Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Polling Place

Continuing with our theme of news sources that tell us what they think we want to hear: I think Internet news polls are just about worthless. In fact, they're less than worthless. Not only do they attract the most passionate and unrepresentative voters (many of whom can figure out how to vote multiple times) but they wrongly convince people of trends that may not exist. They're just a cheap scam to get you onto the website and to keep you there a little longer, clicking away.

All that said, I had to laugh out loud at the one I just noticed on the CNN site (on Lou Dobbs' page). Kind of a lopsided vote there...and of course, it's all these people voting in a completely unverifiable, easy-to-rig manner to say that they want voting to be more verifiable. You kind of wonder what's on the mind of those who voted against paper receipts. The only semi-logical argument I've ever heard against them is that, supposedly, receipts might make it easy for people to sell their vote, in that they could then prove to the person paying them that they'd voted as ordered. The problem with that argument is that absentee ballots make vote-selling even easier and no one is against them.

Nothing annoyed me more about the 2000 election than all the Bush partisans trying to pretend that the irregularities in that election were a minor detail and telling Democrats to "get over it." It was like some of them were afraid that any expressed concern about more accurate voting would further taint their boy's "victory." I have never been convinced that a different guy would have wound up in the White House if every voter who was qualified to vote and wanted to vote had done so and been tallied as per their intent. But I was sure disappointed that I never heard a prominent Republican say that they were uncomfortable with the way their guy got in.

• Posted at 7:07 PM · LINK

Today

I have a lot of running-around to do today so here's a link to the website for the Comic-Con International, where attendees will find all sorts of useful info, like maps of the shuttle bus routes and schedules for celebrity-type autographs. You'll also find the latest programming info, including last minute changes.

And here, one more time, is a link to the list of events I'm moderating at the con. Anyone who attends all thirteen is eligible for the big cash prize jackpot which in years past has always been won by me. Experts agree I have the inside track again this time...but you never know.

• Posted at 10:32 AM · LINK

Never a Dull Moment...

So about twenty minutes ago, I'm sitting here writing out notes for my Comic-Con programs when I hear (a) tires squealing, (b) the sound of something hitting something else and (c) a strange roaring sound. In that order. Out I run and I see that one block south of me, a car has smashed into the hedges around a neighbor's house. The roaring sound is water gushing because in the process, the car knocked over a fire hydrant. In fact, the rear end of the car is over the broken hydrant so rushing water is bubbling up under the car and out into the street.

I run back in, call 911 and report the above. "Was anyone injured?" a man asks me. I tell him I didn't get close enough to tell. He says they'll send someone and I run back out and hike down to the scene of the collision.

One other person is there — the driver of the car, apparently unhurt. He is smoking a cigarette and kind of half-chuckling about how his relatively-new auto is probably now a total write-off. He comes over and tells me that another driver, who was driving like crazy, ran him off the road and kept on going. I tell him what I heard and also that I reported the accident. He says, "Good, but I'm seriously drunk" — and it's somewhat obvious that he is. I am not certain I believe his story about another driver but I figure someone else gets paid to think about such things.

Three fire engines pull up. The first man off the first one asks me if I was driving the car. I say, "No, I'm the one who phoned it in. He was driving," and I point out the seriously drunk guy, who is standing there, lighting another cigarette. Firemen scramble into action, blocking off the road and then working to turn off the water. About three of them begin interrogating the driver as an ambulance arrives and I figure my work there is done. As I start for home, I run into a neighbor who says he was awakened by the crash so he threw on some clothes and came out to see what happened. I tell him as much as I know. He points out that the occupants of the house where the accident occurred are either away or very sound sleepers. There's no one outside except the driver, the firemen, the ambulance crew and two spectators (us). The neighbor and I both decide to head to our respective homes and I come in here and write this.

I just looked outside. The fire trucks are gone but two police cars are there, probably talking to the driver. The water is off. The car is still sticking out of the hedge. And I'm going to bed. Good night.

• Posted at 3:05 AM · LINK

Correction!

I mistyped something about fourteen hours ago. It's now fixed but I want to make sure everyone knows: The Chuck McCann Spotlight is on FRIDAY AFTERNOON at 1:00. Matter of fact, let me say that a little louder, just to make sure everyone hears it...

I said it was Thursday but I was given bad information by my brain. Chuck McCann is Friday. Thanks, Gary, for catching it.

• Posted at 12:06 AM · LINK