I am sure that most people are aware of the controversy surrounding the new electronic Diebold voting machines, especially most Ohioans. I haven't had the (mis)fortune of using one of them new fangled electronic devices and am secretly looking forward to it, despite my utter abhorrence with the lack of standard credit card swipe/signature thingies procedures at most retail stores. Even the tens of reports I have read or heard about how unreliable and insecure those dang things are. My girlfriend was suggesting we go the absentee route this election. I think I am still going to go in person. I enjoy the process and it makes me feel like I am important.For those of you who are worried that Diebold is in cahoots with a certain political party and your vote won't count because you are gay or a minority or enjoy public radio the Ohio Secretary of State website has some interesting information regarding absentee voting.
1. Absentee voting usually begins 35 days before an election. That means that we are actually pretty dang close to the elections being open. As in, you can start voting.
2. Any Ohio voter can vote using an absentee ballot WITHOUT stating a reason. You only have to be registered to vote and submit a written request for an absentee ballot. You don't even have to use the application.
You must include the following information:
- Your name;
- Your signature;
- The address at which you are registered to vote;
- Your date of birth;
- One of the following:
- Your Ohio driverÂ’s license number; or
- The last four digits of your Social Security number; or
- A copy of the your current and valid photo identification, military identification, current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows your name and current address. (Note: You cannot use as proof of identification a notice that the board of elections mailed to you.)
- A statement identifying the election for which you are requesting an absentee voterÂ’s ballot;
- A statement that you are a qualified elector;
- If the request is for a partisan primary election ballot, your political party affiliation; and
- If you want the ballots to be mailed, the address to which you want them mailed.
For your absentee ballot to be counted, it must be received as follows:
- If cast from anywhere in the United States, whether returned in person or by mail, your ballot must be received by your county board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
- If properly returned from out-of-country, your ballot must be received by your county board of elections not later than the 10th day after the election.
This democracy we enjoy is a human right only as much as we uitilize it. To become complacent and docile in our visions is to cease our quest for creating something better then ourselves. We were given a voice and it is our duty as social creatures, as a collective society, to shape our world in a way that gives us a future.
Besides, it is a good excuse to take some paid time off of work.
Hello Dru and all,
ReplyDeleteThe time has arrived to think outside of the box, or else...
I know that many have chosen to write me off as some sort of a quack over the last three years. Now that this country and world have sunk to new lows and many of the things I've warned about have occurred, perhaps fewer will be so quick to scoff at things they don't understand. Neither religious followers nor secularists have been 100% correct and most have been dead wrong about much. Perhaps now more will seek true wisdom and cooperate for the good of all before the Bush-Cheney-Vatican cabal revives the dark ages and puts you all in theological torture camps. Remember that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
Understanding and fixing the failings of politics and democracy for the benefit of everyone, everywhere
Politics is little more than greed, arrogance, falsehood, hero-worship, and injustice taken to extremes and organized into teams (nations, parties, interest groups, etc). It is the struggle for your group, hero, and viewpoint so you can profit at the expense of others. This forces others to do the same in self-defense, causing an endless loop, downward spiral, and no-gain effect. When money, religion, and politics are intermingled, they form a true inescapable trap or bottomless pit. It is the opposite of compassion, cooperation, justice, and wisdom and causes you to expend dramatically more effort, time, and resources than necessary to achieve lesser results than are possible when you simply cooperate and have compassion, empathy, and charity for each other. Harmony and cooperation are on the perfect path, while politics, religion and money are ignorance, strong lies, strong delusion, and utter folly.
The primary, though hidden, purpose of politics is to effectively divide and conquer populations who support and participate in these great delusions. Politics serves to dramatically slow and confound progress towards common and common-sense goals that most people want to achieve. This is one of the reasons why major problems persist for centuries. When people finally cooperate to solve problems for the good of all, problems will finally be solved and stay solved. On the other hand, participating in and supporting politics causes problems to persist and even to reappear later, though they were apparently solved previously. Because of the ability of those who also control money and religion to reverse past progress and prevent true cooperation, politics is a great deception and a trap and the opposite of truth, wisdom, and justice.
There is no true freedom nor freewill in the presence of such pervasive and institutionalized deception and exploitation. People have struggled for millennia trying to form working societies based on these three great follies. Those efforts always eventually fail because the inherent injustice and deception at the root of these concepts always leads to chaos and destruction. How long must it take before verifiable wisdom is finally valued over such long-term and self-evident folly? How much longer will it take for good people to grow tired of such obvious lies and turn away from deceptive leaders and their deceptions?
Remember the saying:
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good [people] do nothing."
We are all trapped in a web of deception woven with money, religion, and politics. The great evils that bedevil us all will never cease until humanity finally awakens, shakes off these strong delusions, and forges a ...new path... to the future.
...Read More...
...and here...
Here is Wisdom!!
Peace…