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User: HBI

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  1. Re:seriously: on Kerry Concedes Election To Bush · · Score: 1

    You were wrong about the election. Time will tell if you were right about the Iraq intervention.

    We'll see.

  2. Re:I disagree - I am a European with respect for B on Kerry Concedes Election To Bush · · Score: 1

    Thank goodness there are a few who remember. Thank you.

  3. Amen on Blackboxvoting.org Raises Vote-Audit FOIA Request · · Score: 1

    Damn straight. This wasn't a landslide, but it wasn't any small victory either. 3.5 million people more liked Bush than Kerry, and the electoral vote was actually closer than it should have been because of the extreme concentration of votes on both sides of the divide. If Bush's votes had been spread across the whole country more evenly, it would have been more like 375 rather than the 286 it looks to be now.

    Ohio is the best shot to prove out fraud for the Dems. On the Republican side, Michigan, PA, and WI all have slight margins of victory - less than Ohio in at least 2 of those cases. We'll probably never know, and Bush really can't lose. I doubt any of the aforementioned Blue states will switch with a heavy investigation or recount, but it would be interesting to find out what the real story is there.

    Kerry would be wise to walk away, and it looks like he has done just that. Not that he's going to get a chance to run again, but at least he will be able to keep his Senate seat, for what it's worth being in a 55-44-1 Senate.

  4. Re:If anything, that crap is counterproductive on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    Yet I know someone in Grinnell who has the whole family voting Bush. So it's a matchup: urban vs rural. The solution will vary depending on what area of the country we refer to.

  5. Don't be a pussy: Vote Bush! on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    Hey I can afford a mod down after today :-)

  6. Re:If anything, that crap is counterproductive on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    Don't forget 1824 and 1800. All of them were different situations. It wasn't the same. It happens. It hadn't happened in over 130 years, it isn't likely again anytime soon.

  7. Re:If anything, that crap is counterproductive on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    I don't know if it would have quite the same impact.

    Also, most Americans don't know who the candidates are in Europe. Too many parties. Even US journalists seem to have a hard time distilling European political races in many cases.

  8. This is why US-Europe relations are at nadir on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    We talk past each other. I'm talking to you like a Bush Administration official would: we see threats and trade opportunities, and we know we have international committments for defense we need to meet. The rest is lower priority.

    Europeans act like the world would be all flowers and goodness if we would just stop being so damn militaristic.

    There was an old saying that "A Republican is a Democrat who got mugged". Seems applicable here.

  9. Silly on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    You think I was kidding. It might be a joke film but it expresses the point effectively.

  10. Point taken, and agreed, but.... on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    Then again, having a foreign national try to influence a US election is sure to inflame reaction if it becomes known, so it just compounds the counterproductive nature of the site.

    It's fun to look at, though. I was voting for Bush anyway. I like worst case scenarios.

  11. WRITE-IN! on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    Except I don't remember his real name. And isn't he a convicted felon from that masturbation incident in Florida? Paul Rubens? Something like that?

  12. Re:Because the polls generally favor Democrats on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For the 2000 explanation, look at the LV calculation. The devil was in those details.

    Polls are interesting, you should learn more about the decisions and the math that is done after the phone calls are made.

  13. I disagree on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 0, Redundant

    European governments would have to convince their besotted (with social programs) populace that spending more than 2% of their GDP on defense is required. How do you evaluate the chances of this happening, and people taking a hit in quality of life for it? I sense a zero chance unless directly attacked, which is doubtful.

    However much I support activist defense of the North American mainland, I don't consider Europe a threat, and neither does this administration. Most of your nations still operate under a US-provided nuclear umbrella. "Asserting leadership" is impossible without military might. Europe gave up on that in 1945 or 1956, depending how you look at it.

  14. Communism is the same way on The Eye: Evolution versus Creationism · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Marxist true believers to this day say that the Soviets failed because they didn't implement 'true' communism, ditto for their former satellites. China is a complete perversion of the Marxist ethic.

    If the right person or people came along, with the right level of moral conviction, the system would work. At least its champions say so.

    It's human nature to believe such things.

  15. call it "Flyover country" if you want on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    Same difference. They control the election, not me in NJ or you in CA or wherever you are.

  16. Re:If anything, that crap is counterproductive on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    The point of the statement is basically "I don't care". :-) Better off spending your mod points with someone who does. I can just whore back points whenever by posting something people didn't think of. I suppose preserving karma keeps me from entirely being a lurker.

  17. Normally I wouldn't reply to this kind of thing on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 0, Troll

    But, in this case, i'll make an educational exception.

    Go to Jibjab and watch the first "This Land" video. It explains why an American would vote for Bush pretty effectively. Note Kerry in the S&M gear and Bush riding the missile.

    Yeah, that's why.

  18. Re:If anything, that crap is counterproductive on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Don't take the Florida result in 2000 too much to heart. A lot of elections have post-election litigation associated with vote anomalies or recounts. It usually gets tossed out eventually because of no material effect on the result. It took 204 years and what, 51 elections for a situation like 2000 to present itself. It is not likely to happen again anytime soon.

  19. Re:If anything, that crap is counterproductive on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you walk from Virginia on the East Coast and take a loop around to Texas, west to Arizona and Nevada, north to Utah and Idaho, east to Minnesota, south to Ohio, and then back to Virginia again, you encapsulate the 'heartland' where, though there are regional differences (Illinois stands out like a sore thumb here), the general ethic is pretty much the same. Also, most of the electorals are there.

  20. Between 80 and 125 degrees W longitude on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 1

    More or less :b

    Because of the 'great compromise', this area has far more electoral power than the aforementioned big states, even though they probably encompass more population than the area I am mentioning.

  21. Because the polls generally favor Democrats on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 3, Informative

    The effect is real. It varies by election and by area. In some places (the Northeast) the effect can be as large as 6% of people who will apparently lie to you on the phone and say they are undecided or voting for the Democrat. In the Midwest it's less pronounced and the effect barely exists in the South, though i've never been very close to a poll done there.

    It has something to do with either the Republicans not wanting to answer the phone or alternatively not wanting to be judged by the pollster, i'm sure.

    Zogby talks a little about this in one of the FAQs on his website.

  22. If anything, that crap is counterproductive on The Votemaster Is...Andrew Tanenbaum · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most of the electoral votes are in the heartland of the US. If you told an average person on the streets that Europeans want to see Kerry elected, the instinctive response is to vote for Bush. If you don't think Karl Rove is using this to the Republicans' advantage, you're on crack.

    We'll see the result tomorrow. I expect something decisive. No two elections are the same.

  23. Someone should get a comment from him on Does Redskins Loss Presage A Kerry Win? · · Score: 1

    Head over to the National Cathedral, i'm sure some voices from the granite will be forthcoming.

  24. If it were that clear it would already be done on Security Responsibility Without the Authority? · · Score: 1

    It's not that clear.

    I'd love to use Linux (i've actually seen a program do it - it can be done, but it isn't in vogue) but getting it through the management's head is not that simple. You can blame the government. You can blame the contractors. You can blame the people in green, but the system stays the way it is because the users of the system want it that way, and it's secure enough that there haven't been any high profile penetrations in the past few years.

    A few of those would go a long way towards changing the Army's IT.

  25. Re:amazing how one person resigning causes FUD on Security Responsibility Without the Authority? · · Score: 1

    The government people who do the DITSCAP certification by me are conduits. They ask my team for technical information and ask opinions constantly. It's a fairly good system because they can concentrate on the regulatory part where we can concentrate on the technical one.

    I recommend a similar system if your DITSCAP isn't going all that well. Of course, the govt people have to be on board with this, but in general they will be. It's less work for them and they get a better work product.