Polls with Camel glasses

October 27, 2008 - 5:34 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Immigrant Moments, Politics 

Voting with vats in the backgroundA landmark event took place last night at Tel Aviv’s Dancing Camel brewery, where citizens of the United States were invited to vote for the next US president by an organization called Vote From Israel.

The first initiative of its kind anywhere in the world, Vote From Israel’s goal is to make it as easy as possible for US citizens currently in Israel to participate in the electoral process. The organization’s leadership estimates that out of 125,000 eligible voters in Israel this fall, only 42,000 are registered, so they worked 18-hour days through the hectic fall holidays to register some 7,000 to 10,000 more.

Now that the registration phase is complete, they’ve set up three events where people can hand in the absentee ballots they sent away for, or they can use Vote From Israel-provided Federal Write in Absentee Ballots. Everything is anonymous and sent via Federal Express to the voter’s relevant district office.

The press seems to be lapping it up, too, as a reporter from Newsweek and camera crews from Austrian public TV channel ORF and Israeli commercial Channel 10 competed for the most colorful comments from participants.

At last night’s event, six delicious flavors of beer were on tap, including a sweet and rich stout and seasonal brews seasoned with lemon and pomegranate bouquets. Voters were given coupons for half off of any beer. The Jets-Chiefs game was projected on an enormous screen.

After voting, participants were asked to complete an exit poll, surely a key element to the Vote From Israel concept. Although the organization is officially unaligned, it’s no secret that most Americans whose Zionist bent is strong enough to put them in Israel are likely to favor the 2008 Republican ticket. And with the influence that exit polls can have on undecided voters, one needn’t get so creative to conjecture the motivation behind Vote From Israel’s anonymous funders. The results of the organization’s exit polls can be released to the public a full week before the East Coast votes.

Regardless of the conspiracy theories, the beer, football and nightlife vibes kept the proceedings last night remarkably light. One reveler quipped that he had come to exercise his right not to vote, while another shrugged that he’s come just to meet up with friends, despite being Canadian.

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Hail to the Redskins

October 5, 2008 - 7:18 PM by · 5 Comments
Filed under: General, Immigrant Moments, Sports, Technology 

AAGL099~Washington-Redskins-Helmet-Logo-Posters1.jpgIt’s Sunday night, and it’s football season — American football — in the U.S., which means I’ve reached the football widow period of my life. Daniel, my husband, is Maryland-born and bred (although he spent a good chunk of his childhood in Israel), and, as such, is a diehard Redskins fan. For him, it is no hardship whatsoever to get up at 2 in the morning on Sunday/Monday during football season (or just not go to sleep), and spend three hours or so sitting on the very edge of the family room couch to watch his beloved Redskins play, fingers crossed in the hopes that they win.

So really, I wasn’t much of a football widow since he tended to watch while I was fast asleep. But, as usual, technology has changed our lives. Last year, we got hooked up to Slingbox, a TV streaming device that enables users to remotely view cable, satellite or personal video recorder programming from a computer with Internet connectivity. For users in Israel, that can mean hooking up a Slingbox to a friend or family member’s cable connected TV in the States, and then being able to watch whatever they have on TV at that time, through your computer. For American sports fans, it means Slingboxing with just the right person, that is, those in one’s life who are also apt to be fans of the same teams.

So Daniel and his brother in Washington, DC got Slingboxed, but alas, something wasn’t working with our Internet connection, which meant that while he could watch the Redskins games, he ended up doing so in his office. Not the worst thing, but not the most comfortable, either. This season, he was determined to change all that. By slightly shifting our Internet account — and with the added incentive of a new, larger TV in our place — he’s now watching the game in the comfort of his own home, at the same time that it’s on in the States. Tonight, that means 7 pm, Israel time.

This does mean that I’m now an actual football widow, but funnily enough, I’m okay with it. I can, of course, join him on the couch and receive a full education on football, if I so wish. Or I can just take this time to finish up some work, read a book, clean out a closet. Hey, the options are endless. Hail to the Redskins.

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