Day: November 23, 2010

The Peninsula Gets A Lot Hotter

Breaking News………….

About 60 years ago the world came together and fought side by side against a Communist invasion of South Korea by the bad guys to the North….lots of fight, blood and death….but eventually calmer heads did prevail and a truce was signed and all went back to being normal on the peninsula….whatever normal is for that area…..

Recently North Korea has started up a nuke program and even detonated a small device….the world is not happy….they move this way and that trying to find a solution for the NK problem……just when things were going badly…NK has been accused of sinking a SK ship off the Coast and in SK waters…..and the world was not happy…again……

And now they, the rest of the world, truly have something to be anger about…….from the Newser website…..

South Korea has returned fire after North Korea blasted scores of artillery rounds at a South Korean island, setting houses on fire and forcing evacuations, according to South Korean officials. Some 70 houses were ablaze on the island of Yeonpyeong, close to the two nations’ disputed maritime border, witnesses told a local TV station, the Wall Street Journal reports. One marine was killed and 3 have been seriously wounded, reports Reuters. It was the biggest outbreak of violence in several years. South Korean officials are holding emergency talks in an underground bunker. “Houses and mountains are on fire and people are evacuating.

The US war hawks ought to be jerking off in the corner…after all the lip service that has been given to the conflict on the Peninsula…..we can now eye another war to fund…..happy now?

Come On And Touch Me…Babe

From the VOMITORIUM

Can’t you just here the Doors singing in the background?

The newest pile of horse manure in the media is the whole TSA body scan and pat downs…..every station ….every network is going on and on about these pat downs for people who do not want the body scans….both Left leaning and Right leaning are all a twitter (not the website) about this invasion of people’s person….to me it is just amusing…..why…you would like to know?  About 2% of the people that fly actually get the pat down….while I agree that it would be a bit uncomfortable……most of the time they do have a choice…….

First, let us say if these are discontinued and then there is a breach of security……whose fault will it be?  Obama naturally….because he is a secret Muslim or he does not love the country or he is just naive…it is just laughable at all the hoopla over this…especially from the whackos on the Right….you could bet your ass they would be all over Obama if something went wrong….but now they are all over Obama because he is allowing DHS to do this outrageous tactic to the American people….here is a news fklash for you….THEY DO NOT CARE…it is all about the politics of the issue….the conservs who like the Patriot Act which is more evasive, are on track to try and privatize the TSA…..

Second, I have seen several Israeli officials on the tube telling about how they handle this sort of thing….and without being personally evasion to people….they use a combination or roadblocks and questions….not that the questions are telling but rather the person demeanor when answering….I have a slight problem with this also…..what you ask?  on any given day across the US there are more people flying than there are people in the entire country of Israel…these dipsticks are comparing apples to oranges….

As with any issue…there is a wealth of people pointing out the problem and damn few offering answers….that, IMO, makes this whole issue somewhat laughable…..

To Vote Or Not To Vote

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Government/Elections/

Lecture #14

Recently I did a post, well several on the necessity of voting or not….some of the titles were Political Obligation, Voter beware, to mention only a few….these seem to get the most play from my readers most of it was unflattering, to say the least…..it has been that way since I started pointing out the inconsistencies in the American voting process…..

I posted my article on Political Obligation on a political discussion forum, I had stayed away from them for several years because few have people that want to have a discussion….it was all about bashing on party or the other…….and after I posted the usual occurrence happened….someone took my words personally….they immediately went on the attack…..another reason that I quit trying to have a substantive conversation on a concept….few people cannot move past their personal filter and look at the concept in broader terms….anyway my exchange got me to thinking more about the institution we call…..voting……..

What has anyone’s voting done to solve the problems with the country and its economy?

A great question when the general election of 2012  is quickly approaching and we will picking our next president, either a new one or a continuation of the one we have now….what to do?

If I take the pragmatic approach, I will look and find something in one of the two American major parties that I can vote for….but then I become a single issue voter…and that does little to help the country….if I stand by my principles then I have NO one to vote for, most of the time, because neither party is serious about fixing the problems in this country, IMO….or I can just stay home and bitch……

As the voting is today in American…it is only a reinforcement of the status quo…..either I vote for someone I do not like or I do not vote….in essence I would have to vote for the lesser of two idiots…..that is NOT what voting should be about…..

For one, I dislike the idea that only 2 parties are capable of representing the population and when you have that mindset then we are to the point of tweedle dee or tweedle-dum…..

But there is an answer, at least in my opinion……and it is called IRV (instant run-off voting)!  As defined by fairvote.org…..

IRV allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference (i.e. first, second, third, fourth and so on). Voters have the option to rank as many or as few candidates as they wish, but can vote without fear that ranking less favored candidates will harm the chances of their most preferred candidates. First choices are then tabulated, and if a candidate receives a majority of first choices, he or she is elected. If nobody has a clear majority of votes on the first count, a series of runoffs are simulated, using each voter’s preferences indicated on the ballot. The candidate who received the fewest first place choices is eliminated. All ballots are then retabulated, with each ballot counting as one vote for each voter’s highest ranked candidate who has not been eliminated. Specifically, voters who chose the now-eliminated candidate will now have their ballots counted for their second ranked candidate — just as if they were voting in a traditional two-round runoff election — but all other voters get to continue supporting their top candidate. The weakest candidates are successively eliminated and their voters’ ballots are redistributed to next choices until a candidate earns a majority of votes.Instant runoff voting allows for better voter choice and wider voter participation by accommodating multiple candidates in single seat races and alleviating the “spoiler effect,” which can result in undemocratic outcomes. IRV allows all voters to vote for their favorite candidate, while avoiding the fear of helping elect their least favorite candidate. It ensures that the winner enjoys support from a majority, using the same basic logic as traditional runoff elections. Plurality voting, as used in most American elections, does not meet these basic requirements for a fair election system that promotes cost-saving elections with wider participation.

IMO, it is the two party voting process that has turn any election into a beauty contest and not a contest for proper governance…..we need election reform NOW…and IRV could be a brilliant start…