A LITTLE SUBTLETY PLEASE?

Here's one to wrap your brain around. We all know about the electoral college right? Remember campaign 2000, or have we all started donating boxes of those memories to Goodwill to make room for new ones? The electoral college is the current "constitutional" process by which we elect one to the "most important" office in American politics. If you're not familiar with how this stuff works head on over to How Stuff Works to find out how all this stuff works. Suffice it to say, some of our founding fathers supposedly thought that choosing a president by popular vote was too reckless and some of our other Founding Fathers believed that having congress choose our president was too terrifying. So every state was assigned a number of electors equal to the number of that state's congressman and representatives. In 2000 many voters were shocked to find out that although George W. Bush had not received the majority of the popular vote, he would still be our President. Many supporters of Bush used the constitution to uphold this decision siting that the system was set-up this way and changing it would be unconstitutional.

California holds 55 electoral votes, the most in the nation. Traditionally all 55 electoral votes are given to the candidate that wins the state's popular vote - a Democrat in the last 4 presidential elections. Enter the Presidential Election Reform Act. A ballot initiative that would give one electoral vote to the winner of each of California's 55 congressional districts. If this initiative is passed The Republican Party is poised to receive about 20 electoral votes even if they lose the state as a whole to Democrats. This is equal to winning a state such as Ohio, or Pennsylvania, or Illinois; or even winning in 2 Marylands, Minnesotas, or Arizonas; or winning 1 Utah, 1 Iowa, 1 of the Dakotas, 1 Maine, and a Delaware in a pear tree.

The people supporting the Presidential Election Reform Act claim that it will make the electoral process fairer and more democratic. Which might be true because it seems the Democratic party is up to the same shenanigans in North Carolina - a state that notoriously leans Republican. The Democratic controlled State Legislative branch took up a bill that would restructure the voting process in the same way.
In this example there are a mere 15 electoral votes up for grabs as compared to the behemoth that is California's 55.

What is going on here? Have elections really been turned into an arbitrary scoring system based on statistic and demographics. Candidates choose which regions to campaign in and which ones to not waste their money on based on historical voting outcomes. Talking points and campaign speeches are littered with hot button issues that statistically rally a certain group of voters. Now they're realizing that through clever redistricting they can score a few extra points than usual and "steal" elections.

What makes all of this electoral juggling so easy to accomplish is a 2 party system. Anyone can juggle 2 balls; it takes much more skill to juggle even just one more. Give us Red, Blue AND White candidates and see how hard it would be to shuffle our votes from one side to the other now.

SHOW ME YOUR HOSE!

On July 21, 2007 it seems that a portion of the San Diego Fire Department was "forced" to march in the San Diego Gay Pride Parade. For the record the picture on the right is not one from the actual parade in San Diego. These overly enthusiastic Firemen are from Melbourne according to the info on the pic which I stole from This Chump's photo stream over at Flickr.

From what I've gathered about this story from radio, print, and online sources is that for 15 years the San Diego Fire Department has been participating in the local Gay Pride Parade. An engine crew had volunteered to represent the Department in the parade before the day of the event on the 21st. At the last moment, the crew that volunteered canceled because one of their men had a family emergency. Subsequently, at the last minute, four firefighters because they were assigned to a station near the parade route were asked to represent the city in the parade. The men expressed their concern in doing so and said they would only do it if it was an order. Apparently they were ordered.

One of the firefighters was quoted by the AP as saying: "I was forced into a situation that would compromise what I hold true and what I believe in." The complaint continues to state that the men had to endure harassment in the form of catcalls and shouts of "Show me your hose" and "You can put out my fire." The men have since retained lawyers as well as the help of the Thomas More Law Center with their fight.

A spokesperson for the fire department said:
"At the last minute the crew in that community was asked to step up and represent our agency in the parade," he said. "We have a responsibility and we take it seriously to participate in these parades."



So let's think about this for a moment. Why do firemen march in parades to begin with? To show their support for the community. To remind everyone that they're the guys working at a moments notice to protect the city from the destructive nature of fire. To give something for all the little boys to stare and marvel at. It sounds to me as though they were not asked to do anything different in this parade from what they normally do in other parades.

No one asked them to wear skimpy yellow swim trunks and red leather vests and to dance and gyrate their hips along the parade route like the chaps pictured above. They were asked to represent the Fire Department in a parade that celebrated part of the community they serve. It is as simple as that. If the department was not represented in the parade it may have given the wrong impression to those within the community. By no means am I saying that it would be right for the gays in the community to make a big sassy stink because for the first time in 15 years a firetruck was not part of the festivities. All that I am saying is that these men were asked and subsequently ordered to do their job which, I'm sorry sometimes includes marching in parades.

I do think these men have rights though. Not agreeing with their lawsuit does not mean that I believe they do not have the right to refuse marching in the parade. It is a sensitive issue and one needs a little more than last minute notice to decide to march in a Gay Pride Parade. There is the stigma of simply having marched in the parade to consider isn't there? Maybe these men were afraid that by marching in the parade others would think they were gay? Maybe they were concerned that just by being in the parade they would find their formerly masculine firefighting selves suddenly bursting into flames of gayness from which they would never emerge straight again. They've seen it happen before. They've seen their friends marching in the St Patrick's Day Parade turning into pale skinned, loud mouthed, drunks right before their eyes. They've seen their buddies in the Italian American Day Parade transform into hairy, overweight mobsters in the course of an hour and a half. You shouldn't expect them to subject themselves to the chance that they might be changed forever by this experience, and you shouldn't be surprised that they are suing.

What's Going On Here

Years ago, a typical drive to work or back home from, would usually include 3-4 “Road Rage Induced Outbursts.” I was driving through the downtown portion of the city of Pittsburgh
everyday and I just assumed having only 3-4 RRIO’s per trip was par for the course. If you
have lived and driven in the City of Pittsburgh, then take a moment while the shiver that just shot up your spine subsides. Those of you that have never lived or driven in the City of Pittsburgh then please take a moment to appreciate how good God is to you. Have we all taken our respective moments? Good. Now let’s talk driving in the City of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

I want you to imagine that you’re driving in your vehicle, and that vehicle has just driven through a shrink ray beam. With me? Good. That shrink ray did exactly what it set out to do and now you are the size of an ant. Yes, the car is the size of an ant car. You and your car are shrunk to the size of an ant in an ant car. Yes. Ok. Now, you (and your ant car) have been picked up by someone’s giant fingers and plopped right in the middle of a bowl of spaghetti. Come on, we all have imaginations, use yours. Small “ant” you, in your little “ant” car, driving in a world of spaghetti noodle roads. That’s what navigating Pittsburgh streets is like. “Oh no am I going in the right direction or did I exit the noodle I was on and get onto another noodle that is going one way in the wrong direction? I can’t tell if I’m on the same noodle or not. Oh shit whatever noodle we’re on at the moment is running out and I have to change noodles. Which one do I take? Left, Right? Diagonal to the top left, diagonal to the top right,
or maybe I should go around the loop to the right but end up going to the left noodle anyway?”
I shit you not, that is exactly what it is like.

Pittsburgh Streets are like a giant spaghetti bowl of death and most people driving near you have no fucking clue as to where the hell they are going. Yes it does sound overly dramatic but it is true. The worst people on the road in Pittsburgh are the one’s that don’t have any idea about where they are going. You can’t really blame them because it is Spaghetti Death Bowl 3000 out there. Nontheless, these are the one’s that fuck shit up for the rest of us. The one’s that get the bright idea to make a left turn while they are 3 lanes over in the right turning lane. The one’s that will pull out in front of you while there is no one behind you and go 10 miles an hour for 1 block and then turn left because they should have made a left instead of making a right and pulling out in front of you. The one’s that are too busy reading street signs like they’re a novel trying to figure out where the hell they are supposed to go. These are the bastards that get rear ended all the time.


There are quite a few obstacles in the way too - as if Grandma Polishinski driving to the Walgreen’s isn’t obstacle enough. You’ve got to accept that at anytime a gaping hole the size of Rhode Island could open up in the road just in front
of you, devouring your front passenger tire in one gulp. You have to prepare yourself for the surprise 5 mile gauntlet of construction zone orange and reflective white colored plastic drums. Do not be surprised to see no one working at all during that 5 mile one lane hell crawl either - Filling in a pot hole the size of Rhode Island takes a long time folks especially when they’re paying you by the hour. So I figure that between all the idiots, Rhode Island Potholes, and construction zones in this city that 3-4 RRIO’s for a single trip to work really wasn’t that bad.

I had this friend that would always tell me the truth no matter what. I was driving with her once and in the middle of our trip she says “You need to relax when you drive or you’re going to have a heart attack.” That was the truth, and I needed to hear it. Apparently it wasn’t so much the frequency of the outbursts because she had to admit that driving in Pittsburgh sucks, it was really the intensity of the outbursts that concerned her. How truly pissed off Grandma Polishinski could make me in under 3 and 1/2 seconds “terrified her,” I believe, her exact words.

I started thinking of a moment from South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut. Terrance and Philip are singing the classic “Uncle Fucker” and during one of the bridges the two of them cross the street and a Canadian Mountie approaches singin “What’s going on here?” What’s going on here saved me from my heart attack because any time someone pissed me off whilst driving I say that line outloud and I can do nothing but laugh, and maybe sing a verse of Uncle fucker. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are good for your well being, at least, that is, if you’re a driver in Pittsburgh. Now shut your fucking face Uncle Fucker.