Flush twice, it’s a long way to Leavenworth.
Hard to believe, innit? Wasn’t it just the other day that we were all sitting in front of our TVs as the election returns began unfolding like the wings of a giant vampire bat, or maybe Rodan the Flying Monster, and we began discussing our options for the next four years?
“Ireland?”
“No, too damp. I’d start drinking again for sure.”
“Canada?”
“Too nice. We wouldn’t fit in. I wouldn’t, anyway.”
“Argentina?”
“Hey, if we wanted to while away the hours around a bunch of old Nazis we could just move back to Bibleburg.”
Now, suddenly, here we are, two weeks away from our last chance to chase Adolf Twitler and his Brown Noses out of the White House before they finish gutting the place like crackheads stripping a squat for its copper wire.
I was running a couple errands yesterday and took another glance at our neighborhood polling place as I passed. The line was even longer than on Saturday, this time stretching all the way around two sides of the strip mall and out of my sight as I barreled down Montgomery in the usual thundering herd of honking land yachts.
I chose to interpret this as a good sign. No, not the land yachts. The line. Angry people ring other people up, write letters to the editor, and vote.
I choose to hope — yes, there’s that word again — that this time the right people are angry for the right reasons.
Yeah, yeah, I know. “Hope in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up faster.”
Still, what the hell else can you do? Unless you like living in a Tom Waits song. …
Tags: 2020 presidential election, Adolf Twitler, Brown Noses
Mad Blog Media 
October 20, 2020 at 9:13 am |
Lawd sakes, here’s hoping the good prevails over the darkness. I keep seeing where even the Senate might flip- really?
In reality, it might take a while, what with the Court of Supreme waiting to put it’s new chubby white thumb on the scales.
New Zealand sounds nice, tho’.
October 20, 2020 at 1:34 pm |
New Zealand does seem like a nice place to be, but Mexico is closer “poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States”.
October 21, 2020 at 12:15 am |
What the hell? this place is an apocalyptic hellhole, nothing to see here, move on, there’s this great bit of land called Australia to the west, maybe go there, nothing to see here, move along, we’re drawing the curtains…
October 21, 2020 at 5:31 am |
I’ve been to Australia. Should have gone to New Zealand but it wasn’t a R&R destination. Probably couldn’t afford it then or now. I am only 30 miles, by road, from Mexico. Hmmm.
October 21, 2020 at 6:54 am |
Funny, I’ve been rereading Bruce Chatwin’s “The Songlines,” his account of a sojourn in Australia that celebrates Man the Nomad. The nomadic existence at present seems both right and proper and thus I propose that we all adjourn to New Zealand to give it a go.
We will, of course, bring beer. What flavor do you like, Hurben?
October 21, 2020 at 9:10 am |
OK, you talked me into you silver tongued devil. What kind of acoustic guitar music do you like, Hurben. How about this one?
October 22, 2020 at 1:20 am
I’ve got 3 of his early albums, (bought in South Africa & got me some strange looks when I played them to friends).
But, I’ll meet your suggestion & raise you this…
October 22, 2020 at 7:44 am |
More of a spoken-word piece, but still a classic, as shit goes:
October 20, 2020 at 9:21 am |
Unfortunately, until we can get rid of the Electoral College it is all a poker game. I absolutely hate that my vote in my state doesn’t seem to make a difference in presidential elections. This really needs to change.
October 20, 2020 at 10:48 am |
The EC isn’t bad in concept. But a “state” was a political entity with a few hundred thousand (and 3/5ths of another couple of hundred) back when they started this carnival. If every state did what Maine and Nebraska do, all of our votes would count more. Still, WY and the like still get those extra bonus points for having no people but the same number of senators.
The problem with fixing anything is that neither party will concede a single point unless it leads to a mathematical advantage for them. Modern politics means that when you control both houses in the White House, your ram as many things through as possible. Get what you can and can what you get.
October 20, 2020 at 10:55 am |
Seems the EC was a weird spin on the Connecticut Compromise, i.e., give the small states a little more say in who runs the country rather than leaving it to the big states, which is the same reason we have the Senate as it is (two senators elected by a couple hundred thousand people in a few cases).. I know California loves to piss and moan about that, but to me, the risk of a pure popular vote system for Congress and the POTUS is that the less populous and more conservative states will simply say they have no representation and viola, a real split rather than a political one.
Trouble is, as you say, its always a “winner ram all” system rather than finding common ground.
October 20, 2020 at 12:22 pm |
I didn’t realize this, but regarding the Electoral College process only two states, Nebraska and Maine, do NOT follow the winner-take-all method. In those two states, electoral votes are proportionally allocated. So for 48 states, if you win the state by 1 vote, you get all your state’s Electoral College votes.
I’ll have to ponder the ramifications and wisdom of that.
??????
October 20, 2020 at 11:20 am |
I refuse to tell someone in California or Hawaii that their vote for president simply doesn’t matter after the magic 270 is reached. Over 2.8 million people said that rump is not the president. Who is talking about changing 2 senators per state? The electoral college is an answer to a problem that no longer exists. Take it away, and take away the advantage that the parties have in spending $100s of millions in a handful of states to buy the presidency. That’s what happened last time.
October 20, 2020 at 1:47 pm |
Sorry for the lousy wording, Pat. I wasn’t suggesting we were going to change the way we elect senators. Just that in states with low populations, a senator gets about as many votes to win as the mayors in some medium size cities.
California, for example, still gets a huge amount of clout, since they have two senators plus 53 representatives = 55 EC votes. Not sure why the humbug, since the usual California argument never mentions small blue states being “over-represented”. Just red ones. It was the CT Compromise.
I think doing away with the EC would not be such a bad idea, as long as we keep state proportional representation in the Senate. As you say, the EC screws up the process, aside from the fact that I bet most people don’t know they are actually voting for a slate of electors. Getting ten thousand more votes in a couple Rust Belt states is all that matters.
October 20, 2020 at 10:04 am |
You are right Kath. Patrick, there is nothing else to be done, at least not for me. The trumpers I know have not been swayed by the facts, even about COVID-19. So, that’s it for me. I now need to worry about my own, and those I care about, mental and physical health.
October 20, 2020 at 10:40 am |
Being closer to a Blue Dog Democrat than a Progressive, I’m not thrilled with the Donks this year but four more years of the Trump Administration is too depressing a thought. So, once again, off to vote with a bit of reluctance. That said, Grandpa is a whole lot better a choice than Hillary Clinton while a wino from Skid Row would be better than Orange “Don’t Accuse Me Of Rape, I’m the President” Hitler.
Aside from that, if there was a way to chain Bill Barr to a railroad tie and leave him, without food or water, to his own devices in the middle of the Jornada del Muerto on the next Summer Solstice, that would be a good comeuppance for his shameless sucking of the sphincter of Orange Turd.
October 20, 2020 at 10:53 am |
Two more weeks … might spend the entire time participating in the latest fitness fad:
https://www.outsideonline.com/2416071/movements-calm-stress
Childlike movements such as rocking, rolling, and crawling can help ease stress, explains Dani Almeyda, a personal trainer who teaches restorative movement to clients and trainers at the Original Strength Institute in North Carolina. The developmental movement patterns we learn as babies help us build the strength and coordination to walk and run. Now they can help disengage the sympathetic nervous system, commonly known as fight-or-flight mode, and bring the body into a parasympathetic state, or rest-and-digest mode, Almeyda explains. They can also relieve tension, get your joints moving smoothly, and offer moderate strengthening.
October 20, 2020 at 10:54 am |
But don’t stop there. Get yourself a paci, fuzzy blanket, and strap on a Depends or three.
October 20, 2020 at 10:56 am |
Can’t we just legalize weed?
October 20, 2020 at 11:50 am |
I’ll toke to that!
PS: Knowing that everyone’s ass is different, did the Terry Ti Fly pass the long term test Khal?
October 20, 2020 at 12:15 pm |
It felt weird at first but is feeling more to my hind end’s comfort lately.
October 20, 2020 at 12:04 pm |
I delivered our ballots direct to the courthouse election box yesterday. Typically I deliver them directly to the county clerk’s office but the pandemic has affected public access to that office, so the election box it was. The wiser of us voting despises Trump (she was born during the depression – the one in the last century), so we’ve given Donny two more votes against to whine and cry about. But I’m not over-confident. I’m greatly hoping that the folks that failed to vote in 2016 because they really didn’t like Hillary, have realized that not voting has it’s distinct negative consequences. and are the ones showing up to vote now.