Crasher Squirrel

Ok, I'm so easily amused that I just spent a few minutes using the Squirrelizer (http://www.lutralutra.co.uk/squirrelizer), and here's the results:

Sanford

South Carolina Gov. Sanford just got back from his curious vacation, to reveal he's been having an affair. Why is a Republican being involved in an extramarital affair still worthy of a press conference? Anyway, he has one here:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2009/06/24/sot.sc.sanford.affair.scetv

and you should watch it. Not because of what he says - he gives the usual plea for forgiveness, etc. - but because of the women behind him during his speech, who are constantly trying to stop themselves from laughing. So watch the two women on the left, but be sure to watch the woman on the right at about 45 seconds into the video.

Me miss you long time

Long time gone. A fair bit to say; but will do so in a bit. For now: O, hai!

Philately Geek

I love and hate being on this stamp store's mailing list. They're running a sale on this series of "overrun nations" from WW2 that came out in 1944. It was the first time the USPS used more than two colors in printing stamps.

What... you aren't excited about this? What the hell's wrong with you?!

Vids

Hey, first post in ages. Been feeling absolutely shit for the last four months... now am on new drug (Nardil) and am notably better. Let's see if it lasts.

Meanwhile, here's some entertainment. This chickiebabe Nataly Dawn is all over YouTube, by herself and as half of her duo Pomplamoose. Pretty damn addictive and worthy of sharing:



And in case you missed it, the phenomenal remixes of Christian Bale's awesomely awesome fuckfest:

... srsly?

In the ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!!! department:

Baghdad celebrates first public Christmas amid hope, memories

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- From a distance, it looks like an apparition: a huge multi-colored hot-air balloon floating in the Baghdad sky, bearing a large poster of Jesus Christ. Below it, an Iraqi flag. ....

.... In the middle of the park there's an art exhibit, the creation of 11- and 12-year-olds: six displays, each about three feet wide, constructed of cardboard and Styrofoam, filled with tiny dolls dressed like ordinary people, along with model soldiers and police. They look like model movie sets depicting everyday life in Baghdad.

Afnan, 12 years old, shows me her model called "Arresting the Terrorists."

"These are the terrorists," she tells me. "They were trying to blow up the school." In the middle of the street a dead "terrorist" sprawls on the asphalt, his bloody arm torn from his body by an explosion. Afnan tells me she used red nail polish to paint the blood. A little plastic dog stands nearby. "What is he doing?" I ask. "He looks for terrorists and searches for weapons and explosives," Afnan says.

Am I wrong for thinking this is absolutely insane, and potentially dangerous?

bye!

Check out this great six minute piece by Rachel Maddow on Bush administration members that, in the past 8 years, were the subjects of various scandals requiring their "release" from employment and occasional incarceration:


www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27934583#27934583

The list goes on, and on, and on. Pretty entertaining too, when reminded of the insane shit these people did. And then I have to wonder, for every crime or foul spotted, how many went undetected?

Good morning?

So, this is fucked up... I got up a couple hours ago, shortly after 5 AM, and went to the bathroom, then into the living room, where I was surprised to find my housemate Jason and pseudo-housemate Rebekah watching the Colbert Report at really high volume. WTF, I thought.

It's a couple hours later, and I've realized that that was 5 PM. Now it's past 7:30 (PM) and I'm sitting here wondering WTF just happened. I can't remember the last time I was awake. But when I got up at the ungodly hour of 5:something, I totally felt like I was getting up early in the morning, and even went to the kitchen in my robe to perform the regular ritual of getting some cereal and orange juice.

Now I have to ask Jason is he's seen me up and about earlier today. Or WTF.

Maddow Rising

The new issue of the Advocate has a great little story on my heroine, Rachel Maddow. And if you're not watching or listening to Rachel, you're missing out.

WTF are you people thinking?

Holy fucking shit: convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is winning his race for re-election by a tiny margin. It's still too close to call, as of nearly 6PM EST on the day after, but the current tally is 48-47% w/99% of precints reporting.

Check it. Surreal. Not to leave the saner people in Alaska out in the cold or nothin' (HAW HAW HAW), but I'm really not against this secession idea.

Meanwhile Al Franken seems to have lost by not even 500 votes, which triggers an automatic recount. CNN is listing the Georgia seat as being undecided, although incumbent Saxby Chambliss - besides having the cooler name - seems way too far ahead; not sure why they haven't called it already. The Oregon seat is still up for grabs... the Dem has 2k less in votes, but a quarter of the precints have yet to complete their counts; some lean heavily for the Dem, some for the Rep incumbent.

Dangerous Game.

Massachusetts Budget Game

Question 1 on today's ballot in Massachusetts is asking us to eliminate personal income tax in Massachusetts. Once the police have had their funding slashed to ribbons, I will feel far safer in getting away with smashing in the skulls of those who vote Yes on 1.


... I just finished my budget actually... I won! Did it! I had to cut health care, human services (elderly, disabled, transitional assistance, mental retardation, children/families, etc.), the state police, prosecutors, and prison system, most of the fire and public safety services, and some dubious sounding "additional assistance" being given to various "local areas."

Good thing I'm on SSI/Medicare/etc. now. If I hadn't been on MassHealth back in 2000-1, I'd have died, but, since I don't need it anymore, bye, fuckos!

O-ho.

Inane prattle post:

I've got a real man-crush on Morten Harket. I'm listening to something from his new solo album, but most people would look at him and say "ah, the a-ha guy," which would be correct... he's the lead singer of a-ha. He's the doll on the right on this 1980's album cover:



Thing is, here's a couple shots of him from a live appearance a few weeks ago, too:



The guy is almost fucking 50. I'm jealous of his beauty.

Tangential aside: I just learned from Wikipedia that Harket holds the record for longest note held in a "hit" (I imagine that means "top 40") song... 20.2 seconds in "Summer Moved On" from their album "Minor Earth, Major Sky" (2000). Yay for Wikipedia.

Anyway, the new a-ha album is out early 2009, so, another reason to live another year. Yeah yeah, I know most everyone is thinking "a-ha? srsly? LOL!" Yes, they are still alive. They broke up and regrouped, and have put out an album every 2 or 3 years since 2000. Interestingly they've gone from being on the forefront of technopop in the 80s to increasingly analogue in these past few years (to the point where "Analogue" is even the name of their 2005 album... which rocks).

Worst timing ever.

Man, this is sad... Obama's grandmother just died. One more day and she could have seen him (hopefully) become president. Fuck.

Agist, racist America.

Current stories on CNN.com:

"Could McCain Lose His Home State?" - Jesus, people, enough with the senility jokes already.

"Obama Could Steal McCain's State" - Yeah, because all black people are thieves. WTF.

Life on Mars

Just finished re-watching the complete Life on Mars TV series (the original BBC one, not the dubious American remake)... fucking amazing show. I recommend it. I've been watching the US series, actually; out of curiosity more than anything else. It's kind of embarrassing to watch some of the little scenes that they needlessly aped from the original. Totally unnecessary. The value of this new show, though, is that 1973 New York is substantially different from 1973 Manchester, and watching both is really interesting for their time capsule captures of those years.

You'd think that Harvey Keitel (who replaced Colm Meaney from the US version's pilot) co-starring would also bring something to it, but so far his character/performance seems pretty weak. But then, I'm also comparing him to the original series' actor Philip Glenister. And this actor for the main role of Sam Tyler, Jason O'Mara (of Resident Evil: Extinction fame) can't help but pale in comparison to my man-crush Jon Simm. Besides starring in LOM, he most visibly played The Master in some awesome Dr. Who episodes last year, in which he got himself elected as the new prime minister of England. Amusing connection... when working undercover in an episode of Life on Mars, he took the name of "Tony Blair," as he gets himself invited to a swingin' key party. Cute.

Wow! From IMDB, I just learned that Simm and Glenister just did a movie together, called Tuesday (not yet released, I don't think?). And Simm's filming this crazy series called Seven Days, about a guy and his relationship with his wife, while he serves out a prison sentence. The crazy part is that they're filming this thing for a few weeks at a time, over a period of the next four or so years. At the end, it'll be released as a film worldwide. Simm has also been rumored to be the next Dr. Who, but I'm betting against that one.

Why does Japan rule?

Because: Super Stationmaster Tama

So You Think You Can Vote?

Here’s a partial roundup of recently reported election fraud. Wee! (I’m not even touching on voting machine fraud here… I imagine it will be easier to spot post-election.)

Most of this information has been taken from the Brennan Center for Justice and the Voter Suppression Wiki, as well as msnbc.com and Commondreams.org

Oh, where to begin…

We don’t take kindly to strangers around here:

In Virginia, someone has been putting up flyers informing of a separate election date for Democrats, on Nov. 5th. In Kern County, California, a radio host also announced that Republicans are being urged to vote on November 4 and Democrats on November 5.

At Virginia Tech, students have been informed that if they're from out of state but vote locally, they'll risk losing their scholarships, health insurance, and cause their parents to pay more in taxes. Similarly, anonymous robocalls have warned that out-of-staters living in Virginia that vote in-state are committing an outright criminal offense.

Students in Virginia and in several other states have been denied registration when listing their dorm room addresses, even though these are completely valid.

An anonymous flier circulating at Drexel University in Pennsylvania – and in African-American neighborhoods in North and West Philadelphia - has been informing voters that undercover police officers will be hanging out at the polls to arrest people with outstanding warrants, or even traffic tickets... a nice touch was the text in the flier mentioning that this warning comes from "an Obama supporter."

Robert Balink, El Paso County Recorder and Republican Delegate, sent a letter to the president of Colorado College stating that if a student is a dependent of out-of-state parents, the student is not eligible to vote in Colorado. This has happened in other states as well.

South Carolina’s voter-registration site says students who want to register to vote at their college address must demonstrate “a present intention to remain in the community.”

Similarly, in Idaho and Tennessee, students cannot establish voting residency unless they have affirmative plans to remain in the state after graduation. Virginia and Indiana also make it difficult for students to establish residency.

Michigan and Tennessee require all first-time voters who registered by mail to vote in person; they cannot vote absentee. This makes it nearly impossible for college students (a great percentage of whom are young, first-time voters) to vote in their hometowns.


Boo!

New Mexico: two families reported visits by a private investigator inquiring about relatives that the state Republican Party alleges voted fraudulently in the June primary. Obviously, if two people report something, there are many more that haven’t.

In Ohio, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters recently requested, via subpoena, personal information for 40% of the voters who registered and immediately cast a ballot during the weeklong period in which Ohio allows same-day registration and voting. Could this guy’s last name be any more clear of his intentions?

Dozens of voters reported that a firm hired by the California Republican Party tricked them into registering with the GOP when signing a petition they believed to toughen penalties against child molesters.


Purging registered voters: No match, no vote, late purging practices, and so much more.

Several states have been illegally purging their voter rolls this year, including Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Nevada.

“Voter caging” is the practice of sending mail to addresses on the voter rolls, compiling a list of the mail – which is marked with a “do not forward” instruction - that is returned undelivered, and using that list to purge or challenge voters’ registrations on the grounds that the voters on the list do not legally reside at their registered addresses. Another favorite tactic is to simply purge voter rolls within 90 days of an election, which is against federal law.

Michigan has done both of these, illegally purging its voter rolls this year within 90 days of an election, and by sending out non-forwardable mailings to recently registered voters. But Michigan’s masterstroke of evil genius is in the current attempt to use home foreclosure lists to prevent voters registered at those addresses from voting. In addition to anybody who's unable to prove their current address at the polls, the threat of humiliation might also help deter many foreclosed homeowners and their families from even attempting to vote.

In Colorado, the Secretary of State admitted that at least 2,454 voters were purged illegally within 90 days of a federal election. Several thousand additional records were purged as potential "duplicates" within 90 days of the election, also in violation of federal law. Another several thousand were illegally purged based, again with the tactic of sending non-forwardable mailings to newly registered voters.

Georgia recently began using an unreliable matching process to purge the voter rolls of alleged non-citizens. The process they use misses naturalized citizens because it only checks the citizenship documents used to obtain driver's licenses, no matter how long ago, and those records are not updated when legal residents become naturalized.


These aren’t the voters you’re looking for:

The Department of Veterans' Affairs in Virginia denied voter registration access to residents and patients of its facilities, refusing to allow election officials or nonpartisan groups to offer voter registration services, and failing to provide such services itself.

Several states, including New Mexico and Florida, haven’t been providing voter registration services at social service agencies, as required by the federal Motor Voter law.


Felons can’t vote, even if they’re not:

In many states, felons can’t vote. In some, they can at least vote once they’ve gotten out of prison. I’m sure they’re told the former, when entering prison, but the latter fact might be overlooked. In any event, this is another source ripe for shenanigans. Personally, I think everyone should be allowed to vote. But then, I’m into the idea of democracy and due representation.

Mike Hubbard, Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, sent a letter to the Alabama Commissioner of Corrections opposing and suspending a voter registration drive for prisoners. Alabama Law prohibits felons convicted of crimes of "moral turpitude" from voting, although the inmates being registered did not fall into this category, per an opinion issued by the State Attorney General in 2005.

Earlier this year, a county election administrator in Muscogee County, Georgia purged 700 people who were supposedly ineligible because of criminal convictions. The purge was highly inaccurate and included people who had never received even a parking ticket.


Don’t bother showing up, suckafish!

In Florida, some voters have been robocalled, stating that they have apparently "voted by phone already," in the hopes that voters will not actually hit the polls on Nov. 4th (or whenever). Go ahead, pick on the senile retirees.

Recently, the republican mayor's office in Indianapolis made 31 polling location changes and there has not been, nor will there be, an official announcement or mailing to the voters to inform them of these changes. Surprise: a lot of these location changes are in areas of the city with strong democratic followings. Other areas with the changes are of those with a low socio-economic status. Polls in Indiana are only open from 6am-6pm; due to the early closing time, people tend to want to vote in the morning, since it’s difficult to do so after work. Hopefully they’ll go early, and then decide to vote at their new station, in exchange for being late; those trying to squeak in before closing after work might well not have the time to get to their new polling location.


Fun with ballots:

In Rensselaer County, New York, absentee voters received ballots that listed the Democratic candidate as “Barack Osama.” The County Elections Office Commissioners claim it was a typo.

In a number of states, ballots have the option for a voter to check off a “straight ticket” option. Meaning, you can tick off a straight ticket vote for one party or another, and it counts as if you voted the party line in every election listed. But in many cases, election boards have decided that this doesn’t count for the election of president, and some also of judges. So if you don’t also check off your party’s candidate for president, you didn’t vote in that contest at all. This isn’t new: historically, this has caused a 1% "undervote" for President -- an estimated 35,800 votes in 2004. With many new voters this year, it could be higher.

In Ohio, Absentee Ballot Requests contained an extra box to check indicating whether or not you’re a registered voter; respondents who sent back the form without checking the box won’t receive absentee ballots. The Board of Elections found that, although ticking off the box was not listed in the form as being required information, returning the form without checking the box was tantamount to requesting a ballot without being a registered voter. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner offered to contact voters who forgot to check the box and allow them to correct the issue, but the Republicans – who sent out over one million of these forms - rejected the proposal (not sure who these “Republicans” were though… if they could reject something, I imagine it would have been a government official in a position above Brunner?).

In Colorado, 18,000 ballots weren’t mailed to voters in Denver. If voters don't get the last-minute mail sent out Monday (Oct 27) and return their ballots by Friday (Oct 31), their votes won't be counted. The Sequoia Voting System organization was behind this; they originally blamed it on the post office, but has since admitted blame.


Okay, that's it for now. But don't worry, there will be more! We still have almost a week left, and Election Day will be just like Christmas!

Back then, I could have gotten away with the unitard, too.

Your results:
You are Deanna Troi
You are a caring and loving individual. You understand people's emotions and you are able to comfort and counsel them.



Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

Deanna Troi 80%
Worf 60%
Will Riker 55%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 55%
Data 48%
Spock 45%
Jean-Luc Picard 45%
Geordi LaForge 40%
James T. Kirk (Captain) 35%
Mr. Sulu 35%
Chekov 30%
Uhura 30%
Leonard McCoy (Bones) 20%
Beverly Crusher 20%
Mr. Scott 0%

Ackshully this kind of makes sense. Especially if you saw me when I was a 22-year old transvestite with long, curly hair. Funny that the next highest results are the guys that Troi bonked. Oh, and I don't know how to drive a car, and Troi managed to crash the Enterprise every time she tried to fly the thing.