Comments on: I heart Joe Wilson, and other political matters

By: bj

bj — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:13:03 +0000

I don’t pay much attention to traditional news venues, since they’re all bought and paid for by big business and big politics. There is an incredible movement afoot on the web to bypass these and let people know of the real story. A good example of this is the fact that the recent FCC Scandal, where internal documents that presented empirical evidence that Big Media Mergers were bad for US Citizens and Democracy, was itself suppressed by Big Media. Yet if you Google it, it’s been reported all over the place by Citizen Journalists, Net Roots, and Bloggers, the NEW media. Why else do you think that Big Business and the Republican Party are trying to scuttle Net Neutrality? For more info check out the FCC posts, Citizen Journalism posts, and the Big Media posts on Bitchslappin.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:52:17 +0000

Ok, I’ll fess up. I’m a member of the electoral college. My two votes count more than your 1 vote.

The structure of the Electoral College can be traced to the Centurial
Assembly system of the Roman Republic. Under that system, the adult
male citizens of Rome were divided, according to their wealth, into groups
of 100 (called Centuries). Each group of 100 was entitled to cast only one vote
either in favor or against proposals submitted to them by the Roman Senate.
In the Electoral College system, the States serve as the Centurial groups
(though they are not, of course, based on wealth), and the number of votes
per State is determined by the size of each State’s Congressional delegation.
Still, the two systems are similar in design and share many of the same
advantages and disadvantages.

Those who object to the Electoral College system and favor a direct
popular election of the president generally do so on four grounds:
n: the possibility of electing a minority president
n: the risk of so-called “faithless” Electors,
n: the possible role of the Electoral College in depressing voter turnout, and
n: its failure to accurately reflect the national popular will.

By: Herb

Herb — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 04:17:49 +0000

First, I’d never take Robin to task. I’m the fire starter. Second, please Patrick I encourage you to vote early and often. One of your votes will count.

By: annette

annette — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 03:58:50 +0000

goodlooking voter–irresitible combination.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 02:26:11 +0000

Me? Task? That sounds like work. I’m certainly opposed to that. And I definitely use my particular skills to change things. Voting is not a skill of mine. Being goodlooking is.

By: annette

annette — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 01:34:12 +0000

thank you robin, you must have eaten a full-on plate of bull’s balls. curious as to who took you to task, herb, heather, PATRICK?

By: robin

robin — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 01:29:44 +0000

Two things: Yes, Patrick, I know what you’re getting at–the whole invasion-of-privacy aspect of those discount cards. I’m way ahead of you in paranoia. I never give out my real information. Ha!

Second, I’ve been taken to task off-blog for my “Pollyanna-ish, wimpy” response above, about how life and politics are full of the overcoming of injustices.

I seriously believe that, but I’m not saying it just happens on it own. I believe we the people can affect the future of our country. Not by sitting around bemoaning what’s going on or hoping someone else will fix it, but by doing our part–VOTING, speaking out, using our own particular skills and talents to change the culture and the opinions around us.

Is that still too Pollyanna-ish?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:44:19 +0000

Robin - Do you have a discount card at your local grocery store?

By: Herb

Herb — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 21:52:29 +0000

Robin, but, but, but, Ok,Ok, there, there, Ahhh. Its amazing how a little chocolate goes a long ways.

Just an aside. Did anyone the news item about the US effort to repatriate some of the detainees from Guantánamo Bay? I know this is twisted but I just laughed until I cried. The US is prohibited from sending some of the detainees back to their country because it is against US law to deport individuals to countries that are known to torture.

Joseph Heller would have loved this.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 21:31:02 +0000

I thought that smell was a new laundry detergent.

If everyone was as smart and goodlooking as the people who post here, we wouldn’t have these kinds of political problems…