How should we vote?

How should we vote?

Personally I am in favor of electronic voting machines. I think that there are too many advantages from electronic voting machines for us to continue to vote like cave men. My own preference is for the usage of electronic voting machines with the machine producing a paper trail that could be used to validate the electronic results reported in the event of a need for a recount.

Some opponents of electronic voting machines have pointed to the usage of optically scanned paper ballots as being preferable. Their reasoning is that the results would be less subject to tampering and that even a hand recount of ballots originally scanned should yield the same results.

But look at what is going on up in Minnesota right now. (See here) where the weeklystandard.com reports that there are problems with optically scanned paper ballots. What happens when the optical scanner will not accept the ballot for one reason or another? Minnesota had a plan for that and the plan was a pretty good one. However the plan created called for human action and human error was introduced into the process.

Some are calling for a re-vote. (See here) an LA Times piece that mentions the possibility. Personally I think the Franken campaign will never agree to such a thing. Many Franken voters were motivated to go to the polls only by the chance to vote for Barack Obama for President and they only cast votes for Franken because they were already there anyway. He'd have a strong case to be made that the official election day results are the ones that should matter. Without Obama's coattails to ride on, victory is not going to be his.

Let me state that I do not have a horse in this race. I do not really like either of the candidates. Coleman might have only achieved victory back in 2002 due to the death of his incumbent opponent, Paul Wellstone, in a plane crash while campaigning. What I know about Al Franken (other then his being a comic I am not particularly enamored with) comes from his stint on Air America where the political left tried to mirror image right wing radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh. I will admit that Al Franken was probably one of the better Air America hosts, but it is not too hard to be the cream of the crop when you are trying to rise above garbage.

But back to my original point. Electronic voting machines that automatically produce a paper ballot for recounts are the way to go. These paper ballots could be produced in such a way that they could be optically scanned with a fallback of human counting of imperfect ballots which were soiled or torn preventing their scanning.

The problems with optically scanned ballots is being proven to us in real life.

Satellite Radio Direct Connect

This post is not for those of you who have an in dash satellite ready radio in your vehicle.

I am amongst those who do not have an in dash satellite radio. I purchased a satellite radio with a FM wireless transmitter and I was severely disappointed in how it worked.

First off, when traveling in large urban areas with a crowded FM radio spectrum, it was almost impossible to find a channel clear enough that there was no interference from a powerful, local terrestrial radio broadcast signal. Second, I am a long haul truck driver and obviously my occupation involves travel. Even if I found a channel in one smaller metro area with an unused channel that allowed interference free reception, as I traveled into the next metro (or even rural) area most times I was forced to search the dial once again for a clear channel.

Some time back, while talking to another truck driver, I head that the solution to this problem is to either get a satellite ready in dash radio or alternatively to get a direct connect cable assembly for your satellite receiver with FM wireless transmitter. I looked into both and balked at the price of either solution. While the direct connect was certainly the cheaper route of the two to follow, the price of the cable assembly was more then I had paid for my satellite receiver.

Well prices have come down. For less then $25 I was able to purchase the required cable assembly at a Pilot truck stop within the past couple months. Since truck stops notoriously over charge their primary customers (truck drivers who have limited options on where to shop) it probably can be found elsewhere even cheaper.

I purchased and installed the direct connect cable assembly. The results? I am overjoyed. The direct connect signal overpowers even extremely strong terrestrial broadcast signals allowing for clear reception of your satellite receiver's signal.

The direct connect assembly automatically injects your satellite receiver's signal into your antenna cable when you turn the satellite receiver on and allows for undegraded reception of terrestrial broadcast stations when you turn the satellite receiver off.

My recommendation? For anyone going with the FM wireless transmitter method of satellite reception I recommend getting the direct connect cable assembly. If you live in an area with a less crowded FM radio spectrum area, possibly you will not need it. But if you live in even a moderately populated area or if you engage in travel where you will still want to enjoy your satellite radio while you travel, you will find the direct connect method well worth the expense and trouble.

How do you install the direct connect cable? Direct connect involves purchasing a cable that has three connections. One connection plugs into the back of your satellite receiver in the plug provided. Connecting the others involves unplugging the antenna cable from the back of your in dash FM radio and then plugging in the cable assembly into the antenna jack on the back of the radio and then replugging the vehicles antenna jack into the cable assembly's jack. This almost certainly involves some dis assembly of your vehicles dash to get at the back of FM radio receiver, so I am not going to saying installation is not without its headaches. Also you are going to have to figure out how to get the small wire that runs from the back of the satellite receiver to the back of your FM radio which involves either drilling a moderate sized hole somewhere (probably at the top) of your dash or feeding the wire to somewhere at the bottom of the dash before running it up to the back of the in dash FM radio.

Open Letter to Senator John Warner

Some time ago, after my Senator John Warner announced he would retire, I decided that towards the end of his term, I was going to write him a letter of thanks for all of his years serving the Commonwealth of Virginia and our nation. Today was the day I decided to do so. Unfortunately, I waited too long for this. In visiting his official website I found all contact information removed along with the statement that any correspondence he did receive after election day would be forwarded to the new Senator-elect.

Since I do not have his home address, and I reckon John does not want such correspondence sent there anyway, I decided to just publicly post my letter of thanks to him.

Dear Senator Warner,

I wish to thank you for your numerous years of service to the Commonwealth of Virginia and to our nation.

I wish you well in your retirement, however I hope you will remain at least somewhat politically involved during it. It is my belief that Virginia and America would benefit from your knowledge and experience when you desired to make your opinion known.

While I am confident that Virginia can find others to provide the leadership we need, it is with at least some trepidation that I survey where we might be now that your steady, proven hand will no longer be assisting us in the Senate.

While I regret the loss of your presence in Washington, I must admit you certainly earned your retirement after your long history of service.

I am sure I am not alone in wishing you well in retirement. Once again allow me to express my gratitude to you for being willing to be harnessed by the yoke of public service for all of these years.