My weekend posts are normally very light fare, usually about what the Clan will be doing...or not doing. But a couple of events in the last couple of days has me thinking about some important items. So I'm digressing just a little from normalcy.
However, I can't let this weekend go by without mentioning the possibility of some mighty fine weather. We're told that we'll have sunny skies and really nice temperatures right into next week. Sunday, in fact, could see that thermometer climb into the 80s, at least away from the coast. Looks to me like it'll be a good day for another "last cookout of the season."
Along with many Republicans Thursday, I received an e-mail from the Maine party about funding for the upcoming People's Veto ballot question concerning a change in voter registration days. Maine for many years has allowed people to register to vote even on election day. The last legislature changed that requiring registrations at least two business days before elections to allow the checking of eligibility.
A so-called "grass roots" campaign gathered enough signatures to place a repeal of that new law on next month's ballot. When the required 68-thousand or so signatures was gathered, a leader of that campaign said it was proof that Mainers supported the volunteer efforts ot repeal the law.
Well, the Maine Republican Party pointed out Thursday after the filing a election financial records that that grass roots campaign wasn't nearly as grass roots as it claimed. For example, the campaign paid nearly $100 thousand dollars to signature collectors. And guess who that money came from. By now you've read it came from Donald Sussman, the husband of Maine First District Representative Chellie Pingree. Now that is some grass roots contribution, wouldn't you say?
Much of the rest of the nearly $200 thousand dollars collected was from several well-known organizations that support democrats. Those organizations include American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, AARP of Washington, D.C., Maine People's Alliance, League of Women Voters of Maine, and Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund. $20,000 was from the Maine Education Association.
This grass roots campaign paid the former director of the Maine Education Association more that 37 thousand dollars to direct the efforts for the three months.
The financial reporting documents show just how much that so-called "grass roots" campaign was really "grass roots."
I'm not saying here it's fact, but considering the Democrats have run this state for the past 40 years or so right up until last November since the same day voter registration was adopted, one can't help but wonder just how much mischief has taken place on election day. It also begs the questions, just why are these contributors so bent on continuing that practice? And why are they trying to convince Mainers the effort is by the people?
A report by another, but mainly Republican organization, said that in at least three of the last several election cycles, there were more registered voters in Maine than citizens over the age of 18. If that is true, I wonder where those extra voters came from. Could it have anything to do with same day voter registration?
I hope Mainers are not fooled by the rhetoric and will not allow this repeal effort to take place and will join me in voting "No" next month.
I've never owned an Apple computer, but in my job situation, I did use Apple computers beginning with the Apple 1 andremember those two floppy, really floppy, disk drives. Seems to me the earliest ones used external drives. My work place did graduate to Macintosh computers. We also had the TRS-80s (Trash 80s) in the early '80s. My first personal computer was run by the now defunct CP/M (Computer Program for Microcomputers) operating system. But when I moved away from that, I preferred the DOS (Disc Operating System) over the Apple.
I really liked the Mac, but back then I found it easier to write my own programs on the DOS computer than the Apple. So I stayed with DOS. Of course today we're a lot more familiar with the Windows system which, ironically for me, attempted to emulate the Apple interface.
I have never owned an IAnything. Nevertheless, I mourn the passing of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computer Company, and the mind behind all those fantastic innovations, inventions if you will, in the computer industry. Anyone who loves computers as I do, even though we still use a different system, can only truly appreciate what Mr. Jobs has done for our lives.
May he rest in peace.
Now I hope you and your family enjoy another remarkable weekend. The weather promises to do its part.
Gator
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