Trying to Contain My Hoosier Pride

When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash
How I long for my Indiana home.

Somehow, I don't think John McCain shares my love of the Hoosier state... at least, not today.

Fellow Hoosier (and my new hero) Thomas Cook of Blue Indiana filed an official complaint with the Indiana Election Commission this afternoon, contesting the inclusion of John McCain on the ballot for our May 6th primary. Seems that Senator McCain's local campaign organizers (including our esteemed Governor and King of Creepy Comb-Overs, Mitch "Montgomery Burns" Daniels) failed to collect the required number of petition signatures in one congressional district to qualify for the ballot. Huh. (You can read all the details here.)

Predictably, the Republican Powers-That-Be have already approved McCain for the ballot despite this little technical snafu, and I'm sure that they will either ignore the complaint or finagle some way around it. This is what politicians do, after all.

Still, I never thought I'd live to see the day when a Republican candidate - ANY Republican candidate - would have trouble finding signatures for anything in Indiana. I bet could get 100 names in my own neighborhood tomorrow on a petition advocating drunk driving with orphaned cancer puppies if I said I was collecting them for the Republican party. How hard should it be to get 500 names in any district for the acknowledged national Republican front-runner in this overwhelmingly red state?

I kinda wondered why McCain was coming to Indianapolis this Friday... We don't usually get a lot of visits from national candidates. There's not really much reason for it - it's a waste of time for both Democrats and Republicans. For Democrats, there's not much return on the time invested during such a busy season; and for Republicans, our state is typically a slam-dunk with or without a local campaign stop. In light of this new information, though, the hastily-arranged visit is starting to make sense. If McCain's staff is at all competent, they have to be concerned about what appears to be waning support for their candidate in the heart of one of the reddest states in the country.

I think my favorite part of this story, though, is the DNC response:

Despite the fact that the McCain campaign clearly failed to qualify for the ballot, Republican Attorney General Steve Carter and Republican Secretary of State Todd Rokita (who recently endorsed McCain) rubberstamped it anyway, trying to sneak McCain onto the ballot. Clearly, the Republican Culture of Corruption is alive and well within the McCain campaign.

Clearly, the Democratic National Committee spokesperson hasn't spent much time in Indiana. The "Republican Culture of Corruption" is just business as usual around here.

Grandma Would Be SO Proud...

...although she might be a bit disturbed that I matched Reagan at 50%. She'd be even more disturbed to see his name on a list of "great" American presidents.

Well, Reagan did spend half his life as a Democrat, so I'm just going to assume that I just matched that earlier half - you know, before he sold his soul.

Which Great US President Are You Most Like? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as John Kennedy 35th President, in office from 1961-1963 Born: 1917 Died: 1963 (assassinated) John Kennedy 74% Franklin Roosevelt 69% George Washington 62% Abraham Lincoln 59% Thomas Jefferson 50% Ronald Reagan 50% Dwight Eisenhower 45% Theodore Roosevelt 41% Lyndon Johnson 38% Woodrow Wilson 22% Harry Truman 19%

Investigative Entertainment Journalism

Once again, I apologize to all of you for my continued absence from posting. As I've said before, I just haven't been feeling very motivated to write lately, even with minute by minute changes in the political landscape. Well, that is, until today...

Unfortunately, the topic which finally struck a chord with me falls squarely in the realm of television and entertainment, although it does also deal peripherally with politics. So, even though I had originally intended to post it here, I felt the story was more appropriate for my media blog (which is humbly entitled The Queen of All Media).

But I hope you will take a few moments to check out my attempt at investigative entertainment journalism on here (the post is titled So Who REALLY Made Huckabee?). Actually, it may be more than a few moments... the first video clip alone is probably about 8 minutes long, although the second clip is much shorter. But it's well worth the time - and if you've been watching Conan, Colbert and/or Stewart over the past few weeks, you can probably skip the longer clip.

And I promise to post something interesting here soon.

Sunday Seven - What's On My Mind

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Name seven things on your mind today.

Either answer the question in a comment or answer it in your journal and include the link in a comment. (To be considered “first to play,” a link must be to the specific entry in which you answered the question.) You may include this link in the URL space when leaving your comment, or in the comment itself. As long as it’s there in one spot or the other.

1. Saturday was the 16th anniversary of the day Mark proposed to me. Yes, that's right, he chose the most romantic day of the year: Groundhog Day. He also hadn't gotten around to shopping for a ring yet, so he instead gave me packets of "engagement ketchup" from Wendy's. Just drips with sentiment, doesn't it? But it was one of my best days ever, because it was the day when I became the luckiest woman on Earth.
2. The writers strike is hurting me in a very real, physical way. I have only myself to blame, though, for allowing my TV dependence to grow to such epic proportions. I will probably need medication if I find out that the continuing strike will cut short the final season of Scrubs. Not fair! And I miss all my other shows, too...
3. I can't hold my liquor like I used to back in the day.
   
4. Do I come off as a racist? Or a xenophobe? Because people keep forwarding me the most vile, reprehensible trash, including the well-known Barack Obama slimefest email and lots of similarly sleazy attacks on others, such as immigrants (even those who are here quite legally). As shocking as the content is, I'm not surprised that it's out there - unfortunately, there are plenty of small-minded, mean-spirited buffoons out there to circulate this garbage. What really concerns me is the fact that this crap keeps appearing in my inbox... What on earth would make anyone who has ever met me think that I would appreciate this sort of bile? Does anyone out there really think I'm that small? The thought of it saddens me.
5. It would be nice if I could get all my Christmas decorations put away before Lent begins this Wednesday...
6. Universal healthcare needs to happen soon. And I don't just mean that everyone has to buy a policy - I'm talking full-on socialized medicine, that treats and bills every patient equally, no matter what their job happens to be or how much money they have.
7. I wish Mark & I could take a real vacation sometime soon... We will hopefully get to go away together at some point this year, but I really think he needs it right now.