Election thread

[Buster's Uncle]

Well you know?  It was all about him.  It always had to be about him.  Sorta indicates that none of it was ever really about the ideas, doesn't it?

I have a roughly 90% hearing loss connected to nerve damage from childhood allergies.  It's not deaf deaf, but distinguing words is a problem.  I function well enough that it doesn't show, which is a handicap in itself, as I can't just go around telling everyone, and they don't know why I'm so loud and such a poor listener.  I envy the rest of the world for knowing the words to songs.

[Buster's Uncle]

For Dep

[Buster's Uncle]

...Speaking of people driven insane by the New York thing:
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2012-11-08-1.html
That's Orson Scott Card, the SF author.  I know this guy a little - if I ran into him on the streets of Greensboro, he might actually remember my name, and it's been 24 years.  He was hardly ever going to write the sequel to Das Kapital, and I was vaguely aware that he'd been taken in by the monkey, but I. am. shocked.  He was a thoughtful man, a genius intellect and always talked good sense.

If your have no time or a weak stomach for bull, leave the link up there alone.  Check out four consecutive entries from his article sidebar:

• OSC says: Don't just take my
word about the state of scientific
evidence on same-sex
"marriage."
• OSC asks: Why do we allow
them to teach global warming to
our children in science class? As
Bret Stephens points out, it's
really religion
• Bush never lied to us about Iraq
• Environmentalists Pick Up
Where Communists Left Off

 

Sometimes people just sap my will to live.

[cryopyre]

...Speaking of people driven insane by the New York thing:
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2012-11-08-1.html
That's Orson Scott Card, the SF author.  I know this guy a little - if I ran into him on the streets of Greensboro, he might actually remember my name, and it's been 24 years.  He was hardly ever going to write the sequel to Das Kapital, and I was vaguely aware that he'd been taken in by the monkey, but I. am. shocked.  He was a thoughtful man, a genius intellect and always talked good sense.

If your have no time or a weak stomach for bull, leave the link up there alone.  Check out four consecutive entries from his article sidebar:

• OSC says: Don't just take my
word about the state of scientific
evidence on same-sex
"marriage."
• OSC asks: Why do we allow
them to teach global warming to
our children in science class? As
Bret Stephens points out, it's
really religion
• Bush never lied to us about Iraq
• Environmentalists Pick Up
Where Communists Left Off

 

Sometimes people just sap my will to live.

This was sad to read.

[Buster's Uncle]

Yes.







 

We're not talking about some ignoramus, either.  We're talking about a brilliant, well-educated, scientifically-literate man who's EARNED his pile of Hugo awards and always struck me as entirely sane, if an angry fellow. 

The right has run on fairy tales since Reagan, the Reagan fairy tale itself being one of the greatest, but this --- this just as well be Richard Bachman talking about ascending to higher dimensions, this is as rooted in reality as the cubic sun and the flat earth.  We are all in deep, deep trouble, and I take back all my lol smilies in this thread.

[Rusty Edge]

I didn't remember that your hearing loss was that bad, Buncle.

Do you find the fad or trend of text messaging helpful?


As for the Orson Scott Card link, it is sad that Fox Spews is the major network presidential watchdog. The others are pretty sleepy.

Until that changes , Republicans are going to be drawn there for news coverage, and soak up the commentary while they are there.

[Buster's Uncle]

I think texting is a strong sign of a spoiled and doomed society.  Never tried it.  I think anything that can't be plugged into a printer is a toy.

I Hate Text Messaging

 
(Language warning.)


Until what changes?  The right living in a fictional construct reality?  Fox isn't anyone's watchdog; Fox is "math you do to feel better as a Republican".  The freakin' Daily Show is the best TV omnbudsman out there, and that's pathetic.

[Buster's Uncle]

Look like I ain't the only one who noticed:

MSNBC Beats Fox News By Following Its Example
By Dashiell Bennett | The Atlantic Wire – 2 hrs 39 mins ago.. .


Brian Stelter of The New York Times reports that MSNBC is finally starting to catch up to Fox News in the rating game, mainly by becoming the left-wing answer to Fox's conservative cheerleaders. Stelter says MSNBC, which normally trails Fox News in overall ratings, managed to best their cable rival in the key 25-54 year-old demographic on three straight nights after last week's election. MSNBC still trails behind Fox and CNN in the number of overall viewers, but has closed the gap considerably in the recent years, by accepting their role as "the Anti-Fox News." The re-election of Barack Obama will only help MSNBC keep the ball rolling, as hosts like Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews have become unapologetic supporters of "Obama's America" and stand to benefit from four more years of his liberal politics.
 
RELATED: The Secret to 'Ailing' CNN's Success

From a business perspective, however, MSNBC is still hampered somewhat by being the junior varsity squad to the parent network of NBC. No matter how popular they get or how much they appear to be on the same team, Brian Williams and his NBC News squad will continue to monopolize the "serious" news credibility (and the top shelf guests), a problem CNN and Fox News don't have to deal with. NBC's coverage drew nearly three times the viewers of MSNBC on election night and the cable network lags far behind its rivals in the fees that it earns from cable operators, which is a major source of revenue.
 
RELATED: So, Where Does Keith Olbermann Go Now?

Late in his story, Stelter also drops a rumor that Ezra Klein of The Washington Post maybe the next journalist to join the MSNBC roster, possibly taking over a primetime spot currently held by Ed Schultz.

http://news.yahoo.com/msnbc-beats-fox-news-following-example-123919914.html

Again, none of this was working until Keith was long gone and Rachel Maddow became their top-rated advocacy journalist.  Looks like the suits said "Hey; the people seem to like smart - let's give them more smart."
 

[Buster's Uncle]

Couple of things;

Here's a related thread shortly previous to this one most people missed: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2559.0

And this is just sad:

Secession petitions filed in 20 states
By Mike Krumboltz, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 32 mins ago.. .


Thousands of Americans have signed petitions seeking permission for their states to peacefully secede from the United States. The petitions were filed on We the People, a government website.
 
States with citizens filing include Louisiana, Texas, Oregon, Alabama, Tennessee, Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, South Carolina, Arkansas, New Jersey, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, Michigan, New York, Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Oddly, folks from Georgia have filed twice.
 
The petitions are short and to the point. For example, a petition from the Volunteer State reads: "Peacefully grant the State of Tennessee to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government." Of all the petitions, Texas has the most signatures so far, with more than 20,000.
 
Of course, this is mostly a symbolic gesture. An article WKRC quotes a University of Louisville political science professor who explained that these petitions aren't terribly uncommon. Similar petitions existed following the 2004 and 2008 elections. Still, should the petitions garner 25,000 signatures in a month, they will require an official response from the Obama administration.
 
From the We the People site:
 

The right to petition your government is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. We the People provides a new way to petition the Obama Administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country. We created We the People because we want to hear from you. If a petition gets enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure it's sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/secission-petitions-filed-20-states-190210006.html

I've lived in Texas, and they really do talk that way all the time.  I never called a Texan retarded to his face over it, but they were on the losing side of the Late Unpleasantness, and it IS very stupid.  (Alaska and Hawaii will succeed sooner anyway when the US falls apart.)

[Buster's Uncle]

Teacher allegedly tells class Obama’s re-election is ‘America’s funeral’
The Daily Caller – 6 hrs ago.. .


On November 7, an elementary school teacher in south central Louisiana allegedly told her class of fourth graders that she was “attending America’s funeral” because Barack Obama won the presidential election, according to a report by KATC, the local ABC television affiliate.
 
Students say the teacher, clad in all black that day, also said the United States will turn into a “new China” under Obama, KATC reports.
 
“She made the comment that since Michelle Obama is first lady and with the meal plan she has, the kids are gonna look like toothpicks in a few months,” parent Lindsey Shello told KATC.
 
Shello’s nine-year-old son is a student in the teacher’s class. She was outraged about the episode, and that the teacher had vented her feelings on Facebook.
 
The teacher, who is never named in the KATC report, reportedly requested a personal meeting with Shello. The teacher also cautioned Shello that her son might be embellishing the story.
 
However, other kids are apparently telling the same story. Another parent, Chassatey Jackson, says her children have related the same basic account, KATC reports.
 
Both parents agree that teachers should avoid expressing political opinions in fourth-grade classrooms.
 
“Her personal opinion needs to remain her personal opinion. She doesn’t need to push it on the kids,” said Shello, according to KATC.
 
Parents have reportedly contacted the principal at Delcambre Elementary as well as the local school board.
 
This incident certainly isn’t the first time in recent memory that a schoolteacher has been accused of interjecting personal political beliefs into the classroom.
 
Just last month, Linda White, an eighth-grade science teacher in Clinton, Mississippi, allegedly told her students of her belief that Obama is a Muslim and, for that reason, he should not serve a second term. White also reportedly told students she supports Romney because he is a “good Christian,” according to WJTV, the CBS affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi.
 
White has since resigned her teaching post.
 
Earlier in October, Lynette Gaymon, a geometry teacher at Charles Carroll High School in Philadelphia reportedly ridiculed sophomore Samantha Pawlucy for wearing a pro-Romney shirt to school and told Pawlucy to remove it. Gaymon allegedly called Carroll High a “Democratic school,” reports Philly.com. Gaymon, who is black, is also said to have suggested that the shirt was comparable to shirt supporting the Ku Klux Klan.
 
In the aftermath, Gaymon, the geometry teacher, reportedly received death threats, according to Philly.com. Pawlucy transferred to a different school.
 
In May of 2012, Tanya Dixon-Neely, a social studies teacher at North Rowan High School in Spencer, North Carolina, told a student in her class that could be arrested for criticizing Obama, and that people had been arrested for criticizing President George W. Bush. A student captured Dixon-Neely’s rant on hidden video, which later went viral on YouTube.
 
“Let me tell you something,” Dixon-Neely says in the video, “you will not disrespect the president of the United States in this classroom.”
 
The local school board suspended Dixon-Neely, but with pay, according to WBTV, the CBS television affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina.
 
In 2009, a fairly disturbing video emerged on YouTube showing about 20 children at B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, New Jersey singing pro-Obama anthems.
 
One song the children in New Jersey sang quotes directly from the spiritual “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” reports Fox News. However, the lyrics replace Jesus with Obama: “He said red, yellow, black or white/All are equal in his sight. Barack Hussein Obama.”

http://news.yahoo.com/teacher-allegedly-tells-class-obama-election-america-funeral-134714427.html

 

-Also, badly/clumsily forced rhythm scheme on that last.

[cryopyre]

I think texting is a strong sign of a spoiled and doomed society.  Never tried it.  I think anything that can't be plugged into a printer is a toy.

Ah, but texting is such a useful tool. Especially interesting considering some of the cultural changes it has spawned. I guess it's not as applicable to the US, but in China it has spawned a whole new form of prose centered around short stories. And in Japan and South Korea where interpersonal communication is extremely limited it has provided their society with a method of keeping in contact with loved ones and friends that would otherwise have been impossible.

Even in the US it has provided us with a rapidly evolving language and culture. I think texting is a great advancement on par with the internet when it comes to its cultural influence.

[Buster's Uncle]

Oh?  A positive development like l33tspeak?

I'm probably being a boring old fart, but no thank you.  And please take FaceBook with you on your way out.

[Buster's Uncle]

Black Vote in Ohio Fueled by Voter-ID Bills
By Rosa Ramirez | National Journal – 7 hrs ago.. .


For African-Americans in Ohio, coming out to vote during this election was personal. Many saw the state’s voter-ID bills as a direct threat to rights denied their ancestors decades earlier. Fueled as much by angst against the ID mandate as enthusiasm for a black president, African-Americans voted at a rate so much higher than 2008 that they may have been the decisive voting bloc.

President Obama captured Ohio, arguably the most important battleground state, thanks to record African-American turnout. The Resurgent Republic, an independent not-for-profit organization that gauges public opinion, pointed out, “If African-American turnout was in line with 2008, Romney would have won Ohio,” according to Politico.

Ohio, with its complex melting-pot populace that crosses many socioeconomic levels, has long been a battleground. National Journal’s Ron Brownstein asserted that Obama took Ohio by focusing on income equality and fairness, a strategy that attracted enough working-class whites and blacks to swing the election. But some observers also point to a 2011 effort to spur blacks to vote.

That plus anger stirred by the still-pending voter-ID bill that passed the Ohio House last year became the impetus that reenergized many African-American voters, said E. Faye Williams, president of the National Congress of Black Women. During a Washington event on the minority vote weeks before the election, Williams told a small group that such laws would likely push minorities to come out in droves.

(Related: Presidency May Rest on Minority Turnout, Uptick Over 2008.)

While African-Americans account for 12 percent of the state’s population, they made up 15 percent of Ohio's electorate in November, a jump from 11 percent in 2008. “It exceeded our expectations,” said Sybil Edwards-McNabb, president of the NAACP's Ohio Conference. “We’re very pleased with the results.”

The NAACP had called the state voter-ID bill, passed in days by the Republican-held House, “the most restrictive in the country.” Billboards in the months leading to the election placed in black and Hispanic neighborhoods warned, “Voter fraud is a felony!” After much public outcry, the ads were removed.

In a way, the Ohio surge represented a movement, shared by blacks in other states, to preserve the vote, a right denied only a few generations ago to grandparents or great-grandparents of many of these voters. In 2008, blacks came out in large numbers during that historic election for a chance to elect the first black president. “This time around, it was widely to protect the vote,” Williams explained. “We know our history. When voter-suppression laws increased, people saw a way to hold on to what we had.”

Since the start of 2011, about 25 laws and two executive actions in 19 states regarding voting passed, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Community and church activists charged the GOP with attempting to hold down the minority vote.

During the early July NAACP conference in Houston, for example, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the Texas voter-ID law a “poll tax.” And Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who once marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr., emphasized that these laws were being pushed to “stop some people from voting.”

“The Republican leader in the Pennsylvania House even bragged that his state's new voter-ID law is ‘gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state.’ That's not right,” Lewis said during a speech during the Democratic convention.

Pierrette “Petee” Talley of the Ohio Coalition on Black Civic Participation pointed out that blacks for decades had fought efforts to diminish their right to vote. The fight this election season became personal to them, she said.

The nonpartisan coalition, aimed at increasing voter participation, immediately jumped into the fray in Ohio. It began a campaign to educate the public on proposed changes, Talley said. The voter-ID was lost in political wrangling. Another bill restricting early voting, HB194, was signed last fall but repealed in May by Republican Gov. John Kasich.

An alliance of Masons, Methodists, and black unions, among others groups, led by Ohio’s NAACP, had already built strong momentum to get out the vote. “And we just kept going,” Talley recalled.

Their door-to-door educational campaigns became voter-registration drives. Speaking with residents, coalition members learned that a number of blacks had been purged from voting rolls because they moved or missed federal elections yet believed they were still registered to vote. “We became engaged in a very aggressive registration and certification campaign,” she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/black-vote-ohio-fueled-voter-id-bills-131452246--politics.html

I have to say that tampering with the process directly is a sin against democracy and unamerican.  Let's cut out all the horsecrap with gerrymandering congressional districts, too; all such anti-democracy efforts should not only be opposed bitterly and implacably, the perpetrators, whatever their politics, should be ridiculed out of public life.  This is not to be tolerated in an America true to its core principals, ever.

Mind you, I always thought it was ridiculous that I didn't get carded when I voted; but don't kid a kidder about the main motivational set behind the ID push -I'll call you liar if you try to defend this crap.  Very glad it backfired so spectacularly.

Let me gently propose that we go at the voter ID issue in a bipartisan way, or not at all...

[cryopyre]

Oh?  A positive development like l33tspeak?

I'm probably being a boring old fart, but no thank you.  And please take FaceBook with you on your way out.

See, I disagree, primarily on the basis that so long as a dialect remains capable of communicating ideas coherently then it is successful. L33tspeak and text speak are par for the course in language evolution anyways, texting and the internet has just managed to accelerate a natural process. Personally I don't write using either, only because I do not want the habit to leak into my own formal or artistic writing, but I do not hold a grudge against those who do. To me, it would be elitist to do so, as there is nothing inherently inferior about those dialects since they are as capable of expression as any other language.

[Buster's Uncle]

I am, and shall remain, a grumpy old man on this subject...