Letters to the Editor
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Here's one more
Here's one more site that shows how easy real IRV truly is
http://www.chrisgates.net/irv/
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Remember When "The Spoiler" Won???!!
The Minnesota governor's race in 1998 was a classic example of "the spoiler" winning:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_gubernatorial_election%2C_1998
And to think, the night before the election Jesse "The Body" Ventura was out at some sporting event in jeans and a baseball cap havin' a good ol' time while the other two suckers were campaigning their hearts out.
But never mind that. I really got into the whole notion of giving Bush some truth serum. Wow! What a fantasy! Of all the questions, I wondered, which would be the most fun to ask? Not, "did you ever do any coke in your life?", but, "how much coke did you do in your life?" No, that's too boring. Then I got to thinkin' about 9/11. That would be a REALLY fun question to ask. Cameras rolling? Sound? Lights? "Tell us EVERYTHING you know about 9/11." I can dream, can't I?
As to the whole Nader/Gore meshuga:
http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/davismi/bushtheft.html
There's one person who cost Gore the 2000 election besides Gore (and the above mentioned treasonous coup d'etat). Joe Lieberman. What IS McCain smoking????
As to the whole "Hot or Not?" idea...I found this Zeitgeist List from Google to be quite informative:
http://infowars.net/articles/december2007/141207Zeitgeist.htm
And speaking of Ron Paul, all his supporters got an email message from him this morning and he asked that we share it with our fellow Americans, so...here ya go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryMliyeIDp4
And FINALLY ("Yeah!!!"), I suggest we simply do the old "tried and true" method of voting for POTUS. You register to vote. You go to your "voting place" (neighborhood garage, school gym etc.), you sign the book and you get a paper ballot and a pen. You mark the box of the candidate you choose and then cross all the others out. You go over to the "box" and drop your ballot in then you sit down with your digital camera and watch the box and all the voters coming and going. Like a hawk. Hopefully many of the other voters will do the same.
When the polls "close" who ever is inside can stay inside and be a party to "the count". "Somebody" opens the box with all the cameras rolling and dumps ALL the ballots out onto the table. Everybody sits around and the ballots are counted and tallied on a special sheet. Then they are counted again and again until everyone is satisfied that the count is correct. Everyone there signs the affidavit that the count is correct and three people are chosen at random to drive the ballots to the local registrar's office with all the paperwork.
THEN the results are given to the media. IF THE PEOPLE DO NOT COUNT THE BALLOTS THERE IS NO "DEMOCRACY".
Josef Stalin: "It's not the people who vote that count. It's who counts the votes."
And here's the BEST part of the idea: No John Bolten's will be rushing in to the garage/gym screaming, "I'm with the Bush/Cheney team and I'm here TO STOP THE COUNT!!!!!!!!!!"
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Abbybwood
then you sit down with your digital camera and watch the box and all the voters coming and going. Like a hawk
Sure, 'cause nothing says Democracy like voter intimidation.
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Karl Rove throwing the primary to Obama isn't funny
A long piece on rigging elections that neglects to mention massive G.O.P. crossover voting in the Democratic primaries is absurd. Karl Rove is trying to neutralize Hillary with Obama (whose speechwriter is the brother of the head of Fox News news division). How could these so-called political analysts miss something that's so blatant? The corporate media has sold Obama as the next American Idol and Sen. Clinton (and her daughter) as whores. Remember "weapons of mass destruction"? This has been a carefully orchestrated bamboozle since Obama's rigged race for Senate in 2004. No scrutiny of his record in Illinois, his long-running ties to Rezko and the other indicted men who go on trial next month. Surely he has no prayer when the news media starts exposing this past in the fall, something they will do once Sen. Clinton is out of the race. The superdelegates are the last stand for the Democratic Party, and even now the media is propagandizing to stop that process as well. For more on the Rove strategy, see the article I've posted at thecityedition.com.
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Actually the idea is....
....to intimidate the "public officials" who think that refusing to allow the voters to be a party to "the count" is okay. It is not okay.
Besides. The way the privately controlled corporate computerized voting machines are set up today there are no humans "counting" anything! There are only humans "programming" and more than likely "hacking" the machines.
I understand that people with cameras in the voting area could intimidate voters. Kind of like the way casinos don't allow cameras, right? Wouldn't want John to be uptight about the fact that he's playing roulette with someone "other than his wife". (I do realize the casino's have their own cameras)....
Then how about this idea: When the polls close any person who voted there that day may enter the premises with his/her camera to participate in the count. Fair?
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Title is bad only if you don't read the article...
... but great article. Probably the best piece I've ever seen from Mr. Manjoo.
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Abbybwood
If the idea is to intimidate the public officials, why would you be watching "like a hawk" the voters coming and going, with your digital camera by your side?
Then how about this idea: When the polls close any person who voted there that day may enter the premises with his/her camera to participate in the count. Fair?
And what do you do in a large precinct when 3,000 people show up? Or the crank who refuses to sign off 'cause he's sure Martians have tainted the polls? This is what led to the rioting in Florida when the Republicans shuttled in as many people as they could to disrupt the process.
If you want large participation in the count, computerization with multiple programs and public access to the code and results is the way to go.
Your way is likely fine for small town elections, not other kinds though.