[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: presidential debates
Hi,
I know this is off-topic, and not a pleasent subject of conversation, so I am
just going to say my piece once and try not to get drawn into a big debate
that's not going to convince anyone to change their mind from whatever position
they held beforehand (look at what happened to the supreme court!). Kelvin
said:
> All the stories about voters being "disenfranchised" have been categorically
> disproven.
Not true. I can provide references tomorrow if anyone wants them, but the
articles I read spoke of voters being sent from polling place to polling place
until the polls closed, of people being refused translators (although
translators were actually present in the room), and of people mistakenly
disqualifying their votes because the presidential candidates were split across
two pages (in Michigan, before you leave the polls, you are asked to confirm
that you want your vote disqualified. If you say no, they tear up your ballot
and give you another one.).
I tend to agree that Gore would not have been much better than Bush, because
the Democratic party has slipped so far to the middle (not to mention the
corruption that's rampant in both parties), but that 2% difference that another
person quoted is on issues that are important to me. Bush is in the pocket of
Big Business, and we are seeing enviormental and workers' rights issues take a
hit like they haven't in decades (Texas has most of the worst pollution
problems in the country, and now we're going to see those policies on a
national scale), not to mention "Free Trade Ueber Alles". The exectuive branch
has already halted investigation on over 200 cases of EPA violations that were
in process as of last year. Texas has the biggest (proportionally) prison
system in the country, and the highest execution rate. If we're supposed to
see Texas as a model of how Bush envisions the rest of the country (and wasn't
"look at Texas" one of his campaign sloagans?), I am terrified!!!
Not to mention, the guy is a mental midget. He drank his way through college,
got into Harvard Law with his daddy's money (his grades sure weren't good
enough), and rode the family connections all the way to the white house. His
mastery of grammar is worse than that of Dan "Potatoe" Quayle, and he has no
foreign policy experience. He didn't know who the Prime Minister of *Canada*
was, for cryin' out loud. In his campaign, he seemed to think that leading a
good campaign was sufficient to be rewarded with the win (not that the
*content* mattered at all). What galls me the most is that somehow he managed
to convince the public that he was an "ordinary joe", as opposed to Gore's
intellectualism (and it still boggles my mind that in this country, being smart
is a bad thing! But then again, I have a PhD in Astrophysics from MIT, so I'm
one of those weirdos, anyway.), when Bush is from one of the oldest, richest
families in the country (grandaddy's economic ties to the German Nazis never
did seem to make much news with either Bush president), right up there with the
Kennedys.
So, look, I'm not claiming Gore is a white knight. A lot of ugly shit happened
on both sides in the Florida debacle (I was overseas for the month of July,
and the rest of the world thinks we're a laughingstock.). But I tell you what:
I will promise to read "How Gore Tried to Steal the Election" if you promise
to read "The Bush Dyslexicon". Deal?
Yours,
--
Don Smith Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment
donaldas at umich_edu http://xte.mit.edu/~dasmith/
"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."
- Sarah Williams
---------------
Unsubscribe by going to http://www.actwin.com/MediaNation/OtR/
Follow-Ups: