Support Our Military This Holiday Season

I've been wanting to do something to help our men and women in the armed services this holiday season, but wasn't sure where to start. I found the America Supports You website, which has a great round-up of organizations that are leading efforts to show support for the military - everything from donating money to writing a simple letter of Thanks.

I've added a button for this site to the left of the page. Visit frequently and do your part.

Roche's Law

"The only way to idiot-proof something is to get rid of the idiot"
Roche's Law

A perfect example of this law in practice appears in this morning's DP:

On Election Day, Ramon Rodriguez assumed his provisional ballot cast in Boulder would be routed to the right precinct in Denver.

Rodriguez, 19, had never voted before and told election judges he was in the wrong precinct, and even in the wrong county. Upon their instruction, he cast a provisional ballot - a vote he discovered later was not counted at all. Not even for president.

"I don't know how I can trust these people," he said after voting. "It's too late now."

Wait, it gets better!

"What the hell," said Jay Magness, who tried to vote at one downtown Denver precinct even though he's registered in New York City.

His vote likely didn't count.

Ramon and Jay could be the 2 most ignorant voters in the country. I doubt that they are the only ones who tried to vote in the wrong precinct, or wrong county, or wrong state (I still can't fathom the logic behind this one), but they allowed their shortcomings to be chronicled in the newspaper.

Going into this election, there were all sorts of stories about voter registration fraud, provisional ballots, and election judges. Many of these were covered quite nicely by Joshua at View From a Height. That anyone could think that their vote would count if they were in the wrong precinct, or county, or state (again, I can't get over this one) is utterly ridiculous.

I'm all for allowing every vote to count, but I think that the voter has to have some sort of intellectual capacity before casting the ballot. If you can't follow simple instructions, you're hardly qualified to cast a vote for any elected office.

Instead of making the process simpler, let's try to make the voter smarter.

O' Canada!

From the I'm-taking-my-ball-and-going-home department, more stories about disgruntled liberals moving to Canada.

Honestly people, get a grip! Part of living in a republic is that you're not always going to be in power. Usually, this gets people energized to swing the political pendulum back to the center. But the left is not ready to admit they're wrong and out of touch. So instead, they're leaving? I can't think of anything more un-patriotic than to give up on your country.

The right didn't leave during the Carter years. They didn't leave when Clinton was elected. Instead, they re-evaluated where they were as a party and have made steady progress since 1994, culminating with this year's gains in the White House, the House, the Senate, and soon, the Supreme Court.

As this morning's DP article points out:

Libertarian Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute think tank in Golden, says he never thought about leaving the country during his own long seasons of political discontent.

"I survived the Clinton years," he says. "Good God almighty, we survived the Carter years. I think the left can handle the Bush years."

A couple of observations:

1. I can imagine that those who are actually contemplating leaving the country are from the most extreme elements of the left. Good, with them gone, maybe the Democrat Party can come back to the middle and actually start to re-connect with American voters.

2. I'm not that familiar with the immigration laws, but I think that anyone who voluntarily moves to another country, should have their U.S. citizenship revoked. When the Democrats look like they are coming back into power, those who left should have to re-apply for citizenship and be considered aliens, just like any other immigrant. You can't have it both ways.

George Soros' New Wardrobe

Check out what George Soros will be wearing this Spring.

Hat-tip: The Corner

George Washington and Arafat Are The Same

Of course NOT! I'm getting sick of hearing people say that Arafat is like GW or that Washington was a terrorist. Check out this analysis at Conservative Truth:

George Washington led his armies against the British in accord with the rules of war of those days. We would regard those rules to be hopelessly simplistic and overly concerned with ‘honor’ and procedure today, but that ‘fault’ would still reflect well on the courage and character of the combatants. In contrast, Arafat and his thugs will not engage the Israeli army: instead they use deluded surrogates - brain-washed suicide bombers - to deliberately target and kill innocent non-combatants. Arafat is a murderer of women and children. It is true that innocent are sometimes killed by the retaliation of the Israelis, but the innocent are not the targets. George Washington was a man of honor, who would not think of attacking civilians in order to punish his opponent.

Read the whole thing.

The Election's Over - Get Over It!

The blogs advocating that the election was stolen are too numerous to name. But the NYT, of all places, has an article demonstrating the relative ease with which these conspiracies are being debunked:

But while the widely read universe of Web logs was often blamed for the swift propagation of faulty analyses, the blogosphere, as it has come to be known, spread the rumors so fast that experts were soon able to debunk them, rather than allowing them to linger and feed conspiracy theories. Within days of the first rumors of a stolen election, in fact, the most popular theories were being proved wrong - though many were still reluctant to let them go.

A couple of observations:

1. The story needs to focus on Liberal blogs, instead of lumping all blogs together. While there are Conservative blogs that peddle conspiracies, the major Right players have demonstrated their propensity for getting it right, a la Rathergate.

2. This article demonstrates the maturation of the blogosphere. In its infancy, the blogosphere toiled in relative obscurity, read only by message board geeks. However, now that the universe of blogs has become mainstream, numerous experts routinely troll the sites, quickly debunking the myths. This free marketplace of ideas has reached a frightening efficiency in which theories can be challenged and through swift iteration, be proved true or false.

3. To all Liberals, when one of your main channels of ideas, the NYT, bursts your conspiracy bubble, it's time to pack up and go home.

UPDATE: Instapundit is running a similar post on Observation #1, but you can say you read it here first...

Farfetched, Or Is It...?

Check out this great look into the future from Dave Kopel.

Hat-tip: Instapundit

Something To Agree On

During the election season, I had nothing in common with Jim Spencer. But now that it is over, he writes a column this morning that I can wholeheartedly support.

My wife and I have a 14 month-old son. He is in a playgroup with the Gove's who are mentioned in Spencer's article. My wife and I are walking in Josh and Gus's Run for a Reason tomorrow. The proceeds from the walk go to raise awareness for SUDC, or Sudden Unexpected Death of a Child. SUDC is like SIDS, but occurs in children over the age of 1 year.

Before SIDS was a commonly known term, people raised awareness and funds for research. Now, the time has come to raise awareness and funds for SUDC. Even if you can't walk tomorrow. Go to the website and learn more about SUDC, and if you are inclined, donate for the cause.

Thanks, Jim, for using your space to promote a cause we can all agree on.

DU Just Can't Let Go

The tinfoil hats are on at the Democratic Underground. Of course, I can't see the full discussion forum, but they are already trotting out the "election was stolen" mantra.

Guys, you bought the lies. The lie that high turnout always goes for Democrats. The lie the higher voter registration means higher Democrat vote totals. The lie that the youth vote would swing this election.

Stop drinking the Kool-Aid and start thinking how your party can address the real issues that Americans care about (hint: they don't entail hating the President). Use your youthful energies and intelligence to determine how you can use the system to achieve your goals, instead of trying to crush the system.

If you can't beat them, join them, and then beat them.

Post Election Hangover

Four more years. I thought that I would feel more elated, but it's more a sense of relief. Relief that this election cycle is over. Relief that the President won the EC and the PV by about 3 million. Relief that the MSM and far left have been proven to be out of touch with everyone that doesn't live in sight of a major body of water.

A couple of observations:

1. Rather, Jennings, Brokaw, Matthews - all looked like they were on the verge of tears. Such a sweet sight.

2. Mixed emotions in CO - Bush and 36 went my way, but Coors didn't get over the top. All in all, I think Salazar is a decent guy, but that doesn't mean he'll get a pass for the next 6 years.

3. Kerry non-concession - Give it up. It's about 136,000 votes difference. Take a cue from Coors, be a gentleman and save yourself the political embarrassment of dragging this thing out.

4. Moore, Franken, and all the other liberal nut-jobs - At least you have subject matter for another 4 years. At least we can be done with the "selected, not elected" nonsense, although I doubt it will go away.

5. What's next for Tyroblog - Not sure. Doing this made me feel like I had a voice and was involved in the political process. I'm sure that a second Bush term will give me plenty of opportunity to try to keep the local press in check.

I'll just take it day by day and see where it takes me.

Pre-Election Anxiety Syndrome (PEAS)

I've got PEAS! Hard to focus at work with one day to go. Overall poll averages still have the President ahead, but who knows what will happen tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be an early Bush win, but I know that getting your hopes up leads to disappointment.

On the upside, at least Amendment 36 looks like it will fail. No weird electoral college debate from Colorado. As far as the Senate, who knows. Past polls have been so wrong that a Coors win in likely, but not guaranteed.

After an abysmal football weekend, I am hoping that all the bad karma has worked itself out and that my team will pull out the victory on Tuesday.