The electoral votes bounced like Yo-yos last night and I am going to string you back an article in December 13, 1999 (Chicago Sun)

Federico "Fred" Urian spun yo-yos for three generations of spectators. It was his profession from his childhood to his adulthood. He became a tool and dye maker and a leader of the Filipino community in Chicago, but he also taught the yo-yo as well as native dances and culture to generations of Filipino children. Mr. Urian died Thursday in his home. He was 90. The yo-yo originally was a Filipino hunting weapon, but Mr. Urian mastered it as a toy when he was young, said his son William. Then, both before and after World War II, he had jobs demonstrating the toy, first for the Duncan Toy Co., then for the Filipino-owned Royal Co. in 1946. Mr. Urian came to Chicago when he was a teenager. He joined a brother already here and graduated from Crane High in 1931. He studied engineering for a year at Lewis Institute. In the 1930s, Mr. Urian founded Ang Balita, a Filipino newspaper here, and the Filipino Club of Chicago. Later, he was a driving force in the acquisition of the Jose Rizal Memorial Center on Irving Park Road, a community center. The intricate yo-yo tricks he learned as a child delighted his own children and grandchildren. "The yo-yos would always come out at family gatherings, and the kids all learned some of his magic," said his son William. The toys spun out and arced through the air even when space was tight," he said.

Just a little trivia from me (this old man): The yoyo was first brought to Chicago way before Fred. The last US President elected without the plurality of votes was President Harrison, in 1888. He was the sitting US President when Dr. Jose Rizal stopped over Chicago on his way to New York. His writings did not mention his opinion on the American system of electoral process nor did it mention his use of the yoyo in Chicago. He demonstrated his prowess, demonstrating the yoyo to the ladies on board the ocean steamer from New York to London. (He boarded his train in Chicago with a concealed ancient weapon!) I don't think Fred knew that Jose Rizal was, as I've inferred, carrying a yoyo while in the Windy City. To give you guys an idea of the Pinoy timeline, (and to sound as redundant as a yoyo) I also want you to know that, despite being the second person to introduce the yoyo to Chicago, Fred Urian was still one of early Pinoy pioneers there. The inauguration of the Rizal Monument in downtown Jersey City is coming soon, possibly under the administration of another US President who did not win the popular votes. This occurrence is as rare as the coming of Haley's Comet. Fred lived to the ripe age of 90 but never saw a President who won the Electoral College without the majority of the vote.

Americans did not teach the Filipinos the Electoral System and Jury system. It was argued that the common Filipino didn't have the intelligence to make such legal decisions when the Americans fist came. One of the better arguments for having a Jury system was to provide the perception of a suspect's peers (intelligent or otherwise), and the "average" person's view of right or wrong. What did they think was in the mind of the average Filipino or suspect? Our first election (organic act) in the Philippines can be attributed in part to Jose Rizal and his stirring last farewell to his beloved country immortalized in his poem, Mi Ultimo Adios. He wrote it in his cell at Fort Santiago on the eve of his execution by the Spaniards on December 30, 1896. At first, there was strong opposition to the passage of the bill from misinformed members of the House, some of whom referred to the Filipinos as "barbarians" incapable of self-government. Thereupon, Congressman Henry A. Cooper of Wisconsin took the floor and recited Rizal's last farewell before a skeptical House. Silence soon pervaded the floor as Cooper, eyes moist with tears and voice deep with emotion, recited the poem stanza by stanza. Soon after his recitation, Cooper thunderously asked his colleagues might there be a future for such a barbaric, uncivilized people who had given the world a noble man as Rizal. The vote was taken on the bill, and passed the House. (From the US congressional records) Gee, I wish I could have seen that. I could only imagine another Congressman Henry, like Representative Henry Hyde, reciting his poetry. You could also imagine how the Filipino guerillas felt had they heard the Congress debating whether to honor Macarthur promise of  " I shall return."   This Act gave us shortly the election of Quezon as the President of the Commonwealth by popular vote against Aquinaldo. The same system that the likes of Estrada won. As the impeachment proceeding goes on the Filipinos will learn more about Jury System. The Judge is the Chief Justice but the decision will be rendered by the jury. The Jury in this case will be the senators. The Florida electoral votes would not even matter if the favorite son Al Gore won in his own home state (Tennessee). Imagine Marcos losing in Ilocos Province? And, if there were no Electoral College in place, how many times would the election committee have to manually recount the votes of the entire US in the event of a close election? The phenomenon of one winning the presidency by Electoral College while losing the majority of votes comes as often as Halley's comet. Fred Urian life spans almost a century but he never experienced it. As I indicated, the last time it happened was when Rizal visited Chicago in 1888.

Last Saturday, the Fil-am of Jersey City inaugurated the latest Rizal monument in the United States. It as if Rizal is seeing it happen again. I don't believe that anyone with a very large lead could ever lose the electoral votes. I am not going to worry until Halley's comet starts visiting us at a distance closer than a billion miles.