Hurricane Paloma

What do you mean "extremely dangerous"? It's November for cripes sake!!!

I got nothin' - the retouched version

Only 6 days into NaBloPoMo I'm out of material (unless of course I want to post more political stuff which I'm trying to avoid).

For no other reason than it's entertaining, check out this site which proves that in these modern times you can't even believe your eyes. Behold, the power of retouching.

Other electoral vote predictions

Here's the results from me haphazardly collecting electoral college predictions from various TV pundits for the last few days. Note that all the results below are all predicting a Barack Obama win. I haven't seen one pundit predicting a McCain win willing to put a number on it. That leads me to believe that they're doing a lot more wishing than real analysis. I think if they'd spend a few minutes with a map and a calculator they'd get a big dose of reality.

Karl Rove 338

George Stephanopoulos 353

Mark Halperin 349

Matthew Dowd 338

Donna Brazile 343

James Carville 365

Alex Castellanos 318

David Gergen 328

Paul Begala 325

George Will 378

Larry Sabato 364

And just for fun:

Mrs. Parkhopper 352

Minima 353

Poll closing times

More useful info at Swing State Project

Vote for Lando Calrissian!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Don't vote early

...if you're wishy washy on the issues. A lesson in the perils of early voting for those not having firm convictions.

“I voted early just because I could, but I think it’s ridiculous," said Alice Richards, 65, of Wheaton, Illinois. “I was at a mall– the Stratford Square Mall– and there was a place where people could vote early while they were shopping, so I did.”

In retrospect, she’s not happy about it, because she didn’t think that she was required to show enough documentation– and, although she still is solidly behind the candidate for whom she voted for president, she has since changed her mind on one of the local issues for which she cast a ballot. On that issue, even though today is Election Day, it's not Election Day for her– her vote is gone, and she can’t get it back.

Poor Alice. She's a victim of a voting system that is far too convenient and easy.

Random observation on Election 2008

My neighborhood and the surrounding area looks like a helicopter dropped hundreds of McCain/Palin yard signs. The second most popular yard sign is "Yes on 2".

I have little doubt how things will turn out in my precinct. I just hope that isn't indicative of the State results.

Another "That's it!" momement for me and the GOP

In the last four years I've had many moments where my fellow Republicans have caused me to say, "That's it, I've had enough!" Not the least of these was when John McCain won the nomination in March of this year. Since then it seems that the party has been led even further and further down a pretty steep slope right into a mud pit. Sadly, some people that I've admired for years, like Elizabeth Dole, have been happy to jump right in.

Now the California GOP has filed an FEC complaint over Barack Obama's trip recent trip to Hawaii to visit his dying grandmother. One sentence in the post reads in part "...filing the complaint today [Nov. 3rd] now seems to have been ill-advised, if not legally, then certainly politically."

Yep, leave it to the Republicans to do something so incredibly petty and mean spirited AND on the day the man's grandmother dies, too. Idiots.

(No word yet on how that FEC investigation into the $150,000 spent on Sarah Palin's wardrobe is going. Again, idiots.)

From pound puppy to police dog

This is the kind of story I like - the Polk County Sheriff's Department saved a puppy's life and the taxpayers a lot of money.

Narcotics Deputy J.D. Maney found his newest partner in the most unlikely of places — the pound. Rezadu, an 18-month-old black Labrador retriever, has been on the job since late August and has already assisted in several drug arrests.

It wasn't an easy accomplishment for the pair.

Maney, whose last dog was forced into early retirement, was left without a partner for the first time in his 19 years as a canine deputy.

Budgetary cutbacks, combined with Maney's part-time status with the department, led the Sheriff's Office top brass to decide they couldn't afford the $5,000 bill that came with the purchase and training of a new narcotics-sniffing dog, said Chief W.J. Martin.

'But I told him, ‘If you can find a dog and train it yourself, then you can have one,'' Martin said.

Deputy Maney put a lot of time and effort into training his pound puppy and now Rezadu has been nationally certified as a narcotics dog. Congratulations to both officers!

Sex toys for votes

Honestly, this is a real news story: Free sex toys - and much more - for voting

Just when you thought it was safe to focus on the issues in this historic election season, a chain of sex toy shops has joined retailers, restaurateurs and other businesses across the nation in the time-honored tradition of rewarding Americans who go to the polls.

Babeland, with stores in New York, Los Angeles and Seattle, is offering a pair of self-gratifying incentives for voters who present their registration cards, ballot stubs or “word of honor” that they voted next Tuesday.

The rewards are no-so-subtle reminders of this year’s campaign rhetoric. For men, it’s the “Maverick,” a "sleeve" for self-pleasuring. According to a press release, “He’s always there to lend a hand, he works for every man, and he bucks the status quo.” Women can choose the “Silver Bullet” mini-vibrator, which is “a magical solution to difficult problems” and “a great stress-reliever during these troubled economic times!”

Gee, I voted and all I got was a lousy sticker.

UPDATED: Good news! Starbucks is giving out free coffee to voters tomorrow. I hear the new Salted Caramel Signature Hot Chocolate is amazing.

My Election Predictions for 2008

That's 353 electoral votes for Barack Obama. Try as I might I couldn't stretch his lead any larger than that for a humiliating landslide. Apparently there's nothing more vengeful than a bitter Republican.

While I'm prognosticating I'll go out on a limb and predict that Obama also wins the popular vote (duh) and that the Democrats gain 8 seats in the Senate and 29 in the House.

So what will this mean? Does it mean that President Barack Obama and the Democrats will claim a political mandate to enact their liberal ("socialist") agenda the way President Bush claimed his mandate in 2004? Remember this statement?

"I earned capital in this campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," Bush told reporters. "It is my style."

Whether you remember the comment or not I'm certain you're familiar with the results.

No matter how the next four years turn out there's one thing I'm fairly certain of - Barack Obama will govern with a completely different style.

Here's wishing him - and us - the very best.

NaBloPoMo

I'll be giving National Blog Posting Month a shot in November. The goal is 30 posts in 30 days which should be a challenge considering how rarely I post now.

I'll spend the day trying to get into the spirit and hopefully I'll have something interesting to say before the day is out.