Dean Nelson

I got a new webcam, so I decided to play around with it last night. Here are a couple of videos of me and the kids.

First, a little message to Uncle Shawn:

Ava shows off her vocabulary:

This pretty much sums up how so many of us Obama supporters feel:

I’m relieved that the campaign is over and that Obama is going to be our next president. Now let’s hope that he doesn’t get assassinated before he even takes office.

Measure 56 is to choose whether we overturn Oregon’s double majority voting law, or keep it as is. For those unaware, “double majority” means that at least 50% of registered voters have to vote, and then 50% of those who voted must vote “yes” for a ballot measure to pass. The double majority rule is used to pass certain local tax measures during the “off-season” of voting, which is generally less publicized and less likely to get mainstream attention, as opposed to the “general election” like this year.

A double majority vote means that anyone who doesn’t vote is essentially a “no” vote. Practically, that means that if 20% of voters vote, and 11% of them vote “yes” while the other 9% vote “no”, the “no” votes are joined by the non-votes – the other 80% of voters who didn’t vote. So then you’re left with 11% “yes” votes against 89% “no” votes, which defeats the measure. Without double majority, it would’ve passed with the 11% approval, which would actually be 55% approved to 45% opposed.

I wasn’t sure, initially, how to vote for this ballot measure. There are two sides to this coin. One side says “double majority elections proport voter apathy and hurt government agencies like police and fire departments from getting the funding they need.” The other side says “double majority elections protect voters by preventing lesser-known measures from passing, therefor saving taxpayers’ money.” I get both sides of the coin. I understand them. And that’s why I’m conflicted on this measure. It’s not easy, because both sides have very good points.

I’m glad we have voters’ pamphlets, because I’d be lost in this year’s election craziness without ‘em. Measure 56 has 7 pages of arguments from 20 or so different sources in favor of it, with only 2 1/2 pages from 5 sources against it. That tells me something – people feel more strongly about supporting this measure than opposing it. Supporters of this measure include the director of the Portland Public School Board, 20 mayors around Oregon, the American Federation of Teachers, Oregon State Fire Fighters Council, and others.

Aside from the huge support of Measure 56, there’s one more thing that pushes me in the direction of voting to approve this – voter apathy. I am not sympathetic to voter apathy, which is exactly what double majority protects. Voting is a right. If you don’t vote, then you waive the right to complain if something doesn’t go your way. Wanting to protect citizens who don’t vote is understandable to an extent, but I would hope that with the double majority rule abolished, voters would finally wisen up and do what they should – vote. That’s why I’ll be voting in favor of passing Measure 56, and I hope that you do the same.

If you’re as sick of Sarah Palin as I am, then you’ll enjoy this. I couldn’t resist posting Aden Nak’s flow chart of Sarah Palin’s speech process here for all of my loyal readers (read: my grandma [I love you Granny!]) to see:

While I’m on the subject, let me say this: the Vice Presidential debate Thursday night was hilarious. Palin made strong (and sometimes, sadly, successful) efforts to get out of answering questions. She tried to change the subject at practically every turn. Hell, she still doesn’t know what the VP does. Watch as Joe Biden takes her to school (start at the 2:50 mark):

That makes me LOL. I hear her talk, and all she says are buzzwords. It’s all she seems to know. Just like the flow chart above, she just reads buzzwords off of her cards – “agenda”, “usher”, “flexibility”, “tapping into”, “administer” – big words that don’t really mean anything substantial.

It’s not just that she doesn’t say anything worth saying, but that she’s wrong when she does say something semi-meaningful. She thinks that she can expand the role of the VP further into the Senate, but then Biden comes in to take her to school: “[The legislative role of the Vice President is] to preside over the Senate only in a time when, in fact, there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit. The only authority the Vice President has from a legislative standpoint is to vote only when there is a tie vote.” Owned.

I now know three new things about Palin:

1. She’s “straight up”. (Her words, not mine.)
2. She’s “tolerant“. (Gee, that’s nice. Again, her words.)
3. She believes that homosexuality is a choice.

So remind me, why should anyone vote for McCain/Palin? My brother was a hardcore Republican a couple years ago, which was the last time we talked politics. He has very different views than me, so politics can be a heated issue. However, I am really interested to hear his political views this year, especially considering the state of the American economy and the inclusion of Palin.

Appendix:
Letterman happened to be on TV as I was finishing this post and I saw something amazing. It would be wrong of me to not find and share this little treasure of editing magic:

I love Wikipedia. Sure, it’s not always 100% accurate but that doesn’t stop me from getting sucked in for hours at a time. Here’s my random adventure for this evening, posted for your amusement:

• I ended my Wikipedia shenanigans with Banshee.
• How I got there: Banshee < Abyss < Azazel < Warren Worthington III < Beast < X-Treme X-Men < Revolution < Chris Claremont < Earth-616 < Marvel Comics Multiverse < Amalgam Comics < DC Comics < Larry Lieber < Thor < Space Phantom < Mac Gargan < Thunderbolts < US Agent
• Why was I looking for US Agent in the first place? 4 color rebellion.

Are you like me? Do you get sucked in and lost in Wikipedia? Please tell me I’m not the only one…

PS – If you’re a fan of Wikipedia and use an iPhone or other smartphone, try Powerset.com; it nicely reformats Wikipedia entries for mobile devices.