My Vote Doesn't Count

Hey! I live in the state of Illinois and my vote does not count! In the 2004 presidential election, the electoral votes of the state of Illinois are all going to John Kerry. He gets all the marbles even though he does not get all the votes. If I lived in Ohio or Wisconsin or Florida or New Hamshire or Pennsylvania or one of the other "battleground states," my vote would be highly sought after and would count as it should. Dump the Electoral College! We don't need it. We, in Illinois do not live in log cabins. We want our individual voices to be heard with equality with all other Americans. If this is not done, maybe the 1040 forms should be sent only to citizens of the "battleground states."

Low Voter Turnout Is Good For Me

So, we have a Presidental Election coming up and there's a big push for all elegible people to register to vote. Why? If people don't want to vote, why should they? It's a free country. They are just as free not to vote as they are to vote. If someone can't figure out how to register to vote, do you think they have the brainpower to vote for a decent candidate? If someone can't find the time to register or can't work voting into their schedule, should we trust this disorganized person with the responsibility of voting? And finally, if someone chooses not to vote, doesn't that make my vote more important and significant?

The Apprentice....

I don't really care for reality based TV shows. You would think that the reality tv show producers get the "leftovers" from the Jerry Springer Show. Who's to argue with success? It's only TV! Then, there's the Apprentice. The participants are executive wannabees. They all seem to think that they are smarter than they really are. Each week one of them gets fired. During the second season, I would have found it easy to fire two or three each week.

But there is a refreshing aspect to the show. None of the contestants are slackers. Most of them speak proper English and most of them dress well and show proper respect when it is due. This is a little different. Money talks. Is there only one winner? Officially yes, but in "reality," of course not! Each constestant gets their "15 minutes" of fame on National TV. If they have anything going for themselves, they can go on from there....even after the Donald fires them. Trump is a winner in all of this. The positive exposure gives him a "personality" and the show adds another dimension to his standing. Oh, and he makes money on it, too.

Dan Rather

Dan, you should have known better.

Are You Patriotic?

I work retail. A salesperson from a local radio station offers my boss an advertising package. It would run through, and mainly on, September 11. For a couple thousand dollars we can tell the local community that we (our retail business) support our troops! My, this would make us feel good! We can sell more product and make more money! And the radio station can make more money!



Don't get me wrong, the reason that I go to work is to make money. I think the word that I am looking for is "exploitation." Yes, that's it, exploiting the 9/11 victims and their families and exploiting the brave G-I's.



If we really support our troops, maybe we should consider a gift subscription to the magazine or newspaper of their choice.



Any ideas?

Living In A Small Town

Living in a small town is great! Everyone knows everyone and you can count on your neighbors to be there during times of need. You can also count on the Little League coach's son to be the pitcher, regardless of any lack of talent or ability. You can also count on the top high school graduates being close relation to the school board president, principal or coach. To them I say: "We can see this....we ain't stupid."

Dating help for the shallow......

NEW YORK - The peak time for dates from hell in New York City is Friday at 8 p.m. — judging by the cell phone calls delivering emergency excuses to bolt

Truth is, they're fake "rescue" calls — now being offered by two cell phone providers, Cingular Wireless and Virgin Mobile USA. In an era of Internet-set dates, it's just customer service — a hip way to wiggle out of an uncomfortable encounter.

The rescue calls are a way to use the phone as a lifestyle accessory, Virgin Mobile spokeswoman Sarah Koening said.

For both Cingular and Virgin Mobile, the prerecorded messages are created at a high-tech central command in California's Silicon Valley. There, five people with doctorates in linguistics dream up excuses for folks to repeat before suddenly dropping a date gone sour.

Dan Enthoven, director of marketing for BeVocal, the California company that designs complex voice-driven software for the telecom market, said the number of rescue calls go up on weekends, especially Fridays at about 8 p.m. BeVocal's two rescue-call clients in North America, Cingular and Virgin Mobile, generate at least 10,000 calls a month, he said.

With both Cingular's Escape-A-Date and Virgin Mobile's Rescue Ring service, a customer can arrange to be called at a set time, using the cell keypad.

When the cell rings, one of Cingular's eight "emergency" messages says: "Hey, this is your Escape-A-Date call. If you're looking for an excuse, I got it. Just repeat after me, and you'll be on your way! 'Not again! Why does that always happen to you? ... All right, I'll be right there.' Now tell 'em that your roommate got locked out, and you have to go let them in. Good luck!"

And bingo, the bad date is history.

The rescue-call service is part of a Cingular package that costs $4.99 a month. Virgin Mobile offers its Rescue Ring at 25 cents per use, plus the price of the call.

Will Baker for State Auditor! ...at least we know what we're getting!

TACOMA, Wash. - (AP) Republican leaders in Washington state were happy to have a contender for state auditor when they accepted Will Baker's last-minute offer to challenge a popular Democrat.

They didn't worry too much about who he was or how he spent his time — until they realized a considerable amount of his time was spent in jail.

Now party leaders are scrambling to remove him from the ballot, days after naming him as the Republican choice to oppose Democratic incumbent Brian Sonntag's bid for a fourth term.

"We didn't check him out," state GOP chairman Chris Vance said. "If I could, I would withdraw the letter putting him on the ballot as the Republican candidate — but it's too late."

On Friday, state election officials denied the party's request to remove Baker from the ballot, saying that would require court action.

Baker, a 41-year-old roadside flower salesman and self-styled political activist, has been arrested at least 19 times since 1992, mostly for refusing to stop speaking at Tacoma City Council and Pierce County Council meetings. He was last released from jail less than two months ago.

Baker declined to be interviewed by the Tacoma News Tribune, but when asked about his candidacy he said, "No one's asked me to withdraw."

When no Republican candidate emerged for the state office by the July 30 deadline, Vance said Baker called GOP leaders and volunteered.

In haste, the party accepted Baker's offer without thoroughly examining his background.

"He told us that he was a conservative activist," Vance said. "We did just a minimal amount of checking."

Loose thoughts.....

Why is it that we choose a president from a field of two and we crown a Miss America from a field of 51?



You can't read a bible in a public school, but you can in prison?



The ten commandments cannot be displayed in a federal building, but your sworn testimony involves a bible?



Bumper sticker: If you can read this, thank a teacher. Since it's in English, thank a soldier.

National Guard Recruitment Down by 12%

It was announced on Monday, July 26th that the Army National Guard is behind by 12% of reaching their recruitment goal. Actually, I thought the number would be more than 12%. When you think of those who join the National Guard for free college, medical and dental or for a variety of other "wrong reasons," maybe the figure should be higher than 12%. If the "war" ended today, do you think these numbers would change?

Political Conventions! I'm on the edge of my seat!

How exciting! The Democratic Party is going to get together and nominate their candidates for President and Vice President! But, wait a minute....isn't that already taken care of? How can anyone get excited over the nomination when the nomination has already happened? Sure, it's a rally, of sorts. The Republican Convention will be even less productive. Is there any question that GW is going to try again? Spending millions on security for these worthless get-togethers seems wasteful, especially when I realize who is really paying for it. These conventions might actually be counter productive when we see our over zealous delegates acting like asses on national tv in the midst of historic amounts of high cost security. The rest of the world must be scratching their head. And if all the hype that comes with the national political conventions isn't enough, wait until you see the commercials! We are going to be flooded with them. It's almost as if the pollsters are working with the tv networks. The pollsters will say that the race is tight and if the election were held today, candidate X would win. This causes the other candidate to get nervous and throw more money into his tv ads. And here's something that you may not know. The tv networks must make commercial time available for political office seekers. They are forced by the FCC to "bump" normal advertisers so that political commercials may run. This includes your cable tv stations. Nature has the decency to space out the "locust cycle" by 17 years. We should be so lucky with politics.

"BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE" HAS NEW MEANING

The U.S. Army has long lured recruits with the slogan “Be All You Can Be,” but now soldiers and their families can receive plastic surgery, including breast enlargements, on the taxpayers’ dime.

The New Yorker magazine reports in its July 26th edition that members of all four branches of the U.S. military can get face-lifts, breast enlargements, liposuction and nose jobs for free -- something the military says helps surgeons practice their skills.

Martha Stewart Sentenced

Are we picking on Martha Stewart? Or, is she getting off easy after being convicted of lying to Federal Agents? Here's what we do know: She owns 61% of her publically traded company. After her sentencing, her stock increased in value. No matter what she does, her net worth increases. How can anybody say that she's being defeated? Her company will survive. It's been running smoothly since she slowly backed away from the driver's seat. Depending on when she starts her sentence, she could be out by Christmas. She's planning an appeal. Apparently her pockets are deep enough to keep her legal team busy. Is there a moral to this story? Probably several:

1. Work hard and make a lot of money

2. Don't lie to the Feds

3. Public opinion has great value

4. Money can get you anything

5. People don't like people who think they are above the law

6. If you have enough money, does a felony conviction really matter? (See #4 or ask Larry King)

Ken Jennings.....Keeps Winning On Jeopardy

I think it was Einstein who said that everyone is totally ignorant on at least one topic. Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings seems to be the exception. But, then, think about it. Jeopardy changes the rules so that a champion does not have to "retire" after a limited amount of wins. The program still awards the same amount of money. One person becomes an unlikely star and the show gets more publicity than it could ever hope to purchase. Shrewd move on the part of the Jeopardy folks. Jeopardy is everywhere. And all this comes at a time when game shows are nowhere near as popular as they once were.

Marysol Moves To ABC

I've been watching Marysol Castro for a little over a year as she reported morning traffic for New York's WB 11. I always thought that she did a great job and apparently, so did the ABC Television Network. Her WB 11 contract expired in June and she signed with ABC to work on a new project, a weekend edition of Good Morning America. Oh, yeah, and she's not hard to look at...

Louie, Louie

Well, it's been 40 years since the Kingsmen came out with their hit song, "Louie, Louie." I've been searching for the official published lyrics to the song and I think I found them. It turns out that Louie is a bartender and the song is being sung by a lamenting sailor. It should be noted that the popularity of this song in 1964 launched an FBI investigation. As I recall, the FCC was interested in the matter too....all this, long before Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake entertained us at Superbowl Halftime.



Here are the lyrics:





Louie Louie, me gotta go.

Louie Louie, me gotta go.

A fine little girl, she wait for me.

Me catch the ship across the sea.

I sailed the ship all alone.

I never think I'll make it home.

Louie Louie, me gotta go .

Three nights and days we sailed the sea.

Me think of girl constantly.

On the ship, I dream she there.

I smell the rose in her hair.

Louie Louie, me gotta go.

Me see Jamaican moon above.

It won't be long me see me love.

Me take her in my arms and then I tell her I never leave again. Louie Louie, me gotta go."

(By Richard Berry. Copyright 1957-1963 by Limax Music Inc.)

First Post

This would be the first post for my new blog. All comments are welcome. Let's keep it tasteful!