Monthly Archive for October, 2006

Checking the pulse of the midterm elections in Ohio

Published
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Peace Chicken
on October 31, 2006
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Here are some 2006 midterm election poll numbers from RealClearPolitics, which aggregates many of the popular polls:

  • Ted Strickland* is up 23.8%
  • Sherrod Brown is up 12.5%
  • Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15) is up 12% (not banking on this though because only one poll is listed for this month and it’s from three weeks ago.)

And some more from Pollster.com which also aggregates many polls:

* I want to point out that I did not vote for Strickland, I voted for Fitrakis. But since he unfortunately hasn’t a chance in hell I’m posting Strickland’s poll numbers instead.

Want even more numbers to crunch on?

  • Bush’s approval rating is 39%
  • Over $338 BILLION has been spent on the Iraq war
  • 2,814 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, 126 of those are from Ohio, and 103 soldiers have died this month alone.

Unfortunately not even a Democratic majority in Congress can change any of those numbers for the better and the only thing that can go down is Bush’s approval rating.

In all of this election craziness, when most people are using their opinion of the war to decide their vote, I think it is worth noting that 81 Democratic House members and 29 Democratic Senators voted to authorize Bush’s war. They said YES Mr. Bush, go do as you please, we trust you’re telling the truth and if we find out you didn’t we won’t do a damn thing about it. The Democrats are not immune from criticism and having them in power does not even come close to assuring a happy ending for this country. They’re politicians all the same. And like my Dad says, they’re much the same as Republicans but better only in that they don’t kill as many people.

To end on a good note, I’m pleased to say Sherrod Brown and Ted Strickland both voted NO on the Iraq War Resolution.

Want the scariest costume this year?

Published
by
Peace Chicken
on October 31, 2006
in political
. 1 Comment

Foxtrot

When the War Comes Home

Published
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Peace Chicken
on October 30, 2006
in Uncategorized
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For a Marine Reserve Company That Saw Death in Iraq, Returning to Life in Ohio Is an Unexpected Battle

By Peter Slevin - Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 30, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio

Alone and in clusters, collars up to block the rain, thousands of people lined the streets on a gray October day in 2005 to welcome their warriors home. For 13 miles, they rose to wave, a few to salute, as the buses rolled slowly past. More than one tough Marine, homeward bound after a brutal tour in Iraq, shed a tear.

When they reached solid ground, still wearing their desert camouflage, the Marines embraced their families and embarked on the most jarring of transitions. They would discover in the following year that seven months in Iraq had changed them more than they could have imagined, guiding and afflicting them in ways they are still struggling to understand.

Marines who expected duty so light that boredom seemed probable instead saw almost daily combat and 23 men killed in action, more casualties than any U.S. company in Iraq. When it was over, they traded an edgy, exhausting regimen of forced alertness and sudden brutality for sheer ordinariness. Nothing at home felt as urgent or as meaningful, as thrilling or as awful.

The 160 survivors returned to work or college, to wives or girlfriends, sometimes to childhood bedrooms grown suddenly small. Many suffered flashbacks, drank hard, quarreled with their women and sought refuge in one another, laboring to replace the rugged discipline, power and purpose they had left behind in Iraq. Some turned to counselors, some to God, others to the solidarity and beery narcotic of the VFW hall.

“It seems like everything you see reminds you of it. You drive through town and you see someone with a ‘Support the Troops’ sticker and it just starts going through your head again,” said Sgt. Travis Brill. “Drink three, four, five beers. I find it easier to sleep when you don’t have silly-ass things going through your head.”

They fought as a unit and then scattered. In a series of conversations over the past year, more than a dozen Marines of Lima Company shared their experiences of Iraq and their reentry into the United States. Pieced together, scenes from their recent lives sketch a world of in-between, a landscape inhabited not only by them but also by countless others among the roughly 1 million military personnel who have returned from Iraq or soon will.

The survivors made it home from the war, but they brought the war with them.

Continue reading ‘When the War Comes Home’

Ohio Absentee Voting

Published
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Peace Chicken
on October 30, 2006
in political
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10.30.06 UPDATE // Once again the rules have changed and the original absentee voter ID rules are in place. This is YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE of voting rules constantly changing and confusing voters. What a convenient way to disenfranchise people! Another reason to establish NATIONAL voting procedures and quit leaving it up to the states and counties because they sure as hell can’t figure out what they’re doing. I hope more than one lawsuit comes of this. It’s 8 days before election day and 4 days before absentee ballots are due, this is UNACCEPTABLE. At the very least there should be a deadline for when voting rules can be changed. Again, who are we to build democracy in other countries when we haven’t even gotten it working properly here?

10.27.06 UPDATE #2 // Nevermind that last update because a federal judge has just suspended the absentee voter ID requirement! This is a huge victory because an estimated 5,000 people may have put the wrong License Number on their ballot and would have lost their vote! Judge Algenon Marbley says he will rule Wednesday on whether to block new requirements to provide certain types of identification on both absentee ballots and at the polls Nov. 7.

10.27.06 UPDATE #1 // There was a story on NPR yesterday about how some Ohio Absentee Voters who are using their drivers license to prove their identity are writing down the wrong number. There’s a long number on top of your photo, that’s not the one!! That’s an administrative number and is NOT a unique identifier so you will essentially be forfeiting your ballot. You need the number on the left side under your address where it says (oddly enough) “License Number”, it should start with a couple letters. Please double check this!!

10.26.06 UPDATE // I just saw that a recent visitor came here looking for how many stamps were needed to mail the ballot and I mistakenly said just one 39 cent one but that’s wrong!! It’s 63 cents, so use 2 stamps!! They tell you this in the voting instructions but just in case, now you know.

10.03.06 UPDATE // More Columbus Dispatch coverage:
Decided? Vote starts today “…But most absentee ballots not ready to mail.”

09.26.06 UPDATE // Check out this story printed in today’s Dispatch:
Early ballot requests rising “…Franklin County has received about 40,000 requests for absentee ballots — far more that it normally does at this point before a gubernatorial election.”

I got a newsletter/card in the mail last week from the Franklin County Board of Elections, it included a form to request an Absentee Ballot for the November 7th Ohio elections. FYI, in Ohio absentee ballots aren’t just for people in the military or overseas anymore. Anyone can vote by mail for whatever reason they want, and this is a great thing. My first thought was that I probably should vote absentee because I trust the U.S. Postal Service more with my vote than I trust a Diebold machine. What’s wrong with Diebold? This, this, and this, for starters.

I checked Bob Fitrakis’ website/blog, scoured Google search results, etc. and couldn’t find much in the way of the pro’s and con’s of absentee voting in Ohio. This was pretty surprising to me given all the corruption and fraud in the 2004 election. So I emailed a contact of mine at the Columbus League of Young Voters (aka League of Pissed Off Voters), her response was just what I was looking for, a little bit long but definitely worth sharing and reading:

OK, so here’s the deal: before House Bill 3 passed, Ohio didn’t count absentee ballots until at least 10 days after the election, and then only if the election results were super close.

The new policy regarding absentee ballots is one of the few good things to be found in House Bill 3. It made it so:

  • a) any Ohio registered voter can vote absentee (which is why we now like to call it “vote by mail,” or “early voting,” etc.)
  • b) they are now required by law to count the absentee ballots regardless of whether it’s a close election.
  • c) absentee ballots they receive BEFORE Saturday November 4 are counted on election day and WILL be included in the preliminary, “unofficial” election results that are announced late at night on November 7. This is really (in my opinion) the total that matters because it is what candidates use as the basis for their decision on whether or not to concede etc. So, this is good news.
  • d) absentee ballots they receive between Nov 4 and Nov 7 will be counted 10 days after the election. During those 10 days they (BOE) will verify that none of those ballots came from a person who also voted at a polling place on election day. These ballots will be included in the final, official election results (which traditionally are announced a few weeks after the election), but NOT included in the “unofficial,” preliminary results that are announced late at night on Nov. 7.

So, one of the things we are going to emphasize is that people should send in their absentee ballots well before Nov. 4!

Continue reading ‘Ohio Absentee Voting’

Death of a President

Published
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Peace Chicken
on October 26, 2006
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Tomorrow is the premier of Death of a President, winner of the International Film Critics Award at the Toronto Film Festival. There are 6 showings at the Drexel Gateway theater tomorrow and I’ve already got my ticket.

This is the movie that has everyone in an uproar because it’s about a fictional investigation of the October 2007 assassination of President Bush. ::GASP:: You mean they dare dream up something bad happening to our Leader who’s never done anything to hurt anyone? That is not within the confines of the First Amendment, shame on them. Some theater chains are banning it, and certain political figures who haven’t even seen it are already passing judgement.

“I think it’s despicable. I think it’s absolutely outrageous. That anyone would even attempt to profit on such a horrible scenario makes me sick.”
Senator Hillary Clinton

So it’s wrong to profit off an idea like this? Now, I don’t like the idea of profit and capitalism in general, but what about how much the Bush Administration and all their cronies have profited politically and financially off of 9/11? And how much the TV industry has profited off of 9/11 with their hyper-patriotic dramatizations? And what about American flag and yellow magnetic ribbon manufacturers? Surely 9/11 was great for their bottom line. Was that not a “horrible scenario”?

And since when is it okay to make movies about past political assassinations, but not future ones? Ironically enough, Kevin Costner, who starred in the 1991 movie JFK, says this about Death of a President:

“It’s awfully hard if you’re his children, his wife, his mother, his dad; there’s a certain thing we can’t lose as human beings, which is empathy for maybe the hardest job in the world.”

So just because a man happens to call himself the President, that automatically qualifies him to receive empathy, regardless of all his immoral and illegal actions? Don’t think so. You must give to receive. And it also doesn’t hurt to think about the Seven Generations Iroquois proverb, “how will your actions today affect those seven generations from now?” Or even a year from now.

10.27.06 UPDATE: Listen to or read WCBE’s “It’s Movie Time” review of Death of a President.

George W. Bush has done something I actually agree with.

Published
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Peace Chicken
on October 20, 2006
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I can finally say this blog is not all anti-Bush because of this post. Turns out that even though Bush isn’t so fond of human rights, there’s at least a little place in his frozen heart for animal rights.

President Bush Signs Animal Disaster Bill — Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act makes pets part of emergency planning

SACRAMENTO, CA (October 6, 2006) – United Animal Nations, the organization that pioneered disaster relief for animals nearly 20 years ago, today commended President George Bush for signing a measure that will save both human and animal lives when disaster strikes. The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act requires state and local agencies to include provisions for people with pets or service animals to safely evacuate with their animals in the event of a disaster.

“We applaud President Bush for signing this sweeping bill that enables agencies throughout the country to better care for animals during emergencies,” said UAN President and CEO Nicole Forsyth. “As we saw after Hurricane Katrina, both humans and animals suffer needlessly when emergency plans fail to include pets.”

Recent surveys show that as many as two-thirds of Americans would refuse to evacuate if they had nowhere to bring their pets. Because Red Cross shelters do not allow animals, many pet owners have limited options when disasters force them from their homes. People who leave pets behind often try to rescue them later, further jeopardizing their safety and hampering relief efforts.

“Given the bond between people and their pets, a disaster plan that doesn’t include animals in simply incomplete,” Forsyth said. “With the PETS Act now signed into law, there is hope that people will never be forced to make the difficult and heartbreaking decision to leave their pets behind to save their own lives.”

The PETS Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representatives Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Chris Shays (R-Conn.), and in the U.S. Senate by Senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). It was approved unanimously by the Senate on August 4 and by the House of Representatives on September 20.

About the PETS Act:

  • Requires local and state emergency preparedness authorities that receive FEMA funding to include provisions for pets and service animals in their disaster plans
  • Grants FEMA the authority to assist states and local communities in developing such plans
  • Authorizes federal funds to help create pet-friendly emergency shelters
  • Allows FEMA to provide assistance for individuals with pets and service animals, and the animals themselves, following a major disaster.

About UAN:

Through its volunteer-driven Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS), UAN provides free emergency sheltering and disaster relief services for animals in communities that become overwhelmed by natural disasters or other crises, as well as free disaster planning assistance. Since 1987, UAN has responded to 70 disasters, saving thousands of animal lives. UAN spent more than two months in the Gulf Region after Hurricane Katrina, deploying more than 400 volunteers to help 2,100 animals at six shelters in three states. With more than 2,600 trained EARS volunteers in the United States and Canada, UAN can respond to a crisis that puts animals at risk within 24 hours of receiving an official request for assistance.

Now celebrating its 20th year, United Animal Nations (UAN) is North America’s leading provider of emergency animal sheltering and disaster relief services and a key advocate for the critical needs of animals.

The Kilroy/Pryce 15th Congressional District Debate

Published
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Peace Chicken
on October 12, 2006
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10.13.06 UPDATE // Here’s the Columbus Dispatch’s article about the debate.

The debate was aired live tonight on WOSU, but in case you missed it, it’ll be re-aired at 8 p.m. Oct. 14th (Saturday) on WOSU Plus (instead of the regular WOSU channel.) FYI it’s channel 99 for Time Warner customers, 766 for Insight, and 153 for Wide Open West viewers.

Now here is my random, scattered, and certainly not comprehensive or objective review of the debate.

First, some character observations.

Most obvious to me is that Pryce is in a perpetual state of anger. And there’s a high possibility she has a large flaming stick up her you-know-what because the woman is constantly pissed. Her blood pressure has to be through the roof. I’m all about having passion for politics and what you believe in, but some calmness and sanity needs to be balanced in. At least Kilroy managed to keep her composure the entire time, not raising her voice even once. Yes, sometimes Kilroy can be too calm and you want her to just hurry up and finish her sentence. But Pryce is so inflamed and with the constant fiddling with her pen, I can barely pay attention to her cookie-cutter GOP talking points. Isn’t that a public speaking no-no? Darn you Deborah, put down the pen so I can pay attention!

Gee, never heard that line before.

Within the first 90 seconds of Pryce’s opening statements she spit out some of the GOP’s favorite war-justification lines, first saying Al Qaeda wants to kill us and our children, and then the good old stand-by: “we have to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.” FEAR FEAR FEAR! She also said the Arab world is easily angered, “remember the Danish cartoon?” Actually Pryce, I think the anger stems from a little bit more than a cartoon. There’s a possibility it may also have something to do with our disrespect for their religion, rampant colonialism and attempts to Americanize nations that don’t want anything to do with us. But hey what do I know.

She’s a LIBERAL! ::queue ominous music::

Pryce uses the word “liberal” like it’s synonymous with “Satanic.” It really is the worst possible thing to be in her eyes. She put Kilroy down for supporting Howard Dean and according to Pryce, Kilroy is as far left as you can go, an “unabashed liberal.” When Kilroy pointed out Pryce’s zero ratings from groups like the Children’s Defense Fund and the PTA, Pryce responded “well of course I’m not gonna get good ratings from such liberal groups like that.” Umm ok, I didn’t realize children’s welfare and education was just a liberal concern. By the way, just for kicks let’s check Merriam-Webster’s definition of liberal: “one who is open-minded or not strict in the observance of orthodox, traditional, or established forms or ways.” Right, so we think outside the bun. Is that really so bad?

Listen to your mom

There was a question about all the negative campaign ads being shown and how Pryce felt about using them. Pryce said her mom is mad at her for using them and “I don’t like them but Kilroy started it.” Kilroy’s response: “maybe you should listen to your mom.” Mary Jo actually managed to sneak in a few laughable moments like this, including something to the effect of “Pryce likes to rubberstamp and label so much, she oughta get a job at UPS.” Oh Mary Jo, how you make us chuckle!

Another one of Bush’s sheep

When asked about her record of supporting so much of Bush’s legislation, Pryce’s best answer was “but I opposed his stance on stem-cell research.” Wow, good job, one thing that you opposed out of how many destructive Bush policies? Another Pryce favorite came out of this same question, she ended her rebuttal by saying “I’m gonna vote the way I want.” Now wait a sec, aren’t our Representatives supposed to vote the way their constituents want? Here I thought it was “by the people, for the people”, who knows where I got that silly phrase from…

Oh! Almost forgot. That little Iraq war thing.

Pryce said we will stay there until we “defeat all terrorism” and if we set any kind of timetable for withdrawal than our enemies like Iran and Syria will save up their resources and wait til that time to make their move. And once again, she used a GOP favorite, “when the Iraqis stand up, we’ll stand down.” Okay but how are they supposed to stand up when we’ve dissolved their Army, destroyed their infrastructure, and they’re being killed by the hundreds of thousands? Our soldiers are having a hard time standing up too, what with all the limbs they’re losing…

All in all

I was happy with the debate’s questions, they addressed everyone’s main concerns, Iraq, healthcare, economy, the current administration, etc. And they also acknowledged problems some voters have with each candidate, like asking Pryce about her connection to four corrupt Republicans and the campaign contributions they made to her.

Go Mary Jo!

Lastly, I think it’s worth pointing out that only Kilroy mentioned student loan interest rates rising, the rising cost of college tuition, raising the minimum wage, balancing the budget, taking big money out of politics, helping the middle class, becoming energy independent, and healthcare for all. Pretty much everything I worry about. Sorry Deborah, I could give a crap if rich people keep their tax breaks and I hope everyone else feels the same come November 7th.