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Indecision 2002
The most common story submission about the U.S. elections held today seems to be that the consortium which typically conducts and reports exit polls has encountered technical difficulties. If only they'd had an open beta program... There have also been a number of stories highlighting problems with new electronic voting machines, a topic Slashdot has hit several times in the past. CNN, the NY Times, and essentially every other U.S. news outfit are following the election results as best they can.
This just in: Rich Ruling Class People with Connections Win All Elections in Landslide!
Can you find one person who won that:
1) Didn't take money from Disney, MPAA and/or RIAA?
2) Didn't take money from pro-Israel lobby?
Ya, you had a choice...sure...
Democracy in a capitalist society is an illusion.
Wake up and smell the exploitation!
*sniiiifffffff*
Ahh ya! Smells like Exxon-Mobile is about to use americas army to conquer fresh oil fields!
Btw, anybody else depressed about their selection of candidates? I had a choice between corrupt Gray Davis, or incompetent Bill Simon. It was a tough choice. Voted green.
Anybody in the North Carolina care to explain Liddy Dole to me. What were you thinking?
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When you come to a fork in the road, take it! --Yogi Berra--
And the funniest thing is that it's comp[osed of Albanians and Russians! I laughed so hard when I heard that!
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
As a Floridian, I'd like to say, God damn it.
Can't we fucking sell the panhandle to Alabama or something. Fucking rednecks would be more at home there anyway and we would finally be able to elect a decent governor.
I've got to know: Whose frickin stupid idea was it to have US elections held on a TUESDAY, that isn't even a public holiday for the purpose?
;)
I mean, surely it MUST be realised that the people who are going to avoid voting are those that cannot afford take the time off of work to vote, on what is likely to be a pretty cold day. Essentially, having Election Day on what is an ordinary work day in the chill of November is invariably going to be a HUGE disincentive for the 'lower orders' to participate. It just seems so blatantly intended to discriminate that it just boggles the mind.
Here in Australia, we ALWAYS have elections on Saturdays, leaving virtually no good reason for not being able to turn up to vote, even if we didn't have compulsory voting. It's practical, and accomodates most everyone. Very few people have to get special time off to vote, since the booths are open from about 7 in the morning until 6 at night.
Oh yeah -- here, we put NUMBERS in the boxes (proportional voting rather than first-past-the-post), count the votes BY HAND, and can still have a reliable election result the same night. Stick that in your corn-cob pipes and smoke it.
SofaMan -- Occasionally Battling Evil With His Mighty Powers Of Indolence.
I would take John Ashcroft any day over the previous AG. Janet Reno NEVER investigated any of the illegal campaign funding of Bill Clinton. Where Chinese influenced money (illegal of course) got to his campaign. In the process, Clinton gave Chinese missle capabilities, which sped up China's nuclear capabilities by around 20 years.
Please repeat after me: CONGRESS IS THE LAWMAKING BODY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Now tell me, oh enlightened one... who was it that controlled Congress during the Reagan presidency? Who was it that was responsible for tying up every trivial bill with enough pork to choke a small horse? Who was it, in fact, that did each and every thing you blame on Reagan?
C'mon. I know, it's hard... you can say it with me, if that helps:
D - E - M - O - C - R - A - T - S
There! See how easy that was? Now, let's try it again: who was in control of the lawmaking body (Congress, remember?) during the Clinton years? You remember - booming economy, low unemployment, everyone happier than a pig in poo? OK, OK, we'll say it together again:
R - E - P - U - B - L - I - C - A - N - SWhile I'll admit some might consider a mere 20 years to be too short a time to draw any strong conclusions, the evidence seems to indicate that while a Democratic controlled congress spends money like a compulsive shopper with bad math skills [1], a Republican congress is actually fairly good for the economy in particular and the nation in general.
[1] Actually not a very good analogy. I've seen compulsive shoppers, and even they have trouble flinging money around with the same abandon as a Democrat-controlled Congress.
"Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgement." Job 32:9
Today I am sick that I am an American, and I weep for the other nations of the world that must tollerate the republican nightmare that is to come. The only consolation I can provide is that with any luck it will only last 2 years until the next election cycle.
Actually, I'm terrified by the possibility of the Republicans taking control of the Senate.
The one plus is, for the next two years they'll be hard-pressed to blame anything -- such as the massive deficits they've already started on -- on the Democrats. That should serve to destroy the Republicans' claims of fiscal responsibility for a generation.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.