Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Voting. Fish. Cute Dog. (warning, long)

A little bit of everything. I don't blog about politics anymore, I think my brain blowing up was perhaps a sign that I should not raise my blood pressure ranting, but rest assured that this does not signal a change of opinionated opinions. So, I went to vote in the FL primary today, even though because of some arcane party pissing match rule stuff, we are told by the media that "our votes don't count." State party officials say ignore that, yes our delegates will be seated at the convention, but it's all too secret handshake-y for me. I did my part, I voted, let the delegate chips fall where they may.

And it was weird. I stood in the little carrel with the special magical black pen, and looked at the bubbles beside the names, and I can honestly say that I was undecided until I touched the pen to the bubble. I bubbled Obama. It was between him and Edwards. I love Obama, I really, really want him to be the nominee in the end, but I was thinkin' I'd kinda like to do my little share to keep Edwards in the picture, because I think he has added a lot of substance to the issues, and that is real value. I am not a Hillary hater by any means, but I do think that Hillary as our nominee will be an unnecessarily hard uphill slog - the Slime Machine can just dust off the old playbook and run the same lies to the same people. Now, with added misogyny! Most of which will be added by the media. Did she express emotion? She's too emotional to be president. Does she keep it together and sound crisp and all business? She's a robot, she's creepy. Basically, she's screwed either way, and thanks to the dumbing down of everything to a personality contest, she'd have to yell to get actual issues heard, and then of course she's "shrill." I think the combination of "woman" and "Clinton hater baggage" is just a hell of a lot to pile on her back and expect her to pull it off. If she gets the Democratic nomination I will vote for her, but, damn.

But then I realized that our "votes don't count" in the conventional way, and I can't figure out if they will count at the convention or not, I'm not well versed on these things, so I just voted for the guy I'd really love to see in the White House, because every time he makes a speech he makes me think we might get our national shit together after all.

Florida does not have an open primary, which means you have to be registered to the party to vote and can only vote for your party's ticket. So when you walk to the little table and the poll worker looks you up, he or she looks at your party affiliation and hands you the appropriate ballot. I thought that poll workers were supposed to put their own opinions behind them while they did this noble task for the process. Imagine my surprise when, as I was turning away from the table, a poll worker at the next table said loudly, "Oh, so nice to see someone in his RIGHT mind!" The very arch emphasis on "right" - I swear, it was bold, all caps and italics in her voice - brought me up short. Are poll workers allowed to DO that? And why is that even something worth remarking upon, here in the legendary I-4 corridor, and in a particularly Republican lane of that corridor? I was first taken aback that she said it, and then kind of amused - does this mean there was an unexpected Democratic turnout here in this deep red spot in a red state, and she was pleased to greet "one of her own?" I'm not sure how to read this, since we have been told by the media that the Democratic vote won't count, so nobody was expecting a significant turnout of Democrats. Or maybe she was just in the mood to give a shout out to her team. Either way, it was jarring and inappropriate, if not actually against the rules. Who knows what the rules are anymore?

I'm curious to see who wins this, but I'm more interested in the demographics of the turnout. I really think this election will be determined by the young voters my kids' age, supported by people like me and 65 year old Cousin C (we almost bookend the Baby Boom, and we both went for Obama) and my 82 year old mother, who last I checked was leaning toward Hillary, because she is jazzed to see a woman up there and thinks she's getting a really raw deal in the media. (I agree.) My fondest hope for this election is that it will motivate the younger people to grab the wheel and start steering. The Boomers gave the wheel to a mean dry drunk and he ran us, not into a ditch, but over a cliff. Kids? You get to put together a lot of rescue teams. Start now.

Oh, I said I wasn't going to be political anymore, didn't I? Okay, I won't do that often. Only for special occasions*.

It's a special occasion. I am trying to find news coverage of the Democratic results, and apparently the media does not feel it is worth mentioning. We will know the Republican candidates' preference in toilet paper before we will see a goddamn number on the Democratic side. Yes, I know we officially have no delegates, but people did vote. Just run the numbers on a scroll at the bottom of the screen, or something.

On to the pictures!



I finally figured out that if I want a clear photo of the fish, I should 1) turn off the pump so the waterfall stops running and churning the water; and 2) take it before feeding them. I took this with the little Olympus Stylus 710, not the fancy camera, and look how it captured the water droplets splashed by the fish's tail? I am nowhere near ready to add "nature photography" to my resume, but I have successfully kept my thumb out of the way.



Dudley is at his house, so the OTHER cute dog gets a little blog time.

Otherwise, it was yard work, house work. More to say, but aren't you glad I don't have the energy to say it?

11 comments:

  1. That is a very cute dog! It's about time he gets his glory in the spotlight!

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  2. Yes, I heard about that Florida mess. I'm so glad you voted. And you picked the same one I would have! I know what you mean about wanting Edwards to stay in the race. I'm hoping he'll be Obama's VP.

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  3. Yeah, well, he hates the camera, while the granddog is a bigger publicity whore than Britney. I take out the camera, Dudley strikes a pose while Murphy turns his head, he hates the flash. Note his head is turned here. It's how I got away with taking it.

    I'm not sayin' that Dudley takes after his mother, but I could, because she is proud of how her dog is so much like her. They both love the camera. It really is kinda weird.

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  4. ok, forgive me for being politically ignorant, but since i'm a registered independent, i can't have a voice til november anyway, so i'm ignoring things til the dust settles. (nebraska used to give you a choice of which one to vote for at primary, but with them changing the rules this year (we are having a democratic caucus in february, and a republican primary in may (WTF?)), i won't have a voice at all)
    anyway, why won't democratic delegates be nominated? counted? whatever? how is that fair?

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  5. It's funny, I'm (I think at least) around the same vague age as your kids, and I'm TERRIFIED that my generation is going to decide this election. Don't get me wrong, I lean more towards the democrats (although I am officially non enrolled and a moderate), and I do respect Obama - but I think too many people my age are getting behind him for the wrong reasons. They are looking for someone to save them (which is natural) - but a savior is never going to be found in a politician, no matter how intelligent and well spoken he is.

    (Full disclosure - I'm rooting for Clinton. She's my senator and I have been VERY happy with the representation I've received from her.)

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  6. Yeah, my pups hate the camera too - they'll only hold still for photos if they're asleep.

    and I think I'll adopt your unresolution and comment more too

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  7. most excellent fish pictures

    you must know i love fish
    hahahahahahaha

    ( bernie and i do that we repeat stuff to each other until we laugh......hey we're old and easily amused)

    and little pup......where IS he in all that hair

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  8. Glad to hear that your votes still might count in some secret handshake kind of way. When I heard last night that the votes didn't count, I was bummed out on your behalf. Great fish photo. Maybe you can get a job taking portrait of people's fishies? I kid!

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  9. What the poll worker did was 100% against the rules. In fact is such a major offense that she should be stricken from service.

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  10. I was offered a comment card as I left, and I'm going to send our supervisor of elections a little note suggesting that a training session or two might be a good idea before November. I was startled by it, but also thought it was kinda funny, because it meant that the poll worker must have seen a lot of those of us who are "not in our RIGHT minds." Sure enough, I am on the party email list and this morning learned that the D turnout was nearly as large as the R, even though we officially have no delegates. I am tickled to think that so many D's turned out in my very R area that it pissed her off.
    Very cool!

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  11. Anonymous7:17 PM

    You! It's your fault Edwards suspended his campaign!
    Or, whatever.

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