Here's the proof:
As you can tell from the pictures, Shop Cat, [insert actual animal name here when final determination is made], is unimpressed. Cats simply aren't big on democracy in general, being strict Monarchists. I get the impression that cats consider democracy an oddity particular to the servant monkey class. (Me! Pet Me! Feed Me! Scratch Me. My box, it's stinky, fix it now, servant monkey! Me me me!)No lines. None. At least when I went in. There were a couple of people when I came out of the booth. I vote on the MatSu college campus and most of the students were wearing "I voted Today!" stickers, so you know, cool.
Of course, it being Alaska, I'm pretty sure most everybody voted for Sarah Palin and What's His Name (not the Black Arab Guy, the other one). Considering the number of McCain/Palin signs on the cars in the parking lot, I figure that's a pretty good indicator. Whatever - that's democracy for you, and they should vote for who they want, not who I want, even if they're wrong, wrong, wrong. Damnit.
Procedural note: Poll workers may NOT discuss anything about any candidate. Period. Including the fact that a candidate may be left or right handed. I had to move the registration book around so I could sign it (being left handed and not being able to move said left arm very far due to nerve damage. You want to be able to read my signature, you let me put the damned book where I want it. Just sayin').
Which caused the nice older lady behind the desk to say, "Hey, both of the candidates are left handed too!"
To which I replied, "Yes, I believe that you are..."
At which point the less-nice older lady running the polling station stepped in, "Stop! Poll workers may not discuss the candidates in any way. Any further discussion regarding the candidates will result in you being sent home! (she was addressing the poll worker, me she just glared at)."
Whoa, that's strict, but you can see why the rule exists. Don't want dexterity to influence the voting public now, do we?
Anyway, my patriotic duty is done. Not that I have any illusions about which way Alaska's pitiful three electoral votes are going, but hey, it's the principle of the thing.
Right?
So, wait... are you saying this could be the first time in American history that Americans could choose between two left-winged candidates? Because I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteSo, then, I guess what this election is about is more of a Trotsky-vs.-Stalin thing than anything else, maybe?
awwww... what a cuuuuute wittle kitty.... :D
ReplyDeleteLines are crazy here. Donna's tried to vote twice, and had to leave both times unvoted. We're going to try again after 5PM, but I don't expect it to be any less busy.
ReplyDeleteI'm suspecting we're way understaffed and under-machined to handle the turnout this year. I find that a very good thing, but still, frustrating for those of us that normally vote. I think we should get a Disney Express Pass or something.
And my state is Blue like yours is Red, Jim. Even if every Michigan voter that didn't live in the Detroit area voted republican, we'd still be Blue. :)
Hmm... to clarify, Donna tried to cast her single vote on two separate occasions today, she didn't try to cast two votes. :)
ReplyDeleteI swear, my polling place felt like a party.
ReplyDeleteshe didn't try to cast two votes
ReplyDeleteSuuuuuure. Voter Fraud! Voter Fraud! Blue staters are stealing the election! ACORN! ACORN!
ur...Sorry was just trying to get a jump on the Fox News headlines tomorrow.
Vote early, vote often?
ReplyDeletePrior to this election, I've always gone voted when the polls opened -- amidst throngs of people. It was weird to get there and be one of only three people there. I was in and out within 6 minutes. I took my 5 year-old daughter with me to vote. She promptly announced as we were leaving: "We voted for Obama." And she was mightily pleased when the poll worker (who I swear was about 15) gave her an "I voted" sticker too.
My husband, mother, brother, mother-in-law, and several cousins are left-handed. Does that count for anything? :-)
I think you should name the cat "Bezoar". It is an appropriate name and one of my favorite medical terms...
Natalie
Voted last week during early voting here in Georgia. Trying to make our red state blue this year!! Saved my sticker to wear today though.
ReplyDeleteHad to wait about 90 minutes in a very friendly line of folks from all walks of life.
We were all delighted to see so many newly minted voters getting into the lines.
WendyB_09
Yay for vote Shop Cat!
ReplyDeleteYay for voting!
Wendy, It's very cool that the line was friendly. People are so up in arms over this election, and there's been a few reports of confrontations and even fisticuffs in polling lines over people's choice of candidate. And it's definitely good to hear that things are going so neighborly down there in the deep south, or at least your part of it anyway (Of course, every time I've ever been through Atlanta people are unfailingly polite, it's the only place in the South that I've found 'Southern Hospitality' to be true and actual. Mississippi? Alabama? and especially Louisiana? Yeah, screw them).
ReplyDeleteI think you should name the cat "Bezoar". It is an appropriate name and one of my favorite medical terms...
Natalie, is that latin for 'cat shaped malignant brain tumor?'
I've been calling her 'Schtinky' (stinky), after the cat in the Mutts comic strip. But sooner or later she's going to need a proper Alaskan name. I guess I'm keeping her. I'll have to take her to the vet and get her fixed and chipped. She's now sporting a cool, multicolored collar, which she seems to like. Which is funny, considering the other two fuzzy monsters freak the hell out when I put collars on them, hissing and rolling around, scratching and biting until they got them off.
Yay fellow Georgians working to turn the state blue! :)
ReplyDeleteYay kept shop cat! :D
I miss voting in person. :(
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Shop Cat supports your voting rights. Hmmm... names.
Coho Cat
Iliamna
Trooper
Mukluks
Ursa Micro
Arctic Cat
Caribou Kitty
Shop Cat may be renamed "I hate the fucking dog!"
ReplyDeleteIntroduced Shop Cat to Shop Dog today. Not a good meeting. Dog doesn't mind, cats really don't interest her - Shop Cat, um, not so much. Hissing, spitting, growling, and just plain unhappy. She might be a republican, I understand they're in the same mood today. Heh, heh.
I'll keep introducing them, a little longer each day and see how it goes. Could be big down check, Shop Dog is my pal, and she was here first.
Shop Kitty just needs a little time to adjust. It helps that Shop Dog ignores her.
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't want everything to go perfectly, would you? Then you might suspect that Shop Kitty is plant from Catdom to convert you to a [gasp] cat-lover!
Squirt some tuna juice on Shop Dog.
ReplyDeleteThen see how Shop Cat feels about her.
:)
Hmm, that photo says to me, "Vote, or the cat gets it."
ReplyDeleteDid my duty. I also kept form blowing up at people today, something that took great will power.
And shop cat, should be "Eagle Bait 2"
Bezoar = hairball. Appropriate, no?
ReplyDeleteMaybe she was traumatized by a dog just before she dropped in. In which case if Shop Dog doesn't assault her, she might learn that some dogs are okay after all.
ReplyDeleteShe's young, give her a little time to be acclimated. Even odds says she eventually ends up deciding Shop Dog is some kind of magical mobile pillow.
ReplyDeleteIt's mostly a matter of letting her get acclimated to the scent and presence of Shop Dog, and realizing Shop Dog =/= threat.
I thought cats were strict Maoists.
ReplyDelete