A Home in Mound

Here's the snow covered ice... I was betting that we would have icefisherman last Sunday, but it didn't happen. It's been cold, but the days have been a bit warmer.



So finally someone ventured out, didn't look like they were fishing. Two years ago this freaked me out (as it iced over just a couple days ago) but now I just shrug my shoulders, and get ready to call 911 if there's a need. The water hasn't froze yet under the bridge.

Up with the Lizard People!

Here's a sample of some of the tough decisions the state canvassing board to make regarding the challenges ballots in our state senate race between Franken and Coleman. What do you think the voter intended to do with their ballots... my favorite is the one voting for the Lizard people.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2008/11/19_challenged_ballots/

I for one would like to welcome the Lizard People, as our new overseers.

.... Here's a test given by the Intercollegiate Studies is one of those groups who constantly remind us how bad our education system is, and how stupid everyone is. Take it, and see how you compare...

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

Via SMJ, hold on to your hats as your visual sensors will be overloaded...

http://now.sprint.com/widget/

And via Kevin Drum, have your personality type analyzed via your blog...

http://www.typealyzer.com/

And cute girl pictures for those waiting for them... Janet took the girls to the apple orchard a couple months ago.

I saw this last week, and have been meaning to share it. The funniest part in my opinion is the last minute. Look for Patrick Swayze, Jimmy Stewart, C-3PO, and Michael J. Fox.

Haven't posted kid pics in a while (as my wife often reminds me). Here's what's been going on at Basso...



Sometimes George gets distracted when he's supposed to feed me. Fortunately, there's always some friendly 2 year old offering me a toy.



I think Kendall was lining up the dolls for diaper changes here.



How about some books dad?!



Gotta get that ball... gotta get that ball...



Got it! Now what do I do?



V-tech toy... the girls love it.



Milk... girls love it!



Books... we ALL love it!



The girls like to cover up their baby dolls... this was the first time they covered up Josh.



Princess Cecelia on her horse.



This is the kind of bib you get to wear when you come to Basso.



Josh is going to be a crawling machine soon enough.



Girls love the computer... gml4 love Ask a Ninja DVD. Thanks honey!

There's a lot of discussion about the recount that will be going underway in our Senator election. If you haven't been following, Senator Coleman is currently beating Al Franken by 200+ votes.

If you have been following the discussion nationally, a lot of people are looking at the process in Minnesota with dubious eyes. I think this is understandable considering Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, but I think the situation here is different.

I served as an election judge here at city hall in Mound, MN. Let me tell you that the people I worked with worked real hard to get things done correctly, including the city's staff, and the volunteer judges. This is coming from a Democrat who's living in a strong Republican area. Here's a couple of things I observed that leads me to be confident that the count will be as accurate as possible when the recount is done.

When you sign up to be a judge, they ask you what party affiliation you are, as to distribute judges fairly among the precincts.

When something unusual happens, like the ballot box gets jammed, it is required to have a judge from both parties present when it is opened to correct the problem.

At the start of the day, each polling location records exactly how many ballots there are. Then at the end of the day, a count takes place of the ballots, including spoiled ballots, ballots cast, write-in ballots, and unused ballots. If the ballot total at the end of the day is not the same as at the start of the day, it would be noted in the incident log. This means it would be very, very hard to "stuff" a ballot box. Even if someone snuck a blank ballot out of the polling location, made some legitimate copies, and even _if_ they snuck them back to the same location, and somehow gotten past the judge manning the ballot box, getting those ballots in there. They would've messed up the count, and the judges at the end of the day would note it, and results from that precinct would've been eyed suspiciously.

Also, at the end of the day. All the ballots are placed in sealed envelopes and boxes that would be for all practical purposes, impossible to sneak more ballots in.

I have a lot of confidence that the recount will be done fairly. If lawyers and judges are brought in, it could make things more dicey. Let's hope that's kept to a minimum, and we'll know the result by Mid-December.

A British veteran of World War I passed away in the last week, leaving only 10 veterans who served their country before Armistice was declared in 1918.

I meant to note that there was a ceremony a few months ago celebrating America's last WWI veteran. President Bush was there with some nice things to say. Here's a quick story about it...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/06/oldest.american.vet/index.html

(for those new to this blog, I've been following the last surviving veterans from WWI, starting here)

MPR was looking for some insight into people's minds about Suburbs. With my contribution, here's the slideshow and story.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/publicinsightjournalism/responses/suburbs/

Thanks Dennis.

A blog I don't check nearly enough... Bad Astronomy, has a fascinating picture and a story to share. Definitely worth a few minutes of your time to check it out to find your place in the universe....

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/11/07/voyaging-deep-into-the-universe/

For us, Tuesday was a mixed bag election. We are elated Obama won, and Democrats did well nationally. Unfortunately, Paulsen and Bachman victories are disappointing. The wait and see on Coleman-Franken bodes ill as well.

I disagree with my friend, as McCain lost, as any Republican would've because, well, they were a Republican. McCain was the best candidate of the bunch, but after 8 years of Bush, this country was through of the GOP and it's overhanded way of governing.

To say McCain was disappointing is understandable, but do you think he would've had any chance to win his party's nomination without lurching to the right. And do you think he would've gotten the typical conservative voters to turnout if he would've picked boring Tim Pawlenty as his VP. There's now way if McCain "had taken personal ownership of the tone" partisan GOP voters would've gone out to work or vote for him as they did Tuesday.

Scott's a very unbias voter, and looks very methodically at the candidates (perhaps he'd share his candidate choosing process with us). And if McCain had done what Scott asked of him, Scott probaby would've voted for him, along with the other independent voters of his sort. But McCain would've lost even worst than he did Tuesday.

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Consider voting "No" on the state referendum on the "Clean Water, Land and Legacy" Amendment.

As a lover of nature and Minnesota's beautiful landscape, and someone who's main passion in life is Art, I don't take this decision lightly. I strongly believe our state government should be fully funding our state parks, and maintaining our beautiful natural landscape. And I think it's criminal sometimes how many of our state's art projects are used as pawns in a financially tight time.

But funding measures on a state referendum is wrong. What we are voting on is to amend the state's constitution to fund this particular cause. State referendum's should be about whether gambling in the state is legal, or putting term limits on state officials. The legislative process is the proper route for issues like this, so we should be asking our legislators to do their job, and make decisions like this.

The other problem with this issue if it passes, GOP legislators who have been tightly clinging to their "No New Taxes" pledge can go back to their constituents, and say, "I didn't raise your taxes! The voters decided to do that! It's not my fault!"

All of our state legislators (GOP and DFL) need to make the tough decisions. Don't let them pass the "decision making buck" onto us.

So please consider voting "NO" on the state referendum.