This week's playlist comes from the fine folks at Wired Magazine and the Creative Commons. 16 Bands liscenced their work under Creative Common liscences, for the public to do as you will. Me, I choose to put them up for everyone to enjoy.
So Enjoy.
Oh, and to the RIAA: Do you hear that? It is the sound of inevitability.
Off to visit the family. Later.
CNN is reporting Kerry called Pres. Bush to concede.
"So you're that son of a bitch we've spent the last four years looking for!" - Words spoken by a Union Sergeant to a messenger bringing news of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, 1865.
Well, it's all over but the screaming.
Bush has 269 Electoral Votes in the bag. Of the four states not yet called, Iowa, New Mexico and Nevada are all trending Bush, with Wisconsin trending Kerry.
So the final score looks like 286 EV's for President Bush and 51% of the popular vote, compared to 252 EV's and 48% for Senator Kerry.
A smart campaign would have conceded by now. But for reasons known but to them and God, the Dems still think they can win Ohio, even though all the networks have called it for Bush. (Florida, this ain't). And about an hour ago, John Edwards showed up and said "we can wait one more night for victory." Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.
The Republicans have the Democrats pinned down, and yet the Dems insist on making a Last Stand. Guys, there's no shame in admitting defeat. This is not Florida redux, the chances of prevailing are miniscule, and your desperation isn't going to change anything. Let it go. Life will go on.
I'm done for the evening. More thoughts tomorrow.
"Telegraph fully all news, and when there is no news, send rumors." -- Wilbur Storey, editor of the Chicago Sun-Times instructing his journalists during the Civil War
This one from my parents, in Clark County, Ohio. (Yes, THAT Clark County. Thankfully, my parents never recieved one of the letters.)
Their polling place was in the community room of the local nursing home. They voted at 7:00 AM this morning, being extra careful to punch the right numbers on their cards. Long lines to vote (150-200 people), though less than what I experienced (only a 30 minute wait, and this polling station happens to serve two precincts), and no obvious signs of intimidation or fraud. While in line, they happened to strike up a friendly conversation with a group of plumbers who were voting before heading out to their job. (ThiefDad: "They looked like union guys, so that should tell you something.") Outside, both Bush/Cheney and Kerry/Edwards people worked the crowd handing out sample ballots, but both sides remained civil. No sign of MoveOn.org people, lawyers, or journalists.
And of course, the funniest moment came when one of the nursing home residents (alas, one with moderate Alzheimer's) came and stood in the line. The nurse came over and said, "Hal, that's the line to vote."
Hal's response: "I don't want to vote. I want to eat." Sent a nice bipartisan chuckle up and down the line. "Us, too, buddy," the plumbers said.
Let's hope that it goes this smoothly everywhere. Whatever happens, we're still one nation.
...if you live in Arlington or the Virginia 8th District, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, vote for Lisa Marie Cheney, or if you can't do that, withold your vote. After taking shady loans, co-sponsoring Rangel's ridiculous bill to bring back the draft, and blaming the Iraq War on "The Jewish Vote," Jim "Get A Brain" Moran deserves to lose his seat just on general principles.
Went to vote this morning at 7:30 AM in Arlington. Didn't get to vote until 9:30 AM. (There were only six electronic voting machines for a line that was at least 300 people deep.) But it was worth the wait. No obvious signs of voter intimidation or fraud that I could see; everyone had their ID's and voter cards ready and waiting, only a handful had to vote on provisional ballots. Aside from the long lines, a pretty good experience. It got so bad they were asking people who had finished with their newspapers to pass them around. So I got to read the entire Washington Post, the front section of the Washington Times, and the Wall Street Journal Op-Ed page by the time I got to vote.
Aside from President and Congressman, there were choices for County Board, School Board, two Virginia state constitutional amendments (one about clarifying the effect of decennial redistricting on Virginia's off-year election system, the other adding additional poeple to the line of sucession after Governor), and four bond issues.
Most of the poll workers were about my age, which was surprising. The Kerry-Edwards people were all young women of college-age, bubbling with enthusiasm. (Arlington County is heavily Democratic.) There were, however, three Bush-Cheney workers: two nice middle-aged ladies, and a burly 40-ish man with a sticker that said "Democrats for Bush." (!) The ladies complimented me on my tie (red, with tiny little elephants on it. Yeah, I'm subtle.) I asked the ladies for a Bush/Cheney sticker. They gave me one, then asked "want the whole sheet to take to your workplace with you?"
"Not where I work," I joked. (At my workplace, only myself, my boss, and his secretary are known Republicans.) We chatted a bit about Bush's chances, and went our merry way.
Now this is how an election is supposed to work. No intimidation, no threats, no yelling, done as efficiently as possible. Democracy in action, folks... treasure it.