Cataracts and ramblings of a not so old, old man.

[fatbaldguy]

Well boys and girls.  It is time.  Next Wednesday, the right eye gets done.  Off work for a week, then light duty.  Gawd, I have to sit in the office til I can do the heavy lifting and such again.  Left eye a month later.   Somebody will have corporate and HR on speed dial I'm sure.  Maybe I'll get sent to training to become a field trainer while on light duty.  Funny in a way, I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut, but they want me to train new hires how to work.

I don't want to vote for Romney, I don't trust the flip-flopping SOB.  But if I, and many others don't, then the assclown stays in office.  You mean to tell me there isn't a better choice out there?  Or is it that they just don't want to go through the rigamarole and circus that it takes to become the nominee?  I wish a good libertarian candidate had a snowballs chance in this country.  If Gary Johnson will run in 2016, I may have to give him some money after election day.

And why is it that so many people need/want to vote early?  We have election day for a reason.  If people think they are disenfranchised because they don't want to, or can't be bothered with voting ON election day, they should HTFU and get to the polls on ELECTION DAY!!!.  Early voting stinks of fraud.

[PegLeg45]

Well boys and girls.  It is time.  Next Wednesday, the right eye gets done.  Off work for a week, then light duty.  Gawd, I have to sit in the office til I can do the heavy lifting and such again.  Left eye a month later.   Somebody will have corporate and HR on speed dial I'm sure.  Maybe I'll get sent to training to become a field trainer while on light duty.  Funny in a way, I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut, but they want me to train new hires how to work.

I don't want to vote for Romney, I don't trust the flip-flopping SOB.  But if I, and many others don't, then the assclown stays in office.  You mean to tell me there isn't a better choice out there?  Or is it that they just don't want to go through the rigamarole and circus that it takes to become the nominee?  I wish a good libertarian candidate had a snowballs chance in this country.  If Gary Johnson will run in 2016, I may have to give him some money after election day.

And why is it that so many people need/want to vote early?  We have election day for a reason.  If people think they are disenfranchised because they don't want to, or can't be bothered with voting ON election day, they should HTFU and get to the polls on ELECTION DAY!!!.  Early voting stinks of fraud.

That's been my take for years.
We will most likely never have a 'qualified' citizen as PotUS because anyone intelligent enough, civic-minded enough, and anti 'political machine' will not subject themselves to the crap that is required to get elected.

[tombogan03884]

Remember, the point of campaigning is to get people to vote for you.
You can't do that by saying I'm going to let all you f*cking drones either get a job or starve, you can't do that by announcing that as of Feb 1 all illegal border crossers will be shot on site, you can't do that by saying CCW will no longer be a choice, it will be a requirement.

[kmitch200]

And why is it that so many people need/want to vote early?  We have election day for a reason.  If people think they are disenfranchised because they don't want to, or can't be bothered with voting ON election day, they should HTFU and get to the polls on ELECTION DAY!!!.  Early voting stinks of fraud.

I am on the permanent early voting list because standing in line is for chumps who haven't figured out they can be on the mail in ballot.
Why wait for 45+ minutes to vote when I can vote in the comfort of my living room and send it in early?

Besides, I'm going to kill Bambi in MN on election week and kill South Dakota pheasants the following weekend.
Some people do have valid reasons. 

Sorry to hear about the eye problems, hope all goes well.

[alfsauve]

I don't want to vote for Romney, I don't trust the flip-flopping SOB.  But if I, and many others don't, then the assclown stays in office.  

Read today's Krauthhammer opinion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-the-big-bird-counterattack/2012/10/11/c605e224-13cc-11e2-be82-c3411b7680a9_story.html

....he’s not very good on his feet.

His problem is that he doesn’t think so. He not only believes his own press, he believes his own mythology. He actually said (in 2007): “I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And . . . I’m a better political director than my political director.”

Obama is a man of considerable intelligence. But he’s not half as transcendently smart as he thinks he is.

[Sponsor]

[alfsauve]

...  We have election day for a reason.  If people think they are disenfranchised because they don't want to, or can't be bothered with voting ON election day, they should HTFU and get to the polls on ELECTION DAY!!!.  Early voting stinks of fraud.

Don't know if "early" voting stinks of fraud anymore than all of the "electronic" voting. 

BUT

I may be a chump for standing in line on election day, but I think it's part of the process:   To meet and greet your neighbors at the precinct.  Get to know them.  Talk to them.  One day we'll go to a precinct-less system.  What with computer and 4G and WiFi and everything.  Just show up at any voting place anywhere.  And one day you'll vote from any computer anywhere.  But when those days come I think we'll be loosing a lot in terms of the social interaction and peer accountability that goes along with the "archaic" system we now use.   

[Solus]

In Hamilton County in Ohio, I used to vote in the garage of a house down the street that was the local polling place.  They switched polling places from the local areas to a combined one in a conference room of a motel....I think because of all the publicity the voting process in Ohio was receiving at the time.

Well, the new system had us standing in line for over 2 hours...outside...and it happened to be raining that day.  Never again.

[tombogan03884]

I can't believe what I'm hearing here.
There are places in the world, Iran for one, China for another, where people are facing tanks with nothing but a briefcase trying to get the right to vote.
And you bitch about standing in line ?
Bet you'll be REAL impressive come a revolution.

[Solus]

I can't believe what I'm hearing here.
There are places in the world, Iran for one, China for another, where people are facing tanks with nothing but a briefcase trying to get the right to vote.
And you bitch about standing in line ?
Bet you'll be REAL impressive come a revolution.

I'm sure that if they had another way to vote, they wouldn't face the tanks....or stand in line just to prove something to someone.

[PegLeg45]

And why is it that so many people need/want to vote early?  We have election day for a reason.  If people think they are disenfranchised because they don't want to, or can't be bothered with voting ON election day, they should HTFU and get to the polls on ELECTION DAY!!!.  Early voting stinks of fraud.

I didn't think about commenting on this when I posted earlier, but have had time to mull it over a bit.

Before 2008, I agreed with the above statement whole-heartedly and also took the same stance as Alf. But after being caught in line during the 2008 general election and very nearly deciding to leave without voting due to the pain involved I decided to vote early from then on.
Standing in one spot for too long or a slow-moving line is dreadfully painful for me if it goes on for more than about 20 minutes. The damaged nerves and what's left of the muscle tissue in my left leg begins to scream after a while.....and then move into my lower back. Our local polling place is small, but covers a large area for its size.......and even though there are 8 voting booths, there is only one line going into the registration area...... so it gets backed up, even during off-year elections.
By the time I had cast my ballot in 2008, my wife and I had been in line for an hour and a half........ when we were done, I literally just let the gate down on my truck and eased into the bed of the truck and had her haul me the two miles home. I have an old HS friend who is a double amputee and it can be tough for him as well, even on a good day.

As to voting fraud, if it can be done with early voting (and yes, it has been a major concern of mine since I began doing it) it can (and will) be done on Election Day as well. In fact it may be even easier on Election Day due to the larger turnout and extra confusion.

Now I said all this not to disagree with you..... because I do feel that if you are physically able and are not going to be away from home, you should try to make an effort to vote on the actual general Election Day. I just wanted to point out that there are some legitimate reasons to vote early.

YMMV, of course.