I just got to work, and thought I'd share my voting experience.
I drove to a rather large Methodist church (I still don't get the whole voting in a church thing) in Pickerington, OH (east of Columbus) this morning to cast my vote. After turning around, driving back home, picking up my wallet with my driver's license I left in the kitchen, and driving back to the church, I was ready.
This diary is short and sweet. I need the help of the Dkos community to come up with some great Halloween costume ides that are topical and left-leaning. My neighborhood is filled of Bushies, or at least uber-conservatives, and I need something to dress up as so when they bring their kids to our house for candy, the conversation goes something like this:
Them: "Happy Halloween! Great costume... what are you?"
Me: "Isn't it obvious? I'm [insert your great costume idea here]."
Them: (Nervous laugther) "Ah. Um.... well... Have a good night."
Me: "Good luck with your failed policies and small mind!"
I live in Pickerington, OH. It's a mid-size community to the east of Columbus.
My wife and I live in a pretty nice neighborhood ($400,000 range) with our two small children. I'm a proud progressive, I care for my fellow man, and pay my taxes with pride knowing that the money is going to help more people than it will hurt. But I think my neighbors hate me.
My neighbor directly on my right blasts Sean Hannity on his radio while doing yardwork. All of his cars have some version of "GWB is the mostest awesomest ever" bumpersticker on them. The neighbor directly on my left, other than being a Michigan fan (which is a big no-no in central Ohio), also adorns his vehicles with versions of GW stickers.
So, according to members of the health care industry and the Republican party, the best possible health care system for America is the one we currently have. If it wasn't so sad, I'd be laughing. You want to see what the free market system does to health care services? Wait until you read the letter I got in the mail from our hospital.
And I love him more than I ever thought it was possible to love another human being.
When Nikalys was born, three years ago next month, I imagined what it would be like raising a little boy. Playing baseball, sporting events, halloween costumes, vacations, telling him that the building with the smoke coming out of stacks was a cloud factory, etc. You know; typical father-son stuff. Nik's brain had other plans.
"Fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here."
It is a common phrase used by supporters of the War in Iraq to justify what is occuring in the Middle East. The theory goes, that if we (the United States) spend billions of dollar, sacrifice thousands of U.S. soldiers lives, and countless Iraqi lives that the citizens of this country will be safer from terrorists.
So, what are the odds that you, Joe Average Citizen, will die in a terrorist attack in your lifetime? And what are you willing to spend to increase those odds?
In Ohio, outside of the important gubernatorial and congressional races going on, there are two issues on the ballot that I believe require some attention and clarification. I'll also point out some of the hypocrisy surrounding the type of support one of the issues is receiving.
Issue 4 and Issue 5 both deal with the issue of smoking, but have very different goals. And in what may be an unprecedented situation, if one of the issues passes, it immediately cancels the other out.
terrorism ter-ror-ism [ter-uh-riz-uhm] : noun
1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.
2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.
There you go: a dictionary definition of terrorism. It's a key issue in today's politics; something that is harped on ad naseum by Republicans as they attempt to portray a strength and resolve apparently only unique to their party. It seems every political advertisement at least touches on the nebulous security issue, and some use it as the central theme. Republican ads target Democratic opponents as 'weak on terror' as images from 9/11 or other attacks are shown in the background.
Yet these advertisements themselves leverage the very concept Republicans are trying to denounce and are using it to scare people into voting for continued Republican leadership: terror.
I've had it. I'm outta here. Not really sure where a country the size of me can move, but I'm going to try.
When I was created over 230 years ago, I was quite proud of what I stood for: freedom of ideas, religion, speech, etc. As I grew up, some egregious wrongs were absolutely righted but mostly what I represented was a bright light in a dark world. But lately, I've had just about enough of some of you using my name to achieve selfish, personal goals as you tear me down.
I live in Pickerington, Ohio. Most people outside of the Columbus area have zero idea where that is, so let me give those people a heads up.
Pickerington is located in Fairfield county, just on the other side of the Franklin country border. It is a nice community, for the most part: it's quiet, the people are friendly, good school districts, 25 minute drive to downtown Columbus. If you drive in one direction, you're five minutes from a large retail area filled with restaurants, shopping, and a large movie theatre. If you drive in the other direction, you're in the middle of farm country with corn stretching to the horizon.
The letter sent to 14,000 Hispanic Democratic voters in Orange County warns them that they could face incarceration and deportation if they vote. The letter has been traced back to the campaign of Tan D. Nguyen, a Republican challenger to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA).
Now, the strawman argument being put forth by conservatives is that this is just a measure to cut down on voter fraud by keeping illegal residents from exercising a U.S. citizen's right to vote. Except, read it again.
