Librarian's Rant

On Election Day, I heard from many of my family and friends in Ohio, especially in Cleveland, about voters (especially poor women) being turned away from the polls for spurious reasons, votes coming up incorrectly on touch-screen machines, and so forth.

Now it seems that a voter advocacy group, the Election Protection Coalition (part of the People for the American Way Foundation) are conducting hearings to "collect testimony of voting troubles that might be used to seek legislative changes to Ohio's election process".

Tales of waiting more than five hours to vote, voter intimidation, under-trained polling-station workers and too few or broken voting machines largely in urban or heavily minority areas were retold Saturday at a public hearing organized by voter-rights groups.

For three hours, burdened voters, one after another, offered sworn testimony about Election Day voter suppression and irregularities that they believe are threatening democracy.

...[some participants] said they were testifying not on political grounds but out of concern for a suspicious election system that should be above reproach.

Harvey Wasserman of Bexley said he tried to vote absentee with the same home address he has used for 18 years but was told he couldn't because his absentee application had the wrong address.

"But the notice telling me I had the wrong address arrived at the right address," he said. "I wonder, how many of these absentee ballots were rejected for no good reason?

"My concern is not out of the outcome of the election," Wasserman said, "but that this could go on and an election could be stolen. And we simply can't have that in a democracy." [emphasis mine]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

We'll have to see if this goes anywhere. They tried to do some fixing after 2000 (remember HAVA?), but not every state was made accountable for how they implemented change, if at all.

JaBba sent me to it.

Seems some enterprising critters made a dam out of money from a casino heist. The beavers could not be found for questioning.

Thanks, Akeisha, this made my day.

WARNING: entrance to the Unshelved Store may cause you to drop a load of cash on gifts for your librarian friends

They have some neato new items, including this great Library Raid Jacket.

Please Note: To ship in time for Christmas, your order must be received by November 17!

SHOP! NOW!

(I am not in any way affiliated with Unshelved, Overdue Media or Bill and Gene, I simply adore them from afar.)

Thanks to James at LU for the link to this amusing program at MIT. I particularly like the bench.

Yesterday's Unshelved comic was a classic. Dewey: "Everything I know about U.S. history, I learned from 'Schoolhouse Rock'".

Indeed. "I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill. And I'm sittin' here on Capitol Hill..."

I'm off for the weekend to Fiddler's Green, mostly to hear my friend Ayanna talk on a couple of panels and also to commune with some fellow GenXers. A term I hate, but it fits the crowd.

Have a good, safe weekend everybody!

Check out www.smirkingchimp.com.

Thanks to Dawn on the LU list.

This has been making its way around: Sorry, Everybody.

Some of us — hopefully most of us — are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world. As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us — hopefully most of us — are truly, truly sorry. And we'll say we're sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren't.

Check out the Gallery.

An interesting cartographic take on the "red and blue states" issue from some students at UMich. I'm fascinated by the population adjusted maps--they seem to reflect a more 'real' picture of what the Republicans call a 'mandate', but which I'd call 'squeaking through'.

Thanks to Larie on the LU list for the link.

A friend just sent me this new offering from Jennie-O Turkey. I'm not sure exactly how disturbed to be by our need to make things 'easy'. I do have to ask: without stuffing, really what's the point?! Then again...I do love turkey...hmmm.

Check out http://www.indexonline.org/, a UK-based site on free speech and censorship.

Interesting article by Philip Pullman on why reading is a democratic (small d) activity. From The Guardian.

Seems our Iowa governor, Thomas Vilsack, has been put on the list for possible new heads of the DNC. I think he'd be a fine choice, though I'd hate to lose him here too soon. At the very least, we need new blood. I've not been a great fan of McAuliffe or Daschle--time to move over and see what a new generation can do.

I agree, in principle with Kos who says that Dean would make a good choice. I think he would. He's good at firing people up, and is smart enough to attack the issues. Will the Party have the balls to choose him? I doubt it.

This article from SFGate gives you some very compelling reasons to NOT move to Canada:

Here's the tough part to accept. Here's what everyone who's right now on the brink of packing their bags and checking the real estate prices in Vancouver has to know and has to have drilled into their disconsolate hope-crushed souls right this minute, before it's too late:

You cannot leave. You cannot drop the armor now. Why? Because you are needed, more than ever. You are mandatory to keep the energy flowing, the karmic vibrator buzzing, to keep the progressive and lucid half of the nation breathing and healthy and awake and ever reaching out to the half that's wallowing in fear and violence and homophobia and sexual dread, hoping to find harmony instead of cacophony%2, common ground instead of civil war, some sort of a shared love of a country so messy and internationally disrespected and openly confused its own president can't even speak the language.

After all, you don't hand over all your children the first time the flying monkeys bang on your door. You don't give up your dream house just because a bunch of gangbangers moved in down the block. You become a bit more wary and alert and you stock up on the superlative porn and the expensive wine and the deepened sense of true beauty and sex and love and hope and you hunker down and grit your teeth and dig in for the long haul, and you work on making your own goddamn garden more beautiful than even you could have imagined, because, well, the neighborhood -- and the world -- needs it, more than ever. [emphasis mine]

Bowing to pressure (partly from me), Chris Z. has resurrected his L.A.C.K. (Librarians Are Corrupting Kids) concept in Censoround: Book challenges and free speech news. Check it out!