In the days before cable TV and video gluttony, my family's black-and-white Zenith offered three choices: NBC, ABC, and CBS, all via affiliates broadcasting out of Cleveland. Most days, our rooftop antenna delivered decent reception, but sometimes I'd have to squint through "ant races" to see the grainy image.
For all the love of Lucy, cartoons and football on weekend afternoons, there truly wasn't much on TV back then.
Ah, but we had radio -- I'm talking about AM radio. I'd usually dial up an Akron station or, if I got lucky (and weather permitting), I could find a strong Cleveland signal. I'd hide a small AM receiver under my pillow, listening to pop music every night 'til the Ray-O-Vacs gave out. (That probably explains why I can sing along with every top-ten tune from 1966 to 1970.)
Among my most vivid radio memories is baseball -- Cleveland Indians baseball. My family would tune-in those tinny broadcasts in the living room, in the kitchen, in the car. Whenever we traveled an hour south to visit family, there was my grandfather, sitting in his favorite chair, listening to the Tribe on his old Magnavox set.
I don't remember any one particular game, really, just a few names like Rocky Colavito and Sam McDowell. But to this day, I can close my eyes and hear the call: "It's a high fly ball, deep down the left-field line..."
Playing inside my head is the voice of Herb Score, who called Indians games from the mid-'60s through the '97 World Series. Herb died yesterday at 75, but he'll always be the quintessential Voice of the Indians.
There must be miles upon miles of tape preserving the incomparable work of Herb Score. More precious recordings of his voice, however, are woven into childhood memories of summer afternoons by a crackling radio -- and those echoes will outlast any magnetic tape.
Ask anyone who owns a gun shop -- business is booming.
Confirming what retailers are saying, the FBI reports logging 108,000 more background checks last month than in October 2007 -- a 15% increase -- and since January those checks are up 8% compared to the first ten months of last year. But the most telling snapshot is the last seven days -- background checks are up 49% over the same period a year ago.
Demand eclipses that seen before Y2K, after 9/11 and in the wake of Katrina. The reason for the run is obvious: Obama-Biden.
It's a fait accompli that the new administration will attack citizens' Second Amendment rights. We know it'll try to make the expired Clinton (nee Biden) Assault Weapons Ban permanent and prohibit the lawful carrying of concealed weapons. We can predict that Obama-Biden will seek to impose 500% higher taxes on firearms, ammunition and parts. It also wants to allow state and local governments to make their own gun-control laws, even if those laws violate the U.S. Constitution.
Whether it's cost-prohibition or outright prohibition, dark days are coming for Americans who cherish our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, thus the commercial feeding frenzy.
Clearly, we're seeing yet another panic-buying phenomenon -- but are we seeing a reasonable reaction? That depends.
Because Obama-Biden poses a very real threat, it's only prudent for citizens to have acquired their firearms-of-choice (etc.) before the administration turns them into unobtanium. So for procrastinators, the unarmed and the under-prepared, there may be little choice but to become part of the present cluster.
For those of us who saw this coming and are adequately prepared, however, it doesn't make much sense to join the panic. Even if we're not ideally ready, with far more pressing economic issues on center stage we can be relatively sure that Obama-Biden won't launch its gun-control agenda right away. Provided the new president can keep an anxious Congress in check, we likely won't see new law in the first 100 days, probably not before the 2010 State of the Union address.
We may have time to wait until demand and retail price-gouging (according to anecdotal reports) have subsided. A window may open after retail prices have ebbed and before wholesale prices increase -- that, it seems to me, would be a better time to buy.
Depending on the item, the source and the price, now still might be a good time for the savvy gun owner to acquire replacement parts and (presumably) soon-to-be-banned items like high-capacity magazines and certain types of ammunition. It's never a bad time to build defensive skills -- having the proper training is a must. And there's never been a better time to support organizations that defend our Second Amendment rights, as I do the National Rifle Association and the Buckeye Firearms Association.
The well-heeled among us will do whatever they like, of course, and those with an "armory mentality" will do whatever they can, with their eyes fixed firmly on TEOTWAWKI.
All of us, though, must recognize that the danger to law-abiding gun owners is clear and present. What we do to prepare ourselves in the face of this imminent threat is up to each citizen.
Over the course of the campaign and since the election, I've heard some pretty bizarre statements accepted as fact -- some amusing, some disturbing, most the result of Kool-Aid consumption. 'This election marks the end of racism in America.' Let's get this out of the way, right up front: Racist hatred is alive and well in America. The election of a black president, for all its historic cachet, doesn't -- and can't -- put an end to human ignorance.
When I hear my wife talk about some of her customers referring to "President N****r," when I see one of my spawns' teenage friends glorifying Nazi genocide on his MySpace site, when I read page after arrogant page of not-so-veiled white-supremacy ramblings in Internet forums, I know better.
The result of last Tuesday's presidential election is a milepost, not a destination. The way it was achieved can serve as a model for Americans of all races, but the gains can't be sustained without commitment.
Most important, the election of Barack Obama is a "no excuses" moment, one that can change the tone of our national conversation about race. With effort and example it will, I hope, drive racism further toward the fringes of our society -- where evil belongs.
'Barack Obama isn't my president.' Hearing "President-elect Obama" may be like fingernails on chalkboard for those who didn't want him to win -- but this was a presidential election, not a membership drive.
Some will resist the transition from opposing his candidacy to respecting the office he'll hold, but it's never too early to get over it. Now, in fact, would be a good time to start.
Speaking out in thoughtful opposition to specific policies, when warranted, is in the best interest of our nation -- praying for the total failure of the Obama presidency is not. We'd best act like we know the difference.
'Barack Obama isn't my Commander-in-Chief.' Unless you're a member of our military forces, no, he's not -- and neither is George W. Bush. The President of the United States isn't Commander-in-Chief of American civilians. I have no idea how stuff like this gets started.
'The Republican Party must become more conservative.' That might be true, if only the GOP could remember the meaning of "conservative": less government, civic responsibility, civil liberties and power in the hands of The People.
Legislating socialized capitalism is inconsistent with American conservatism. Regulating who may and may not marry is a manifestation of big government, as is interfering in citizens' personal reproductive choices and imposing moral restrictions on scientific research. Belittling community service is a painful departure from advocating the most fundamental principle of an engaged citizenry. Wielding love-of-country as a political bludgeon doesn't serve The People -- it divides and betrays us.
The conservative "brand" has been corrupted by moralizing that's irrelevant to governing. Today's faux conservatism is the bastard child of evangelical Christianity and misguided patriotism, and last week it was assigned a seat perilously close to the margins of American politics.
The People have spoken. We'll see if the GOP was listening.
'Sarah Palin is the future of the Republican Party.' Can you even imagine? Let's hope she's not -- if she is, we're all in deep, deep trouble.
'Joe the Plumber is the future of the Republican Party.' The GOP's use of Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher was perhaps the most glaring example of how out-of-touch the party is with the American electorate.
Ostensibly, Republicans held up "Joe the Plumber" as Everyman, hoping to attract votes-of-affinity from working-class Americans. And it might've been a good play -- 25 years ago, when Everyman looked more like Joe. The GOP showed itself to be shamefully ignorant of how much our society has changed.
'Barack Obama's election is a win for liberals.' This canard is yet another sign that Republicans and conservatives have drifted off-course -- way off. They pitch every election, every issue, as a battle against liberals, when it's really a fight for moderates.
Moderates and independents, which dominate the electorate, chose Barack Obama and rejected the alternative. Contentions to the contrary simply aren't credible.
'The media are in the tank for Barack Obama.' Coverage of the Obama campaign was, in general, more favorable than coverage of the McCain campaign -- I won't dispute that, because I haven't seen an objective analysis that concludes otherwise.
That proves a liberal media bias, right?
Not necessarily.
First of all, the Obama Story was more compelling to most Americans than the McCain Story -- and the media are in the storytelling business, not the news business. And hard as it may be for some to accept, Barack Obama got better press because he ran a better campaign.
He generated more positive stories because his opponent insisted on running a more negative campaign. Characterizations of the Democrat as "steady" and the Republican as "erratic" were reflections of the candidates' public conduct, not the result of bias. We saw more of McCain-Palin's statements exposed as false or hyperbolic because, according to independent analysis, Obama-Biden didn't take as many liberties with the facts.
Blaming the media for their coverage of McCain-Palin's ineptitude is like blaming the beer for a DUI charge.
Conservatives also might want to consider an attitude adjustment -- unrelenting antagonism only perpetuates an adversarial relationship with the press. Benjamin Franklin advised against seeking a quarrel with "a man who buys his ink by the barrel," and yet conservatives wonder why they can't get "fair and balanced" coverage without creating their own provincial outlets.
The media are today's public square, at once the channel for and the source of free speech. Conservatives will be better served if they stop seeking attention by setting fire to the green.
So, in the end, who really won the presidential election last Tuesday?
Barack Obama: 31.3%
John McCain: 28.7%
Other candidates: 1.2%
None of the above: 38.8%
That's what the tally looks like when considering all eligible voters. If we're going to crow about turnout, it'd be intellectually dishonest not to account for all those who remained silent. Do citizens who didn't cast a ballot have a right to complain about the outcome? Of course they do -- the right of free speech is conferred with citizenship, not by the ritual of voting.
But when a plurality continues to choose not to exercise its privilege, nobody wins -- and, ultimately, our nation loses.
Forgive me, but I'm still picking through Election Day stats. I'll get over it eventually, but I keep finding nuggets here and there.
According to American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate, voter registration is at an all-time high -- 73.5% of 208 million eligible citizens, more that 153 million Americans in all. This year's turnout wasn't as heavy as expected, but at 61.2%, it was the highest since 1964.
Turnout is a one-day snapshot, however, and in the long run I find registration trends a bit more interesting.
Democrats (blue), as a percentage of registered voters, peaked in 1964 and currently comprise 38% of the total. Republicans (red) are exactly where they were 48 years ago at 27%. Other registrations (yellow), which include independents and minor parties, are higher than ever -- 22% of registered voters pledge allegiance to neither of the dominant parties.
Comparing that breakdown to Tuesday's turnout, Democrats accounted for 39% of votes cast, essentially identical to that party's slice of the registration pie. Republicans would appear to have done a bit better at 32%, besting their registration number by five points -- but the GOP's seven-point turnout disadvantage to the Dems was its worst showing since 1964.
The true overachievers were those pesky other voters -- 22% of registrations, 29% of votes cast. For those of us who hold the two-party monopoly largely responsible for America's political stagnation and national decline, that'd seem to be encouraging.
Not so -- until those other voters cast their ballots for a candidate other than a Republican or a Democrat, the revolution is on-hold indefinitely. And on Tuesday, 96% of other voters chose either McCain-Palin or Obama-Biden.
Independence ain't what it used to be, is it?
We know what happened -- Barack Obama 53%, John McCain 46%. Ralph Nader finished third with 0.5% and Bob Barr was fourth at 0.4%. It's worth noting that the army of once-rabid Ron Paul supporters propelled him to an eighth-place finish, pulling a laughable 0.01% of the electorate.
For historical context, the best results by modern-day other presidential candidates were George Wallace in 1968 (13.5%), John Anderson in 1980 (6.6%) and Ross Perot in 1992 (18.9%).
Naturally, I'm disappointed that only a few Americans chose other than cosmetic change in 2008. At the same time, I acknowledge that real change doesn't happen overnight, or in a single election, or even in a generation. It's a process.
With that in mind, then, take another look at that voter-registration graph. Check out that yellow line.
That's what I call a foundation. We can build on that.
This morning, Heather Pick lost her battle with breast cancer. She leaves behind her husband, Joe, and two children, a daughter and a son. She was just 38 years old.
My wife and I are creatures of habit, and each morning's ritual begins with coffee and the 5am news on WBNS-10TV out of Columbus. Heather had co-anchored that newscast since 2002, and we came to enjoy her plain-spoken, Wisconsin-born personality and clearly indomitable spirit.
Heather made no secret of her cancer -- quite the opposite. During rounds of chemotherapy she stayed on the job and on the air, auditioning different wigs for the viewing audience. She was a tireless activist for community causes, especially those involving children and cancer research.
Back in 2006, I worked with Heather in my professional capacity on a story she was doing about a male survivor of breast cancer. After finishing the interview with him, to my surprise she instructed the videographer to mic me. She then asked me to repeat for the camera something I'd shared with her earlier, a story about a friend, another male survivor of this dreaded disease.
What I remember most about that day was feeling that I'd met a true Force of Nature -- I'd had the privilege of coming face-to-face with the same brilliant soul that I saw every morning on our bedroom TV.
A few months ago, other anchors began appearing in Heather's chair. We thought she might be on vacation, but after a month went by, then two, we knew. Despite the substitutes announcing that they were "sitting in for Heather Pick today," we knew.
Heather, who kept on living while fighting for her life, is my hero. Her bravery and selfless service to this community are her legacy. Like a stained-glass window, she was someone the light shines through.
Every so often, I'm reminded that this isn't the world I grew up in.
A disturbing sequence of events began unfolding yesterday afternoon when our older spawn called his mom with news that his school had gone into emergency lockdown and that the campus was crawling with cops. My wife called me from her office, and I turned on my desktop scanner to see what I could find out.
Sure enough, the channels were crackling with transmissions among city and county units, as well as a chopper dispatched from a nearby metro department. It wasn't long before I learned that there was an armed threat, from outside the area and against one particular student, believed to be en route to the school. A BOLO was issued for the suspect and the stolen vehicle he was said to be driving.
After the target was in protective custody and the buildings and grounds were secured, school officials released students to their buses, under watchful eyes and heavy security. Next, parents were permitted to pick up their kids, and then students who drove their own cars were allowed to leave. Every inbound and outbound vehicle was checked by law enforcement.
All after-school activities were canceled. Our spawns drove directly to a relative's house, the closest "safe" place for them to be.
The suspect never did show up at the school -- he was apprehended 12 hours later and 20 miles away, passed-out drunk in the stolen car. He now faces multiple charges.
Disconcerting as it was, threats like this no longer are uncommon. I'm glad to say that our local law-enforcement professionals responded quickly and no one got hurt.
I'm somewhat less thrilled with our suburban school district's emergency-communications system, an automatic e-mail alert that's supposed to go to parents immediately when their child's school goes into lockdown.
Oh, I got my alert -- time-stamped at the moment that the lockdown was lifted. Another e-mail, informing me that students were being released, didn't arrive until almost an hour later. Today I'll be letting the district know that its system needs some serious tweaking.
Soon my wife and I will sit down with our spawns to talk through what happened yesterday. When we do, we'll have more to learn than we have to teach -- after all, an armed threat at school wasn't part of our childhood. Sadly, it's part of theirs.
Opinions vary on the value of exit polls. I'm no expert in statistical analysis, but I believe that these polls offer an interesting window on why voters made the choices they did, and I want to highlight just a few points.
Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain appear to have done equally well with their respective partisans, so at first glance this would appear to be a wash. In terms of votes, however, Sen. Obama clearly won this battle -- 89% of 39% trumps 90% of 32%.
Independents, as usual, were the key, and Sen. Obama won this group by a large margin. By bringing home loyal Democrats and a majority of independents, he basically cruised to a popular-vote victory.
Looking at ideology gives us another hint at why the Democratic nominee won on Tuesday.
As expected, Sen. Obama dominated the liberal bloc and, notably, he out-polled Sen. McCain among all-important moderates by a 3-to-2 margin.
What I find especially significant is that Sen. Obama managed to pull 20% of self-described conservatives -- that's a stunner, at least to me. It tells me that Sen. McCain's attempt to create a liberal-conservative contrast was an abysmal failure, and it speaks volumes about the withering brand of the Republican Party.
Given the critical importance of Second Amendment rights, I also wanted to find out how gun owners voted on Tuesday.
Before judging these numbers, I decided to look at the 2000 Bush-Gore exit polls for some context. What I found surprised me.
In 2000, 48% of those surveyed lived in a gun-owning household, a number that dropped to 42% this year. Result: The NRA (et al) lost 12.5% of its voice at the polls in 2008, despite unprecedented efforts to convince gun owners that Sen. Obama would be the most anti-guns president in American history.
What's more, while gun-owning households split virtually the same way in 2008 as they did in 2000, no-guns households gained considerable ground, from 58%-39% for Gore-Lieberman to 65%-33% for Obama-Biden.
Do the math -- the Democratic candidate's margin among no-guns households ballooned from 19% to a whopping 32%, even without considering the losses suffered by gun owners.
If that's not handwriting on the wall, I don't know what is. We have much work to do.
Today, the sun rose on a different America. Whether that's a good or a bad thing depends on where one stands.
For the incurably simple-minded, this presidential election has ushered-in TEOTWAWKI. They insist that Obama-Biden will be the immediate ruination of our nation, labeling anyone who didn't vote for McCain-Palin stupid, un-American and worse.
My first reaction to that kind of ignorance is that I can't imagine anything so stupid and un-American as insulting the will of The People.
What's lost on these folks is that the fear-and-loathing tactic played a large part in costing McCain-Palin the election -- at the very least, it didn't work. It certainly didn't earn my vote yesterday, and it won't win my support now.
Passionate devotees of President-elect Barack Obama, on the other hand, see yesterday's victory as nothing short of complete salvation, the righting of everything that's wrong with America. They're being just as irrational as their glass-empty counterparts on the right, of course. The reality of presiding over an entire nation will set in soon enough.
No, the truth lies somewhere in between. Both at its best and at its worst, Obama-Biden is a mixed bag.
This morning, the Republican Party must begin to come to grips with the fundamental reason why it lost the presidency and considerable legislative ground: It got caught up in fighting the last political war. Now the party's challenge is to gain a foothold on the new American landscape and fight like hell on that ground, not in some conservative fantasy that no longer exists.
Of greatest concern to me is the threat that the next administration -- along with a like-minded Congress and two or more Supreme Court appointments -- poses to individual citizens' rights under the Second Amendment. The fractious RKBA community doesn't have a second to waste assembling its trademark circular firing squad. Obama-Biden won, in a walk, and it is what it is. We fight where we stand.
And fight we will. Μολὼν λαβέ.
In closing, two thoughts. Speaking as a gray-haired white guy who, as a child, saw firsthand racist evil in the segregated South of the 1960s, I share the pride and joy of every American who celebrates the historic nature of what Barack Obama has accomplished.
And finally, to every American voter who made independent, informed choices -- irrespective of what those choices were -- you have my respect. Sheep, be they red or blue, do not.
The People have spoken. For better or worse, the echo of our collective democratic voice will ring for generations.
It's a night thick with history, and countless others will write about it with more eloquence and insight than I ever could. I can speak only in my voice, from my perspective.
While I didn't support Sen. Barack Obama, I have the highest respect for his victory. My concerns about the policies he advocates are very real now, but I won't hesitate to assert that Americans elected the better leader.
Sen. John McCain ran a gallant campaign but ultimately a bumbling one. Now the Republican Party has four years to embrace change -- not the cliché campaign slogan, but the new American landscape it can no longer deny exists.
The candidates' concession and acceptance speeches provided a final contrast. In defeat, Sen. McCain spoke to a less-than-capacity crowd of 1,500 gathered on the lawn outside an Arizona hotel. Despite the nominee's sincerity, followers booed his gracious acknowledgment of Sen. Obama and Sen. Joe Biden -- and some even jeered his expression of gratitude to running mate Gov. Sarah Palin.
Sen. Obama held his victory celebration in Chicago's Grant Park, delivering measured remarks to an estimated 200,000 people. When he congratulated Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin on their campaign, his supporters cheered.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is called a clue. It's not just the expected difference between winning and losing -- it's the difference between what worked and what failed, one campaign that set its tone at the top and another that never found its voice.
To wrap up this post, I'll share something I observed in my community this evening. Instead of watching wall-to-wall election-night coverage, my wife and I got haircuts (seriously) at a local shop owned by a friend of ours. We left the house about 15 minutes after the polls closed and returned around 9:30pm, traveling to and from on an always-busy four-lane thoroughfare.
We had the road to ourselves -- it was eerie, like driving at 3am on a Sunday morning. In a state that went for Obama-Biden and a county that swung for McCain-Palin, it seemed that everyone but us was home watching the returns come in.
American history was made tonight, and no one wanted to miss a minute of it. Regardless of my personal political leanings, I'm glad I was alive to see it.
When I was a kid, we always had school on Election Day. I remember being strangely fascinated by the scene that played out in our Heartland gymnasium -- the curtained booths, the shuffling feet, the hushed tones, the palpable reverence with which that farming community's adults treated the simple act of voting.
The experience remains a vivid part of my storehouse of memories. My spawns have no school today, and I'm truly sorry that they're missing out.
* * *
I've heard about a few voting machines balking here and there around Ohio today, kind of like those "scattered showers" meteorologists are always talking about -- isolated, brief and minor. You'll have that.
A more disturbing screwup, however, took place this morning at a small polling place just six miles south of us. When the polls opened at 6:30am, the voting machines weren't even there. Shifting gears, poll workers handed out paper ballots -- the wrong paper ballots, as it turned out.
I know that my county's board of elections doesn't get to practice much for its occasional big day, but this stuff isn't rocket science. What happened today at that rural polling place was, by any definition, inexcusable.
My wife and I left the house about the time the polls opened (6:30am) and drove the two miles to our local community center to cast our ballots. Neither of us was surprised to see that the lot was full and both sides of the access road were lined with parked cars.
It inspired me to see several hundred of my neighbors up early to share in this precious rite of freedom.
The line stretched outside the building but moved quickly. Once inside, we moved to our precinct's table at the far end of the hall, where we showed identification, signed the roll, and walked over to another short line. After being handed a key card, we took our places at the next available voting machines (touch-screen with integrated printers) and made our choices.
Notably, I voted for personal responsibility (and 6,000 Ohio jobs) by voting against statewide Issue 5, preserving the right of my fellow citizens to secure so-called "payday loans." I also marked my ballot in favor of Ohio Issue 6, which would clear the way for my state's first casino. The community in which the casino would be built is about to lose thousands of jobs when its biggest employer leaves town, and those jobs could be replaced by an estimated 5,000 short-term construction opportunities and an equal number of long-term service positions.
When Mrs. KintlaLake and I strolled back out into the cool morning air, I checked my watch -- we'd spent all of 45 minutes inside the polling place. All went smoothly.
With the two dominant parties' presidential candidates blitzing the national media with ads and appearances, I can't imagine an American who won't be glad to see this campaign end.
Unless you live in a hotly contested state, however -- like here in Ohio, or in Virginia, Nevada, North Carolina, Florida, Missouri and arguably a few others -- you won't be as glad as I'll be.
I'm a card-carrying political junkie, but enough already.
My answering machine has recorded an average of six "robo-calls" each and every day for the past ten days. I've heard the canned voices of both presidential nominees and both running mates, as well as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hank Williams, Jr. and other luminaries. I can find the DELETE button in the dark.
And then there are the rallies.
On Friday, Sen. John McCain, joined by Gov. Schwarzenegger, exhorted his followers at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. Pres. George W. Bush had drawn a capacity crowd of 20,000 to a similar rally at the same venue four years ago, but Sen. McCain managed to pull fewer than half that number. Empty sections of the hall were hidden by flags, banners and huge black curtains, giving the impression that it was a standing-room-only crowd. It wasn't.
Enthusiastic partisans roared as Gov. Schwarzenegger cracked wise about Sen. Barack Obama's scrawny physique and they gobbled up Sen. McCain's familiar stump speech, but by all accounts the mood was as strained as the crowd was small.
Yesterday Sen. Obama made what we expect to be his final campaign appearance in Columbus. The rally, held on the grounds of the Ohio State Capitol, attracted an estimated 60,000 people -- that on the same day that the Democratic nominee drew a crowd of 80,000 to a lakefront mall in Cleveland.
I'm sure that Sen. McCain and his people are doing the best they can, but the difference between a condensed event in a hockey arena and a sea of humanity on the best day of Indian Summer is striking.
Maybe McCain-Palin supporters just aren't the rallying kind. Perhaps most Republicans were busy escorting their spawns on trick-or-treat night. In any case, we won't know 'til Wednesday morning whether what we've seen at these events will be reflected at the ballot box, but if I were working the Republican campaign, I'd be in therapy.
When all is said and done, though, rallies and robo-calls are just sideshows in this political circus -- the main attraction, the point of this expensive exercise, is the voting.
Ohio has allowed its citizens to vote early, the first time that's been possible in a presidential election year. As we've seen all across the country, lines have been long -- at one big polling place in Columbus yesterday, for example, the wait was reported to be six hours.
As long as election officials are able to preserve the integrity of the process, I'm all in favor of expanding opportunities for citizens to register and vote -- motor-voter, absentee ballots, voting early and the like.
It's not about ensuring that everyone votes. It's about making it possible for every American who wants to vote to have a reasonable chance to exercise their privilege.
Ours is an imperfect system and always will be, and the early-voting phenomenon has highlighted its flaws. What's unacceptable to me, however, is the whining I hear about having to wait in line to vote. In this point-and-click, instant-gratification society of ours, anyone who bitches about the inconvenience of their freedom should be introduced to Iraqis willing to risk their very lives to dip a digit into a bottle of purple ink.
We're Americans, fortunate and free. Tomorrow we vote.
To the purist, this may not qualify as chili -- but the great thing about food is that it’s defined by those who enjoy it.
And this is chili.
Fresh tomatoes and fresh corn, as well as dried beans (soaked overnight, drained and cooked before adding to the chili), would make a good dish even better, but this is a relatively low-drag version of the recipe. Mix and match the jalapeño, serrano and habanero peppers, or use ground pork instead of chorizo, to adjust the chili's heat to taste and tolerance.
Ingredients 1 pound chorizo, browned & drained 1 can black beans, drained 1 can whole-kernel corn, drained 1 can diced tomatoes 1 can tomato sauce 1 small can tomato paste 2 cups tomato juice 6 cloves garlic, peeled & minced 1 medium yellow onion, diced 1 green bell pepper, seeded & diced 1 red bell pepper, seeded & diced 3 jalapeño or serrano peppers, seeded & minced 1 habanero pepper, seeded & minced Juice of 1 lime 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped 1 teaspoon chili powder 1/2 teaspoon cumin Black pepper, freshly ground
Preparation Place all ingredients except the lime juice, cilantro, chili powder, cumin and black pepper into a slow-cooker -- a.k.a. Crock-Pot® -- and cook on high for 30 minutes.
Add the lime juice, cilantro, chili powder and cumin. Stir the ingredients thoroughly to combine.
Cook on high for 2 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally.
Set the cooker to low and cook for 4 to 6 hours (or longer), stirring occasionally.
Note: The longer this chili is slow-cooked, the more the ingredients will sacrifice their textures, literally dissolving into the base. Reduce cooking time for a fresher, chunkier chili; or increase cooking time -- up to 24 hours -- for a smoother, earthier result that’s all about taste.
An hour or so before serving, check consistency and add more tomato juice if desired. Season to taste. Stir.
Spoon the chili into shallow bowls. Serves 4 to 6.
Serving suggestions Dust the rim of the serving bowl with ground cayenne; top the chili with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and sour cream; garnish with cilantro leaves or a slice of lime. Fresh whole-grain bread is a must, as is a pint of substantial ale.
The month of November is rising over our home clear, bright and with the promise of an afternoon high in the mid-60s. Mrs. KintlaLake and the spawns are still asleep -- she's collecting her reward for a tough week of work, and the young ones are recovering from All Hallows' Eve escapades.
With the spawns off doing their teenage thing last night, my wife and I enjoyed a rare dinner-for-two. I'd made a pot of my signature all-day chili, which we complemented with fresh-from-the-baker farmhouse bread and pints of Rogue Dead Guy Ale -- our favorite brew and, we decided, quite appropriate for a Halloween meal.
Simple pleasures.
After dinner and quiet conversation, I retired to this keyboard to finish October's last post. My decision was neither easy to make nor easy to articulate, but this morning I feel more resolved than ever about my patriotism and citizenship.
My choice, my voice, my vote.
Between now and Tuesday morning, of course, I'll be making a number of other decisions about issues and candidates. I may or may not write about my choices before Election Day, but it's safe to say that I'll again be exercising my precious privilege in what I believe is the best interest of my nation, my state, my community and, most especially, my family.
In March, I looked forward to"a national conversation between Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain."I knew that these two very different candidates would present the American electorate with a clear choice, and I was optimistic that they'd conduct their campaigns with more decency than we've seen in recent years.
I got the matchup I wanted, but my optimism appears to have been a bit cockeyed.
While I favored Sen. Barack Obama's nomination, I was never destined to cast a general-election vote for him. Still, his campaign has been superior to his opponent's in every way that matters: tactics and strategy, messages and media, principle and leadership. The judgment and steady temperament he's demonstrated are far better suited to high office than the GOP nominee's long legislative résumé and erratic behavior.
None of that allays my very real concerns about an Obama presidency, but the Democratic nominee has earned my respect. His policies and political philosophy simply prevent him from earning my vote.
Sen. McCain has been, to put it mildly, a disappointment, throwing his honor and the last of his dignity on the pyre of his candidacy. After vowing to run a respectful campaign and to quash irrelevant attacks on his opponent, he's allowed a disturbing and dangerous tone to run wild for months. Sure, he tried to stuff the genie back into the bottle a few weeks ago, but he turned it loose again when his campaign started hemorrhaging support from the noisy right.
He's revealed gross cynicism, displayed questionable temperament, exercised shockingly poor judgment and generally has shown me that he's not fit to lead. Worst of all, he chose a running mate who herself is neither fit nor qualified.
Along the way, Sen. McCain lost his voice, along with my trust, my respect and my vote.
Incidentally, I'm not the least bit swayed by arm-twisters demanding that I vote for McCain-Palin, else I be in-league with gun grabbers and entitlement addicts. Bullshit -- that sort of "you're with the terrorists" fear mongering is a sheepish endorsement of the status quo.
Obama-Biden surely would take us farther away from what's best for our country, but it'd be naive of me to view McCain-Palin as some sort of inoculant against assaults on our Second Amendment rights, exploding entitlements and socialized capitalism. Whichever wins, we'll be fighting the same battles with our bloated government.
The end of preventing an Obama-Biden victory doesn't justify my voting for a politically, ethically and intellectually corrupt ticket -- but just as I won't cast that token defensive vote, I won't cast a vote out of protest, either. This isn't about indignation.
It's about my country. It's about my kids.
Come Wednesday morning, I'll look my spawns in the eye and tell them that my vote stood for the same things I stand for. The values that I drum into their teenage heads will ring true. The next time they hear me say that power belongs to The People and that the Constitution still means something, they'll know that there's honor in backing up their words with actions, even when those actions are unpopular.
The two-party monopoly has failed our nation. I've know that for years and, for once, I'm not going to blink on Election Day. This time I won't make a reflexive choice, another cowardly capitulation to a lesser evil that takes America farther down the same self-destructive road.
That's why on Tuesday I'll cast one independent citizen's vote for Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr.
To do otherwise not only would blaspheme my sacred American privilege -- it'd be an insult to the country I'll leave to my children.
"I don't think at the moment she is prepared to take over the reins of the presidency. ... Give her some time in the office and I think the answer would be, she will be...adequate. I can't say that she would be a genius in the job. But I think she would be enough to get us through a four year...well, I hope not...get us through whatever period of time was necessary. And I devoutly hope that [she] would never be tested."(Lawrence Eagleburger, Secretary of State under Pres. George H.W. Bush and a supporter of Sen. John McCain, on Gov. Sarah Palin's readiness to assume the presidency in a time of national crisis)
"I have not been convicted. I have a case pending against me, and probably the worse case of prosecutorial...misconduct by the prosecutors that is known. ... I've not been convicted yet."(Sen. Ted Stevens, who was convicted Monday in federal court jury on seven counts of lying on Senate disclosure forms to conceal more than $250,000 in gifts, in a debate yesterday)
"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations, then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."(Gov. Sarah Palin, in a radio interview this morning, trying to explain how criticism is a violation of the First Amendment...or maybe she was advocating that the First Amendment be amended to outlaw the free press...or limit free speech, but then...oh, never mind -- just read the excellent salon.com article and weep)
"Wanna talk qualifications? The difference between Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Sarah Palin is that he's qualified to teach Constitutional Law at the college level and she seems barely qualified to serve as an usher at freshman orientation." (KintlaLake)
As ordinary Americans hold garage sales to pay their mortgages, it appears that vulnerable Republicans are liquidating their dignity to sustain their desperate campaigns. To call Sen. Elizabeth Dole's ad misleading is neither harsh enough nor satisfactorily accurate -- considering its intent, the ad is an outright, willful lie.
At the end of the spot, the viewer is left with the distinct impression that that the woman's voice proclaiming, "There is no God!" is that of Dole's opponent, Kay Hagan -- and it's not. Ms. Hagan is now suing Sen. Dole for defamation and libel, and while I'm no fan of lawsuits, I hope Ms. Hagan gets whatever she's asking for.
A former colleague of mine worked as a senior adviser to Ms. Dole during her unsuccessful bid for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, and she once told me that the sputtering Dole campaign "put the fun in dysfunctional."
Clearly, the fun is gone. The dysfunction, judging by Sen. Dole's shameful tactics, is alive and well.
Playing inside my head is the voice of Herb Score, who called Indians games from the mid-'60s through the '97 World Series. Herb died yesterday at 75, but he'll always be the quintessential Voice of the Indians.
