Tag: election

Come together. Right now. Over whomever. Please.

I don’t care as much about Election Day as the day after, and the four years after.

I have blogged quite a bit about the Blame Society over the years. And yes, presidential politics have been a nasty, brutish sport since men wore wigs and stockings.

But if we come out of this nasty election with a nation split down the middle, and a government seemingly paralyzed as a result, Lord help us.

Will whoever wins find a Magic Key to get people on Capitol Hill working with the White House? Will the opposing party in general try to prevent the new (or re-elected) president from getting anything done, or try to find room for compromise?

So many folks are angry at The Evil Other Side that many others are scared to death of continued paralysis and inability to tackle serious problems, from the deficit to … well one of my last dead-trees editions of Bloomberg Businessweek has a black-and-red cover shouting ‘IT’S GLOBAL WARMING, STUPID” over a picture of flooded Manhattan.

We’re so busy trying to blame that we can’t seem to remember how to give-and-take, compromise and deal with issues that stare us in the proverbial face.

Just about every time I lay that out to folks, I’m looked at by some as some naive pathetic Kumbaya-singing wishy-washy flip-flopper.

I know better. I’m as damned angry as they are. But I’m angry at THEM, both sides, for letting it get to this point. To believe that Your Side is the Chosen Good Guys and anyone who doesn’t agree is evil — that is a new low we seem to have come to, in that we now all have, through the Internet, ady access to the carefully spun “facts” that buttress our biases and rain evil motives on those who dare disagree.

Imagine if the Founding Fathers had Facebook and anonymous comment systems to fling THEIR mud. Would we still have a functioning country today?

Do we now? And who do you blame for that? More importantly, what are you willing to do to make it better?

I don’t believe people are turned off to politics because they believe all of them are lying, cheating scoundrels — well, some are, of course — as much as they’ve thrown up their hands at all involved for being childish clenched-fist whiners who see political (and probably financial) advantage in doing more blaming than solving, more chest-beating than sitting down at a table with the Other Side and seeing if there’s room for … gasp … COMPROMISE!

That there are huge lines in Florida and Ohio, hours-long waits for folks wanting to vote is a TRAVESTY, whether you believe it’s Your Side or The Other Side behind it. It’s one thing to struggle with a massive storm’s aftermath and its impact on the voting process, but playing politics with people’s right to vote should be unconscionable, no matter what way your personal political weathervane spins.

So. Day after the election. Win or lose. What will YOU be saying, in person or at your keyboard?

If that depends on who wins, than I daresay that mindset is as much the problem as … who wins.

IMHO (In My Not-So-Humble Opinion;-)

More of me, less of me

I must apologize for not posting here more often, nor for doing the 2x-weekly video pieces I’d done with frightening regularity for so long.

I’ve been busy. Oy. But with good things, new things!

Please Check out the Election Links page on KTVZ.COM’s Decision 2008 site, when you have a sec. I’ll be adding more links before the ballots are mailed next Friday (and no doubt even more as the election approaches). A great way to find out what’s being said online about measures and candidates, well after the Voters’ Pamphlet is printed and the ads are done.

Also check out Prep Sports Nation, linked off our home page and High School Hits page. It’s sort of a Facebook/social network deal, for local prep sports athletes and fans. You can post videos and photos, connect with friends online, etc.

The other big chore of late has been arguing with/debating/defending our coverage of the 16-year-old now charged with murder in the samurai sword slaying of his mother’s boyfriend. Three stories, close to 250 comments, and it’s enlightening and frightening to see how many people claim to have knowledge and are laying it all out there, hang the consequences in terms of a fair trial etc.  Fascinating, in its own way.

I’ve also spent quite a bit of time yakking at Newsvine, where the debate over vraious conspiracy theories, fueled by the economic crisis, is only topped by the shrill debate over the presidential race. At least THAT will be over soon;-)

So I’ll try to get back to some regularity, at least in online posting. Oh, by the way, if you feel tempted to pass along that e-mail which made the rounds in recent weeks on the ‘We Deserve it’ Dividend, please read this first. Ah, Snopes, worth every penny we don’t pay for it. Always a good place to check before passing on what sounds good, but you’re not quite sure.

Election season is coming

That’s meant as a joke, as it already seems to have gone along for, oh, 42 years.

A certain weekly paper here scoffed at our lack of local election coverage, including on the Web. Seeing as how the ballots don’t go out for 3-4 weeks, I feel the criticism was a bit…premature.

What we plan for Decision 2008 at KTVZ.COM is as much live streaming video as MSNBC offers up, tons of CNN and NBC video, and a page chock full of links to candidate and measure Websites, election info from counties and parties, etc., as well as a robust calendar of election-related events (forums and the like) and a billboard with lots of unedited announcements from candidates and campaigns of every stripe).

Oh, and a constantly updated stream of political headlines from AP, blogs from Politico.com – lots of fun stuff, some on the site already, much more to come.

I’d promise to post EVERY news release, but you should see how many we’re getting from the Smith and Merkley campaigns alone. I’d never get any news written!

But we’ll definitely ramp up in coming weeks, giving you a place to turn and seek out information galore. And of course, our local election features will include article comments, and those ought to get really interesting. And they’ll also be a big test of my now-stronger efforts to keep the tone civil and to bounce offensive comments that violate the Terms of Service.

Election Night, we’ll scroll the results through the night and take advantage of frequent news breaks in NBC’s presidential election coverage to tell you who’s up, who’s down and what’s what.

It oughta be a blast!;-)