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Well, I’m going to my first caucus tomorrow. I’m going kicking and screaming and mad as hell, and so far, without doubt or variance of political affiliation, EVERY SINGLE OTHER local citizen I’ve talked to feels the same way! Nevadans do NOT WANT a caucus, not Nevadan Democrats nor Nevadan Republicans, at least in the poll of popular opinion that I’ve seen, and I’ve been asking EVERYBODY.

In the first place the mere word is offensive. The word “caucus” sounds like something nasty one might try to clear from their throat or nasal passages, eewww. So from the beginning of hearing that word, one is put off. It’s a strange word, especially in Nevada. Nobody knows what it means. Is it a noun, or a verb? Are we going to a caucus, are or we going to a meeting place to caucus? Well, as it turns out, “caucus” is both a noun AND a verb. Right there, flip flop begins, and in the state of Nevada, it goes far down hill from there.

I spent my earliest voting years in my home state of Texas, but most of my adult life I have been a resident of the Battle Born state of Nevada. We have always had a primary, open from about 7am to 7pm, and with the options of absentee ballots for those unable or unavailable on the day of the primary. We live in a nation of democracy, and that’s about as fair as it can get, and understandable and acceptable to all citizens.

Our grand state’s token imbecile, Harry Reid came up with the “unbright idea” that Nevada should hold a caucus. He bragged that he had the stroke to get our state an early date in the presidential election process, and that our great state could take a place in history this year by changing our process. We the people didn’t get a choice in the matter, and it was approached in a way that led us to believe that we were having an “early primary”. Turns out NONE OF THAT is true. The Nevada caucus is a sham, a disgrace to democracy, and with all the problems so obvious already, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Harry Reid has managed to most certainly make history in Nevada this election year, but not good history. There will basically be NO VOTE in Nevada. Whatever is decided on Saturday, January 19^th 2008 in Nevada will not even come close to what the real people of Nevada might want or vote for. Below, I will outline the problems on both sides of our political isle, but even in trying to be fair and balanced, the facts are what they are. The Democrats have stolen Nevada, and even they don’t realize how unfair the pros of the caucus are to them, the cons surely stack heavily against the GOP.

GOP Nevada caucus is at 9:00 AM Saturday, January 19^th, 2008. “They” say it will only take a “little while”, some estimate 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Many say at 9:05, the doors will lock (on both sides, their’s at 11:05), and if not there, to bad, you cannot participate.

Thousands of local Republicans got phone calls from the Barack Obama camp telling them that the caucus times had been changed. I’m sure a few believed it. I’m also sure that Barack Obama has a lot on his plate and had nothing to do with it. A few *69’d the calls from the “GOP” and someone answered from Obama’s campaign.

Postcards looking very official appeared in all of our mail boxes. It stated where your “true” caucus location was. Guess What? Thousands, including mine, were wrong, and in the case of mine and many others, even preposterous! Some got wrong locations only a few blocks wrong. My notification stated that I was supposed to show up entirely across town, excuse me, technically in a different city. All of us know how metropolis areas work. Las Vegas has Henderson. Dallas TX has Fort Worth, etc. However, legally, each city is its own legal entity. I live in the high Northwest area of Reno; Sparks, NV is several miles and several precincts away, not to mention a different CITY technically. My caucus notification told me to show up at Reed High School in Sparks. There was no mention of the phone calls on the news, except to folks that called in to local talk shows, and our “corrected” post cards from the legitimate GOP (yes our GOP dropped the ball in “Vegas “they” say”) just arrived on Thursday…two days before an already confusing first caucus. A spokesperson for our Nevada Republican Party called the FUBAR both "tragic and funny"! I don't think it's in any way FUNNY. If I were a Democrat OR a Republican, I don't think ANYTHING ABOUT THIS CAUCUS is FUNNY! I think it's a farce, and I have no say in the matter. If folks weren’t already opposed to showing up to a caucus early on their Saturday morning, having one phone call wrong, one post card wrong, and then a “correct” post card two days before “voting”…they are surely put off now and again, more WON’T SHOW UP.

Democratic or (LOP “Lame Old Party” or “Flop & Lop Party”) Nevada caucus begins at 11:00 am Saturday, January 19^th, 2008. “They” plan to be there a lot longer.

Republicans followed by some basic no-nonsense rules. You must have been a registered Republican voter 30 days prior to caucus to participate. On both sides, 17 year old people that will be 18 on Election Day in 2008 may register and participate.

Democrats are allowing anyone wishing to register to do so on the day of the caucus and participate. They are heavily advertising this fact and are encouraging registered Republican voters to come to their sites and are allowing them to re-register as Democrats and participate in the caucus.

Ron Paul, whom we all know WON'T get elected, but he is stirring the Nevada shit pot by claiming that REPUBLICANS are unfairly doing things. I've not found any evidence of this, I've called a couple of folks that should know, but nobody knows... Even if what he says is true, it all happened in the last two days, so nobody that it affects will even know about it. And, if it IS TRUE, why shouldn't we change our rules...it's all so lopsided already? I just don't know!

Military personnel that are giving their lives to fight for our country whether Democrat or Republican, cannot vote because they cannot attend. This was never so when we had a primary. We just lost two soldiers locally, and local DJ’s and even the families are encouraging folks not to attend the funeral of one, that is on Saturday, but instead to go and vote, and please respect their privacy (quoting paraphrased both DJ’s and family wishes). Vote in a way that will help those still left to do the duty. Amazing families. I respect that, no matter which side of the political isle they might sit on, and I don’t know where they sit. I only know that their child(ren) gave his life for me and my freedom, but our soldiers left in Nevada cannot participate. Our Nevada soldiers that might want to fall to Democrat sides of the fence cannot vote to end the war and come home. Our Nevada soldiers that believe in the fight and the continuance of the war cannot vote to keep it going. Of all people, OUR TROOPS should be able to vote! They are the ones that know the REAL TRUTHS where they are.

In Clark County (Las Vegas), because there are so many thousands of casino workers that cannot get off work to attend a caucus, they’ve selected sites at about nine major casinos to allow their voters to caucus at work. WTF??? What about the many thousand Reno casino workers (of which I was one for 20 years)? Do Republican casino workers get to caucus at work? I cannot find a link or any information to support or deny that they do, I’m assuming they do not from what I can find.

In trying to understand and have knowledge of caucus procedure, I searched and researched, and could hardly find any information at all online. The day before our caucus there was either no mention, or little mention of caucus information. Pretty sad.

The best article I was able to find oddly came from a small rural city in Eastern Nevada with a population of just over 4000. The Ely, NV Times explained the caucus process very well. I made a couple of phone calls to “folks in the know” and verified their statements and also found some other oddities. There are “mathematical formulas” that determine delegate eligibility. So, voter turn out plays a part in this “formula”. So, people so afraid to caucus because they DON’T KNOW what it is, aren’t going, folks that don’t particularly like to talk politics in a public forum, but still want to exercise their civic duty to vote privately on a ballot aren’t going. Women in particular are really intimidated by this process, old people are really confused and disgusted…can’t guarantee they can be anywhere within 15 minutes, so the deadlines, disgust, and confusion are keeping them at home.

Without the entire vote of a community, the process is already severely damaged, no matter if you lean Democrat or Republican. Even in primaries, it’s hard to get a large portion of a populous to vote, this caucus process will probably eliminate about 50% of the few that did vote. In Las Vegas where mass amounts of casino workers can vote at work, the voter turn out will be huge. It will sway the vote in a particular way due to the mathematical formula. So, giving a rare credit due to Bill Clinton for his comments when he blew up at a reporter, when mass amounts of voters show up and tip the scale, their vote does count about 5 times higher than a normal vote because that particular precinct got a larger turn out (and the workers get to vote in a precinct where they don’t live) (the few family residences and normal votes that a commercial precinct might get, are normally those of disenfranchised people and minorities), (many undocumented and illegal immigrants), (that’s common knowledge)…completely unfair and un-democracy. It’s all bullshit in Nevada.

The first part of the caucus involves electing delegates to the convention(s). In our larger cities, the delegates chosen will go to county, state, and eventually to the national convention for their said party. HELLO??? We are all showing up at the same time, at 9:00 AM on our day off, (or not trying to dodge being late for work), running in at the last minute like the (old) OJ Simpson in the airport commercial. We get there amongst a few hundred (or most likely a few dozen) of our “favorite friends and neighbors” that we’ve never met, and we vote on delegates??? After that, we each get to go to a machine and make our vote. In the mean time, we are supposed to voice our public opinions to strangers and try to persuade others to vote for “our man”. AND, this is all supposed to happen in an hour or so? How STUPID AND UNDERHANDED is this?

We were all fairly warned that if we don't show up for caucus, there will be no other opportunity to vote for President prior to the November 2008 election. Both parties stated clearly that NO presidential candidate will be on our primary ballot in August. Well guess what? The only other things on the August primary ballot are usually local and city issues. Nobody is "that" concerned about who is county commissioner, or justice of the peace, or whatever. One of the few things that drives people to vote on really important local issues is the fact that in the usual primary, they also get to vote on the president. Since no presidential candidates will be on the Nevada August primary ballot, a LOT of folks have voiced to me that they will drag themselves to tomorrow's caucus, but they WON'T vote in the August primary!

With a great decrease in August primary voters, the "powers that be" will be able to "slip in" all kinds of stuff that normally people would vote on, but since the freaking President of future won't be on the list, they won't show. So...a lot of stuff will happen locally because of those die hard on making it all about them will show. Nevada, it will get worse before it gets better; mark my words.

AND…THIS WILL BE A GREAT BUTT STABBER FOR YOU…”Unbreakable ties at real caucuses will be determined by drawing cards, with aces high”. I SHIT YOU NOT FOLKS! What is a “real” caucus? Who gets to stack the deck with Aces high? Is it like in REAL casinos…will the players get to see the cellophane ripped from the new deck? Will the deck be spread before the players to reveal that ALL the cards are actually in the deck? OK, swallow that for a moment, and now breathe and take this in…(“DELEGATES AT COUNTY, STATE AND NATIONAL CONVENTIONS ARE NOT LEGALLY BOUND TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE CANDIDATE THEY PLEDGED TO SUPPORT AT THE CAUCUS LEVEL OR AT A LOWER LEVEL CONVENTION (COUNTY FOR INSTANCE)” Excuse me people, then WHAT’S THE FREAKING POINT? On either side of the political isle, if this is the “new system” Harry Reid so faithfully set forth for Nevada, what’s the point?

I’m going tomorrow. I’m scared. I feel like I’m a straight A student being sent to the principal’s office in school, and then seeing police officers in the principal’s office, and having no idea what I did wrong. My vote won’t count. My vote is a learning experience mandated to me by a left wing moon bat that has temporary great power in Washington along with Nancy Pelosi. One moron named Stinky Pinky in power has managed to extinguish any real voting power in the great state of Nevada. Nevada is much like Texas in the beliefs of its real people and true voting populous. Vegas is considered “southern Nevada”, while it really has no resemblance to the true South. Northern Nevada is hugely Republican, but we have a much smaller populous and so we are considered the “step child” sister to Vegas. Our vast desert lands, waters, and mountainous terrain, and resemblance to the South in our “Wild West” beliefs make us unique, and it’s why I chose it as my home. However, the Wild Wild West has turned into the Lame Lame West Coast in regards to the beliefs of California due to a massive exodus of their population when housing got so high in their crisis of the last ten years. The massive influx of liberal Californians and illegals (Nevada has a 24% Hispanic population). Many, oh so many other peoples of various nations due to casino influence and ever increasing low percentage loans to minorities to own businesses…(I’ll stop now…it’s a never ending story)…

God bless Nevada. I’m so sorry that in our pre-election process, that all of our votes however small they may be, will not make a hill of beans truly to the end outcome. However, Nevada will choose someone, and it’s sad that someone from each party will go forth a hero, and it won’t even be truthful. God forbid that I give credit to someone that I hate, but in my research for trying to find a constitutional beef with the Nevada caucus, I came across an interesting written document. Of all people, Jesse Jackson wrote it. It was a paper describing in demonstrative form the horrible outcome of the last Presidential election when the folks of Florida had hanging chads and felt that Al Gore was the winner. In this paper, Mr. Jesse Jackson at this link http://www.house.gov/jackson/test/PositionPaper_Voting.doc goes on and on about fair elections. I read it more than once, because I knew to give credit to Jesse Jackson on this blog would make my blood curdle, but he had some good points to make. However, I’m sure even he wouldn’t apply his paper on the side of the GOP in regard to our Nevada caucus. But, it does apply.

THE CONSTITUTION SHOULD BE AMENDED TO MAKE VOTING FAIR FOR EVERYONE. EACH INDIVIDUAL’S VOTE SHOULD COUNT, AND NO MATTER WHICH SIDE OF A POLITICAL ISLE YOU SIT ON…YOUR VOTE SHOULD BE ONE, AND WE SHOULD ALL MATTER.

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