A few thoughts on Voting

It’s that time of year again! If you are in a state that does early voting like Nevada, get moving! If you are in a state where you must vote on Election Day, make a plan! Just for fun, here’s some actual data on American voters.

This time of year also brings out some perennial ideas about how and when we should vote. Let’s look at a few of them:

Election Day as a National Holiday. Sounds like a great idea, everybody has the day off, everybody can get their butts to the polling place. Clearly this idea was hatched and is supported by people in nice little Monday through Friday jobs who never worked someplace that was open Christmas. This will not help people who work at airports, railroads, hotels, restaurants, firehouses, or hospitals. That includes the 4.2 million Registered Nurses nationwide, a highly educated and largely female block of voters who often work twelve hour shifts. If I were conspiracy minded (I like to think I’m not), I’d suspect this idea is meant to disenfranchise all those people whose jobs can’t shut down for Christmas and Election Day.

Online Voting. I know, you’d think that in a world where I can pay my bills, order almost any legal product online, have news of the world at my fingertips, hold a videoconference with colleagues in other time zones, and make friends on almost any continent, voting online should be a no-brainer. Still, many consider it a “huge risk” with “security concerns.” Really no idea why it’s ok for me to spend thousands of dollars online but not okay to cast one vote. That’s above my pay grade.

Voter ID. Many people think you should have to show valid identification to vote. I’ll support that on two conditions: the state must issue an appropriate ID completely free of charge; the agency issuing those IDs must be open from early morning until 10 at night, at least 6 days a week and preferably seven, with sufficient staffing at all times to handle all applicants in a prompt manner. That way people who work long hours and people with very tight budgets can get their ID. Otherwise, it sure looks like an attempt to make sure only the “right people” can vote.

Early Voting. For the record, we do this in Nevada and I freaking love it. There’s polling places all over town in convenient places like shopping malls and supermarkets, computer linked to prevent voting in more than one location. It helps people with hectic schedules and/or medical needs. Because there’s many locations and the voting load is spread out, there’s rarely a big line to go vote — handy for both convenience and limiting the spread of things like influenza (yes, it’s flu season). Only someone who “wants to control who is able to vote” would possibly be against it.

Vote By Mail and/or Absentee Ballots. Yes, vote by mail has always been a thing for people who physically can’t get to the polling place, either because they are hospitalized, or because they are deployed in our military. Saying no to vote by mail is saying you don’t want our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen voting. Go on, say it, I dare you. Yes, there are potential security concerns. That doesn’t change the necessity. During the pandemic, Nevada also made it possible for every registered voter to vote by mail. As an added benefit, voters are able to research their candidates and ballot questions well before voting.

We Need to Talk About Shorties

hotlava

Addiction: It’s not what you think.

Housing: I worked in the housing industry for much of my adult life, and I find what this guy has to say interesting.

“Let’s not invite the guy who abuses us over”: Or “Let’s not call the cops if we think they’re likely to harm us.”

Consensus on Climate Change:Facts are not enough…. We need to connect to people’s hearts.”

Protect Your Vote: Here’s some tips.

Why a picture of hot lava? Why not a picture of hot lava?

Gettin’ the Band Back Together: Some of you might have noticed that my old blogroll did not survive last summer’s site updates. I will be putting together a new and improved Blogroll in the next several weeks. If you know a site I need to consider, let me know!

Shorties Forever

Hi folks! Late next week I should have another one of my semester end roundups, but for now, enjoy some freshly dismembered Shorties for Valentines Day.

Speaking of St Valentine: He was beheaded on this day around 270 AD.

Like Sand Though the Hourglass: A picture of sand under a microscope. Pretty cool, huh? Here’s the source.

Hillaryvision: Hillary had a pretty bad week by most measures. Even things that were supposed to help her — Kissinger advised her! Albright not patronized us but matronized us! — weren’t helpful. But at least she realizes that people on Social Security won’t vote for her unless she promises not to slash their benefits.

In Other Research, Water is Wet:Hospitals with more registered nurses and doctors per bed can reduce patient death by as much as 20 percent….”

News from Harvard: The United States can’t control encryption.

News from Princeton: He who counts the votes controls the election.

Bundy: Would the whole thing in Oregon have gone on as long as it did if the Koch brothers weren’t involved?

On Welfare: Some interesting facts.

And Finally some Good News out of Washington: Budget Surplus!

The Shorties Man

Federal Judge uses Common Sense: It is super effective.

Net Neutrality: It’s not dead yet.

Our waning privacy: The FBI is trying to scare Congress. The NSA might find themselves near the end of their leash (a girl can dream).

Strangest thing you’re likely to read today: I promise.

Ok, maybe it’s not a magic anti-aging pill after all: Resveratrol.

Women With Ballots: scary! Be sure to vote, ok?

The Pope: Look, he either speaks the words of God or he doesn’t.

Alcohol: Why doesn’t a bottle of liquor have calorie info on it?

Resume: Um, yeah.

I apologize: I mentioned this story last week, and I am sorry to have gotten pulled in to the hype.

Modern: World War I.

Music Monday: Not Worried about the Sequester

It isn’t like I can do anything about it. By the way, did you know that the budget deficit is getting smaller?


 

In Closing: Lightning strikes twice at the AAP; Lack of devils in the details; How the rich avoid taxes; Don’t cry for Kenny; 15th Amendment; Ha!; Bad idea; Good question; and cat cafe.

Music Monday: Musicology and Modern Popular Music

Free term theme idea: Recurring Thematic Material in the Collected Works of Flo Rida.

If one were to listen to his entire discography, how many songs would seem to reference oral sex?

Regrettably, there doesn’t seem to be an official music video I could embed.

In Closing: a bounty I hope gets paid; waaah, the media isn’t telling why it might be a good idea to shoot 14 year old girls in the head for wanting an education (damn liberal media!); maps; quiet victory; this could be a bumpy election; confession; she’d be a Saint even without the Pope’s say-so; who needs effective antibiotics anyway?; science literacy; duh; and just say no.

Well Isn’t That Interesting

Gee, isn’t it peculiar that right after a very close election in Wisconsin, a voting official with a history of not exactly doing things the proper way happens to find just enough votes for one particular candidate to avoid a required recount, against pretty much every rule of computer programming and common sense?

Good thing there’s paper ballots. Somebody better pick those up before the mysterious fire. You never know when a mysterious fire can happen. You might be experiencing one right now!

In closing: the contents of Notorious B.I.G.’s pockets when he died; have a Koch and a smile; escaped leopard menaces children; blast from the past; Fox News through history; stop coddling the kids, they know better; yeah, because clearly Eric Holder has nothing important to do; it’s never been about deficit reduction (go ahead! shut the government down! but stop paying the worthless congresscreeps who got us here!); on the middle class; How to tell if your neighbor is cooking up explosives; what’s that doing in this century?; Detroit; the truth about how California reduced malpractice costs; make sure you are both on the mortgage; I doubt this seriously (did anybody bother to compare cost-with-coupon to cost of store brand?); stop tweeting ads; earthquake art; whistleblowers; and a cat with a gun.

In the Shorties of Madness

What’s Your Angle: In what I fervently hope will be the last thing I have to say about Sharron Angle ever, Angle announces that she won’t be answering any questions asked by the pesky [local] media until she is a Senator, darn it. And Channel 8? You are so not invited to her Election Night Party, so there! Listen sweetie, if you don’t want people asking you questions in public, don’t be a public figure.

Let common sense prevail: Did you know that something in your body is very likely subject to a United States Patent? Good thing that big corporations haven’t figured out a way to charge you for that. Anyway, it looks like the United States may revisit the idea that my genes and your genes can be somebody else’s intellectual property.

I keep saying this: sugary drinks are not good for you.

Fail: When trying to steal copper from a vacant home, make sure the power is in fact off first. Oh, and leave the kids at home rather than sitting in the car waiting for you.

They’re mad as hell: and worse yet, they think they have some right to hurt or even kill you if you dare to disagree with them and their vision of a Utopian past-future. I’m beginning to wonder if my “liberal” respect for life — endorsed by the 10 Commandments and Jesus himself! — might need some retooling in the face of reality.

It’s the fraud, stupid: That’s the short version. It’s starting to look like the various state Attorneys General don’t like the BAMTOR Principle and may even hold banks accountable for their criminal actions, even if the SEC merely thinks the law is some sort of a suggestion.

I realize you may never need to know this: Table Etiquette for Formal Dinners in Japan.

This could turn out badly: So most people aren’t willing to relocate for a job anymore. More to the point, they can’t relocate for a job because they can’t sell their house for anything close to what they paid for it (advantage to renters?). At what point will job seekers decide to take the job and walk away from the house they can’t afford without work?

Looking forward to it: a long overdue re-work of Power90, a follow-on to Insanity, and more details on P90X MC2.

Ezra is correct again: Since most people retire because they have to rather than because they want to, raising the retirement age is a really dumb idea.

Urine Drug Tests Must Stop: a woman had her newborn taken away because she foolishly ate a bagel with poppy seeds on it. Why do we tolerate businesses, schools, and government entities making decisions about our lives based on such an inaccurate test?

Bloody Romans: “I don’t get nothin from the government!” Except of course for my mortgage interest deduction, student loans, unemployment insurance, Social Security, VA benefits, Medicare, G.I. Bill benefits….

Clearly deregulation is the answer: after all airlines would surely keep planes in good repair all by themselves if there were no pesky regulations requiring it.

Nothing left for me to say: Comrade E.B. Misfit said it all.

A reason to encourage absentee voting: nobody to harass you at the polls for being too brown.

Hope you are having fun: at the ColbertStewart rally.

Blast from the past: old computer equipment ads.

And last but not least: at least they are honest about it!

So remember to vote this Tuesday if you haven’t already. And remember my handy tip for voter initiatives, just say no.

Looks Like Rain

Most people don’t carry around an umbrella unless they think there’s a good chance of rain.

That being said:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board approved interim guidelines to help clarify its procedures for liquidating complex financial firms [edit: that is, “too big to fail” firms] when they collapse, including permitting better treatment for some creditors when it benefits the estate or broader economy.

More:

However, in the event of an impending implosion, the statute authorizes the FDIC to use U.S. taxpayer dollars to make partial payments to “healthy” counter-parties of the failing firm so that they wouldn’t go down with it. Once economic disaster is averted, the law requires the government to recoup the costs of the bailout by selling the bank’s assets and by collecting fees from big financial institutions with $50 billion or more in assets.

So then, the question as I see it is simple: which big bank does the FDIC expect to collapse? My money is on the one that declared last week that they were halting all foreclosures in all 50 states.

In closing: Mankiw is an idiot; what made them think that was a good idea??; I would rather take my chances with the slot machines; in denial; she can raise money but can she stop being crazy?; epilogue to cholesterol story; “I don’t know if he’s qualified to be on the Federal Reserve Board. He’s only got a Nobel Prize in Economics“; This Angry Season; and recovery.