SethKramer.com

Why Vote?

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:47:46 -0500

I haven't been posting reliably since I moved to S. Florida, and I'm not sure how involved I'm going to be in my blog anymore, but as you might expect I wanted to say something about voting.

I'm not a pie-in-the-sky idealist. I'm not going to tell you that your one vote will make that big of a difference. In aggregate, they can make a difference, but in a great many states your single vote, whether for President, Senate, House, Governor, Sherriff, or dog catcher is likely inconsequential. However, this day is one of the few times that the cards are in our hands. Where those at the wheels of power in Washington DC, Albany, Tallahassee, Carson City, or Boise are placed at a distinct disadvantage to you and I. Today we get an opportunity to fight city hall in a fair fight, and if we're well organized enough, we can win for a change.

At some level I can understand the decision not to vote. Every other day you feel powerless over your situation, why should today be any different? But just because we are accustomed to powerlessness doesn't mean we should just accept it. Don't pass up the opportunity to make yourself heard.

Well, polls open in 2 hours 15 minutes. Hope to see you there.

[11.04.2008 19:01:43] Testing the liveblog

[11.04.2008 19:03:03] We have lift-off. It's 7:00 and polls just closed in GA, IN, KY, SC, VT, and VA. Come on CBS. Enough with the crap. What are the results?

[11.04.2008 19:05:56] Well Mitch Daniels will still be IN's governor (So much for "Ditch Mitch"). Interestingly, still too close to call in Indiana. Vermont, unsurprisingly goes blue.

[11.04.2008 19:08:17] Kentucky for McCain already. Sounds like Sen. Min. Leader Mitch McConnell will probably stay. All in all good news for people named Mitch in these first hours.

[11.04.2008 19:13:31] CBS is so screwed up. Audio issues out the ying-yang.

[11.04.2008 19:19:08] Bob Schieffer is really annoying. He sounds like McCain didn't care about Indiana. He was doing triage. He couldn't afford to defend it, and it has been Republican for ages, he had to say, "What's the likelihood of a Dem win in Indiana?" Realistically, pretty low. If Obama wins Indiana, there's no way McCain can win.

[11.04.2008 19:20:08] Clarifying. Indiana isn't that important, but if Indiana falls, forget Colorado, Nevada, Virginia, Iowa, etc.

[11.04.2008 19:25:44] Gus the Wonder Hound needs to go outside, back soon.

[11.04.2008 19:30:37] West Virginia for McCain. He can have it. Seriously.

[11.04.2008 19:42:25] So the polls have been closed for almost an hour in KY and it's still too close to call for Mitch McConnell? Perhaps I spoke too soon.

[11.04.2008 19:48:03] Steuben County, Indiana (my hometown): 42% Obama. An uptick of 8% from '04. Thanks Mom!

[11.04.2008 19:49:06] South Carolina for McCain. No big surprise.

[11.04.2008 20:02:25] Maryland, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Deleware, DC, Maine for Obama Oklahoma, Tennesee for McCain

[11.04.2008 20:18:48] Another two senate flips: Jeane Shaheen (NH), and Kay Hagin (NC).

[11.04.2008 20:31:07] Pennsylvania for Obama. Goodnight Johnny Mac. I forgot to announce my guess 350 electoral votes for Obama. 24 House seats, 7 Senate seats.

[11.04.2008 20:32:08] Arkansas for McCain. I'm sure the Clintons did all they could. No seriously.

[11.04.2008 20:40:50] Alabama for McCain. McCain 54 EVs Obama 102 EVs

[11.04.2008 21:02:22] North Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Kansas for McCain New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Rhode Island for Obama. 100 McCain, 174 Obama. Not terribly surprising. Would have been nice to see ND competitive, but not so much.

[11.04.2008 21:17:23] McCain finally won Georgia. That took quite a while.

[11.04.2008 21:23:56] Ohio for Obama. No Republican has ever won the presidency without Ohio.

[11.04.2008 21:32:55] New Mexico for Obama. He wins with CA, OR, WA, and HI alone. NM is just gravy.

[11.04.2008 22:00:58] Iowa for Obama. More gravy. Utah, Mississippi for McCain.

[11.04.2008 22:35:45] South Dakota for McCain. Whopping 3 electoral votes for Big Mac.

[11.04.2008 22:48:58] NE for McCain. Nets need to call VA. it's pretty clear the outstanding vote is in "communist country" as McCain's bro would say.

[11.04.2008 22:58:38] Florida for Obama per the AP.

[11.04.2008 23:04:22] "Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois will be the 44th President of the United States of America." Time to pop the cork. 283 electoral votes, with Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, Colorado, and more still outstanding.

[11.04.2008 23:04:34] YES WE DID!

[11.04.2008 23:25:58]

Gus the Wonderhound is overcome with emotion.

[11.04.2008 23:32:42] McCain's concession was graceful, even if his crowd was not.

[11.04.2008 23:59:24] My one sad note: My fellow Floridians believe they should get to decide who is in my family. It was already illegal, but of course we needed a constitutional amendment to prevent my family from having any state recognition. Good for them. Maybe one day I can vote on their fucking marriage.

[11.05.2008 00:36:17] Great speech by Obama. I'm going to reread the transcript tomorrow because I'm a little drunk. I'm ready for bed.

[11.05.2008 00:42:09] Parting thought: Thank you to the nearly 100 million people who voted. We're taking back our country. Even if your man or woman lost, your vote makes clear you love your country, state, or community.

[11.05.2008 06:50:13] INDIANA?! I expected Nevada. I expected North Carolina, but INDI-freakin'-ANA? It would have been awesome to be back home for that! Go Hoosiers.

Palin: All You Need to Know

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:37:07 -0400

A President Who Challenges Me

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:36:26 -0400

I've beat on Bush pretty hard over the last 7.5 years, but I saw this quote from his press conference yesterday. Maybe it was the smart thing to say politically, maybe he didn't want to look like Jimmy Carter telling Americans to turn down the thermostat, etc, but it does disappoint me that our presidents have ceased to ask us for even a moment of discomfort.

John F. Kennedy famously said "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." That, for me, captures the essence of what it means to be an American. Our nation is, in the parlance of business, a joint venture not a sole proprietorship.

Our president and legislature set an vision for our nation and the judiciary makes sure that vision conforms with the existing ideals of our state. But none of this could happen without the consent of the governed, and the American people holding up their end of the bargain.

For too long we have come to expect much for very little. The "me" generation has convinced itself and successive generations that we can better ourselves through selfishness and the expectation that we are owed something because we just so damned special.

The above statement, and Bush's "go to the mall" remark after 9/11 represent missed opportunities to call the citizens to action at a time when they want to do anything they can to help, regardless of party affiliation or ideology.

The Republicans may want to put their fingers in their ears and say "la, la, la, la", but global warming is a very serious problem that, left unaddressed will reap grave consequences.

Likewise the Democrats may wish to sweep aside the issues with Social Security and Medicare, but they are in serious danger of exploding our deficit in the coming decades.

Every moment we fail to address these very real problems they become larger and more complex.

I will say that I am immensely pleased that both major party candidates recognize the value in again asking us to give of ourselves to remake our country. McCain talks about "devotion to a cause greater than self", and Obama says that he asks us "to believe not just in my ability to bring real change to Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours."

While I obviously have my own personal opinion in who would better move us beyond the petty behaviors of the "me" generation, I take comfort in the fact that they both understand our current situation. They recognize we are ready, willing, and able to inherit the good, bad, and ugly of our country, to serve her with honor whether in military service, community service, or putting ourselves to work as teachers, engineers, construction workers, or bus drivers each doing our small bit to meet the needs of our community, state, and nation.

It is a great shame Mr. Bush chose to squander his opportunity to do so.

Tank Man

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:57:50 -0400

I've seen innumerable posts about RFK's assassination today, and he was certainly a man whose memory ought to be preserved, but I want to remember another event from our recent history: a nameless man who had indescribable courage and became a symbol for freedom's cause.

Let me first make clear this is not an anti-China screed. China has done, and continues to do, a lot of things wrong, but they've undeniably made significant progress in the last 20 years. This post is not about China as much as the power of a single man to affect change the world over. It is meant to empower those who feel that "one person can't make a difference".

By early June 1989 unrest began to foment in the People's Republic of China, resulting in students, labor leaders, intellectuals, and others flooding into the streets to protest the authoritarian response to earlier protests in April and May. Soldiers were trucked in to stop these protests, and the first wave of soldiers was overwhelmed by the people. Seas of men, women and children blocked the roads, and showered every kindness upon these soldiers.

When first efforts failed, the Chinese goverment ordered martial law and new troops were ordered into the city, blocking major exits, and fighting their way to the city center. Combat troops, with live ammunition, heavy artillery and orders to clear Tiananmen Square by the morning. These troops ordered the protesters out of the streets, and eventually when they failed to do so, opened fire.

As innocent civilian protestors were gunned down, student leaders were cornered and eventually decided to leave the square, but they would be back. Parents frantic to find missing children went running in and out of the square looking for the dead and injured, medical personnel trying to clear the square of bodies, were fired upon.

By June 5th it was clear the government had used it's firepower effectively, cowing the protesters into submission.

It was in this atmosphere that one man, known only to the world as Tank Man stood before a column of tanks on the road into the Forbidden City (Ironically named the Great Avenue of Everlasting Peace), waving them away.

As horrified students and journalists anticipated his sudden death beneath the tank treads, he climbed onto the tank and shouted at the driver. Surely he would be killed, the crowd thought. The tank had attempted to go around him, but he jumped in front of it again. This man was determined to stop the destruction of his city and his people. He would eventually be carted away by unknown persons.

What is also unknown what happened to Tank Man. He is an enigma. Perhaps he was imprisoned by the subsequent crackdown on resistance leaders. Perhaps he's living quietly in Beijing today. What is known is the effect this image would have on other resistance movements the world over. The Velvet Revolution later that year, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and so on. People the world over site this picture, this act, as inspiration for their acts of civil disobedience. This man's single act changed the world. Think about that next time someone tells you that "you can't make a difference".

Remember the power of one man, one woman, one student, one worker today, the 19th anniversary of Tank Man.

Bring Out Your Dead!

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:23:15 -0400

I've been super-duper busy the last few days (weeks). But I thought I'd drop a few lines here. Clinton's campaign is dead, but she'll probably hang on to let Obama make a fool of her in Oregon at least. She's got no more money, loaned herself a total of 11.4 million so far, but her supporters still believe she's in the running. They sort of remind me of the shopkeep in this sketch:

It has ceased to be!

Or maybe you feel otherwise, Maybe it's more like this one:

Either way, she'll be stone dead in a moment.

In unrelated news I'm back to finishing off my Microsoft certifications, and I'm doing a lot of spring cleaning in the apartment. More to come

Obama Veepstakes Conjecture Post

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:45:50 -0400

It's pretty clear to all but the Clinton campaign that Obama will be the Democratic nominee. So I'd like to throw out my top 10 VP candidates.

1. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) - Hagel wants it like a dog wants a bone, and he very possibly delivers Nebraska and maybe a handful of traditionally red square states. It's very "out of the box" and I think it'd win over Independants like you wouldn't believe. It could be a hard sell to the base, but lets face it as long as your guy is at the top of the ticket does it matter? I don't think it's likely since I suspect he's going to have to kiss up to the women who feel it was "Hillary's turn".

2. Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) - Mollifies the more reasonable disaffected women. I don't think she wins AZ since it's been McCain's turf for longer, but she definately puts the west in play. Colorado and New Mexico turn purple.

3. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) - Shores up any perceived foreign policy issues, and he's a beer-drinkin' good ole boy from Virginia. He may deliver on those downscale white male voters that have been so difficult to win over. Again, contingent upon whether women become a big problem for Obama after Clinton inevitably loses.

4. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA) - Popular moderate son of a popular moderate Governor. Pro-life Catholic easily delivers a purple state. Doesn't answer the experience issues terribly well, and an all-male ticket may put off some of the Clinton ladies if her exit is not, shall we say gentle.

5. Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) - Dem. Governor with the highest approval rating in the nation clocking in at over 70 percent. I know he's going to deliver all 3 of Montana's electoral votes, whoopdie-doo, but again. Western, moderate, appeals to the voters Obama's struggled with. Downside: women, experience

6. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-MN) - I don't know that anyone's talking about Feingold, he's an incredibly principled leader, could stem the tide on any Jewish vote loss thanks to Pastor SaysSomeCrazyShit. He's probably too far to the left, but it'd make my little heart go pitter pat.

7. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) - Probably can't swing Kansas. She does have appeal to former Clinton voters, and Independents, but I don't see where she adds much value to the ticket.

8. Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH) - This would be a base political move. Delivering a key swing state, but the guy is an inexperienced lightweight in my not so humble opinion.

9. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) - Delivers a swing state, and again could bring women angry that Clinton isn't the nominee into the fold, but she's only been in the Senate since '06 so she really doesn't help him when it comes to experience. Plus 2 points for being a moderate.

10. Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) - Will win NM, and could put other western states in play, and should deliver Latinos. He's a bore on the campaign trail, and he only further aggravates Obama's issues with white downscale voters (who lets be honest about aren't voting against him for "policy reasons". I'll leave it at that and let you fill in the blanks.)

What about you? Hate my picks? Have some of your own ideas throw 'em down in the comments.

Change of Philosophy

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:44:57 -0400

Since the day I first registered my domain 6 years ago, I wanted to make my site a labor of love. Every line of code was mine. Sure, it's not much to look at (I'm not a designer,) but it was mine, and I was responsible for it all: good, bad, and ugly. I made a personal pledge that I would never place paid advertising on my website, but I may (as you may have noticed) be a full-throated advocate for causes, candidates, websites, books, movies, and services I believed in.

This was the abiding philosophical principle that guided the development of my site for more than 6 years.

You may have noticed a proliferation of comment spam in the past few months. I have attempted to fight it with a couple of different Turing tests. I have since decided that in order for me to continue to devote more of my limited spare time to my actual goal of continuing to blog I would use an existing test. I tend to not be wild about using other people's software on my site, but if it works, reCAPTCHA will be worth its (in my opinion) excessively bulky include. On top of that, reCAPTCHA has a social objective I agree with: It assists with the digitization of books. Every answer successfully entered will decode one computer unrecognizeable word. For more information on how reCAPTCHA works visit their Learn More page.

This marks a major change of philosophy for me. If I find it successful, I may address another bugaboo of mine: my search box, which is crap. I have avoided using Google site search because of ads, but that may change in the coming months.

Here's to an expanding worldview. Let me know if this bothers you, fair reader, in the comments. PS. If the CAPTCHA bothers you that much, you could aways just get an account.

What'd I miss?

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:39:16 -0400

Wow so much happened and I was completely overwhelmed. So lets review the topics I missed. If you are in possession of a television set and ear drums you heard the Jeremiah Wright statements played ad nausem on the networks. I do believe on one particular day Fox News replaced the O'Really Factor with an hour long tape loop of Pastor Wright's greatest hits. One would never know the difference between the two anyway.

In order to address Wright's remarks Sen. Obama gave a speech on race invoking his rich Wonderbread eatin' white heritage, and his equally rich (I can't go there and we both know why) African heritage. The speech was well recieved by the pundit class, the only people who have time to listen to a 40 minute long speech. They took it to heart how we shouldn't sieze opportunities to divide one another by race, but work together to achieve a "more perfect union". The pundits then promptly began to disect the racial break down of the votes in Ohio and Texas and concluded that he has a problem with poor white men--my two cents, it's more likely they have a problem with him.

Then Obama went on vacation for a couple of days. In the interim Sen. Clinton told a great story about how she landed a flight on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the night, while taking sniper fire, then she swam to the shores of Bosnia while carrying Sinbad (The Comedian not The Sailor) and Chelsea (Her daughter, not the football club) on her back (Note: this is funnier if you know that Bosnia is landlocked. See? Reread it, I'll wait). Turns out that may have been a slight exaggeration, but everything was fixed when she simply explained she'd "misspoke". A few days later Sen. Clinton tried the old "Bosnia, what bosnia? Did somebody say something about that pastor?" trick, and it didn't work.

Then Democrats started to agonize over how long this race it taking and try to come up with a billion different ways to say "Hill, sweetheart, it ain't gonna happen." Michigan and Florida floated ideas about voting, but when it came down to it there really wasn't any consensus in the states, let alone from the two candidates. Florida thought it would be a great idea to do a mail-in vote. Democrats the world over were understandably a little itchy about a state like Florida getting creative when it comes to voting.

In the end there likely won't be a revote, and the candidates will have to come up with some way to seat the delegates in a fashion that makes them completely inconsequential because Florida and Michigan are incapable of following simple instructions.

Florida: The endless turn-signal state

Now Dems are thinking there's really no point to these contests but we have to let them vote otherwise they feel stupid and unimportant like they would in any other primary that didn't last 9 months. Superdelegates are watching the candidates club the hell out of each other while McCain raises money and tries not to die.

Speaking of McCain he had a little booboo the other day when he said Iran was training Al-Qaeda and sending them into Iraq. Other than the fact that Al-Qaeda is about 2% of our problem in Iraq. There's a larger issue: Iran is a Shia theocracy. Al-Qaeda are radical Sunnis. Sort of like saying Northern Ireland was training radical Protestants to go disrupt the Catholic church. He was quickly corrected by his best buddy in warmongering, Joe "I sound like the father from ALF" Lieberman. Then he accidentally equated Purim, one of the High Holy Days, with Halloween. Note to Sen. McCain: Jews. Not so wild about the Pagan holidays. Mmmkay? Still at least he didn't say Easter.

Separated at birth

But this probably didn't get much press because the media were too busy stuffing their faces at McCain's BBQ. To the extent that they're paying attention at all, they're far more interested in implosion of the Democratic party because Hillary Clintabee doesn't know when to gracefully step aside. Sen. Leahy tried to nudge her along the other day, and it was not appreciated. Hey, at least she didn't tell him to go f--- himself. So what if she has no hope? By God she's going to stay in just as long as she can to take Obama down a few pegs in hopes of making him lose, and running again in 2012. Bad news, Dems hate losers. You lose the nomination, you lose the presidency. We don't tend to want to see you again. Sorry Hillary. This is probably your only chance, and Democrats will remember you as the woman with the relentless ego who put self above party and nation. Congrats! Here's to Supreme Court Justice Phil McGraw!

Oyez, oyez, oyez! God save the United States and this honorable court indeed!

Year 5

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:32:23 -0400

3992 troops dead
countless injured
who knows how many Iraqis.

If you still need to buy a gift the traditional 5th anniversary gift is wood.

*sigh*

Has Geraldine Ferraro Lost Her Goddamn Mind?

seth@sethkramer.com (Seth Kramer) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:41:48 -0400

You may or may not have heard the recent remarks by three-term Queens County Congresswoman, and one time Vice Presidential Nominee Geraldine Ferraro, but they were so surprising that I was awoken from my slumber of quasi-depression at Senator Clinton's insistence that she is a viable candidate to the detriment of the party I had to blog this.

So take it away crazylady:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

Now that is a gaffe. I'm sure Senator Obama was counting his lucky stars that he was born a black man to a teenage mother. It doubtless opened SOOOO many doors, being the child of an interracial marriage in the 1960s. But that alone is not the end of it. Oh no. After Ferraro made this jaw-dropping statement to a California paper Senator Clinton's usual integrity-laden response was "eh, whatever.". Okay the actual quote was "I do not agree with that." Courageous response, Senator, truly courageous.

But then, to make matters worse, Ferraro felt the need to clarify after the utter shock at her remarks.

"Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up," Ferraro said. "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

What the fuck have you been smoking? Seriously, you felt saying what is essentially "they're only voting for him because he's black" "address[ed] the problems we're facing in this world"? Is there a huge problem of black people acquiring too much power? 'cause I must have missed that particular geopolitical trend. And that ending, wow! I haven't heard anything that unhinged since Rush Limbaugh briefly commentated for Monday Night Football.

Still I expect Sen. Clinton to have her typical response. As she's done with her taxes, the presidential library donations, the presidential library documents, etc. she'll completely ignore it and pretend that her fundraising committee isn't higher than a kite.

But still this is bad for Sen. Clinton. I don't think she wants the image of Ferraro popping up in association with her campaign. No matter how popular she is/was in Queens, it reminds us all of the efficacy of President Mondale's administration.

Add to that the trouble for another superdelegate of hers, Eliot Spitzer, going down in a sex scandal, and of course the subsequent reminders of the whole ordeal with her husband and Lewinsky, aren't a great juxtaposition.

It's now time for Obama to strike back. Not in some sleezy way, but just point out "this is how the Clintons do business." Remind the democratic party that while there were good times, the Clintons also brought some sleezy politics. No need to mention the Chinese fundraising (See also: Norman Hsu), pardons that likely led to donations for the Clinton Library (See also: Mark Rich), Travelgate, Whitewater, etc.

Last but not least, return to the message of change, and stress that change doesn't occur with the same cast of characters. Talk about the damage she does to downticket races by mobilizing conservative voters who are demoralized by the GOP picking McCain as their candidate.

Oh, and I forgot to mention Obama won Mississippi 61/37. As counting continues it appears he may have picked up more delegates out of Texas and California than originally thought. According to MSNBC as of 1:30 AM his delegate count is 1394 to her 1242, a net lead of 152 delegates.

State count: Obama 29 (including Dems Abroad, DC, and Virgin Islands), Clinton 15 (including American Samoa)

Up next: Pennsylvania (April 22), Guam (May 3), Indiana (May 6), North Carolina (May 6), Nebraska (May 13), West Virginia (May 13), Kentucky (May 20), Oregon (May 20), Montana (June 3), South Dakota (June 3), Puerto Rico (June 7).

Longest race EVAR!

UPDATE:
Check out this video. h/t Andrew Sullivan