Historical Ignorance

After taking in a tasty meal at one of the area’s best restaurants, I took the longer way home to just chill out with a nice relaxing drive around the metro area.  Of course, since iPod was not in the car, I was left to the devices of the metro’s radio stations, each of them fantastically crappy in their own right.  So, I made my way towards the AM part of the dial, which I thought might, at least, have some sort of play by play of the Arizona-Carolina game.  Knowing this town as I do, I should have known better that the game would not be broadcast on the radio, so I ended up on one of the local all-talk stations.  This particular station, I guess in some sort of cost savings maneuver, was rebroadcasting a nationally syndicated radio show.  The topic of the show was the debacle of the recount process in the Minnesota Senatorial race.

The Minnesota race has been in recount over since the November 2008 election, because the race between Incumbent Senator Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken was within a couple of hundred votes.  The past 8 weeks has had the similar overtones of the 2000 Presidential Election between Bush and Gore.  Since the count of the original ballots was completed, both candidates have been battling over absentee ballots, spoiled ballots, missing ballots, extra ballots, and disputed ballots.  I guess the one glimmer of hope is that I don’t remember hearing the term chad throughout this process.

What is most troubling is that as a country, we are having to go through this process again.  Have we not learned anything since the 2000 election that we are back to square one, here eight years later?  How have we not yet figured out a balloting system where the voter’s intent can not be clearly determined?  How have there not been set standards to the vote counting process?  I am of the belief that if you can not follow the simple instructions of marking a ballot box with an X or color in the bubble or press the square on the screen to cast a vote for your candidate, your ballot should be considered spoiled.

How have we not learned how to conduct a recount of the ballots in under 8 weeks?  On Election Night, and sometimes into the next day, the votes are tabulated and finalized.  Granted, when you are slogging over the last couple of ballots that could push one candidate ahead of the other, it should be take a little extra time, but 8 weeks?

Even more troubling from where I sit is that the incumbent candidate had the lead after Election Night, but as of today, challenging candidate has the lead and is moving towards being certified as the victor of the election.  I think if we were talking about a couple of votes, 10 or 20 or 30, it might not disturb me as much as a couple of hundred votes in either direction.  How can the two tallies be that different?  Were that many voters “disenfranchised” on Election Day?

Continuing further down the trail of disturbing information, a member of the Minnesota canvassing board, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice G. Barry Anderson believes that there is a possibility that some of the votes were counted twice (see the 3rd and 4th paragraph down).  How can an election be certified when there are allegations of precincts with more votes than voters?  I remember back in 1996 during a Louisiana Senatorial election, it was alleged that there were precincts in New Orleans that had more votes than voters, but we all shrugged our shoulders, figuring that this was just Louisiana politics in action.  How have we not solidified a qualifying process for voters and voter registration, so we don’t have situations where there are more votes and than voters?  If we have not or can not put these policies in place, does it even matter to have elections?

I guess George Santayana was correct, when he wrote that “those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it”, as we are currently knee deep in the condemnation process.  Let us learn this time, so that we do not have do go through this charade again.

Please?

Hit of the Night

Since I am tired from a long day on the road and my first full week back at work since mid December, and I probably could not put together more than one or two good sentences, I present a YouTube clip from last night’s game.

It happened early in the BCS Championship game last evening, but it was worthy of the hit of the night.

Thankfully, there was a DVR

“If there’s no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark“
- “Into the Dark”, Death Cab for Cutie

Tonight, one of my favorite shows returned to television as Scrubs made it’s 8th Season debut.  Like many shows or entertainment, really, I caught onto the show rather late.  I was well aware of its existence when it first started out in the early part of this decade, but it never was much see viewing for me.  And, over the 8 years, 7 of which were at NBC, neither was it must see viewing for a lot of people, as comically referenced in the bonus clip with the end credits of the 8:00pm CST episode.

It really is a niche show that has grown on me over the last 3 years to the point that I went out and bought 6 of the 7 seasons on DVD.  (I was gifted Season 7 this past Christmas).  It does not take the form of a normal sit-com, which is a nice change of pace from some of the more formulaic TV shows currently taking up space on network and cable television.  While there are shows that are laugh out loud funny, the show is not afraid to delve into topics that other sit-coms do not want to even come near them.  Also, almost seamlessly interlaced throughout the episodes seemingly, there is this perfect or fitting soundtrack that speaks well for the episode’s intent and feel.

Tonight’s 2nd episode jumped directly into the drama genre, in what has to be one of the most tastefully done “sit-com”/dram-edy episodes I have ever seen of any show that I have watched.  The 8:30pm CST episode tonight dealt with the passing of a patient and the fear, the uncertainty, the unknown, and the anxiety that surrounds the end of one’s life.  Interwoven into the storyline, to wrap up the heaviness of the episode in a neat little package, the song “Into the Dark ” by Death Cab for Cutie, of course, a song whose first verse is heavy with the allusions of death, was used.

It takes a good bit to move me…  emotionally and physically.    While I am not a person that cries, and I did not cry tonight, the episode did hit me.  I know that I have been affected by an episode or an experience when I really do not know what to think and I have this deep ache within my soul.  Tonight’s 8:30pm episode did that for me.  Even now, I am just staring at the screen trying to process the emotions and my feelings surrounding the episode.  I may come back and look at this post tomorrow and wonder why I even bothered, but here it is…  here I am…  befuddled with emotions!

This is the last year of Scrubs, and it will be a shame to see the show come to an end.  Fortunately, it will live on with DVDs and syndication.  If you have not tried it out before now, it is worth picking it up.  You can catch past episodes on Comedy Central or possibly local network stations, which will give you a great background into the characters and the show.  If you stay with it, it is worth the time you put into it.

This Time of Year

“Well, there’s a feeling in the air
Just like a Friday afternoon.
Yeah, you can go there if you want
Though it fades too soon”
- “This Time of Year”, Better Than Ezra

I’m not a fan of early January.  I don’t think that I have ever been.

It’s not that I dislike the Winter, cause I do…  I love the Winter.  The colder the better, and it’s even better if there is snow on the ground!!

It’s not that I dislike the sporting aspect, cause I do…  Football is winding down, culminating in a BCS Champion and a Super Bowl Champion.  Hockey is starting to wind towards the All-Star Break, the midway point of their season.

It’s not that I dislike the Holidays, cause I do…  Christmas is by far my favorite day of the year.  Nothing compares to being able to give someone some item that they desire.  I feel warm just thinking about handing a present to a loved one.  The expression on their face as they open it.  There is nothing like sitting down to a small family meal with my folks and my aunt, eating ham, sweet potato casserole, Podnuh’s baked beans, and forty-two types of desserts.

I dislike endings, especially endings that do not live up to their expectations.  How many of us have been disappointed at the end of a TV show or a movie that either ends abruptly (see the Blair Witch Project)?  I know that I have been.  I enjoy closure.  I enjoyed closure much more earlier in my life, but years and hardships on my soul have made closure unnecessary… at times.  This season really does seem to have that ambivalence to having that tight, wrapped ending which I desire.

The “Holiday Season”, which could be defined as Halloween on October 31 to New Years Day, just ends…  like that ring road around the abandoned mall in Elgin, Illinois.  There is no warning.  There is no sign whatsoever to tell you that the season is drawing to a close.  No, it just ends, and sometimes, it ends just too abruptly.  It does not lend itself to end in one neat little package with all the answers and warm, fuzzy feelings.  This year seems to be one of those years.

It seems like it was just yesterday that the tree was coming out and ready to be trimmed.  It seems like yesterday there were Christmas lights everywhere to behold.  It seems like yesterday there was a crush, though muted due to the economy, at stores to find the perfect gift.  It seems like yesterday that we hopped into a car to face traffic on the way to our family and friends.  It seems like yesterday that churches were putting on their Christmas shows, cantatas, and birth of Christ-centric activities.

I’m not sure what it is…  it seems like December 26 to January 1, it’s time to pack away all the festive cheer for next year.  Trees are put up or placed on the curb.  Lights are darkened or removed.  Churches put up their nativity scenes.  We start to travel back to our points of origin with our destinations fading into the rear view mirror, possibly for another year for some.

For this reason, I’ve started a tradition a couple of years ago in my household.  Instead of defrocking my home on the first instance possible, which I have done in previous years, I keep signs of Christmas and the Holidays up for a couple of extra days.  Granted, my tree comes down on January 6 (Epiphany), though I do not celebrate the day, nor have it off.  To me, it’s a reminder that the season is not secular.  It is a reminder that Christmas is more than a one day holiday.  It is a reminder that Christmas is a life long celebration.  It takes me back to Christmas day when I look at the tree, see the lights, look at the ornaments.  It is an opportunity to grasp onto my favorite season for just a bit longer, while the world seemingly races to the next season and the next and the next…

I’m in no way perfect.  I do this little tradition not to make myself better than the person whose tree lays on the side of the road on December 26.  I do it to keep that special feeling in my heart and soul about this Holiday Season that seems to go by quicker and quicker each year that passes.

The Better than Ezra quote that I opened this post with is sadly so very true this time of year…  “Yeah, you can go there if you want, through it fades too soon”.

Uncle Jay’s Year in Review

In case you have been hiding under a rock or at an undisclosed location, here is a relatively humorous look back at the year that was 2008.

Return “Home”

It is always nice to explore new routes, especially after a nice and long visit home with family.

After more than a week at home for the Christmas and New Years Holiday, it was time to return back home to Mississippi.  It’s been 4 years now that I have lived in the Jackson metro area, so it has become mundane to take the quick way home.  The quick way home, of course, would be to keep on the Interstate, which at times, is just what the doctor ordered.  I should have listened to my inner monologue today to take the quick way home, but I decided that I would be slightly adventurous.

Baton Rouge to Jackson - Approx. 261 miles

I had wanted to take this route back at Thanksgiving, when I was able to take a quick jaunt home, but this time I actually listened to my inner monologue and took the quick way back to Jackson.

I had traveled various parts of this route in the past.  It had been about 15 years since I had been in the New Roads area, which is a nice little town situated on False River, one of the myriad of oxbow lakes along the Mississippi River.  Heading north from New Roads, you enter into the area of the Mississippi, Red and Atchafalaya Rivers are nearly one river.  Years ago, the Mississippi River started to want to drain down the Atchafalaya River Basin, which would have crippled the ports and the industries of downstream towns such as Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  So, the US Army Corps of Engineers stepped in and constructed the Old River Control Structure (Powerpoint Presentation).

Headed north out of Old River was virgin territory for me.  I continued on Louisiana Highway 15 until just south of Vidalia, where I picked up LA 131 to the foot of the US 425/US 84 bridge across the Mississippi River to Natchez.  Most of the route of LA 15 is along the Mississippi River levee, which is always an interesting ride.  Mississippi has a short route along the Mississippi River levee in Warren and Issaquena Counties, which is also an open range, so you are as likely to meet a cow as you are another vehicle.   LA 15 is not an open range like its Mississippi counterpart, but it does give some good vistas of farming country, as well as decent shots of the Mississippi River.  It is fairly desolate, so it might not be the route to take if you looking for an interesting short cut or are running low on fuel, but cell service was excellent.

After leaving Natchez, I continued east towards Brookhaven on the divided 4-lane of US 84/98.  I had traveled part of this route in the past, but once beyond the community of Bude, where US 98 breaks off towards McComb, MS, and then on towards Brookhaven, MS, it was all new again, until reaching I-55 heading back North into Jackson.  There are some nice rolling hills in this area, as you drive away from the river, and it is 65 miles per hour (mph), which is a definite plus, compared to the rural 2-lanes or the plodding 50 mph pace of the Natchez Trace Parkway.  Do not get me wrong…  I do enjoy the Natchez Trace.  It is a beautiful drive from Natchez to just south of Nashville, Tennessee, but 50 mph can be a drag, when you are ready to get home.

And, now, I am home.  The car is empty of the goodies brought north, and, now, it is time to take another long Winter’s nap.

Relaunch Attempted

Each time that I start one of these blogs, on Blogspot, Xanga, and now, WordPress, I have this lofty goal of keeping up with it.  I have to be honest, I don’t do very well.  I have good intentions, I guess, but in the end, something always seems to get in the way…  work, social commitments, apathy, etc.  Time management is something that I personally need to work on, I guess.  I have always said that busy is an excuse for people that can not manage their time.  The definition falls quite close to home.

I don’t like making New Years Resolutions.  They are pointless, really.  January 1 is no different than, say, June 24.  Each of these days are on their own page of the calendar, but honestly, the days are similar.  The sun rises in the eastern sky, sets in the western sky.  Granted, there is a higher probability that you will wake up with a headache the morning of January 1.  No headache here this morning, which is nice, but today feels no different that any other day of the past couple of weeks, minus Christmas Day.

So much is put on this day as a new beginning, but should it be that way?  The world has the opportunity to restart every morning.

Maybe this is the year that we will see that new political beginning.  The ugliness of the political campaign of the last 2 years is mostly over, except for the people are still hell bent on smearing Sarah Palin if given the opportunity.  By the way that some react, you would think that the words Sarah Palin elicits some sort of spasmodic spinal reaction.  The politics of divisiveness has not worked in the last 16 years, and it would be nice to see a change.

Maybe this is the year that we see a 16-team tournament to determine the National Champion in College Football.  One can grow weary of sports commentators postulating that if Team A beats Team B by enough points that they are automatically better than Team C or D.  Even watching the Rose Bowl this evening seemed like more of a 3-plus hour political commercial for USC being the AP National Champion.  The BCS system does not work, and it would be nice to see a change.

There is no difference in life, either.  We all have the opportunity to hit the restart button each morning.  I’m not so interested in hitting restart in some arenas of life, but I would like to see some possible debugging.  Hopefully this can be an outlet for that debugging process.  It would be nice to achieve some kind of clarity, as there are some facets in life that need clarity.  It will most probably start with a reduction in clutter, which by attempting to create here, am I really producing less clutter in my life?  My answer tonight is yes, but only time will tell if that answer is correct.

Who knows what this will become over time?  I have had this desire to create for the last couple years, and I hope that this is the attempt that finally becomes that something that I create or leads me in the direction where I will create.  I know that it all comes down to me and my effort.

Hit of the Hockey Season

Brenden Morrow introduces Milan Michalek to his shoulder in Game 6 of the Dallas Stars, San Jose Sharks series.  This game was later won by Dallas, 2-1 in the 4th Overtime, closing out the Conference Semifinals Series 4 games to 2.

Too bad that Dallas is now down 0-3 against Detroit in the Western Conference Finals.

There really is no place like home

I took off early from work this afternoon to make the almost 200 mile trek back to what I consider my home in Louisiana. It’s always nice to hone my combat driving skills once I cross into Louisiana, but that really is another topic for another time. This is about home.

It’s hard to believe that I will lay my head down tonight in the same room that I called home for 8 years, but that it has been almost a decade since I left home. In fact, it will be 10 years at Christmas time. There are days that it seems like yesterday. If I were to be completely honest, it feels closer to yesterday more often than not. College seems like eons ago, but leaving home… not so much. The separation never feels as distant, though, as we get close to a holiday, like Mother’s Day.

So, I made my way home to spend time with Momma. It’s her weekend. There are activities planned, as there typically are for Mom this time of the year, and I look forward to spending that time with her. I look forward to attempting to surprise her with some small trinket of my love and affection for her. In the end, though, I look forward to the fact that she is happy that her family is together to celebrate her this weekend.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I love you!

Obviously, this is not a weather blog

Another day in Mississippi, another report of a tornado. This time an EF-3 tornado touched down in Tupelo, Mississippi, causing damage, but fortunately no injuries and even better, no fatalities. This has been a fantastically busy weather year so far for Mississippi. I would hazard a guess that this is the most frequent I have heard of tornadoes and inclement weather since I have moved here.

That being said, I’m sure Al Gore and his massive carbon footprint will come out soon enough and relate this Spring weather in the South to global warming. Well, he’s already blamed the cyclone in Myanmar on global warming.

It’s hard to debate science and logic, when most people tend to throw logic and good common sense (if one ever possessed good common sense) when they are arguing. People will trend towards arguing what they are passionate about, or what they believe they should be passionate about… It does not make their position incorrect, but when you deviate from fact, you will find it hard to win any debate.

To be honest, I’m not knee deep in global warming data. I have not seen the Far North, nor have I tracked climatological data from the near Arctic or Antarctic regions over the last 20 to 40 years. What I do have on my side is a fair grasp of basic mathematics and a decent helping of common sense.

Whether you are a person that believes in an Old Earth version of history (5 billion years) or you subscribe to a New Earth version (5,000 to 7,000 years), the simple fact is that weather records in the United States have only been kept since the very late 1800s. If we were to assume that instruments were accurate back in the post Civil War era, we have, at best a little more than 100 years of meteorological data. If we compare this amount of data to the age of the planet, we have either 0.0000025% to 2.5% of all available data. To say that this paints a complete picture is, at best, intellectually dishonest. As a comparison, you have a better chance of reaching into a hat with sheets of paper listing the 32 NFL teams and pulling out the Super Bowl winner this year.

But, that is how the global warming argument is crafted. The Earth has been getting hotter since a while back, and since we know that, we can project into the future many years that it is only going to get hotter. Granted, this is a gross simplification of the scientific analysis, but it would be shocking to see how closely the simplified explanation mirrors the process.

Who is to say that the globe is not warming? Who is to say that if the globe is warming that this is not a cycle that has been played out over thousands or billions of years? Global warming may indeed be a fact, but until the scientific community can agree on its existence, it is a theory. We may learn more and more over the next few decades to silence all who doubt this theory, and it can be accepted as scientific fact.

To bring the argument to the forefront every time a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, heat wave, or cold snap kills hundreds to thousands or people, though, is spineless political move, and something that I can not respect.