Tag: politics (Page 6 of 6)

Election Prediction

November 2, 2004 / DB

Kerry: 299 (MN, WI, MI, OH, , NH, FL)
Bush: 239 (IA, NM, CO, WV)
Kerry wins popular vote by a margin between 500,000 and 1,000,000 votes
Kerry wins Florida easily and early; Ohio is this year’s problem child. Fortunately, Kerry wraps things up without Ohio so the issues there don’t drag the final result out for six weeks.

I wrote this late last night so it may not match what a few of you have seen via e-mail the past couple days. The tone I’m detecting on TV, radio, and the Internet along with a few well placed sources indicates that turnout is going to be massive across the country, which bodes well for Kerry. That means the youth vote, which he gets close to 60% of, is showing up. That means old people in Miami, which are strongly Democratic, are getting out and voting. That means states that have had a large increase in registered voters over the past four years are seeing those new voters make it to the polls. That means the undecideds are breaking one way or the other. The bigger the turnout, the more legitimate the final result. My personal gut feeling tells me the larger the turnout, the larger the margin of victory for whoever wins. Regardless of who wins, I think a nice cushion is good for the country. It gives the winner as much of a mandate as you can hope for in this era, and cuts the legal challenges to a minimum after the election. But I could be wrong.

Senate: Republicans 51, Democrats 48, 1 Independent
House: Republicans retain control by a margin of 5-10 seats.
And for the big Indiana race: Daniels (R) beats Kernan (D) for the governor’s seat by a margin of 51%-45%.

Stocking Up

November 1, 2004 / DB

How does a new father get ready for election night? By going to the grocery store and purchasing Similac and Sam Adams Winter Lager, of course! There must have been a lot of other parents making similar purchases, because the guy working the register didn’t bat an eye at the two items in my basket.
It may be a bit early for Winter Lager, but I love it so I bought it. However, at Blockbuster, there is already a Christmas movie section up. It’s November 1, give us a couple days to prepare!

Lots Of Dandies

August 4, 2004 / DB

Lots of stuff that’s just dandy today. First, my daughter dropped her first load of spit-up on me about an hour ago. It was the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen. We’ve been feeding her more and more often, and she seems to have calmed down a little bit. Tricky stuff, this parenting racket.

Big props to the state of Missouri for passing the gay marriage ban! Now neither my native state of Kansas nor my current home state of Indiana has to take the credit for being first! I’m sure when Missouri residents woke up this morning, the massive state budget deficit was wiped out, teachers who were planning their lessons for the coming year threw out the “Timmy’s two mommies” lesson and are now able to concentrate on the important stuff like how to properly clean and store your concealed weapon, and I-70 was suddenly safe to drive at a speed above 45 MPH. All because those damn gays can’t marry in the Show Me State. Yes, the people of Missouri have tackled the tough, important issues first!
As I’ve said before, the whole gay marriage issue didn’t get me fired up either way until the zealots took over. I tend to think taxpayers deserve equal rights and protection, provided they’re not committing any crimes. Unless we’re willing to make anyone proclaiming their homosexuality exempt from all sales, income, payroll, and property taxes, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be allowed to do the same things the rest of us can do. (That would be fun! How many arch-conservatives would suddenly come out of the closet to avoid the oppressive tax structure that’s inhibiting their entrepreneurial spirit?!?!) Some may feel the simple fact of being gay is a crime, but I believe two people making a conscious decision to share their lives together can be slotted under the Victimless Crime banner. What’s so silly about this is that in five, ten, 15, years, all these gay marriage bans will be swept away like Prohibition. Two men or two women being married doesn’t change, cheapen, or destroy the love I have for my wife and daughter.

While feeding, burping, changing M. yesterday, I watched the second half of the US-Italy basketball game. That was about the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. I know Larry Brown is a break them down to build them up coach, but I don’t think a 17 point loss to a team that snuck into the Olympics is what he had in mind. It was frightening to see how poorly most of the US squad plays team basketball. Throwing no-look passes through the lane against a zone defense. Dribbling into trouble, then jumping and throwing blind passes. Taking dumb shots. Not getting the ball to Tim Duncan until there were five guys hanging on him. What’s most troublesome is the swagger the team has. If they played together for three months, I have no doubts they would easily win the Gold Medal. But they’ve been together two weeks. Of this year’s roster, only Tim Duncan would have been considered for the original Dream Team had he been in his prime then. This isn’t a team that can impose its will on opponents who are no longer afraid of Team USA.
With that in mind, I think FIBA and the IOC should institute rules for basketball similar to those under which the Olympic soccer tournament is run. Rather than compete with the World Cup or the big regional championships, Olympic soccer limits teams to a roster of players under 23, with three exceptions. So rather than seeing the same teams that played in Euro 2004 a month ago, European fans will see their brightest young stars, with a few veterans to anchor the team. Changing basketball to that structure will even the playing field, eliminate the hand wringing of NBA stars from all countries that may not be interested in playing, and provide for a more exciting tournament. If those rules had been in place, Team USA would have qualified with a team made up from a pool of the best college players and the best young NBA stars. Not All-Stars destroying Canada for no good reason.
The Dream Team concept served its purpose. The rest of the world has made great strides in quality of play and NBA players are no longer interested in spending their summers overseas. The US should start the initiative by announcing the 2008 Olympic team will be comprised according to the Under 23 rules and leave it to the rest of the world to follow.

Of Books And Wedding Dresses

April 29, 2004 / DB

Putting some assorted thoughts down while watching Keith Olbermann’s Countdown Wednesday night. The #5 story was about a backlash against the wildly popular novel The DaVinci Code. I don’t know much about the book, other than I may be the only person to fly American Airlines in the past year who hasn’t read it. Anyway, there are several “rebuttal” books coming out that argue against some of author Dan Brown’s plot developments, especially those regarding the life of Jesus. One rebuttal author appeared on the Countdown story. His assertion was people are getting “confused” by Brown’s use of history in a novel and unless they read non-fiction, historical accounts, they’ll continue to be confused about what really happened 2000 years ago. So let me get this straight: it’s a reasonable expectation that people who read a work of fiction and take it as fact can make an honest assessment of true historical documents? It’s a freaking novel! It’s made up! It’s a series of ideas that popped into somebody’s head and he wrote them down, even if he put them in a historical context. What’s wrong with people?

I’ve watched almost none of the NBA playoffs so far, which is an odd shift from where I was last November. Remember when I was contemplating a future in which I was a bigger NBA fan than anything else? For starters, few of the match-ups are intriguing. The Kings-Mavericks series lacks the sexiness of last year’s series between the two teams. Other series just aren’t good match-ups; especially in the East with sub .500 teams getting into the postseason this year. But most important, the NBA has ruined the playoffs. Seven game first round series are just ridiculously long. Worse, first round series which should be the least competitive of the playoffs, are stretched out over insane amounts of time. Had the Pacers not swept the Celtics, but rather gone the full seven games, the series would have been played over the course of 18 days. That’s just stupid. Perhaps this stupidity is some of the reason that I’m more into baseball than the NBA playoffs this year.

Living in Indiana, which isn’t exactly a battleground state when it comes to presidential politics, we don’t see many of the commercials my friends back in Missouri get to see. Occasionally, however, while watching a national program, I’m lucky enough to catch a Bush or Kerry commercial. I like politics, especially the horse race element of it, but I’ve never seen so many totally negative commercials so early in the campaign. John Kerry isn’t even officially the nominee yet, and the mud is flying anyway. What I do like is the little disclaimer at the beginning, “Hi, I’m Joe Blow and I approved this message.” Two weeks later you read that the commercial is full of lies, half truths, and makes assertions about one candidate that could easily be made about the person paying for the commercial. Makes them look really smart if they “approved” the message, wink wink.

We do have a governor’s race this year in Indiana, though. I’m pleased to see one of the three major candidates thinks the two most important issues the next governor of Indiana needs to worry about are gay marriage and abortion. That is if his commercials are to be believed. All the ills of Hoosier taxpayers would be solved if we could just keep the gays from getting married and women from having abortions. It’d be a veritable utopia here in Indiana if we could resolve those two issues. I’m incredibly proud not only to live in a state with so few problems, but with a candidate who understands them and is willing to tackle them head-on.

I fear I’ve done you all a great disservice this TV season. I’ve talked about a few shows that I watch, but I don’t believe I’ve spent any time talking about my favorite show. No, not Seinfeld reruns. Scrubs. It’s freaking brilliant. There’s never an episode that I don’t laugh myself silly over. It’s exactly the kind of intelligent yet stupid humor (if such a thing exists) that scratches me right where I itch. If you don’t watch, write yourself a note to start watching next fall. Nothing else remotely good will be left on NBC, so it should be easy to catch in between Divorcee Fear Factor and The Janitor.

I forgot to mention the other highlight of our weekend past. We went to dinner at the home of one of S’s coworkers who just happens to be 36 weeks pregnant. There was also a couple present who brought their six week old son with them. You guessed it, dinner discussion was 90 minutes of theories on birthing techniques, when to feed, do you let you baby cry or not, and on and on. And I was into it; I thought it was a great discussion. It wasn’t until later that I realized four years ago, when every Saturday night meant going to the Peanut, if you told me this was what my life would one day become I would tell you that you were a total idiot. Those cats at Johnson and Johnson have it right: having a baby changes everything.

As you all know, I moved away from Kansas City last June. I immediately filed the appropriate paperwork with my employer to stop the withholding of the KCMO earnings tax. Wednesday, I received a bill from the fine city of Kansas City, MO requesting immediate payment on approximately $550 of back taxes, penalty fees, and interest. So immediately I was pissed, despite the fact I know I owe nothing. I read the document further, looking for the process for letting them know they’re wrong. I found the official dispute policy which makes great pains to point out that the balance is due no matter what. There is no phone number to call, only a mailing address and fax number. I spread the word with a couple coworkers, one of whom went through the same thing when he worked in Overland Park a couple years back. He chose not to pay the fee while he protested, which resulted in a warrant for his arrest. He went ahead and paid the $200 he owed to get the warrant removed, only to have the city return the money a few months later when they found his story to be believable. Anyone else gone through this mess? I think it’s safe to say there will be no checks written to the city of Kansas City from this house, regardless. I’ll also make great pains to ensure I’m not pulled over by any traffic police while the balance is still pending. Idiots.

Larry Star, eBay legend. He’s on Countdown right now. A genius for the common man! I salute you! The famous wedding dress went for $3850.00 tonight. Some of the high bids were apparently joke bids that had to be weeded out before the auction could be closed. Still, he cleared about $2500 more than the dress originally cost and has dreams of a new motorcycle that he can ride to Mariners games. I’m sure the Ex will be claiming her share of the bounty soon.

Snow Day

January 29, 2004 / DB

We were having a great winter, all things considered, until last Sunday. Only one small snowstorm, no super cold weather, no ice. Right now, it’s snowing for the fourth time this week and we’re supposed to get sub-zero temps tonight. Working from home kind of eliminates the snow day option, unfortunately. It doesn’t stop my hands from turning into blocks of ice after about 3:00 when the shade covers my side of the house, though. I must say, our neighborhood looks very nice covered in a layer of the white stuff. Our subdivision decided rather than street lights, each home would have a small lamp in the yard for nighttime lighting. On a normal night, it keeps it very dark: almost too dark. But for the past week, with snow covering everything, the nights have a warm glow from the lights reflecting off the ice. It feels like a Swiss chalet. OK, that’s stretching things. Almost makes winter tolerable.

People I hate: People who drive pickups fast in the snow, especially small pickups. Listen, you’ve got no weight in the back and the roads are slick. There’s no reason to go 50 in a 35. I have four-wheel drive but still try to keep it under the speed limit when you’ve got four inches to plow through. Slow it down, Jethro.

You may recall my elaborate plans for wooing Carmel High School’s Josh McRoberts to attend KU that were ruined when he committed to Duke. Well, McRoberts spent the first month of the season on the bench while a back injury healed. He finally returned to action a couple weeks ago. Although I didn’t go to his first game back, I did watch the Carmel High School TV station’s coverage of the event. The coverage is great on a normal night. A single, shaky camera mounted among the bleachers. A super staticy video feed. And a couple high school kids in dress shirts and ties commenting on the game. Yes, I’m intensely jealous I didn’t have this kind of opportunity 15 years ago. Anyway, before the pregame introductions, the announcing team was rightly talking up the event. The opposing team was introduced, followed by the first four CHS players. Just before McRoberts’ name was called, one announcer excitedly said, “Here he comes! Here he comes!” McRoberts is introduced to a huge roar from the completely full gym. Once the applause dies down, the announcer shared his assessment; “I’ve got chills up and down my spine!” I love this kid. He perfectly summed up what it’s like to have a superstar on a high school team. I remember trekking all over KC in the winters of 1988 and 1989 to watch any and every player who was Division One material. I did again later with Tyronn Lue, Derek Hood, and, of course, the Rush brothers. There’s an innocence that comes with being a high school star. Maybe it’s the endless reservoir of opportunity in front of them. Most importantly, there’s a forgiveness factor that disappears the moment they put a college jersey on for the first time. The stars in high school are larger than life, yet regular kids too.

Speaking of high school stars, a local channel shows a slightly higher quality game of the week each Friday night. Last week, #1 Lawrence North faced #2 North Central. Two proud schools (home to Eric Montross and Jason Gardner respectively) in a key clash before district play begins. North Central features top 50 senior AJ Ratliff, who’s signed to attend IU next year. Lawrence North features super sophomore Greg Oden, who checks in at 7’ and already has a better body than KU’s David Padgett (not saying much, I realize, but the kid is 15!). Ratliff was silky smooth, and I had no idea he had 22 points by the third quarter. Maybe it’s because LN was just destroying them. Oden, who reminds me of a young Patrick Ewing, was simply amazing on offense. He absolutely attacks the rim, dunking ferociously over and over. On defense, he’s not quite as advanced. He may take it easy to avoid fouls, but he really should be more intimidating than he looked Friday. There’s already talk of him going straight to the NBA in two years. It’s scary how good he’s going to be as he gets older.

I didn’t follow the Democratic presidential candidate process much until about two weeks ago. Is there a more uncomfortable look than the look on the face of someone who’s a political giant, but in the first or second contest, is forced to drop out? Dick Gephardt had that look in Iowa. There’s nothing like spending a lifetime fighting for a particular set of values, then having a huge percentage of the voting population tell you they don’t care about that view. I’ve read about candidates who lose in the general feeling this overwhelming sense of loss and depression when the election is over. And these are people who got 40 million votes. Imagine just getting 8,000. Don’t you always go to the “We fought the good fight” card at that point?

I keep hearing this buzz that Rachel Ray is the new “it” girl on the Food Network. What are these people smoking? Giada De Laurentiis is clearly the best thing about the Food Network. In a simpler time, you’d hear a lot more about her from me. To the point where some of you would probably worry about me. In these more complicated times, I’m forced to refer to her as “the really skinny girl on the Food Network”. Check out Everyday Italian sometime and judge for yourself. I’m required to not say anything else, lest I get smacked. She doesn’t read, but she knows.

Da Mayor

July 7, 2003 / DB

The whole point of Weblogs (for those new to the concept) is to give people forums for instantly commenting on events. There are political blogs, where professional and amateur writers comment on events as they happen, often updating throughout the day. There are blogs that are used as diaries by regular people. If I see a really cool sunset, I’m supposed to run inside and let you know all about it. If I had access to a blog on April 8, I would be expected to pour my grief into the site for all to witness. So I’ve kind of missed the point by waiting a week to share this entry. But trust me, it took that long to digest and begin to make any sense of it. I’ve felt like Chandler Bing: “Too….many….jokes….”

Noblesville, IN mayor Dennis Redick was out for a fun night at the Verizon Wireless Music Center a week ago. Noblesville can best be compared to someplace like Liberty for the KC crowd: affluent, distant from the urban core, a little sleepy. We’re not talking about Watts, Oakland, or even Raytown here. Anyway, Da Maya took in the Jimmy Buffett concert with his live-in girlfriend, Sylvia Clemons. (I just noticed her last name. This is even better than I thought.) After an enjoyable evening of singing along to “Margaritaville” and “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw?” the couple retired to their limousine. Details are sketchy, but something caused a ruckus, and before anyone knew what was going on, their idyllic night was shattered and the limousine driver was forced to pry the good mayor’s hands from the neck of Ms. Clemons. (Wow, I still am having trouble with that. Her name really is Clemons? He was choking her? It’s almost too much…)

Redick was arrested, charged with a couple misdemeanor charges of battery and domestic battery, spent the night in jail, and faced the world last Monday. He made sure everyone knew that he had neither asked for, nor received, any special treatment. Bravo. Ms. Clemons issued a statement stating she had started the altercation, and Mayor Redick was in fact holding her hands to stop her punches, rather than choking her. The Mayor’s ex-wife publicly stated her support for him, and added that in 30 years of marriage, he had never laid a hand on her.

Ahhh, but the mayor is a politician, and where there are politicians, there can also be found power struggles, old slights, and ambition. The county Republican Party quickly rescinded support for Redick in the upcoming general election. They vowed to support an independent candidate, which could come from a pool of several candidates he barely defeated in the recent primary. Democrats, seeing an opportunity to gain office (something that comes along about as often as a solar eclipse in suburban Indiana) quickly offered a challenger who had lost an election as recently as a year ago! The city council, in a nasty debate, voted down a resolution asking Redick to resign by a 5-4 margin. As of today, Redick remained in office, and was shouting wildly about how the US Constitution was still in effect and he was innocent until proven guilty (astute use of the Constitution in the week of our nation’s birth!). His ex-wife said he was the victim of an attempting lynching. And I could be mistaken, but I think life went on as normal over the weekend in Noblesville.

Just a tremendous story, loaded with stuff to comment on. You can see why I’ve had trouble composing my thoughts. Where to begin?
Domestic violence: never a good thing. Let’s assume that the mayor wasn’t under the influence of any substances, legal or otherwise. I don’t care if your lady is smacking you around, you don’t put your hands anywhere near her throat and force her against an automobile.
Perhaps those that say margaritas and second hand marijuana smoke can’t make people belligerent are wrong.
What’s the deal with people named Clemons and domestic battery charges related to choking?
There’s nothing like a good public screw-up by an elected official to get the political vultures out and pouncing. “If Redick would just smack that girl friend of his, we’d have our chance.” (Please note, making light of domestic abuse is also never good. I’m making fun of his opponents.)
I love public figures that find themselves in sticky situations and remind us about the concept of innocent until proven guilty. They’re pretty much saying, “Get off my back until I’m convicted” aren’t they? Civics lessons from people who manage to get into fights with domestic partners in public parking lots are generally missed by the masses.
Ex-wives who come to your defense are true gems. One wonders if the former Mrs. Redick spent the remainder of last week in her home baking cookies (a semi-obscure reference for the true political junkies out there).
And using the term lynching when talking about a white, middle class, Republican, elected official never gets the desired effect.

All I know is I’m happy I live in Carmel, IN, where the city council is too busy pissing everyone off with the school redistricting plan to have time to go to concerts, get liquored up, and smack around their live-in love interests.