Spontaneous Musings

1.)Feeling much better today, decided to eliminate a few new items from diet...and it worked. (ie. I'm no longer having green smoothies at breakfast, which have a higher natural sugar content, and no evening primrose or maca powder. I may be sensitive to something.)

2)Anyone still watching Castle? I don't watch Castle -- haven't since the first or second year.Anyhow...there was this weird blurb online about how Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic (who plays Beckett, Castle's love interest) hate each other in real life. (I can actually identify -- every workplace, if you stick around long enough, you will eventually either rub someone the wrong way or they will rub you the wrong way. The trick, I guess, is not to stay too long? Or to shrug it off? But imagine being an actor who has to do a romantic relationship with someone you can't stand? Ewww. No wonder these people are paid a lot.)

Anywho...here's the link. Apparently both Beckett and her friend the forensic specialist are being written out this year, assuming it gets renewed for a 9th season. (It's been on that long? I personally think television series should go for no more than 5 years, maybe 7.)

In other news? They apparently killed off the female lead of The Blacklist. My mother who is still watching it, was shocked. I gave up, too bloody violent. I can't watch television series with too much torture and violence and rape. Which is odd considering, I apparently have no difficulties with The 100...But, is it just me, or are television writers becoming increasingly bloodthirsty? What happened to the good old days when characters were written out to say...a new job or new state or a trip somewhere? Now -- it's, oh, I know, I'll kill the character off. That will show that stupid actor! And shock the audience. Bonus! (Note to writers...sad, not shocking. We live in anxious times, stop killing people. Although, admittedly, I do enjoy it at times -- since it shakes things up. But some shows have reached their quota. Grey's Anatomy, for example, is not permitted to kill off any more characters...five is more than enough. It's not a war drama or a crime drama, it's a medical drama. Who would have thought it would be dangerous to be a surgeon in a Seattle hospital??? Seriously???)

3) And to the bewilderment of the rest of the world, the Never-ending Political Satire Saga of the American Race for President continues...

Today was the NY Primary. And, before you ask, no, I didn't vote in the NY Primary. Green Party, remember? In NY, just in case you missed prior posts, you can't vote in the primary unless you are registered as a Democrat or a Republican, and only for the party that you are registered with. In other words, Democrats can't cross party lines to vote in the Republican primary and vice versa. Nor for that matter can the 1M + souls who are registered with other parties. I know that it may not seem like it, but the US actually does have other parties, Green, Independent, Libertarian, Families, etc. It's just we refuse to vote them into office. So, by default, we're a two-party system. I don't know why, some of the other parties candidates are actually a heck of a lot better than the Democrats and Republicans currently running.

There are allegedly over 160,000 registered Democrats in Brooklyn. But, according to various census takers posting on Facebook, 50,000 registered Democrats can't be accounted for. They don't know what happened to them. Did they die? Did they become inactive? Can they find their polling places? Did they just disappear?

Which brings up another problem, according to folks posting on FaceBook -- people can't locate their frigging polling location. Why? The board of elections changed the polling locations without notifying the voters. I don't know why they didn't notify the voters. I guess they assumed people would hunt it online? I remember the good old days when I got a notice in the mail.

Apparently there's a law that you are not permitted to bring any election paraphenial into the polling place. No buttons, pins, shirts, hats, etc. So ignore those twitter posts telling you to support Sanders with a t-shirt. You'll be booted out of the polling location and not permitted to vote.

A few confused souls went to the polling location and asked if they could vote in a primary that they weren't registered in. What follows is a true story that was related on the Kesington, Brooklyn, NY Facebook page:

At the polling location...

Volunteer: Which primary?
Male voter: Can I switch my affiliation from Democrat to Republican and vote in the Republican Primary?
Volunteer: Go ahead.
Female voter (who is next in line) - gives the volunteer her name.
Volunteer: Which primary?
Female voter: Aren't you only allowed to vote in the primary that you are registered in?
Volunteer: Ahh...
Second Volunteer: Yes. That's true.
1st Volunteer: Wait...oops. Do you remember the name of the man who was just before you?
Female voter: No.

Okay. This is going to be a really interesting election. The primary alone had record turnouts. The general election is going to be fun. I'm thinking we may need to overhaul our system after this.

Sort of glad that I couldn't vote in it.

Ah, just when I was feeling depressed about comics - along comes the news that my favorite comic book team - Brian Lynch and Frank Urru are doing a Spike version of After The Fall - where we get to see the events happening in Angel After The Fall, from Spike's point of view or rather see Spike's story.

This is great. Lynch makes me laugh in a way that Whedon doesn't. I think it's because Lynch cares about the characters in a way, I'm not sure Whedon does. A way a fan cares about them. So his humor is not directed at the characters, but more at the situation. It's a different type of humor at any rate.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=335358&blogID=366009535&indicate=1

On political front? Not at all suprised Spitzer resigned. He's facing potential criminal prosecution - resigning from office may help him on that front. I honestly don't care about the man's sex life. Don't understand it. But then I don't understand why people use others for their own sexual gratification regardless of the cost to the other person or people in their lives. Honestly, is masturbation really that hard to do? What I find despicable about the whole thing is how incredibly hypocritical Spitzer has been. He built his reputation on breaking up prostitution rings, and exposing corrupt officials. Ever heard of the expression - people in glass houses should not throw stones? Patterson looks like he's going to be a much better Governor. NYC is happy at any rate. Spitzer was refusing to give NYC more money or for that matter the MTA. Now...things may be different.

Obama vs. Clinton. This is reminding me a great deal of 1968 election and 1960. With Obama in the Bobby Kennedy role, Clinton in the Lyndon B. Johnson role (she's manipulative like Johnson was - I liked Johnson by the way, so this is not necessarily a criticism), and McCain in the Barry Goldwater role. In 1968 - we had Vietnam war, a Democratic Primary that required super-delegates and was quite volatile, and a horrid economy. What happened? Bobby got shot (we had a lot of assainations during that time period) and died, LBJ declared he wouldn't run and dropped out, and well, Nixon won. No one was going to vote for Goldwater - he was pro-defense, pro-staying in the war, and a fiscal conservative. In 2008 - Bobby's a black man and not a Kennedy but been compared to JFK, Johnson's a white woman who had been first lady and a senator and whose husband has been compared to JFK, not a VP and a senator, and Goldwater is the Republican candidate. Interesting.

Regarding the issues? When it comes to OBama vs. Clinton, you might as well throw them out the window. They agree on the issues. They disagree on how to resolve them. I prefer Obama's approach - which is more logical, less bureaucratic in character, and a bit more realistic - this comes from a background in administrative jobs. In other words :If you are liberal and for stem cell research, universial health care, pro-choice, education reform, re-negotiating NAFTA, getting out of Iraq, an end to moral legislation, and gay rights - Obama agrees with you. Actually both Hillary and Obama agree with you. McCain not so much. All three agree that President Bush is a dingbat and should never have been elected president. Actually, 75% of Americans agree on that. There's still approximately 10-15 % who still like him, for reasons I'll never understand.

I really don't think Hillary Clinton can win a general election. The independents and Republicans won't vote for her and 40% of Obama's Democratic supporters probably won't - if you believe recent polls. Also she's only winning the big urban states - the same states Kerry and Gore won in previous elections. Why? She comes across as increasingly negative. My own mother, who had voted for Hillary in the primary, is now beginning to regret her vote and is wishing Obama would win. That said, she does have an outside chance due to two things: the horrid economy and the war - both of which the country wants to see end. And well, the increasing dissatisfaction in both parties regarding Bush.

A lot of democrats don't think the independent and Republican votes matter. Have you learned nothing during the last two elections? Swing voters matter a great deal. There's quite a few conservative Republicans who may vote for Obama because McCain is running and they hate McCain, there's also a couple who may vote for Hillary. Question is - how many will vote for Nader because they don't like anyone?

This is so hard to predict. It could go any way. Going to be a nail-biter until the bitter end.