A commenter replied;-
My political heart is held together with Velcro these days. Break it, slap it back together, carry on. There is little or no chance of a good result as long as power is in the hands of people who would seek it. The electoral system has been hopelessly compromised and, AFAIK, no measures have been taken to make it more secure. Democracy is a game we are given to play while the men at the top decide which of their number will rule and which will oppose, and then they make it seem to have been our doing. I have a small ivory box with a gold padlock on it, and inside is my last crumb of hope. I don't expect to be needing the key any time soon.
I have a small ivory box with a gold padlock on it, and inside is my last crumb of hope. I don't expect to be needing the key any time soon.
Almost all Greek writers who mention democracy (including Aristotle[1], Plato and Herodotus) both emphasise the role of selection by lot or state outright that being allotted is more democratic than elections. For example Aristotle says:"it is thought to be democratic for the offices to be assigned by lot, for them to be elected is oligarchic," [6]We see the same idea in the 18th century after the re-emergence of democracy in the writings of Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu:"The suffrage by lot is natural to democracy, as that by choice is to aristocracy"[7]
"it is thought to be democratic for the offices to be assigned by lot, for them to be elected is oligarchic," [6]
"The suffrage by lot is natural to democracy, as that by choice is to aristocracy"[7]
</dodges tomatoes>
Frankly I don't think our health system is coordinated enough to pull off such a coup. I do want a leader who is not insane. I say that as someone with a significant mental health record. "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
Ok, so whoever wins the next American Idol - blind fold them and have them throw a dart at a map of the United States. Then we put a monkey in an airplane and push the little fucker out over the area where the dart hit. Then, whoever the monkey reaches first and grabs their hand, they will be the next president. It would have to be better then what we have now.
But it is more interesting to contemplate a Congress appointed in that way.
Political parties would still exist, as policy consultancies and for the purposes of caucusing, etc, but all the power-hungry people would go away. We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
If only our stupidity could be exported. Oh, wait.... Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Was talking to my Da who is in LA right now, he had switched on the television to watch the news only to see the President wailing away on some nonsenseyet again.
She actually did that?
You know, there's always Cynthia McKinney to vote for, who has also the (unimportant, but still) quality of being hot, too. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
We're all talking about voting for the President, right? Just double checking.. "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
First Nader, then the weird guy with the glasses, and now McKinney. Life is clearly rough for the Greens. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Spin machine working on you... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I'm depressed that you and Drew are buying into this media narrative. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
It sorta comes with the territory of a de facto one-party state. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
If it's not clear by now, I don't think people are always clearly the victims just because they are lefties. I'm probably a good deal more lefty than her. I'm a bloody communist. A person can be a lefty, and even a victim of bad press, and still be nuts. Did the cop ask for her id because he was racist? I have no idea. Was punching him the best response? Is it ever a good response? If Denis Kucinich punched someone, would we think that's acceptable because he is a white man? I wouldn't. Am I buying into FOX news? I don't even watch FOX news. I hope that if I have illustrated anything during my time here, it is that while I may from time to time be totally wrong or raving mad, I am perfectly capable of thinking for myself. Media narrative? Me? Seriously? "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
And this is true not just in standing up for your political rights; for instance, hockey. (You should go to a Blackhawks game - I understand tickets are quite easy to come by.)
And the Democratic alternative to that punch, which we've been seeing on parade these past few, doesn't even begin to compare... Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
There's no way she did either one -- she absolutely would've been charged. Cops do not drop charges when one of their own has been touched in any sort of aggressive way, even if the case seems unwinable. The very fact that they eventually dropped it is evidence enough that nothing happened other than what she and the witnesses said -- he grabbed her arm from behind and she shook him off. Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes
so mckinney is grabbed from behind by a cop who claims he didn't know who she was. this in itself is grounds for the guy getting transferred. mckinney swings her arm back in responser to being suddenly grabbed from behind, and the cop goes to the cable TV shows about being "punched."
bloggers left and right alike parrot this talking point with no end of racial under- and overtones, and the talking point becomes media truth. except that when the capitol police do a review about the thing, all charges are dropped and the officer is found to have been in the wrong.
so the whole thing we're tlaking about is nothing more than a whisper job to cover up for chronic racist and sexist behavior against a member of congress (who, coincidentally, had been holding hearings on racism in the capitol police ranks against black officers in the force).
But, as I said, redstar makes a fair point about the war that I'll consider should Her Majesty sell us out (as I fear she may well do). If ending the war is off the table, then forget it. The only issue I'd have to vote on is the Supreme Court, so why bother? Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Still, right on the war, so point to redstar. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Hello?
General Irony is in the building, and his dosimeter is reading 'fatal'.
We have McCain singing 'Bomb Iran', Romney playing Mr Evil Business Hair from central casting, Huckabee taking the gospels as gospel, Clinton-zilla pissing off her base with naked racism punctuated by bouts of strategic crying, and Obama being MLK without the MLK.
Meanwhile Bush squats in the White House like a drugged out toad with a brain tumour.
And McKinney is nuts? Because she whacked a cop?
Is she likely to bomb Russia? Is she going to nuke Iran? Does she believe God speaks to her? Does she think poor people are evil and should be punished? Does she believe in the magic market unicorn? Is she old, senile, narcissistic, or just plain delusional and mean?
Not so much insane, as not nearly insane enough to have a hope at the top job.
You think I don't understand any of that? I've given more time and money than most people could dream of to support candidates who vowed to end this God-damned war. I'm one of the few in this shit-can country who's been sane the whole fucking time for the last seven years. I'm one of the few who's been warning from Day One of Her Majesty's candidacy that this sack of white trash would sell us out on the war. Many have been shouting about the blatant racism for months, only to see it ignored while this filth's sexist stunts are happily embraced by mouth-breathing pseudo-feminists.
And it's only the knowledge that Hillary Clinton is too much of a coward to do much more damage that makes me consider voting for her to guard against McCain.
Is McKinney as nuts as others in this race? Nope. You're probably right that she's far less so. But don't think for a second that I don't see the insanity of this contest and what it means. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Myself, I'm getting more and more nervous - and I haven't been following the primaries that closely. If it will be Clinton vs McCain, a Dem president doesn't look guaranteed to me at all.
She's running as a Green for President, having left the Democratic party after having been primaried (a la Lieberman) not once, but twice by "centrists" in her heavily progressive Atlanta-area district with the help of massive doses of outside money.
As for why se was primaried, it really wasn;t because of that cop incident, more to do with some controversial statements about 911 that she made. I guess having the temerity to suggest that the Bush administration was amply warned about 911 before it happened was offensive to the political donor class which makes the Democratic party really tick. This is why I am somewhat amused by the left blogosphere in the US celebrating Lamont's pyrrhic victory, and Donna Edwards (to whom I've given money) and Mark Pera current drive: fact is, not only is this only two out of hundreds of crappy Democratic representatives their primarying, but the other side's been doing it for decades and winning. Working within that party is not a winning proposition, and neither is working outside of it. Thus are disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters, and McKinney moving to the Greens is an example. You'll say marginal, but all the same, the Democrats had it coming.
And as for hitting the cop, I'm pretty sure that, asusual, the cop had it coming too... Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
McKinney? Hot? I certainly hope that was a joke. I don't think I could bring myself to vote for someone who introduced the Tupac Shakur Records Act. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
In any event, as a bill it was certainly no loonier than the bipartisan bill, passed overwhelmingly in both houses of congress last December, celebrating Christmas and the Christian heritage of the United States, although, <snark> because this silly bill spoke to the beliefs of a majority of Americans, I guess that makes it ok. </snark> Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
So who knows? Maybe McKinney can get Pelosi on-board for this waste of time. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Really, I was just looking for an excuse to take a stab at Pelosi. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
