I Can't Believe Joey Is Six Years Old.

And yes, that is a Dyson vacuum cleaner on his cake. Just in case you were wondering.

Re-re-re-reading

So I'm reading the Harry Potter books. Again. This will be the first re-read all the way through every book since the seventh came out. They still rock.

Politik

So I voted today. First time since moving to the new house. As expected my polling place is a local elementary school. All the volunteers at the polls were little old ladies. One had an actual oxygen tank.

Since it's just a primary you can't split your ticket, you have to vote all Democrat or all Republican. So, to make it 'easier' for voters, the ballot is basically divided into two columns. The Republican candidates are all on the left hand side; the Democratic candidates are on the right. At the top of each column there are corresponding labels. And pictures. Of these men:

The top two men in this picture appeared next to the word, "Republican." The bottom two men were next to the word, "Democrat."

For those of you that slept through American history in high school (because it is unforgivably boring and biased), these four men are (clockwise from top left) Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Arguably the most famous and beloved U.S. Presidents from each of their respective parties.

After exiting the voting booth I took my completed ballot to the little old lady with the oxygen tank and asked her who was responsible for designing the ballot, and specifically, for placing those pictures on it. She looked at my ballot and said, "Wow. I've never noticed those before. Is that... Abraham Lincoln?? Ha ha ha, I've really never noticed those before. I don't know who designs the ballots. Try calling City Hall, I guess." Then she stood up and went over to the other blue haired ladies and said, "Hey Eleanor, look at these pictures on the ballots!" I deposited my ballot in the electronic ballot thingamajig and left.

But something about those pictures is bothering me. Of course Republicans want to be represented by Lincoln and Reagan; Lincoln freed the slaves and Reagan is like the Paul McCartney of Republicans -- everyone loves him. And of course Democrats want to be represented by FDR and JFK, FDR got us out of the Great Depression and JFK was the politician's equivalent to Brad Pitt.

But are they relevant examples? Is it fair to say that the Republican party of Abraham Lincoln's time is in any real way similar to today's Republican party? Is FDR still an icon for Democrats? And what about young, first time voters? To voters ages 18-25 these examples are not likely to resonate the way a picture of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton would.

I still can't really put my finger on why this bugs me so much, but it just doesn't sit right with me somehow. It seems you shouldn't be able to put pictures like that on a ballot.

At any rate, I just hope the Zoo proposal passes.

Congratulations Steph and Brian!