> Ashcroft is pretty much a Christian Fundementalist
And something of a k00k even among them. I forget the details, but I read somewhere that he likes to dress up as a Hebrew priest and hold ceremonies, or something like that.
> It's a mediaeval-style robot. Not only is this self-evidently cool in itself, it also has major implications for Dungeons-and-Dragons-playing Slashdotters, who can now, with an arguable degree of verisimilitude, introduce clockwork robot buggies into their campaigns.
Ah, yes - doomsday machines built by the Knights Geeklar during the invasion of the Pillsbury dough-golems.
> Does anyone know anything about the Albertus Magnus account? A Google search yields plenty of different accounts, but I didn't notice any that specified that he created a mechanical woman. A few specified the opposite, in fact, and said that it was a mechanical man, or just a mechanical head that he created.
Think euphemism: Albertus "Magnus" and his mechanical "man". Too bad he didn't invent e-mail to advertise it.
> They do mostly agree that Aquinas smashed it, though.
> If, however, it should turn out that he has won Ohio, for example, when all the ballots are counted
An interesting question is, will they even bother to count provisional ballots after a candidate has conceded? It would take a lot of work, especially with two lawyers looking over the counters' shoulders.
> All other things aside, Kerry should have torn apart Bush on the military issue alone; it is simply amazing that a decorated Vietnam soldier had to take that kind of abuse from a coward and drunk like Bush.
The "liberal" media is at least partly to blame: they gave the SBVfT claims as much attention as they ever do any of Bush's scandal-of-the-week stories, and more than most of them. (Remember the shocking story of an entire dual-use facility that went missing in occupied Iraq?)
> My only solace in this election is that our Republic has survived bad presidents before. If the country is a mess in 4 years after stacking the house, senate, courts and executive branch who will the Republicans blame?
> discount 90% of those ballots due to fraud (which ohio has stated is how many are not counted)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my ears heard that 90% is what they did count, last time around.
And if the secretary of state's WAG projection of 175,000 is still good (sorry, didn't hear his newsconference this morning), that means something like 0.9 * 175,000 = 157,500 still out there.
I don't think that's enough to salvage his campaign, but it hardly makes it impossible. And IMO, as a matter of principle all legitimate votes should be counted up to the point that the probability of a flip is 0.
> I agree that conceding is a very gentlemanly thing to do, but comming from one of the states who hasn't even finished processing our ballots I am a little annoyed.
While conceding seems like the 'noble' thing to do, ISTM that the election should be the result of a process.
In this case, ISTM that even Bush should want the provisionals counted, so that he won't suffer another four years of hardliners questioning his legitimacy.
At any rate, now that provisional ballots are mandatory nationwide, we should start getting used to the idea that elections won't be resolved on election night. (And maybe that will be a good thing.)
> The ones who brought up the first draft bill where Democrats, which was opposed by the Republicans and rest of the Democrats alike
Surely everyone has thought for months that that was just a rhetorical trick?
> so how does Bush winning make it more likely?
I don't know whether it does or not. I think either candidate would have needed one if he got serious about Afghanistan and Iraq, since the non-politicized experts seem to be unanimous that we need ~ 3x the number of boots on the ground that we've actually had. Not sure where that's going to come from, without a draft.
At any rate, your question can only be answered by asking whether Bush is going to get serious about Afghanistan and Iraq, or spend the next four years fighting insurgencies so that he can tell us imperialism doesn't have to interfere with our lifestyle.
Of course, Israel is threatening to bomb Iran's new reactor no later than early next year, and due to airspace issues the entire Arab world is going to think we helped them (whether we did or not), and Iran now has missles that will reach Israel, and... you get the drift. We may need a draft whether we want it or not, though or course we wouldn't be able to pretend our past actions didn't lead up to it.
> America as a country is totally fucked and I honestly think nothing less than civil war/revolution will fix things.
Long before W came along I was predicting that we'll have another civil war by around 2050, simply as a result of the increasing divergence in the cuture wars.
However, I'm not convinced that it would "fix things", if by that you mean victory by the forces of light and progress.
> but is a post-mortem analysis going to do much to change matters now?
Probably not. However, the down side of getting a 'clean' election yesterday is that there won't be much demand/motivation for producing a robust system for the future.
I hope this produces enough question marks to ensure that we get a legal requirement for a fully auditable voting system before next time.
> I'm glad that they posted the exit poll numbers. It looks like Kerry is firmly in the lead in Ohio which means I don't have to waste my time standing in line forever.
When too many people think that way, they risk treating themselves to a nasty surprise.
> The rumor going around at work is that traditionally when there is heavy turnout at the polls (like today's near record turnout) it is a sign of the masses rising up to throw out the party in power.
Another tradition is that due to the way the two parties have divided the social pyramid, heavy turnouts favor the Democrats.
Presumably these traditions have a sounder basis than all the sports correlations we've been hearing about, but under the circumstances I would still interpret them cautiously. Both parties have worked extremely hard to get their voters out this year.
> For an explanation of why Slate is posting exit-poll numbers, see the previous post, below.... 12:15 p.m. PT
Notice that that "previous post", now Slashdotted, pointed out that unlike the major media networks, Slate doesn't have the computer models that allow projections from these samples, to don't get too excited/depressed over this yet.
> > But right now we're feeling scared, confused, and angry about what your President has lead you to do over the past three years.
> You think you're scared? I feel like I've been strapped into the back seat of an out of control taxi driven by a madman, helplessly watching him mow down people on the sidewalk.
Me too, but he feels like one of the people on the sidewalk.
> Horse biscuits. I am an American - not a world citizen. I am interested in taking care of America first and the rest of the world can kiss my lily-white American big toe.
I also am an American, and I'm interested in doing what's right.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe you haven't seen this story/editorial from Harper's Magazine.
> Ashcroft is pretty much a Christian Fundementalist
And something of a k00k even among them. I forget the details, but I read somewhere that he likes to dress up as a Hebrew priest and hold ceremonies, or something like that.
> Hope the next guy is as photogeneic
I hope we get to see Lady Liberty's tit again!
> It's a mediaeval-style robot. Not only is this self-evidently cool in itself, it also has major implications for Dungeons-and-Dragons-playing Slashdotters, who can now, with an arguable degree of verisimilitude, introduce clockwork robot buggies into their campaigns.
Ah, yes - doomsday machines built by the Knights Geeklar during the invasion of the Pillsbury dough-golems.
> Does anyone know anything about the Albertus Magnus account? A Google search yields plenty of different accounts, but I didn't notice any that specified that he created a mechanical woman. A few specified the opposite, in fact, and said that it was a mechanical man, or just a mechanical head that he created.
Think euphemism: Albertus "Magnus" and his mechanical "man". Too bad he didn't invent e-mail to advertise it.
> They do mostly agree that Aquinas smashed it, though.
Such a prude.
> The nuclear winter theory has been challenged more than once, but the alternatives aren't so convincing
The actual explanation is that some cluebie got root permission and did -
If they can simulate iron with sodium, we should be able to figure out a way to simulate irony with sodiumy!
> sobering thought that that headline sounds exactly like something you might hear in a pulp sci-fi movie from the 50's...
Science has finally caught up with fiction!
> If, however, it should turn out that he has won Ohio, for example, when all the ballots are counted
An interesting question is, will they even bother to count provisional ballots after a candidate has conceded? It would take a lot of work, especially with two lawyers looking over the counters' shoulders.
> The reason the Democrats lost this election was that they nominated a complete idiot.
That didn't prevent the Republicans from winning with Reagan and Bush II.
What the Democrats need is an idiot who can be trained to say the right things.
> All other things aside, Kerry should have torn apart Bush on the military issue alone; it is simply amazing that a decorated Vietnam soldier had to take that kind of abuse from a coward and drunk like Bush.
The "liberal" media is at least partly to blame: they gave the SBVfT claims as much attention as they ever do any of Bush's scandal-of-the-week stories, and more than most of them. (Remember the shocking story of an entire dual-use facility that went missing in occupied Iraq?)
> My only solace in this election is that our Republic has survived bad presidents before. If the country is a mess in 4 years after stacking the house, senate, courts and executive branch who will the Republicans blame?
Clinton.
> discount 90% of those ballots due to fraud (which ohio has stated is how many are not counted)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my ears heard that 90% is what they did count, last time around.
And if the secretary of state's WAG projection of 175,000 is still good (sorry, didn't hear his newsconference this morning), that means something like 0.9 * 175,000 = 157,500 still out there.
I don't think that's enough to salvage his campaign, but it hardly makes it impossible. And IMO, as a matter of principle all legitimate votes should be counted up to the point that the probability of a flip is 0.
> I agree that conceding is a very gentlemanly thing to do, but comming from one of the states who hasn't even finished processing our ballots I am a little annoyed.
While conceding seems like the 'noble' thing to do, ISTM that the election should be the result of a process.
In this case, ISTM that even Bush should want the provisionals counted, so that he won't suffer another four years of hardliners questioning his legitimacy.
At any rate, now that provisional ballots are mandatory nationwide, we should start getting used to the idea that elections won't be resolved on election night. (And maybe that will be a good thing.)
> The ones who brought up the first draft bill where Democrats, which was opposed by the Republicans and rest of the Democrats alike
Surely everyone has thought for months that that was just a rhetorical trick?
> so how does Bush winning make it more likely?
I don't know whether it does or not. I think either candidate would have needed one if he got serious about Afghanistan and Iraq, since the non-politicized experts seem to be unanimous that we need ~ 3x the number of boots on the ground that we've actually had. Not sure where that's going to come from, without a draft.
At any rate, your question can only be answered by asking whether Bush is going to get serious about Afghanistan and Iraq, or spend the next four years fighting insurgencies so that he can tell us imperialism doesn't have to interfere with our lifestyle.
Of course, Israel is threatening to bomb Iran's new reactor no later than early next year, and due to airspace issues the entire Arab world is going to think we helped them (whether we did or not), and Iran now has missles that will reach Israel, and... you get the drift. We may need a draft whether we want it or not, though or course we wouldn't be able to pretend our past actions didn't lead up to it.
> America as a country is totally fucked and I honestly think nothing less than civil war/revolution will fix things.
Long before W came along I was predicting that we'll have another civil war by around 2050, simply as a result of the increasing divergence in the cuture wars.
However, I'm not convinced that it would "fix things", if by that you mean victory by the forces of light and progress.
> but is a post-mortem analysis going to do much to change matters now?
Probably not. However, the down side of getting a 'clean' election yesterday is that there won't be much demand/motivation for producing a robust system for the future.
I hope this produces enough question marks to ensure that we get a legal requirement for a fully auditable voting system before next time.
> I'm glad that they posted the exit poll numbers. It looks like Kerry is firmly in the lead in Ohio which means I don't have to waste my time standing in line forever.
When too many people think that way, they risk treating themselves to a nasty surprise.
> These are provided by the National Election Pool, the successor to Voter News Services, disbanded after the 2000 election froo-fraw.
Ah, yes. Remember how they talked up VNS before that election!
> The rumor going around at work is that traditionally when there is heavy turnout at the polls (like today's near record turnout) it is a sign of the masses rising up to throw out the party in power.
Another tradition is that due to the way the two parties have divided the social pyramid, heavy turnouts favor the Democrats.
Presumably these traditions have a sounder basis than all the sports correlations we've been hearing about, but under the circumstances I would still interpret them cautiously. Both parties have worked extremely hard to get their voters out this year.
> For an explanation of why Slate is posting exit-poll numbers, see the previous post, below.
Notice that that "previous post", now Slashdotted, pointed out that unlike the major media networks, Slate doesn't have the computer models that allow projections from these samples, to don't get too excited/depressed over this yet.
And if you live out west, please vote.
> > But right now we're feeling scared, confused, and angry about what your President has lead you to do over the past three years.
> You think you're scared? I feel like I've been strapped into the back seat of an out of control taxi driven by a madman, helplessly watching him mow down people on the sidewalk.
Me too, but he feels like one of the people on the sidewalk.
> Horse biscuits. I am an American - not a world citizen. I am interested in taking care of America first and the rest of the world can kiss my lily-white American big toe.
I also am an American, and I'm interested in doing what's right.
> Are Americans not getting the same news that we do?
Do you get your news from FOX?
> (3) He's environmentally friendly
You can recycle him at the end of his term?