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Only the little people need to vote

Submitted by Ironman on Fri, 12/19/2008 - 14:47
in

Breaking news from the Northeast--where we are expecting a foot of shovel ready global warming.

There's been a speed bump on the way to the Caroline Kennedy coronation.

Evidently she doesn't bother to vote in a lot of local elections.

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_on_el_se/kennedy_voting

NEW YORK – Caroline Kennedy, who wants to fill Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's seat, has not voted in a number of elections, including one race for the very job she is seeking.

The Democrat registered at her current address on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 1988. According to Board of Elections records, she missed several Democratic mayoral primaries in 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2005.

She also skipped the 1994 general election, when Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was running for re-election. It is the same seat she hopes to take over if Clinton is confirmed as secretary of state in the new administration.

So let's see, the Koch-Dinkins race didn't catch her fancy. The other races might be explained away as snooozers, but that one?

And evidently Mario Cuomo's fight for his political life in 1994 wasn;t enough to motivate Sweet Caroline to amble down the block to her polling place. I'm sure his son Andrew will be quite appreciative of this attentiveness to the state's management. Mario Cuomo, George Pataki, ahhh, whoever.. and wasn't there some big issue that year?... the "Contract with America"?...naw, why bother

This of course is on the heels of her trip upstate this week, where she appeared to be far more eager to be in Bordeaux than in Buffalo.   If the goal was to assauge the fear of upstate voters that they were not going to be neglected by a star struck downstate celebrity, well, it failed.

I'm not one of these hard-wired Kennedy family bashers; I actually have a bit of a warm spot in my Irish heart for them for having roguish charm.  But there are plenty of public servants in NY state in both parties who've paid their dues and would sweat blood to get and hold a U.S. Senate seat. it's not like politics is just entertainment for NY State these days post 9/11 and Bear Stearns.

RFK and Hillary Clinton at least went out and won an election for the seat.  Now, the political lifestyle of the rich and famous is to petition the Governor just to hand you a seat. In these troubled times, we are to presume we can count on your vote in the Senate when we couldn't count on you to vote in elections.

 

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thank god for bobby

Submitted by RisingTide on Fri, 12/19/2008 - 15:42.

... caroline? pish.

you tell me where vermont's maple syrup industry has gone, when you get around to taking those blindfolds off. oh, wait, you'll wait until we're in front of the firing squad, first, won'tcha? then you'll be all "no one cou ld have foreseen" -- aint' that the truth, King Henry?

Stop the madness!

Submitted by Progressive Tra... on Fri, 12/19/2008 - 19:42.

No more Kennedys.

No more Bushes.  No more Clintons.

No more Blounts. No more Carnahans.

 

Disclaimer: I did vote for Robin Carnahan (along with Chris Koster, the 2 Dems I voted for) for Sec of State.  I did it because she seemed to do a good job of wanting all of the votes counted.  It took a long time to count them all, but Missourah went for McCain. 

and missouri is still having 6 hour lines to go vote

Submitted by RisingTide on Mon, 12/22/2008 - 09:56.

ain't it? Sorry, but I don't think that everything was completely kosher there, as legal as it might be.

How legal is it for St. Louie to open hours past when the polls are supposed to, anyway?

They are required to stay open

Submitted by Progressive Tra... on Mon, 12/22/2008 - 19:14.

Until the last person in line at the regular closing time votes. 

which isn't the point and you damn well know it!

Submitted by RisingTide on Tue, 12/23/2008 - 08:16.

a six hour line creates undue hardship, and many people are unable to stay in such a line -- due to the need to collect a paycheck and put food on the table.

Now I do

Submitted by Progressive Tra... on Tue, 12/23/2008 - 08:25.

I really didn't know that was what you were getting at.

I'm on the other side of the state right now, and I don't get much news from St Louis.  I had heard about that though.  From what I understand, that was in the city, and it was rather localized.

If you're reading this & wondering, wtf?, here's the background:

Polls are operated at the county level in Missouri, but the city of St Louis is not located within any county, so they have special rules there. 

I favor just giving the country the day off, personally.

Submitted by RisingTide on Tue, 12/23/2008 - 08:29.

then again, I want every last citizen to willingly vote (no mandatory voting, plz)

Not in any county? That's queerer than Virginia, where the cities are counties themselves (inside larger counties)

Wouldn't solve the problem

Submitted by Progressive Tra... on Tue, 12/23/2008 - 08:46.

And it would still be a sustainable loss.

They need more polling places there..

 

They used to be a part of St Louis county, but then the city officials started suspecting the county residents of not paying their fair share in services.  So they initiated the proceedings to remove the city from the county.

Then the city went to hell and everyone started moving out to the county.  More business followed the new residents, which then brought more new residents.  So the city experienced a negative growth while the county was developing rapidly.

So then they begged the state to save them from their own poor judgment, and the state provided for a city income tax for St Louis.

 

Anyway, the residents there distinguish the one from the other as either 'the city' or 'the county;' but more ofter than not, the county has a directional designator, ie 'west county,' etc.

 

Dodd too!!!!

Submitted by Ironman on Fri, 12/19/2008 - 19:54.

His whole foreign policy is based on what dear old dad did at the Nuremburg Trials.  Which is about as relevant to fighting jihadists as Glenn Miller music would be at a Kanye West or Kid Rock concert.

Just to say...

Submitted by Progressive Tra... on Fri, 12/19/2008 - 20:14.

...that one of Glenn Miller's trademark sounds is the variant inversions of extended chords.  He was sort of like the Eddie van Halen of his time.

Before Eddie, when a guitarist would go into a fast part of the solo, it tended to be repetitive.  Not so after Eddie.

With Miller, all the Befores used the 1st inversion when working with an extended chord, ie an 11th or 13th chord.  Miller introduced the 2nd &3rd chord inversions to these extended chords.

Such an intricacy would surely be lost to those inclined to purchase tickets for Kanye West or Kid Rock.  I'm not sure if they even use such chords in that music.

 

Disclaimer:  The last concert I bought a ticket for was Gordon Lightfoot.  I went to see Rush before that.  Kept looking over the summer for Less Than Jake advance tickets, but I had to work.  The Snakes and Arrows tickets for Rush were sold out fairly early at Maryland Heights, so that was a no-go.

 

btw, Gordon Lightfoot actually has a degree in music.  One of the few people to have a No. 1 on the country charts (Sundown) that has had such a degree.  Wish I could remember what school that was from.... 

Kid "samples" from skilled musicians

Submitted by Ironman on Fri, 12/19/2008 - 21:38.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Summer_Long_(Kid_Rock_Song)