One man's observation of the End of the World.... not.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

A humorous read, recommended:

http://www.stonekettle.com/2012/11/hemlock-with-small-side-of-schadenfreude.html

[Opsa]

Delightful. How did you find him?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Delightful. How did you find him?

A side-link in a comment on one of my feed from Facebook, if you can believe that. 

Some useful stuff does come from there.   I've been paying more attention since the Tuesday "landslide" victory of President Obama*.  It's been entertaining as well as occasionally informative.

Yeah. I'm just as surprised as you are. 



__________________

*the one where the rest of the world, with a few notable exceptions, breathed a collective sigh of relief that Ronald Reagan 3.0 Dubya Bush 2.0 Mitt Borrow-from-your-parents-Antoinette  was not re-elected... 

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The GOP description reminded me the crazy nut that claimed that the world would end (for the 3rd time) a year or so ago. I imagine his followers are constituents... 

[Aggie]

You know, these people and their wealthy masters literally spent billions of dollars, billions, to defeat Obama.

All those dollars are now wasted.

Geez, you wonder why the country's broke? Those wealthy masters sucked those billions out of people with less money, by (officially) honest means. Any guesses why there's an increasing prosperity gap? The money's being pissed away on political hate propaganda.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

There is an argument that all that [eternal] campaign money is actually pumping the economy, for instance, all campaign goodies tend to be locally manufactured because it would be problematic if someone figures out they come from China. Lots of money to print stuff (also locally) but the big bulk goes to the big networks for both radio and TV  .

[Swatopluk]

US flags Made in China have been spotted, campaigners have little shame.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

They have no shame but they do have a strong preservation instinct, if they think they can get away with call centers in India and China made trinkets they will, but if they have a profile big enough for back checking they will buy locally to avoid the talking points.

[Swatopluk]

Experience shows that they can get away with a lot. Occasionally the claim is levelled by them at their opponents (esp. in the primaries), even if they themselves are indulging in that practice.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

We're talking about people that get away with murder on an ongoing basis. 

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Indeed.  The deaths of in excess of 30,000 people due to the Iraq invasion is a case of government-sponsored murder.  I lay the blame firmly on each and every government person who participated in the lie about WMD's.  A lie they knew was a lie from the beginning.   Both Bushy & Chenny need to be brought up on war crimes against humanity.

[Swatopluk]

Politically it is far more dangerous to insult voters than to kill foreigners.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

If the latest election is any indication, you are quite correct Swato.  I only hope that people remember for 2014.

[Swatopluk]

Looks like the GOP (base and media establishment) will do everything that people do not forget. Doubling down and quadrupling down seem to be the main considered options. Some GOP run states are already working on making voting even harder. And SCOTUS has accepted to hear a challenge to the Voting Rights Act. There could be a second Citizens United in the making.
Btw, Hungary works on something radical to keep Orban's de-facto fascist in power despite rapidly falling poll results that could be adopted by the GOP, should they win the SCOTUS case: mandatory re-registration (in person) within a short time window (15 days) before the beginnng of every legislative period. Anyone failing to do that will not be allowed to vote or even renew their registration within the whole period. And Hungary (unlike the US) already has universal automatic voter registration, so this makes only sense  as a voter suppression scheme.
What do you think would happen, if US states could completely erase their voter rolls every two years and require everyone to register anew each time within a fortnight?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

If this past US elections proved something is that with enough motivation voter suppression isn't enough to win. There are protests again in Tahrir Square because Morsi is abusing his power, which gives a ray of hope, it's possible that some get away with the worst things but there seems to be a limit. Sadly there is usually a learning process and during that time the would be abusers usually get away with plenty of stuff.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

What do you think would happen, if US states could completely erase their voter rolls every two years and require everyone to register anew each time within a fortnight?

I should like to think that before it got that bad, the centrist & left civil organizations such as the ACLU would go after such unconstitutional legislation.

What these vote-suppressors keep forgetting, is the clause in the Constitution that essentially says that federal laws trump states' laws, if there is conflict.  The US Constitution provides that the states are in charge of elections, this is true. But, the Constitution also states that no law (state or otherwise) can discriminate against various things.

And these anti-discriminatory Constitutional laws prohibit discriminatory state voting legislation.  The Jim Crowe laws were an example, and they were defeated by exactly those sorts of arguments.

Fortunately, Mitt-let-them-borrow-from-their-parents-Antoinette was not elected, so he won't be stuffing SCOTUS with his shills-for-hire "judges".  Obama is a moderate, and is in fact, more conservative that Ronnie-Ray-Gun was.

[Swatopluk]

The question (in the US) is, who will last longer? Usually the bad guys unless they overreach too much in one go. In 2010 the motivation was on the side of evil and as a result in a census year the GOP dominated the states. Without the new and more extreme gerrymandering they would have lost the House. This may be enough to sabotage the country enough that 2014 will be another 2010. And in 2016 there is no natural heir to the WH on the Dem side and thus they have to run without the O-advantage. Our main hope is that a) SCOTUS will not kill the Voting Rights Act and b) Obama can replace enough justices that the next GOP/TP president has no vacancy to fill there that would tip the court over finally.

Bob, we have seen that rightwing SCOTUS justices rarely care what the constitution actually says. And a radical proposal as mine (I only read about Hungary one or two days later) would not even violate the letter (just the spirit) of the constitution. It would formally not discriminate against anyone. It would just be like the famous Anatole France quote "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich and the poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.".

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

It is always a fight and chances are that it will always be; and it isn't simply a Good vs Evil^TM confrontation but a battle of interests, sometimes a minority vs a majority, but more frequently competing minorities dragging everybody else to it. Right now the Dems seem to be on the side of the majority, but I see them more as pretending to be on the correct side of things so that their benefactors reap the benefits albeit in a more modest fashion than the other guys who shamelessly push for no restraints. As ideologically charged this may sound, it is a struggle against the beneficiaries of the status quo and -again- I am convinced that it will remain so for the foreseeable future.

[Swatopluk]

I see in the Dems mainly (and often shameless) opportunism but on the GOP side I see a lot of genuine evil, which I in this context define as not just looking for material self-interest but an actual desire to do harm. It's not just about redistributing wealth upwards but also about the taking from the non-rich and the misery that causes.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

It may be a reading of the calvinist predetermination: if god placed them there to suffer, suffer they shall, and if they are not among us (the powerful) is because god placed them for our benefit.

[Aggie]

I see in the Dems mainly (and often shameless) opportunism but on the GOP side I see a lot of genuine evil, which I in this context define as not just looking for material self-interest but an actual desire to do harm. It's not just about redistributing wealth upwards but also about the taking from the non-rich and the misery that causes.

Ayuh, I see it in a similar light.  The Dems are still a very right-wing, pro-military, pro-business party, but they have at least understood that you need to make a bit of an effort to look after the country as a whole.  I really can't fathom the GOP mindset; it seems to take great joy in kicking those who are already down.

[pieces o nine]

I see in the Dems mainly (and often shameless) opportunism but on the GOP side I see a lot of genuine evil, which I in this context define as not just looking for material self-interest but an actual desire to do harm. It's not just about redistributing wealth upwards but also about the taking from the non-rich and the misery that causes.

Ayuh, I see it in a similar light.  The Dems are still a very right-wing, pro-military, pro-business party, but they have at least understood that you need to make a bit of an effort to look after the country as a whole.  I really can't fathom the GOP mindset; it seems to take great joy in kicking those who are already down.

Based on non-scientific observations of the (R)ethugs infesting the Ocean o'Sand --[a subset of the GOP, albeit not a minority one here]-- that mindset is driven by one of these situations:

1. Those who were born to some money and have never known want for anything essential to life or well-being.
Genuine lack of any empathy, fostered by attendance at hard-core 'bible believing' churches where the focus is on all the nasty parts of that book and complete indifference to any redeeming passages. True belief that anyone not enjoying the very best life has to offer has consciously, deliberately chosen their lot and should fester in it, in this life and the next.
2. Those who know damn well how close to to being one of "them" they actually are and are terrified by the prospect.
Their solution to dealing with fear is to identitfy with what they aspire to, even if the ever-more-extreme positions taken by that minority will bring about direct damage to themselves and their children. They believe, or pretend to believe, that absolute loyalty to a tiny minority of privelege means that they themselves are already enjoying that privelege -- perhaps not unlike the Calvinist belief that they are among a literal 144,000 from each of the twelve tribes destined for paradise?

[Griffin NoName]

I really can't fathom the GOP mindset; it seems to take great joy in kicking those who are already down.

It's the same as our Tory party. Recent quote to show that Lord wotsit (lots of dosh) understands the poor - you dont have to be a corpse to go to a funeral.