Mens Rea

Hillary is making me sick

First, let me preface this by saying that if she gets the nomination (which is looking more unlikely every minute) I will most assuredly support her with full vigor. However, what she is doing is making me nauseated. I live in Michigan. For her to say that it would disenfranchise us demonstrates her machiavellian motives. When we ALL voted, we ALL knew that we were going to be disenfranchised. This is in stark contrast to Florida in 2000. Hillary supporters say that its the same. But if you are told your vote wont count, that is fundamentally different than tampering with the voting process DURING an election. Further, by not seating the delegates it was an equal opportunity and there was no bias against any one candidate. In 2000, obviously this was not the case. So for people to argue otherwise, spare me.

Going back to Michigan. I knew damn well that my vote was not going to count. I was, at the time, an Edwards supporter and his name was not on the fucking ballot. Neither was Obamas. ONLY Hillary and Kucinich. Obama never came here as the rules forbade him from doing so.

The decision in Michigan rests solely with the Democratic leaders. We wanted more of a say. Its a laudable ambition, but came with consequences. The thinking was that it would be wrapped up quickly thus it really would not matter in the grand scheme of things. It did! Politicians need to learn that tinkering with the voting process produces unintended consequences. Our country is too divided. Hell, the Democratic party is that divided.

Now we have the decision in Washington and our long serving Senator, Levin is arguing for a FULL seating of the Michigan delegation. Obviously, he is a Hillary supporter. But if he does that, I personally will give money to his Democratic challenger next time he runs for office. That is just fucking with the people. Why haven't politicians of ALL stripes learned that they don't always know better. Our world is far different than it was in '72 with McGovern when these arcane, convoluted rules were drafted. If Levin does this, this will be a fucking outrage. THAT will be disenfranchisement. How in the fuck can you seat a delegation when only one person is on the fucking ballot. Fuck you Carl Levin.

The Daily Plate

THE DAILY PLATE is a very good site to track your food intake as well as your exercise. After my MI in 2004, I used a program called Crosstrainer. At the time it was the premier exercise program and I was able to readily shed many pounds and inches from my girth. For me, being fit is about being anal retentive. There is no middle ground. When I track my food and exercise regularly things fall into place (albeit sometimes it takes a while to get there).

The Daily Plate is a one of the crop of so-called Web 2.0 sites which employs AJAX and other techniques to create a program that rivals stand-alone software. The interface is good, but far from intuitive. If there was one area where I think they should work on it would be the navigation system. They need to have a better system to navigate. Additionally, they really should open up the social networking features a bit better. While you can join a group, there does not seem to be a RSS feed of it and I think they should look at Tumblr or even Facebook or My Space for a method of interaction.

One thing that I have bee very impressed with thus far is the amazingly large database of food. Unlike standalone programs which are expensive and therefore have a limited audience, the Daily Plate's basic features are free and therefore they have an enormous penetration. Why is this relevant? Because the food database is VERY extensive. I have only stumped it when I put a local delicatessen on it. Other than that, if you search Trader Joe's Organic Green Tea... it's there.

This site was recently purchased by WomensForum.Com. I hope they do not spin this into a women's centric site as it will be a lost opportunity. The site was already predominantly women, but some of the longest users are men. `I certainly understand and respect that women may want to have a forum of their own, but there is no reason why could not have a forum or a group within the Daily Plate.