I voted at last

I went in during early voting, and finally got it done, though I'm always a little suspicious of those voting machines with no paper trail. When's somebody gonna standardize voting procedures across the country, huh? But I'm glad I did my part, and can't wait for the final results on Nov. 4. Texas probably can't turn blue this year, but maybe it'll come close, and I hope we can at least get in Rick Noriega for Senator. Because my company cut back our work hours lately, I've been short of cash to contribute to campaigns, but I will try to do it with my next paycheck.

I'm relieved now that I've voted. For a period of a couple of weeks last month I couldn't find my registration card, and was even writing a letter to the county to request a new one, when suddenly I found my card again. Also, I feel good about my effort at getting other votes for Obama. For a while, a friend of mine who was a Hillary supporter said she wasn't going to vote at all, but I successfully talked her (and her mother) into voting for Obama, and I gave them information about voting early, since they don't have internet access to look up things on the county website. My friend never at any point hated Obama; she loved him and the Clintons, despite all the divisiveness of the primary, but she felt disappointed by Obama's VP pick, so I had to talk up Biden's qualifications and point out that Hillary could still do great things by remaining in the Senate. (Also, I pointed out my personal opinion that if Hillary was VP, people would still constantly say that Bill was really in control, an argument that appealed to the feminist in her.) I would strongly prefer that the first female VP or Pres should be perceived to be on her own, not as a part of some "team" or "co-presidency."

I can't wait for this crazy election to be over. It's stressed me out and pissed me off so much. As I've mentioned before, my workplace has CNN Headline News on TV, and no matter how much we employees complain, the goddamn management will never turn the freaking channel (except for brief periods like the Olympics or company meetings). This company is already paying the bill for the cable access and the big TVs, and they don't think it's worth turning the channel for a free boost in employee morale? I speak mainly of the Nancy Grace show, which annoys many employees because of the awful, disturbing crimes reported there and the endless Caylee Anthony obsession this summer. What's worse is that employees have been complaining since the stupid Anna Nicole death and aftermath, saying they'd rather see local news and weather that actually mattered to them, but nobody listens to us.

And I personally was politically offended every day by Glenn Beck or other right-leaning commentators on that channel. I am relieved that Glenn Beck's show is gone now, replaced by Lou Dobbs's show from CNN. Sure, Lou Dobbs is right-wing too, but I don't stay to watch him either. I've taken to not eating my lunch in the break room or (because of my lack of funds to eat out) eating my meal quickly and leaving halfway through our break time so I can avoid hearing the infuriating punditry. When Glenn Beck was on he almost always seemed to be yelling and trying to rile up his viewers with his stupid arguments. I remember him trying to debunk global warming by saying that scientists had discovered evidence that the Earth was way hotter than it was now. Well, no shit! The Earth was formed from matter and gas leftovers from the Sun. It was a flaming ball of molten rock until the atmosphere formed, and the oceans cooled it down. Of course it was freaking hot before! The point is, WE humans cannot survive in such freaking hot conditions, and neither can other lifeforms we depend upon. So we can't just let the Earth get that hot again, willy-nilly, if we want to continue to live here. He's such an idiot, and what made it worse were the Headline News advertisements for his show, using clips of him saying, "I'm not a ____, but I am a thinker." No, you're not a thinker, Beck, and you do not have common sense!

Anyway, good riddance to him. FOX can have Beck. I hope that if CNN Headline News continues to feel that they need a conservative on their network, that they get one that's not so annoying, like Michael Smerconish, who filled in for Beck sometimes, and at least didn't yell as much. He sounded much more reasonable, actually let Democratic spokesmen speak, and he did praise Obama before for talking about going after Bin Laden. But I guess his recent endorsement of Obama would somehow disqualify him from being considered a true conservative by the nutters. Sigh. I can't wait for this election to be over.