Voter Registration

I've heard that in order to be able to vote you should register but I didn't know that you have to register long time before you want to vote in the US. In some states like TX and WV, you should register 30 days before the election day! First I thought that's because they should look at you records and see if you are eligible to vote or not, i.e., if you are a felon or not (by the way I don't know the voting eligibility is equivalent to not being a felon and of course being a US citizen!), but in the states that everyone can vote like Vermont and Maine you have to register as well. The only state that doesn't require registration is North Dakota. Have a look at this page if you need more information. Anyone knows what's this registration for?

Fahrenheit 9/11 II

For reading the first part of this post click here. Im still looking for the answer to some questions that I have in mind after watching the film. From watching the first part of the movie a question came to my mind. Can Senators dispute presidential elections? According to Article II of the US constitution they have no right to dispute the election. But of course not everything is mentioned in the constitution! Is anyone aware of the answer to my question? Does anyone even read my posts?!!

Fireworks

The 4th of July is coming. It is the independence day of the US. I was talking to an American about the fireworks in this day. Amazingly he told me that carrying fireworks is illegal in CT except for sparklers! In some cities in the US even sparklers are not allowed. In Longbeach, CA using "ALL fireworks, including sparklers, within the city" is not allowed it may result to six months of jail and you may be fined up to $1000.

Felon

A felon is someone who is convicted of a serious crime. According to Cambridge Dictionary felony means: "(an example of) serious crime which can be punished by one or more years in prison". In most US states they do not have right to vote. This was a very interesting piece of information to me. However in the states of Vermont and Maine their eligibility to vote is not effected. In some states they gain their right to vote automatically after their sentence is finished but in some other states they have to take their case to a court. Amazingly in some states they may not have their vote restored! In the state of Delaware, as it says "A person convicted of murder, manslaughter or any felony constituting a sexual offense or an offense against public administration involving bribery, improper influence or abuse of office, may not have their voting rights restored." It was interesting to me. How about you?

Fahrenheit 9/11

I watched the movie. As you know it is a documentary by Michael Moore, the anti-war, anti-Bush guy. His statement while getting the Oscar prize is well-known:"Shame on you Mr. Bush". He starts the movie with showing the celebrations for the Al-Gore victory in 2000. It is shown that all of the news channels including CNN announce the victory of Al-Gore in the state of Florida except for one channel, which is Fox News. It is claimed that the guy behind this news was the cousin of George W. Bush. Then all the other channels take back their previous news and apologize from the public for their wrong news. Now Bush is the winner. The case is brought to the supreme court. Just 5 (out of 9) members of the supreme court vote for Bush and so Bush is the winner of the extremely important state of Florida. But wait! As I understood, at that time there was still a chance. As I inferred if a Senator made a complain about the presidential election it would go to another process and something would happen! But not even one Senator said anything about that. A lot of Representatives, mostly African-American, complained. If a Senator complained about the election Bush couldn't be the president that simple! It seems to me that it was a decision made by the Democratic party. Since they wanted to both make complains and at the same time didn't want to loose their reputation, since supreme court voted for Bush. He says that all these things were just like dreams. He shows when he once met Bush and he told him:"Come to the real world". I will continue that later.

Note: I found out that what Bush told Moore was "Behave yourself-go find real work"!!

First Reader

Hey. If you are the lucky first reader of my weblog (of course except for myself!) please leave a message and say how you found my blog since I didnt advertise for it! Im just curious!

Lance Armstrong

These Americans are crazy about Lance Armstrong. In a TV ad they said something like this: In order to win Tour de France once, you need to be a professional cyclist, to win it twice you should be God ... To win it 5 times in a row you have to be Lance Armstrong!! Of course not all Americans are like this!

Missing Home

What would you do if you wanted to be home but you couldnt?
What would you do if this was more than a year that you havent been home because of some problems that you have no control on them?