I had something profound to say here...

but I don't feel like changing the nature of the universe today...

maybe tomorrow

In the fall of 2002, I ran a small campaign for City Council...  I had no money, no political connections, and no idea what I was doing...

Yet I still ended up with 23% of the votes in a three person race...

I was proud at what I had attempted, but discouraged by the outcome.. I thought shortly about running again, but the man who was running in my ward this year is someone whom I have a lot of respect for and I did not want to run against him... so I stayed out...

My mind was wondering today, as it is wont to do, and I realized something...  I got 23% in a three person race, and I did absolutely no campaigning... (and my name was last on the ballot.. that didn't help)  I only had enough money to buy 30 signs... I didn't call any press conferences... I didn't set up a booth at AutumnFest... 
What if I had done those things?  In a two person race, chances are I would have won, or come damn close... in a three person race, I would have at least been in a runoff instead of on the sidelines getting calls from every one and their uncle as to whom I was endorsing (I declined to endorse either of my opponents)

So, will I run in 2006?  I don't know.. but I'm feeling a little more excited at the prospect than I was the night of Nov 5th, 2002...

There is something terribly Faustian in this victory for Bush... every indicator pointed to him being a one-term president...  but he didn't just eek it out, he won in what is a modern-day equivalent to a landslide...  the man received more popular votes than Reagan for cryin' out loud...

He ran his first term like he had a mandate (from the populace and/or God) and look where we are...
Now, he actually has a mandate from the people, the Republicans have gained seats in both houses of Congress and he doesn't have to worry about another election... I fear what he will try this time... 

Today, Wednesday November 3rd, 2004, I am predicting that 2006 will see the lowest voter turnout in our nation's history...

Why?

If we can't vote President Bush out of office, the man who has completely failed in every aspect of his role, then what's the fucking point?
If this election didn't get everyone energized, nothing will...

109 million people voted in this election...  I'd say about half that number (maybe less) will vote in 2006

Why bother?

If you were at a Battle of the Bands contest and the contest was Led Zepplin vs. Brittany Spears and Spears walked away the winner, what kind of credibility would you think that contest had?  And would you ever consider attending that contest again?

Now, I'm not saying that Kerry is Robert Plant... but the choice should have been just as clear... 

I have been a gung-ho advocate of voting all my adult life... I have voted in every election I have been eligible to vote in whether it be national, state or local... 
But the fire is gone... completely wiped out in 6hrs... 

Does this make me weak...?  One defeat and I'm ready to give up on the process? 
No, that's not it...

I feel like I'm aboard a burning ship...  tonite, myself and 53 million other people threw water on the fire while the rest poured gasoline...  at some point, the people throwing water should just abaondon ship and let the gasoline throwers drown in their stupidity...

I'm not usually this vitriolic, but the combined effects of a Bush victory and the fact it's 3am and I can't sleep have contributed to some rather scathing posts.  By tomorrow morning, (if I sleep) I will be a touch less acerbic and offensive and I will return to my belief in the system... but for tonite, I must do this, for my rants get raves... 

I shouldn't be this angry...  I really shouldn't...

This is a democratic republic, after all, and the people have spoken... I should be content with the outcome, lick my wounds and concentrate on the future...
But tonight, I cannot...

I am angry at the people of this country who went out and voted for another four years of disaster...
I am angry at the Democratic Party who would probably have done better had they nominated Bill and Opus...
I am angry at the 83% of voters aged 18-24 that didn't even bother to show up... if this didn't tear you away from your playstations long enough to mark a ballot, then fuck you and fuck your future... 
I am angry at myself for being angry...

A few years ago a friend of mine talked about moving out of the country because he couldn't stand what was happening... I called him a coward, and told him that if he's not willing to stay here and fight for what he believes in, then he should go ahead and leave, we didn't need him anyway...

But there comes a time when in order to protect that which you love, you have to switch from fighting for something to fighting against something... 
Point is, I'm outta here...  I don't think I can stand to live in a country that would do this to themselves AGAIN... 

I want to find a nice quiet corner in Tuscany and forget that there is a world beyond the olive groves... 

ciao...

Living in a 'swing state' is interesting, to say the least... although we aren't one of the 'official' swing states anymore (depending on which media outlet you pay attention to), Kerry and Bush are tied at 48% here in Arkansas...  and I have never seen so many political commercials in my life...

Gone are the ads for toothpaste and mortgage refinancing.  They have been replaced with both campaign and 527 ads (all of which look goofy, no matter which candidate they are representing)  Over the past week, I have recived at least 6 calls a day from various national and local campaigns...  yesterday, I was called 15 times... I have messages on my machine from George Bush, Jesse Jackson, John Edwards and Ed Gillespe... 

A little over a half hour ago, I returned from voting...  I have been voting at the same polling place in every general election, local election and referendum for over 5yrs now...  I have never waited more than 15min to get my ballot...

Today I had to wait an hour and a half... 

I didn't mind the wait at all... 

I took my son with me this morning...  since he will only be 9mos old a week from Thursday, he didn't understand anything that was happening, but I explained every step to him anyway...  I think he and I started a wonderful family tradition of voting together... 

and now the waiting begins...

Once again, I will be involved in NaNoWriMo this year...  I completed my task (and then some) last year, but soon tore it up when I realized how incredibly crappy it all was... 

This time, in order to avoid such an anti-climactic outcome, I have promised myself that I will not do any word-counts until Nov 30th.  That way I (doubtfully) won't be concerned with reaching 50,000 words as much as the story making sense...

The only real problem I see with my attempt this time around is but a small thing...  I don't have a story...

I had one all mapped out last year and it jumped the shark after the 4th chapter...  This time I have fully realized characters, but no setting in which to drop them and watch them interact... 

It has occured to me that this is probably a good thing... 
No expectations... 
Truly writing on the fly... 

We'll see Nov 30th...

I haven't made a public post in my journal for some time.  The reason for this may sound silly, perhaps even selfish, but seemed valid to me everytime I sat down at my computer with the intention of adding to my journal...
And the reason is this: I didn't want to be one of those people who, after becoming a parent, do nothing but talk about their child...  but, being a parent, I now seem to be unable to do anything but talk about my child...
There is no shame in this fact, but it has kept me from posting nonetheless...

So I have come up with a solution...  little_man_dade will be my child's journal... anything and everything Dade-related will be included there... this will allow this journal to once again be the beacon of hope on which many have come to rely...

-Abrupt Subject Change-

I have been an advocate for a number of years for Opera as an alternative to Internet Explorer.  I have never had an issue with this browser until today when it went BLAMMO and crashed on me...  completely...

Years worth of favorites, gone...  I'm trying to rebuild what I can, but it is lackluster at best...  ugh...

Thank you MeFi for giving me a needed laugh...  This is what the 'internets' are for...

I'm gonna tell my son to grow up pretty as the grass is green
And whipsmart as the English Channel's wide
And I'm gonna tell my son to keep his money in his mattress
And his watch on any hand between his thighs
And I'm gonna lock my son up in a tower
Till I write my whole life story on the back of his big brown eyes

I'm gonna tell my son to join a circus so that death is cheap
And games are just another way of life
And I'm gonna tell my son to be a prophet of mistakes
Because for every truth there are half a million lies
And I'm gonna lock my son up in a tower
Till he learns to let his hair down far enough to climb outside

It took an hour
Maybe a day...

But once I really listened, the noise just went away...

This is a subject near and dear to me, having lost a lot of money and santiy due to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and was again frustrated by the changing of the rules for Internet broadcasters...

This explains almost every reason we should all be fighting this trend (liberal and conservative alike)

My Beef With Big Media
How government protects big media--and shuts out upstarts like me.

By Ted Turner

I know, I know.... upstarts? Ted Turner...? But read on my friends, read on...

Okay... many of you have seen or have heard about this I Love Bees fake website supposedly counting down the days until a new video game (Halo2) is released...

Well... somehow, a link to one of my journal entries has been included in all the jibberish on the page... I can't see it, but I've received a few comments about it... I've had to delete a few of the more 'colorful' comments that have been made in the past few hours and I have been forced to disable anonymous commenting to my journal...

seriously... wtf..?

Edit I also made the entry 'friends only'. I hope this will stem the tide until this 'promotion', or whatever the fuck it is, is over

It's a wonderful thing to be in the south in the middle of summer and be able to have the A/C off and the windows open b/c it's actually cool outside...

Haven't updated in forever, I know...
My child is crawling now... which presents a whole new aspect to parenting...!
( Dade Pictures )

Oh, and I've been spending a lot of time in IRC lately... (quakenet #whipsworld if you wanna stop in) and doin' a little web broadcasting on Fridays and other days when the mood strikes me...

and that's my life pretty much...

oh except I've been writing a book on a subject that if my parents knew I'd be all but disowned... About how the letters of Paul shouldn't be included in our modern Bible... I'll write more details on this the further I get into it... it's funny how small ideas can start you on paths you never thought you would be following... but isn't that what life is all about...?

©2004 WhipSmart Publishing and Sandwich Shoppe
All Rights Exhausted

I'm gonna let my son type my post today...


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I couldn't have said it better myself...

y'know, in a world as large as LJ-land, you're bound to have some rather small, narrowly focused communities...

This community, however, takes the cake...

I've said it before and I'll probably say it again... but, seriously, my dad needs to come home

*cough*
I really wish I could open my windows and enjoy the nice weather, but the smoke from another 'controlled burn' is choking Fayetteville... It is yellow outside and the haze is so bad at the moment I can't see anything past a few houses down the street... and it continues to get worse...
*cough*

Tired... AMC had a Three Stooges marathon last nite... stayed up way too late watching it...

I have three trees in my front lawn... I thnk they are Crape Myrtles, but I'm not sure... I wish there was a way to find out exactly what they were without searching thru pictures on the Interweb... anybody have any suggestions...?

oh, and Baseball Season will be in full swing tomorrow... I get to sit and watch baseball with my son... how cool is that...?