Page 9 of 11
Posted: 30 Oct 2008, 13:09
by sultan2075
You have to keep in mind, though: not all executive acts require legislative approval; in fact, most of them don't. Also a lot of the votes Representatives and Senators take that accord with the President are on what might be called meaningless feel-good legislation, such as Congressional recognition that the 17th of February will henceforth be used to honor those left-handed Americans who work in the bean-growing industry or some such thing. A lot of that happens.
Also... any body have any ideas why I am suddenly having to use Firefox to post instead of Safari? This is the third or fourth time Safari has just "hung"--as though it's waiting for the chance to time out.
Posted: 30 Oct 2008, 17:33
by markfiend
I know Daily Kos isn't always the best source around, but...
Daily Kos wrote:Dependence on foreign oil has left us beholden to unstable, in some case repugnant, regimes, just as defending those dwindling supplies has drained our Treasury, corrupted our diplomatic efforts, and wrecked our military readiness. A government led program geared toward developing sustainable, clean energy technology will inject sorely needed stimulus and jobs into a faltering economy as surely as any billionaire tax cut or trillion dollar bail out. Past experience indicates the spin-offs could include entirely new industries and create prosperity by the barrel full.
Once upon a time, not that long ago, even the rare conservative who freely admitted climate change was a problem whined that addressing it in any meaningful way would 'damage the US economy.' That concern is now revealed as beyond laughable in the face of a plummeting stock market and record home foreclosures. It's no longer enough for former denialists and paid skeptics to simply confront empirical reality before going back to business as usual. The issue now is what are we going to do about it. Anyone who thinks four more years of Bushism led by Exxon John McCain and Oil Field Sarah are better suited to spearhead a sincere and effective energy revolution needs to have their head examined.
Posted: 31 Oct 2008, 03:31
by sultan2075
I'd swear that three-to-five years ago W called on Congress in a SOTU address to do just that, i.e., dump a lot of money into developing clean alternative energy sources.
Posted: 31 Oct 2008, 15:11
by markfiend
Back to ACORN:
You do know that the GOP hasn't been able to provide evidence of a single fraudulent vote cast due to an ACORN registration? And not for want of trying.
Posted: 31 Oct 2008, 16:55
by sultan2075
That's because votes aren't correlated with names. I voted on Friday, and once that ballot is taken care of, there's no way of going back and saying that it was mine. That's why it's voter registration that matters. The ballot itself is secret and anonymous, and after it's cast it is impossible to know who cast it.
That being said, the FBI is investigating ACORN in a number of states.
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 16:42
by markfiend
Well, today's the day, all USAian HLers please go out and vote.
And may the best man win.
I'll be hanging on the edge of my seat when the results start coming in (probably overnight / early morning UK time; the Alaskan polls don't close until 6am GMT!)
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 16:59
by Nicole
Headed out now meself - hearing reports of long, long lines. At least the weather is pleasant - so if I have to stand in line outside I won't freeze. It's going to be a long night.
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 21:00
by Ozpat
Nicole wrote:Headed out now meself - hearing reports of long, long lines. At least the weather is pleasant - so if I have to stand in line outside I won't freeze. It's going to be a long night.
Saw long lines on the telly...
Constantly on here from now on till tomorrow. First results in about 3 hours. Would like to watch all night but have to work as well tomorrow....
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 21:17
by markfiend
Ozpat wrote:Would like to watch all night but have to work as well tomorrow....
Oh yeah, there is that
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 21:41
by markfiend
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 22:02
by Nicole
"...But don't let my wide-eyed, vacant stare fool you—as God as my witness, I will
shred your face into ribbons of tattered, flapping flesh with my bare fingernails if you even think about voting Democrat..."
Hmm.
Somehow that sort of line sounds better coming from
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 22:45
by psichonaut
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 23:17
by sultan2075
First exit polls should be released in a few minutes. One ought to take them with a grain of salt, however, as they are not based on actual votes but on respondents to polls, and may therefore be subject to selection error, etc, etc.
edit: make that one minute--5:15 Eastern. Which is something like eleventy-thirty for those of you on the metric system?
edit 2: They're slow. I guess I'll have to turn on the blasted television. Anyway, here's
The New Republic on why one ought not take the exit polls too seriously.
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 23:36
by euphoria
Interesting to see who wins, but I think not many envy the new president of the US.
Too big problems, too high expectations...
Posted: 04 Nov 2008, 23:53
by sultan2075
Oh, I agree. Being president for the next four years, no matter who you are, might well be considered the worst job in the world. There's a reason these guys look like they age ten years for every four they're in office.
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 00:06
by nodubmanshouts
I voted!
Not too bothered about the presidential, but I had to vote NO on Prop 8...
Civil rights, baby
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 05:24
by silentNate
Electoral Votes:-
McCain 145
Obama 333
McCain has given his consession speech.
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 05:35
by Garbageman
Obama is the next president of the USA....he has to do a better job then that current Muppet
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 05:36
by sultan2075
So... who thinks that as a result of this Israel will strike Iran before January 20th, 2009?
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 06:06
by EvilBastard
sultan2075 wrote:So... who thinks that as a result of this Israel will strike Iran before January 20th, 2009?
That will at least solve the problem of what to do with Israel - if the Palestinians want 8,000 square miles of irradiated desert to call their own...
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 07:46
by Ozpat
....and our Andrew will be a happy man.
Wonder if he's gonna mention it during the next gigs.
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 08:08
by Bartek
it's more than possible.
well it was a crash and smash who expect that results might look like that ? but agree that Obama could be president just for this next 4 years.
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 11:37
by markfiend
sultan2075 wrote:So... who thinks that as a result of this Israel will strike Iran before January 20th, 2009?
About as likely as someone offing Obama...
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 13:14
by markfiend
My main worry now is that, similarly to the upbeat feeling in the air when Blair won the '97 election here, expectations will be so high that Obama can't help but fail to live up to them.
Posted: 05 Nov 2008, 13:58
by Quiff Boy
markfiend wrote:My main worry now is that, similarly to the upbeat feeling in the air when Blair won the '97 election here, expectations will be so high that Obama can't help but fail to live up to them.
yeah, that had occurred to me too
