Massachusetts and the Electoral College

According to boston.com, The Mass. legislature has voted 28-9 to bypass the Electoral College.

Under the law, which was enacted by the House last week, all 12 of the state's electoral votes would be awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes nationally.

Sounds reasonable, right? Well, not if you are the founding fathers who (by my guess) were better at this than the current slate of state senators in one of the original 13 colonies.

Because the law of unintended consequences strikes swiftest and decisively in politics, imagine this scenario.

In 2012, the people of Massachusetts vote in the majority to re-elect Barack Obama. If the Republican challenger were to win the popular vote, not one of the electoral votes from the Bay State would go to our current president. The will of the people would have been thwarted completely.

I can only hope that their governor has the sense to not sign this bill into law.

Mini-Reunion

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to spend time with three great guys that I used to serve with at Fort Hood, Texas back in 2002-2005 (but seems like much longer ago).

Tim Love volunteered his house to have a this mini-reunion but he is in the process of moving so his wife's parents were gracious enough to host. We had wonderful food, taught the foreigners (those from outside the Midwest) how to play euchre and got a chance to catch up. We talked and laughed for hours; sharing stories of 'where are they now', 'remember when' and 'oh-my-god I can't believe I forgot about ...'.

It was great remembering the higher points of my Fort Hood experience with some fantastic officers with whom I was lucky to serve.

It was also a pleasure meeting James' new wife (congrats again to you both!).

A big thank you to Michelle Love and her parents (the Pontikos family) for hosting such a wonderful reunion.

Tim Love, Me, Josh Ishibashi and James Mijares

Honest Wine

This maybe the most honest product I've seen in a while.

To Mothers Everywhere

A tribute to mothers ... we love you very much.



(Please click here to watch the video for those that get the email feed).

The Scarlet T

Transparency became a big word in the 2008 presidential election. President Obama wielded the word like a scarlet letter, implying that those who don't espouse 'transparency' must not have any.

This last week, in the midst of Apple's iPhone 4 antenna debacle, Senator (D-NY) Chuck Schumer weighed in with a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs (because all of the country's problems are fixed, apparently) with this:

I write to express concern regarding the reception problem with the Apple iPhone 4. While I commend Apple’s innovative approach to mobile technology and I appreciate its service to millions of iPhone users nationwide, I believe it is incumbent upon Apple to address this flaw in a transparent manner.

(You can read the entire letter here.) And there you have it. Since Sen. Schumer demands transparency, there must not be any. Never mind that Apple was probably still evaluating the issue (and has since taken steps to assist customers with the problem).

What a great political weapon to be the one to so nobly call for transparency while implying that there is none.

Skipping Rocks Along the Olentangy

Yesterday, we made a trip to Columbus, Ohio. Mason and Mallory got to hang out with their cousins, Henry and Baxter. We all piled in a couple of cars and drove up to Highbanks Park, just north of Columbus, on Route 23.

The kids skipped rocks, searched for tadpoles, frogs (toads?), crayfish and whatever else was swimming in the Olentangy River.

All of this play reminded me of when I was Mason's age; skipping rocks into the same river when I would visit with my Grandparents almost 30 years ago (I sound old as I type that...). My uncles Jeff and Randy would walk down the bike path with me and we would spend (what seemed like hours) just skipping rocks into the calm water as it flowed south toward campus.

A Wonderful Website for Parents (and Wouldbe Parents)

To all parents, and (more importantly) prospective parents, please view this wonderful website.

Enjoy.

Fireworks

Last year on the 4th, I wrote about my opinion of fireworks. Not much has changed as I hear them echo throughout the neighborhood. Listening to the loud snaps bounce off the houses still reminds me of the familiar sound of gunfire as it would rattle through downtown Baghdad. The stacatto cracks, random and violent, stop just as soon as they start.

Its not the ones that our good neighbors fire off the night of the 4th so much as the fireworks left over. The noises are out of place, even 18 hours after the previous evening's celebration.

This afternoon, I looked out the window to see where the noise was coming from. Watching the fireworks made the experience much different and diffused some of the emotion and reaction that they invoke when I am just listening.

There were four or five kids in the driveway across the street. They were lighting strands of firecrackers and bottle rockets. They seemed blissfully unaware of the power of these explosives and were jumping around, celebrating the day off of school and the power housed in these little cardboard tubes.

What was most satisfying, as I watched them play, was that they had no idea what the sounds of war are, let alone that they were re-creating them in their driveway. Hollering, jumping and laughing, they were enjoying their afternoon.

It reminded me of a quote from one of our Founders, John Adams:

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.

Let us all pray that the only 'gunfire' our sons and daughters hear are that of M-80s and firecrackers.