Got Her Done.....

It was dark-thirty at 7 a.m. this morning when I stopped at the North Tampa Library to place my vote.
A little surreal... the lady in front of me made quite a lot of noise about my perfume causing her asthma to kick in.  I put a lot of space between her and me, and when I entered into the balloting room, about 10 minutes after I arrived, I had to, for the first time, show my driver's license.  It was handed back to me with a white receipt on which the poll-worker had drawn a yellow magic marker line.  She told me to go to the yellow line.

Immediately suspicious, was I being sent to the yellow line because I was a woman?  Because I looked over 55?  Because I was white... I studied the green and orange lines (each with about 10 people) and could find no obvious "lumping" by demographics.  The captain of the yellow line gestured to me....I asked her...why was I yellow?  She responded, "because we have 5 lines, each a different color, and we open them as needed depending on traffic flow."  "The crowd just got bigger, so I opened the yellow line, and you are the first one in it.".... I felt pretty foolish.  The county ballot was absurd, one page for the voting and 4 pages of small printing (once in English, once in Spanish) of each of the tom-fool amendments our legislators sought to burden us with.  I finished in rapid order and inserted each page into the machine, got my sticker (above) and walked out.

Whole process, 20 minutes.  Effort?.... priceless.

GO VOTE!

My Struggle to Regain My Civil Rights

July looms before me.

For the first time in 8 years, I must obtain a new Driver's License.

A lot has changed since I got the old one.

I won't blame  our fine governor, Rick Scott,  for the DL changes.... no, the effort to exclude people from driving in the state of Florida (and hence, having an official identity here) began in the Charlie Crist area.  It was simple.  Suddenly, in order to obtain a Driver's License, it wasn't enough to have one from another state, along with a Social Security card, like I had in 1996 when I first got my Florida DL, a document I have lawfully possessed for the last 17 years, requalifying for the card in 2004.

Now I must prove my birth, with an official birth certificate, complete with seal.... a document created on paper some 57 years ago (I have this; having replaced it in the last 10 years).    And, since I am a second-class citizen, a woman who, when married, ACTUALLY CHANGED HER LAST NAME to match her husband's... I must prove that my FORMER  last name on my birth certificate matches the former last name on my marriage license.  This document was obtained somewhere in Rochester, New York, some 33 years ago.

It is possible that my ex-husband still has that marriage certificate somewhere, with the original copy of my birth certificate, and those of my children, which were entrusted to his care by virtue of the fact that he got to keep the fireproof safe in the divorce.  I would call and ask, since we live on good terms, but that didn't work with the birth certificates, all of which I have paid to replace.  It is more likely that the marriage certificate got shredded than those birth papers anyway, meaningless piece of paper it was to him, especially after he remarried.  I digress.

I began my quest yesterday when I learned that, in the state of New York, where I was married, where virtually every official "thing" in the state...outside of the NYC boroughs,  is at the County level.  The County website eventually yielded the fact that the marriage license records are issued and stored by the TOWNSHIPS within the county.  It is likely that mine was issued (I confess, I remember the ceremony, not getting the license) in the town of Greece, where we lived and Frank worked...or in the city of Rochester, where I worked.  I have started with the town, which only accepts apps for copies by MAIL, with money orders attached.  If that doesn't work, I will need to go thru the same process with the city.  Hopefully, one of these two sorties will produce the document I need, some 33 years later, in order to prove that I can drive in Florida.   I ask the question... does this happen to married males?  If I qualified to change my SSN with the freakin' Federal government in 1979, and have filed tax returns ever since (and had DL's in two different states)....why the hell does Florida need to make me prove my name change?

Would you believe I also have to produce 2 utility bills at my current address to get the license?  That particular requirement is designed to curb the ability of non-property owners (translation...young citizens most probably born in Florida).  Good thing I pay my own utilities where I rent.

Oh, yes.  The DL?  The current governor's regime has passed strict new voting laws that could pose a problem for me since I am a renter.  Thus, once I have said DL, I will need to insure that I am properly VOTER REGISTERED, something I have done 8 times before in the state of Florida without having to prove my identity.  Thanks to Rick Scott, there are many, many new rules to follow before you can vote.  I like to think that Rick didn't restrict a large portion of the population (women, young people, the elderly, the indigent) just because he knows that I will vote to move his ass out of Tallahassee at my first opportunity.  He didn't really have anything against me... no more than the rest of women, young people, the elderly, the indigent.  His administration also removed the right of the incarcerated to vote.  I guess I know where I stand.

 I am registered as an independent (or was registered), so it is likely that that I will have no problem getting registered, once I show those utility bills and that much prized DL that I had to move heaven and earth to get.  It would be different if I was formerly registered as a  .... Democrat.  God knows what I would have to produce then.

I'm tired of this nonsense.

VOTERS ARE ENERGIZED

POSTSCRIPT, NOV 9: ISSUE 2 GOES DOWN IN OHIO. SO MUCH FOR OVERREACH.

American voters aren’t so much energized by candidates any more. Perhaps that is because there is so little to choose from. Instead, we are seeing energy behind issues.

One such issue is the overreach of many Republican governors who swept into office in 2010, fueled by voters need for a “change”. Many brought needless abortion battles, voter suppression battles and anti-environment battles to the forefront, despite the fact that they campaigned on a “jobs and smaller government” platform. One coordinated effort, backed my big money and big conservative corporate power brokers is the coordinated effort against collective bargaining.

Made most famous by the blundering Scott Walker, who overreached in Wisconsin, causing much public protest, and perhaps a recall of himself from office in 2012, the anti-union campaign would have been successful if it had reined in only some union sacrifice, in the form of wages and benefits. Such a campaign would have been powerful to the people, and most public unions could have made such sacrifices for the good of the whole. But, Walker chose to restrict collective bargaining, a long-standing American civil right of labor.

And, in Ohio, his counterpart, John Kasich, exceeded the overreach, and eventually won himself the moniker of the most unpopular governor in the nation, surpassing even our own beloved adopted Floridian, the governor Rick Scott, also known as Valdemort, the evil. Kasich did this by smugly leading the newly anointed Republican houses of legislature to outlaw collective bargaining, and, this time, not only for public employees including teachers, but also including firemen and police (Walker had the common sense not to, he planned to include the uniformed public servants in a future legislative session).

The result? Having debated and shoveled the legislature through in barely 2 months, ahead of ANY effort to produce a jobs bill, the governor and his minions were overwhelmed by public protest… thousands picketed the state capitol in March, 2011, and “We Are Ohio”, a labor backed coalition, easily gathered 1.3 million signatures and raised $24 million in funds to push a repeal to the ballot on Tuesday, November 8. 17,000 volunteers on Tuesday could help support a vote that could galvanize the Democratic party, ignite the labor movement, and potentially help lead to Walker’s ouster in 2012. Recognizing the foolishness of what they’d done, Kasich proposed in August a compromise, with 10 representatives of the union to speak with him about curtailing the bill-that-was-now-a-foolish-law. With 57% of voters against Kasich and Issue 2 in the polls, the unions declined.

Kasich is facing a watershed defeat today. So much for strongarm tactics in American government. Now maybe we can stop this kind of crap in Washington, too.

Ho Hum..... I still have to vote?

John McCain wrapped up his party's nomination on March 4, 2008.

Although he has a lot of work to do to get elected, until his final opponent was known, McCain's primary job was to seek funding to begin his campaign battle against his final opponent.

Oh, yeah. He also had another job. He's a US Senator! Let's see how he did in that job (from the diary of blogger LithiumCola):

Since April 8, 2008, at 2:17 p.m., Senator Barack Obama has voted 17 times in U.S. Senate. Since April 8, 2008, at 2:17 p.m., Senator John McCain has voted 0 times.

I'm not naive. I know that senators and representatives running for re-election or higher office often have sketchy voting records while campaigning. Obama's could be better. Same with Hillary's.... of course, neither had wrapped up their nomination for some months. Informed candidates have their staffs keeping track of key measures, and making time to show up to vote.

Since the earth-shattering, world changing afternoon in early April, Senator Barack Obama has voted on such diverse issues as Medicare, Veterans Affairs, Flood Insurance, and the U.S. Budget. He voted on the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Perhaps you are not completely sure what all of those votes were about. That's okay: it's not as though you cast any. And neither did U.S. Senator John S. McCain.

Just an example:

Let me spell one out...this one's important to my industry and my job, because payments under Medicare to certain physicians and under certain medical conditions were about to expire. That means elderly treating under these provisions of Medicare might not be able to continue treatment, because Medicare would no longer pay their physicians. This is bill number HR6331.

Here's what happened:

6/20/2008
Introduced in House

6/24/2008
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 355 - 59 (Roll no. 443).

7/9/2008
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.

7/9/2008
Cleared for White House.

7/10/2008
Presented to President.
7/15/2008
Vetoed by President.

7/15/2008
Passed House over veto: Two-thirds of the Members present having voted in the affirmative the bill is passed, the Passed by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 383 - 41 (Roll no. 491).
7/15/2008
Passed Senate over veto: Passed Senate over veto by Yea-Nay Vote. 70 - 26. Record Vote Number: 177.
7/15/2008
Became Public Law No: 110-275 [Text, PDF]

A little more background:

WASHINGTON - Members of Congress, led by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), voted Tuesday to override President Bush’s veto of H.R. 6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008.

An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of the House voted 383-41 to pass the bill and ensure that millions of seniors, military families and other beneficiaries would continue to receive the healthcare they need and deserve. The Senate soon followed with its own 70-26 vote ensuring that the measure would become law.

McCain missed one of the most important healthcare votes on 7/9/2008. He also missed the 7/15/2008 vote to overturn Dubya's veto of this bill.

I'm not a big Ted Kennedy fan, but Kennedy, whose diagnosis of brain tumor occurred in May of this year, made an effort to vote on 7/9/2008, for this bill. Obama voted both on the measure and to overturn the veto. You'll note there were 383 House votes and 70 Senate votes against the veto. And McCain?

Senator John McCain did not vote "Yes." He did not vote "No," either. He didn't vote. U.S. Senator John S. McCain had better things to do. Better things involving "health care," a phrase which appeared four times in his historic acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

McCain's words were historic because they laid out his Republican vision to capture the Republican White House from Republicans, for Republicans. A vision seen in action when Senator Kennedy voted "Yes" on "health care" while suffering from a malignant brain tumor and Senator McCain had better things to do.

Better things to do on that day like launch a TV ad in which Senator John McCain praised Senator John McCain's love of his country.

Here's the text of that ad:

It was a time of uncertainty, hope and change. The Summer of Love. Half a world away another kind of love. Of country. John McCain. Shot down. Bayoneted. Tortured. Offered early release, he said no. He had sworn an oath. At home he turned to public service. His philosophy: before party, polls and self: America. A maverick.

There's nothing to enhance your maverick image quite like not voting in the Senate for nearly 6 months.