Does your vote count? Mine does not. Why? Because I live in the wrong voting district.
Are you a disenfranchised voter? I am . . .
- disenfranchised
- A transitive verb, Date: 1664
To deprive of a franchise, of a legal right, or of some privilege or immunity;
Especially : to deprive of the right to vote
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Originally the Electoral College was created in order to facilitate nationwide elections in a large rugged country during the horse drawn era.
The system was needed in order to let a few election representatives carry the vote to New York City, Philadelphia and then Washington DC.
Travel in this era could be perilous and carrying actual ballots or even their tallies may have delayed the election of the President.
This situation was much the same until after the establishment of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
After the launching of the Comsat Early Bird satellite in 1965 national and international communications became almost instantaneous.
By the 1990's fiber-optic transoceanic telephone cables span the globe.
Satellite feeds have significant delays due to their very high orbits.
This makes Earth bound cables faster to the point of being almost instantaneous.
Today the commercial television networks can tell us the results of an election before the voting is finished.
They can tell you who won the individual states, presumedly their electoral votes AND the total vote or "popular vote".
Yet we rely on a system that was designed for the horse drawn era.
In one recent election the candidate with the most votes did not win. How can this be?
Because of voting districts that give some voters more clout than others via the electoral system.
All those votes that did not count were disenfranchised voters.
In the year 2000 there were over 450,000 voters who's votes did not count due to electoral system and millions more due to districting.
That does NOT include the Florida debacle.
In many states they have a district system that each is treated as a "block" vote.
If your neighbors do not think like you do then your vote doesn't count. . .
Are you one of the millions who's vote does not count because you happen to live in the wrong area?
Around the time of every election there is talk of election reform.
But as soon as the election is settled all the talk fades.
It is time for real change in our voting system.
The Housing Market Credit Crash
and Financial Services Bailout
Reality is Stranger than Fiction
Of course it is perfectly in character for George W. Bush to want to keep golden parachutes and multi-million dollar retirements in place for his friends running these institutions but where is the call for these people not to just lose their retirements but their heads?
When a world wide disaster is created by criminally libel activity by people in trusted positions it should be classified as treason!
When the U.S taxpayer is asked to bail out multi-national businesses who's management has made billions shouldn't those greed driven managers have to pay a higher cost?
It amazes me that U.S. Marshalls have not been sent to arrest those responsible to be sure they do not leave the country.
It would be a very safe bet that these criminals have their passports, money in a safe haven and an escape plan.
Apparently Bush has been making private deals for months but congress has not (to the best of the public knowledge) and the public CERTAINLY has not!
This kind of activity is as treasonous as anything I can think of.
HARD questions need to be asked and those responsible need to be put to task rather than making deals with them.
There were warnings. . Financial Crisis continued. . .
Global Warming
The planet Earth has had its ups and downs and climatic changes.
Some are natural, some caused by man. Are we the cause of global warming? Maybe. But it is hard to prove with such large forces at work and only recent measurments.
However, during the age before the dinosaurs when the Earth was much flatter AND warmer, plant life captured billions of tons of CO2 and geologic cycles burried it deep in the Earth to become coal and oil.
At the end of this period the Earth had less CO2 and a cooler climate.
If you dig up and burn all the coal, pump and burn all the oil, the CO2 will be put back into the atmosphere.
Simple physics says increasing CO2 WILL increase the temperature globally.
No, you cannot put this genie back in the bottle.
The terrain and plant life of the planet are different and are only a moderating effect on CO2 levels.
Even the oceans are different.
YES, we need the rain forests but we also need the great temperate forests that once covered much more of North America, Europe and Asia than they do now.
So, forget the blame game. It does no one any good. CO2 restrictions. .
Global Warming Continued . .
Us and Them, Deja-vu
Left, Right, Republican and Democrats
The 2008 U.S. election is probably the most divisive election in U.S. History.
THEM and US has become very polarizing. Who are WE and who are THEY?
WE are . . . THEY are. . .
Imports and Exporting Jobs
Remember the warning of the "giant sucking sound" of jobs going to Mexico by Ross Perot over NAFTA?
Well, the sound of imports from China is the defening roar of an avalanche. . . . With NAFTA Mexico ended up on the short end of the stick with U.S.
agricultural products putting thousands of small farmers out of business.
So while it turned out to be good for part of the U.S. economy it has significantly hurt an important part of Mexico's economy and sent even more Mexicans to the U.S. looking for jobs.
The difference with China is while we are selling a FEW things to them much of what they buy with AMeican labels is made in China.
While Ameican corporations profit the American worker sees no benifit.
Pork Barrel and the Veto
The Power of the Presidency
Every president has had the power to stop "ear marks" or pork dead in its tracks.
Pork Barrel and the Power of the Presidency Continued . .
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