to spend on advertising and get no press attention."