So -- P and I are both avid readers. We've always been so, possibly because we were raised in families that were as well. K has never been a big reader. This summer she started reading voraciously -- and we've been thrilled. Currently (and in fact, what started her on this reading binge) she will only read Vampire Urban Fantasy of the YA variety. We've not run out yet -- but we fast approaching the "deep end of the pool" -- ya know, where the heroine is either terrorized (not something I really want to expose my barely-not-a-tween-anymore kid to just yet) or there's LOADS of sleeping around and drugs (also not my first choice for a kid in jr. hi). I'm trying to find things that don't go *there* and that still follow the "VUF/YA" rule she's currently set up for herself. Oh yea, and that aren't too young for her either...
Today she started another book My Sister the Vampire: Switched. She's already better than 1/2 done. She went up to bed around 9:45. I came up around 10:30, ready to turn in, only to discover the light on under her door (she's new at this, so not very stealthy yet). I opened the door to discover that she was UP and snearking (by her defiintion) READING IN BED!!!!!

wOOt!!! WE WIN ;>.

OK -- I had to make her go to bed because she's getting up at oh-dark-hundred these days for school -- but DAY-UM. A bibliophile's dream come true :>.

And there's at least 3 more ;>.

Under the heading of Worst Person's in the World (Keith Olbermann style)

This is an OUTRAGE

I cannot imagine a bigger pile of TRASH

Game night. Right in the middle of Catan. Bummer.
( Read more... )

Post 10 things that are going right in your life right now. I don't care how small. You're happy with your cup of coffee. You saw a flock of geese flying over. ANYTHING. Things that make you happy. Things that make you smile. No pressure.

It's small and it's simplistic, but maybe for the time you are compiling your list, you'll forget about the bad going on and focus on something good.

1) WFH today.

2) I had the perfect breakfast (cereal, skim milk, egg, XS (b-vitamin healthy drink)

3) it's a lovely sunny morning

4) Wonderful New Friends (both near and far)

5) Wonderful Old Friends

6) Lovely new music (comes from both old and new friends ;>)

7) A wonderful daughter

8) A wonderful husband

9) I'm writing again :>

10) It's Autumn :>

States' purges of voter rolls appear illegal

Report: Voter Purging Process Is Shrouded in Secrecy, Prone to Error and Vulnerable to Manipulation

Ganked directly from chessdev

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

...

Still, because Democrats have been more aggressive at registering new voters this year, according to state election officials, any heightened screening of new applications may affect their party’s supporters disproportionately. The screening and trimming of voter registration lists in the six states — Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina — could also result in problems at the polls on Election Day: people who have been removed from the rolls are likely to show up only to be challenged by political party officials or election workers, resulting in confusion, long lines and heated tempers.

...

Although much attention this year has been focused on the millions of new voters being added to the rolls by the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, there has been far less notice given to the number of voters being dropped from those same rolls.

States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed; but for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows.

...

The six states seem to be in violation of federal law in two ways. Some are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.

In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration apUnder federal law, election officials are supposed to use the Social Security database to check a registration application only as a last resort, if no record of the applicant is found on state databases, like those for driver’s licenses or identification cards.

The requirement exists because using the federal database is less reliable than the state lists, and is more likely to incorrectly flag applications as invalid. Many state officials seem to be using the Social Security lists first.

In the year ending Sept. 30, election officials in Nevada, for example, used the Social Security database more than 740,000 times to check voter files or registration applications and found more than 715,000 nonmatches, federal records show. Election officials in Georgia ran more than 1.9 million checks on voter files or voter registration applications and found more than 260,000 nonmatches.plications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action.

...

Last week, after the inquiry by The Times, Michael J. Astrue, the commissioner of the Social Security Administration, alerted the Justice Department to the problem and sent letters to election officials in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. The letters, which express concern that voters will be blocked from voting because of the inappropriate use of Social Security information, ask the officials to ensure they are complying with federal law.

In three states — Colorado, Louisiana and Michigan — the number of people purged from the election rolls since Aug. 1 far exceeds the number who may have died or relocated during that period.

In Michigan and Florida, rights groups are suing state officials, accusing them of being too aggressive in purging voter rolls and of preventing people from registering.
In Georgia, the Justice Department is considering legal action against officials in Cobb and Cherokee Counties who sent letters to hundreds of voters stating that their voter registrations had been flagged and telling them they cannot vote until they clear up the discrepancy.

On Monday, the Ohio Republican Party filed a motion in federal court against the secretary of state to get the list of all names that have been flagged by the Social Security database since Jan. 1. The motion seeks to require that any voter who does not clear up a discrepancy be required to vote using a provisional ballot.

[chessdev] To top it off -- the Republicans are arguing it should be up to the VOTER to clear up any discrepancies or else be relegated to provisional ballots (which MAY or MAY NOT be counted).

Trance music BAD when turned up and no news running over the top of it.

Don't ask.

But let's just say "headdesk" is more than just a saying today.

*sigh*

Back to Island music! At least *this* afternoon :>. We'll save Machine in the Garden for when falling asleep isn't so embarrassing;>.

Note to self: before asking the "tech support" guys anywhere for info, put on the Infinite Patience Suit. They will assume the lowest common denominator (as did we all when did that job) - and they will NOT take your word that they don't need to teach you how to "make faves" on "Internet Explorer" when what you REALLY want is to get the damn link they've HIDDEN to find your damn WEB Space so you can edit the damn pages.

*sigh*

idjits.

Random thoughts from the day...

• 17:43 maybe i'll twitter the debate tonight :)
• 17:50 Tom Brokaw is on stage now
• 18:16 Interesting -- McCain attacks Obama, Obama goes to the questioner and explains what the situation means to the questioner personally


( The Rest of the Story... )

Wow -- Talk about a piece of history -- Dan Rather has been a journalist long enough to have worked in radio and now he's on iTunes :>.

That's amazing...

Paul Krugman on McCain’s health insurance ‘plan’s

In short, the McCain plan makes no sense at all, unless you have faith that the magic of the marketplace can solve all problems. And Mr. McCain does: a much-quoted article published under hi name declares that “Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.” Yep, banking really has shaped up nicely without being burdened by the worst excesses of regulation. Conservative faith in the magic of free markets would be Santa Claus-cute if it wasn’t so fucking destructive. Disclaimer: as a cancer survivor, I am one of those Americans who lose tremendous ground under McCain’s plan, which is strongly biased toward those without pre-existing conditions. Plus I’m a liberal, so I’m one of those full-of-shit people who thinks everyone ought to have reasonable access to healthcare. (thanks to jaylake

Note: I'm not clear that I would lose that much ground (not having anything major that might be defined as pre-existing beyond my knees), but the fact that this is a $5000 offer for what clearly costs at least $12,000 a year, makes it a losing proposition for everyone but Big Business. On top of that, it taxes the health insurance of those who get it as a bene from their employers to pay for this "largess." This is just bad legislation.

Random thoughts from the day...

• 09:23 Lovely weekend - got to watch my one of my fave movies (1776) - Director's Cut (and now we know why we have editors ;>)

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

And on a completely different note: Meet the Press, Gwen Ifil & SNL is worth a watch when you have a moment or two :>

More Meet the Press

According to electoral-vote.com:
Today is the last day you can register to vote in 21 states (story also here). If you are not registered, go register NOW. If you are overseas, go to votefromabroad.org to print the registration form and also check if your state accepts faxed applications.

However, even if you think you are registered, you may not be. Unbeknownst to them, thousands of people have been purged from the voter rolls. Project Vote lists the names and addresses of purged voters in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas (so far). If you live in one of these states, check the list TODAY to see if you have been purged and also check for friends, relatives, and neighbors.

*Ganked from davidlevine

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• What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?


• What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?


• What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?


• What if Obama were the candi date who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?


• What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?


• What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?


• What if Obama were a member of the Keating 5?


• What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Educational Background:
Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.
McCain:
United States Naval Acade my - Class rank: 894 of 899
Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire?

PS: What if Barack Obama had an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter....

Ganked from an offline friend...

Ancient mythical beings help to keep one of their own from causing a blood bath when archeologists stumble into what they think is an ancient sanctuary.

Whatcha think? Would you read more?

Alternate lead line;

Ancient mythical beings team up with a woman who can tell the story of things just by touching them to keep one of their own from causing a blood bath when archeologists stumble into an ancient sanctuary.

Or:

Ancient mythical beings keep one of their own from causing a blood bath when archeologists stumble into an ancient sanctuary.

Palin says Obama friendly with terrorists.


Money Shot: "Our opponent though is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he is palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin said of Obama, also calling him an embarrassment.

NOTE: "The remark was dismissed by Obama as "gutter politics" -- this from the article.

Obama's formal response: Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said, "Today, the McCain-Palin team took their discredited, dishonorable campaign one desperate step further, announcing that they were going to try 'turning a page on this financial crisis' and launching more personal attacks on Senator Obama."

"Instead of offering solutions for working Americans and families struggling through a failing economy, they have offered more gutter politics and false attacks," he said in a statement.

Oh.My.God. This woman is not only insane, she's downright dangerous. This is the most ridiculous, hateful, slimy thing I can remember *ever* hearing, in or out of politics. This goes so far beyond anything I can even imagine anyone saying or doing, I have no idea who let this NUTJOB off her leash.

We CANNOT let this lunatic anywhere *near* the White House. This is insanity.

Once again, if you're not outraged, you're NOT paying attention.

Yes -- I'm going to geeb about my new favorite show -- Sanctuary (playing again at midnight) on SciFi is a beautiful piece of work. I mean that literally -- absolutely gorgeous! I love Tapping as Magnus, Robin Dunne is fascinating, Emilie is intriguing, even Henry is a great deal of fun :>. And as villians go, Chris Heyerdahl is hard to beat.

This show was really good when it was done as webisodes only. It is even better as a fully funded television series. There's only 13 episodes right now, but I plan to relish every bloody one of them.

SciFi has a decent site here
and Sanctuary's site does an even better job!