Who do you like?

[madeinrussia89]

I like Stephen Colbert.

I am America! (And so can you!).

Or Vladimir Putin, yeah, that sounds like a recipe for good foreign policies.
(Da, I vant you to slieep deez polonium chit into hees doughnut)

But in all seriousness, I like none of the current candidates.

I vote for a Republican, I get screwed on the war in Iraq, abortion rights, and the environment.

I vote for a Democrat, and I'm probably going to get screwed on Iraq anyway, and definately on illegal immigration.

[China Cat Sunflower]

Dennis Kucinich is asking that supporters of his motion to begin impeachment proceedings against VP Dick Cheney send him supportive e-mails that he can present to Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Conyers.

impeachment@kucinich.us

If you care please show your support.

Chris

[wil]

Originally Posted by China Cat Sunflower

Ron Paul was on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer tonight but I missed it.

Alternative Party politics fascinates me. An old girlfriend of mine once ran for Lt. Gov. of California on the Natural Law Party ticket. I wonder what Nader is planning this time.

Ron Paul $4mm in one day! Natural Law Party, I worked for Hagelin twice. Watched Buchanon's gang run away with the nomination on a technicality, Hagelin would've been on two ballets if one gavel had been pounded.

[China Cat Sunflower]

Originally Posted by wil

Ron Paul $4mm in one day! Natural Law Party, I worked for Hagelin twice. Watched Buchanon's gang run away with the nomination on a technicality, Hagelin would've been on two ballets if one gavel had been pounded.

Yeah, I read about Paul's haul. Pretty cool!

A funny thing happened: Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy.

Chris

[Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine]

You can see who I want to vote for here: http://www.comparative-religion.com/...ould-7375.html

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

[wil]

Originally Posted by China Cat Sunflower

A funny thing happened: Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy.

I marriage and reconciliation made on a plane trip to Israel I hear... quite the scary bedmates, I wonder what promises were made to illicit that. They are diametrically opposed on so many issues, could it be that Pat thinks Rudy is the only one that can beat Hillary and it is a lesser of two evils?

[flowperson]

My intuition tells me that if Rudy gets the nod, then Pat will be the next vice.

Deals like this are made all the time between full fledged members of the "empire".

And it makes a perverse sort of sense in terms of the GOP trying to unite the splintered right wing with some of the rest of the Republicans who still might possess a degree of sanity.

flow....

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by flowperson

My intuition tells me that if Rudy gets the nod, then Pat will be the next vice.

Deals like this are made all the time between full fledged members of the "empire".

And it makes a perverse sort of sense in terms of the GOP trying to unite the splintered right wing with some of the rest of the Republicans who still might possess a degree of sanity.

flow....

Eeeeeekkk!!!!

That would be enough to scare any sane Republican to a third party!

[flowperson]

Hi SG...Indeed a scary thought, but then I am motivated to ask...WHAT THIRD PARTY ?

After brother Perot's two runs for President it was as though the donkeys and elephants went into stampede mode and made an unholy bargain with each other to do whatever it took to forever banish the idea and possibility of there EVER being a viable third party in the USA.

Look what happened to Ralph Nader last election. He had to sell his soul to both the donkeys and elephants to just get his name on the ballot in many states simply because he pulled so many votes in the 2000 election running on the Green party ticket. No my dear, we now have a Plutocracy of the Reds and Blues, and they will allow no one else to enter the game no matter what it takes to maintain that status quo.

Just look at the great number of candidates in both herds so early this time. Subliminally this says that there are so many good and qualified people in each party that we shouldn't even think "third party". Think that's a coincidence? Nope, just another facet of the overall "grand exclusion" strategy to prevent a viable third party.

No in my book this is all a recipie for political disaster for both parties and eventually the nation as a whole. For the past few years I've been telling whoever asks me about it that both parties are now in the "terminally corrupt" stage of their lives.

flow....

[Pathless]

Originally Posted by China Cat Sunflower

Dennis Kucinich is asking that supporters of his motion to begin impeachment proceedings against VP Dick Cheney send him supportive e-mails that he can present to Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Conyers.

impeachment@kucinich.us

If you care please show your support.

Chris

Sweet. Thanks, Chris.

[wil]

I don't believe Kucinich will get any impeachment proceedings off the floor. He'll never get enough democratic support, this is a 'don't rock the boat we have a chance to regain the white house and more seats in congress and senate moment' rocking the boat will be perceived by their policy wonks as looking petty in the eyes of too many swing votin constituents.

As for third parties, I don't know if I ever expect to see a third party elected to President in my lifetime or even my kids. What I do expect is the same as the past. Perot or Ralph Nader get enough votes to cause the two major parties to open their eyes and co-op the most favorable ideas. Perot gave us a balanced budget for a decade, and the green party is changing the way we look at recycling, renewable resources, pollution, etc. Both parties back, and vote for these bills now. I see that continuing, vote for the people who have policies you want enacted even if you don't expect them to win, support them, work with them, campaign for them, get their ideas co-opted.

I still expect Ron Paul to make a showing in the primaries and then shift to the Libertarian Party for the national election....that is where his ideals mostly fit.

[Muslimwoman]

May I make a suggestion please. Get the rest of the world to vote too, I think you would end up with a foreigner as President with all the confidence we have in that list of names.

[Pathless]

Interesting piece on race and Barack Obama here:

Michael Fauntroy: Obama's Struggle With Black America - Politics on The Huffington Post.

Not political race, you know, but the race issue that people generally don't like to talk about so much. Of course, the piece is written by whitey (I can say that and get away with it only because I am whitey. Oh to be politically incorrect...).

[Pathless]

Originally Posted by wil

I don't believe Kucinich will get any impeachment proceedings off the floor. He'll never get enough democratic support, this is a 'don't rock the boat we have a chance to regain the white house and more seats in congress and senate moment' rocking the boat will be perceived by their policy wonks as looking petty in the eyes of too many swing votin constituents.

You are very probably right. Part of me still thinks that is our problem as apathetic and unengaged citizens--not enough people putting the pressure on through initiatives like the one Kucinich is using with the e-mail thing. But the more realistic and cynical part of me recognizes that this has less to do with citizen apathy than it does with the cynical mechanics of the larger political machinery that is the United States government.

So I find you post slightly depressing, wil, and slightly cynical, yet I do recognize the truth in it. Damn it.

Yay for democracy. Can you see me half-heartedly waving my tattered American flag?

By the way, they gave me an "I voted" sticker on Tuesday when I handed in my ballot. I stuck that sticker on the nearest urinal.

[wil]

Originally Posted by Pathless

... But the more realistic and cynical part of me recognizes that this has less to do with citizen apathy than it does with the cynical mechanics of the larger political machinery that is the United States government.

So I find you post slightly depressing, wil, and slightly cynical, yet I do recognize the truth in it. Damn it.

I see it like this. I vote. I email. I call my representatives. I mail them. They or their staffers are aware of me. Who knows how much they groan. But each of us can be that squeaky wheel that makes a difference, plants the seed, bends the ear. It is possible, why?? Because of the glory that so many are apathetic and prefer to sit on their couch and whine.

Don't you know that is the big secret lobbyists don't want us to know? They have rules and regs due to their millions of dollars and influence. Us little guys causing a ruckus we have the same amount of power, and the power of numbers multiplies that huge, especially in your little local gov't races that are won and lost by a few thousand or a few hundred votes! Oh they want you to pull that lever. Now do I want every apathetic ass to get out and vote, HELL NO, stay at home, don't call, don't email, you don't have the impetus anyway, don't drag them to the polls and water down my capabilities!!

So that is the blessing, the system, it has a path, it has a good ole boy network, it has its muck and mire, and all we need to do is choose to navigate it. I support Kucinich, but his time and his principles are not here yet, but the fact that he is up on that podium, shaking that tree, making impossible proposals, sponsoring bills that will not fly today, puts wind in the sails and plants the seeds of tomorrow.

Don't be depressed, revel in the fact that all can still be accomplished in this democratic republic, the oligarchy does not have a complete foothold when they bow to the whims of the consumer, our dollars and our actions have fueled change, Al Gore didn't invent the internet or global warming but he saw a wave that was pushed by us and he jumped on the surf board and rode it to shore.

Pick a wave.