My ballot represented a 65% participation in my precinct with the after-work “crowd” to come. We had 90 people vote early and they increased the number of voting stations by 50% [from two to three] for today.
It took me a half hour, but that included walking over to my Mother’s house to drive her in her car to the town hall, vote, drive back, and walk home.
The real shame is that only about 20% of people voted in the August primary that selected most of the local and county offices.
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I just saw a special report on the election. They are calling DC, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware and, Vermont for Obama, and saying it looks like he will get Florida and Virginia also. At last count (a half hour ago), Obama had 103 electoral votes to McCains 54. One interesting statistic they showed was the more educated (or, as one reported said, intelligent) the person, the more likely they voted for Obama. If there are any intelligent McCain voters out there… they seem to be in a very small minority. Guilt by association? 😉 LOL I also had to laugh at how many US reporters that looked decidedly uncomfortable reading the results. 😉 Nothing like unbiased reporting, rh? LOL Personally, I hope they all have a brain hemorrhage by the end of the day. One less problem for Obama to deal with. LOL
Oh, one other thing, speaking of the US media cretins… MSNBC & Fox are reporting (here anyway), that 71% of voters were worried about another terrorist attack against the US (curiously, the same number they reported in 2004), but AP exit polls are saying that six out of ten voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the country. Gee… ya think? LOL
I really hope that if Obama does win, he seriously does something about the highly biased media, and forces them on pain of massive fines and other pain to report *just the facts, maam*! Well… I can hope. 😉
Just called Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and New York for Obama. 🙂 Also, Dems have won 4 more senate seats, and Liz Dole is gone. The bad nes is that Rahm Emanuel has been offered a Chief of Staff job with an Obama White House and is currently “agonizing” over whether to take the job. *sigh* Obama REALLY needs to have a very close look at his *colleagues*! Then again.. Maybe he thinks if he keeps people like Rahm close, he can keep a close eye on them. Maybe.
Oops. I left out that Ohio and surprisingly, Kansas, have also been called for Obama. 🙂 The *score* is now 171 : 75. 🙂 Of course… It’s still early, but so far… so good, mostly. 😉
Bah! Stoopid fingers! *sigh* 191 : 75 electoral votes. 😉
The media may get burned, because the cities report first and the Republican strength is in the rural areas that report later.
I decidedly unhappy with the early voters in Florida – while they are voting for Democrats they are also backing odious measures on the ballot. They are not liberals, they are simply angry with Republicans.
I know what you mean. Same here really. 🙂 I’ll be VERY surprised if Kansas goes for Obama. 😉 I begin to suspect that the media were just trying a last ditch scare campaign towards last minute voters. Does that make me cynical? 😉 LOL
I think Obama will win… but where and how much… *shrug* I just hope Dem’s get rid of a few of the worst Repug criminals in the Senate and Congress. 🙂
Hmmm. They are calling New Mex, Iowa and Wisconsin for Obama now. 207 : 90. 😉
I’m using this for the results BTW:
Agence France-Presse – Real Time Election Voting Map
Ehhh. I’m just using this to take my mind of a very sick dog I’m *looking* after for friends who have a farm near the border. Took him to the Animal hospital nearby today. It’s not looking good. Waiting for test results tomorrow, but looks likely he will have to be put down. 🙁 Very sad… He’s a really nice young dog, only 4. Cross between a Ridgback and a Husky. 🙂 He’s in a lot of pain and can barely move or walk. He’s laying on a thick sleep pad next to me. The Vet gave us something to ease the pain and help him sleep. He hasn’t been eating and is almost all skin and bone, muscles have atrophied somewhat. Very sad… I love dogs, and he’s a very good boy. Even though he’s in pain, he hasn’t snapped at me once and he hasn’t seen me in a year. But he came straight to me and looked at me with big hopeful eyes! Kills me… I’d much rather let a human down than a dog! Still, I try to do what I can. At least he’s been eating something (out of my hands only) today. 🙂 I won’t allow him to suffer for much longer. See what the Vet says tomorrow.
Life can really suck sometimes. To be honest… I don’t really give a rats ass any more who wins what in the USA. I don’t see much changing for a long time whatever happens.
aw, i’m sorry about the pup, kryten. that’s really hard.
That’s always a tough call, but you have to do what’s best for the dog, even when it hurts.
Obama may win, but he doesn’t have any coattails in Florida.
I figure the next for years are a wash. Things may stabilize, but they aren’t going to get any better. You have to wait and see what the cabinet looks like to know what the administration will look like. I’m hoping that all of the early names being talked about are wrong, because if they aren’t this is going to be an administration very similar to the first Bush.
Thanks hipparchia. 🙂 Yeah… It’s hard. Animals just expect you to make everything right, you know? They have so much faith in us stupid humans. *shaking head* I don’t really understand why. History certainly proves them wrong. *sigh* I’ve had to have 2 dogs put down since I had my first pup, after the 2nd one, I’ve never owned a dog since. I swore I wouldn’t go through that again. I had cats instead… they are more independent, makes loosing one a little bit easier. Heh… 🙂 A dog can REALLY get under your skin! Now we are well on the way to destroying their world… and ourselves also of course, but I see that as an incidental, minor point. 🙂 We did it to ourselves and deserve it. They didn’t and don’t. Simple really. And I’m not even a rabid tree huger either! 😉 LOL
Life… Who’d have one? 😉
Posted at the same time again. 😉
Agree Bryan, and thanks. 🙂 And yep, it’s a tough call. But I will do it even if I have to do it myself. I won’t allow him to suffer. I’ve never had much of a problem doing the *hard* things, which is why I had a distinguished military *career*. It’s the *after* part that get’s very difficult to handle. 🙂 Don’t misunderstand, I don’t take hard decisions lightly. But sometimes, you just *know* with great certainty what the right decision is. I don’t second guess myself at those times, and I’m still alive because of that! 🙂 I would have been dead several times now if I hadn’t done what I believed was right and made very hard decisions, or I hesitated. And I don’t just mean in the Military either. I’ve been told I won’t have long to live literally since the day I was born many weeks prem and they told my mom I wouldn’t last more than a couple weeks. I’ve learned that *borrowed time* can last a lifetime! LOL
I’ve noticed that my mistakes have been because of information I didn’t have, not because I made a bad decision based on the information I did have. When you start second guessing your own abilities you lose.
Reality and pragmatism keep us all alive. I have no intention of checking out with a Darwin.
People sometimes think I’m cruel in the way I treat feral cats, but they don’t understand that cats have a right to make their own decisions. I do take kittens abandoned by their mothers to the vet, but I know when I do that almost any kitten who allows me to handle them is already too sick to help. I’m not going to traumatize a sick animal by capturing it. When they are ready they tend to go off on their own. They have a right to that dignity.
Dogs are more dependent on humans, and usually require assistance. They have earned the right to expect us to aid them, as they have aided us over the centuries. It is a debt that can’t be ignored, no matter how much you might want to. Offering mercy is the least we can do.
You do right because it is right, not because it is easy.
You do right because it is right, not because it is easy.
I am seriously looking forward to that beer (well, symbolically. I’ll settle for a good coffee or whatever is handy) one day. 🙂 Who knows, after today… it may be sooner rather than later. 🙂
I hope that there are some reasonable changes to border control and an improvement in international relations, but I’m not holding my breath.
Yes. I was thinking about that… but, Obama and Rudd are making the right noises about strengthening ties again (after all, not only are we a trading partner and major US military outpost in the Southern hemisphere (something the retarded Bushmorons seem to have forgotten), we also now pretty much *control* access to the Asian Markets in this region. 🙂 Still, it won’t be easy after the past 8 years. People here are pretty pissed and won’t give anything to the USA for peanuts any more, and hopefully, Rudd is smart enough to know it or he may find out the hard way. 🙂
Ahhh… the politics of global relations! LOL Ain’t it wonderful? 😉 USA has a LOT of bridges to rebuild, and it’s gonna cost.
I found this interesting BTW:
republiCON’s Biggest Losers
Oh… and the GOP dirty election tactics stories have begun already:
Purging Voter Rolls–One Hollywood Liberal At A Time
And of course, there is the expected insanity from the right, including assassination threats. Biz as usual from the right, to be expected. You really should consider rounding them all up and giving them their own place… like… Alaska maybe. They’d fit right in there, and Palin can have her wet dream and be the Prez! LOL Umm… But I would seriously increase surveillance and patrols. 😉
Kryten, that’s what they are hoping for, some attempt to “oppress” them.
Alaska would kill most of them, it isn’t very forgiving of idiots who can’t survive on their own. In general the Alaskans do their best to ignore the Federal government, because most interactions are negative, with a “bureaucrat” telling them that they can’t do something.
They elect people repeatedly because they assume that they are crazy. You have to understand that most Alaskans don’t really care for most other people. They believe that they are surviving on their own abilities, and many are. Someone who would want to go to Congress would be viewed as weak, so you ship them out. If you make friends with a real Alaskan you have a friend for life who will do anything for you, but expect you to reciprocate, which can get pretty damn dangerous.
I’m talking about the people who live in the interior. I assume that Alaskans who live in the cities are more like people in the lower 48.
There are a lot of these clowns who talk dangerous but would melt in a real “hot zone”.
Alaska would kill most of them, it isn’t very forgiving of idiots who can’t survive on their own.
Ummm… And, your point would be? 😉 You’d miss them? LOL Oh dear… what a shame that wouldn’t be!! And anyway… The Polar bears are dying out, they need food. At least the morons would be of some use in the end. 🙂
Apart from that, I understand what you say about the rest. I did have to have a couple visits to Anchorage in February (Elmendorf, courtesy of the USAF/GD)! That wonderful vacation spot and jewel of the North! I may forgive them, one day! 😉
Anchorage isn’t typical of Alaska, if you had gone to Eielson outside of Fairbanks, you would have been treated to the real Alaskan experience and expense. It’s a trip back in time, with gun racks in the bars [they won’t serve you until you check your weapon] and you can pay in gold dust. The parking meters are actually electrical meters with an outlet to plug in the heaters, and if you don’t pay during the winter your vehicle probably won’t start.
Your postal address is a mileage marker on a highway, i.e. 11 mile Steese Highway, Fairbanks is an address, but the physical cabin may be 5 or 10 miles away. There’s usually a box by the highway [and I use that term loosely] to drop any deliveries into.
It’s a journey back a century.
subtract the parking meters and the heating plugs and you’d be describing my time in puerto rico, where your address is a mile marker on a highway, and if you have a gun with you, you keep it concealed, even in the bars and casinos.
not sure about the gold dust, but you probably trade a chicken or a bicycle for something.
You would be thought simple-minded if you lived outside of town and didn’t have a gun with you, or it you concealed it. You had obviously never encountered a moose. Bears and wolves are what people think of, but I don’t remember a single incident involving either the entire time I was in Alaska. They tend to avoid people and are easily scared off with a little knowledge. Moose OTOH are psychotic. There is no way of predicting what a moose will do. A Volkswagen Beetle loses to a moose every time.
I’ve knew a lot of guys from Puerto Rico in the Air Force, but they all seemed to be from San Juan and entered the Air Force in New York. They didn’t mention anything about life away from the city or The City.
Speaking of Alaska, elections, etc… Here’s a couple items I read today. 🙂
Brad Blog:
Details on ‘What in the Hell Happened in Alaska’ and Georgia and Oregon…
Think Progress:
Palin spent more on clothes than previously reported, McCain aides furious at her ‘outrageous profligacy.’
Alaskans are wary of Palin’s return.
Fox’s Carl Cameron: Palin ‘didn’t understand that Africa was a continent.’
PS. I stand by everything I ever said about that selfish, self-indulgent, ignorant idiot… Palin. 🙂 One more for the road:
Palin Goes Rogue, Ignores Press Aides’ Exhortations To End Press Conference
Oh, and apparently she wanted to give a speech after McCain conceded to Obama, but the people who chose her as McCain’s running mate vetoed the request. LOL I wish they had let her give her 2012 campaign speech! That would have just been so classy of her, and typical. LOL
And, I love this one from that slimeball SOB Novak:
Novak: 3 Million Vote Margin = Mandate For Bush; 7 Million For Obama = No Mandate
BTW, I hope Obama and his family have titanium underwear. Seems there are a few serious assassination threats already, including *they who shall not be mentioned*, the KKK (which is alive and well, in spite of people wishing to believe otherwise).
Another interesting item was that most of the World leaders were praising Obama, except Russia. From Think Progress:
Ahhh, yes! 😉
The McCain campaign staff have designated Sarah Palin as the scapegoat and are lying their asses off to cover up for any perceived short comings in the campaign. Palin didn’t have any of her own people with her, and those assigned to her came from the McCain campaign.
The geography bit was interesting, since the Africa thing was a Bushism several months ago, and given that McCain, who was running on national security credentials, thought that Afghanistan shared a border with Iraq, I would question the validity of any geography claims coming from the campaign staff.
The shopping sprees have Cindy McCain written all over them. If you had seen the campaign for governor that Palin ran, you would know she doesn’t care about clothes. She shops at a consignment shop in Anchorage [upscale second-hand store], not from a catalog. They say they spent $40K on clothes for Todd Palin – the guy is a commercial fisherman and oil field worker who drives a pick-up and we are supposed to believe he wants to wear suits and ties!?
Governor Palin was elected because she is a populist – she does what people want, and that annoys the career politicians who do what lobbyists want. She filed an ethics complaint against the chairman of the Alaskan Republican Party that resulted in his being forced to resign from a government job and pay a $12K fine. She backed a challenger to long-time Alaskan Congressman Don Young’s re-election. She was one of the earliest people to call for Ted Stevens to come clean on the ethics complaints against him. She backed and signed a new bi-partisan ethics bill for Alaska. Her support for a challenger to state senate president and Republican Lyda Green, caused Green to decide to retire. She defeated incumbent Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary for governor and ran her campaign without any support from the party.
The Republican establishment in Alaska hates her. John McCain served in the US Senate with Frank Murkowski and now serves with Murkowski’s daughter and Stevens. He certainly didn’t hear any kind words about her from them.
George Washington couldn’t have won running as a Republican for President this year, because there was a fairly uniform shift of about 8% to the Democrats across the country. What that means is that the Republican needed at least a 9% advantage in a state to retain it, and there aren’t that many states with that kind of advantage. The shift was caused by 8 years of the Hedgemony.
In 4 years, Sarah Palin could make a decent run for the nomination, but only if she runs as Sarah Palin. She had to learn a “role” to run as John McCain’s Vice President, and mouth policies she didn’t really believe in. She “played” the neo-conservative evangelical for the Republican base, and she isn’t that person when she’s governor of Alaska. She has a public record and people who look at it unfiltered can see that for themselves.
As for the Senate vote in Alaska – Ted Stevens has been good for Alaska in the Senate. Not as good as for himself, but the perception is he has gotten a lot of money for Alaska. We had the same problem with a long-time Congresscritter down here who finally had to resign because of his ethics problems. In both cases the money would have been allocated anyway, because a lot of it was related to defense issues that required it be spent in the area, but being politicians they claimed it was only through their diligence that the money was spent. Alaskans will stay with Stevens, just like local voters stayed with Bob Sikes, mostly because change is “scary”.
There will have to be a special election in Alaska if Steven’s conviction is upheld on appeal, and I can’t see any reason for Sarah Palin to resign as governor and run. She certainly isn’t going to resign so she can be appointed for no more than 90 days by the current lieutenant governor. The Senate isn’t a promotion for a governor, although some have tried to use it for a Presidential run.
I won’t vote for Palin, but I recognize her for who she is, not who people want to make her. The McCain campaign should have let John pick his own running mate. It wouldn’t have made any difference, but it might have been a happier campaign. If they had wanted to enliven the base they should have picked Huckabee who was the real thing and a much better fit with McCain.
The shopping sprees have Cindy McCain written all over them.
my take too, except that sarah palin has wa-a-a-a-ay better taste in clothes than cindy mccain does.
I’m not saying that Cindy McCain picked the clothes and there is ample evidence that Sarah Palin didn’t. Somebody in the campaign went to the stores with the sizes.
That campaign was insane. They needed someone to make McCain lose the death pallor that he had in early campaign appearances and they brought in that media make-up artist for $8K+ per month. There were pictures of McCain being worked on right after the person was hired and he sure as hell looked healthier on camera afterwords.
As for Sarah Palin, her hair stylist came from the salon that Cindy McCain uses, and I would assume that the make-up artist was another Cindy innovation. How in hell would the governor of Alaska even know about these people?
Cindy McCain if a fricking millionaire, she certainly doesn’t care about other people’s money. She lives in Arizona and goes to a salon in Thousand Oaks, California. She probably doesn’t think there are stores that sell clothes other than Saks and Neiman-Marcus.
*i’ve* got a sweater i bought from neiman-marcus. that store is probably the equivalent of walmart for the cindy mccains of this world.
ok, sarah’s clothes stylist has better taste than cindy’s clothes stylist.
Actually, I think Sarah Palin would have been a better draw for the the Republicans if they had let go to rallies in jeans, boots, and a hooded sweatshirt, what she normally wears in Alaska. That would have been a better image than what they did.
A couple of formal outfits for dressy events, but the image they built for her was wrong and was at odds with the way she talked and what she represented.
Landsend would have been a better image than St. Laurent.
LOL Well, even if true… it proves my point. She’s a moron. LOL Anyone who would allow themselves to be so easily manipulated (especially as paranoid as Palin is) would be. All the comedians call Palin ‘The gift that just keeps on giving’. Even Larry Flynt, who’s morals on many areas I have a problem with, but he’s been a campaigner for free speech (even if for his own financial or other benefit).
Yup! Especially since these are mostly the same morons that voted for that other moron, G.W. Bush, twice! The Repugs, as usual, went after the lowest common denominator (the moron class), but this time, the rest decided to get off their asses and voted. LOL
Her actual IQ, based on what I’ve seen of her, is probably between 125 and 135. Any Mensan could spot the clues. It’s not a matter of intelligence, it’s a matter of loyalty. She filled the role she was given, and she won’t do it again. She is going to be a thorn in the side of the Republican Party for some time to come because they messed her over, and she isn’t one to forget.
After the election she has added allies in the Alaskan legislature, so I have a feeling she will settle some scores.
She has four years to hit the books, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her challenge Lisa Murkowski in the 2010 Senate race, after all, she has a history of taking out incumbent Murkowsis to win the Republican nomination. With a complete term as the governor, and a couple of years as Senator, she would be in a good position to run for the Presidency in 2012. She knows the process now, and she won’t make the same mistakes twice.
The Republican Party is in disarray and she is one of the few stars they have. She has the skills when she isn’t tied down by the robots who ran McCain’s campaign, generally the second team of the Bush campaigns in 2000 and 2004. She has the support of the ground game of the Republican Party, the evangelicals, who wouldn’t come out for McCain. The attack ads were classic Rove tactics, but McCain didn’t understand that the Presidential candidate isn’t supposed to get involved in the attacks.
Stupid people don’t stay alive in the Alaskan bush, anymore than the Australian Outback.
The only problem she has is the media. The media hate her, just like Al Gore, John Edwards, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton. They are her biggest obstacle.
If things don’t turn around in the next four years, who knows what the voters will do.
yep, she’s a smart cookie, and a quick study too. the campaign’s problem was trying to make her over into some clone of cindy mccain or laura bush, which, thankfully, she is not.
i’m really looking forward to her taking more of the entrenched good ol boys club, although it’s scary to think what a republican party with a smart and likeable and savvy candidate can do.
yep lands end would definitely have been better.
Her biggest problem was not demanding enough control of her campaign, and assuming that the McCain campaign knew what it was doing, when it obviously did not.
McCain’s media person, Nicolle Wallace, said that as far as she knew the closest Gov. Palin came to being a “diva” was once asking for a Diet Dr. Pepper. Wallace was the one who made the media decisions for the Palin effort and was on leave from CBS for the campaign.
The McCain campaign only allowed her to bring one Alaskan with her, her campaign manager from the governor’s race. This was a McCain disaster, start to finish.