Day: November 10, 2005

So, apparently they ARE taking nominations for the psuedo-cast-party awards, rather than making it obvious Entertainment Staff fiat.

Some odd things….Apparently the Jolly Rogers *aren’t* a music group, they’re a stage show. And there is no “best lane act”, so I guess they get lumped in with Street Characters? Most Improved Character– does that mean a character that is better (maybe now that somebody else is doing it), or a performer who has improved?

Bard’s Bouts has no chance in hell, of course, since “best new stage show” is specified to include music groups as well, despite the fact that those are split into separate categories for the “non-new” award.

Pretty much a given that the Limeybirds will walk away with that one.

….made all the more amusing by the fact that they won’t be there, because they’re a circuit group, and the goddamned cast party wasn’t held during the run while they were here.

*Sigh*

Still haven’t made up my mind on whether or not to bother to go.

I posted about this in the comments of my Frist post, but I think it deserves its own:

A while back, six high-ranking members of the U.S. House of Representatives requested that the GAO launch a year-long investigation into the electronic voting machines and software now being deployed across the country…machines and software from companies which are, in most cases, run by high-dollar Republican contributors.

The Representatives were: Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) and Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Judiciary Committee Chair F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), and Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and Ranking Member Bart Gordon (D-TN). A completely bi-partisan panel.

Well, three weeks ago, the GAO released their findings in a 107-page report (PDF). You will not have heard about this, because none of the networks mentioned it….and no news of it was carried by even one wire service or one major American Newspaper. Not one.

The report’s findings?

That electronic voting machines are not secure, not accountable, not recountable, not transparent, not accurate and not adequately monitored or certified by anybody.

To quote from the report:

“..concerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes.”

We need our own Orange Revolution. It’s pathetic that a former Soviet Republic did more to defend Democracy than we’re doing.

But ask yourself. If the results are wonky again in 2006 or 2008, will you take to the streets?

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says that he’s more concerned about the leak of the information than he is about the fact that we’re operating illegal secret prisons in former Soviet-run gulags.

From the AP story:

He believes the leak itself poses a greater threat to national security and is “not concerned about what goes on” behind the prison walls.

Holy shit.

For those with short memories: Frist is one of the guys that claim that revealing the identity of an active CIA officer isn’t really a big deal. But the minute the Washington Post publishes a story about how we may be violating not only the Geneva Convention, but our own fucking laws….they demand that there be an investigation into who leaked the info.

This is America?