Feb
11
Open Thread: Handy Guide
ByWhen you’re seeing those latest polling numbers, you might refer to this table. It grades different pollsters on their accuracy:
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13 Comments
February 11th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Two things.
First, DFA-Asheville will be screening “Uncounted,” a film about vote-tampering in the U.S., this Wednesday night at 7pm. Details here.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the renewal of the Protect America Act. Right now, despite Chris Dodd’s pledge to filibuster the bill, the current Senate version (S 2248) – which will grant telecom companies retroactive immunity for giving the NSA access to pretty much every phone call made by every American citizen for no one knows how long – is probably going to pass. That’s right: telephone companies broke the law, and the Senate wants to give them a “get out of jail free” card.
So now we go to the House, which has passed a bill that allows you, me, and all 300,000,000 other Americans to sue the telecoms directly for failing to protect our privacy. Nancy Pelosi has two choices, essentially: 1) stand by the House legislation (HR 3773), or 2) bring the Senate bill to the floor, where it is almost certain to pass. She’s probably going to do (2), so that House Democrats can tell their base that they voted against telecom immunity before they voted for it.
Heath Shuler voted for HR 3773 (The “RESTORE” Act). (Thanks, Congressman.) I really can’t predict how he’d vote on the Senate bill, except to say that the more feedback he gets from his constituents, the less likely he is to let a handful of mega-corporations break the law with impunity. So I’ll leave you with his contact info. You know what to do.
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February 12th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I’m going out to vote.
First time (I can remember) that my vote might count for something.
I’m hearing on the right wing radio call after call of registered Republicans voting Democrat in Virginia. Seems to be split between Obama and Clinton. It’s some kind of protest against McCain.
Some Republican just called in to say she voted McCain because she was afraid with all the protest voting that Huckabee would win. She said, “Please don’t let Virginia be Virginia for once. Huckabee’s a joke. I don’t want him to win this state.”
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February 12th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
My Diebold machine crashed (right after I chose my language) and they had to extract my card. They tried to get me to vote again at that (rebooted) machine but I insisted on another one.
The exit poller outside (from a local paper) said one guy wasn’t allowed to vote after his machine crashed. They let him do a provisional.
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February 12th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I’m eating a sandwich.
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February 12th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Diebold? I’m calling Maryland for Clinton, then.
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February 12th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I’ll be attending the Gordon Lightfoot concert tonight. Orchestra seats.
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February 12th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I want a full report, Tim!
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February 12th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
MSNBC’s calling VA & DC for Obama. Polls are open in MD for another 90 minutes or so due to bad weather.
Hillary!’s scheduled to give a speech at 8:40 pm (in a half-hour as I type this). WhatEVah could she want to say?
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February 12th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Well, the Senate passed their version of FISA. It’s god-awful. So now it’s time for the House to find a spine.
Here’s a sample letter to Heath Shuler, with talking points included. And here’s his contact info again.
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February 12th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I don’t want to say that the audience skewed a little older, but three people died before the intermission.
Seriously, it was a fine concert — really fine. More of a tribute to a long and great career. Lightfoot was all about bidness. Very little on stage banter. He came on stage and started the first set before the applause died down. This continued, workmanlike, for each song on through to the encore. He did, at one point, share some old stories and one bad joke. His old bandmates were there: Terry Clements and Rick Haynes. As was to be expected, the arrangements were sparse, gentle, and masterfully punctuated. Lightfoot, approaching seventy, sang quietly and sometimes struggled for his old register. All in all, I was proud to be in his presence and say: “Farewell old friend, good friend.” I have always considered Lightfoot to be the Walt Whitman of folk music.
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February 12th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I just saw a Carl Mumpower ad on the teevee. My favorite part was where he dramatically dons his reading glasses only to dramatically remove them two frames later.
He’s calling himself an “Independent” Republican. The quotation marks are his.
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February 13th, 2008 at 7:42 am
As for Hillary!’s big speech, I’d be lying if I said I was disappointed to find that it was a big rally in El Paso, TX rather than a concession. Ah well. We’ll have to wait for March 4.
As for Gord – I should have loaned you my MiniDisc and stealth mics, Tim. (I know he has nearly four decades’ worth of material to draw from, but please tell me that he did “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”…)
As for the Mumpower ad – my video capture card is shot. If anyone reading this happened to catch it via Tivo or DVR and are willing to encode it, please let us know via the contact form!
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February 13th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Good choice but, no. You can ask Chris Pelly for more. He sat directly behind me.
Also, I polished up the above post for my weblog.
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