Rose's Rambles

A 2008 Intercollegiate Studies Institute study found that elected officials generally score worse on a civic literacy exam than does the general public. (You can take the exam yourself here. I didn't think it was all that hard--got 32 of 33 right myself.)
Makes you wonder why we're voting for people who don't know how American government is supposed to work, doesn't it?

You do have to reconcile your choice with your own conscience, but:
This is your best chance to have a say in the direction the country will go in the next four years, whether to continue with more of the same ($6 trillion in deficits in four years, 23 million unemployed, 3.5 years without a federal budget, Solyndra, Fisker Karma, Benghazi, Camp Bastion, Operation Fast and Furious...) or to try to put on the brakes and fix what's broken. It's not just a right; it's a responsibility.

GO VOTE.

Remember, too, that Congressional races are just as important as the Presidential one. And don't pay attention to early exit polls or returns before you vote, no matter which side you're rooting for. Don't let anyone talk you out of voting, and don't let long lines discourage you. Your voice can be heard only if you show up. Besides, if it's not close, the other side can't cheat, right?

VOTE TODAY!!!
(Not only am I voting this afternoon, but I'm also planning to help post election results at the county clerk's office this evening.)


Also, for those of you who are interested: The annual fundraising drive for Soldiers' Angels Project Valour-IT, which provides voice-activated laptops, personal GPS devices, and Wii game systems to wounded troops, is going on through Veteran's Day.

... it's a responsibility, to yourself, your friends, your family, your country, and the thousands of men and women who have shed their blood to ensure your ability to have a voice in your government.
( An exhortation (cut for space) )
GO VOTE.

( Political food for thought )

Not at all political: Top Gear now has a US-oriented website! No idea if they'll have stuff about the American version, featuring lovable-but-crazy handyman Eric Stromer, on that site or not, but it's a good way for folks on this side of the pond to get a taste of the petrolhead insanity. Video selection's a bit slim, though; the UK side has a lot more.

Pat Robertson has had problems for a long time. I've known that. I never watch The 700 Club, in large part because the guests he has on are often... heterodox at best. And he never questions them, even when they get into outright heresy or flatly contradict each other. He's also been known to make disparaging remarks about people who think orthodox doctrine is important and worth defending.
But when he gets into politics, he REALLY gives conservative Christians a bad name. And this "assassinate Chavez" thing is just the latest example. And NOW he's denying that he ever said "assassinate."
I know every group has its kooks. I just wish the ones on our side weren't so patently absurd--or so widely believed by people who don't know better (or who don't care to take the effort to test everything they hear from Christian TV).

EDIT: You've GOT to read Scrappleface on this topic. Never say we don't have a sense of humor.

NRO reports that Cindy Sheehan got a visit from Viggo Mortensen yesterday. I'm not sure whether I'm jealous--that he was this close and I didn't get a chance for an autograph, that is.
Now, IMO, if Viggo were really Aragorn, he'd do something like this and try to help heal her grief. Her protest reminds me a lot of a quote from Pearl: "You grudge the healing of your grief, / You are no gentle jeweller" (ll. 275-76, Tolkien's translation). She's conveniently ignoring the fact that her son voluntarily joined the military. And she's ignoring the pleas of her family to stop [backed up here, here, and here]. Aragorn would try to help her see where she's gotten off-base in her grief and how she's dishonoring her son's memory.
But Viggo's not Aragorn, no matter how good he was in the part. There are a lot of big-name leftists taking advantage of Mrs. Sheehan to advance their own agenda, and Mr. No-Blood-For-Oil Mortensen appears to be one of them. Somehow I don't think he'd turn up to pat my hand if I parked myself outside the headquarters of the New York Times to protest the fact that their war coverage sounds an awful lot like Al-Jazeera. (John Rhys-Davies might, but that's another story.)
I continue to be amazed by the disconnect in Viggo's mind between the lessons of LOTR and real life. How he figures that America is Mordor is beyond me--strictly speaking, I don't think any one country can be considered Mordor (although Syria, Iran, North Korea, and China might be in the running), because the leader of the country would have to be the Antichrist for the comparison to work. And while Saddam might well have been an antichrist (John does warn that there will be many before the end), I don't think even Iraq could honestly have been allegorized as Mordor. Making the case that Bush is the Antichrist is even harder.
The real lesson is that objective evil and objective good exist, and that it is worth the ultimate sacrifice to protect the good and defeat the evil. I think that's what we did by going into Iraq. JRD agrees, as do many others. And even those who don't agree ought to read the Good News from Iraq posts by Arthur Chrenkoff to see that we are at least trying to preserve the good while we're there. The fact that Viggo won't acknowledge any good news brings him way, way down in my estimation. As does his apparent willingness to join a bandwagon that's taking advantage of a grieving mother and dishonoring a hero.
No, Viggo's no Aragorn. More's the pity.

EDIT: Mohammed from Iraq the Model responds to Cindy Sheehan here. It's worth a read, regardless of your political position; it'll give you an Iraqi perspective.