The Inauguration of Barack Obama...

Will include an invocation from the Reverend Rick Warren? Of the Saddleback mega-church and author of THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE? The anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-evolution Reverend Warren? At Obama's inauguration? Say it ain't so.

I know this missive comes late to the topical news scene, whatever "legs" the story had have already given out. But the more you think about it, the more wrong it feels. Even as a purely political decision it makes little sense, unless we can believe it will result in Obama garnering even a statistical handful of social conservatives. Meanwhile, Obama supporters - including this progressive secular humanist - are agape at prospect of Rev. Warren spouting his "mainstream" brand of pseudo-science and bigotry. Perhaps the Rush Limbaugh should be invited to sing "Barack-the-magic-negro" to warm things up? Shouldn't Barack reach out to listeners of right-wing radio too?

At least January 20th will be "The end of an error," and Obama can begin to govern us back from the abyss - I hope.

Do Iraqis think Bush is that big a "heel?"

I know, everyone's seen it. The "shoe-icide" attacker Muntader al-Zaidi hurling his shoes at President Bush. The 29 year-old journalist is still in custody in Iraq, to whom no one is sure. For his part, President Bush brushed off the incident saying something the effect that he saw the man's "sole." But one question: Where was the Secret Service? Aren't they trained to take a shoe for the President?

And after 8 years of(as Garrison Keilor calls him) the Current Occupant, Shouldn't everyone send a shoe to the White House? Nike, Florsheim, Hush Puppy or Keds, it wouldn't matter, the point would be made...no?

Has it been this long...

Since I've blogged? Was it the vacation to Florida to see my dear mother (and get some sunshine) followed by a super hectic work schedule at my school? Is it...Christmas?

There are few places like my home, Alaska's Mat-Su Valley, where people come unglued over a toy doll being sold at Target. A doll whom some think has a pro-Islam agenda Why do they believe this? Because when activated, it appears – to some – to say, along with a lot of baby babble, “Islam is the light.”

Full disclosure: I haven’t been to our new Target to personally hear
Fisher-Price’s “Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo” make her subliminal “Come to Mohammed” pitch. But others have, and they’re upset with Baby Cuddle and Coo, thinking the doll sends an insidious message that’s dangerous to our four and five year-old children, and probably that she should be pulled from Target’s shelves and sent back to Tehran where she belongs.

Now, cognitive scientists tell us that humans are hard-wired to "connect-the-dots" and see patterns. It’s the reason we're superior to the beasts in the jungle, and try to make sense of the universe. Because of our ingrained hopes, fears and biases, it’s also the reason some people think that 9/11 was a government operation, make pilgrimages to Roswell, New Mexico, or believe they'll have a five-star day if they read it in their newspaper's horoscope.

A thought: might the people who are so exercised over Baby Cuddle and Coo be the same sort of people who see the Virgin Mary – or Elvis - in a potato chip, and phallic symbols in all the animated Disney movies? The sort of people who a few years back demanded that all the Cosmo magazines at the local grocery story checkout counters be covered high enough that impressionable pubescent male minds would not be distracted from purer thoughts by all that Cosmo Girl cover cleavage?

Lastly, what would Valley shoppers think if Baby Cuddles and Coo seemed to babble the phrase, “Jesus is my light? That would be OK, I take it?

The Winner is...

Boy wonder, the "wunderkind" Mark Begich, perhaps the 1st descendant of Croat Americans elected to the U.S.Senate. Ted Stevens gave the swan-song one might expect. We'll see what transpires.

Gone to Florida for Thanksgiving.
Watch this space.

Alas...

News that since Barack Obama became president-elect, gun store owners nationwide have experienced strong sales proves once again that nothing sells like fear. Particularly fear that's been marketed by the NRA and sold by the caseload to the receptive minds of bigots and paranoiacs. A local gun dealer boasted last week: "Obama is the best gun salesman we've had in 50 years."

If the NRA types were only worried that a Democratic congress might renew the so-called "assault weapons" ban, would gun stores find themselves so mobbed? No. Sadly, the genetic heritage of the next POTUS is probably THE factor here. This is the "Post-racial" America we've been told about?

Hold on...

...And grab with both hands. Mayor Mark now leads felonious Ted by 1022 votes. No other ballots will be counted until next Tuesday, so that is where things stand. Noteworthy is the fact that our own Mat-Su Valley has mostly been counted and even though they like their octogenarian ear-marking felon to the tune of nearly 2 - 1, the wunderkind of Anchor-town has increased his lead.

I could go on, but a visit to the Anchorage Daily News website (adn.com) or the Alaska Division of Elections will get you "real time" in the "Great Land."

As for this weekend: Go Illini, Go Ducks & Go Chicago Bears!

And the winner is..,

Nobody knows yet. At this posting, Mark Begich leads our felonious Ted Stevens by 824 votes (it was 814, but while on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow show, the wunderkind Mayor of Anchorage Mark announced another 10 votes from an Alaskan rural community). If this trend holds - and considering the upside-downess of predictors in Alaska this election year, who knows - Mark Begich could beat Ted Stevens by enough(.5%)that an automatic recount will not occur.

Alas, the outlook for the erstwhile Democratic U.S. House of Representatives prospect Ethan Berkowitz is more problematic: Berkowitz has eaten into Don Young's lead by 2000 votes. That still leaves Ethan 15,000 votes behind. In the patois off sports playoff, Berkowitz has not been "mathematically eliminated," but with only 40+ thousand votes left to count, it is unlikely he'll pull it off. More's the pity, since Ethan was expected to put Alaska's biannual buffoon into retirement by 8% points, or so said our pollsters.

More counting Friday and next week.
Q: Current and expat Political junkies of Alaska - Does it get much better than this?

It so happens that...

The U.S. Senate race of Ted Stevens Mark Begich and the final tally-ho begins in earnest tomorrow, as 90,000 uncounted ballots weigh in: Some 9,500 early votes, 61,000 absentee ballots, and 20,000 questioned ballots.

1. Conventional political wisdom would dictate that the early voting would swing to Begich, since Obama's campaign was adamant that a strong early Obama vote would stymie expected, if localized, Republican attempts to suppress Democratic voters. Therefore, Begich should benefit.
2. The same wisdom dictates that the absentee vote would go to Stevens, as older, wealthier Republicans who could afford to leave the Alaskan winter behind would naturally vote for the senatorial institution that is Ted Steven (R) of Alaska.
3. Nobody really knows what will happen to the questioned ballots. Will most of them count? Will the surviving votes go to Mark Begich, or Ted Stevens?

Since the balance of power in the U.S.Senate depends in part on this election (whether Ted later resigns over his felony convictions or not) the next few days are not unimportant to the nation. Let's wait and see.

If you think...

This is the end of a bad stretch, you are most certainly wrong. It will take us years, not weeks or months to dig our way out of the mess that the "current occupant" (thanks to Garrison Keillor) of the White House got us into. In fact, it may take decades. But the new guy can make a big difference, and I think he will. Congratulations Barack.

As for Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens (formerly "Senator-for-Life" now "Senator facing seven-to-life"), although he's 3300 votes ahead, there are some 70,000+ early, absentee and questioned ballots left to count. Mark Begich, the "wunderkind" mayor of Anchorage is still in it.

Ethan Berkowitz' campaign against the state's lone U.S. Representative, and one of its foremost embarrassments - Don Young - is still mathematically viable but unlikely. What is it about Alaskans that makes us keep reelecting our aging felons and our clownish, arrogant assholes? Is it the cold, the arsenic in the water leached from the mine tailing's, or is it a affection for pork,stupidity and ignorance?

In case you hadn't noticed

This blogger's going for Barack Hussein Obama. By the time the polls close here in the reddest of red states in the Union, it will already be over, and I'm not worried about Obama not getting Alaska's 3 electoral votes - he never had them. And I hope he won't need them. But maybe our senatorial felon Ted Stevens will be shown the door after 36 years, and maybe Don Young, that embarrassing carbuncle on the arse of the Greatland's body politic will find a new career, although I hope for our children's sake he doesn't try teaching again.

At any rate, 24 hours from now (Alaska Standard Time) we should all know who's the president elect. Truth is, we could do worse than either of these two guys, although "that one"is considerably better for the job at hand. But how could we do worse than the guy we have now?

A Good Idea

Comes from Loyola Law Professor and "Election Law Blog" poster Richard Hasen:

The solution is to take the job of voter registration for federal elections out of the hands of third parties (and out of the hands of the counties and states) and give it to the federal government. The Constitution grants Congress wide authority over congressional elections. The next president should propose legislation to have the Census Bureau, when it conducts the 2010 census, also register all eligible voters who wish to be registered for future federal elections. High-school seniors could be signed up as well so that they would be registered to vote on their 18th birthday. When people submit change-of-address cards to the post office, election officials would also change their registration information.

This change would eliminate most voter registration fraud. Government employees would not have an incentive to pad registration lists with additional people in order to keep their jobs. The system would also eliminate the need for matches between state databases, a problem that has proved so troublesome because of the bad quality of the data. The federal government could assign each person a unique voter-identification number, which would remain the same regardless of where the voter moves. The unique ID would prevent people from voting in two jurisdictions, such as snowbirds who might be tempted to vote in Florida and New York. States would not have to use the system for their state and local elections, but most would choose to do so because of the cost savings.
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I am tired of hearing Republicans claim "registration fraud," and bitching about ACORN (actually a victim in all this). I really don't like having to hear about voter suppression and intimidation from Dems either. If you're worried about the feds being too involved in our lives, lets swap out "No Child Left Behind," which is a failure, and put the $$ into the Census Bureau, where it could do good.

Alaska's Sarah Paper...

Known also as the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman did on October 28, endorse the ticket of John McCain and our hometown, self-described hockey mom, pit-bull-in-lipstick and "real American," Sarah Palin.

A couple of things: In the course of this endorsement, The Frontiersman editor writes that the the "war on terror" is in Iraq, calls McCain a "warrior" and Obama a "wimp." If we really wanted a "warrior" for the top civilian job in these United States, wouldn't Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, be a better choice? Or how about General Wesley Clark? Or about 12 other retired generals? These warriors endorse Barack (yes, you can say it) Hussein Obama for Commander-in-Chief. Sorry John.

Funny, I used to write for the Frontiersman before it had succumbed, by increments, to a conservative orthodoxy that is shameful to the Alaskan tradition of free and forward thinking.

In Alaska we used to have a lot of pick-ups with mud flaps proclaiming "NORTH TO THE FUTURE." You don't see them anymore.

"Uncle Ted" caught in the dragnet

Alaska's "Senator for Life" was found guilty on seven counts in federal court today. Little stuff, petty really. What a tawdry way to end such a career. I've lived in Alaska since 1980 and I can't remember ever voting for the guy. I have met him, I think on two occasions, Alaska being the biggest yet smallest state in the Union. His conviction has generated all manner of permutative scenarios as to what will happen if:
a. Ted wins his 6th term and then goes to prison or
b. Ted wins, then resigns, and then what, and
c. Should Sarah lose and come back to Alaska (which seems likely at the moment) what role might she play in this, and
d. If Anchorage Mayor and "Boy Wonder" wins the election AND Ted Stevens goes to the slammer, what becomes of the "Ted Stevens International Airport" in Anchorage? The taxpayers of America (mostly NOT Alaskans) paid for the improvements and signage proclaiming Ted's immortality.
Can they ask for it back?

Colin Powell gives it up for...

Barack Obama. On Meet the Press today, Vietnam veteran, former general, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for President of these United States. His reasons were manifold, but he came to the conclusion over the last few months that Obama was the best candidate, but suffice it to say that the general came out vigorously for the junior senator from Illinois.

From my perch here in Wasilla, I did note that the general said that he based his decision to endorse Obama over McCain, in no small part over McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, which Powell thought reflected upon the poor judgement of McCain. Add to that the recent shrill and McCarthyesque tenor of Palin and the pitchfork populi she panders to, versus the cool-headed, slightly left-of-center demeanor of Obama, and Powell's all in for Barack.

Does this endorsement have "legs?" I dunno, but this close in to the November 4th, who knows?

Off topic: If anyone of you have ever owned a dog, now own a dog, or especially if you've owned, loved and lost a dog, Find out why it may be true that Old dogs are the best dogs. If this piece by Gene Weingarten doesn't move you, then there's surely no hope for mankind.

Sunday, October 5, 2008 Sarah and the Flag

Reading my Sept. 15 issue of Newsweek (the one with Governor Palin on the cover, shotgun over shoulder), and on page 29, I was treated to a picture of Sarah, literally wrapped in the flag for the photo op. You know, Old Glory, the Stars and Stripes, the “Grand Old Flag.” Yes, that flag.
As I recall, the blatant and crass use of a show of extreme patriotism to deflect legitimate criticism has long been referred to by the metaphor, “Wrapping oneself in the flag.” Never mind that Governor Palin would appear to be in violation of U.S. Public Law 94-34, Section 4, e and i, which deals with the approved uses of the flag, including advertising (was this photo not a political advertisement?). This use of the U.S. flag is surely offensive to many Americans.
As one of the governor’s constituents, a member of the VFW, a Vietnam Veteran and a high school history teacher, I am profoundly disappointed that our governor allowed herself to be photographed in this manner, with this flag. What can this say about her political judgement as the potential leader of the country whose symbol is this very flag?