I am trying hard to get over the ABC Debate Debacle. It is difficult....

But Stephanopolous needs our help. He enlisted Hannity for question suggestions but I know we can do better. After all, that is all we do here,: question, with side orders of innuendo and toppings of snark.

I should have had breakfast this morning.

Suggestions below.

Cross posted atDocudharma

What does an Election Judge do?

Welllllllll..... the Judge makes the Election process easier. The Judge is not supposed to hinder the Election process.

The Judge's duties start well before the actual day of the Election. First, there is the training. My county used to give training at the County Offices or other large venue, like a Movie theater where a lot of people could be seated. Then the Judge would sit through a Powerpoint presentation of forms and machine assembly. Finally, a short quiz was given. Some places may still require this.

Now, the Judge takes the online course. It has about 5 parts and takes 4 to 6 hours to complete depending on the score one achieves at the end of each section.

Link to "Be An Election Judge" here

I was an Election Judge in Illinois yesterday.
It was an education for me. I learned a lot about Democracy. If you can, you should sign up to be an Election Judge too!
There are a shortage of Election Judges.
The pay isn't great.
The hours are long.
But the voters are grateful!
And your presence eases the voting process.

Link to Election Judge duties: here

This is short for a diary but I had to share.

Today s Sunday and this is the day that Gun Shows like to reserve for their displays. A gun Show is a swap meet/ flea market for gun nuts. Once a month, there is a Gun Show in Northern Illinois for all the gun "aficionados" to buy/sell/swap their wares to other gun crazies.

My Husband is a gun nut. He is a member of the NRA and has been since he was a teen. He is also a Veteran, serving in Korea in 1969 as a Medic. he is also a card carrying member of the Democratic Party and the ACLU and has been for all his adult life.

General Barry R. McCaffrey USA (Ret) has submitted another After Action Report Memo that has been published on the internet. His subject is: Visit Iraq and Kuwait 5-11 December 2007. He has returned from his visit to Iraq and Kuwait. His other Memo was published in March after his Visit Iraq and Kuwait 9-16 March 2007.

It is amazing what a difference 9 months makes. A baby can be born or not. A War can be won or not. An Army can be broken or not. Rogue Elements can be harvested or not.

Keep in mind that the memo is sent to Ed Meese's son, which should tell you something about the purpose of this assessment.

More after the fold.

I have been asked to post a list of books for the Holidays....or just general gift-giving... I don’t know if I can do that because the list would really be very long and the number of categories would be really diverse

I am a little out-of-date since I have neglected reading the books my students read (being retired, I have no students but I am active in a couple of organizations that promote literature and literacy). So now, I concentrate on books for ME!!!! Unfortunately, they seem to have taken a trend toward current events and political nature and are thoroughly depressing and I can’t recommend them to anyone except people here.

I saw this over the weekend and filed it in my "dead issue" mental file.

But, today, it is still there!

My question is: why would anyone believe anything that Novak writes anymore? The man should not even be allowed to write a column, even from a jail cell.

He traitorously outed a CIA spy and experienced no charges or reprimand. Now he publishes a little gossip rag and someone actually believes it!!!!! He should put up and shut up. If he has proof, surrender it. If he knows who is planting this trash, expose them or else cease and desist.

The Superintendant of Morton West High School District has allowed 14 students to return to classes today. The others will be allowed to return on Friday. No students will be expelled.

Rita Maniotis, President of the PTO said that it is "wonderful news" and that "it's not like our kids are walking away with nothing." Especially since most of the students have served most of their suspension time. At least they will not be up for expulsion hearings which would have occurred in December.

A victory for "Freedom of Speech"!

The answer is Dan Proft.
I was watching Chicago Tonite on Channel 11 (PBS) to hear about the Morton High School Students who are up for expulsion because they "Trampled" on the rights of others with their "anti-war" protest. The reporter stuck her microphone into the face of Dan Proft. This guy gets around! I've heard him as a Republican Pundit on Bruce DuMont's Beyond the Beltway radio show(6 P.M. Central Standard time in Chicago) but how did he get to Cicero???? Somehow he has gotten a very lucrative contract to represent the Cicero High School District and the Town of Cicero. His company: Urquhart Media, LLC is multifaceted. He writes opinion pieces online, for the newspapers and represents Republican politicians in Illinois.

Last night I watched 20/20. I haven't watched it in a long time and now I know why. The first segment was a bit about a woman who had a heart attach and was comatose. Just as her husband was contemplating taking her off life support, she awakens and recovers. They interview nurses and family members and the conclusion: a miracle! Where is the interview with the neurosurgeon or someone who could explain what happened? Now all kinds of people will continue indefinitely on life support in hopes of the "miracle"! They didn't spend enough time on her rehab and made it seem like she is normal now. Her chances of a recurrence? They didn't say!

Then came Stossel's hit piece on Global Warming.

Today, Ken Burns will and PBS will air FUBAR on The War. It will discuss Peleliu.  My Dad was on Peleliu. He always pronounced it Pel-Lee-You.
It was always glossed over in the history books about the war in the Pacific. I would read about Midway. Or Iwo Jima which he missed. Or Tarawa which he also missed, but Peleliu was always kind of a footnote.

As a kid, I had figured that the reason he survived was because not much fighting went on. The War to me was in Europe.

I thought his great accomplishment in the war was guarding a Catholic Cemetery in China after the War. Or meeting a 12 foot cobra on the path on Pavuvu.

But I was wrong.

Remember Bush's little foray into Anbar Provice? The one that was so successful? The photo op of all photo ops with a successful surge in the background.
Remember the photo of a smiling Bush shaking the hand of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha?
Well, Shiek Risha and two of his bodyguards were killed by a road-side bomb.
(link )

OK...I canceled my subscription to the Chicago Tribune. I couldn't take the bias on the Editorial pages anymore. Molly was gone, no more Luckovich cartoons and even the comics had dwindled in stature. However, I am STILL receiving my Tribune????? At least I'm not paying for this trash.

Today, the front page had an article about all the good stuff we are letting the Afghans have with all their new Freedom. I checked, it is not on their web edition. But I Googled(yes, I can Google at my age) and found it so read it if you have time. Here

I am listening to Ed Schultz and he is railing about the new Nafta issue with truckers from Mexico delivering to destinations in the US and vice versa....big issue. Part 2 of the Dubai Ports deal aimed at eliminating the strongest remaining union in the US, the Longshoremen's Union.

But that isn't the real problem we face...it is what I've been trying to communicate for the past several months...not only here but with my Local Democratic party. As Ed says, why aren't the candidates speaking out on this?
YES,,,EXACTLY...WHY?

I know this is petty, but I thought I'd share this.

Last night, the local Democrats got together to have a drink(most of us drank iced tea) and celebrate Karl Rove's resignation. The Leader of the party decided it was a good time to tell us that our signs were not wanted in the next parade, or ever. Fearlessly, she said that there were too many complaints and that a Parade is not about Politics. The Party has decided that we should form a separate group and enter the parade separately. They don't want to alienate all those Republican Moderates out there. So I decided to write them a letter.

The letter is below the break.

Free speech nothing!  Here it is, the Fourth of July and the Police, COPS, took my signs!  What is this country coming to?

We were marching in the Parade with the Democrats and this year the police confiscated our signs.

Granted there were only 2 signs but they were not nice or even polite.

We marched in other parades with these signs but not this one....I guess the Fourth of July parade is not for free speech.

So maybe my message is too offensive?

I am listening to Randi Rhodes talking about Cindy Sheehan and I am in total agreement. I experienced it yesterday at the Democratic "Turn DuPage Blue" section of the Elmhurst Parade..."It is not the IMAGE we want to Present!"
Again: "It is NOT the IMAGE WE want to PRESENT!"
There are so many ways to say it but it still says the same thing.
The Democrats don't want to get tough. They don't want to stand for anything.  They don't want CONTROVERSY!  They want status quo. They want to make nice, They are ready to make nice (Yes, I watched the Dixie Chicks movie last night.)

I am just so angry, I want to quit too!

All this nonsense about Republicans imploding and abandoning the party in droves...don't believe it. They are just digging in and getting ready to launch their assault from another direction. Try attending a Town meeting that the Republicans were all prepared for.

Anti-War activists in the area decided to get the non-binding resolution on the ballot again for the primary election here in Illinois in 2008.