Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about Retired Gen. Wesley Clark challenging John McCain’s military leadership. General Clark said that McCain was not qualified to be President of the United States because he had never led troops during war time - he had only served during war time.

I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces as a prisoner of war. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn’t held executive responsibility…He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn’t seen what it’s like when diplomats come in and say, “I don’t know whether we’re going to be able to get this point through or not.” CNN.com

This logic makes no sense to me. Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan…none of these men led troops during war time. Why should we hold Sen. McCain to a higher standard?

When asked for a response, Barack Obama said that he would never question anyone’s patriotism. That is what we in communication call a “Red Herring Fallacy.” It sounds like it answers the question, but it actually has nothing to do with it. Sen. Obama was asked to comment on Gen. Clark’s remarks on John McCain’s military background and leadership abilities, but instead he talked about patriotism, which is not the same thing!

I recently wrote a paper for a class about electronic voting, and I learned some interesting things. For example, in Fairfax County, VA, in 2003, a programming error in the electronic voting machines caused them to mysteriously subtract 100 votes from one particular candidate’s totals. Also, in San Bernardino County, CA in 2001, a programming error caused the computer to look for votes in the wrong portion of the ballot in 33 local elections, which meant that no votes registered on those ballots for that election. Furthermore, in Volusia County, FL in 2000, an electronic voting machine gave Al Gore a final vote count of negative 16,022 votes. Finally, the 2003 election in Boone County, IA, had the electronic vote-counting equipment showing that more than 140,000 votes had been cast in the Nov. 4 municipal elections. The county has only 50,000 residents and less than half of them were eligible to vote in this election.

The largest problem of electronic voting is that it is not auditable because it does not involve a paper ballot. In the event of a recount, the state or national Board of Elections (depending on the type of office the election is concerning) will not be able to conduct a full count of all voter-verified paper ballots in public view, because these ballots will not exist. They will be lost in the technological realm. We will have no way of ensuring that our election is accurate, and we have elected the individual who is taking office.

It is necessary to audit an election so that the public can be certain that the voting technology is accurate. In other fields, computer systems are routinely audited on a continuous basis, either proving that the systems are accurate, or identifying the inaccuracies that need corrected. The audit is important because it allows for the discovery of mistakes in our voting machines, thereby improving the machines for future elections. Furthermore, if the audit proves the machines are working properly, it provides peace-of-mind that one’s votes have been appropriately counted. This is where another benefit comes into play. Paper ballots allow for peace-of-mind regarding election viability.

I keep finding myself cracking up during class. I’m taking a communication technology class and every day we watch youtube clips and other videos. Inevitably, my instructor has a problem getting the technology to work. I just think that’s ironic. The class has undergraduates and graduate students. The graduate students all use the technology in the classrooms on a daily basis when we’re teaching, so it’s interesting and frustrating to us when we see our instructor struggling. Of course, none of us say anything because we don’t want him to look foolish, so it’s not like we’re helping much.

My two main panels were accepted for presentation at the annual convention for the National Communication Association! YAY! One of the panels is presenting about the relationship between a speech/debate team and a speech tutoring center. I was asked to be on this panel because I have eight years of experience competing in speech, two years as a speech tutor, and one year as an undergraduate speech instructor. My other panel is examining how the Holocaust is communicated in present-day.

Now for the problem: The convention is in San Diego. Driving from Ohio is pretty much out of the question. I’m looking for someone who I can share a hotel room with, but the airfare is a problem on my limited budget. I have some options, but none are very cheap. I live in between Cincinnati and Columbus, so I could fly out of Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, South Bend, or Fort Wayne. Here are the fares:

Columbus: $364.00 on Continental
Dayton: $332.00 on AirTran
Cincinnati: $628.99 on Delta
Indianapolis: $260.00 on AirTran
South Bend: $328.00 on United
Fort Wayne: $498.00 on Delta

Clearly, Cincinnati is out, which is a shame because it is the closest. Fort Wayne is also out of the question, and Columbus is pretty muuch out, too. That leaves Indianapolis, South Bend, and Dayton. Indy and Dayton are on the same airline, so I would go with the cheaper one, which is Indy. Therefore, it’s between Indianapolis and South Bend. They’re both about 2 hours away from my parents’ house. The difference is $70, which is a pretty decent amount, but I don’t really know very much about AirTran. In this day and age, I don’t want to take a risk. Do any of you know anything about AirTran? Help!

I was dropping my entrecards today and I saw this great post at newyorktraveler.net. It’s has great tips for when you travel. I definitely agree with number 2, interact with the passengers. I went to Tennessee with my mom and grandmother last fall and it really got on my nerves that no one was talking! Especially when being the driver, I need some good conversation. One of my favorite times during that trip was learning about my grandmother’s childhood.