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SHAPPY'S ONLINE DIARY:
Monday, November 29, 2004
Update, update, where's the update?!?
Busy, busy this past week! I only worked 1 night last week! Tuesday we had a Birthday party for David Avram who is one of the last of the surviving Beat cats. He played piano for Kerouac back in the day. I ended up making okay money. Wednesday I prepped for the Thanksgiving feast I was to prepare the next day. The supermarket was nutty! Also, the solid gold doxie jewelry box I won on eBay for Cristin's b-day arrived! Thanksgiving I cooked 3 turkey legs and 1 breast, Stove Top (made with Chicken broth), green bean casserole, skin-on smashed potatoes and a can of cran! It was dee-lish! We watched Willy Wonka and A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Ugly Dachshund! We also got started on cataloging our video collection. Friday was Cristin's official 26th birthday. Susan and Ernie made it into town and Beau finally came to Queens and we all dined at Just Arthur's! We then played Monopoly at our local cafe. Ernie gave us a bunch of great movies and stuff. Saturday Cristin went to visit her pals in Philly and I took Suz and Ern around town. We went to Toys R' Us in Times Square and just narrowly missed the pepper spray attack that happened there by an hour! We then went to see Kinsey which was AWESOME! Liam is getting an Oscar! We then hung out at the BPC for a few drinks then came home and ate queso!
On Sunday we went to the Natural History Museum. Got to see the very cool space show in the planetarium narrated by Harrison Ford! We also saw the life-size Blue Whale which was cool. We then had a fine sushi supper and after a nap watched Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, very funny. Today Suz and Ern and I had brekkie at the Neptune and I went to the Post Office to pick up our X-mas cards. This weekend we cat-sit in Manhattan! Hope everyone had a great holiday!
posted by Shappy at 9:47 PM
Monday, November 22, 2004 Last Thursday's Urbana was a smash! We had a nice, drinking crowd, which we hadn't had in a while. Even with a late start thanks to a NYU event before us it went pretty smoothly. Cristin was on hand and slammed. Our feature was really good and energetic (Thanks Jaoquin!) which was quite a feat as the last open-mic'er (Aaron) proposed to his lady right before the feature! Wowza! The BPC's first wedding proposal! After that was 3rd Party and Patty O' Furniture came in and helped out which is always a hoot! We both made good tip$! Friday I worked a half shift and went home early with my gal. We celebrated the publication of her latest article in BUST magazine with Chinese take-out and a viewing of Hannah and Her Sisters which is a great Thanksgiving movie! Saturday we cleaned up the kitchen and threw out 5 bags of stuff to make way for several boxes of Cristin's high school empheria. Cristin's brother and sister-in-law came in for a fancy Eye-talian feast and than we played Simpson's Monopoly. Sunday the entire Aptowicz clan came in for an early birthday celebration for Cristin (who turns 26 this Friday!)We took the family x-mas photo and had brunch. Cristin's sister Caitlin stuck around and I took that opportunity to sneak away to the Big Apple comic-con. I got some cool stuff including a Chris Ware lunchbox for a mere $5! Today I sit and watch old Batman episodes on DVD and wait for snoo to get home for sushi. I think I might head to the O'Debra Twin's Show and Tell later haven't quite decided yet but I'm a little itchy to perform. posted by Shappy at 5:37 PM
Sunday, November 21, 2004
posted by Shappy at 9:43 PM
Friday, November 19, 2004
Introducing my bee-yoo-ti-ful little niece, Taylor Elizabeth Seasholtz!
Taylor joins her big brother Luke in continuing the proud Seasholtz line! Congrats again to my little brother Chris and his wife Katie for shooting out another great looking kid!
posted by Shappy at 1:19 AM
Thursday, November 18, 2004 Just got back from my college gig in Jersey. What a blast! I wasn't feeling too hot but managed to pull off a fun set that had the college kids giggling with glee! So basically I spent most of the day on trains. Saw 6 deer in the college parking lot! What a trip! I've never seen so many at once! Had a good time hanging out with Joel on Monday and made pretty good tip$ on Tuesday. We played Trivial Pursuit and watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force! I love my Nite Caps with Shap! Please try to make it out to Urbana tommorow night! posted by Shappy at 2:38 AM
Monday, November 15, 2004 Thursday was one of the worst attended Urbana's so far this year. I wish I knew how to fix it. Hopefully word will get out that I'm hosting and trying to bring some of that wacky Aptowicz style back to the show. Had a good night on Friday. What I thought would be a slow show ended up being a smash hit and I made all my money off of one band's gig! This weekend me and Cristin did a number on our bedroom and really cleaned it all up. Man, I have a LOT of t-shirts! Joel Chmarra is in town for a gig and it looks like I'll hang with him tonight. Then I work Tuesday and have a gig in Jersey on Wednesday. Hope the kids dig me! Looks like I won't be seeing much of my girlfriend til Saturday then she says she's seeing her folks on Sunday? Guess I'll go to the Big Apple comic con then or not. Watched Team America this weekend (pretty good but I thought it'd go farther) and Garden State which was had lots of clever moments (that Cristin kept pointing out) but not much of a pay off (that Cristin also kept pointing out). Did Zack write it so he make out with Natilie Portman? Methinks he didst! Also watched Trekkies 2 which was a triumph of international nerdiness! posted by Shappy at 2:06 AM
Friday, November 12, 2004
FORWARD TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW
EMAIL FROM DC LAWYER CYNTHIA BUTLER
I am angry and getting emails and recrimination from
people wondering why KERRY just caved and is not
fighting this before the final count in Ohio, before
any of the fraud was challenged, before New Mexico and
Iowa even came in.
There is widespread feeling that he did not lose the
election and that it was taken from him.
There is enough here to warrant investigation and
enough to challenge the results. It's coming from all
corners.
I understand that he has until the official count
certification in Ohio to unconcede, which is several
days from now.
Anyone who thinks that he should unconcede should give
reasons why - whatever they noticed, particularly in
Red Republican Governed States using electronic
machines- and send them directly to Cameron KERRY,
John Kerry's brother at his law firm at the address
CKerry@Mintz.com
They should inform us if they were not allowed to vote
provisionally (for whatever reason- they lost forms,
ran out of forms, etc.) I personally witnessed a
number of things as I reported in Texas with the DCCC.
(Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee)
If you know anyone in particular in Ohio who tried to
vote and was turned away at the polls please get their
information and notify the campaign.
They should be notified if they experienced lines
longer than four hours -particularly elderly or infirm
people (we call that torture when they do it to
political prisoners) . They should be notified if
people were told as has been reported that due to too
many people showing up in African
American precincts, particularly in Ohio where there
were too few booths (some only had two or three for
the entire precinct) and told because of heavy turn
out they could vote on Wednesday. If the n umbers of
these sorts of incidents creates a percentage margin
that exceeds the margin of victory- Un Concession has
to be made to challenge the count.
If people wanted to and tried to vote and were
> > prevented or actively discouraged from doing so, that
> > is a Civil Rights matter and must be dealt with in
> > terms of the ultimate count.
> >
> > This is the last email that I am writing on this
> > subject in this venue. I am taking it up in other
> > venues.
> >
> > Please pass along this to your listservs so that we
> > may make Democracy Work in America. We are not a
> > country where he who cheats best wins.
> >
> > Cynthia L. Butler
> > BUTLER LAW FIRM, P.C.
> > 1717 K St. NW, Suite 600
> > Washington, DC 20036
posted by Shappy at 1:54 PM
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Divided we fall! Welcome to the "Uncivil War" everyone! New Yorkers are all in a blue haze these days. It really does take the wind out of your sails when you consider who we have in office the next four years. I'm sure some Nixon-like scandal will get them out sooner. I can dream can't I? Me and Cristin are back after a week of cat-sitting. It is great to be back in our own cozy nest. Had a lot of mail and packages waiting for us. Including the new Looney Tunes collection which has brought many smiles to my weary face. We also have had quite a few visitors these past few weeks. Mike Henry was in town getting more footage for the Slam Planet documentary (which is now up at IMDB.COM, Cristin is excited cause now she's in the database!) We both gave interviews and got to see some cool clips of what's been edited so far.
Our pal Susan B. Anthony Sommers Willet Cline was also here for a short visit. Me and Cristin were a little out of it as she had just had tubes down her gullet (she had an endoscopy done) and I was wiped from a busy week at the bar. Cristin's mom was around (I never got to see her) to give Cristin moral support after her doctor's visit. I worked Monday and got to perforn a little. Also, it has been decided that I will be the main host of Urbana Slam! So come check me out tomorrow!
posted by Shappy at 1:03 AM
Monday, November 08, 2004
Kerry Won. . .
Greg Palast
November 04, 2004
Bush won Ohio by 136,483 votes. In the United States, about 3 percent of votes cast are voided—known as “spoilage” in election jargon—because the ballots cast are inconclusive. Drawing on what happened in Florida and studies of elections past, Palast argues that if Ohio’s discarded ballots were counted, Kerry would have won the state. Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports there are a total of 247,672 votes not counted in Ohio, if you add the 92,672 discarded votes plus the 155,000 provisional ballots. So far there's no indication that Palast's hypothesis will be tested because only the provisional ballots are being counted.
Greg Palast, contributing editor to Harper's magazine, investigated the manipulation of the vote for BBC Television's Newsnight. The documentary, "Bush Family Fortunes," based on his New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, has been released this month on DVD .
Kerry won. Here are the facts.
I know you don't want to hear it. You can't face one more hung chad. But I don't have a choice. As a journalist examining that messy sausage called American democracy, it's my job to tell you who got the most votes in the deciding states. Tuesday, in Ohio and New Mexico, it was John Kerry.
Most voters in Ohio thought they were voting for Kerry. At 1:05 a.m. Wednesday morning, CNN's exit poll showed Kerry beating Bush among Ohio women by 53 percent to 47 percent. The exit polls were later combined with—and therefore contaminated by—the tabulated results, ultimately becoming a mirror of the apparent actual vote. [To read about the skewing of exit polls to conform to official results, click here .] Kerry also defeated Bush among Ohio's male voters 51 percent to 49 percent. Unless a third gender voted in Ohio, Kerry took the state.
So what's going on here? Answer: the exit polls are accurate. Pollsters ask, "Who did you vote for?" Unfortunately, they don't ask the crucial, question, "Was your vote counted?" The voters don't know.
Here's why. Although the exit polls show that most voters in Ohio punched cards for Kerry-Edwards, thousands of these votes were simply not recorded. This was predictable and it was predicted. [See TomPaine.com, "An Election Spoiled Rotten," November 1.]
Once again, at the heart of the Ohio uncounted vote game are, I'm sorry to report, hanging chads and pregnant chads, plus some other ballot tricks old and new.
The election in Ohio was not decided by the voters but by something called "spoilage." Typically in the United States, about 3 percent of the vote is voided, just thrown away, not recorded. When the bobble-head boobs on the tube tell you Ohio or any state was won by 51 percent to 49 percent, don't you believe it ... it has never happened in the United States, because the total never reaches a neat 100 percent. The television totals simply subtract out the spoiled vote.
Whose Votes Are Discarded?
And not all votes spoil equally. Most of those votes, say every official report, come from African-American and minority precincts. (To learn more, click here.)
We saw this in Florida in 2000. Exit polls showed Gore with a plurality of at least 50,000, but it didn't match the official count. That's because the official, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, excluded 179,855 spoiled votes. In Florida, as in Ohio, most of these votes lost were cast on punch cards where the hole wasn't punched through completely—leaving a 'hanging chad,'—or was punched extra times. Whose cards were discarded? Expert statisticians investigating spoilage for the government calculated that 54 percent of the ballots thrown in the dumpster were cast by black folks. (To read the report from the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, click here .)
And here's the key: Florida is terribly typical. The majority of ballots thrown out (there will be nearly 2 million tossed out from Tuesday's election) will have been cast by African American and other minority citizens.
So here we go again. Or, here we don't go again. Because unlike last time, Democrats aren't even asking Ohio to count these cards with the not-quite-punched holes (called "undervotes" in the voting biz). Nor are they demanding we look at the "overvotes" where voter intent may be discerned.
Ohio is one of the last states in America to still use the vote-spoiling punch-card machines. And the Secretary of State of Ohio, J. Kenneth Blackwell, wrote before the election, “the possibility of a close election with punch cards as the state’s primary voting device invites a Florida-like calamity.”
But this week, Blackwell, a rabidly partisan Republican, has warmed up to the result of sticking with machines that have a habit of eating Democratic votes. When asked if he feared being this year's Katherine Harris, Blackwell noted that Ms. Fix-it's efforts landed her a seat in Congress.
Exactly how many votes were lost to spoilage this time? Blackwell's office, notably, won't say, though the law requires it be reported. Hmm. But we know that last time, the total of Ohio votes discarded reached a democracy-damaging 1.96 percent. The machines produced their typical loss—that's 110,000 votes—overwhelmingly Democratic.
The Impact Of Challenges
First and foremost, Kerry was had by chads. But the Democrat wasn't punched out by punch cards alone. There were also the 'challenges.' That's a polite word for the Republican Party of Ohio's use of an old Ku Klux Klan technique: the attempt to block thousands of voters of color at the polls. In Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida, the GOP laid plans for poll workers to ambush citizens under arcane laws—almost never used—allowing party-designated poll watchers to finger individual voters and demand they be denied a ballot. The Ohio courts were horrified and federal law prohibits targeting of voters where race is a factor in the challenge. But our Supreme Court was prepared to let Republicans stand in the voting booth door.
In the end, the challenges were not overwhelming, but they were there. Many apparently resulted in voters getting these funky "provisional" ballots—a kind of voting placebo—which may or may not be counted. Blackwell estimates there were 175,000; Democrats say 250,000. Pick your number. But as challenges were aimed at minorities, no one doubts these are, again, overwhelmingly Democratic. Count them up, add in the spoiled punch cards (easy to tally with the human eye in a recount), and the totals begin to match the exit polls; and, golly, you've got yourself a new president. Remember, Bush won by 136,483 votes in Ohio.
Enchanted State's Enchanted Vote
Now, on to New Mexico, where a Kerry plurality—if all votes are counted—is more obvious still. Before the election, in TomPaine.com, I wrote, "John Kerry is down by several thousand votes in New Mexico, though not one ballot has yet been counted."
How did that happen? It's the spoilage, stupid; and the provisional ballots.
CNN said George Bush took New Mexico by 11,620 votes. Again, the network total added up to that miraculous, and non-existent, '100 percent' of ballots cast.
New Mexico reported in the last race a spoilage rate of 2.68 percent, votes lost almost entirely in Hispanic, Native American and poor precincts—Democratic turf. From Tuesday's vote, assuming the same ballot-loss rate, we can expect to see 18,000 ballots in the spoilage bin.
Spoilage has a very Democratic look in New Mexico. Hispanic voters in the Enchanted State, who voted more than two to one for Kerry, are five times as likely to have their vote spoil as a white voter. Counting these uncounted votes would easily overtake the Bush 'plurality.'
Already, the election-bending effects of spoilage are popping up in the election stats, exactly where we'd expect them: in heavily Hispanic areas controlled by Republican elections officials. Chaves County, in the "Little Texas" area of New Mexico, has a 44 percent Hispanic population, plus African Americans and Native Americans, yet George Bush "won" there 68 percent to 31 percent.
I spoke with Chaves' Republican county clerk before the election, and he told me that this huge spoilage rate among Hispanics simply indicated that such people simply can't make up their minds on the choice of candidate for president. Oddly, these brown people drive across the desert to register their indecision in a voting booth.
Now, let's add in the effect on the New Mexico tally of provisional ballots.
"They were handing them out like candy," Albuquerque journalist Renee Blake reported of provisional ballots. About 20,000 were given out. Who got them?
Santiago Juarez who ran the "Faithful Citizenship" program for the Catholic Archdiocese in New Mexico, told me that "his" voters, poor Hispanics, whom he identified as solid Kerry supporters, were handed the iffy provisional ballots. Hispanics were given provisional ballots, rather than the countable kind "almost religiously," he said, at polling stations when there was the least question about a voter's identification. Some voters, Santiago said, were simply turned away.
Your Kerry Victory Party
So we can call Ohio and New Mexico for John Kerry—if we count all the votes.
But that won't happen. Despite the Democratic Party's pledge, the leadership this time gave in to racial disenfranchisement once again. Why? No doubt, the Democrats know darn well that counting all the spoiled and provisional ballots will require the cooperation of Ohio's Secretary of State, Blackwell. He will ultimately decide which spoiled and provisional ballots get tallied. Blackwell, hankering to step into Kate Harris' political pumps, is unlikely to permit anything close to a full count. Also, Democratic leadership knows darn well the media would punish the party for demanding a full count.
What now? Kerry won, so hold your victory party. But make sure the shades are down: it may be become illegal to demand a full vote count under PATRIOT Act III.
I used to write a column for the Guardian papers in London. Several friends have asked me if I will again leave the country. In light of the failure—a second time—to count all the votes, that won't be necessary. My country has left me.
© 2004 TomPaine.com ( Project of The Institute for America's Future ) | Privacy Policy | Site Map | Contact Us | About Us
posted by Shappy at 5:54 PM
Thursday, November 04, 2004 Did anyone happen to hear who won the election? posted by Shappy at 1:28 AM
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Well-
Here we go! I hope we have a new president for the sake of my new niece Taylor Elizabeth Seasholtz born yesterday! Let's have less evil in the world for the sake of all our future Americans! PLEASE VOTE!
posted by Shappy at 1:45 AM
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