Yesterday's U.S. elections

George H · 2002-11-06 08:14:54

Well, I know not everyone here's a U.S. citizen, but I'd like to know what other American's here think about yesterday's election results. Anyone here surprised Jeb Bush got Governor of Florida again?? Or that the Republicans made the sweep? Did the people you vote for win? I vote "independent" in case your wondering. I wish the Democrat's were the majority, but look's like that aint' the case...............................

turbo · 2002-11-06 08:31:27

I figured Jeb was going to get it. That's fine by me, the Republican sweep was a little surprising.

I did find out that: A) Smoking is no longer allowed outside one's vehicle or home. I wonder what the politcs plan to do as the sports bars die off as the smokers stay home to watch games. I'd like to have some land just over the Georgia line right now.

and B) pregnant pigs in Florida may no longer be caged, tethered, or otherwise restrained. I have heard this little gem is now a Amendment to the Florida Constitution!

I guess now emigrating to New Mexico is out, unless Cindy knows how a former resident of Alamogordo can claim temporary insanity and move back.

Uh, Shaun, would the Land Down Under let me claim political refugee status?

turbo

Palomar · 2002-11-06 08:39:10

Well, I know not everyone here's a U.S. citizen, but I'd like to know what other American's here think about yesterday's election results. Anyone here surprised Jeb Bush got Governor of Florida again?? Or that the Republicans made the sweep? Did the people you vote for win? I vote "independent" in case your wondering. I wish the Democrat's were the majority, but look's like that aint' the case...............................

*Strange, isn't it, how Florida's "voting irregularities" -NEVER- work against the Republicans! Yep, that's mighty peculiar.

Jeb Bush got it again...big surprise! Not.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2002-11-06 08:45:26

Turbo: Smoking is no longer allowed outside one's vehicle or home.

*Huh?! You mean people aren't allowed to smoke in Florida on their own property, like in their own back yard? Or am I misunderstanding you? :0

Turbo: I guess now emigrating to New Mexico is out, unless Cindy knows how a former resident of Alamogordo can claim temporary insanity and move back.

*Hmmmm. Well, it takes 6 months before residency is recognized. So you've lived in Alamogordo? My husband and I visit there maybe once every 2 years, if we're headed Cloudcroft-way.

--Cindy

Byron · 2002-11-06 09:32:17

Turbo: Smoking is no longer allowed outside one's vehicle or home.
*Huh?! You mean people aren't allowed to smoke in Florida on their own property, like in their own back yard? Or am I misunderstanding you? :0

I'm a resident of Florida, and yes, I voted to ban smoking in most 'public' places...which is defined as a "workplace." This includes bars, restaurants, or any other place where people are having to perform their job. It does NOT mean that people can't smoke outside..especially on their own property!

The reason I voted for this amendment is to protect the rights of wait staff, bartenders, etc...why should they have to endure second-hand smoke as part of their work environment? Also, I have been to California several times, and I find it quite a pleasure to be able to go into a bar and not have your clothes reek of nasty smoke after 5-10 minutes..and the idea of non-smoking areas inside restaurants doesn't really work...if you want to have a smoke..the door is usually only a few feet away..and the smokers out there really don't mind, either...after all, it gives them a chance to catch a breath of fresh air along with their smoke!!

The deal with the pigs...LOL :0 I voted "no" on that one...but I guess pigs have rights too...so I'm not knocking the folks that voted that one in, as silly as that admendment was.

The admendment the concerns me the most in this great state, however, is the class-size admendment..it passed by a wide margin...but how to pay for it? Like the bullet-train proposal that passed in 2000, there are no funds earmarked to pay for these new, burdensome requirements...so higher taxes are soon to follow.. ???

B

TJohn · 2002-11-06 11:27:04

Maybe now we can get nuclear propulsion systems off the ground!

turbo · 2002-11-06 11:47:08

Fabulous idea TJohn! I hereby nominate the Jacksonville City Planning Commission as the test subjects! The savings from the salaries can be donated to the smaller-classes initiative.

The same process currently used, (apply legs of ant to stamp-pad, release ant on city map, areas ant circles are new housing developments, rest are two lane roads that are never further expanded), can be performed by any one of the chimpanzees currently in the zoo.

Hmmmm, proximity to Kennedy Space Center and the transmitters of the moles, the closer to Kennedy the worse the ability of the voters to perform.

I got it! How about next time we add an amendment to make dogs legal dependents for tax purposes AND House Representation? Bigger voice in Congress, tax breaks for rednecks, all in one package! The "Rover Rights Admendment" sounds better than "Preggie Piggie" right?

Hey, where's my metal hat?

Palomar · 2002-11-06 13:16:25

Hey, where's my metal hat?

*Maybe an alligator snapped it up. Baby alligators do their teething on metal helmets, you know.

--Cindy

Josh Cryer · 2002-11-06 14:52:06

No-win situation for the Democrats.

The Democrats didn't have many issues to go on. ?Homeland Security? was the central point of most elections country-wide. Plus we have a slight media bias which goes in the Republicans favor.

All in all, I think it was a fair election. As fair as elections can be in a plutocracy at least.

clark · 2002-11-06 16:33:01

On the plus side, depending on your view, Bush jr prospects for another term just got reduced.

Both houses Republican? The President, Republican? The Supreme Court, majority Republican?

No one left to blame but the Republicans.

Oh yeah, whatever happened to commapsionate conservatism....? That's right, it's called war.

Phobos · 2002-11-06 19:51:47

I'll be honest, I voted straight Republican with the exception of one Libertarian.

Shaun Barrett · 2002-11-06 20:33:41

Hello to all my American cousins!

I hope you don't mind my getting into this discussion, but I'm curious about something.
Here in the Great Southern Land, we have the Liberal/National Coalition (corresponding roughly to your Republican Party) and the Australian Labor Party (broadly the equivalent of your Democratic Party). We often get a situation where the number of representatives elected on each side is close to even, or a majority in the House of Representatives is countered somewhat by an opposing majority in the Senate. Anyhow, the bottom line in such a situation is that "nobody can do nuthin' 'bout nuthin"!! Even if everybody agrees that something is a good idea, half of 'em won't vote for it out of sheer spite!

As I understand it, George W has been pretty much hog-tied in a similar way up to now, but this election has given him the majorities he's wanted in both houses. Correct?

Is this of any use to us Mars nuts?! Which of your main parties is more sympathetic to space exploration, the democrats or the Republicans? Or is it a mixed bag?
:0

Byron · 2002-11-07 07:15:36

Hello to all my American cousins!
I hope you don't mind my getting into this discussion, but I'm curious about something.
Here in the Great Southern Land, we have the Liberal/National Coalition (corresponding roughly to your Republican Party) and the Australian Labor Party (broadly the equivalent of your Democratic Party). We often get a situation where the number of representatives elected on each side is close to even, or a majority in the House of Representatives is countered somewhat by an opposing majority in the Senate. Anyhow, the bottom line in such a situation is that "nobody can do nuthin' 'bout nuthin"!! Even if everybody agrees that something is a good idea, half of 'em won't vote for it out of sheer spite!
As I understand it, George W has been pretty much hog-tied in a similar way up to now, but this election has given him the majorities he's wanted in both houses. Correct?
Is this of any use to us Mars nuts?! Which of your main parties is more sympathetic to space exploration, the democrats or the Republicans? Or is it a mixed bag?
:0

Yes, you are correct that the single-party majorities will enable Mr Bush to carry out his objectives...the minority party can still throw up procedural roadblocks, but Bush will no longer be 'hog-tied' when it comes to domestic issues such as cutting taxes for the wealthy, protecting the rights of businesses, etc...

As to which party is more sympathetic to space exploration, I'm sorry to say it's neither at the moment. Space exploration is so far down on the list of political priorities these days that it has has become almost irrelevant :angry:

What can we expect for the near future? War, for one thing. More taxes are cut, even as government expenditures continue to soar...so monster-sized budget deficits are here to stay, even as the dreaded date in 2011 approaches when the first of the Baby Boomers reach retirement age, and we need to have all this money 'in the bank' by then to pay for it. Pro-business legislation should boost the economy in the short-term, but woe to anyone that needs health insurance...if current trends continue, the U.S. health care system will have fallen to 3rd world standards in ten years.

Overall, I have to agree with clark...with a single party in the majority, it's far easier to blame the government when things go haywire..lol..

Shaun, one thing I'd like to ask you, if you don't mind...

What is the deal with the extremely restrictive immigration quotas Down Under? With all that room you have down there, surely the gracious people of Australia could easily allow much higher levels of imigration..imagine what kind of economic powerhouse Australia would be if it had a 100 million people. At the very least, can't the government at least allow open immigration from other English-speaking countries such as the U.S.?

Believe it or not, there are many Americans (like me ) who would *love* to live in a place where you don't have to worry about getting sick, you get 4+ weeks of minimum vacation, where labor unions reign supreme and bosses are a hated species (at least that's what I saw during my visit in the 80's...has things changed since then?), and the populace places a greater emphasis on spending time with family and having a good time rather than working all the time just to make that extra buck. Another thing that inspires me about Australia is their forward-looking stance towards the future...Aussies must be some of the most optimistic people on the planet..

B

clark · 2002-11-07 08:41:40

Byron is right about the parties concern over space exploration. However, if you're an optimistic sort, you might believe that given Texas is developing a space launch capability (GW home state) and Florida has an exsisting one (Jeb Bush), one might hope that the personal connection of Bush himself might lead to greater emphisis of space exploration.

The tax cuts will probably not happen if for no other reason than the Democrats would slaughter the Republicans over fiscal irresponsibility. More than likely there will be a roll back of exsisting environmental regulations for buisness- there will be greater emphisis on reducing liability for business as well (those billion dollar settlement suits are a thing of the past).

The basic checks and balances for our government are kind of undermined by having one politcal party have a majority in all branches of government, so it will be interesting to see what an unrestricted government in a near state of war will do...

GW biggest problem is going to be preventing legislation from reaching his desk that is wanted by the far right in his party (the legislation will alienate moderates and independants come next elections)- the president will be hard pressed to use a veto power on a republican dominated congress- if he does, he alienates his base supporters in the Republican party.

Perhaps we should start some rumors that there are an unknown amount of oil reserves on Mars- that seems to get the current administrations attention... I wonder why.

Palomar · 2002-11-07 09:24:03

I'll be honest, I voted straight Republican with the exception of one Libertarian.

*Aaaaauuuughhh!!! Phobos, how COULD YOU!?!?

I voted a straight Democratic ticket this time around, though I have to admit I was glad to hear Elizabeth Dole won the senate seat for North Carolina! I think she's an excellent politician.

Well, on the bright side, Clark's right: With the Republicans in control, there's no one left to blame but them... Yippee!

Re-elect Gore in '04!

--Cindy

dickbill · 2002-11-07 12:08:33

Hi all,

As an "imported" american in the way to have triple nationality, I don't worry much about the republican's victory. That won't change a lot of things in this old planet. That's why I'd like to see a new civilization starting over on Mars. My only concern is that more money here in the US will go for the army, maybe in an expensive orbital system defense and less money will be spend for research and space exploration, in what extend, that's the question.

Josh Cryer · 2002-11-07 12:20:36

Re-elect Gore in '04!

Oooh, Cindy, you rock.

AltToWar · 2002-11-07 13:24:48

This sudden, artificial 'Crisis in Iraq' has proved to be a mervelous stratigy for GWB.

Expect to see more wars on election years at september and october.

It's suprising how manipulated the american public allows itself to be, given that this nation was founded by people who questioned athority.

Nevermind that Afghanistan's government is held together with a thread and boatloads of US cash. Nevermind that Osama BinLaden is still at large, along with his highest ranking accomplises.

George Bush is all about homeland secuity. We feel safe now that he's kicking 3rd world country ass!

Please ignore that the very same commistion that predicted the ignored warnings about 9/11 are still to this day issuing warnings that terrorism on the US is just as likely to stike now as it was 2 years ago.

Were gonna kick Iraq's Ass. If you need a reason why, your a pinko commie bastard.

For the pinko commie bastards, here's our reasons. Iraq has used Chemical Weapons in the past. Saddam might be tring to build a neucular weapon. Saddam is connected to Al Quida.

Please do not recall that the US was finantially supporting Iraq while it used those chemical weapons. It might not have mattered then but it does now. Then it was much more convienient to suppress this information, but now that we are after Iraq we will let it surface.

Please dont notice the lack of hard evidence that Iraq has a neucular capability. No we have no evidence of any kind, but that never stopped us before.

Please forget that Osama Bin Laden has spoken aginst Saddam on many occasions, that Osama wants Saddam out of Iraq as much as we do.

Remember Saddam and Osama are both Arabs from the Middle east. They must be in Kahoots with eachother.

Also please note that both Saddam and Osama are Muslims. Further evidence that they are working together.

Because Saddam might one day perhaps possibly decide to do somthing mean to the United States, we have decided to go kick their asses nowm, and save us time.

Please disreguard that saddam has remained effectively contained for over a decade, and that all intelligence reports has shown that Saddams military capability is currently next to nil.

We in the US are setting an example with the Doctirne of Preemptive strike. Please watch as the world follows our glorius example.

India nukes Pakisan in a Preemptive strike.

China carpet bombs tiwan in yet another preemptive strike.

Israel Napalms the west bank in yet another preemptive strike.

What a fine example we at america will set for the world.

While our education system declines, we in america will spend more money then we do for our entire k-12 education system country wide, and create a war for political gain.

Oh! and please, dont let the idea that iraq being the worlds second largest oil reserve come into your thinking of why were looking to set up a McRegime Change there.

Have a good day, and God Bless the ?nited States of ?merika!

clark · 2002-11-07 14:18:04

It's suprising how manipulated the american public allows itself to be, given that this nation was founded by people who questioned athority.

I always thought we were founded by people who just didn't want to pay their taxes.

Palomar · 2002-11-07 14:28:21

It's suprising how manipulated the american public allows itself to be, given that this nation was founded by people who questioned athority.
I always thought we were founded by people who just didn't want to pay their taxes.

*People are easy to manipulate when they're intellectually lazy and/or apathetic.

Clark: We broke away from England because we were sick and tired of DRINKING TEA! Yeah. That was the -real- impetus for the Boston Tea Party, not taxes. Yo King George, take your tea leaves and shove it! Hail Pepsi Cola!

--Cindy

dickbill · 2002-11-07 15:36:15

(Robot: I don't like Osama Bin laden and Saddam Hussein. I hate them ! Bad Saddam ! Saddam = Axis of Evil)

Hi list,

If you want to continue on rumours: for me, the most disturbing rumour was that Osama Bind Laden was used by the CIA for informations, then that Osama had a kidney surgery in an arab country some weeks before Sept. 11, this in presence of a CIA agent who knew about it. You can read that on internet, I hope it's not completely true....I add here, just in case an internet "key word searching robot" classify my post as "anti-uhmarican" that: I don't like Osama Bin laden and Saddam Hussein. I hate them ! Bad Saddam ! Saddam = Axis of Evil.

That secret US agent plays with the arab countries to support US interests is not new. US are not alone, French do the same, remember the Rainbow Warrior ship of Greenpeace, sunk by french secret agents, unfortunatly with some people on board. The english like that game too.

I don't know about Irak (I am not so sure about a war) but I am afraid that american people gonna have to pay a big bill in the future, why ? here is the point:
As Sadam Hussain gonna die one day, the sooner the better, Iraki's people gonna have a more democratic government in the future, maybe in 10 maybe in 20 years, but it's ineluctable, and it's good. But, as those now free Iraki's people will remember the trade blocus of the 90's for food and wealth, I am pretty sure they will suit USA in international courts for the "unjustified casualties of war". Examples: "my brother was starved to death because of the blocus, myself had no antibiotic and had to be amputated, I lost an arm because a US bomb felt on my school while I was a kid, now I want money to compensate, etc etc".

This is a recent recurent pattern: jewish families requesting money compensation for the holocaust, same for forced french workers in german factory, 50 years after. African american requesting money for having been enslaved, 200 years latter, same for Indian americans, legally elected yougoslavian president put in jail for his politic 20 years after. People requesting billions of dollars because they smoked and they "didn't know" smoking gives cancer, etc.

Conclusion: what is legal and acceptable NOW might be juged unlawful in 30 years, and we see that legal, international pursuits can be undertaken as long as hundreds of years later.

Well, I guess some billions of dollars are no big deal for america, It's just that nobody like the idea to pay for the mistakes of the past.

(I don't like Osama Bin laden and Saddam Hussein. I hate them ! Bad Saddam ! Saddam = Axis of Evil

I don't like Osama Bin laden and Saddam Hussein. I hate them ! Bad Saddam ! Saddam = Axis of Evil

I don't like Osama Bin laden and Saddam Hussein. I hate them ! Bad Saddam ! Saddam = Axis of Evil. OK Robot ?)

back to Mars now,

AltToWar · 2002-11-07 15:51:23

We could land manned missions on mars 3 times over with the money we will spend on glassing over iraq.

The war on iraq is a political manuver.

George W. Bush = Axis of Evil

Hello CIA Robot, please place me on your file.

Josh Cryer · 2002-11-07 17:10:08

I always thought we were founded by people who just didn't want to pay their taxes.

Don't forget. Very rich people who didn't want to pay their taxes. Just about every leader in our nation over the centuries has been very wealthy. Most people don't realize that.

clark · 2002-11-07 17:22:52

You mean we are ruled by the RICH?! Say it ain't so!

Something about maintaing the staus quo- what was that all about?

A.J.Armitage · 2002-11-08 01:27:35

Phobos;

I voted the same way. The only Republican I didn't vote for was also our only statewide candidate to win.

Normally I'm disgusted by people who approve of or gloat over prison rape, but in the case of the outgoing governor, I say punk that bitch out. He ran to the LEFT of his opponent four years ago on EVERY issue, and then spent his time in office running the state party into the ground. He threatened a minister whose children got burned to death because of his correption when the minister offered to pray for him. And now on the way out he's holding hearings on blanket amnesty for all death-row inmates, making the victim's families come testify, yet again, about what these people did to them. It's going to be fun watching him get carted off to jail in chains. If I can I think I'll even go watch in person so I can yell obscenities at him. Bastard.

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