co.inc.ee.dinx

We thought about letting her stay there, but then thought better of it.

This is the entryway to the U.S. Department of Edumacation. There are so many things I can say about this, but I won't.

Ok, my friends. It's been awhile since I've had a coherent post of any sort. Needless to say, I've been a tad preoccupied, what with having a baby and all. But my priorities are intact... Nothing really ever could overshadow Karaoke to the Death in this lifetime. And in case there was any doubt... yes, we are attending the event this year. No, we will not be taking our newborn into the smoky abyss that is the Rock It Grill, however, we will be there, in shifts.

While my priorities may be intact, my actual follow-through is lacking. It started with some technical difficulties that Hotrod helped me remedy last weekend. That was followed up by four days of completely forgetting about my priorities, and then me leaving the computer where the audio files reside at an undisclosed location for two more days. Hence, it's Thursday before the big event, and the 30 audio files I have from KttD 2008 are 1) not posted to my blog; 2) not going to get posted to my blog before the event. I'll get to them, though. This is history, after all, it can't go unrecorded or un-Voxed.

All that being said, they're good. Really.

But you can see why... here. Check out the lovely Vox blog Papa Vrabel has made for our little bambino.

While I am thrilled Ohio State managed to wrangle a BCS Bowl Game appearance on January 5, I'm not thrilled it's against Texas.

By the way Hotrod, the Pittsburgh Passion would be happy to play the Wolverines-- we know one of the players, and she's confident the team is ready and willing.

A couple of months ago, I caved and joined Facebook. I don't spend much time there, but I am amazed at how many people I've "discovered" in a short period of time, and those who've found me.

Since I've recently been tapping into my teen angst years, I joined the Andrew McCarthy Fan page (533 strong as of this morning). I'm in good company... this is a recent post on his Wall:

IM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!
Andrew McCarthy IS VERY SPECIAL FOR ME!!!

i like very moush Andrew McCarthy
:)

im from mexico city!!

Tuesday night was pretty freakin' awesome.

But I hafta move on to a new subject. Peregrine falcons. I know, I know. Not what you'd expect, and me neither, but these birds are pretty freakin' awesome in their own right, and an Onion article today got me thinking about how awesome. I have the privilege of working on the 27th floor of a building, and occasionally I see a peregrine falcon zip past my field of view up here, which is (say it with me) pretty freakin' awesome.

But now I know we have more in common than I once imagined:

"For decades, the peregrine falcon faced a very real and very serious threat," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deputy director Rowan Gould said. "There was a time when many of us feared we would never see this majestic creature again, when we did everything in our power to ensure that this marvel of nature would be around for generations to come."

Added Gould, "If only we'd known then what cocky little pricks they'd turn out to be."

In recent months, the peregrine falcon has continued to infuriate environmentalists by reclaiming its habitat without so much as a simple thank you, frequently and loudly mating in everyone's face, and hunting prey off the coast of Maine as though it were "master of the fucking skies."

Just to ease any lingering doubts I had about the outcome of the election, I've done some poll trolling and am feeling pretty darn good. Then I mosey on over to Truthout... and the needle has flown off the record.

Read this and tell me you aren't scared.

Some highlights (or lowlights, depending upon your viewpoint):

• Ten million voters purged? What the hell is going on here? Why are we removing millions from the voter rolls?  The answer is the GOP's secret weapon, the Help America Vote Act, signed by George Bush in 2002. When Bush tells us he's going to help us vote, look out. But Democrats didn't. They signed on to the GOP bill, believing this "reform" law would prevent "another Florida." Instead, "Help America Vote" Floridated the entire nation.
• The company and state choose the purging "algorithms," those mathematical formulae that, depending on how you tweak them, can go through a voter roll like a hot knife through cream cheese.

  So, what happens to the purged voters? They're told to scram when they arrive to vote or, if they squawk, they get a "provisional" ballot on which they can pretend to vote.

  Now, here are the facts about provisionals: they don't get counted. And there are lots of them. The great unreported story of the 2004 election was that there were more than three million voters shunted to provisional ballots. Over a million (1,090,000) were never counted, just chucked in the dumpster. That's what caused Kerry to lose New Mexico, Iowa and Ohio. This time, because of Help America Vote and a Republican campaign to challenge voters, the number of provisionals will rise, as will rejections.

• It used to be that you filled out a registration card and, bingo, you were registered. Not any more. That's also what happened in Florida to the 85,000 new registrants. They were victims of strict "matching" algorithms. Other states are also playing the "match" game. The result is voters will find themselves simply missing (or in some states, required to show extra ID - another horror show we'll discuss below). But don't worry, a of couple million new voters will get provisional ballots. That way, they can practice filling out their ballots for the day when democracy returns to America.
• In the last election, 1,389,231 ballots were zeroed-out, "spoiled," because the machines lost them, couldn't read them, mangled them or simply didn't register them. But it's not random, not by a long shot. In New Mexico in 2004, I found that 89 percent of blank and spoiled ballots were cast in minority precincts - a sum of uncounted ballots way over the Republican "victory" margin in that state.
• This time, the GOP has a new game for trashing your absentee vote. In states like Florida, some FTFs (First-Time Federal voters) will have to include a photocopy of their ID in with the absentee ballot. Bet you didn't know that. They're counting on you not knowing that. In Florida, for example, you have to place the ID photocopy outside the inner envelope, but inside the outer envelope - Got that? - or your vote is toast. I've spoken to one student voter, who lost his vote for failing to use the two envelopes - though he only received one. (Have a mail-in ballot in hand? Then, for God's sake, walk it in to the polling place or local board of elections. Sign, seal and deliver it in person.)
•   These millions of uncounted ballots - spoiled ballots, provisional ballots rejected, absentee ballots disqualified - fully explain the difference between exit polls (which, for example, gave Kerry Ohio in 2004 and Gore a win in Florida in 2000) and the official count. Exit pollsters ask, "Who did you vote for?" They never ask, and can't know, "Did your vote count?"

I really have not been milking this VP thing for all it's worth up until now, methinks.

I'd been trying to ignore the entire Sarah Palin wardrobe "scandal," though I must say I did wonder how she got to be so damn well-put-together livin' out in the sticks like she does.

H/t to Schmutzie for her intrepid reporting. See it here. I think this is my personal fave outfit of Sarah, pre-Veep-candidate makeover.

Sarah shopping

But of course I'll have a few more words to add.

I've scoured the Internets and not found a completely satisfying rant about this, but I am, above all else, disturbed by the fact that McCain has used a Sharpie marker to take notes (and even pointed out as his veto-making pen in the first debate) at all three debates. Not just any Sharpie, not a new thin, click-on, click-off pen-like Sharpie, but a big honking fat regular black Sharpie.

So I ask you. Do you trust a man who looks like this AND relies on a Sharpie marker as his primary writing utensil?

McCain bumbling

Despite being a firmly-decided voter, and despite having sworn off a lot of political activism in the past 10 months due to a wide variety of other issues in my life, I've been watching the debates with interest. To state the obvious (IMHO), John McCain's going down.

If I weren't 7-months gone, or if there were a maternity version, I'd be sporting one of these 'uns ASAP.