Well, as we know, there is one known that we now know – there are still other unknowns in known parts of the country – but this we know: with Rumsfeld there will be no more unknowns as he is now known to be no more and we no longer need to worry over his known knowns, known unknowns, and the ones he doesn’t know that he doesn’t know.

The above is my fond toodaloo to Rumsfeld. I thought it fitting to write a farewell that made as much sense as he often did:

“Reports that say something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” – Donald Rumsfeld

John Lister, spokesman for the campaign, which strives to have public information delivered in clear, straightforward English, said: “We think we know what he means. But we don’t know if we really know.”

And just so we’re perfectly clear, please DO let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!

This has been the 9th time that I’ve voted in my 10 year eligibility. I’m a huge proponent of voting and take it pretty seriously. I’ve never understood how there could be so many voting irregularities across the country during the 2004 and 2000 elections. I do now.

After just getting back from our local polling place in California, both MP and I saw first hand the confusion that takes place at the voting booth.  We had registered to vote in CA just a few days before the cut-off, and were sent a letter explaining that we needed to bring the letter and ID to our polling place in order to qualify to vote for this election.

When we arrived there was a fairly long line of people waiting to get their hands on the new electronic voting machines, and a very short line for registration. When we went to sign in, we were not on roster and were told that we needed to fill out a provisional ballot. We were not asked for ID and our letter was just glanced over. We then signed in on a blank line with our name and address and got in line.
» Read more: Voting Irregularities

Last year I was pretty bummed in that I didn’t manage to register to vote in time to vote in the 2005 election back in New Jersey.. this year, though both MP and I registered to vote in NJ over the summer — we never received our paperwork verifying our voter registration.

While we would certainly have preferred to vote absentee in NJ (due to the swingstate-ness), we ended up registering out here in Santa Clara county where ballot initiatives are a dime a dozen (13 initiatives on the ballot here in SC County and even more in San Francisco. It took some voters 4 hours to get through the voting process due to the number of questions). Nearly every commercial is a political one: “Vote yes on 85. Vote no on 85. Vote Hell Yeah for 85.”

So while we’re deciding the fate of Governor Arnold (and 13 other initiatives) , the rest of the country is voting on the future of congress. Some states are up to all new tricks to try to get voters to the polls. Take Arizona for instance, who according to the New York Times, will award one lucky voter with $1,000,000 in order to help bolster the turnout.

This seems a little over-the-top, in terms of voting tactics if you ask me. Either way, our CEO has highly encouraged us to go out and vote (even if we need to take time out of work) and I encourage the readers of the Diatribe to do the same.