| 06 November 2006 Bending Over Backwards Everyone is doing some contortions this morning. The politicians are, of course, since tomorrow at this time I will be in a line with my fellow voters in the rain, squirming to stay dry. The rain is a factor in these events, particularly if the voting machines malfunction, and the people are wet and cold for extended periods. There has been much ado about the security failings of the new computerized devices, but I began voting long ago in mechanical booths with a long lever that sounded a bit like slot machines in operation. These were ideal for voter fraud, and were the instruments of choice for many big-city political monoliths. Like the slots, the odds are always on the house, and elections in places where one party or the other has little representation or oversight will always be prone to mischief. There will certainly be some contortions over tomorrow's adventure in democracy, and I am looking forward to it. They say this campaign cost the nation $2.6 billion dollars, and I hope we get our money's worth. These things are always much more complex than we ordinary citizens know. We take things at face value, like gas prices, unemployment figures and the mysterious actions of the Federal Reserve Board. Others say the whole thing is a conspiracy. There are those who maintain the conviction of the former Iraqi Dictator was timed to influence the election. While alert to shenanigans, I would think the appearance of Osama bin Laden's corpse from a refrigerator would have been better theater. For his part, Saddam Hussein will attempt to contort the legal system that has delivered him to the hangman, on a fairly tight time-line. The system, chaotic as it was, bent over backwards to let him vent his formidable spleen in open court. The matter did not rely much on testimony, beyond the fact that the murders actually occurred. The evidence of his crime against humanity was based on documents from Saddam's own security apparatus, signed by himself. Many of the officers of the court agreed to have themselves murdered as the price of their participation, which you must admit is going the last mile for justice. I wish the ballot tomorrow offered more choices, more initiatives on what must be done. I get so foggy with all the lies and attacks that spew forth in the last days before the election. The Framers of our system were careful to ensure that check and balances were set in place to prevent radical change by some future generation of rabble. I know my individual vote will have little consequence, but I have been needing a walk in the rain to clear my head. Vote. Copyright 2006 Vic Socotra |