Politics
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Presidential Race 2008: The Final Lap
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 30, 2008 by admin in Politics
Thursday, October 30th, 2008Forget nation-building, we’ve got a BRAND to build
As we head into the last few days before the election, I’m consumed with bittersweet feelings. An Obama White House won’t offer much fodder for my political comic, but it would be nice having someone sane and intelligent in the White House. And all the fun of videos like Cindy McCain Claims She’s Just Like Any Other Female Human or info-graphics like Political Nascar (pictured left) will suddenly be rendered irrelevant. It’s all about charts, maps and polls now. So first up: If The World Could Vote, McCain would be pummeled into oblivion, with Obama taking around 90% of the vote in every country except Macedonia and Albania. And frankly, those few hundred votes out of half a million are probably coming from the only people with Internet in those countries: Republican-appointed diplomats living in U.S. embassies. For solid figures on votes that will actually count, RealClearPolitics.com has a mind-numbing collection of data, but a good place to start is their electoral map. Since the final results are heavily dependent on swing states (or vote rigging) you might want to bookmark Politico.com’s Swing State Map or Electoral-Vote.com. And don’t forget the power of opportunistic marketing-as-polling. The Dems have already won the Baskin Robbins race, but don’t forget we still have the Busken Bakery Cookie Poll and 7-Eleven’s 7-Election.com
Worried That Your Candidate’s Going “Off Message”?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 29, 2008 by admin in Politics
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008Synchronized debating
Well, dont:
Don’t Be An Electoral College Dropout
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on October 28, 2008 by admin in Politics
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008America Flips Over New Hi-Tech Voting Methods
When I bring the topic up in casual conversation, I’m shocked at how unaware most people are of the pervasiveness of election manipulation in America. For a simple “you are there” demonstration, watch the video at left for an example of the sort of thing that can happen. Diebold, one of the biggest providers of voting machines, has even admitted that half of its machines in Ohio are faulty. This after their former CEO said in 2003: “I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.” So what can you do? BlackBoxVoting.org was one of the first well-organized non-partisan groups to address this issue, and remains a great resource. You can also check out the Election Protection coalition, via that link or by phone at 866-OUR-VOTE. And if you have ANY DOUBT at all that your vote is being improperly tabulated, call over an election worker and bring it to their attention before you complete the process. And then just pray, because, as I’ve pointed out before , organizations like International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance don’t have a section devoted to North America.
Claim It Hasn’t Crossed Your Mind
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 23, 2008 by admin in Politics
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008Anyone care to name names?
Would you kill the president
of the U.S. for this woman? |
I mean, in relation to a more recent president. The consistently witty Cracked.com has an hilarious piece called The 6 Most Utterly Insane Attempts to Kill a US President. Raising again the eternal question: why is it that they only seem to get the good guys? Which of course reminds me of when it first looked like Barack Obama had a chance as the Democratic candidate. I remember clearly the excitement of thinking “Wow. This is the country I remember growing up in. One that might actually think about electing a black president, or a candidate that offered hope instead of fear.” I also remember the thought that immediately followed, which was “Oh crap, get some security on the dude. They’re gonna try to kill him!” Well, if you believe what you read on sites with names like satansrapture.com (why are these sites always ALL IN CAPS?), Obama will, according to the Bible Codes, eventually be assassinated. This idea has been kicked around so much that back in March of this year there was even a rather sprawling exhibit at the Naomi Gates Gallery called The Assassination of Barack Obama, which, while implying the obvious, justified itself by claiming to explore the concept of character assassination as well. Let’s hope this bizarre part of the national psyche doesn’t express itself again; there are much better candidates. For getting shot, I mean.
They, The People
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 20, 2008 by admin in Politics
Monday, October 20th, 2008There’s A Constitution Party, But I’m Not On The Guest List
Am I a “Constitution Voter”? Well, as outlined by the Constitution Party, I guess not. Number three of their “Seven Principles of the Constitution Party is “Family: One husband and one wife with their children as divinely instituted”. Is that a Constitution-based principle? I’ll have to read the darn thing again to be sure, but that just doesn’t sound right. I guess anybody could form a political party and call it “The Constitution Party”. I mean, Vanilla Ice called himself a rapper, right? This whole question came up for me in 2003 or so, when I said to a friend of mine that since neither party had represented my values for so long, I’d be ecstatic if a new party came together, maybe one that had a big emphasis on constitutionality. Oh well. Another dream hijacked by the power-hungry. I didn’t let that stop me from getting my free ACLU I’m A Constitution Voter bumper sticker though, gosh darn it. Which gives me an idea. One of the GOP’s key strategies over the past twenty years has been defunding the left. Maybe if we all banded together and demanded every free campaign item imaginable from our opponent (whoever they are), and then didn’t use it…