And this was the line that awaited me when I got to my local Ben & Jerry’s at 7:40 this evening:
I only had to wait maybe five minutes for my free scoop of ice cream (chocolate peanut butter swirl, if you must know), but still an impressive line.
Yay, free ice cream! Yay, Ben & Jerry’s! And, because I likes me some chocolate and peanut butter, yay, chocolate peanut butter swirl!
This was the line that awaited me when I got to my local polling place at 6:40 this morning:
It was as long again inside before reaching the actual voting room. I haven’t voted in all that many presidential elections yet, and this is my first one at this polling place, but still…this is the first time I’ve had to wait in any kind of line to vote. And it is awesome.
I love seeing this kind of involvement. And I love it when people bring their kids with them, like the little boy in the yellow jacket apparently trying to scamper away above. Giving their children any kind of awareness about the process is undoubtedly a Good Thing.
(There was also a kid, had to’ve been in high school, standing outside the “no electioneering” zone handing out flyers, and he said he was there all day. Young people who get involved are the best!)
All this is to say: yay, voting! Yay, America! And, because I’m not trying to be partisan here, yay Obama!
It didn’t happen during the primaries, so I’m not confident it’ll happen during the general election either, but I signed up the other day as a supporter of Science Debate 2008.
Their mission is simple:
We have noticed that science and technology lie at the center of a very large number of the policy issues facing our nation and the world - issues that profoundly affect our national and economic security as science and technology continue to transform our lives.
…
We believe a debate on these issues would be the ideal opportunity for America and the candidates to explore our national priorities on the issues, and it is hard to imagine any candidate not wishing to be involved in such an occasion.
This is a debate that I, as a science lover, would really like to see happen, so I hope they can get it going for the next few months.
If you think this is an area that requires special attention, too, why not sign up as a supporter, too. Once you’ve signed up, you’re even invited to submit questions for the (so far hypothetical) debate, so it’s even a chance to indirectly ask a question of the presidential candidates. How cool is that?
Okay, just saw this and it troubles me…
It’s not so much that McCain is a technological illiterate (though, of course, that doesn’t seem to me a good thing for a world leader in 2008 to be), but that he admits as much and can’t – won’t? – even answer the “Mac vs. PC” question, one that’s been an entry-level tech questions for…man, must be 20 years now, strikes me as particularly… Ignorant? Out of touch? I don’t even know.
I mean, seriously. It’s not like he’s being asked Facebook vs. MySpace; that one I wouldn’t necessarily expect him to have an answer for.
Sheesh. Where’s he been the past 20 years? An isolated wilderness?
…oh, that’s right, he has been in an isolated wilderness for 20 years; he’s been a member of Congress since ‘83.