Shoe blogging we have done, but sealing-wax blogging or cabbage blogging might make a change.

Poemless, what's the matter with y'all up there?  Another governor hauled off by the feds!

This guy doesn't seem to have even been a worthy adversary for Fitz.  Taking bribes to fill Obama's Senate seat is pretty arrogant, even by the political standards of Illinois.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

LAGRAD (lesbian and gay real ale drinkers) Xmas party last night in the charles dickens pub. Very nice, especially as I managed to persuade them to let me have another starter after the main course instead of a sweet.

I ended up in one of the most expensive (but interesting) pubs in london drinking a 10% strength beer, consequently I have a persistent fog in my head today.

Not helped by my Mum breaking her foot last night so I had to take her to hospital to get it checked. she's now got her feet up, but I doubt it'll last. My mother doesn't do sitting down doing nothing.

keep to the Fen Causeway

Why I don't get all het up about Russia being full of corrupt politicians.

HOLY F.


Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

From via

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

It's nice to be right.

When all's said and done, it seems turnout in November will have been about 132m, or roughly ten million more than four years ago.  Obama will come in at about 70m to McCain's 60m, a seven- to seven-and-a-half-point margin.

Maybe Professor Curtis Gans at American University, who loudly proclaimed turnout didn't see the big jump many of us predicted, should shut his whore mouth and learn to count.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

I have a YouTube account for months, but only now did I attempt an upload. Success!

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

I had my encounter last night with the new Google/Firefox software.  I was basically held hostage by Google.  Unchecking all of their boxes would not enable the "finish" button.  I did a control-alt-del and rebooted only to find it back on my front page.  I have google as the default search engine for my MS browser and had left the Yahoo as the browser for my Firefox engine.  I finally found that clicking one box enabled the "finish button," but I still don't know what I agreed to enable.  How is this not malware?

Such arrogance richly deserves a massively heavy handed governmental response.  I doubt it will be forthcoming.  A friend of mine, (out of respect for poemless I will not specify his nominal national affiliation,) once threatened a Sacramento based company that if they didn't fix a problem their equipment had caused he would fly up to Sacramento, rent a car, go to their parking lot and slash all of the tires!  Would that someone would so react to this sort of presumptive arrogance.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

FYI.

I spent last evening (blissfully ignorant of what would happen at 6 this morning) with one of our State Representatives, Julie Hamos.  Among other things, she has been the most vocal advocate for public transportation in our state legislature.  As you can imagine, there are many many seats at all levels of government in IL about to open up, as a result of Obama winning and taking half the town with him, and the shake up at the State Capital.  She's planning a run for a higher office, but I won't say what since she's not officially announced.

Anyway, here's why you care:  Her plan for funding the overhauling of our transportation system?  GAS TAX.  She said that, and there was a momentary silence in the room, and I began clapping, and so everyone else began clapping.  She said if she'd proposed such a thing a year ago, people would have laughed, but right now we just might be able to pull something like it off.  I thought of Jerome and the heat he gets on DKos for proposing a gas tax.  Well, there are actually elected officials here on the ground embracing the idea now.   It took some guts for her to put that out there.  I was really impressed.

Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Well worth a read:

George Monbiot: Cyberspace has buried its head in a cesspit of climate change gibberish | Comment is free | The Guardian

In his fascinating book Carbon Detox, George Marshall argues that people are not persuaded by information. Our views are formed by the views of the people with whom we mix. Of the narratives that might penetrate these circles, we are more likely to listen to those that offer us some reward. A story that tells us that the world is cooking and that we'll have to make sacrifices for the sake of future generations is less likely to be accepted than the more rewarding idea that climate change is a conspiracy hatched by scheming governments and venal scientists, and that strong, independent-minded people should unite to defend their freedoms.

He proposes that instead of arguing for sacrifice, environmentalists should show where the rewards might lie: that understanding what the science is saying and planning accordingly is the smart thing to do, which will protect your interests more effectively than flinging abuse at scientists. We should emphasise the old-fashioned virtues of uniting in the face of a crisis, of resourcefulness and community action. Projects like the transition towns network and proposals for a green new deal tell a story which people are more willing to hear.

Oliver Postgate, creator of Pogles Wood, Noggin the Nog, Bagpuss, Ivor the engine and the Clangers has died.

I'm distraught. That's my childhood.

keep to the Fen Causeway

Just found this recently on the Center for American Progress website.

Interesting how few comments there are on this blog.  Such a waste.  Will have to contact them.  Might be a good IN to the Obama administration.

They tried to assimilate me. They failed.

And the Impeachment begins...

Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

wiki: That's dramatic. The lost ballots, I mean.

The voter turnout for this election was broadly predicted to be very high by American standards,[94] and a record number of votes were cast. The current total number of votes tallied is roughly 131 million (more, if one adds "blank" votes and totals from individual county websites), compared to 122.3 million in 2004 (which also boasted the highest record since 1968, after which the voting age was lowered to 18).

In "Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004,"Census estimated: "The overall number of people who voted in the November 2004 election was 126 million, a record high for a presidential election year. Voter turnout increased by 15 million voters from the election in 2000. During this same 4-year period, the voting age citizen population increased by 11 million people."

Gans's error was accepting Census data at face value: "If this prediction proves accurate, turnout would be at either the same level as in 2004 or, at most, one percentage point higher (or between 60.7 percent and 61.7 percent). ...For years, CSAE and every other reputable organization working in this field had used the Census Bureau's estimates of November age-eligible population (VAP) to determine turnout." Indeed, the FEC did not report returns for 126M voters in 2004.

	2008	2004	Change
Obama (D)	69,398,862	59,028,444	0.176
McCain (R)	59,896,869	62,040,610	-0.035
Total uniparty	129,295,731	121,069,054	0.068
Total votes	131,143,410	122,295,345	0.072
source: FEC

So it's unclear why Gans would hitch his wagon to the Burnham Method. Except that common wisdom holds, closed or open primary results are poor predictors of GE results. And he'd noticed substantial, negative change in registered Republicans' turnout. I don't think this observation is wrong or insignificant.

I would say, 2006 GE and primary results by state are a sturdier premise. (+ 15% registered DP turnout in my district.) Many small turnout increases elsewhere, say 1.5 - 2.5%, accumulate. But don't add up to "landslide" victory.

10,4370,418 more people voted Democrat in 2008, but total increase in uniparty ballots was 8,226,677 (compared to +8,848,065 total turnout). The Bush/McCain lost 2,143,741 for the team which alone accounts for 20% of the DP's total gain over the cycle. Obama started out with a 2004 party deficit (3,012,166). The question remains, how many of each --registered Republicans, unaffiliateds, and Dems-- to distribute the remaining 80% -- across 50 states or just the ones with the greates EVs. I've yet to find SoS data that describes a candidate's popular total by voters' party affiliations. Maybe that will be Gans's next project.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.