Would You And 2 Million Other People Like To Buy A GM Or Chysler?

I don't have time to truly get into the topic, but here are my thoughts in a nutshell. America needs an auto industry. America can build the best cars in the world. Car companies and unions were truly symbiotic parasites with each other. Stubborn pride and a failure to realize some must be sacrificed for the rest to survive has led GM and Chrysler to this spot (workers, brands, dealers). Bad marketing allowed these companies to focus on some products but not others (SUV and trucks over cars). While GM has interesting product in the pipeline, Chrysler was gutted by their former Mercedes overlords.

I hope GM, Chrysler, and Ford can pull through this. Ford hasn't asked for public money yet, but what affects one will affect all. I want my Chevy Camaros, Ford Fusions, Chrysler 300s, Caddy CTSes, next generation Ford Focuses and Fiestas, Pontiac G8s, Ford Mustangs, and the king of the hill Chevy Corvette!

I Want My DTV!

Actually I'm still using my old Sony 27 inch TV so I won't see too much picture improvement when broadcasters switch to digital TV. Still the Fabulously Gay Roommate and I got the digital converter box for our cable subscription about 6 months ago. Why did we get the box? Because broadcasters have been telling the American people they needed to make the switch over a year ago.

So I'm not feeling sorry for the people who hasn't got some converter box or bought a new TV. They've had a year or two to get ready. It wasn't like the switch to digital was sneaking up on anyone. If you know a hurricane is coming and you don't do anything about it then you're an idiot. I just don't feel sorry for idiots.

Does Congress honestly think the idiots that aren't ready in February will be any more ready in 4 months? I hope a lot of TVs go to static when the conversion does happen. It might force people to read a book or talk to their spouses and children.

We Shall See.

I keep trying to write an inauguration post, but I have a problem. I keep wanting to type some eloquent post expressing my thoughts. Instead I'll just post an email I sent to a friend that isn't eloquent, but cuts to the quick of the matter.


"So, any estimates on how soon the most ardent Obama supporters realize he is merely a man and not Jor-El's only son sent to remake the world, cure cancer, and bring the world a Coke?

I don't have a major problem with the Obama the man but I can't stand most of his supporters. Its a cult of personality and I swear the cult just turns off their collective brain.

Keep in mind, I did vote for him so I'm not a bitter diehard of the losing side expressing these ideas. Both McCain and Obama gave me little bits of what I wanted in a president, a lot of what I didn't want, and it was a narrow victory.

As for Obama as president, I'm willing to give the guy a shot and if and when he screws up I'll complain then."

I Decided 3 Hours Before I Voted.

I didn't automatically hate one candidate, but I wasn't enthused with either candidate either. Combine both and you would have a pretty good candidate for president.

We Can't Predict Who You Voted For

According to our quiz, there's a 55% chance you voted for Obama. But that means there's an 45% chance you voted for McCain. You aren't very typical. You tend to be independent, and your vote is highly coveted. While we can't predict how you voted, there's a good chance you voted for the winner!

Did You Vote for Obama or McCain?

How To Work The Polls.

3:50 a.m. Alarm goes off. Eh didn't really sleep much anyway.

5:00 a.m. Arrive at the Big City Courthouse downtown.

5:15 a.m. Finally get past the deputy who is doing security. If we're on the list can't we just be waved in. In the alternative, how about having more deputies to check our bags.

5:20 a.m. Be in the jury pool room with over 200 other poll workers being held in reserve to plug gaps. Smartest thing this bumbling County Clerk has done in 2 years.

6:30 a.m. Jury pool room has around 100 people left.

8:00 a.m. Jury pool room has around 60 people left.

9:00 a.m. Cross the street to grab some coffee.

11:00 a.m. Call for all members of one political party to go to another room.

11:01 a.m. Person in the other room wonders what the hell all these people are doing in her room. Screaming on walkie-talkie begins.

11:05 a.m. I'm back in jury pool room reading a book.

11:15 a.m. More specific party members are grabbed to be Commissioners who deliver absentee ballots to the precincts by cab.

11:18 a.m. Wolfrham Hart is back in jury pool room since they only needed three Commissioners.

1:00 p.m. Cross the street to grab lunch.

1:20 p.m. 38 people left in the jury pool room. Wolfham Hart is the last known specific party member standing. Bring it other party members!

3:40 p.m. Last of the jury pool room is being sent out to be extra staff to help count votes and deal with all 100,000 absentee ballots. I've already figured that's an average of 160 or so absentee ballots per precinct. 30 is traditionally considered a lot.

4:00 p.m. Wolfrham Hart arrives at the predominantly Democratic/AfricanAmerican precinct as an undercover brother. 235 absentee ballots are 30 seconds behind me.

4 to 6 p.m. Prepare, organize, and qualify 235 absentee ballots. I hope I can get some ballots through the machine before closing time. Otherwise we'll be here awhile. Based on the steam of traffic coming in that doesn't look likely.

CLOSING TIME. No line finally and we close the polls. I happen to be holding the instructions concerning absentee ballots and read them aloud. One lady states what she did with the absentee ballots in another district earlier today. I read the instructions IN MY HANDS again aloud!

Begin feeding 232 qualified absentee ballots into a glorified scantron machine for the next 90 minutes. It only jammed once and rejected 2 ballots.

Interesting observations. Many absentee ballots are straight ticket votes with most being for the Democrats. I'm surprised by the amount of ticket splitting.

90 minutes after CLOSING. Precinct inspector and I collect votes from all machines and get a printout reporting the results.

95 minutes after CLOSING. Attempt to get extra printouts and get weird messages from the machine. We do Step 6. We do Step 7. We do Step 8. At that point the instructions state,"Before performing Step 8 you must..." HEY SHOULDN'T THAT WARNING BE IN FRONT OF STEP 8! Vote machine starts beeping and producing odd messages.

97 minutes after CLOSING. After reading the display messages the tech states if he was there he would kill us. We reply the instructions are crappily written and any warnings should come BEFORE the step!

More observations. In a precinct that normally gets 200 to 400 votes, we got 803 live votes. Add in the 232 qualified absentee ballots we totaled 1,035 votes. Obama got 914 and McCain got 115. In this precinct it is a Democrat landslide.

Help the inspector fill out a metric buttload of paperwork until two hours and thirty minutes after CLOSING. We drive separately to a regional collection place to drop off all the ballots and other stuff.

Three hours after CLOSING. We're checked out and dismissed. I want some Burger King right now and need to crash so bad. I'm totally exhausted. I'm amazed this country can hold elections every few years with mostly volunteers. Why is my first hearing at 8:15 a.m.? If you work the polls you should be allowed to take the next morning off. I hope you all voted one way or another.

I Volunteered For What!

I'm working the election tomorrow. Oh crap what did I get myself into? I must be a glutton for punishment. I have to report no later than 5 friggin' A.M. Are they serious?

My sense of civic pride will get the better of me.

I voted early yesterday since I would be working the polls. You know the election is odd when a junkie like me can't make up his mind until a few hours beforehand. I've never stood in line for nearly 3 hours before. Perhaps is more people had been interested in elections over the past 20 years the country would be in different shape.

Oh well at least the people will definitely speak this election. But will the politicians care about what they hear?

Army Of Darkness Explains So Much.

One friend of mine fails onto the Democrat side of the political spectrum. Our collective has a wide range of political views. Our collective is also full of smart asses. Combine those two traits with my friend and he came up with this little gem of political analysis. I don't care what your politics are you have to admit this is funny.

PS: If you haven't seen the Bruce Campbell classic Army Of Darkness you won't appreciate this as much.

John McCain (gesturing to the Bush administration): "You gotta believe me...I never even SAW these assholes before!"

Sarah Palin: "You found me beautiful once."
My Friend: "Honey, you got reeaal ugly."

Tell Me How You Really Feel.

This $700 BILLION bailout package of Wall Street isn't very popular. Everyone has an opinion on the subject. The fact the vote failed and the Dow Jones went down 777 points (is that 111 points better than expected) elicits various responses.

A wee bit blunt, but I kinda agree with my friend. I'm such a sick, sick boy.

Quote One:
"Whoo-hoo! I want to see suits diving out of skyscrapers before Congress says boo with MY money. More billionaires need to become paupers before we as a whole pony up $700 billion."

Quote Of The Day.

Concerning the fact former presidential candidate John Edwards admits to sleeping with a photographer as his wife is dying of cancer.

Fabulously Gay Roommate: I'm tired of these holier than thou politicians who preach family values. All the Democrats cheat on their wives, and all the Republicans end up being homosexuals.

I'm not sure which is better: the quote or who said it!

We Should Be The Poltical Analysts On TV!

Sometimes the friends and I get political. But this response was the beauty of the email string I thought. I wish I wrote it. I wish we were on TV instead of the usual empty talking heads.

"Honestly, listening to her is like being nagged by my wife. I'm tired of seeing article after article basically saying I am a cro-Magnon knuckle dragger for not being a male Dem willing to support Hillary.

Look, how could I not be Obama, I fit all the groups. I have a (useless) education [he's an attorney], I like brie, wine and the idea of San Francisco. However, I can bowl and can probably consume more beer in one sitting than Obama has had in 20 years."

If You Don't Vote You Can't Bitch.

Vote early, vote often and make sure you have your photo ID.

Is The Election Over Soon? Please.

I'm getting tired of all the political mailings and phone calls this week. Except for the truly local elections (Recorder, Clerk, etc) I've alreadly selected my candidates. Please don't make me mad and refuse to vote.

By next Tuesday all the politcal pundits, candidates and sychophantic followers will be quiet. I swear politics makes people stupid.