SwimFinsSF

Who are you?

Can anyone tell me why they don’t ask for SOME form of ID to prove you are who you say you are when you vote? I walked in to vote today and told them my name, they had me sign next to my name, and then handed me a ballot.. no ID no nothing.. that seems bad..

i’m just sayin..

I had no IDEA

Yesterday I got an envelope at work from the Republican National Committe with this inside:

I couldn’t stop laughing. I had NO IDEA I was such a supporter. Maybe it was the groans I make whenever I hear his voice. Or the rants I go into any time anyone makes the mistake of mentioning the war that he duped the country into supporting. Whatever it was I’m glad they appreciate it… Though despite all that I don’t think I’ll continue the support the way they requested with the picture. After all – after all I’ve done do they need a check from me in that little envelope too. Haven’t I done enough? 🙂

October 7 Election Info

( steps up on his soap box )

Ok…. So, like it or not, it looks like on October 7th those of us who live in the sunshine state have to go to the polls. And yes – HAVE to go to the polls. Becasue, whether or not you like the idea of the recall or not, it’s happening and if you decide not to vote out of protest or disgust or just flat out laziness you’re doing everyone a disservice – and you can BET that the folks who support the recall will show up in droves.

So PLEASE… VOTE.. Whether you’re for the recall or not… whether you want the terminator for governor or the white haired guy who already has his easy chair in the governor’s mansion (there is a mansion – right?).

(steps off the soap box)

Now that that rant is over… It occurs to me that, perhaps more than any other election, this one is kind of confusing.. So I figured it might be worth pulling together some pointers to resources to help grock what’s going on. The very basics are simple – 2 propositions to vote for or against and a vote for or against recalling the governor. Then, WHETHER YOU SUPPORT THE RECAL OR NOT, you vote to pick which candidate you would choose to replace Governor Davis – whether you voted to recall him or not. Seems straight forward but I’ve heard a lot of confusion on whether you get to choose a candidate if you voted against the recall – and you do.

Below is a collection of information that I’ve found that may be of use if you’re trying to figure out where you stand on the issues. If you’re don’t live in CA you may not care.. But for those that do here it is. Hope it helps.
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Resources on the USA Patriot Act

So over lunch I was reading more articles on the USA PATRIOT Act and realized I didn’t really understand what it was all about except from the dogma thats been thrown around. ACLU says its BAD BAD BAD and the administration says its this wonderful thing that protects us from the bad guys. I’m definitely more inclined to believe the ACLU than I am to believe John Ashcroft but it occurred to me that, rather than blindly believe anyone, it might be worth gathering info on my own. I found some really good information so I figured I’d share. Yes – some of the sources are more left leaning than others but what I liked is they had a LOT of really good references to other information so you can draw your own conclusions.

Read on if you care / dare

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A Little Bit of History

On my way to work this morning I listened to a CD of Grimm Fairy Tales read in German to brush up. As I was listening my mind wanderred to random things and sparked some surfing when I first got to work this morning…

I stumbled on a bunch of sites that I’ve been facinated with for years related to a group called ‘Die Weiße Rose’ and I figured I’d share.. This group was a small collection of German College Students in Munich during World War II that had the balls to speak out against the regeme in power and paid for it with their life… I’ve always found them inspirational and every time I read more I find more that amazes me…

If you’ve got some time and want a little history check out these sites… Well worth exploring:

• The White Rose
• White Rose International

and for the German speakers among you:

• Die Weiße Rose – – eine Ausstellung der “Weißen Rose-Stiftung”, München (don’t mind the ‘name’ dialog – they’re just being clever and plugging your name into a welcome dialog)

A Few Political Tid Bits

During my usual poking around today I found a few things that I thought would be worth sharing.

First – I was curious, based on previous discussions, what the Impeachment process is for the President and other federal officials was. In talking to the guys in my carpool there was a lot of confusion as to what it means to ‘impeach’ a president and how that relates to the actual removal of an official from office. This article cleared some things up for me:

LII Backgrounder on Impeachment

The other thing I figured I’d pass on is from Untelevised… Poll numbers made me chuckle… Take them for what they’re worth (probably not much):

Nearly Half Say California Recall Is Silly

I’ll refrain from snide comments! 😉

Happy Friday!