omgitscookies

On my recent trip to Florida, with my sister, her finance, and her friend, we decided to make a quick stop in Downtown Disney. This is the free shopping/restaurant district located near the theme parks. We were there for lunch and to pick up a few gifts for our dog sitters.

We walked into an Irish-themed shop called Raglan Road. We weren't thinking of buying anything there, but the store was a perfect cut-through to the nearby passage -- a feature undoubtedly mastered by Disney.

My sister and her friend walked side by side, looking at merchandise. I walked next to my sister's fiancé (Austin). I split away from the group and looked at the corny leprechaun statues on the shelves.

A white, middle-aged man approached Austin in the store and asked him if our group were American citizens. He said we were and the man proceeded to ask if I was single. One of his twin daughters was to be married to a man in the United States and he wanted to find a husband for the other single twin daughter, so they could be together. He spoke really good English without an accent, so we assume he might have been Canadian.

Austin was dumbfounded by this request. I was too far away to have heard the conversation. As Austin began to think of something to say, the man read his face and realized what a crazy question it was to ask a stranger. He politely excused himself from the situation and pretended to browse the store.

As the four of us exited the store, the man again approached Austin and apologized for putting him on the spot. My sister, her, friend and myself all were puzzled by the man, prompting us to ask Austin what had happened in the store. He told us the whole story as we walked to the restaurant.

It was both flattering and alarming that someone would do this, so randomly. First, I wouldn't get married for the sake of someone obtaining a green card. Second, I had no idea if this man was even sane. He was alone and his alleged family was completely absent. Third, why wouldn't he have approached me to ask? Too man shady circumstances to make me feel good about it. On top of it all, it was at Disney World, which is just plain awkward.

I had a good laugh about it over lunch but I have to wonder if this was legit or some grand scam going on in Orlando. Time will tell.

I'm sure every American will remember the hanging chad outcries from the 2000 election. Now an even bigger turd is about to hit the fan. The National Democratic Party is banning all members from Florida to participate in the Democratic National Convention due to their super early primary election on Jan. 20 of this year.

Rules committee member Alice Germond of Washington, D.C., said the committee chose to eliminate all of Florida's delegates, not just some, "in order to not be forced to sanction any candidate who chooses to campaign there."

Amazing! On one hand, you have to respect politicians for actually following the rules. On the other hand, you'd expect the Democratic party to turn a blind eye towards a state in which is already majority Republican.

Allan Katz of Tallahassee, the only Floridian on the rules committee, said Saturday's action raises the danger that "only Republicans will show up."

He argued almost alone on the committee against the sanctions, and called it "a terrible situation for Florida and a very bad situation for the Democratic Party."

It also leaves the candidates uncertain.

"The question is, how much time will we spend there, given there are no delegates at stake," said Luis Navarro, spokesman for the Joe Biden campaign. "Ultimately, the way a candidate is nominated is by getting delegates."

Several states have pushed up their primary elections in order to garner as much goodwill towards the candidates as possible. As of 2004, almost all states have their elections in early Feb..  This year the race has begun to move the primaries earlier in the year now more than ever. If this keeps up, we'll be have a primary election almost 2 years before the real elections!