American Solidarity Party Results

I am a member of the American Solidarity Party. I joined it in 2016. I ran as an ASP write-in candidate for Gates Town Board in 2023.  I got 86 votes even though I only entered the race at the end of September.

The Party was created in 2011, and it was incorporated in 2016, the first year it ran a Presidential candidate. 

Here are the results nationally, and in New York, where the Party so far has only been able to run its candidates as write-ins.

2016 (Mike Maturen/Juan Muñoz): 6,697 - though not all states reported results; 409 in New York
2020 (Brian Carroll/Amar Patel): 42,305; 999 in New York

We'll see how we do in 2024.

Pax et bonum

Skateboarding Limerick

The once was a young man from Gates,
whose skateboarding tempted the fates.
He tried a new trick,
but landed on brick -
now six months of rehab awaits.

Pax et bonum

Presidential Elections in New York: Vote Third Party (Update)

I've been predicting for a long time that the Democratic Presidential candidate - first Biden, then Harris - will carry New York by more than a million votes, and so I'm free to make a statement by voting for a genuinely pro-life candidate, Peter Sonski of the American Solidarity Party. I'm voting for him not only because I agree with him and the Party on the issues, but I am also trying to send a statement to the Republican Party to stop wading deeper into pro-abortion waters.

I've gotten criticisms from pro-life friends saying we have to vote for Donald Trump because, even though he's very flawed on life issues, he is far better than Kamala Harris. 

I agree Trump is better than Harris when is comes to abortion and related issues - even though he is clearly not pro-life - and if I lived in a battleground state I would probably vote for him. But I live in New York, which is not a battleground state. 

Here are the rounded results since 1988 - with the Democratic candidate winning every time: 

1988 - Michael Dukakis beat George H. W. Bush by .25 million votes

1992 - Bill Clinton beat George H. W, Bush by 1 million votes 

1996 - Bill Clinton beat Bob Dole by 1.9 million votes

2000 - Al Gore beat George W. Bush by 1.7 million votes

2004 - John Kerry beat George W. Bush by 1.4 million votes

2008 - Barack Obama beat John McCain by 2 million votes

2012 - Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney by 2 million votes

2016 - Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by 1.8 million votes 

2020 - Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 1.9 million votes

Because New York is not a battleground state it's been mostly ignored by the pollsters, but there was one poll put out last week. Harris was up by 19%. I seriously doubt the margin is that great, but I still think it is large. 

So, unless there is some dramatic development in the last week of the campaign,  I stand by my prediction. 

We'll see if I'm right November 5. 

UPDATE: 

 

There were indeed some developments in the last week of the campaign. 

Joe Biden called Trump supporters "garbage," then his people tried to backtrack. But he said it live. Trump subsequently did his clever garbage truck stunt, and his followers began wearing garbage bags.

Bill Clinton also said a few things that confused the campaign,

Harris appeared in more public situations, and did not do well even when she had a script.

And Joe Rogan endorsed Trump.

So Trump began building a lead in many states, or to narrow the leads Harris had in some states.

That apparently happened in New York.

I had predicted Harris would win in this state by more than a million votes (barring late developments). 

At the moment, with counting still underway, Harris has won New York by about 900,000 votes. 

So I was off, but not by much, and I did say I could be off based on late developments.

Meanwhile, my comments about voting third party hold up.

Pax et bonum

Helen Steiner Rice

I've often declared before that my two favorite poets are Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson. How American of me!

I also really like the works of several other poets: Yehuda Amichai, Seamus Heaney, Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, and Masaoka Shiki stand out. 

Oh, and of course, E. C. Bentley, the creator of clerihews!

Now all of those are highly regarded poets in literary circles. But there is another who, while many academic sorts might turn up their noses at her work, I really like.

Helen Steiner Rice.

Rice wrote inspirational and Christian poetry. She also wrote poetry for greeting cards.

I read her poetry for encouragement and pleasure. She touched many lives.

Isn't that what good poetry should do?

I'm not alone in liking her poetry. Pope St. John Paul II also appreciated her poems, and no one can accuse him of being an intellectual lightweight.

I was inspired to post this because at our parish's ongoing rummage sale room I spotted a copy of Prayerfully, a collection of Rice's prayer poems.

Naturally, I bought it! 

I now own several collections of her works.

A few years back, I even wrote a clerihew about her (hooray for Bentley):

Critics of Helen Steiner Rice
say her poems are just too sweet and nice.
But I suspect those poems will be read
long after those critics are dead.

But let's end with one of Rice's:

The Bend in the Road

Sometimes we come to life’s crossroads
We view what we think is the end;
But God has a much wider vision
And He knows that it’s only a bend.

The road will go on and get smoother
And after we’ve stopped for a rest,
The path that lies hidden beyond us
Is often the path that is best.

So rest and relax and grow stronger
Let go, and let God share your load,
And have faith in a brighter tomorrow
You’ve just come to a bend in the road.

Pax et bonum

Ancestry Strikes Again!

Ancestry has updated my results again. Yes, I know they revise as they get more results from others to compare and refine my results. 

The new results include some new regions.

Ireland (Northern Ireland and - new - Ulster): 41%

England and Northwestern Europe:                 38% 

Denmark (new)                                                10%

Scotland:                                                            6%

Iceland (a new region!):                                     3%

Germanic Europe:                                              2% 

Ireland remains on top, only very slightly changed. And England and Northwestern Europe remains second, and rose slightly.

Hmm. Scotland only 6%? With my mother a Scottish immigrant? Down from 16% just two years ago? Okay, I get that her family has roots in Ireland, but ...

Iceland is an interesting addition. Denmark used to be Denmark and Sweden. Now it is just Denmark, and it rose from 7% to 10 %.  Ah, Vikings! 

Here are previous results:

August 2022.

Ireland 42%
England & Northwestern Europe 35%
Scotland 16%
Sweden & Denmark 7%

May 2022

Ireland 39%
England & Northwestern Europe 29%
Scotland 28%
Sweden & Denmark 4%

So now more Irish, English/Western Europe, and Sweden/Denmark, less Scottish. And overall less Celtic.

They have updated multiple times as they have gotten more people in their data base -

September 2021

Scotland - 57%
Ireland - 33% (with ties to Donegal)
England and Northwestern Europe - 10%.

2020 

Scotland - 54%
Ireland (with strong links to Donegal) - 29%
England and Northwestern Europe - 13%
Wales - 3%
Norway - 1%

2018 

Ireland/Scotland/Wales - 58 %.
Great Britain - 36 %.
Scandinavia is now Sweden, and dropped to just 4 %.
Germanic Europe - 2 %.

2014

Ireland - 56 %
Scandinavia - 16 %
Great Britain - 10 %
Iberian Peninsula - 8 %
Western Europe - 5 %
A few odd traces - 3 %

Pax et bonum

Mass Etiquette

Pax et bonum

More On Dieting (sort of)

Earlier this week I noted I have begun a diet with a goal of losing 30 pounds, and that I was cutting out sweets of various forms except on Sundays and for special events.

So far, I've lost 3 pounds, and I have been able to avoid all those sweet temptations.

Good.

Another "diet" I've undertaken is reducing the number of books I own. I started this a couple of years ago when I instituted a rule that I had to get rid of two books for every new book I acquired. Then when I retired I got more serious - I've donated more than 1,000 books over the last four years, including more than 100 this year so far.

But then, I also keep acquiring books, just not to the scale I did so before.

The most recent additions are:

Tolkien: Man and Myth by Joseph Pearce

The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful by Joseph Pearce

The Father's Tale by Michael O'Brien

The Sabbatical by Michael O'Brien

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset 

Light reading? I think not! They total more than 3000 pages, with two of the books topping 1,000 pages.

Yikes. 

I've always enjoyed Pearce and his takes, and I just finished a biography of Tolkien, so I wanted more.

I've also enjoyed Michael O'Brien, so his books were a natural.

As for Undset, I have read only one work by her, but Kristin keeps showing up on lists of recommended books, so ... 

Of course, I already have several books on my "To Read" shelf. 

Hey, at least none of them are diet books!

Pax et bonum

Health and Weight

Recently, I've begun to notice more and more signs of the effects of aging.

Some of those signs are related to thing over which I have little or no control. After all, I am getting older!

But there are areas over which I do have some control.

I'm overweight. This morning, I weighed 216.2 pounds. At 6', I should weigh in the 180's. That gives me a BMI at the upper end of "overweight". (I used to be "obese", so this is at least an improvement.)

I'm very sedentary.

I have a chronic sweet tooth. Too many candies, cookies, pastries, ice cream, etc. Two years ago my physical indicated I was pre-diabetic. I cut back a little on my sugar consumption, and dropped down below the pre-diabetic line, but I'm still close to it.

Therefore ... I need to lose about 30 pounds. And I need to even more drastically reduce my sugar consumption.

I will be dieting over the next few months. I'd like to see me lose about a pound a week. If I do lose about a pound a week, I should hit my target by next April or May.

I need to do more exercise. Not sure yet what that will involve, but light weights will be part of it.

As for sugar, I've already stopped putting sugar in my coffee, but I need to go much further. From now on I will allow myself treats only on Sunday or on special occasions. No more getting a candy bar at the store, or noshing on candy or cookies between meals. 

Losing weight will also help with my back and knee problems.

One saint sometimes identified as the Patron Saint of Dieters (and those with stomach ailments) is St. Charles Borromeo. I need to learn more about him, and to pray to him more for help. I found this prayer online: 

Prayer to St. Charles Borromeo

O St. Charles, you are invoked as

the patron of all those who suffer

with stomach ailments and obesity.

You are also called upon as a helper

for all those attempting to diet and lose weight.

Please intercede for me today

and help me to control

my desires and compulsions,

so that I may fix my appetite

on the glory of heaven.

Amen.

Pax et bonum