Ohio Population Shift

The recent election in NY made me take a quick look to see when the new Congressional districts have to be in place in Ohio (Dec. 7). When I was looking, I found this little graphic that confirms my suspicions that the five remaining Democrats will be under fire:



From what I have heard, it is almost a given that OH-10 will be blown away, most of it combined with OH-11 I would imagine. After that, it looks as though OH-9 or OH-17 will be on the chopping block. OH-13 is the only other Democrat district and that one actually increased by 18,000 people.

If it were me, I'd get rid of OH-17. It lost 30,000 people and could easily be split four ways into OH-6, OH-13, OH-14, and OH-16.

The other little bugaboo is how to reapportion the rest of Ohio. The Columbus area showed dramatic growth and could (in theory) be split into four districts (combined OH-7, OH-12, and OH-15 grew by over 225,000 people). If they take that tack, one then looks at the possibility of OH-9 being absorbed between OH-5, OH-13 and OH-16 as well. Likely, the new Columbus district would create a Democrat safe harbor at the core and surround it with three Republican strongholds, unless they can find a way to gerrymander it to a part of a heavily Republican x-urb.

As such, I would say that the only safe Democrats are Marcia Fudge (OH-11) and Betty Sutton (OH-13)

2011 NY-26 Special

Flying way below the radar today is a special election in NY to fill a vacancy in NY-26. That's in Western NY out in the more rural areas before you come to Buffalo and Niagra. The main candidates are Republican Jane Corwin and Democrat Kathy Hochul. It's a nominally Republican district but there are a couple of wrinkles that are making this one interesting.

First, it's a special election so turnout will be low and that always throws things off.

Second, there is a third-party candidate (Jack Davis) who has registered as a "Tea Party", despite his previous runs for various offices under the Democrat label. Mr. Davis has been drawing extra votes, although it's not quite clear as to whether he has been drawing more from the right or the left. Either way, he's playing spoiler to someone and could give Independents enough of an outlet to let it be a dead draw between registered Republican and Democrats that show up.

Polls in NY generally close around 9 PM but it will probably be several hours before enough votes are tallied to get an idea of who won.

*UPDATE*

Ms. Hochul (D) defeats Ms. Corwin (R). Ms. Corwin conceded relatively early. Apparently, she made some very bad assumptions about this campaign.

Destruction then Beauty

Joplin, MO was nearly destroyed in a major tornado outbreak yesterday. But in the curious way that weather works, it was followed by great beauty:

80's Themes Again

Of course, now that I've thought about the 80's, I have to repost the three best themes of the 80's:

#3 - Transformers:


#2 - He-Man:


And yes, He-Man was gay.

#1 - GI-Joe (Movie):


Of course, it goes without saying that the opening theme and fight sequence was about the only good thing that came from the GI Joe Movie. If they had just done 90 minutes of this, it would have been a much better movie. That or just make the whole movie about Baroness and Destro. That would have worked too.

Commercials

Mrs. X and I were talking last night about old commercials and celebrities (before they were famous) who starred in them. That got me thinking about some old commercials that I remember. My view on commercials is a little stilted since the Armed Forces Network aired PSAs instead of product advertisements during the commercial breaks of shows. As such, the commercials I remember I saw over and over again on TV that had been recorded in the States and shipped to us in Japan.

Here's a few that were memorable and I've been able to find:

Peter Pan Peanut Butter

Donkey Kong Jr. Cereal:


Kentucky Fried Chicken (Hot Deal):


McDonald's (First Day):


There's a couple of others that stick in my mind but I can't find. One was a variation on the Hubba Bubba Gum Fighter (it probably didn't get broadcast much because of a somewhat caricature Native American portrayal). Another was a McDonald's commercial where a more sinister looking Hamburgler steals the hamburger pals and Ronald has to rescue them. Also a singing HI-C ad.

Ahhh... good times.

Police State Evolution

Did I miss the 4th amendment being repealed?

Six-Planet Alignment

This is cool. I've not been able to see it properly because of how early the sun is coming up now, but this should give you an idea of what's happening. This is the alignment from this morning:



The red line that the planets seem to be following is the ecliptic (path of the sun) line while the blue line is the path of the moon. Right now Mars, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter are all clustered in the heart of Pisces while Uranus is on the outer edge of it. Neptune is in between Aquarius and Capricorn while Pluto is just above Sagittarius and below Scutum.

Only Saturn is missing as it is hanging out in Virgo which would be somewhere in the Pacific at this time (being three constellations ahead of Sagittarius).

Marvel Situation Room Errors

Someone doctored the situation room photo from the Osama bin Laden operation to make the various characters into Marvel comic book heroes.



There's just one small problem. Most of the characters are not Marvel. Flash, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Spectre, Catwoman, Wonder Woman, and the Martian Manhunter were all created by DC Comics. Spawn is a product of Image Comics. In fact, everyone seated at the table is a member of the Justice League, which is comprised entirely of DC Comics characters. Captain America and Spiderman are the only actual Marvel characters there.

Of course, we won't even get into the irony of Mr. Obama as Captain America, especially as one would have expected him to be Superman. Mr. Biden as Flash is just funny.

Others might prefer the Royal Wedding Edition.

Dire Flooding

Many people are critical of those who would build their houses in known flood plains. But this is just insane:



Cairo, IL has crested at 61.8 feet (record). Memphis will crest at 48.0' tomorrow (second highest). At one point, tributaries to the Mississippi were flowing backwards because of the water volume. Definately some bad times going on.

Crisis

It is often said that those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. What's said less often is that knowledge of history can give you insight into the future. Not that that's always comforting. The following letter was written by Lord Thomas Macaulay to Henry Randall (President Jefferson's biographer) in the 1850's. It is remarkably accurate as to how things evolved over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, although we must point out that Lord Macaulay would have been influenced in his views by the rise of Marxism.

"I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must sooner or later destroy liberty or civilization, or both. You may think that your country enjoys an exemption from these evils. I will frankly own to you that I am of a very different opinion. Your fate I believe to be settled, though it is deferred by a physical cause. As long as you have a boundless extent of fertile and unoccupied land, your laboring population will be far more at ease than is the laboring population of the old world, and while that is the case the Jefferson politics may continue to exist without any fatal calamity. But the time will come when wages will be as low and will fluctuate as much with you as with us. You will have your Manchesters and your Birminghams, and in these Manchesters and Birminghams hundreds of thousands of artisans will assuredly be out of work. Then your institutions will be brought to the test. Distress everywhere makes the laborer mutinous and discontented, and incline him to listen to agitators who tell him that it is a monstrous iniquity that one man should have a million while another cannot get a full meal.

"I have seen England pass through three or four such critical seasons as I have described; through such seasons the United States will have to pass in the course of the next century, if not of this. How will you pass through them? I heartily wish you a good deliverance. But my reason and my wishes are at war, and one cannot help foreboding the worst.

"The day will come when in the State of New York, a multitude of people, none of whom has had more than half a breakfast or expects to have more than half a dinner, will choose a legislature. On one side is a statesman teaching patience, respect for the vested rights, strict observance of public faith. On the other is a demagogue, ranting at the tyranny of capitalists and usurists, and asking why anybody should be permitted to drink champagne and ride in a carriage while thousands of honest people are in want of necessities. Which of these candidates is likely to be preferred by a working-man who hears his children cry for bread?

"I seriously apprehend that you will, in some such season of adversity as I have described, do things which will prevent prosperity from returning. There will be, I fear, spoliation. The spoliation will increase the distress. The distress will produce fresh spoliation. There is nothing to stop you. Your constitution is all sail and no anchor.

"As I said before, when society has entered on this downward progress, either civilisation or liberty must perish. Either some Caesar or Napoleon will seize the reins of government with a strong hand, and your republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid to waste by the barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman Empire was in the fifth, with the difference that the Huns and Vandals who ravaged the Roman empire came from without; and that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country by your own institutions."

Yay us

Much remains but I would still like to dedicate this little bit to the removal of Mr. Bin Laden