INTERESTING TIMES

Hound Dog (from Whiney Little Bitch Productions) has conjured up a new bumper sticker for election year 2010:

Flush the Washington Toilet
VOTE INCUMBENTS OUT!!!

Well I haven't been posting much lately....life has me running. But I have been paying attention to the news, little bit from here and there. I heard McCain claim his impending victory this morning. I saw the Saturday Night Live clip in which Palin inanely jived along with the skit mocking her. I heard that Cheney endorsed McCain, finally. That ought to be the kiss of death, but really this game is not about votes, but about machines and voter manipulation. The winner will be the one who has the best control of the machine of our elections. And frankly, from a Ron Paulian point of view, Obama is not much better than McCain, and on some counts he is worse. Neither candidate is ready to take on the level of change that this country needs. If Obama takes the prize, as by most measures he rightfully should, he is faced with an economy and a planet that are stretched beyond reasonable limits. The winner will be faced with a time period during which Americans still have not admitted publicly that we cannot continue to live at the standard that we think is uniquely ours. The winner faces attempting to make good during a time when everything that Americans have taken for granted is irreversibly unravelling. It is going to be painful. Good thing the feds have got a whole lot of spare enforcers on hand, just in case we should get rowdy after the results are announced, eh? Too bad Canada isn't any better.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/24/143131/90/641/641080
It seems like this could be the fatal blow to his campaign, the desertion of Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School professor, from McCain's staff. Fried said he voted for Obama/Biden, and said he had done so because of McCain's choice of VP: Palin. And Colin Powell is voting for Obama. It's pretty much over now, I think, but for the voting machines and whatever desperate last move McCain's admen think up.

The List of Republicans Endorsing Obama Grows
( From The Wall Street Journal: )

Some worry that if Barack Obama loses and there is suspicion of foul play in the election, violence could ensue in cities with large black populations. Others based the need for enhanced patrols on past riots in urban areas (following professional sports events) and also on Internet rumors.
from
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/police-prepare-for-unrest-2008-10-21.html
( ramblings )

Our voting machines are owned and operated by Republican corporations.
It has already begun with the early voting in West Virginia.
http://www.drudge.com/news/113878/west-virginia-voting-machines-prefer-mccain
http://www.newshounds.us/2008/10/19/west_virginia_voting_machines_flipping_obama_votes_to_mccain.php
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-mckay/voters-in-wva-say-electro_b_136332.html
http://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2008/10/19/electronic-voting-machines-still-switching-votes/
http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/wv-voting-machines-switched-vote-from-democrat-to-republican/
The question is, are we going to do anything about it?
Is this a democracy, or is it government by the corporations, for the rich, and the people stay apathetic until they all loose their jobs?

This is Chuck Baldwin's rationale for voting your principles, instead of for who you think has a chance to win. Worthwhile read for sure. I'm not planning to vote for Chuck, but I like his thinking.

A WASTED VOTE

By Chuck Baldwin
October 10, 2008
NewsWithViews.com

When asked why they will not vote for a third party candidate, many people will respond by saying something like, "He cannot win." Or, "I don't want to waste my vote." It is true: America has not elected a third party candidate since 1860. Does that automatically mean, however, that every vote cast for one of the two major party candidates is not a wasted vote? I don't think so.
( more )

I don't have a television, so I don't get to see "talking pictures" of the candidates very often. I go out of my way to watch some debates each political season, in order to get a good look at the candidates. I already know what positions to expect from them, but I want to see how they hold themselves, how they react, what kinds of emotions they display. And I like to hurl insults at the television screen to get out some of my frustrations. This time I didn't drink any wine, so the insults didn't flow as readily, but it was still worthwhile to watch.
( more )

They finally came out and said that there was a critical programming error in voting machine software for the last DECADE. The company is also changing its name----to Premier Election Solutions. The irony is bottomless.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/23/diebold-comes-clean-admits-that-its-e-voting-machines-are-fault/