Wednesday, November 05, 2008

A bright new day



We hope a better day, but for sure a different way to a different day. It is hard to imagine how it could not be better than what we have.




Wild turkeys in front of Clayton's house about 3 pm today on my walk. That is Mama's lilac bush on the right. Whoops! I think that is Claytons forsythia bush instead of the lilac.

There was about 20 turkeys all together.






Sunday, November 02, 2008

Polls

I have never had much faith in the polls that have the O winning next Tuesday. If they had him way ahead in the critical states I would have more faith, but I just do not have faith as it stands now. As someone said today, I have been snake bit twice, 2000 & 2004, and I am afraid of the polling snake.

And.... I have considered that nearly if not all the polls are conducted by news organizations that have a vested interest in keeping us tuned in. If this were a run away electionn by either party, there would be 2 losers on election night, the losing candidate and all the news people that depend on us tuning in to their blathering.

Today, my distrust of the polls was validated when I saw that realclear had gone real murky and taken Arkansas from McCain sure thing to leaning McCain. Now, regardless of what anyone may read ANYWHERE on the net, I absolutely KNOW Arkansas will go for McCain next Tuesday. There is no way a black man is going to carry Arkansas in a national election anytime in this or the next decade. Maybe in the next century, but that is still really doubtful. Any poll that says different is not based in reality. Polls are based on the needs of the people paying for the polls. That is why polls conducted by a political party are not trusted by anyone, even the ones conduction the polls. If political party polls are suspect because they return results favorable to their own cause, why then would news media polls not be suspect because they return results favorable to the news media. That is, results showing a close race so that we need to stay tuned to their 'news'? No news is really bad news if your job depends on the news.

But, wait, what I wanted to say is I found this article on the net that I really liked. Just and ordinary person telling his story, but I found if interesting.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1103/p09s02-coop.html

The Contest

I think one reason I enjoy this election so much is just the idea of the contest to see who wins. I would say race to the finish, but we are not supposed to talk about race in this contest. I like competitions that depend on brain power to win, or as in the case of McCain and Palin, the lack of brain power. That is why, I think, I enjoy the news quizzes. Of course, they do not measure brain power, but how much time one wastes listening and reading the current junk on line and on television.

Now I have found a new contest. Go here
http://americanresearchgroup.com/

and predict the out come of the national election. They ask for your email, and it must be a valid email addy, so if you do not want to give them your email addy, don't bother.

Since I like contests so much one would think I would want to precipitate in all sorts of guessing games. But, I only do this if there is no risk of losing anything of value. I never pay money to enter contests, not even the $1 raffles at work. If there is something valuable at risk, I am very hesitant to take sides least I lose something that I value. I do not value a dollar all that much, but still I rarely enter any contest that asks for even one dollar in return for a chance to win. I guess for me the question is, 'What have I got to lose?' and, 'What might I gain?' If they are asking for my opinion and no money what do I gain? A little bit of fun. If contests are fun and take little effort or time to enter, I like to join in. However, if it takes more than 5 minutes of my time, I pass.

The moral of this story is that I am lazy and cheap. Or in other words, a Democrat.

And, for this current contest that is going on nationwide right now, I am worrying about Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida. I think Pennsylvania is pretty safe, but I am really worried about Ohio. A Florida bank failed yesterday. That might help us in Florida.

Obama was in Springfield, MO last night. I think Winnie Jo's state is going stupid (for McCain).