
CNET News.com has found what have to be the WORST political websites on the Internet for this election season. They're pretty bad, like the one for incumbent Rep. Dan Burton pictured above. I'm just glad that my own site didn't make the list :-)
Here's why it sickens me: the Republicans have had the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate for almost six years now. They've had more than enough time to put a "conservative agenda" into enacted legislation and they've had the political power to accomplish it too. They could have very easily passed an amendment to the Constitution "protecting traditional marriage" (someday I'm going to write here about how it is that marriage - as something instituted by God - doesn't need "protecting" by man). In all the time that they've been controlling everything, the Republicans have done diddly-squat about it. So on what grounds are we to trust them that they are going to do anything about it now?
Here's what I believe: there will never be a "constitutional amendment" against gay marriage... at least not with the Republican Party controlling things. This is always going to be nothing more than a bone that the Republicans throw to the evangelical Christian community to keep them coming back to the polls to vote GOP. It's really not much more than fear-based politicking: "keep voting for us or the Democrats will give you gay marriage"... nevermind that the Republicans have no interest whatsoever in doing anything about it at all. What's more, if they did outlaw "gay marriage" (reiterating what I said earlier: I don't believe it's possible for the concept of marriage to include homosexuality), the Republican Party would have nothing to keep drawing the conservative Christians to the polls to continue voting them into power. It's the same reason why abortion - as heinous as it is - will only be addressed superficially by the Republicans... and abortion as a political issue isn't something they're that passionate about anymore, anyway.
Ya see, this is why my campaign commercials have been so "peculiar": Number One, they're not negative or othewise aimed at somone else... and they never will be for however long my political career lasts. And Number Two, I'm not going to use commercial airtime - that I'm paying good money for - to make myself out to be a hypocrite.
Here are the options that I've got so far:
- Go to the county's governmental center and be there as the ballots from the precincts come rolling in and the results posted. This is probably where most of the news media will be at in the county on Tuesday night. No doubt this is the place to be for the absolute first reported results.So many choices to pick from. Maybe I'm leaving some out: what do you think I should be doing on Election Night? Post your comments here!- Go to the TV station where I work at as the results come in there. Which if I win a seat I've already been told that I'm going to have to give them my very first interview if I wind up hanging around there that night.
- There's something of a "party" that a few other local candidates are having at Pennrose Mall in Reidsville that night. I could go and join them there.
- Spend a nice quiet night at home with Lisa, only using the TV to watch a movie, or playing a game together on the Xbox. Go to bed without knowing anything about the election results and wait until waking up the next morning to see what happened the night before.
- Spend the evening doing some personal Bible study... which has really sustained me a lot during the past few months.
- Finally, finally sit down and get to work on the script for the full-length movie project that I'm still planning on shooting next year. I haven't been able to work on this at all since filing to run in early August. And let myself be absorbed in working on that when the phone rings and I find out that I haven't won or there's a six-way tie calling for a runoff or whatever...
- Spend tomorrow finally learning how to make martinis: a project that I've been wanting to pick up since April. Then mix a bunch up on Tuesday night so that I'll be too - as the French put it - "pees droonk" to care about the election results.
- Leave Tuesday afternoon for a cabin deep in the woods, strip to my waist and start primal screaming as a means of exerting all the pent-up frustration and rage that comes with running a political campaign.
- Before the polls close that evening, I leave everything behind, hit the wide open road, and end up hiring myself out to work on a shrimp boat.
May the votes be with youLook, it could have been worse: don't think that the thought of putting my name on the ballot as "Chris 'Jedi' Knight" didn't cross my mind... but I'm not too much of a geek to know how totally inappropriate and childish that would have been (even though that was my college nickname). Still, being officially dubbed a "Jedi" by The Charlotte Observer is a pretty neat thing in my book :-) Awesome thanks to Matt Smith - my co-worker at the TV station and all-around cool guy - for finding this.A Luke Skywalker wanna- be is running for Rockingham County school board.
Christopher Knight has produced a "Star Wars"-themed TV ad that includes the Death Star space station blowing up a little red schoolhouse while the voice-over talks about how No Child Left Behind is "targeting and destroying our ability to best teach our children."
Then the ad shows Knight, a 32-year-old TV station master control technician from Reidsville, wielding a light saber while he talks about giving more local control to schools.
Knight told the (Raleigh) News & Observer that some folks have said the ad does not make him look like a serious candidate. The Jedi quipped: "I'm taking it a lot more seriously than a lot of people do in D.C."
Hopefuls pin hopes on witIt's now starting to dawn on me, that the image of me and my lightsaber is probably going to be the defining image of my political career for the rest of my life: Truman had his "Dewey defeats..." newspaper, Churchill had his "V for victory" salute, Reagan had his Berlin Wall... and Chris Knight will have his lightsaber :-P
Lynn Bonner, Staff WriterA mailbox full of wordy fliers, static television commercials and droning robotic telephone calls can take all the excitement out of picking a candidate.
But some campaigns are trying to break through the clutter and grab voters by the funny bone.
Voters in Cary got to see Republican state Rep. Nelson Dollar's head, encircled by hearts, alongside a cruise ship. The ad, which looked like the opening credits of "The Love Boat" television show, poked fun at Dollar's taxpayer-funded trip during the tall ships festival in Beaufort. He later reimbursed the state for the cost.
Vernon Robinson, a Republican congressional candidate, cut a radio ad that's a takeoff on the "Beverly Hillbillies" TV theme, rapping his opponent on illegal immigration.
In a legislative primary in Iredell County this year, Republican Robert Brawley saw himself cast by his opponent as John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever," white three-piece suit and all, alongside what the ad called "Robert Brawley's Worst Hits." It was a reference to an earlier stint Brawley served in the legislature.
Campaigns often use witty ads to criticize their opponents.
(snip)
Not all campaign humor is aimed at someone else. A candidate for Rockingham County school board, Christopher Knight, has gotten free air time outside his county and national attention for a self-produced television ad with a "Star Wars" theme.
In it, a Death Star beam destroys a red schoolhouse while the voice-over talks about the federal legislation, No Child Left Behind, "targeting and destroying our ability to best teach our children."
Knight wields a light saber as he talks about defending the future of the county's children.
Knight, 32, a "Star Wars" fan from Reidsville, said the ad helped him stand out from 15 other candidates running for five at-large seats on the school board. Knight is basking in the attention but said he has heard some say the ad makes him look as if he is not serious enough to be on the board.
"I'm taking it a lot more seriously than a lot of people do in D.C.," he said...
(Special thanks to Marc for the find!)
"I thought I was broadcasting to the security services, what do I get: Scooby-Doo and his gang... they've even got the van."It's "The Age of Steel" starting tonight at 8 - and playing a few more times over the weekend - on the Sci-Fi Channel. Concluding the story that began last week with "Rise of the Cybermen", tonight's Doctor Who sees the Doctor, Rose and Mickey still stuck on the alter-Earth as insane industralist John Lumic begins processing humanity into the cold-hearted Cybermen. Be warned: this is a very horrifying episode, about as scary as any Doctor Who episode is apt to get. One scene in particular, long months after I first watched this episode, still gives me the freezing willies. One of the better episodes to come out of Season 2 of the revitalized series. And a wonderful setup for events that will happen at the end of this season."I'm London's most wanted... for parking tickets."
"Even better... that's the name of my dog."
"Ex-cellent!"
"The human race, for such an intelligent lot you are all susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it."
"Upgrade THIS!"
"What the HELL was that thing?!?"
"Sally. Sally Phelan."
"This is the age of steel and I am its creator!"
"I'd call you a genius except I'm in the room."
"Ordinary stupid BRILLIANT people!"
"The most ordinary person can change the world."
"I'm sorry."
"That's the Doctor. In the TARDIS. With Rose Tyler."
"He's gone home."
"Nothing wrong with a van... I once saved the universe with a big yellow truck."
By the way, the same two newspapers that this ad will run in ran a front-page story today about the candidates in this race that are using the Internet to spread the message about their campaigns. Filling up a honking good portion of the front page was a full-color pic of me wielding the lightsaber from the first commercial. I may never escape that image :-)
Eisenhower listened to Stagg's report, conferred with Montgomery, Ramsay, Leigh-Mallory and the other commanders, and finally reached his decision: "Okay, we'll go."
And with those words, the second front of the war for Europe finally opened. Eisenhower had done all that he could do: the goals of Operation Overlord were now left to the American, British, and Canadian soldiers to fulfill.
A short while ago I accomplished what for all intents and purposes is the final task of my school board campaign: submitted the ad that I've made that will run in two newspapers here on Sunday. My friends and I are in agreement: it's a really nice ad. In some ways I think that this, even more than the commercials I've made, summarizes everything that I've intended to do in running for school board. I'll post it here on the blog come Sunday for everyone to look at.
And now, like Eisenhower, I've come to the point where there really is nothing else that I can do, at last. I've filed the paperwork, attended the meetings, gone to the public functions, handed out the cards, put up the website, put out the signs, made and aired the commercials, and now am running a half-page ad. Everything that I could have possibly done in my first-ever political campaign, has been done. Now it's left to the voters to choose what will happen next.
After all these months, it's really quite a relief. Now I can finally just watch the thing unfold, and see what happens. But no matter what does happen, I'm proud of myself and of the campaign that I've run. In every way, for my first time out it was a world-class campaign. This is something that, win or not, I can always look back on with only the fondest of memories.
But now, I can finally rest some. Lisa and I might head out to the Blue Ridge Parkway on Sunday, or maybe go up to Natural Bridge in Virginia. It'll be a welcome change from the past few weeks, and a good respite before everything comes to a head on Tuesday. But now, for the most part... it is done.
Once again, to those who were involved - wherever you may be - thank you.
p.s.: Hope you'll know that I've kept the faith after all, in spite of all that's happened. But then, there were some really good people that I looked up to then... and I still do.
Here's the link to the article... yeah I can't believe it either. I've been hysterical with laughter for the past fifteen minutes. You should have heard me when I called Dad to tell him the big news. Here's the part that pertains to the school board race:
Local Issues Mirror National Ones, but the Special Effects Occasionally Stand AloneMash down here for the rest of the article. Special thanks to the Reidsville Free Press for alerting us to the story!The school board race in Rockingham County, N.C., has produced imagery including, from left, Pink Floyd, “Star Wars,” and the Wild West.
By PAM BELLUCK
Published: November 2, 2006The election season is getting punchier in places far from the national political spotlight — even in Eden, N.C., where 16 candidates are slugging it out for the five available seats on the Rockingham County School Board.
One of them produced a television advertisement suggesting that the school system turned children into automatons. It is shot against a backdrop of a Pink Floyd video showing children coursing through an assembly line to the lyrics: “We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control.”
Another candidate shows himself brandishing a light saber as a “Star Wars” Death Star blows up a little red schoolhouse. The message: the federal government, a “cosmic bully,” meddles too much in education.
The advertisement of a third contender, riffing on a “new sheriff in town” theme, shows a sheriff being killed in “The Terror of Tiny Town,” the 1938 all-dwarf musical Western.
Not every local race is quite as entertaining, but the Rockingham County election shows how national issues like education, the economy, crime and ethics have been localized.
EDIT 4:16 PM EST: The story now requires registration (for free) with The New York Times website in order to read it. But it only takes a minute or so if you want to check it out.
EDIT 6:51 PM EST: Just got back from Greensboro a little while ago, the closest place I could find print copies of today's Times. I got four of them, and just as Eric Smith said in the comments there we are on page A20 (we made the "A" section of The New York Times... it just keeps getting better and better!). The picture of us is somewhat larger than I thought it would be. So now it's official and tangible: Eric and Richard and I really did make The New York Times.
That just... it's still sending my mind reeling. And you know who I've thought most about today? My Mom and Dad. And Lisa. And everyone else who's close to me. If it hadn't been for them being behind me all this time - on a lot of things - this would never have happened. My being pictured in the Times is more about them really than it is about me. And before today's over I just wanted to tip my hat to them.
Awright well... who's going to continue building the church?!?
Really good episode though, even though that was the one character I did not want to die: gotta admit that was pretty neat CGI for his death scene though. Eyepatch Guy looks pretty evil. These two new castaways: they're being "introduced" rather clumsily. I feel nothing toward them whatsoever. But we haven't really been introduced to many other Flight 815 survivors outside of the "core" group yet, so I'll be forgiving and give them another few shots to prove themselves.
And ummm... didn't Juliet's "movie" that she showed Jack seem an awful lot like my newest commercial for my school board campaign? I saw that and was giggling mad at how alike they are :-)
I've only made one more expenditure (and have received no further contributions) since then. Earlier today I bought a half-page ad in both the Reidsville Review and the Eden Daily News for this coming Sunday. It's a special deal that they've got going for candidates this week only. It set me back $250... but like I said, that'll most likely be the very last bit of money that gets spent in this campaign.
So in case anyone's wondering about the financial end of a political campaign of this scale - and because according to law this is going to be public knowledge anyway that you can look up for yourself - I'm going to go ahead and disclose how much in contributions I received and how much I spent doing this campaign.
The official name of the campaign is the "Knight for School Board 2006 Committee". You should be able to find that if you go looking through the North Carolina Board of Elections website.
During this campaign, my committee raised $914 in contributions. Those came from personal contributions, mailed-in checks and via PayPal through the campaign website.
In terms of spending, the total expenditures of my committee has been $1,513.75. That money was used to buy everything from pens, to domain name registration for the website, to stamps, to the die-cast Death Star and TIE Fighter models used in the first commercial (both were about two bucks), to yard signs and then advertising in print and on local television... with those last few being the biggest expenditures, obviously.
And from the looks of the books, it was the advertising that was the only real big crunch on my own wallet in this thing. Everything else wound up basically getting paid for because of the kindness of the contributors. I am very thankful to each and every person who has thought that this campaign was worth supporting like this.
I'll share this with you, my friends: when I started this, I had no idea how I was going to fund something like this. I prayed about it. And I asked God that if He really wanted me to go for this like it had felt like He was leading me to do, that He would make provision for the funding of it. At the end of it, I only had to pay a few hundred bucks out of more than fifteen hundred: that sure sounds like He provided a way to me.
So this may sound like a weird thing to some people to talk about in a campaign finance report, but I'm thankful to God that He did allow for me to run a world-class campaign in my very first outing as a political candidate. And I'm thankful to everyone who believed in me enough to make a contribution to the cause. I am very, very indebted to them in gratitude for this... and will probably be feeling that toward them for the rest of my life.
Well, tonight's episode is supposed to focus on Mr. Eko, who is one of my very favorite characters on Lost. And supposedly tonight one of the regular characters is going to die. Are they going to "off" Eko?! I hope not! But since this is an Eko-centric episode I'm dreading that they're about to pull off an Ana-Lucia on us again. We're also supposed to see some of the castaways make a return trip to the Pearl Station, in the hopes of using the computers there to locate Jack, Kate and Sawyer.
What will happen tonight? We'll soon find out! Just please, please don't kill off Eko. Or Hurley. Or Sayid. Or Locke. Or...
By the way, I know I'd promised a "sequel" to last year's popular ghost photographs article, made up of responses that have come in recently to that one (people sending their own stories, photos etc.) but the sad fact of the matter is I just haven't had time to do any compiling/editing, between the demands of work and the campaign. But I do plan on doing that sometime soon, maybe even next week after the election. Yah it won't be the Halloween spirit anymore but when you look at the chronology from a linear perspective it will still be "near" the season, right? :-)
Anyhoo, hope you and yours are having a happy Halloween this year!