Tag: Politics

I’m still unhappy with the result of my inquiry to the DMV about Seven Corners. Today, as usual, someone wanted to be in my lane. And it’s dark when I go through the intersection at this time of year, and raining this morning. It just makes it worse.

So I’ve decided to do something about it. I just wrote a letter to Congressman Jim Moran, 8th District of Virginia. I’ve decided that I should write more letters to my representatives. I may write to Tim Kaine and complain about his treatment of my wife when she volunteered for him (He never sent even a mass-email thank you). I’ll write to my Senator about this same issue at Seven Corners.

I invite all of you to write your representatives, as well. If you send me a copy of the letter, I’ll post it here. Then you’ll be famous with ten to twenty people a day just like I am.

Edit: I sent the letter to Senators Warner and Allen as well. You can see that letter, and the future letters I plan to write, once I write them, by clicking the “Angry Letters” link at the top of the page.

Techdirt: Diebold’s Solution To E-Voting Problems: Beg Poll Workers Not To Touch Touchscreens

The state ran a daylong test, and found plenty of problems still to overcome — including the same problems with the e-poll books that caused all sorts of delays during the election.

For any of you living in Maryland, do not use a Diebold machine to vote this November.  Demand something else.  I don’t know what legal rights you may have, but there must be some alternative voting method for people who can’t use the touchscreen (The blind, for example).  Call your congressperson, your senator, your mayor, governor, whatever you have to do.  Voting is way too important to be left to a company like Diebold that refuses to provide a working product.

Electronic poll books in Tuesday test

State election officials and the manufacturer of the machines, Diebold Inc., will conduct the test from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the BWI Airport Marriott Hotel.

Any of you in Maryland anywhere near BWI should go take part in this test today.  I suggest reading up on how to hack a Diebold machine so you can try and do it while you’re voting.  Anyone who reads Techdirt (Or, for that matter, anyone paying attention to any election in the last few years) knows that Diebold has made a lot of machines that don’t work very well, has been extremely resistant to allowing any kind of testing, and has ignored repeated assertions that the machines are insecure.

To all of you who find a Diebold machine in front of you on election day – refuse to vote on it.  If we make enough noise, maybe we can actually have an election that is efficient, accurate, and verifiable.  Note well, though, that I can not be held responsible if you protest too loudly and are arrested.  That’s all you.

Top Ten Things NOT Safe To Photograph | DSLRBlog

1. Underground/Tube/Buses
2. Refineries or other Industrial plant
3. Police
4. Government buildings
5. Bridges
6. Tunnels
7. Shopping malls
8. Airports
9. Office Buildings
10. Houses
    When I see things like this, it makes me want to go photograph the Metro, industrial plants, the White House . . .  The story in the post is about a guy detained in France, so I can hardly blame that on our current administration and their civil rights == terrorism campaign.  But if I were one of those sites with, you know, readers, I’ll bet one of them would do it.  As everyone knows, as the number of readers goes up, the probability of stupid trolls increases exponentially.  I’d do the math, but I don’t know they keyboard codes for limits and integrals.  I’m sure you understand.

Allen Says He Embraces His Jewish Ancestry – washingtonpost.com

“I was raised as a Christian and my mother was raised as a Christian,” Allen, 54, said. “And I embrace and take great pride in every aspect of my diverse heritage, including my Lumbroso family line’s Jewish heritage, which I learned about from a recent magazine article and my mother confirmed.”

If you’re 54 years old, and have to find out about some aspect of your family heritage from a magazine article, I don’t think you can claim to take great pride in that aspect. This is his grandfather he’s talking about. It’s obviously not something his family takes pride in. It’s pretty obvious to me that Allen is a racist. That doesn’t bother me so much. What bothers me is that he seems to think it’s okay to express his racist feelings, which is just mind-boggling. If he’s a racist, fine. That’s his problem. But when he continues to make remarks that demonstrate total insensitivity to different peoples of the world, I start to wonder if he should be involved in politics. There are plenty of non-caucasian and non-christian residents of Virginia, especially around DC, and I think they deserve a representative who doesn’t hate them. Or, at the very least, a representative who can acknowledge that other peoples have an equally valid claim to personhood as he does.

I don’t know much about his opponent (Although I voted for him in the primary) except for an offensive paper he wrote 20 years ago about women in the military. I’m inclined to forgive that in the absence of more recent examples of similar things.

CNN.com – Boy, 12, evades security clampdown – Aug 16, 2006

LONDON, England — Despite a high level of alert at British airports, a 12-year-old boy managed to board a plane at Gatwick without a passport, ticket or boarding pass.

The important question, though is, “Was he carrying any liquids or an iPod?” Seriously, why do we have security at the airport if it’s not meaningful? Are they really just trying to collect nail clippers and screwdrivers to sell on eBay?

Edit: Again, I say something, and BoingBoing backs it up.  The letter they link to, from a chemisty grad student, is pretty funny.  And makes our security measures look pretty ridiculous.