Weekend Voting
Well I did my civic duty this weekend, voting in the East Baton Rouge elections this weekend. On the ballot with the presidential contenders was the proposition to allow Pinnacle to build and develop a real casino resort here in Baton Rouge. Some residents protested, claiming crime and traffic would follow. But really, it's just being redirected from the banks of the river parishes on the West side.
It won't make Baton Rouge more of a tourist-type destination, but at least it provides more jobs, both construction and service-industry mainly.
And that is where Baton Rouge is differing far from New Orleans in the recovery effort, and winning. Development is not immediately frowned upon and touted as the destruction of "historical" highways, neighborhoods, whatever. And any New Orleanian debating the merit/quality/quantity of culture and history in the Baton Rouge area compared to NOLA would be wise to buy a history book not found overpriced on the shelves of some "historic" book shop on Prytania Street.
Driving through NOLA, there is no evidence of real progress throughout the city. Only in a few places sport any real construction. It is shameful at times. The main reason is lack of money and resources, but there are so many opportunities to make the city better, to not resort to the "historic" environments that aren't much more than third-world neighborhoods. This is not to say abandon the historic architecture, the traditions of carnival or any of the other celebrations that make NOLA unique. In fact, if we could get that warm inviting air that permeates any public celebration in New Orleans to resonate on the weekdays between neighborhoods, and unify the problems that truly plague every district (public education, flood/fire/medical protection, public health, regional transit), imagine what could be accomplished.
Anyway, approaching the voting booth, I was greeted by three ladies working the poll. They had the huge 3-ring binder dot-matrix printouts of the voting rolls. And then they had another lady there to guide you to the "electric votin' machine".
The combined age of these women would have surely approached 400, and they sported not a single shred of identification. After they asked me for my ID and then my name and address, I asked them for their ID. They were dumbfounded, and couldn't believe I was shocked that they didn't have to wear some form of identification. They assured me that they had the proper credentials "in their purse", and one even started rummaging in her potato sack, pulling out old lotto scratch offs, books of matches, and other paraphenalia that would help her get to her next hair appointment.
So I abandoned my quickly-conceived debate and moved to the machine, where a woman who would surely be confused by the technology surrounding a digital watch attempted to tell me how to work the machine.
Then I went in and voted. There were only three columns to work with. Democratic Presidential Candidate, Republican Presidential Candidate, and Yes/No on the casino.
In the last two weeks both the Times-Picayune and the Daily Advocate in Baton Rouge ran stories that attempted to clarify the new primary voting rules, which changed this year. Previously Louisiana had an open primary, so regardless of your political affiliation you could vote for any candidate in any primary.
I am a registered Independent, and both stories reported that Independent voters could vote in the Democratic Primary. This turned out to be not the case at all, confirmed by one call to the voter's registration office. So I voted for the casino.
So even though I didn't get to vote for a presidential contender my choice eventually won the state. I'll take Obama over any other choices out there right now. McCain is attractive, but I will vote for anyone I think will not re-deploy my brother-in-law to Iraq. And after McCain mentioned he thought we'd be in Iraq for almost 100 years, I'm uneasy with him. Plus I doubt, at his age and health, he'd survive his own term. But it is going to be nice to watch the Republicans have to kiss his ass over the next few months, after they've pretty much treated him like dirt when he was a more viable and vibrant candidate.
Yep, even though I consider myself a pretty educated voter, I'm a 1-issue person this year. The War. Without the war Katrina wouldn't have been as much a disaster as it has been, this recession we see coming would be looming much farther in the future, and family after family wouldn't be destroyed by a committment they must serve long after the government they serve abandoned that committment. If you doubt this, go to any VA in the country and have a talk with any of the wounded.
I've been lucky in my life, I've seen both my father and my brother-in-law come back from wars relatively unscathed. My grandfather got back from WWII well before I was born, and although he suffered from frostbite and now has horrible arthritis, he was lucky, came back with the same number of holes he left with, as he says. I may have voted for the casino this weekend, but this wartime lucky run we have going in the family is not something we want to double-down on.
ok-rizzo
It won't make Baton Rouge more of a tourist-type destination, but at least it provides more jobs, both construction and service-industry mainly.
And that is where Baton Rouge is differing far from New Orleans in the recovery effort, and winning. Development is not immediately frowned upon and touted as the destruction of "historical" highways, neighborhoods, whatever. And any New Orleanian debating the merit/quality/quantity of culture and history in the Baton Rouge area compared to NOLA would be wise to buy a history book not found overpriced on the shelves of some "historic" book shop on Prytania Street.
Driving through NOLA, there is no evidence of real progress throughout the city. Only in a few places sport any real construction. It is shameful at times. The main reason is lack of money and resources, but there are so many opportunities to make the city better, to not resort to the "historic" environments that aren't much more than third-world neighborhoods. This is not to say abandon the historic architecture, the traditions of carnival or any of the other celebrations that make NOLA unique. In fact, if we could get that warm inviting air that permeates any public celebration in New Orleans to resonate on the weekdays between neighborhoods, and unify the problems that truly plague every district (public education, flood/fire/medical protection, public health, regional transit), imagine what could be accomplished.
Anyway, approaching the voting booth, I was greeted by three ladies working the poll. They had the huge 3-ring binder dot-matrix printouts of the voting rolls. And then they had another lady there to guide you to the "electric votin' machine".
The combined age of these women would have surely approached 400, and they sported not a single shred of identification. After they asked me for my ID and then my name and address, I asked them for their ID. They were dumbfounded, and couldn't believe I was shocked that they didn't have to wear some form of identification. They assured me that they had the proper credentials "in their purse", and one even started rummaging in her potato sack, pulling out old lotto scratch offs, books of matches, and other paraphenalia that would help her get to her next hair appointment.
So I abandoned my quickly-conceived debate and moved to the machine, where a woman who would surely be confused by the technology surrounding a digital watch attempted to tell me how to work the machine.
Then I went in and voted. There were only three columns to work with. Democratic Presidential Candidate, Republican Presidential Candidate, and Yes/No on the casino.
In the last two weeks both the Times-Picayune and the Daily Advocate in Baton Rouge ran stories that attempted to clarify the new primary voting rules, which changed this year. Previously Louisiana had an open primary, so regardless of your political affiliation you could vote for any candidate in any primary.
I am a registered Independent, and both stories reported that Independent voters could vote in the Democratic Primary. This turned out to be not the case at all, confirmed by one call to the voter's registration office. So I voted for the casino.
So even though I didn't get to vote for a presidential contender my choice eventually won the state. I'll take Obama over any other choices out there right now. McCain is attractive, but I will vote for anyone I think will not re-deploy my brother-in-law to Iraq. And after McCain mentioned he thought we'd be in Iraq for almost 100 years, I'm uneasy with him. Plus I doubt, at his age and health, he'd survive his own term. But it is going to be nice to watch the Republicans have to kiss his ass over the next few months, after they've pretty much treated him like dirt when he was a more viable and vibrant candidate.
Yep, even though I consider myself a pretty educated voter, I'm a 1-issue person this year. The War. Without the war Katrina wouldn't have been as much a disaster as it has been, this recession we see coming would be looming much farther in the future, and family after family wouldn't be destroyed by a committment they must serve long after the government they serve abandoned that committment. If you doubt this, go to any VA in the country and have a talk with any of the wounded.
I've been lucky in my life, I've seen both my father and my brother-in-law come back from wars relatively unscathed. My grandfather got back from WWII well before I was born, and although he suffered from frostbite and now has horrible arthritis, he was lucky, came back with the same number of holes he left with, as he says. I may have voted for the casino this weekend, but this wartime lucky run we have going in the family is not something we want to double-down on.
ok-rizzo
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