Island Dave's View

So far, no problems here in EI. The eye looks like is going ashore near Wilmington, to the full force of the strongest winds/rain should be here in the next hour or so. We'll be on the worst side of the eye, so it may get rough for a bit, but we're staying on the island anyway.

We had strong winds and t-storms earlier. Even watched a couple of tornados form in the clouds and fairly quickly dissipate. There was a report of a stronger tornado down in the Indian Beach/Salter Path area, not sure if it touched down, though.

Back to work for me. I'll post more (assuming I have power) later on our condition here, but again, so far, no damage in EI, just minor flooding.

BTW, for anyone wondering, my brother in Sarasota County FL is fine, but undoubtedly very busy after the devastation in the area.

I've been asked to post the Claps, Slaps, and Middle Finger seperately from the CEM. I wish to keep the current CEM format, but to compromise, I'll cross-post each CS&MF on IDV from now on. Enjoy!

(from the Current Events Monitor)

CLAPS, SLAPS, AND THE MIDDLE FINGER

Claps to Clifton James for saving the life of a cable employee caught in power lines. James, shoed only in flip-flops ran from his sister's apartment to find the worker entangled in live power lines and in severe pain. The rescuer jumped into the cable van and quickly reversed it out of the power lines. Unaware he could also have been electrocuted, James likely saved the worker who suffered burns across much of his chest. Without panicking, Clifton proved once again that flip-flops are indeed a good thing...:)

Slaps to the Pentagon for treating Halliburton the way the U.N. is treating Sudan. By pointing fingers and threatening the war profiteers over accounting fraud, the Pentagon continues to muddle through a disastrous experiment in military privatization. From private-guarded prisons to privatized security for Iraqi officials, the incorporation of our military system provides more than amble opportunities for abuse. Some is physical abuse, as in Abu Ghraib. Halliburton does it the other way. They financially sodomize our bank accounts, then plead ignorance of the activities. We know the dog didn't eat their accounting homework; he was too busy biting prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

My Middle Finger goes preemptively to U.S. military planners for threatening a massive assault on Najaf. While the killing of U.S. soldiers must stop, an all-out invasion of the city will kill thousands of innocent civilians and likely tens if not hundreds of our own troops. Instead of forcing this issue, we should back off and let Najaf calm down for a bit. Get out of the area, but keep it in containment, allowing humanitarian missions to proceed. The only way to disarm the situation is through kindness and compassion, not murder and destruction. An assault on Najaf will only embolden the simmering fighters in other cities in Iraq, as well as in other Muslim nations. Planners must back off, relax, and reconsider options at this point as the interim government begins to move forward. U.S. assaults will only increase additional violence.

My highly-partisan car

I want to see my visitor's bumperstickers. I know I'm not the only one with a collection, share your photos on your blogs, or send em' to me and I'll post em here.

BTW The Samecumba sticker is from a kick-ass band in the Chapel Hill/Durham NC area. A couple of my friends are in it. They specialize in all sorts of latin music.

Oh, and one more thing. Marijuana smokers/advocates: If you don't start speaking up at every opportunity about the stupidity and ineffectiveness of marijuana prohibition, nothing will ever get accomplished. Put down the cheetos, dust off your pocketbook, and support NORML today. A few measures are on ballots this year, and every dollar you can spare will help. Forgo the dimebag tonight and support legalization for the future. If you have a shirt or bumpersticker, display it proudly!

Uh...just don't smoke and drive...cops know what NORML means, too...

Via Kos, this is disgusting...

Today, around lunchtime, I went with my parents to the polls to vote in our primary election.
When I got there, I found that I had somehow been removed from the books, and hence could not vote.

Frustrated, I took the day off work and my mom took me down to the Election Board at 18th and Walnut. When we got there, we found that the reason I was not on the books is that SOMEONE had sent in an address change card for me. I live near 76th and Troost, but the voting database now had me down as living at 52nd and Locust - I've NEVER lived there, and have in fact lived at this address all of my life (well, except for the year in England, and even then this was my "permanent address"). It took about two hours, but the elections commission director straightened it out and I was finally able to vote. However, she told me why this has been happening, and it's very worrisome.

Apparently there are groups out there who buy copies of the voter registration rolls, then send in new registrations for registered voters giving them a new address. It's really a more sophisticated version of the whole thing with the felony lists in Florida in the last election - however, people aren't being REMOVED from the voting rolls, and hence there's no red flag being raised. After all, people DO move and send in change of address, so there's no reason for them to suspect voter fraud.

And there's really no way to trace this, so there's really no way to detect this. But in effect what it means is voters are removed from the rolls - after all, if you're unknowingly registered in another precinct, how can you vote at yours? I was lucky...I have the job flexibility and transportation to go down to the election board and find out the problems, but I'm betting a lot of the other people with the same problems don't. And there are a lot - at my precinct, during the period we were at the polls, which was pretty slow, there were only about five or six people in and out, including us. And of those, me and one other guy found ourselves off the rolls, and one woman said she'd had the same thing happen to her during the 2000 presidential election and had to spend the entire day down at the election board.

What do we have to do to stop this assault on our freedom to vote? If you think the GOP screwed our elections in 2000, you haven't seen anything yet. Felon lists are just the tip of the iceberg. Pre-checked voter registration cards are a minimal assault on voter rights. This Ohio story is but one beginning to surface which involves GOP fraud. They know they are on the ropes, and, as conventional wisdom goes, be very, very wary of a cornered, wounded animal. They will do anything to win this year. Vigilance may not be enough.

Granny, get your gun, and cock that hammer in preparation for the revolution of 2004. Drastic? Maybe, but, dammit, if they try to steal this election, we are not taking bending over and taking it again. This time, we'll take those SOBs out back and shoot their nuts in protest.

Roger Eaton at the August 10, 2004 fundraiser in Morehead City. Roger gave a great speech about the return of accountability to our Congress. He emphasized the importance of his monthly town hall meeting plan, as well as the hypocrisy of other candidates railing against "immorality" while millions are immorally without health insurance.

Sean Conner, a candidate for Carteret County Commissioner, also gave a brief speech during the event.


Many more photos from Tuesday's fundraiser are available at Island Dave's Photoblog.

If you live in one of the 17 counties which make up the NC-3 district, please give whatever aid you can to Roger's campaign. With less than three months until election day, every dollar you can spare will help him tremendously. Walter Jones is an entrenched, apathetic politician with little interest in regular people in his district, and caters strongly to PACs and special interests. Visit Roger's campaign site for more information.