I love her daily count-down.
Not complaining. As winter's go...so far we have had very little snow or ice and only about a week of single digit weather.
I've seen a bit of snow. I'm good.
Moving glacier slow today. Watched the Iowa Caucuses for the very first time last night. Political Junkie that I am.
So I only have two questions:
WTF?
(...seriously...)
The GOP caucuses were fairly straight ahead. Dare I say civilized? You sign in. You receive a small slip of paper. One district actually had their's in the shape of an elephant. And one of those little mini golf pencils. How cute. You listen to the contenders last minute appeals for your vote. You write the name of the person you are supporting as the Primary Candidate, and you put it in a box. One caucus had a wicker hamper. Then you leave. That is it.
The whole process.
Not so with the Democratic Caucus. The word archaic doesn't even DO this justice, okay? Clusterfuck comes to mind. Seriously. I felt stupider for watching the whole thing. In the Democratic Caucus...they sign in. If you aren't in line or in the building at cut-off time you are excluded from the process. Everyone proceeds to stand in their little tribes The Hillary Voters Here, The Bernie's Here, The O'Malley's Way Over There (both of you) The early arrivals get seats. The rest get to stand. When the voting begins they ask everyone who is seated for a specific candidate to stand. Everyone who is on the floor without seats must raise their hand for the specific candidate. (....really....I couldn't make this up...) then they go around the room and count each raised hand or each standing (previously seated) person. It was like a horrible parody of Duck-Duck-Goose. One of the caucuses I watched did a re-count several times. So after they counted your vote you could put your hand down or resume your seat. They did this for each candidate. There were several newcomers who left after they were counted the first time...so when they did the re-count it was off...and they re-counted again.
Jesus Wept.
The Numbers for the GOP were available in less than an hour after their caucus ended.
At MIDNIGHT last night the Democrats STILL didn't have 100% of the Caucus in...but both Hilary and Bernie were at 50% and 50% of the votes...and O'Malley had dropped out of the race. They are still tallying things today.
Which leads to my Second Question:
When did 50%-50% equal "I WON" as Hillary claimed her "victory" ?????
And at least 3 Caucuses actually tossed a coin to distribute delegates. And if you win the coin-toss you lose a delegate.
A COIN TOSS. Are you effing kidding me?
This was the Headline I woke up to....please note the 50% and 50% in the side box.
So anyway, it was a learning experience...and what I learned is:
Like Sausage...sometimes it is better not watching the process, and
this is the first time I EVER thought the GOP did anything more efficiently.
Biggest Winner of the Night...Bernie...who came up from nothing to running neck and neck (tie) with the established candidate and got his message across to the entire nation last night. And now the Mainstream Media have to pay attention.
Biggest Loser of the Night. Had to be Donald Trump who got pummelled back by Ted Cruz. I don't think anyone was expecting THAT. Especially The Donald. Rubio bunched in a herd a bit closer and Mike Huckabee dropped out of the race, altogether.
And so...onward to New Hampshire!
And Clive Bundy (from the family ranch) issued a call for more militia to join the fray. If he were Islamic...this would be known as a call to jihad...by the way. Meanwhile Ammon Bundy (still incarcerated) is asking the 4 remaining hold-outs to please peacefully surrender.
The four hold-outs (one of whom is a tagalong from Ohio...and not too tightly wrapped) are STILL refusing to leave unless they are promised complete immunity.
"We will leave if you release the other domestic terrorists...er...Patriots from jail, promise us immunity, let everybody just go home, oh...and order us all a steak dinner and a case of beer to celebrate."
Okay, I made up the steak and beer part...but face it, they might as well be asking for that as well.
They stand an equal chance of ever getting it.
I do see an all expense paid vacation at a Federal Prison in their future, though.
So we continue to watch. Meanwhile this little group is racking up taxpayer expense of almost 100,000 a day for each day they remain.
Last...a discovery of not one but two great reads on Monday!
The New Christopher Moore: Secondhand Souls
The long awaited sequel to "A Dirty Job".
Christopher Moore is a wickedly funny author.
And the recently released non-fiction by Kelly Carlin (George's Daughter)
A Carlin Home Companion.
I've just started the Carlin, and it is outstanding...a look at George (and family life) from the inside.
Will review both soon.
Also have decided to forgo the virtual next destination (Portugal) in A Year in The World...and am going to enjoy a bit more of Spain. So much to see, experience!
More Anon...
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| Woke to a Yard FULL of Cardinals! |
And my Eldest and His Wife and their son and daughter who took the kids to see The Monster Trucks over the Weekend!
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| And Aiden! |
