Posts from November 2006

Are we really galloping towards the center? If so, I welcome the truth.

Jeb Hensarling, R-TX after the GOP got their ass kicked yesterday: “You could be looking at a fair amount of gridlock for the next two years. . .”. Mmmmm gridlock goodness.

And this from our President Monday before the election: “Mr. Bush‘s plea at his final campaign rally, at Reunion Arena in Dallas, was this: ‘Stick with us, and the country will be better off.‘ To which I say, rule a little better and we would have.

My bet though is the Dems immediately squander any goodwill they may have gathered by doing stupid stuff they are known for, i.e. subpoena Bush, try to impeach Bush, immediately withdraw from Iraq. We‘ll see but the Democratic party has been known lately for its seemingly exquisite ability to blow off its own foot.

While we‘re in election day mode, might as well post a couple of times. I noted below that I voted almost straight Democratic today, even though I think they are unfit to be in power. It‘s conspiracy theories like these that continue to support that belief. It‘s unheard of for the nutroots lefties that they might lose because America thinks they are idiots. It‘s always about vote stealing, rigged elections, the evil Karl Rove-bots (nice play on words there). Morons like that guy make me feel guilty I voted Democratic.

In the software world, we have a saying “Never attribute to malice what can be easily explained by stupidity.” The Democratic nutroots would be wise to take that to heart.

I voted today. Did you?

My overall experience was fine. I got to the polling place right at 7 AM to find 22 people in line ahead of me which is not unheard of. From the time I received my card to the time I gave it back, things were good. However, the general experience at this location was closer to an unmitigated disaster. They had 5 machines plugged into one outlet. When I got there at 7, the machines were still charging. The election officials seems untrained and unable to handle issues. It took 1 guy 5 trips to the machine before they finally got him a ballot. One guy was still receiving the wrong ballot when I left and one man had gone through the ballot only to discover they had given him the wrong one. He was not pleased.

The election judge in charge of the machines seemed untechnical and poorly chosen for the job (I vote in Precinct 56 in Collin County, if any one is interested). I understand that these people are volunteers but please, this isn‘t rocket science. As usual, the people signing you in were friendly and helpful. It‘s easy to see how conspiracy theories start when you give multiple people the wrong ballot in a single location. Not good.

Voting: I voted for Kinky and then as close to a straight Democratic ticket as I could. Where there weren‘t Dems running, I voted Lib. Where they didn‘t exist either, I left it blank. I believe Republican party has lost its way and its mandate and needs to be, shall we say, refocused. The Port security bill with a rider prohibiting gambling (well, not horse racing or lottery or pari-mutuel gambling or Indian casino gambling or any other gambling interest well funded by special interest groups) was the last straw but the Schiavo affair, the nomination of Miers to the Supreme Court and the general affinity for darkness and secrecy in regards to how the government spends my money all had an influence.

The party of Reagan and Gingrich is gone and it‘s been replaced by the party of Frist and Hastert, a moralizing, judgemental, big government monstrosity that embarasses me. I‘m hoping the GOP loses both houses but I‘m counting on at least one. I don‘t think the Democrats are a viable party either based on their pandering to the anti-war left but I don‘t see any way to make the GOP back into a decent governing party without striking fear into their dirty little hearts. It scares me to give control to the Dems but maybe a little gridlock wouldn‘t hurt us that much.