U.S. election 2008

No, but we have the ability to do it so we shouldn't take it lightly. It kind of sucks though because it always comes down to republicans and democrats being the fore runners, even though there are really dozens of political parties in existence. But the vast majority of people think that since those two parties get the most air time on television that those are the only options. And it always makes me angry when people write in Mickey Mouse or something silly like that. Sure it is kind of a protest statement, but no matter how you look at it, thats a wasted vote.

i do think voting should be compulsory, maybe not necessarily in the USA but certainly here in the UK. I was in Australia during their elections last year and it was pretty impressive how well run it was being that every person that was eligible to vote legally had to or they would be fined.

I wonder if people came and got a ballot but never actually voted. Because in situations like this current US presidential election, I don't like the options listed and I can't think of a decent candidate to write in. There are going to be other important things to vote on, so I won't skip it, but the president is going to be a tough decision.

I'll never get a chance to sit down and speak with each candidate about things important to me, security wouldn't let me in the door.
So technically that makes everything I know about them hearsay.

Hearsay is normally inadmissible as evidence in court, why should it be of any importance in an election ?

The responsible, or honest, thing for me to do in this situation, would be not vote and encourage others not to vote either.



Well this Charles character is either sexist, or only knows half of the story.

Speaking of quotes, I thought this was an interesting quote from Herman Goering in his Nuremburg jail cell. I think I heard Jessie Ventura reffer to it.

Sound like 9/11 any body?

excellent quote, dM. And both our presidents (re previous discussion) used the tactic flawlessly... does work every time, doesn't it?

i know america does not equal the white house - heck, there ain't no nation in the world where all the people agree with all the political decisions made by the government. politics generally make me feel uneasy - in so many ways. I was reading a novel about Afghanistan recently - Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner' - describing Afghanistan the way it was before the Russians invaded it - then during the invasion - then when the fundamentalist Taliban 'liberated it' - how the people cheered before they realised one horror was replaced with another - and then finally after the Taliban system was overthrown..... with the country still in shards, and unlikely to get better any time soon...

funny, when I think Afghanistan I imagine a desolate wasteland peppered with gun-toting fundamentalists, the occasional poppy field. and yet as recently as the late '70's, it wasn't like that at all. same with Serbia - maybe in a less drastic sense, but the country I was born in seems a million miles away from the one I'm in now - not a shred of it is left - and I'm only 29....

frightening forces.

War has become a means for nations to dispose of their most violent citizens & humble those on the edge of insanity in a way that allows everyone to keep their dignity.

It's unfortunate, but it does seem to have worked for some notorious leaders...and some on the 'right' side of history too.

That's crazy that you wrote that! My son and I were looking at his atlas the other day and I was looking at eastern Europe thinking, "Wow things have changed". Heh.



joebert: Is that your quote? It's pretty cool.

I think I found it in a fortune cookie or something.

Did you ever get a fortune cookie that said "Help! I'm trapped in a fortune cookie factory, call the police!" That would be flipping awesome.

Man, this election has become a spectacle. It's bizzare. The nasties have come out on both sides. Maybe the debates will give this election some dignity, but I doubt it.

I can't believe the Feds are taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and it's only been a footnote, news-wise.

I may vote absentee and just not watch the tv for 2 months.

All the election news is getting a little old and annoying, it is always the first half of every news show on the major networks. Kinda makes me glad I don't have cable anymore.

If you listen to what McCain and Palin both say, it is meant as a temporary measure only. It's to tide us over until alternate fuels can become refined to the point of being ubiquitous. They both admit that research and development into alternate fuels is necessary for the future of this (and every other) country. The movement to alternate fuels is not something that could possibly occur overnight, it's a time-consuming and research intensive process that will take years to reach fruition.

This issue of drilling is always presented as an all or nothing notion. This issue is huge and complex.

Oil discovery and extraction isn't as simple as turning on a spigot. Finding oil, extracting it, transporting it and refining it does, in fact, come with environmental impacts and concerns. There are VERY powerful political interests across the globe, and in the U.S., who have a great deal riding on oil. They're not going to give it all up to be good greenies. Companies can not simply be given carte blanche to stick a hole in the ground and park a derrick wherever they please.

I don't think the scope and intricacies of the problem can be sloganized, or even easily summarized for that matter.

There's no doubt in my mind that drilling will expand. It is completely logical to increase domestic production to combat dependence. There will be legislation to expand drilling and it will be a hairy, nasty, highly controversial load of verbiage complete with pork. There's going to be language about penalties for polluters, taxes, regulations, production limits, etc. There will be competition between states, like Alaska, to maximize their output even if it means risking other resources like wildlife preserves - because those states are going to do everything they can to get the money, jobs and power that comes with oil production. Getting legislation written and signed off on by the executive branch could take a long time. In the end, there will be no resemblance to the "our way or the highway" rhetoric of political campaigns.

After that there will still be a gap of 5 to 10 years before production makes an impact on supply.

On the alternative energy front, finding Technology-X won't be the only concern, IMO. That's only one aspect of the larger problem.

If we limit ourselves to only talking about automobiles, then the Tech-X cars have to be designed, built and sold to a population of people willing to buy them. Instead of GAS stations, there will need to be Tech-X stations. There will need to be a service industry that can repair and maintain Tech-X cars. A large number of ancillary industries will be affected.

Thoroughly propagating alternative energies could conceivably take generations.

But we're not only talking about energy for cars. We're also talking about a variety of products that are petroleum based. Things that are well ingrained in our economies and cultures.

The extremists on both side of this issue do it and us a disservice by trying to marginalize and manipulate our understanding of the problem. I'm a little tired of one side trying to put fear in my head while the opposition tries to cram sunshine up my arse.