Voting

Since I won't be able to vote on Election Day itself, I took advantage of the early voting that's allowed in Illinois to cast my ballot today. I won't bore you with the local stuff (judges, etc), but here's my ballot, along with some reasoning:

Illinois Governor - Rich Whitney/Julie Samuels (Green). When it came down to it, I just couldn't fill in the oval for Blagoyevich. After watching him and Topinka debate live, I'm still cleaning the mud off my clothes. He'll win, since the hangover from George Ryan is still very real, but I just couldn't in good conscience vote for him. Whitney's polling at 14%, and maybe the third party will make enough noise that the state parties will have to wake up some. I doubt it - they're as mentally active as John Stroger.

Illinois Treasurer, Comptroller, Attorney General, and Secretary of State - Alexander Giannoulias, Daniel Hynes, Lisa Madigan, and Jesse White (Democrat). They're all going to win, anyway.

US Representative, IL 15th - David Gill (Democrat). It's unlikely that he'll beat the incumbent, Tim Johnson, but I have to try. In 2004, it was 61-39, Johnson over Gill. If we make it closer, maybe the national party will get involved.

Proposition that the United States Withdraw Military Personnel and Bases From Iraq - In order to halt the continuing loss of human life and resources necessary to meet human needs at home, shall the United States commence a humane, orderly, rapid, and comprehensive withdrawal of United States military personnel and bases from Iraq? - YES. For crying out loud, yes, yes, yes, and one more time yes.

Proposition to request the House of Representatives to Impeach George W. Bush - Shall our representative to the U.S. House of Representatives be asked to support the impeachment of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney from office for misleading our nation to war in Iraq, for permitting the illegal use of torture, and for conducting domestic spying on U.S. citizens in violation of the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act? - YES. And then send them to the Hague, where they'll stand for war crimes, and then send them to Fallujah, stripped naked, covered in white phosphorus, holding a big sign that says "We hate Arabs."