The Election Thread

Started by Stattick, September 26, 2012, 01:46:20 PM

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Tamhansen

Quote from: Oniya on October 18, 2012, 08:54:59 AM
Whoops, double post, but this is rather interesting:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/Vox-News/2012/1017/A-4th-presidential-debate-Larry-King-to-moderate-third-party-candidate-forum

So, anyone interested in those third-party options, looks like you'll have a chance to see your guys in action!

Not my candidate though :( Cookie muncher not get invite to debate.

Seriously it can't be much more boring than the ryan biden debates, less repetetive anyway.
ons and offs

They left their home of summer ease
Beneath the lowland's sheltering trees,
To seek, by ways unknown to all,
The promise of the waterfall.

Valerian

This isn't strictly election related, but frankly, I need someplace to vent:
http://www.biztimes.com/article/20121016/ENEWSLETTERS02/121019858/-1/daily_enews/New-union-report-questions-Palermo-Villa-commitments
http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Organizing-Bargaining/Palermo-s-Pizza-Doesn-t-Deliver-On-Jobs

To sum up, the AFL-CIO just did a report titled "Too Much Pork in the Pepperoni Pizza?: Tax Credits For Palermo’s Highlight Need For More Transparency, Accountability at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation."  The WEDC was based on existing agencies in Wisconsin, but since it's been taken over by Walker the abuses have been tremendous.  This is really just the latest example.

Palermo's is a frozen pizza company based in Milwaukee which received $26 million in funding -- $12 million in construction loans and $14 million in public bonds -- from the WEDC in exchange for agreeing to create "family-supporting jobs".  The company also received almost half a million in tax breaks by promising to create 56 full-time, permanent positions.  A report just released by the WEDC claims that Palermo's met these requirements a year ahead of schedule.

The problem is that there's no data to back that up.  The report was so heavily redacted it doesn't prove anything.  Also, the jobs there apparently don't even meet the minimum wage requirements set up by the WEDC.  A family supporting wage in that area is estimated at $14.06 per hour.  The WEDC requires at least $10.88 per hour.  The average pay of 55 recent employees comes out to $10.55 per hour.  Some former employees report earning just $7.50 an hour after five years on the job.

About 150 workers have been on strike since June, protesting bad working conditions and unfair labor practices.  Employees have no sick days and the machinery used in their factory has caused many accidents.  The company has paid $7,000 in fines to OSHA and there have been three separate amputation accidents in the last four years.  Also, over 75 of the striking workers have been fired and replaced.  I hope the company isn't counting those jobs among the 208 they say they've created in the past six years.  :P

The AFL-CIO is still investigating, but I'm not too confident they'll find anything, given all the practice the crooked members of the GOP have had in hiding the evidence lately.




On hopefully a slightly better note, U.S. Senate candidates Tammy Baldwin and Tommy Thompson are having their second debate tonight.  That race was expected to be a slam-dunk for the Republicans, but thanks in large part to Thompson's increasingly mad ravings*, polls currently show Baldwin with a slight lead.  It's one of the most expensive races in the country right now, with both sides spending millions... though interestingly, Thompson has been reluctant to spend any of his own cash despite having gotten rich off back-room deals with pharmaceutical companies that have helped to ruin Medicare.


*The fact that Thompson's son, Jason, a lawyer for a favored law firm of the Republicans, Michael Best & Friedrich, is running around telling the same tired birther joke over and over about sending Obama 'back to Kenya' probably isn't helping either.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Chelemar

QuoteRomney responded on Twitter: @MittRomney "I understand the challenges women face and want to make it easier for them in the workplace."

What exactly does "easier" mean?  How does he understand what women face?  Neither his wife nor his mother worked not from need or want.  So, fundamentally, how does he understand?

Easier in that they can get home to make dinner for their children and families?  Some women do what this yes!  But, at what cost?  Lower pay?  Less hours?  Less health care?  Less respect? 

Why has he not once said equal pay for equal work.  Equal benefits for equal work.   

Tamhansen

Quote from: Chelemar on October 18, 2012, 12:28:01 PM
What exactly does "easier" mean?  How does he understand what women face?  Neither his wife nor his mother worked not from need or want.  So, fundamentally, how does he understand?

Easier in that they can get home to make dinner for their children and families?  Some women do what this yes!  But, at what cost?  Lower pay?  Less hours?  Less health care?  Less respect? 

Why has he not once said equal pay for equal work.  Equal benefits for equal work.   

Because he needs the social conservative vote. And the bible clearly states men and women have different, although equally important tasks in life.
ons and offs

They left their home of summer ease
Beneath the lowland's sheltering trees,
To seek, by ways unknown to all,
The promise of the waterfall.

Stattick

Quote from: Katataban on October 18, 2012, 01:33:32 PM
Because he needs the social conservative vote. And the bible clearly states men and women have different, although equally important tasks in life.

The Bible doesn't clearly state that men and women have different but equally important tasks. The Bible's quite clear that men are far more important and have a far more important job than women do. That's why Eve was made from Adam's rib. It's also why it wasn't that big of a deal for God to kill Job's wife when he was torturing him to see if he'd stay true to his beliefs. Of course, after God decided that Job had passed the test, God gave him a new wife. And new kids too, because God had killed them too.  Also, it's ok for men to have multiple wives in the Bible, but women may not have multiple husbands. And men can cheat on their wives (but those horrible seductresses that make them stray might get in trouble). Women who cheat... get stoned to death. So, I think it's pretty clear that the Biblical perspective is that women are to be the slaves of men.
O/O   A/A

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Katataban on October 18, 2012, 01:33:32 PM
Because he needs the social conservative vote. And the bible clearly states men and women have different, although equally important tasks in life.

No.. he doesn't NEED the social conservative vote.. problem is to court the moderates would have never gotten the nomination and he would be less certain of winning the moderates from the president.

he was CERTAIN of social conservatives..

Stattick

Tricksters Trying To Suppress Vote With Deceptive Phone Calls

QuoteSome African American, Spanish-speaking and elderly voters in Florida and Virginia are apparently being targeted by anonymous voter-suppression groups trying to trick them or intimidate them into not voting in the November presidential election, according to election officials and voter protection organizations.

The Virginia State Board of Elections is warning residents that "some Virginia voters, particularly older Virginians, are receiving phone calls from unidentified individuals informing voters that they can vote over the phone. This information is false."
O/O   A/A

Stattick

Remember the soup kitchen debacle?

Well, as the director of the kitchen predicted, the politicization that Ryan forced of the kitchen by forcing his way in for a photo-op has caused donors to stop supporting the kitchen. In addition to that, the kitchen is having to deal with hundreds of angry phone calls from Ryan supporters, and having their facebook wall defaced with nasty comments such as, "I hope you lose your tax [sic] emempt status!"
O/O   A/A

Oniya

Connie Schultz (wife of Senator Sherrod Brown, and a former columnist for the Plain Dealer) brought that up in her column on Creators.com today, urging people not to stop donating just because of Ryan's actions, and even providing the address for donations.

http://www.creators.com/opinion/connie-schultz/ryan-s-publicity-stunt-could-hurt-ohio-soup-kitchen.html
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Ironwolf85

Quote from: Stattick on October 18, 2012, 02:50:39 PM
The Bible doesn't clearly state that men and women have different but equally important tasks. The Bible's quite clear that men are far more important and have a far more important job than women do. That's why Eve was made from Adam's rib. It's also why it wasn't that big of a deal for God to kill Job's wife when he was torturing him to see if he'd stay true to his beliefs. Of course, after God decided that Job had passed the test, God gave him a new wife. And new kids too, because God had killed them too.  Also, it's ok for men to have multiple wives in the Bible, but women may not have multiple husbands. And men can cheat on their wives (but those horrible seductresses that make them stray might get in trouble). Women who cheat... get stoned to death. So, I think it's pretty clear that the Biblical perspective is that women are to be the slaves of men.
Ther is a reason it's called the Old testiment.
sometimes I think "ya know I wonder if god looked down and thought "okay the old ways are getting old, time to write a more progressive book"
Prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope, love...
debate any other aspect of my faith these are the heavenly virtues. this flawed mortal is going to try to adhere to them.

Culture: the ability to carve an intricate and beautiful bowl from the skull of a fallen enemy.
Civilization: the ability to put that psycho in prision for killing people.

Stattick

The Gods are our creation. As our culture evolves, they evolve. Or not, if they're the Gods of a backwards people.

If our believe creates actual, real Gods, and not just some ideas that exist only because we do, than I can imagine that the day that Earth gets wiped out by a meteor or something would be an interesting day for the Gods. Only dead humans remain, each in the domain of the God that they thought they should go to. And if those Gods go to war with each other, at the beck of the dead humans who believe that in death that all humans should be united under the umbridge of a single God, then we'd have something worth writing about. In a Ragnarak unimagined, black Jesus, the more powerful of the two for having more believers, slaughters the racist Jehovah that the Klan worshiped. Does the Anglican Jehovah and the Roman Catholic Jehovah join forces with the Orthodox Jehovah, to form a trinity of Jehovahs so they can take the fight to the Protestants, and kick some apostate ass, or do they instead turn on each other to prove which one is right? Do the Coptic and Ethiopian Jehovahs try to hide from the other Jehovahs who are more powerful, or do they stay in plain sight? Perhaps those two might join forces, or maybe they might fight, hoping to pick off smaller cults, so they can take the souls of the defeated to join their anemic armies. I somehow imagine the different Mohammeds turning on each other and "cleaning house" before a unified Mohammed army, under the Mo that defeated them all would turn to fight the Jehovah who turned out to be the best tactician of them all. It makes me think that the best generals in history, those genius tacticians such as Alexander the Great, Rommel the Desert Fox, Napoleon, and Genghis Khan would all be out there, leading the armies of their gods. India has always been a cosmopolitan place, in regard to having many, many Gods, and I don't think they'd squabble with each other. I think they'd be a powerful and unified front in the war of the heavens. I wonder how the different Buddhas would react to each other. Would they get in navel gazing contests to prove which was the most enlightened, or would they follow the old Buddhist creed of, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." I think that Confucius would try to stay out of the war, but get drawn in despite his best efforts. And I think he would play the game like a chess master, whispering advice into the ears of many different Gods, playing them against each other, and finally brokering the peace accord that would come when the Gods tired of slaughtering each other.

Um... what was this thread about again?
O/O   A/A

Oniya

Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

gaggedLouise


Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Ironwolf85

0.0

interisting wierdness statty...

I would assume in that supa everyone's right godly war of awesome, that since many of the modern monotheist groups agree there's one god, and even among themselves many think "we got the right god, wrong theology." it would be one heck of a crazy time sorting them all out.
the look on some racist bigots faces if he just threw his arms out wide and said "everyone's welcome in dis house boys, including the people you hate, I sent ya guys the memmo about love and forgiveness like two thousand years ago, ya think more of ya wouldda figured that out by now..."

I think the thread has become de-railed due to people waiting for nthe next development, which will the the final debate monday.
Prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope, love...
debate any other aspect of my faith these are the heavenly virtues. this flawed mortal is going to try to adhere to them.

Culture: the ability to carve an intricate and beautiful bowl from the skull of a fallen enemy.
Civilization: the ability to put that psycho in prision for killing people.

Oreo

Quote from: Stattick on October 11, 2012, 05:52:22 AM
Here's one for the conspiracy theorists on this forum. Apparently, Romney owns the voting machines in several swing states.

I'll give you a moment so that can sink in.

Yeah, he owns the voting machines. Remember when Diebold promised to deliver the election to Bush Jr? And then it happened? I'm not saying that they rigged the machines but...

Also, I'm not saying that Romney's literally going to buy this election by owning the voting machines...


HEY, I HAVE AN IDEA. GET RID OF THE FUCKING VOTING MACHINES AND REPLACE THEM WITH PEOPLE.

...

I don't normally chime in on politics threads, but if you have issues with the voting machines you can always go the route of an absentee ballot to insure your vote is handled in the old fashioned way. As far as the conspiracy of the computerized voting machine, I worked as a voting inspector for eight elections, four of those with the new machines. The rolls of paper that record the vote and give you a receipt are printed simultaneously. It would be a bit of a reach to assume it prints out different votes on the two pieces of paper.

There is a lot of responsibility in being an inspector. Misplacing or losing count of even one person can mean you don't get to retain your position in the next election. Protocol is paramount from the time the machines are set up to the moment the votes and paperwork are handed in to be counted...by people.

Not voicing any opinion on the politicians.  ;)

At least, as a nation, we got rid of votes from the dead...I hope.

She led me to safety in a forest of green, and showed my stale eyes some sights never seen.
She spins magic and moonlight in her meadows and streams, and seeks deep inside me,
and touches my dreams. - Harry Chapin

Stattick

#65
More voting fraud reported. Once more, it's a Republican who got arrested.
O/O   A/A

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Stattick on October 19, 2012, 07:25:29 PM
More voting fraud reported. Once more, it's a Republican who got arrested.

I click on the link and it tries to open a post.. might want to check it.


Stattick

Quote from: Callie Del Noire on October 19, 2012, 07:30:01 PM
I click on the link and it tries to open a post.. might want to check it.

Oops, didn't realize I screwed up the link. Thanks for pointing that out to me. It's fixed now.
O/O   A/A

Stattick

Congressman says abortions never necessary to save life of mother

Quote
"With modern technology and science, you can't find one instance" of a pregnant woman's life being at risk, he told reporters after the debate. "There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing."




You know, I just post a fraction of the news stories I come across. But just the raw volume of stupid coming out of the right this election cycle is staggering. I'm actually getting fatigued with posting this stuff.  :P
O/O   A/A


Ironwolf85

you know fox will go flippty crazy and claim that he's trying to rig the election by not allowing romney to own voting machines...
Prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope, love...
debate any other aspect of my faith these are the heavenly virtues. this flawed mortal is going to try to adhere to them.

Culture: the ability to carve an intricate and beautiful bowl from the skull of a fallen enemy.
Civilization: the ability to put that psycho in prision for killing people.

Serephino

I agree, the amount of stupid coming from the Republican party is exhausting.  It makes you wonder how these people got into power.  I'm scared now...

Valerian

Quote from: Oreo on October 19, 2012, 07:19:11 PM
I don't normally chime in on politics threads, but if you have issues with the voting machines you can always go the route of an absentee ballot to insure your vote is handled in the old fashioned way. As far as the conspiracy of the computerized voting machine, I worked as a voting inspector for eight elections, four of those with the new machines. The rolls of paper that record the vote and give you a receipt are printed simultaneously. It would be a bit of a reach to assume it prints out different votes on the two pieces of paper.

There is a lot of responsibility in being an inspector. Misplacing or losing count of even one person can mean you don't get to retain your position in the next election. Protocol is paramount from the time the machines are set up to the moment the votes and paperwork are handed in to be counted...by people.

Not voicing any opinion on the politicians.  ;)

At least, as a nation, we got rid of votes from the dead...I hope.
From what I understand, you can also request a paper ballot instead of using the electronic machines if you go to the polling place on election day.

I don't know if this is anything anyone here has experienced, but there have been issues with the electronic voting machines not keeping the records.  Someone in Wisconsin recently requested access to the data from a past election under the open records law, and the people in charge of the voting machines were unable to oblige -- if I remember correctly, as soon as the results were announced they wiped the data packs so they could be reused.  It may still be perfectly all right, but I'd really rather know that the records are around, just in case, and I don't see why there should be any issue about keeping them.

Of course, that may be more of a Wisconsin problem, given that no trick is too low for Walker and Co.  :P
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Oniya

Quote from: Valerian on October 20, 2012, 09:39:44 AM
Of course, that may be more of a Wisconsin problem, given that no trick is too low for Walker and Co.  :P

Call me cynical, but I really don't know that Walker is unique in that respect.  Although, considering how little space (physically) data takes up, I don't see a reason for those numbers not to be burned to disk immediately after tallying and stored on a more-or-less permanent basis.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17