Jaunty Election Central – McCain’s Chances at 7:00 PM
Um…
– bob
Jaunty Election Central – Tension At The Polling Place
Okay, there wasn’t any tension. A couple booths were open so I was able to breeze in and out. It was a lovely Autumn afternoon and everybody seemed to be pretty happy to be there. Even the guys who were denied the vote seemed to be okay with it.
“Can I register today to vote?” the lumberjack asked. “You can register now, but you can’t vote in this election,” the frizzy-haired volunteer chirped. “Maybe next time then…”
The other guy wasn’t on the rolls, but wouldn’t take a provisional ballot. Despite that, he went away with a big smile. Maybe it was gas.
– bob
Jaunty Election Central – A New Day In America
At least the sun still came up this morning. That’s something, isn’t it?
…and you were worried.
– bob
Jaunty Election Central – Extremely Early Results
Happy Election Day, Patriots,
We’re going to be sporadically covering the election all throughout the day and into the night along with analysis from the Best Political Team On This Blog™. So let’s get right to it…
Dixville Notch, NH: Obama 15, McCain 6
Wow! Decisive, but what does this mean for the rest of the country? Well, no candidate has won the presidency without receiving votes in Dixville Notch, so it’s sort of a bellweather. Thank you.
Now go vote!
– bob
Village Elders Arrange Marriage, Shoot Happy Couple
Good morning, happy commuters;
This morning before a profoundly important election, we have news that the feds won’t be helping to pay for the merger of GM and Chrysler as GM CEO Rick “The Rick” Wagoner had hoped. The deal may still go through since Chrysler owners Cerberus Capital Management wants out (link to google cache. newsweek site is borked. – ed) and GM thinks that Chrysler has $11 billion still sitting around and would like to spend it (that’s rich. will the funds be doled out by the easter bunny? – ed You know, when you make fun of Chrysler, you make Lido cry.)
What does all of this mean to you, dear reader? Well, if nobody’s open to catch this Hail Mary pass, these two companies are poised to file for bankruptcy sooner rather than later. Big deal? How about the (federal) Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation absorbing all of the pension obligations of both GM and Chrysler? That’s you and me footing the bill for all of the goodies that the UAW has fought so hard for. How about paying unemployment benefits to tens of thousands of auto workers and their suppliers and the dealers? You can see where this is going…
I understand not wanting to give taxpayer money to Cerberus. They’re a private equity firm and they should have to eat the loss of the $7 billion they paid Daimler to take over Chrysler. Then what? Nobody buys them, they file for dissolution and we’re left holding the bag? That doesn’t sound like a great option in the middle of a recession. Of course, GM’s gonna kill them off eventually as well, it’ll just take longer! Hooray!
How’re you feeling about the Lifetime Powertrain Warranty on your Dodge pickup now?
– bob
Jaunty Election Guide!
My Friends (sorry about that…),
I know everybody worries about what I think when it comes to the vote for California’s bazillion ballot propositions. Usually, my rule is simple—no new bond measures and stop amending the Constitution. That stance is overly simplistic, I admit, and this year I’ve reconsidered my position for a single proposition couple propositions. You’ll have to read on to catch the subtle clues…
- Prop 1A – Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act: This one is first on the list and a dizzying brew of magical thinking combined with not so much. Get this, this measure asks voters to approve $9.95 billion in general obligation bond sales that the state can’t afford AND hopes that the feds will pitch in (you may have noticed they don’t have any spare cash either) along with private investors (who’ve slammed their checkbooks shut right about now). It doesn’t even require that a train system gets built. We just need to think about it and hire consultants! Whee! I’m sure these cats can spend the cash at way over 220 MPH.
- Prop 2 – Standards for Confining Farm Animals: Farm animals get to get out of their cubicles, stretch their legs, have a smoke break (I made that last part up). Opponents say that this will force California farmers to pack it in, with the void filled by dangerous salmonella-tainted Mexican eggs! Boo! Look, this thing is gonna cost us money if it passes and I still think it’s worth doing. Would you pay extra for California cheese from truly happy California cows? Of course you would. It’s happier.
- Prop 3 – Children’s Hospital Bond Act: No more bonds. These guys want $980 million to give to children’s hospitals. They haven’t spent the money from the last bonds. But hey, it’s about the children, right? Right?
- Prop 4 – Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy Wow. You could say that this is about chipping away at privacy rights and you’d be right. You could also say that minors needn’t be afforded those rights. Patient’s rights versus parent’s rights versus danger of retaliation. I still have no idea what to do with this one because I’m wholly unqualified to judge.
- Prop 5 – Nonviolent Drug Offenses. Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation: This saves the state some money by kicking folks out of the penal system early to rehabilitate. We’ve got a big problem funding the huge prison system in this state, but shouldn’t folks convicted of crimes punishable by prison time spend their time in prison? Isn’t it supposed to be unpleasant? I’m not sold on this one.
- Prop 6 – Police and Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Penalties and Laws: Following on Prop 5, this one seems to be designed to scare everybody and pigeonhole funds for cops while upping penalties for certain crimes while creating new ones. C’mon, guys. Aren’t we a little smarter than to fall for this bunk?
- Prop 7 – Renewable Energy Generation: Requires certain percentages of renewable sources in the electricity mix. The Union of Concerned Scientists isn’t feeling the love here for many reasons, but I heard only one statistic that made sense to me—this calls for 20% renewables by 2010. We’re at 10% now so it’s hard to believe that the 20% target is even attainable. There are noncompliance penalties, but I’m guessing Edison, PG&E or SDG&E aren’t going to absorb them, will they?
- Prop 8 – Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry: Maybe just call it the “I hate the gays” amendment. Hating? Bad. Amending the constitution again? Stupid. Thanks for nothing, dimwit right wing bigots.
- Prop 9 – Criminal Justice System. Victim’s Rights. Parole: Most of this is already covered in those silly laws. Not good enough! Somebody needs to amend the Constitution to drive the point home. How about no?
- Prop 10 – Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy Bonds: I’ve heard this called the “T. Boone Pickens Bailout Act” by selling bonds (that we still can’t afford) to give folks cash for natural gas cars and research! That’s a lot of new cash out of the General Fund, eh?
- Prop 11 – Redistricting: Opponents of Prop 11 have ads up trying to frighten voters with the idea that this constitutional amendment will establish an independent board to draw legislative districts every decade. That’s not a bug, that’s a feature! A commissioner is selected based on specific criteria, then by random drawing. Not a legislator drawing his or her own safe district boundaries! Again, a feature. If you vote in favor of one thing, if you hold out hope that the process can potentially ever be fixed, this is the last best hope. I think we should take a chance on it.
- Prop 12 – Veterans’ Bond Act of 2008: This is the only bond measure that actually has the beneficiaries pay for it. And who do we saddle with the bill? Veterans, fer crissakes. We shouldn’t have to do anything like that. In my perfect world, veterans get whatever they need on a silver plate. Sadly, this world isn’t perfect, but $900 million seems cheap to provide loans for vets to buy homes and farms in the state. Hell, they might even raise herds of happy cows.
So go vote, won’t you? What are you waiting for?
Your pal,
bob
Fire, L.A. Times Chestnut
Friends,
I suspect somebody at the L.A. Times is working for the Big Bear Tourism Board. Why? Because they’ve just come out with yet another story about how my little town of Idyllwild is set to burn to the ground.
A little like the story they did in 2007 about how we couldn’t plan for evacuation routes without some contention. Or perhaps the big David Kelly piece in 2006 about how it was a miracle that we’re even alive.
I’m just thankful that we don’t have a slow economy to deal with, otherwise we’d have a hard time dealing with the negative publicity…
– bob
A Big Bag Of Stupid
Pals,
This story in USA Today about a pending GM merger with Chrysler has stinky written all over it. In fact, Peter De Lorenzo over at Autoextremist.com covered this very thing last week. Even in his opening, Mr. De Lorenzo gets to the heart of the matter:
The swirling maelstrom of conjecture, rumor and fabrication that’s enveloping the Motor City (aka The Land of Not Good) right now concerning GM and Chrysler has spun completely out of control. So much has been said by so many people who know so little about what’s going on, that it’s truly breathtaking to contemplate. As a matter of fact, I have never seen anything like it in all my years in this business.
This fairly sums up the USAT piece, but there’s a little nugget that should leave Grosse Pointe psychiatrists confident that they’ll make their next yacht payments…
Ford Motor is seeking to sell all or part of its stake in Japan’s Mazda to a group of Japanese companies. The report appeared in the Japanese press last week and was confirmed by two people who have been briefed on the proposal but said they could not comment on the record.
Ford’s sale of Mazda is so obvious that it doesn’t even merit mention. I mean, why would they need a small car platform partner or economical four cylinder engine development in this economic climate? That’s just crazy talk!
Talk about Not Good…
– bob
Prettification
Friends,
You could take a look now at the mildly revised bobtherieau.com, or you would wait until something really super happens…
What could be more super than background colors and fonts? Well, how about the fabled podcast? That’ll be this week. I’m also working on a fun video using (nearly) all of the webcam stills. Hooray for free software!
Yeah. It’s super exciting. Please up you medication accordingly.
– bob
Jaunty Dumptruck O’ News! – Debate Roundup!
I feel dirty.
I’m gonna need a shower after this debate [warning: adobe flash 10 required on terrible myspace-hosted site. – ed Does it use Flash because democracy hates UNIX? at least. mostly the commission on presidential debates hates you—a lot. -ed] just to get the stink off. Post-partisan? Change? Straight talk? Holy crap. We here at the Lodge are flabbergasted…
The “health of the mother” is an “extreme abortionist view” held by radicals? Really? The Girly Dog is not impressed…
Charter schools are the “greatest civil rights issue…” of the next century? How about this one? Sarah Palin knows a bunch about autism? I’m guessing she knows more than she bargained for about Down Syndrome, so maybe that’s true, but I suspect that the senator from Arizona was a touch confused.
A touch?
William Ayers. ACORN. Clean coal. Good lord, shut the hell up. What might you deign to do about the economy, mayhaps?
– bob
Jaunty Weather Update – The Breeze!
[This Jaunty Weather Update is brought to you by the Idyllwild Weather Clam who knows that it’s much colder than the hotshot weather dudes do. Now that’s a clam you can trust!]
Friends,
High winds and far too dry conditions are conspiring to make this a very dangerous day. Combine that with the earthquakes we’ve had over the last two days (both magnitude 3s, but you get the idea) and the below freezing temps on Saturday and Sunday nights, and we seem to be in for one hell of a weird Autumn.
The dogs, they’re freaked out by all of this and spending most of their time in the house curled up in front of a fire that went out ten hours ago. I’ll have those exciting action shots for you in a little while. Be patient!
– bob
Special Friday Webcam Feature!
Friends,
I know I’m boring you to tears with discussion of the dog fights at my house (you’re no michael vick. – ed True. I don’t even have a teevee mom to offer my coworkers soup.) so I’ve added a camera to take interior shots of the Lodge.
Maybe something exciting will happen! The chances are fairly low though since it snaps a photo every twenty minutes, it’s unlikely there’ll be any action to see.
But hey, it could happen. (what if something does happen? what’s the point? – ed Blackmail, of course.)
– bob
UPDATE: I deleted the picture link in this post because it was “live +/- 10 minutes” and causing confusion. Let’s face it, there’s enough to be confused about without that, don’t you think?
Jaunty Dumptruck O’ News! Hemet Girls!
Ah, young love…
This story from the newly downsized Riverside Press-Enterprise captures the essence, the je ne sais quois of beautiful, romantic Hemet, California:
An apparent love triangle led an 18-year-old woman to beat a 17-year-old girl with brass knuckles during a party in Hemet, breaking her nose and disfiguring her face, authorities said today.
No, that sound isn’t Cupid’s arrows striking their target. It’s the small bones in her face crunching like saltines in a bowl of truck stop chili. But what could’ve caused this little imbroglio?
“Information obtained during the investigation indicated that the two young women had an ongoing dispute over a mutual boyfriend,” Pinney said.
Clearly, he’s quite a catch. It is Hemet, after all.
– bob
UPDATE: Looks like a certain petite flower is going to have her day in court today. What’s the charge Mister District Attorney?
Lynsie Elizabeth Caldwell was booked Tuesday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a dangerous weapon, infliction of great bodily injury, mayhem and torture.
Whew! No kidding!
Calm Down!
Nervous Nellies,
My vivacious writing partner has read the stories I’ve written here on the dog fights at the Lodge and reminded me of Rescue Remedy. It’s flowers, people! Okay, a little more than that, but a few drops in their water bowls means that everybody is much more relaxed. How relaxed? Mr. and Mrs. Goon took a nap after an hour or so. Smelly Lola has started to refrain from challenging Mr. Dog to whatever it is she’s challenging him to. Playtime? Fighting? Dominance? Who knows.
Speaking of calming, I had to pull over yesterday and take some shots of the sunrise. There’s a turnout on Highway 74 near a place called Royal Carrizo.
There are thumbnails here, but if you click on them you’ll see a full-sized image in another window. Those files are huge though, so a broadband connection would be a good idea here…
This one may be my favorite, but I’m a sucker for the shrubs in silhouette.
No more fighting, just a little growling now and again. I’ll take that.
Whew!
– bob