A post card for Dean
Well, today was the Big Day. Yesterday I got a post card from a campaign worker asking that I vote for Howard Dean. She did it on a special Dean postcard, and it was handwritten. I could tell that she was fairly young. This is how I like to see it. She appealed to me with a handwritten, rather than a typewritten or computer printed note; this takes more effort to do. She told me the reasons: he would improve health care and so forth.
I feel this candidate has gotten a bum rap. It seemed strange to me as to why his candidacy floundered. He made some "gaffes", but so did the other candidates, such as Gephardt with his negative ads and Kerry with his flip-flopping on support for the Iraq war. The "Dean scream" was no more than the shouting that occurs at a football game. His ideas are mostly similar to the other Democratic candidates. I don't think Bush is to blame, unless he is to blame because he wants him to be his opponent. I don't think the other candidates are to blame. Mondale and Hart had a war with each other in 1984, and it did not affect their candidacies; Hart usually finished strong and Mondale won the nomination. I don't think voters are to blame, unless it is because they don't read things critically, but that touches on who the real culprit is.
The hypermedia. That's who. They pick every statement of his apart. That was the way with the Osama remark, for instance. Dr. Dean insisted on the presumption in this country that a person is innocent until proven guilty, and Dean defended even Osama's rights under that presumption. The media would rather that he deny Osama this privilege, an action that violates the Declarational principle that all people are created with equal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The same with the other mistakes Dean has made, although the other candidates have made mistakes, also.
Well who did I vote for? I wish I could vote for all the Democratic candidates. All of them would be better than Bush. I went with the Lichtman Keys in picking who I voted for. The only way the challenging party can affect the outcome is to nominate a charismatic candidate, and Edwards comes the closest to being charismatic. So I voted for Edwards.
I thank the post card writer for sending me that card. It did make me consider voting for Dean briefly. We need to see more of that personal touch in politics.
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2004/02/10
Maybe it's not over
The Virginia and Tennessee primary results are in. Kerry again wins by huge margins over Edwards, Clark, Dean and the others. So is Kerry a foregone conclusion for the Democratic nomination? Probably, but not certain. There is one last-ditch strategy the others can do, and that is to combine forces. Edwards and Clark could agree to an Edwards-Clark ticket and pool their votes; Clark looks like he is at the end of his line anyway. Then when Dean loses in Wisconsin, try to get his supporters to go for Edwards-Clark, and maybe pick up the support of Kucinich and Sharpton as well. Such a combination would have overwhelmed Kerry in Tennessee, for instance. Even this may not work: in many states, including Virginia, Kerry would still win. Further, this combining together would inhibit Kerry from selecting any of them as his vice presidential running mate, and would force him to go for someone who might not work as well, such as John Warner of Virginia or Evin Bayh of Indiana. These two people could put Virginia or Indiana in the Democratic column, but would not have the South-sweeping potential that I believe Edwards would have. So it looks like Kerry for President, and I would advise him to select Edwards for his running mate to shoot for taking both Carolinas and maybe several other southern states as well. And I wish Kerry the best of luck in defeating Bush this autumn.
The Virginia and Tennessee primary results are in. Kerry again wins by huge margins over Edwards, Clark, Dean and the others. So is Kerry a foregone conclusion for the Democratic nomination? Probably, but not certain. There is one last-ditch strategy the others can do, and that is to combine forces. Edwards and Clark could agree to an Edwards-Clark ticket and pool their votes; Clark looks like he is at the end of his line anyway. Then when Dean loses in Wisconsin, try to get his supporters to go for Edwards-Clark, and maybe pick up the support of Kucinich and Sharpton as well. Such a combination would have overwhelmed Kerry in Tennessee, for instance. Even this may not work: in many states, including Virginia, Kerry would still win. Further, this combining together would inhibit Kerry from selecting any of them as his vice presidential running mate, and would force him to go for someone who might not work as well, such as John Warner of Virginia or Evin Bayh of Indiana. These two people could put Virginia or Indiana in the Democratic column, but would not have the South-sweeping potential that I believe Edwards would have. So it looks like Kerry for President, and I would advise him to select Edwards for his running mate to shoot for taking both Carolinas and maybe several other southern states as well. And I wish Kerry the best of luck in defeating Bush this autumn.
2004/02/08
This is it: the Virginia Primary
Now the finest hour for Virginians has arrived: a chance to make their votes count towards electing the next President of the United States. The Virginia Primaries will be held this Tuesday, with the Democratic Primary being of the most interest. Already the candidates have taken interest in us. The Dean and Kerry campaigns phoned me, someone working on the Clark campaign wants me to vote for Clark, and I have seen ads on TV here for Clark, Kerry, and Edwards. Further, there was a dinner here (the Jefferson Jackson dinner) at which four of the candidates attended.
So how do I stand on them now? First of all, my vote will not go for Kerry in the primaries. Kerry does not need my vote; he is hitting the heights at nearly every election and caucus that is held. I still wonder how he can go from single digits to half the electorate in a single bound. Further, he threw a computer call on my telephone. That did not sit well with me; I don't want anyone calling me by computer. If someone calls me, and I talk to them, and they keep on talking as if they never heard me, I hang up. But they did give a number to call, and someone answered right away. I complained about the computer call, and then it turned into a discussion on Kerry's candidacy. That turned things around for them as far as the computer call, because a human answered and was willing to talk to me, but I still am not going to vote for him. He did make one good statement today, when he said that Bush was telling stories on why the US sent troops to Iraq.
To me, Dean has been wronged by the media. They tore him apart, message by message, turning each into a gaffe, including the cheerleading speech at the end of the Iowa caucuses. I don't know how to contend with the hypermedia, for taking action against them could rob us of our freedom of speech and of the press. But still, I hear the Bush camp wanting Dean to be nominated. That is good enough reason for not voting for Dean. We need to send Bush back to Texas.
Kucinich did unusually well in Washington State, 8%, but he is not going to get out of single digits, and neither is Sharpton. Gephardt and Braun dropped out of the race, and I am certainly not going to vote for that extremist perennial candidate Lyndon LaRouche.
That leaves Edwards and Clark. I am going to vote for one of these two, although I feel like I may be voting for who I want for Vice President. It could be Clark, because of his appeal to Southern voters and to those who served in the military, two important pro-Bush groups. But Edwards has the same appeal, and he may have one other thing, namely charisma. According to the Lichtman keys theory, the only way the opposition party can influence the election is by nominating someone with charisma or a national hero. Edwards could be charismatic; he reminds me vaguely of JFK and he has conducted an upbeat campaign. For that reason I will probably vote for Edwards. And I hope the candidates don't ignore Virginia once the primary is over!
Now the finest hour for Virginians has arrived: a chance to make their votes count towards electing the next President of the United States. The Virginia Primaries will be held this Tuesday, with the Democratic Primary being of the most interest. Already the candidates have taken interest in us. The Dean and Kerry campaigns phoned me, someone working on the Clark campaign wants me to vote for Clark, and I have seen ads on TV here for Clark, Kerry, and Edwards. Further, there was a dinner here (the Jefferson Jackson dinner) at which four of the candidates attended.
So how do I stand on them now? First of all, my vote will not go for Kerry in the primaries. Kerry does not need my vote; he is hitting the heights at nearly every election and caucus that is held. I still wonder how he can go from single digits to half the electorate in a single bound. Further, he threw a computer call on my telephone. That did not sit well with me; I don't want anyone calling me by computer. If someone calls me, and I talk to them, and they keep on talking as if they never heard me, I hang up. But they did give a number to call, and someone answered right away. I complained about the computer call, and then it turned into a discussion on Kerry's candidacy. That turned things around for them as far as the computer call, because a human answered and was willing to talk to me, but I still am not going to vote for him. He did make one good statement today, when he said that Bush was telling stories on why the US sent troops to Iraq.
To me, Dean has been wronged by the media. They tore him apart, message by message, turning each into a gaffe, including the cheerleading speech at the end of the Iowa caucuses. I don't know how to contend with the hypermedia, for taking action against them could rob us of our freedom of speech and of the press. But still, I hear the Bush camp wanting Dean to be nominated. That is good enough reason for not voting for Dean. We need to send Bush back to Texas.
Kucinich did unusually well in Washington State, 8%, but he is not going to get out of single digits, and neither is Sharpton. Gephardt and Braun dropped out of the race, and I am certainly not going to vote for that extremist perennial candidate Lyndon LaRouche.
That leaves Edwards and Clark. I am going to vote for one of these two, although I feel like I may be voting for who I want for Vice President. It could be Clark, because of his appeal to Southern voters and to those who served in the military, two important pro-Bush groups. But Edwards has the same appeal, and he may have one other thing, namely charisma. According to the Lichtman keys theory, the only way the opposition party can influence the election is by nominating someone with charisma or a national hero. Edwards could be charismatic; he reminds me vaguely of JFK and he has conducted an upbeat campaign. For that reason I will probably vote for Edwards. And I hope the candidates don't ignore Virginia once the primary is over!
This is it: the Virginia Primary
Now the finest hour for Virginians has arrived: a chance to make their votes count towards electing the next President of the United States. The Virginia Primaries will be held this Tuesday, with the Democratic Primary being of the most interest. Already the candidates have taken interest in us. The Dean and Kerry campaigns phoned me, someone working on the Clark campaign wants me to vote for Clark, and I have seen ads on TV here for Clark, Kerry, and Edwards. Further, there was a dinner here (the Jefferson Jackson dinner) at which four of the candidates attended.
So how do I stand on them now? First of all, my vote will not go for Kerry in the primaries. Kerry does not need my vote; he is hitting the heights at nearly every election and caucus that is held. I still wonder how he can go from single digits to half the electorate in a single bound. Further, he threw a computer call on my telephone. That did not sit well with me; I don't want anyone calling me by computer. If someone calls me, and I talk to them, and they keep on talking as if they never heard me, I hang up. But they did give a number to call, and someone answered right away. I complained about the computer call, and then it turned into a discussion on Kerry's candidacy. That turned things around for them as far as the computer call, because a human answered and was willing to talk to me, but I still am not going to vote for him. He did make one good statement today, when he said that Bush was telling stories on why the US sent troops to Iraq.
To me, Dean has been wronged by the media. They tore him apart, message by message, turning each into a gaffe, including the cheerleading speech at the end of the Iowa caucuses. I don't know how to contend with the hypermedia, for taking action against them could rob us of our freedom of speech and of the press. But still, I hear the Bush camp wanting Dean to be nominated. That is good enough reason for not voting for Dean. We need to send Bush back to Texas.
Kucinich did unusually well in Washington State, 8%, but he is not going to get out of single digits, and neither is Sharpton. Gephardt and Braun dropped out of the race, and I am certainly not going to vote for that extremist perennial candidate Lyndon LaRouche.
That leaves Edwards and Clark. I am going to vote for one of these two, although I feel like I may be voting for who I want for Vice President. It could be Clark, because of his appeal to Southern voters and to those who served in the military, two important pro-Bush groups. But Edwards has the same appeal, and he may have one other thing, namely charisma. According to the Lichtman keys theory, the only way the opposition party can influence the election is by nominating someone with charisma or a national hero. Edwards could be charismatic; he reminds me vaguely of JFK and he has conducted an upbeat campaign. For that reason I will probably vote for Edwards.
Now the finest hour for Virginians has arrived: a chance to make their votes count towards electing the next President of the United States. The Virginia Primaries will be held this Tuesday, with the Democratic Primary being of the most interest. Already the candidates have taken interest in us. The Dean and Kerry campaigns phoned me, someone working on the Clark campaign wants me to vote for Clark, and I have seen ads on TV here for Clark, Kerry, and Edwards. Further, there was a dinner here (the Jefferson Jackson dinner) at which four of the candidates attended.
So how do I stand on them now? First of all, my vote will not go for Kerry in the primaries. Kerry does not need my vote; he is hitting the heights at nearly every election and caucus that is held. I still wonder how he can go from single digits to half the electorate in a single bound. Further, he threw a computer call on my telephone. That did not sit well with me; I don't want anyone calling me by computer. If someone calls me, and I talk to them, and they keep on talking as if they never heard me, I hang up. But they did give a number to call, and someone answered right away. I complained about the computer call, and then it turned into a discussion on Kerry's candidacy. That turned things around for them as far as the computer call, because a human answered and was willing to talk to me, but I still am not going to vote for him. He did make one good statement today, when he said that Bush was telling stories on why the US sent troops to Iraq.
To me, Dean has been wronged by the media. They tore him apart, message by message, turning each into a gaffe, including the cheerleading speech at the end of the Iowa caucuses. I don't know how to contend with the hypermedia, for taking action against them could rob us of our freedom of speech and of the press. But still, I hear the Bush camp wanting Dean to be nominated. That is good enough reason for not voting for Dean. We need to send Bush back to Texas.
Kucinich did unusually well in Washington State, 8%, but he is not going to get out of single digits, and neither is Sharpton. Gephardt and Braun dropped out of the race, and I am certainly not going to vote for that extremist perennial candidate Lyndon LaRouche.
That leaves Edwards and Clark. I am going to vote for one of these two, although I feel like I may be voting for who I want for Vice President. It could be Clark, because of his appeal to Southern voters and to those who served in the military, two important pro-Bush groups. But Edwards has the same appeal, and he may have one other thing, namely charisma. According to the Lichtman keys theory, the only way the opposition party can influence the election is by nominating someone with charisma or a national hero. Edwards could be charismatic; he reminds me vaguely of JFK and he has conducted an upbeat campaign. For that reason I will probably vote for Edwards.
Words that won't stop
When I hear some words, I want to hear the word go on and on. Some words are built for this. For example, in a radio ad in the 1960s, I heard them sing "Wearever aluminuminuminum". The word is aluminum. But the word is rhythmical with its two m's, and it makes me feel like the inuming should go on and on forever: aluminuminuminuminum….
Just recently I found a web page with a list of such words. namely Words where it is not clear where to stop. This site has other good entries, such as theseses, possessessesses, banananana, and alfalfalfalfa. The funniest ones I think are those with n's and m's in it, such as aluminuminum and phenomenomenomen. I especially like millenniummunnumunum, with its indecision between single and double m's and n's, its making a repetition where there wasn't one, and its looks when typed out in a word processor or when it is handwritten. Both look like a big blur; the handwritten version looks like someone scribbled across the page.
To these I can add some of my own:
Alabamalabamalabama (so both Southern states go on forever)
institutitutitutitutitutitution
abilibilibilibilibility (do you have the abilibility to create these nonstop words?)
abilitilitilitilitility
Mississippississippississippississippi (flows freer than with all s's)
Tennessennessennessee
murdererererererererer
deaded
The last two appeared in an old Carol Burnett show where someone on a rowboat that she is on gets thrown overboard by someone else, and Carol said, "You murdererererer! Now he's deaded." These nonstop words remind me of periodic decimals in arithmetic, such as 3/11 = 0.2727272727… The hallmark of a rational number is that it repeats the same thing forever. So these words that I am talking about are "rational" words. Actually, terminating decimals such as 2/5 = 0.4 are repeaters to, of zeroes: 2/5 = 0.4000000…; in the same way any word can be thought of as repeating blanks on the end. I'll stop right here, but the words in this blog can go on forever.
When I hear some words, I want to hear the word go on and on. Some words are built for this. For example, in a radio ad in the 1960s, I heard them sing "Wearever aluminuminuminum". The word is aluminum. But the word is rhythmical with its two m's, and it makes me feel like the inuming should go on and on forever: aluminuminuminuminum….
Just recently I found a web page with a list of such words. namely Words where it is not clear where to stop. This site has other good entries, such as theseses, possessessesses, banananana, and alfalfalfalfa. The funniest ones I think are those with n's and m's in it, such as aluminuminum and phenomenomenomen. I especially like millenniummunnumunum, with its indecision between single and double m's and n's, its making a repetition where there wasn't one, and its looks when typed out in a word processor or when it is handwritten. Both look like a big blur; the handwritten version looks like someone scribbled across the page.
To these I can add some of my own:
Alabamalabamalabama (so both Southern states go on forever)
institutitutitutitutitutitution
abilibilibilibilibility (do you have the abilibility to create these nonstop words?)
abilitilitilitilitility
Mississippississippississippississippi (flows freer than with all s's)
Tennessennessennessee
murdererererererererer
deaded
The last two appeared in an old Carol Burnett show where someone on a rowboat that she is on gets thrown overboard by someone else, and Carol said, "You murdererererer! Now he's deaded." These nonstop words remind me of periodic decimals in arithmetic, such as 3/11 = 0.2727272727… The hallmark of a rational number is that it repeats the same thing forever. So these words that I am talking about are "rational" words. Actually, terminating decimals such as 2/5 = 0.4 are repeaters to, of zeroes: 2/5 = 0.4000000…; in the same way any word can be thought of as repeating blanks on the end. I'll stop right here, but the words in this blog can go on forever.
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