Campaigning

I don't understand the idea of campaign yard signs.

I get the ones that advocate a certain policy position or vote yes/no (only one, obviously) on a certain proposition.

And if it's actually in someone's yard, I can understand that - people are strong supporters of a candidate and are proud to express their support to the world.

But what about the ones that are in a random field or especially the ones right outside the polling place? Is the premise that, if someone has no idea how to vote, they will suddenly pick a name since they saw a sign for it? God, I hope not. The mere thought of that scares me - I would much rather those people don't vote at all.
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I'm also skeptical of voter registration drives. If people don't care enough to register to vote on their own, is their vote really worth it? Since everything is done by secret ballot, simply registering someone to vote also isn't enough. There's no way to tell if they actually voted for the candidate that registered them, or even if they'll end up voting at all.

It's also been reported that face-to-face contact with voters is the most effective way to register someone. Well, yeah, but that's because there's probably a lot more pressure to sign the form than to simply hang up the phone.

Although it's admirable to get more citizens involved in the democratic process, the reasons for which it's being done aren't so admirable. By reaching outside the normal electorate, Obama is basically conceding that the current voters wouldn't elect him into office.

If that's the case, and the new voters are only voting for him under pressure, where's the win in that? And more importantly, if he does win, will he have enough political capital to make any bold moves once he's in office?

Mac whore

So I officially became a Mac whore today.

I traded in my ThinkPad at work for a MacBook Pro.

I now have a regular MacBook, a MacBook Pro, an iPhone and an iPod (albeit an old one).

Better than Sarah Palin

See you at the fake inauguration, bitches.

One more..

I'm not sure when this became an anti-Palin blog, but here's another video:



She's much more qualified than originally thought, if she reads ALL the magazines and newspapers.