Where Star Trek and Politics meet

I never thought that Seven-of-Nine's rather public divorce would ever have any effect on the presidential race. Turns out in some way it's possible that Jeri Ryan's divorce is responsible for giving Barack Obama a national platform from which to mount his run for president. It's kind of a stretch, but an interesting tie in nonetheless.

Wins vs Delegates: Turning the Race on its Head

So, after last night's win, Hillary Clinton and John McCain are the front-runners, right? Not so fast! The political wags and major news reports make it seem that way, but in actuality Huckabee is still in the lead, and Clinton holds a very small edge in the actual delegate couts. And it is being ignored so far that even though Clinton "won the state" in New Hampshire, she got the same number of delegates as Obama.

In the overall race for the nomination, Clinton leads with 187 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. She is followed by Obama with 89 delegates and Edwards with 50...

In the overall race for the nomination, Huckabee leads with 31 delegates, followed by Romney with 19 delegates and McCain with seven.

This is an important reminder to us all to take the news coverage with a grain of salt. A win is not a win is not a win. And it is the overall count of delegates that decides the nominee. And actually, it is the delegates who decide, because many are not required by law to vote for the person they promised to vote for.

Two predictions coming out of New Hampshire

The record-breaking turnouts in Iowa and New Hampshire show extreme excitement about this year's primaries and elections. I predict two things:

1. This will lead to the highest turnout in most states in 50 years. People feel engaged and finally feel like one vote can make a difference.

2. This will lead to more conspiracy theories than in any modern election since Kennedy. People will be scrutinizing every tally, and any irregularities will immediately raise shouts of fraud, voter intimidation, and ballot stuffing. Few to none will be true, but they will dominate much of the news cycle.

If you are a local election official, take note now. Your people must be above reproach in their procedures, and you should still have a P.R. person standing at the ready in case the accusations begin to fly. Because it is not a matter of "if" but "when".

Still, this is shows democracy is alive and well in America. The more people involved and engaged, the better. If the only legacy of Barack Obama, Ron Paul, and Mike Huckabee is increased turnout in future elections, then that will be a legacy they can be proud of.

Update 12:30 PM EST: an excellent analysis of some of the conspiracies so far is up and worth a read. It shows pretty well that the initial analysis is lacking in credibility.

Japan attempts a real-life Truman Show

I don't even know what to make of this horrible, horrible report of a Japanese game show. The show took an unwilling man and trapped him naked in a sealed apartment for a year, forcing him to enter contests to win the basic stuff of life. He was finally released but not before having been without human contact for over 8 months.

If Americans did this kind of thing to a terrorist, we'd be accused of torture and the lowest kind of ethical violations. If someone did this to a dog, PETA would be out front picketing for months at a time. But to at least one Japanese producer, this was simply entertainment.

It makes you wonder what kinds of abominations we would accept, if they are only presented as "comedy."

Clinton wins in New Hampshire

Beating the expectations of the pundits, Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. Now, we have a true horse race on both sides of the political spectrum.

McCain wins New Hampshire

Most news organizations are now projecting that John McCain has won the New Hampshire primary. He did so eight years ago, and has shown the depth of his support again in the Granite State. It remains to be seen if this will transform the race from here on out. My own guess is that it only proves there is no real front-runner yet. No Republican has yet to really make the case FOR their presidency, only that there are some we DO NOT want as president.

As of now, the Democratic race is still too close to call.

Rewriting: The part of writing I dread

Some of you know that both Ward and I are writers (amateur, largely unpublished) with dreams of one day writing the Great American Novel (by which I mean "a novel published in America which sells a few copies to people we don't know, who enjoy it"). We have very different styles, and very different work styles. I tend to ruminate an idea for months, and then put it down on paper in a flurry of activity... and then wait more months before anything else goes down. Ward tends to write, then rewrite, then rewrite some more - honing the story each time into a sharper, better form. As you can tell from my style, I hate rewriting. I don't mind doing basic word edits (let's use "crimson" or "vermillion" instead of "red") but larger rewrites are something I dread. I'd rather put aside a finished first draft and get on with writing something else flawed, but new. (This may be why I am still unpublished... or it may be that I have rarely, if ever, actually submitted anything to a magazine or publishing house.)

If you are like me, this article may be a real help to you. It lays out the reasons and methodologies of the Rewrite. And explains why it is important to the process.