Oh yes… Just like that. Mmmmm The sweet taste of political relevance! No more voting in Texas where the rural, overwhelmingly conservative vote and Washington influence usually makes the primary election winners a foregone conclusion.
Since different states have different primary election or caucus rules, it turns out that the Republican Party does not allow you to vote in their caucus in Nevada unless you are a registered Republican, unlike the Democratic Party, who allows you to register as a Democrat at the time of the caucus. This is unfortunate, because unlike some states, such as Texas where I grew up, you can fully intend to vote Libertarian, Green Party, Dem, Republican, or whatever in the general election, but weigh in with your vote in the primary election for another party. The way it works in the Nevada Caucus, the Democratic Party in effect allows that by letting you register as a Democrat at the time of the caucus to select the party’s candidates before the general election, and that’s what I intend to do. If the Republican Party weren’t a bunch of conservative elitists they would allow you to do the same thing and I would be showing up at that caucus to cast a vote for Ron Paul, even though I know he has almost no chance of winning the general election. I’ve been a Libertarian Party member since 1994 and I would definitely want to give him every chance of making it as far as possible and hopefully share some Libertarian ideals with some people along the way.
As it stands, Hillary Clinton is expected to carry Nevada, but a judge has ruled today to allow “at large caucuses” on the Strip in casinos. The reason why something so arcane actually matters is that a large number of minority voters work in Strip casinos and are members of the Culinary Union. That union has pledged its support to Barack Obama. That support is not worth nearly so much if all the voting members are at work in kitchens on the Strip, so they have gotten a judge to rule in favor of allowing these workers to hold caucuses at their workplaces so that they can vote. It’s possible that that might make it hard for Hillary Clinton to win Nevada, which is now considered a key early primary/caucus state. It’s nice being important! I’m fairly certain having such growth in recent years and more importantly having the Senate majority leader being from your state were huge factors, but I’m glad that they moved our caucus to this timeframe. Nevada is an important state and needs more politically and socially aware, positive attention pointed its direction.
What is a caucus, you ask? Well, in the context discussed here, it’s a form of primary election that causes the participants to take - literally - a more active role in the process. You have to show up to your precinct at a specified time and register, et cetera. Then, instead of casting a secret ballot, at the time of the vote in your precinct, you walk over to a prearranged part of the room to stand next to your choice of candidate. If there is not a clear winner, it becomes time to actually discuss politics! You can choose to be silent if you want, but it’s actually encouraged that you speak your mind as to why you feel your candidate is best and try to sway the other voters to cast their vote for your candidate. It’s a more active approach to being involved politically, at least in the primary elections. I’ve never participated in a caucus before, so I am really kind of excited about it.
Last night proved to be a bit of a trying experience for me. As is often the case, bloggers don’t get the same treatment that mainstream media gets, and our efforts to secure the implosion of The New Frontier here in Las Vegas last night was met with some typical but ultimately funny run-ins with Las Vegas Metro.
This guy told me he could not say “officially” that it was okay to walk down the closed-off Desert Inn arterial to film the implosion from what was a good vantage point (well out of the way and behind lots of television crews below us on the ground, as well as construction/demolition workers and onlookers behind a fence.) He said that it was sort of a at-your-own-risk/knowing what is safe for you sort of thing. So we went.
At some point after we’d carried our equipment a quarter mile down Desert Inn, Officer Dweezle decided that he changed his mind after someone else said something to him. By that point we had no choice… either leave or walk very, very slowly back towards our vehicles, since we were being threatened to be cited or arrested and our cars towed. What ever shall we do officer?!?@#? Drag our feet like we’ve never drug them before, that’s what. The video is shaky and not up to the “While Las Vegas Sleeps..” quality assurance department’s standards.. but it will have to do.
Having a cop on video telling me via his bullhorn that I’m seriously testing his patience is, well, priceless. Enjoy! (I feel a ringtone coming on, baby!)
Thanks to DJ Miss Dust and Kevin Forte for some slick house beats for our video…
Without anything further to add… here’s our New Frontier Implosion Video! It’s complete with normal speed, reverse video, and slow-motion implosion! Complete with DJ Miss Dust providing some groove…
The girl that’s about to get in my taxi is jumping around, full of energy and obviously happy just to be alive. I might even go so far as to say that she’s “buzzing with excitement.” …….but only because she’s dressed like a bee.
Her ladybug friend has on some kind of boy short/thong hybrid that exposes most of her butt and, much like a ladybug, is less frenetic. She makes sure her wings don’t get crunched in the door as she gets in the front seat. The guys with them have no costumes and, from what I can tell, have probably been switching out their full drinks for the girls’ empties all night.
They all seem to want to drive to different destinations and, not surprisingly, the bee girl wants to find the next place to party. I don’t think it’s ever been so loud inside the cab. Miss Bumblebee and Princess Ladybug are talking at the same volume that they must have been using inside the club. One of the guys says, “Stop whispering! Can’t you guys speak up? I don’t think he can hear you.” The sarcasm doesn’t seem to have any effect and then the other guy says, “I’m sure this cabbie is having a rough day. You should show him your tits.” I don’t know what kind of guy he thinks he is… but I like his style.
Unfortunately, the new comment has no effect either. It takes a few more variations of “c’mon, flash him!” before Miss Bumblebee finally catches on. “Do you want to see my boobs?” she finally asks. “Absolutely yes. Very much so,” I think, but why I don’t say that I’ll never know. Instead I say “you really don’t even have to ask” or something equally dorky and she pulls down her top…revealing a black tube-top type bra device. She laughs and then almost immediately screams out the window at some guy in a truck asking if he wants to see her boobs. He says “Absolutely yes. Very much so” or something like that and then her boobs are out. They are pert, perky and pierced…and I completely understand why it was necessary to free them from their elastic prison.
We arrive at their hotel instead of another club and I get one more glimpse of ladybug butt before they disappear. I love Halloween. We really need more fun, dress-up holidays….
One short skirt girl friend of theirs yelled to her three short-skirted friends as they exited the taxi: “Don’t show your Britneys!”
[editor's note: Nick, our resident taxicab driver and taxicab confessional writer/aspiring screenwriter has been suffering from acute penographer's infarction, or API (writer's block,) so this is his first article since mid July. He's feeling a sudden burst of creative cab-juices lately, so I think we can possibly expect a bit more from him in the near future. Let's us cross our fingers and take full odds on cabs #6 and #8... And hope Nick the Cabbie figures out he needs to start bringing us so damn pictures!]
The BlogWorld and New Media Expo is coming to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. As fate would have it, Amy Gahran of Contentious.com found my blog, and she has asked me to sit on a panel at the conference and talk about blogging ethics.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the changing way that media and information is delivered in the 21st century and about blogging, in particular, so I’m really excited to share my opinions with the panel. Okay - I tend to be excited to share my opinion at any time with anyone who will listen, but hey, being a blog ethics panelist carries a bit ‘o cachet! Now I’m officially opinionated!
Seriously, though, the conference looks like it will be really good, in general, and I’m pretty stoked to sit in on a lot of the different sessions. If you are going to make it to BlogWorld, come out and say hi.
The girl that’s about to get in my taxi is jumping around, full of energy and obviously happy just to be alive. I might even go so far as to say that she’s “buzzing with excitement.” …….but only because she’s dressed like a bee.