Jason F Maurer

Before anyone goes any further please be warned that the embedded video contains extremely violent and graphic content – that being said you NEED to watch this. I only recently came upon this via www.wikileaks.org and was stricken utterly dumb by it. Take a watch and then read on…

They always say that there are three things you should never talk about in polite conversation – politics, sex and religion. So I guess I’m all cleared then to talk about war, but then again no one has ever accused me of being polite in my conversations so the hell with it.

I watched this video and my first thought was one of horror at watching these people die. Then I started to think about the situation and how I should/would respond to it.  I mean its war right? War is hell. People die. Its horrible. So many terrible things have been done in the name of war. We should just look the other way, forgive it all because its war. We are their protecting the safety of our country by rooting out terrorists and helping to stabilize the country from the horrible evil insurgents right. All of these sound like convenient excuses…

This isn’t homework people and the dog didn’t eat it.

The truth is people die. It happens every day all over the globe. One minute your here then next … pop hello happy hunting ground. It’s not death I’m upset by here – its how they died, why they died. This is a very confusing, emotionally distressing and complicated situation to address. Most people, because it is so distressful will go the party line, will follow blindly the shepard because thinking about it, dealing with it on an emotional level is too hard.

Take just one second, and re-watch the video the part where you are watching a fellow human being being ripped apart by 30mm bullets…  Now imagine that this was your mother, brother, sister, father, wife or husband. How truly horrible. How does it make you feel? What would you want to do about it?

So whose to blame? We always have to point the finger at someone right? Someone is at the wrong here and should be punished for this act of murder right? Is it murder when its war? Should we blame the soldiers flying the heli’s or what about the radio operator who gives the go sign? or was it the photographer and reporters fault for being in a war zone? How about the president or congress for keeping us there? Or maybe it was Saddam Hussein’s fault for being a right bastard… but wait he got his punishment.

It’s hard to kill someone when you’re not carrying a weapon. Its hard to kill innocents when you’re not flying over their homes. But the argument here is well they hide in innocents homes and to avoid casualties on “our side” we take certain measures… wait who is “our side”? Wait why are we even in Iraq? Like I said complicated…

I guess this makes me sad and angry because there is no easy answer, no quick solution where we all go home safe and get chocolate bunnies instead of folded flags and broken hearts.

Were mistakes made where innocent people died? You betcha.

Did they die for the greater good and success of the Iraq war? Not likely.

Will it happen again? hello human nature…

What can we do about it?

Talk about it. Work through our problems. Avoid war at all costs because as a great sage once said – “Don’t give into hate for that path leads to the dark side.”

Tags: Iraq war
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John K really gets to the meat of the matter in this post. He starts off with a review of Moore’s new film and segues into issues with education. While I don’t totally agree with John’s status there I think that he makes a very strong case for a serious overhaul and review of this country’s education system. It needs to be looked at, evaluated and updated.

His post - http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/10/michael-moores-capitalism-review.html

We need to really look at how we are educating our youth from the very start. Creativity is so often shunned for the “basics” Math and English. We have created a generation of recipe followers rather than recipe writers. Too many of the students of the US are lacking in critical thinking, creative problem solving and the ability to invent. They are lacking in the ability to self start and want simply to follow the pre laid path to the A.

They are afraid to fail.

J

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Every year on my birthday I take time to reflect upon the past year and look over what I’ve accomplished, what has happened to me and where I could have done better and finally where I want to be next year.

This was a hard year. I lost another grandmother – grandma Sylvia. I got divorced. Left my dog. Had to pay off taxes. Gained weight, lost weight, and gained it back. I had to be put on blood pressure meds.  Hurt my shoulder and my left foot.  On the positive side I managed to find myself again through reliving my love for books, art and film. I found the company of women to be intoxicating and discovered that despite what my inner self thinks I’m a pretty good guy. I had the amazing support and love of my family and friends. 

Of all my accomplishments I must say that the release of Delgo would be the highest. I finally got to see our film on the big screen and complete a childhood goal. As to my level of satisfaction regarding how it was received – well thats a whole different matter. I also started my first major short film, which is now almost complete. I managed to draw a little everyday. I visited a foreign country. I got my own apartment, which I love. I kept my job, and managed to receive acknowledgement from my superiors for an excellent job.

I actually have no complaints as to how the year went – it was hard, but you know the hardships made the windfalls that much better. I have seen a tremendous amount of growth in myself this year, mentally and physically. : ) I hope that next year I can remedy that part anyway by reducing my weight and improving my overall health – for me this is a real personal struggle. My love of food is a real curse. The older I get the harder it is becoming to handle it. I think overall I could have exercised a ton more this year – and I regret that I didn’t maintain alot of what I started. 

I have two major goals for next year – loose the weight, and finish two films. If I can pull this off I honestly feel that I will have risen above a major handicap that has loomed over my life for years. Well it is on to bigger and better things. I have a new year opening up in front of me and I’m embracing it with optimism and excitement. I hope that you all do the same.

J

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Here is a really brilliant lecture by Randy Nelson on collaboration and what it means to them at Pixar. This kind of philosophy is an absolute must if you want to make it in new media.

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It isn’t often that one gets to take a stab at a life goal, let alone achieve it. Delgo was that for alot of us at Fathom for Marc and I especially. Marc held onto his belief that such a thing could be done outside of Hollywood and made here in Georgia. If it wasn’t for his tireless efforts and unshakeable belief – it probably never would have been made. So thanks Marc for giving us all an opportunity to tackle a dream -I’ll never forget it.

I wanted to extend a personal thank you to everyone who has gone to see Delgo and support our film. While it has received pretty negative reviews overall, and I have personally received some pretty nasty hate mail via this blog- yeah can you believe it- I’m still proud of what we accomplished considering all of the hurdles and challenges we faced. 

I’m not going to waste time attempting to defend it or offer up excuses – rather I’ll simply say that we made a film outside of hollywood for good or bad – we made it. It happened, got screen time and people saw it – that in of itself is a feat. 

Our cast and crew were top notch and worked countless hours to put it all together and they deserve a huge thank you for all their work and taking a chance on a bunch of first timers. It could not have been made without them. 

So thank you all for your support and those of you who have sent me messages and emails of the positive/constructive nature – thank you for your kind words. 

Jason

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Hey all – packing up now – its day 12 and we leave first thing in the morning. I’ll update you on the remaining three days of the trip when I get back to the states. For now be satisfied that our Kamakura trip was amazing!!!

J

Posted in Daily Post, Japan, Notes | 4 Comments »

The surrender document

So today we ventured out to the Edo Tokyo Museum - where they have some pretty amazing stuff. It was school field trip day at the museum so we had a ton of japanese children all running around. They would all run up to us and say Hello, what’s your name in english and ask all sorts of interesting and bizarre questions. Especially the 8 to 10 year old boys – lets just say they were VERY blunt and VERY personal. It was all fun and interesting, letting them practice their english while we practiced our Japanese – or at least I did. 

I took mostly sequential stuff in the museum and got a few decent shots of some of the kids. When we exited the museum it was raining and blowing like one of our good storms from the mid-west. I had Tyson ask a guard and he said the museum was closing due to a typhoon  (their version of a tornado)… needless to say – no tornado, just a little wind. 

After that we had the artists pick their favorite drawing for the day two sequential and one animation (1 for every 12 students) the winners got to go to dinner with us and the artists. Lilly, Mark, and Dixie got chosen for their amazing drawings. We managed to eat at an italian place (a very popular one at that) which wasn’t too bad. The rest of the students were on their own for dinner and traveling – some went to Roppongi, some Shibu-ya, others back to Nakano and Akiharbara for shopping goodness.

After dinner I joined a few of the artists and students for sketching at McDonalds of all places – it was cool. We just hung out and sketched people. Here are some of the photos from that day… 

4 yellow hats

The helper

Waiting for a date

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Lonely Gaijin

We got up at the serious crack of dawn – 445 am – to go to the fish market. This year we had an interesting thing happen. All was fine and dandy we came, took our pictures, were respectful of their space, etc.  and left. Well later that morning apparently some Australians got all worked up in the fish market and disrupted the flow of the place, got hit by the little trucks, didn’t move out of the way etc – so the Japanese government has banned all foreigners from the fish market starting on the 15th of this month. One report I read said for 1 month others said indefinitely so I don’t know for sure. I was very concerned that we might have caused a problem – but based off of the reports I saw and what my students whom speak japanese have told me – it wasn’t us. So Whew… but burn. You would think that people would be respectful of these guys. I mean they are at work, hauling fresh fish, trying to make sales, close deals that’s their livelihood and here are all these big bumbling gaijin walking through their office. I’d be a bit un-nerved myself.

Anyway after the fish market we had a break for breakfast, and then trucked it over to Asakusa temple – my favorite temple in Tokyo. Where I took some cool sequences and did some pretty decent quick people sketching. Near the end of the day a small group of us clustered together on the front steps of the main temple and were drawing – we drew a HUGE crowd – so big in fact that the guard had to politely break it up, he looked like he didn’t want too but had no choice. So we split up and headed off into our own different groups.

On my way back I managed to run into Dove, Asia, Ray, Matt, and Grace – all of whom were heading to Tokyo Disney. Now I’m not a big disney park person – but Dove knows EVERYTHING there is to know about theme parks so even though I was beat tired, I tagged along. It was worth it – fun actually. Space mountain still is a wussy roller coaster – I don’t care what anyone says. But the star tours ride was cool and so was the Pirates of Caribbean ride. We managed to get home before the train stopped so that was good.

All in all a very packed day. Here are a few photos from the day – not much actually – most of my time was spent sketching and doing frame sequences – which I”m in the process of adapting into a film, which will be put out at the end of the trip.

Love me some squid

Three dead fish

tuna steak... yum

Texture

very random

The subway

Poor Sanford

M.Shumway and Kyle

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Today we continued our workshops with the artists, I snapped a few pictures of them in the act. I have to say these guys have just been fantastic -they are engaging with the students outside the workshops, Sanford started an evening sketch club at the starbucks. They are just an amazing group of people and we are so fortunate to have them with us this week. They will be missed next week for sure!

After the workshops we headed out to the Ghibli museum which is one heck of a train ride. Took almost 45 minutes to get there -but as always it was worth it. We all had a seriously good time there, and just like last year they had changed the art on the studio walls so it was new and fresh stuff. But my favorite part of it is still the zoetrope. I wish I could show you it -but alas – no pictures inside the museum. You’ll have to settle for this one of Sanford…

Group wave...

After Ghibli we went to Nakano broadway, where I bought my mom a tea pot – yes mom I didn’t forget and its iron so it won’t break on the way home. I also got a really killer cel from Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro. We had conveyer belt sushi for dinner and jetted then back to the hotel. I managed to snap a few cool photos yesterday – here are some of them…

crazy homeless guy...

Sticker...

bikes

trees

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So today’s hearty workshop for our budding animators involved showing off their walks that they observed yesterday. It was an exciting, funny, and freeing experience I think for them all. Mr. Shumway did a killer job switching them up, giving them a sense of what it is like in production when you do a shot and then the director doesn’t like it and changes animators out. It was really nice. Mr. Schultz should talked about how the Japanese art prints – Ukiyo-e - influenced america’s great master illustrators guys like- Howard Pyle, Winslow Homer, N.C. Wyeth. He gave a really good lecture on the connections and how showed some really stunning examples.

After the workshops it was the mad scramble for lunch then off to Ueno Park for the museum. We split up into 2 big groups on the subway and made our way just fine to the museum. After negotiating with the ticket lady (Thank you Tyson for speaking Japanese!!!) we made our way into one of the coolest special exhibits I’ve seen at a museum yet… Fungus and Bacteria!!!

The entire exhibit was made out of cardboard… it was amazing!!! 

One of the other wicked things that they did was used these really cute characters to represent various deadly germs/bacteria and had this exhibit where it showed you in your home where they lived. The worst of course was E-coli – represented here by the happy red octopus thingy… 

After the special exhibit it was onto the main exhibit where we spent most of our time drawing dinosaur bones (or at least I did.) and taking reference photos of all the other amazing things there. I’ve been here like 3 times so this time I drew more – spent my time studying people and practicing my drawing.

Once we finished up with the museum we took everyone to Akihabara for dinner and exposure to the insane amount of electronic/toy/amazingly cool stuff stores. While in the book store I happened upon this very interesting object – I guess it is necessary when you pack this many people into such a small place…

Tomorrow is Ghibli museum and Nakano broadway. I will also be posting up some time-lapse experiments, which have turned out interesting…

J

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Well peeps – we managed to get settled in yesterday and today we got up, had breakfast, and made our way to the conference center nearby to partake in the words of wisdom of…

Mark Schultz

Sandord Greene

and Matt Shumway. 

Three really amazing artists – and just down right fun and goofy guys. Check out their work and you will be impressed. 

After the workshop we headed out for our first adventure a day at Meiji Shrine a real magical place. This year the Ravens were really noisy and did a great number of fly bys, but we managed to survive. I spent my day sketching, and shooting photos of people this year. Here are some samples of what I shot today for your viewing pleasure…

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Well gentle readers we made it safe and sound – but it was a journey fraught with the usual hiccups – nothing that us seasoned travelers couldn’t handle though. The biggest debacle happened in our transfer to our plane in Atlanta. The atlanta airport had weather problems so it grounded all the planes coming in and going out – so you think no problem right? Wrong – we had a 50 minute lay over – the planes were all grounded for 1 hour, leaving us like 10 minutes to get to our plane. Ray had the foresight to call Mark Schultz -whom was on the plane in Atlanta – and had them ask the stewardess to hold the plane for us – they gave us 10 min. Thank you Delta – and we ran from the A concourse to the E concourse which is like a mile with luggage. But we made it. I was thinking the whole time – well I guess our luggage is lost for sure – Nope that came through as well. So despite the adversity – we have triumphed and the gods have shined on us. I’m taking it as a sign that the trip is gonna be really special, because nothing worth while is ever gained without a little risk and effort.

I can’t believe I’m back. It is amazing how much I’ve missed this place. The sights, sounds and smells. I’m simply giddy. I’m going to be updating the blog pretty religously over the next 15 days. Will post photos and some experiments – I am going to be doing some timelapse and pixelation style animations with the students. I’ll also be putting up some of their sketches via photos of them for your viewing pleasure so stayed tuned!!! 

Maurer sensai

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So the fall quarter has wrapped, Delgo is looming large, I’ve moved to a new apartment in downtown savannah and I’m prepping for the trip to Japan. It has been two very packed intense weeks. It has been one of those times where you’re not sure if you got it all done, you’ve checked your lists you made in your notebook, you’ve gone over your plans twenty times in your head and yet still you’re sure you’ve forgotten something. The business of living has been so busy that what I forgot to do was to live.

Ok sure I’m alive -but not really living, not the enjoy the tree living. So today has really been the first day in a while where I’ve had that chance to breathe. I’ve still alot to do but at least it is now manageable and not this giant imposing flying monkey that was hovering over me tossing random apples at my head. 

And today is Thanksgiving – how appropriate. I’m not going to spend time writing here the usual “what I am thankful for this year” I’m not gonna tell you the cliche stuff, or the stuff that everyone is “duh” thankful for every year. Instead I’m gonna tell you a family story about my Grandma Maurer.

Every year we would all gather at my Grandma and Grandpa Maurer’s house in little New Bremen Ohio for the feast of thanksgiving. Grandma would make her famous oyster dressing and we would eat, eat, eat. It was the classic family thanksgiving, all the family -great aunts, uncles, grandkids etc – something like 25 or 30 people. Well this kind of gathering happened only once in awhile and when you got my Grandma together with her sisters and the drink started flowing -things tended to get a bit nutty.

Well I was probably only 7 or so -and to be honest – I’m not exactly sure if this is how it all happened, but a similar story was told at my grandmothers funeral last year so I’m sure there is some validity to it all. Anyway… it was a cold snowy thanksgiving, the adults were drinking after the meal, the kids were running about the house and me I was stalking grandma and her sisters. They snuck outside apparently for a cigarette -when I noticed a odd occurrence happening on the side lawn. There in the cold and the snow were my Aunt Toot, Grandma, and I think Aunt Bernice – Aunt Toot had her pants down, Grandma was behind her with a cigarette in her mouth and a lighter placed carefully behind Toot’s butt, Bernice was laughing and holding their drinks. Now let’s just take that image in for a second – I’m 37 now -so grandma and her sisters were probably in their 50’s when this happened – 3 older ladies, drunk, half naked in the snow -about to set fire to their own farts. 

Well Toot between laughs says – Here she comes Jen… and suddenly a 2 or 3 foot blue flame launches out of Toots butt right at Grandma’s head. Grandma falls back on her behind into the snow with smoking singed eyebrows laughing in her grizzly heady laugh, while Bernice drops the drinks cuz she is laughing so hard. Toot grabs her pants and spins around laughing… they help Grandma up and the moment is over, as they laugh together arm in arm and head back into the house.

They never knew I saw them – never told them about it but that crazy moment, that moment in the snow has stuck with me. Every thanksgiving I think of it and I smile. All our lives are full of tiny secret moments that define us all, I got to witness one of these moments between three sisters. A private joke. Something I wasn’t supposed to see. And for that I was and am thankful. 

This year I won’t have the oyster dressing, or the deviled eggs she always made especially for me. But I will have that memory of her laughing in the snow and that will be enough. 

J

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I have never been accused of being the type of person who is shy, or holds back opinions on touchy subjects. Who is afraid of talking about sex, religion, or politics in public. I don’t believe in sheltering the world – I believe in knowledge. I believe in understanding. I believe in talking, and thinking about things which we don’t understand or that make us afraid.

This video of Keith Olbermann discussing his opinions on Prop 8 in California is probably one of the most thoughtful commentaries on this subject I’ve heard to date. I have always been a believer in same sex marriage, and think that we all as people deserve to share in a emotional, physical, spiritual and practical bond that is recognized by our government.

Keith points this out quiet nicey that religion should be embracing this with the “do unto others as you would have them do to you” bit. It has often seem to me that the whole issue of same-sex marriage and the problems with it stems from religion, or some religions. There are plenty of paradoxes in religion so to spend my time spouting off about it would be a waste. Let me just summarize in that I think because we view marriage as not just a civil union, but a spiritual union as well, most of the people who are against it are against it because it is not natural. It is not what God intended, it goes against the law of nature – procreation. My own father is against it, which surprised me. He is fine with the idea of civil union – but not calling it a marriage. It is an argument of the meaning/value of a word.

I would be very curious to hear an argument from an atheist who was against it and why? I’m curious also if it is purely the western religions/cultures that are reacting to this.

Well here’s the video brought to you via mcnbc via youtube –

J

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A couple months ago I came across the really great website – www.blurb.com. That has software that helps you layout and publish your own work. So I after starting and stopping it I have finally finished my first photo book on the great state of Colorado and my traveling there in the summers of 2006 and 2007. 

You can purchase it in soft-cover, hardcover or imagewrap – the softcover will cost you only 34.95 – making it a perfect holiday gift for the coffee table book lover in you! Or you can just buy it to support a budding photographer who could use some extra cash.

Check out the link in the sidebar it will take you there!!!

After my next trip to Japan I plan on making a larger volume that includes my photos from the three years I’ve journeyed there. Till then enjoy Colorado… I know I did.

J

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Well I’ve been searching for a place in Savannah that has good, no great BBQ and I have finally found it. Now I’ve not been to every tin shack, or sketchy roadside booth but I have been to all of the major players. I’ve ventured into some places and been pleasantly surprised and walked into others and left in horror.

Well just the other day I came upon – The Pit Stop Bar BQ and catering express – out on Hwy 80  in Garden City. As with most things like this I just happened to see it as I was driving by on another errand and stopped in on my way back.

It was an amazing experience. The food is real top notch dry rub BBQ with a succulent greenish brown sauce served on the side. The ribs were large and full of flavor, and the collard greens were simply divine. I choose the No. 11 dinner so I could try a little of everything and I was rewarded by a full happy stomach. It was love on a plate.

If the food wasn’t enough to get you there -then the owners would be the other. Friendly, talkative folk with warm southern hearts and a real talent for cookin’. I highly recommend  this place if you are ever in Savannah or if you have a party and you want some amazing BBQ these cats are it!

J

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Yesterday I bought a pair of fangs. Yep. Good old fashion prosthetic vampire fangs. They look pretty damn real but does walking around in normal clothes with a pair of fangs make a costume? 

Dictionary.com says its – a fashion of dress appropriate to a particular occasion or season.

Ok so yes. So why a vampire? I wanted to be Darth Vader – probably should have gone there – but frankly at 100 dollars a day on the rental I couldn’t afford it. So I settled for the cheapest, simplest solution – my favorite childhood memory other than the Sith Lord himself -the vampire. 

Halloween isn’t really about dressing up in a costume or the candy( ok maybe a little). Its about becoming, just for one day, someone or something else. Its about taking off your daily mask you wear and dawning a new set of rules and expectations to play with. Its the one day a year where “normal” people do not have to be afraid to be “weird” and write it off to “Whatever man it was halloween and I wanted to wear that superman suit.” Lets be honest here – if randomly on a tuesday in March you saw a guy walking down the street wearing a superman suit you’d probably think he was bit of a nutter, but on Halloween that nutter is probably your accountant. 

He can for that short time become superman, act like superman, and not be afraid of anyone judging him. Just like when we were kids and the world was what you imagined it could be. We have somehow told ourselves that it isn’t ok to pretend on most days. We aren’t allowed to imagine being part of a great space battle or a deep sea exploration and act it out -because that’s crazy. Adults don’t do that. We exist in the real world -not some childhood fantasy – where we have deadlines, responsibilities and yogurt. 

Do you remember when your pretend machine stopped working and your reality machine turned on? When it was no longer “cool” to play cops and robbers, or climb a tree while pretending to be exploring the dark jungles of Africa? When being older mattered and the day dreams of youth were just that dreams. It is a sad thing this loss of pretend. We artists are luckier than most I think because we get to keep our pretend machine. We get to imagine other worlds, become other beings doing amazing things, escaping, traveling – to us every day is a journey in the pretend machine. We get to live it and be mocked, praised and envied for it. 

For the rest of you, Halloween is your out. Society gives you this one day to become a kid again and pretend. So use it. You get to put on that red blanket as a cape, dawn your blue pj’s, scrawl a messed up S on your chest and say to the world “Up, up and away!”  Because on Monday, its back to eating yogurt.

J

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Well so the daily drawings have come to a slow miserable end. After much hard work, and thought I have moved past them onto a new short film, which I must say was inspired by them. I’m keeping it pretty quiet for now still in the boarding and design stages-but I do have some cool test imagery to show… 

Check out this apple texture – 100% procedural nodes in Maya, rendered in Mental ray.

the apple

You see inside the apple because we are gonna do a pull back from the core and as we pull back the layers fill in – like we are really moving through it. I’m still wrestling with the edge where the cut happens, attempting to give it thickness, without displacement. Also not happy with the core shader just yet -needs a bit more wetness to it, but the spec is tricky since it is a dead flat plane.

More to come… stay tuned!!

J

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Well Delgo fans – there is a new trailer online at…

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/delgo/

It is really well put together, makes me want to see the film all over again. : )  There is one major typo on the page that we are aware of and hoping that Apple fixes immediately  - my name is not listed along side Marcs as Director.

It is not a conspiracy. No-one deliberately dropped off my name – we are having constant problems with companies dropping off the second name as director. Marc gets lucky because we did the credits alphabetically – Adler comes before Maurer…

So the world is clear Delgo was Co-Directed by Marc Adler and Jason Maurer and Animation Direction was done by Warren Grubb. Also we are all listed with proper credits on www.imdb.com.

If anyone out there whom reads this has a direct contact or knows someone who has a direct contact at Apple for the individual who makes the changes to the trailers sites -please shoot me their contact info. I’ve emailed trailers@mac.com and I know that Marc has contacted whom he knows there – but we want this changed immediately.

Thanks again for all your support and help! Take a look and shoot me your thoughts!

J

*!!!! UPDATED!!!! Thank you Apple for your amazingly quick response to our inquiry!! I emailed them and less than 2 hours later, the site is changed! Way to go customer service! Love me some Apple!

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My friend and mentor Edward Kinney said these two things yesterday and I found them to be very true and inspiring…

“You have to stop seeing just the object; that’s how the food gathers see – NOT how artists see”

and

“Artists function at their highest when they are in touch with their impulses.”

Posted in Animation, Notes, Poems | 1 Comment »

So for those of you who think that your vote counts… check this out…

I got this from…

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#process

“Is my vote for President and Vice President meaningful in the Electoral College system?

Yes, within your State your vote has a great deal of significance. Under the Electoral College system, we do not elect the President and Vice President through a direct nation-wide vote. The Presidential election is decided by the combined results of 51 State elections (in this context, the term “State” includes DC). It is possible that an elector could ignore the results of the popular vote, but that occurs very rarely. Your vote helps decide which candidate receives your State’s electoral votes.

The founders of the nation devised the Electoral College system as part of their plan to share power between the States and the national government. Under the Federal system adopted in the U.S. Constitution, the nation-wide popular vote has no legal significance. As a result, it is possible that the electoral votes awarded on the basis of State elections could produce a different result than the nation-wide popular vote. Nevertheless, the individual citizen’s vote is important to the outcome of each State election.”

or this part on how these people get the position…

“Who selects the Electors?

The process for selecting electors varies throughout the United States. Generally, the political parties nominate electors at their State party conventions or by a vote of the party’s central committee in each State. Electors are often selected to recognize their service and dedication to their political party. They may be State elected officials, party leaders, or persons who have a personal or political affiliation with the Presidential candidate. Then the voters in each State choose the electors on the day of the general election. The electors’ names may or may not appear on the ballot below the name of the candidates running for President, depending on the procedure in each State.”

Now I’m not saying to not vote, but I have always been curious as to why Big Al didn’t win and I knew it was because of electoral college but I had forgotten my consitution from goverment class in high school so I looked it up.

I’m now fumed. There are a group of other people whom the current encumbents choose that we apparently SOMETIMES vote in(with out really knowing much about it I might add) that make all the political decisions for us! WTF!!! This needs to be overhauled in someway – which by the way according to that website the Electoral college system has had the most proposed amendment changes -so its not like people are not trying.

Well I thought I’d share my frustration with the world – cuz I can’t frankly understand how there is a tight race going on between a man who is older than the State of Alaska and a man who came from a food stamp family.

J

Tags: elections, electoral, mccain, obama, rights, voting
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