Woodpecker heard banging away on the house again. Hear it as a sound
file in my Yahoo Briefcase, "Sounds from around the house" folder.

Suet put out for the first time this season. I'll do that until it
warms up again.

Saw a bird, not a woodpecker like before, checking out the birdhouse.
Let's hope it moves in. Looked like a song sparrow but couldn't
really tell. See the pic.

And I've seen my first piece of trash in my neighbor's back yard.
With the leaves off the trees, eventually I will see a scattering of
junk in the woods behind my house. My neighbors, apparently, like to
dispose of their trash in the woods. I see rusty buckets, plastic
jugs, metal things, other odds and ends. Disgusting. Pics to come if
they show them well enough.

I feel like bitching about Yahoo.

- The website is slow to respond. I have to click again and again to
get it to refresh pages or go where I want. I am using a cable modem
and every time I check I see that I am getting GREAT connection
speeds so it isn't the ISP or me.

- The web-based mail is stupid. You have to readjust your viewing
preferences Every god-damned time. I want my mail sorted by sender. I
have to do that with EVERY PAGE VIEW. Why can't their server remember
that?

More bitching to come.

And while I'm at it, Blogger is having its problems too. You can't
post messages today. Will keep trying, see how long this lasts. (Fixed by ~3pm. started trying to send via e-mail around 11am.)

- Also, when uploading pictures, I can't upload more than one at a
time. My browser, Camino, won't allow that. Others might and I use
them sometimes. Firefox doesn't either. Also, Blogger's setup for
uploading pics says "use this layout every time". Trouble is it
doesn't remember what setup you are using so despite having chosen
that option, I have to choose the justification (none) every time.
Bad programing.

Japanese (and other) maples are peaking!


A neighbor's Japanese maple. (Looked much deeper and stronger red than this pic.)


Yesterday was Halloween. A gorgeous day, warm and amazingly colorful with so many trees with their most vivid colors. It was surreal to walk outside towards the evening. And then we are treated to a half moon, looking properly spooky.

Rockland County's Board of Elections website s****

Good luck figuring out who the state and local reps are and what your districts are. Rockland County's Board of Elections website is a mess.

The website says I am in these districts (I've changed some numbers to protect my privacy):

Election district - A

Congressional district - 17th district

Assembly district - B

Legislative district - C

The sample ballot they provide says my:

Rep in Congress - 17th district

State Senator - 38th district

Member of Assembly - B

Translating all this then:

- Election district is how Rockland divides up all the county districts.

- Congressional district on BOE website (= US Senate) = Rep in Congress on ballot.

- Assembly district on BOE website (=NY State Assembly) = Member of assembly on ballot.

So, my State Senator is in the 38th district. I am in Rockland County election district "A", Assembly district "B" and apparently, Legislative district "C". Got it? So can I tell who I can vote for? I know my US Congressman is Eliot Engel and NY State Senator is Tom Morahan. I'm not worried about who's who in the the major races but the local stuff is a mystery.

What a mess! The website is no help at all. It's just a jumble of numbers without any help in making sense of them all.

In small print on the lower right hand edge of the page is this: "Congressional, Assembly or Legislative district lookup click here". (http://www.co.rockland.ny.us/BOE/districts.html ) This page leads to a page of numbers. How do you figure out which ones apply to you?

Then it says,

"Don't know your election district? Go to Polling Place."

What the F? No link to a page that shows the polling place? (Suggestion: Either have that be the link or add the word "above".) There are a bunch of links above that; one says polling place. The page that link brings you to asks you for some location info and then brings you to page where your polling location is listed, and in addition, your election district which turns out to be the key to unlocking your info.

But trying to figure out the rest of the info? Good luck...

One poorly designed website.

People ought to demand info that actually helps. The state's website isn't much help either.

Political endorsements (not that I have any influence!)

The League of Women Voters has published their voting guide. I've
read through it and have come to some conclusions about some of the
candidates. (Try it. Read each candidate's response. Slowly. Let each
sentence stand on its own. Do you agree with it or not? Is it
encouraging, flat-out wrong or indicative of leaning in the wrong
direction? Some say some good things. Others just beat around the
bush.)

The Greens have some good candidates. I was even impressed with some
Republican's statements but none impress me enough to actually vote
for any of them. (What, give them a signal that all the shenanigans
they've put us through for the past 6 years is ok? No way.)

Comptroller
Julia Willebrand - Green

Attorney General
Rachel Treichler - Green

State Supreme Court
Two democrats - Alan Scheinkman & Sam D Walker

State Senate
Nancy Low Hogan
tom Morahan has been acting nervous. His minions have bugged me twice
by calling and pretending to be an independent poll but as the poll
goes on, it becomes obvious that it is Morahan behind it. Morahan has
done some good things (mental health, possibly environmental) but he
is a a calculating, sleazy Republican so I hope he loses.

US House
17th District (my district) - Eliot Engel. He's been on the right
side of almost everything I have petitioned him about. One or two
votes were very wrong and inexplicable but overall he is very good.

19th District (not my district) - John Hall
Hall has a good chance to unseat Republican Sue (Bush rubberstamp)
Kelly. I hope he wins.

County Judge
Two Democrats - Victor Alfieri & Charles Apotheker

Rockland County Legislator
17th District (not my district)
Connie Coker - Democrat

6th District (not my district)
Bruce Levine - I like damn everything he said in the League's Voter Guide.
Alden Wolfe has also been responsive to an issue I wrote about but as
far as I know he isn't actually running yet remains on the ballot.
(And isn't in my district anyway.)

All gubernatorial candidates say they are against gerrymandering. So
why does it continue? Why aren't more people upset that the two
dominant parties rearrange the voting districts each time they get
the chance, so that they can remain in power. Wake up people. (And
while we're at it, let's open up the airwaves (cable too) to ALL
candidates for free. The price of TV ads are one major source of
corruption in the whole election/democratic process.)

A few more things to worry about:
- How may dead people will vote this election? The paper today said
that there are 75,000 in NY State? The election process is DEEPLY
flawed. Local Board of Elections (choose your locality) are nests of
incompetence and partisanship (whatever the reason why). Be
suspicious. Be protective of your right to vote accurately.

- Will election machines actually record our votes? Will any partisan
hanky-panky or volunteer poll-worker incompetence affect votes
near/in the election places?

Other endorsements will come before election day. My overall approach
- Republicans are de facto NOT worthy of a vote unless there are
extraordinary circumstances: What would make me vote for a
Republican? If they are actually good people. If they have
interesting ideas that will actually help society rather than
continue the status quo of their party. I haven't found anyone worthy
of breaking this rule this time around.

Oh, one last thing. Look this up on Spencer in the Journal News:
U.S. SENATE RACE A TRADITIONAL CONSERVATIVE
January 15, 2006 ** 2984 words ** ID: wst2006011610550993

He sounds like a perfect Republican candidate!

(Me, I'm a a proud Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking*, Sushi-Eating*, Volvo-Driving*, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing*, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak, I mean liberal. * PS I don't actually drink latte, eat sushi, drive a Volvo or have any body piercings but I agree with the sentiments.)