{ { { who am I? worldly»about me. what's with the grasshopper? random»why sbg. not inside frames? reload. } } }

{ Thursday, November 30, 2000 }

11:29 AM | link

Robert Downey, Jr: a poster child for the War on the War on Drugs. [via ghost in the machine]
With Manson and Sirhan we can all name their victims. But who is Downey's? It has to be himself. He has committed no violent crime, robbed no bank nor, may I add, offered me a cell phone service that works only sporadically...

The effect is racially disproportionate. Blacks make up about 12 percent of the population but account for 62 percent of drug offenders in state prisons. Altogether, federal prisons hold almost 240,000 persons convicted of drug--not violent--crimes, and the states hold about 200,000 more. This is an expensive proposition.

{ Wednesday, November 29, 2000 }

9:02 PM | link

I sat down tonight with the last Potter book, not intending to finish it, but I did. Just couldn't help myself.

I can't believe parents all over the world won't let their children read these books. Not only are they entertaining and teach children to love to read, but they teach some of the best lessons there are to learn: the value and necessity of ties bound by friendship, how important it is to do what is right and not what is easy, that true friendship respects and accepts differences in character and culture, how a hunger for power can blind you against what is right and good, and on and on.

If you have children in your family or have friends with children, you must buy them these books for the holidays. And you don't even have to buy them all four. The first will suffice to engage them in the story. (It's even in paperback now.)

And if you're interested in all things Potter, drop by the Leaky Cauldron, where I've been known to post a thing or two.

9:30 AM | link

Ooh, I found a new desktop background. [via gliff]

{ Monday, November 27, 2000 }

4:46 PM | link

Would you pass the U.S. citizenship test? [via bad hair days] My score:
10 out of 12. John McCain would be proud.

{ Wednesday, November 15, 2000 }

5:18 PM | link

Common Cause summarizes the lessons learned thus far in Recount 2K. They also have a letter you can send to the editor of your local paper. Want to get updates like this via email? Sign up for CauseNet.

{ Monday, November 13, 2000 }

11:07 AM | link

Don't want the "spoiler factor" to come into play in another election? Fight for instant run-off voting:
IRV allows voters to rank candidates as their first choice, second choice, third, fourth and so on. If a candidate does not receive a clear majority of votes on the first count, a series of runoff counts are conducted, using each voter’s top choices indicated on the ballot. The candidate who received the fewest first place ballots is eliminated. The ballots are then retabulated, with each counting as a vote for the top-ranked candidate listed on the ballot that is still in contention. Voters who chose the now-eliminated candidate have their vote transferred to their second choice candidate -- just as if they were voting in a traditional two-round runoff election. This process continues until a candidate achieves more than fifty percent of the vote.
Sound good? Join the instant run-off mailing list to hear about the latest battles for IRV.

{ Friday, November 10, 2000 }

10:48 AM | link

It turns out before the election, representatives introduced a bi-partisan bill in both the House (H.J. Res. 113) and the Senate (S.J. Res. 56) to amend the Constitution to replace the electoral college with the direct election of the President and Vice President.

The bills are there waiting, so contact your reps to ask them to support the bills TODAY!

{ Wednesday, November 08, 2000 }

1:40 PM | link

Ah, Michael Moore hits the spot again. If we're going to get electoral college reform, we must act now:
My fellow Americans -- we have to set aside our differences regarding Gore and Nader and demand, IMMEDIATELY DEMAND, that Bush step aside and not claim the Presidency based on this insane ancient Electoral College. The Electoral College was designed by the founding fathers who wrote it into the Constitution along with this rule: only white men who owned property and paid taxes would be allowed to vote. The United States is no longer that country. This is a democracy. One person, one vote. We should have done away with this antique long before now...

Right now, all good citizens must speak out today, in the next few hours, loudly and clearly, that George W. Bush has lost the vote of the people and we will NEVER trust all the shenanigans that took place with the vote in Florida tonight -- a vote presided over by none other than Little Brother Governor Jeb Bush!! Send e-mails, call talk shows, contact your congressmen and women -- RAISE HOLY BLOODY HELL!!

11:27 AM | link

Paranoid religious freaks are still banning Harry Potter books. [via leaky cauldron]

I just signed up to receive action alerts from Muggles for Harry Potter, a group "to support kids, parents and teachers who are fighting school officials and others who want to ban classroom 'read alouds' of Potter books and other controversial works, remove the books from library shelves and otherwise restrict their use." I also found out where I can buy a Muggles for Potter button in my area.

As soon as I post this, I'm going to go call my local libraries and see if they have the Potter books. If not, I'll report them to the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, (312) 280-4223, oif@ala.org.

{ Monday, November 06, 2000 }

5:29 PM | link

I'll be out all day tomorrow, working local polling places for Nader. But whatever you do tomorrow, VOTE!

1:21 PM | link

Moore writes a letter to Gore voters:
Stop calling your Naderite friends and bugging them. For every minute you waste sending out e-mails to hard-core and unmovable Naderites, you could be phoning up someone you know who probably isn't voting and get them to the polls to vote for Gore. If you really want Gore to win, you have to make no less than a dozen calls as soon as you are done reading this letter.

Take the day off on Tuesday. Call the local Democrats and volunteer you and your car to go and pick up senior citizens and other voters who need a ride to the polls. If you are not willing to sacrifice one day of pay to ward off the Armageddon you have told me will happen if W. wins, then I just will not believe the next scary e-mail you send me.

12:10 AM | link

I have this problem. I can't spend more than 5 minutes in a bookstore without buying something. Tonight I couldn't escape before making these purchases:I need help, huh? In related news, I finished the Chamber of Secrets and the Prisoner of Azkaban is next on my plate.

{ Sunday, November 05, 2000 }

11:51 PM | link

I finally updated my favorites at weblogs.com. You can see what they are at have browser, will travel and also who's reading the most. (Psst...if you read this site regularly, how about putting "shiny blue grasshopper" as one of your favorites at weblogs.com? wink wink, nudge nudge)

{ Thursday, November 02, 2000 }

9:57 AM | link

Michael Moore writes a letter to Gore:
Let's get one thing straight -- we didn't leave you, YOU left us. You and your "New Democrats" abandoned the poor, the working class, and the middle class. Your support for NAFTA has cost hundreds of thousands of people -- your very supporters -- their jobs. In my hometown of Flint, 32,000 GM jobs have been lost since you and Clinton took office. That's 5,000 MORE GM jobs than were lost there during the ENTIRE 12 years of Reagan/Bush! Are you even aware that two-thirds of the school children in Flint live below the federal poverty level? And you wonder why the race in Michigan is so close! These people you left behind had nowhere else to go EXCEPT to Nader -- unless they choose to just stay home on Election Day, which is what the majority of them will do...

You can howl all you want about how "Bush will appoint Supreme Court justices like Scalia and Clarence Thomas." But we the people know who voted to PUT that right-wing nut Antonin Scalia on the court. It was YOU, Al Gore, the senator from Tennessee who stood up and voted "YEA!" the day Scalia was confirmed in the Senate! If we ever lose Roe v. Wade, YOU are the one with the blood on your hands, and those of us, including Ralph Nader, who fought the Scalia nomination, will never forget the jeopardy you and your fellow Democrats put women in with that vote. And when 11 of your Democratic senators voted to put Clarence Thomas on the Court, giving him the slim 52 to 48 majority he needed, your party (which was in control of the Senate at that time!) threatened every woman in America. For the love of God, do NOT have the audacity to come at us now with your scare tactics about how women may lose the right to chose. You have no credibility.

{ Wednesday, November 01, 2000 }

5:25 PM | link

MSNBC asks "Is Al Gore correct in claiming a vote for Ralph Nader is a vote for George W. Bush?" Vote in their poll.

1:40 PM | link

What does Jesse Ventura have to say about this election?
Because this year’s elections are close, more than ever your vote can make a difference. Starting today, you should engage and begin choosing your candidate. And remember, there are no wasted votes.

Also remember what they said in Minnesota during my election: A vote for Jesse Ventura is a wasted vote. Well, I wasted the Democrats and Republicans with wasted votes.

Voting is a privilege, and your responsibility is to vote your heart and conscience. Elections are not horse races. Be true to your convictions and your principles, and you may be surprised at the results.