Five minutes ago I had no intention of posting this entry. I was doing a google search for “Charlie Crist civil unions,” to see if I could find any references to Crist’s favorable stand on civil unions (to make me feel better about a comment on another blog). I knew our Republican governor had spoken favorably about them in the past… sort of, but I was hoping to inoculate myself against looking stupid. Futile, I know, but I figured I had to try.

I came up with a mixed bag of stuff, including some of the gubernatorial campaign comments I thought I’d recalled, but I also came across a Salon article that caught my eye.

The point of the piece was Crist’s move to restore the voting rights of Florida felons who’d served their time (one of a couple progressive moves our surprisingly liberal governor has backed). I’d heard some stories over the years that Crist REALLY didn’t get along with Jeb! (If you lived in Florida during the last few elections, you might think that little piece of punctuation was really part of his name.) Now that the Tuna has been governor for a while I can see why. He’s a card carrying communist compared to Dubya’s (smarter*) younger brother.

Anyway, even that little nugget o’ news didn’t surprise me – I’d read all about it in the local news while it was happening. No, what really surprised me was this (Salon.com):

Voting-rights activists say that there are about 950,000 felons in Florida who have served their time but are currently ineligible to vote — making up roughly 9 percent of the state’s voting-age population, and more disenfranchised felons than in any other state.

It really shouldn’t have been a big surprise, since I share a roof with an employee from the Department of Corrections. Still, after hearing those recent stats reported in the news recently about the number of adults in the U.S. currently incarcerated (just under one out of a hundred), one out of nine was a little startling. Again, it shouldn’t be that suprising. Naturally, there are going to be more convicted felons than the number of current inmates. Convicted felons remain convicted felons when they’re released. Still, I think it would be appropriate to quote one of my favorite characters on the Wire, “sheeeeeeeeeeeit.” I don’t care what your political affiliation is, more than ten percent of adults ineligible to vote is a big freakin’ number.

If Charlie isn’t careful, I may have to stop calling him Chain-gang Charlie (from his days in the Florida legislature when he pushed through a bill that brought chain-gangs back to Florida prisons).

* Doesn’t say much, does it?

Newsvine/AP:

An Iowa Republican congressman on Monday defended his prediction that terrorists would celebrate if Democrat Barack Obama were elected president, despite a rebuke from aides to John McCain, the GOP’s apparent presidential nominee.

“(Obama will) certainly be viewed as a savior for them,” Rep. Steve King told The Associated Press. “That’s why you will see them supporting him, encouraging him.”

I’ll be charitable and concede the point; not because I agree, but I’m feeling a little frisky. (All that down time from being sick was good for something, even if it isn’t quite over.) So let’s say Obama wins the Democratic nomination and wins the general election in November. Let’s say terrorists celebrate the results. You know what they say about people who don’t vote according to their own interests? Same thing here – if they could do more than just celebrate the outcome – and vote.

If I were a terrorist, I’d have to say that the Bush presidency was pretty darn good to the cause. What could possibly be better than Bush? Repealing the 22nd Amendment? Oooo, that’s a tough one. But is there someone even better? Who was that guy from the (Republican) debates that made Bush sound like a ACLU aligned, pinko-pacifist-wimp by comparison? Oh yeah, that doesn’t narrow it down. They all did. Well, all of them except that guy that wanted to bring back the gold standard.

Hmmmm.

Now consider what a few people have said about an Obama presidency… that no other candidate would do as much for U.S. international relations just by being elected.

You know when you make more people like you, sometimes it’s harder to find people who hate you. It may not always work out that way… but it isn’t a bad start.

And no, by itself this isn’t enough of a reason to vote for Obama… but it isn’t a bad start.

I feel so much better now that I’ve got a token post in for the week.