Got a call from some 800-number yesterday that left a message on our machine.  It's a remarkably offensive abuse of voter trust and I hope whichever candidate, special interest group, or the DNC themselves is held accountable for it.  The Gainesville Times ran an article about it yesterday evening:

Registered voters in at least three Northeast Georgia counties, including Hall, received automated phone calls falsely informing them that they had to vote in Tuesday's primary runoff election in order to vote in November, officials said.

Jackson and Banks county voting officials said they were flooded with calls from concerned voters who received the message. A Hall County board of elections official said the office got one call about the message.

Banks County Probate Judge Betty Thomas said the unidentified voice announces that they have received information from the registrar that they haven’t voted and that if they don’t vote Tuesday, then they would be ineligible to vote in the November general election.

And of course, that's wrong, she said.

Thomas said the Georgia Secretary of State's office was notified and was looking into the source of the calls, which came from an 800 number.

Thomas said there would be no way that information on whether a person voted in Tuesday’s primary runoff election would be available immediately, and that a person did not need to vote in the runoff to vote in the November presidential election.

"I don't know if what they are doing is illegal, but they're giving the wrong information," Thomas said. "It bothers me because of the mistrust it instills in the system. It makes people think someone knows who voted, and then makes them think they know how they voted."

The recording does not name any candidates or specific election, Thomas said.

The only race that the Banks, Jackson and Hall county ballots have in common is the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. senator between Vernon Jones and Jim Martin.

I've lifted the audio from my machine so that you can hear it here.

First, a primer:

There are two types of twins: fraternal and identical.  The differences are complete and absolute and have nothing to do with physical apperance.  Fraternal twins are created when more than one egg is present at fertilization - resulting in twins no more genetically similar than ordinary siblings.  Identical twins occur when an already fertilized egg splits into two distinct (you know, usually anyway) embryos.  These are (for all intents and purposes) genetically identical.  Of course you know all this but I thought I should get it out of the way first.

Having said that...

• Yes, they are identical.
• Yes, we're sure.  Really.  Really very sure.  I promise.
• No, it doesn't matter if they look the same.
• Yes, they are both girls - please see "genetically identical"
• Yes, we can tell them apart.  Well, usually, anyway.
• Really very sure.  Seriously, I saw the single placenta and everything.
  

Furthermore...

• Yes, they're twins.
• Yes, twins run in her family.
• It's really not as uncommon as you're making it out to be.
• Oh, really?  Your cousins?  Wow, small world.
  
• That's just really a rude question and fertility drugs cause fraternals not identicals.
• Yes, they're a double blessing.
• Yes, they're more work.
• Yes, I've thought about what college is going to cost.
• And the weddings, yes, them too.
  
• Yes, they are precious, thank you.
• They're about seven weeks old.
• Natalie and Kate.
• Thank you, we like the names too.
• 7 pounds, something, and 6 pounds, something.
• This one's Natalie, this one's Kate.
  
• Yes, I suppose they're smaller than other seven-week-olds you've seen.
• Yes, very tiny.
• Yes, they were early.
• Actually she's already lost the pregnancy weight.
• No, I don't want to hear about your labor.
• No, there's nothing "wrong" with them - they're just early.
• It's a monitor for Natalie's heartrate and breathing.
• She's fine - growing like a weed.
  
• No, you can't hold them.
• No, please don't touch them.
• No, even if they weren't immunodeficient I wouldn't let random strangers hold them.
• Please stop your kid from trying to touch them.
• Yes, indeed, very precious.
• No, this one's Natalie, this one's -- you know, what difference does it really make to you?
  
• They're dressed identically in pink outfits, in pink carseats - no, one's not a boy.
• Stop whispering "twins" and "two babies".  We hear you and they are not a sideshow attraction.
• We will not lower the shade or move the blanket so you can see better.
• Yes, I can tell you love babies.
  
• Seriously, I'm trying to eat here.  Keep walking.
• So... if you're just going to stand there and stare at them you really don't need me for that so I'm going to go back to eating
• Umm... are you done asking questions?  If so, keep it moving, we have a line to get through.

There, now all I have to do is format this into a FAQ sheet I can attach to their carseats and it'll save us all a lot of time.

Ok, Picasa's really getting on my nerves.  So unless I find another system that works I'm just going to host my own pictures.  It's just bare-bones right now (thumbnails - click to get the full image) but I'll add tags, etc. time permitting.

http://www.smilingkevin.com/babies.asp

Babies are here!  I don't have the energy right now (nor the grammatical skills, evidently) to do a whole thing about what's happened, but for those in search of pictures, your journey ends here:

 http://picasaweb.google.com/smilingkevin.com

Use caution in viewing the Delivery album.  There be blood.

That great theologian and political strategist, Charles Barkley, on how conservatives aren't true Christians, and his bid for Governor in 2014.

Personally, I'm not going to be convinced until I hear Howie Long's opinion on the election.

Snipe Drunken Waldo!

I'm sad to say I came to say you must be going.  I'm glad you came, but just the same, you must be going.  It's been a fun run, but I'm afraid Huckabee has little chance of winning.  And unless he has a really great showing today (which he has won West Virginia so far) it's probably time to drop out and throw his support behind Romney.  Because the alternative is he and Romney splitting the evangelical base and McCain getting the nomination.  And McCain, despite a recent barrage of media to the contrary, has a very spotty record when it comes to conservative values.

On the other hand, McCain might be more electable in the general than Romney since he's more centrist.  On the gripping hand, Rush Limbaugh and others have joined Ann Coulter in saying that they would vote for a Democrat over McCain - meaning he'd lose as much from the base as he'd gain from the Dems.  So I don't know, but either way it's bad news for conservatives.

Ah well, always 2012.

Oh, yes, I voted for Huckabee.  So call me an optimist.