Voting Dilemma

Tomorrow is the Illinois Primary election. For the Democratic ballot in my precinct there is only one contested race for Cook Country Clerk. The Clerkship is a clear patronage position where they get to hire several thousand people. Dorothy Brown, the current clerk, still collects "donations" to her campaign fund from her workers. The challenger Ricardo Munoz is a Chicago City Alderman that is a "reformer." Even he has admitted that is a relative term. Plus he voted to sell off the parking meters. And while I believe most people's true complaint about the parking meter deal is they have to pay more money that isn't my concern. My concern is the city getting rid of an asset that should have been feeding its coffers for years to come.

There's a contested race or two for judges but I strongly disagree with the concept of elected judges. They should be appointed based on merit.

So, I guess I could declare as a Republican and vote in their primary. Then I would get to choose between Mittens, The Frothy One, and The Perfesser. I feel dirty just thinking about it.

I might just skip the primary election this year.

UPDATE: Even if I wanted to cross over and fuck with Mittens the Frothy One doesn't have any delegates on the ballot in my precinct. A vote for the candidate ultimately doesn't mean anything during the primary. The vote for the delegates is what matters. Yep, I'm pretty sure I will not be voting tomorrow.

Inconveivable

Blago to speak before heading to club fed.

His announcement that he will make a statement said it would start precisely at 5:02, enabling prime time news to lead with his remarks.

Attorneys for the disgraced governor have said he wants to depart in a dignified way, without a media frenzy.

He was sentenced to 14 years and is going to a prison in Colorado. It is unlikely he will do 14 but he'll be gone a good long while. I haven't sung the praises of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is a while. He has been on a crusade to clean up Illinois politics. And while crusades have a deservedly bad name I fully support Fitz on his.

In my heart, I know that Rick Santorum dabbles in buggery.

Deep down in his heart The Frothy One just knows Dutch doctors are slaughtering the elderly.  "Deep down in his heart" is the new "I looked the man in the ... I was able to get a sense of his soul."

I don't know how to express how sad it makes me that people this fucking dumb are allowed the reins of power in this country.


- Title shamelessly stolen from John Cole.

They've Gone Plaid

Lamborghini's, like all super cars, have always been impractical cars.

• They only seat two people. And rarely comfortably.
  
• They swig gasoline faster than Charlie Sheen does beer on a weekend bender in Vegas.
  
• They cost 10 or 20 times a typical family sedan.
  
• They are ostentatious.
  
• They are in-your-face-fuckyou I'm rich.

So what's left for the company to do? Sometimes you have to think outside the box and ask questions like:
Who needs a roof?

Or a windshield?!?

Ladies and gentlemen, The Lamborghini Aventador J:

God, I love the Italians.

Some Self Reflection Needed

Body found in Belmont Harbor.

Patnaude was last seen about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in a cab near Wellington Avenue and Broadway, where he told a friend he was going to the lakefront, police said.

According to family members, Patnaude left the East Lakeview neighborhood where he and a large group of friends had been out drinking a little after 2 a.m. and took a cab to Belmont Harbor.

I'm not going to question Mr. Patnaude's decision to go "to the lakefront." In fact, my heart goes out to his loved ones.

No, I'm questioning his "large group of friends." Drunk people make poor decisions all the time. Groups of drunk people also make poor decisions. I've been in both situations. In a very related situation I was at a big party at a lake house when we discovered a couple had snuck off to "go swimming." This was after copious amounts of shots. One or two people recognized the problem and a search was immediately organized. (They were found safe having a conversation at the end of the dock.)

I've never been in a group where someone didn't recognize and vocalize an idea was not a good one. I don't think the friends should be legally or civilly culpable but there's a large group of people who should be questioning their commitment to friendship.

Gloves

I went to Sports Authority to buy some gloves to wear while jogging. I was successful. I may have gone a bit over board though.

In fairness, I did need a new mitt.

50 Years Ago Today

In the fourth quarter, the Knicks began fouling other players to keep the ball away from Chamberlain, and they also became deliberate on offense to reduce the number of possessions for Philadelphia. The Warriors countered by committing fouls of their own to get the ball back.

A Fine Mind for the 13th Century

I read that description of the Frothy One recently. Proof.

This is not a political war at all. This is not a cultural war. This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country - the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age. There is no one else to go after other than the United States and that has been the case now for almost two hundred years, once America's preeminence was sown by our great Founding Fathers.

So, Ricky is scared of the bogeyman. Not that I'm surprised. It runs throughout much of the Religious Right. The Christianists as Andrew Sullivan dubbed them. (I think it was Andrew. That's where I picked up the term anyway.)

A commenter at Balloon Juice put in a quote from a commenter at Maddowblog without a link. I put it here as I found it at B-J because I think there's a lot to it. My emphasis.

One characteristic (out of many) of highly-authoritarian personalities like Santorum is a heightened sense of fear and anxiety. Think of it like this: you hear or see something unexpected, you don’t know what it is at first, and you feel a surge of fear as your body pumps in the adrenaline to prepare you for fight or flight. If the unexpected thing turns out to be nonthreatening, you relax. Crisis over.

But imagine if that sudden surge of fear never abates. Imagine that everything that you aren’t already comfortable with continues to be a threatening unknown no matter how long you are exposed to it. Imagine a fight-or-flight response that lasts a lifetime. Imagine that the crisis never, ever ends. That’s the world as people like Santorum experience it.

People like Santorum are looking for safety and security, but they’ll never find it because the threats they feel are inside of their own heads. They will never feel safe, and it would be possible to feel sorry for them except for the fact that they are willing to destroy the world in their hopeless quest to feel safe and secure.

It has been my experience when talking with highly religious people that the unknown is their bane. It's not that they won't accept it, it is that they cannot handle the answer, "No one knows." They have to grasp any answer that presents itself Religion presents (UNPROVED and UNPROVABLE) answers to the most unknowable of questions, "Where did we come from" and "Why are we here?"

Not every religious person I have known has the fight or flight response to the unknown. At least not as outwardly as Santorum is expressing in his speech. However, they reject many tenets of science. The two most often in the public domain are Evolution and Climate Change. I think the rejection of each has many roots but the basis for denying scientific knowledge is ingrained. Once they reject one set of scientific facts for whatever reason the rest fall to unreason quickly.

These are NOT the people that should be handed the levers of power. They should not be allowed any where near them. They shouldn't even know where the levers are located.