Booyor’s BLOGgh!

Today our eldest daughter and I were in the grocery store checking out.  She was sitting in the cart and pointed to a magazine on the shelf.  “Look, Mom, it’s Obama and his lady.”

I looked at the magazine and sure enough, the president-elect and his “lady” were on the front cover.  She was very excited about it.  Then she found another magazine:  “Oh, Mom, it’s Obama and his girls.”  Yep, another one with the future first family on the cover.

She continued to talk about Obama and all his ladies until we were headed out the door.  I finally asked, “Do you know who Obama is?”  She replied, “He’s that man… that man that won the American game.”

Somehow I never pictured her as this.

We’ve had some sad news hit the community.

We’ve also had some good news.

photo by Cheryl Evans/ Arizona Republic

What happens when political families own the same copy of Dress for Success, Slade’s and my bedtime story growing up

With the final tally of money spent by both candidates combined at about $8 per vote, I can’t help but think of the Booyor System of Money. I see everything in terms of what I could’ve purchased instead. It used to be PS2 Greatest Hits ($19.99, guaranteed). “Let’s avoid that bank fee; that’s a PS2 game.” “Let’s not eat out tonight; that’s a PS2 game.” “I’ll hitchhike to work this week; that’s a PS2 game.” (Just kidding, Mom.)

So now our future Presidents have spent $8 per voter to get me to choose them. On the positive, I think we’ll see record numbers of voter turnout (and you will hear all about our Day of Ruing tomorrow).

Two questions, though:

1. Could anyone actually become President without spending more than $1,000?
   (Or even a million?) What kind of system is it when only rich/famous people can become President? Are they more qualified? (Okay, so that was all question one.)
2. What could they have spent that $8 on?

Right now I can’t tackle what’s hugely wrong with a media-drunk information society voting. But I can make some suggestions on what to spend the $8 on next time if you’re buying for me.

1. Wii Points - I could have gotten a decent Virtual Console game from the NES, Genesis, or Super NES. Ninja Gaiden? Hello?
2. 8 double cheeseburgers from McDonald’s - Hey, I’ll foot the sales tax. And if you’re going to one of those crummy McDonald’s, I’ll settle for the Hot n’ Spicy if they don’t have double cheeseburgers. In Albuquerque, add some green peppers. Charleston - Mickey D’s Sweet Tea
3. A matinee movie ticket - We might even have enough left over to fill up a Harkins cup
4. A RedBox keeper - Sure, it doesn’t have the fancy packaging. But at least it’s Iron Man and not Let Me Blame the Other Guy…Man.
5. Two dozen donuts
6. 6 vanilla mocha RockStars - Mmmm…I love elections.
7. A book - When Hunger Games comes out in paperback, you owe me. Or get my library another copy of Bogus to Bubbly.
8. 8 songs on iTunes- Would that cover every Weird Al polka medley?
9. Health Care for a kid in Honduras for a month
10. 800 pennies - Put them in a sock and I’ll get you the votes you need.

These are just off the top of my head, fellows. If you’re going to make policy, at least send me a better gift.

Update: By the time we’re done, it will be an estimated $5.3 billion spent on everyone’s (the Hillarys, Dodds, Romneys of the world included) campaigns. $5.3 billion. Yeah, the GDP of Nicaragua.

Should news sources publish up-to-the-minute tallies of votes in an election?

Also, should my district have given me access to a district-sponsored domain name?

District Logo Rev 2.0:

Scroll until you find your appropriate portion.
The Star Wars Portion
First, every single time I watch A New Hope, I tear up at The Force theme, the song that plays right when Luke screams, “No!” and starts firing randomly after the Kenobi/Vader duel. Every time.

I finished Force Unleashed today. There are some moments with the Apprentice theme that the same feelings occur. It does capture the Star Wars mood. And a battle damaged Vader versus the Apprentice, with Apprentice screaming, “You should have killed me when you had the chance!” as you are locking Wii Remotes quickly and savagely to push Vader back - yeah, fanboy moments galore (ever want to throw a squad of stormtroopers into a test-firing Death Star chamber?). Nice job on fanboy moments, LucasArts…now to make a classic game. We’ll see about replay value. It’s pretty much paced like a movie.

Today was the funeral for an old student from our junior high and on Sunday I have the funeral for my friend Chuck. If you see me in person and wonder if my heart is worn out, it is. Today was a good day for Star Wars. (On that topic - when are we meeting, paper and pencil friends? (Non-gamers have now assumed that I make origami companions.))

The “Happy Tech Could Help” Portion
Hey, the message from Renaissance Bible Church is up. We put it up earlier this week, but I got distracted by a Legend of Zelda theme that burned my brain. Check out their podcast for the message. Some context: the local church body that isn’t connected to Wachovia is connected to Lehman Brothers, so Matthew 6 is kinda gutsy and needed. He’ll mention how a “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” mentality is like telling someone to not think of something: they automatically think of that unwanted thing. To demonstrate, he mentions some “meal” involving bacon, syrup, and I’m assuming a defibrillator. For my non-Southern readers, substitute a steak (or, in my case, a toss up between sashimi and a Hot Pocket (although the Pillsbury Toaster Strudels bring back good memories)(Did I mention that I lost 10 pounds unintentionally using Wii Fit?)).

The Baked Goods Portion
Really, you should check out that Toaster Strudel website. Flaky crust Flash player hotspots. Peter laughs then cries.

The Proud Father Portion
My oldest got complimented in pre-school today. The teacher sat my wife down to tell her that my oldest is very artistically advanced. Woo! My daughter also has made up a word. To remember which feet her shoes go on, she calls them a backwards butterfly. Her word for that?

doval (n) - DOH-val a backwards butterfly; usage - “To remember which shoes go on which feet, ask yourself: Does this look like a doval?”

The first time she said it I thought she said dovin basal. (Refer back to The Star Wars Portion.)

The “Okay, So I’m Not Quite So Jaded, Just Cautious” Section
I went back to read my reviews of Obama’s Audacity of Hope (Review 1, 2, and 3) Even then I was jaded about this election, it was just in haiku form.

I remember enjoying the book, for the most part, but finding some key parts that bugged me. Check out the 1, 2, and 3 links for more detail. His peer evaluations for teachers has some flaws and he does clump in National Right to Life with the NRA, which makes me kinda cringe. I do (non-sarcastically) like Obama’s megalomania quote.

Innocent blood and a distaste for extremes: I wish we could take an average of the two parties. My big issue is abortion, plain and simple. It’s like a William Wilberforce abolitionist issue with me. Where were the slaveholder’s rights? Sometimes we have to infringe when it’s life-death issues. This is not a Republican/Democrat thing, because you can bet if Giuliani (or, my goodness, Bob Packwood) was the Republican option, I would not stick with party ties. Being a father of a daughter born a month early and the brother-in-law to a guy born two months early, we must be very cautious as to when we determine a person is a person. Yes, I agree with Obama that we need to increase the Family and Medical Leave Act to help with the financial burden of having a child. (Although I have more than one co-worker who is spending way too much money to adopt a child…there’s a disconnect.) Something that I think is forgotten is that rich women have abortions, too.

Check out my good friend from college (Mike, you’ll want to click) who just got accepted to be an adoptive parent.

I’m also a big proponent of feeding the poor (taking care of widows and orphans and all that). The government and big business do not have a good track record with this, both Democrat and Republican. This is why two of my mentors, Randy Alcorn and Don Miller, are sometimes at odds. (Although now seeing Donald Miller’s “Mentoring For President ‘08″, I dig Don even more.)(To add info that Don Miller doesn’t have is that McCain goes to North Phoenix Baptist. I can’t see into either candidate’s heart, though.)

Check the voting records for Obama and McCain for more details.

Check out Alcorn’s and Miller’s blogs for great insights from great writers.

And continue to be annoyed by Internet rumors that smear and/or relate to how Bill Gates will pay me a million dollars for forwarding that e-mail.

Editor’s note: Can anyone do a word count? I may have rambled more than Slade rambling about Shaq. (Messing with you, fool. CAN YOU DIG IT?!)

America, you have one month to prepare for your elections to be postponed. You have not met my demands and as such you will rue. My elite force of nerds and librarians (and nerd-librarians) are at this very moment staging an offensive against your dayplanners.

Brown Squadron, you have just been re-activated.

Update: Check the factcheck.org or Yahoo article to sift through some of the spin. Also, if you’re tired of politics, check out a video from Peter and a video from Danjo. Slade, you need both. “It’s the final countdown!”
Debates and state ads interrupting my dinner (yay, 3rd grade extra credit for watching the debate):
The new catchphrase with candidates is campaign reform, but I’m not seeing it, especially at the state level. The VPs were relatively polite, surprisingly, during the debate tonight. Why can’t the locals learn from that? But then there’s all that other junk. I wouldn’t lend money to a friend who kept wasting my money on junk. These guys keep using my money for stuff that could have fed homeless people, saved librarians in Mesa…even just to buy everyone in the Valley a hackey-sack I would deem more useful. “John Shadegg voted against soldiers and kids and will take away your MediCare fund”. (Think I’m joking? Click away.) I see no improvement in the mud-slinging department. I wonder how my dad tolerates it - I’m burned out by it all at 29.

I was whatever about Arpaio until two events: one, when I saw him saying one thing about looking for one thing in his sweeps of Guadalupe and that he had no idea he would find illegal immigrants. The way his eyes resembled a student lying to me bugged me. The other was when he said he was pulling all police coverage from Guadalupe. Criminals, move here. A “No Comment” response to an ad that plays during primetime like this? I don’t want my kids watching and repeating this.

The whole vote for a lesser evil-thing has not set well with me this election. It’s not a policy I would take in selecting a teacher, a babysitter, or a doctor. (Although when I have to choose between McDonald’s/Arby’s or Wal-Mart/Target, I do feel like I’m choosing one of two evils.) I don’t think it lines up with the vision statement of a “more perfect Union”.

Are there going to be other candidates at the next debate?

1. The ads about Dan Saban

2. Kelly from the Office just said on Leno that it’s post-poned a week. America, you have been warned.

With both of these, a caution: It’s open to the Internet. The Internet is open to morons. Just, you know, in case you had any doubts.

If you’re like me and bored/frustrated about traditional news broadcasters, check out what Twitter and currentTV.com are doing with the debates:

Wired has a new Twitter widget, as well:

The next Hack the Debate occurs during the VP debate on Oct. 2 at current.com/debate