USA Politics
- Thread starter Genghis Khan
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bearfan
Ancient Mariner
Reading stories that Christie might get in the race with Perry tanking, I think he is the best possible GOP candidate for 2012.
Also, this poll really shows how far Obama has fallen
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64289.html
Also, this poll really shows how far Obama has fallen
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64289.html
Christie would be interesting; I think he is a poor choice with little real experience (and yes, I felt this way about Obama too), but he would run a strong campaign.
People said Perry was the guy; I'm pretty sure that the rules for Perry apply to Christie - it may be too late for Christie (or Palin) to establish themselves. Obama's hard up right now, but a year remains a long time. We'll see how he polls against Christie.
Most polls show him besting both Romney and Bachmann and tying Perry, so he's not done dinner yet. It's really a case of "We don't like those guys, but we don't like THIS guy." Gonna be a nasty race.
People said Perry was the guy; I'm pretty sure that the rules for Perry apply to Christie - it may be too late for Christie (or Palin) to establish themselves. Obama's hard up right now, but a year remains a long time. We'll see how he polls against Christie.
Most polls show him besting both Romney and Bachmann and tying Perry, so he's not done dinner yet. It's really a case of "We don't like those guys, but we don't like THIS guy." Gonna be a nasty race.
D
Deleted member 7164
Guest
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
It has been on the news quite a bit, it is the #1 story (at least the arrest of the people on the Brooklyn Bridge) in Google News, but I think most people assume they are a small collection of leftist whack jobs and this will pretty much end tomorrow when Wall Street opens.
I don't think they are crazy lefties. I'd be pretty pissed off at Wall Street too. Those protests are spreading throughout major financial centres. As long as they don't go nuts and pull a London, I think it's okay.
A lot of the reports I see from those protests are conflicting (as they always are), but the images have been of pretty brutal police crackdowns. Either way, people are right to be pretty pissed at corporations posting record profits in a recession.
A lot of the reports I see from those protests are conflicting (as they always are), but the images have been of pretty brutal police crackdowns. Either way, people are right to be pretty pissed at corporations posting record profits in a recession.
Some journalists are claiming the bridges were blocked by NYPD when they made their arrests. Not sure really. Blocking bridges is a bad idea. Anyway, people have a right to protest peacefully, which is what this seems to be mostly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/us/ne ... tml?ref=us
Dirty tricks to reduce voter registration. Voter fraud in the USA isn't at all prevalent according to international watchdogs. Hell, the head of the GOP in Maine actually got up and said "I have in my hand a list" to try to freak people out. Fuck.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/us/ne ... tml?ref=us
Dirty tricks to reduce voter registration. Voter fraud in the USA isn't at all prevalent according to international watchdogs. Hell, the head of the GOP in Maine actually got up and said "I have in my hand a list" to try to freak people out. Fuck.
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
Hard to tell about the Bridge Blocking, when I used to live in San Francisco, I can tell you it was a fairly common protest tactic and it really pissed me off. Beyond the safety hazzard, it made me miss a flight once because some group protesting a lack of bike lanes blocked the Golden Gate Bridge. I am not sure how they think making people late will win them over to their cause. Even if they were advocating "anyone with a sceen name BearFan gets 10 million dollars", I would still have the urge to "Illinois Nazi" them ala the Blues Brothers.
I tend to doubt voter fraud is all that wisespread, but it is worth noting one Democratic state (RI) passed pretty much the same law and I think the article you poseted failed to mention that
most of these laws provide for giving free ID cards and allowing the casting of provisional ballots. I assume the ACORN activities have been a reason behind this combined with the general feeling that there are at least some non-US citizens voting. I also recall in the 2004 Presidential election, people in swing states were offering addresses to people in non swing states to use to register for mail in ballots.
There have certainly been massive cases of voter fraud up to the 1960s, but I think it is much less now. Though these claims of voter fraud come from both sides, recall the "I pressed Kerry/Gore, but it voted for Bush" claims of machine rigging
Also, in typical government fashion, with more and more people voting via mail (and soon on the internet), these laws are already behind the times the second they are passed.
I tend to doubt voter fraud is all that wisespread, but it is worth noting one Democratic state (RI) passed pretty much the same law and I think the article you poseted failed to mention that
most of these laws provide for giving free ID cards and allowing the casting of provisional ballots. I assume the ACORN activities have been a reason behind this combined with the general feeling that there are at least some non-US citizens voting. I also recall in the 2004 Presidential election, people in swing states were offering addresses to people in non swing states to use to register for mail in ballots.
There have certainly been massive cases of voter fraud up to the 1960s, but I think it is much less now. Though these claims of voter fraud come from both sides, recall the "I pressed Kerry/Gore, but it voted for Bush" claims of machine rigging
Also, in typical government fashion, with more and more people voting via mail (and soon on the internet), these laws are already behind the times the second they are passed.
Voter fraud protections has taken huge leaps in the USA since 1960. Nobody will really know who won that election, ever, because it was so brutally done. The NY Times article does fail to mention that RI passed a similar law, and I will look into that later.
Machine rigging could be done - I don't really trust machines for voting. Nothing like marking an X for me. Machines seem a little unnecessary.
Machine rigging could be done - I don't really trust machines for voting. Nothing like marking an X for me. Machines seem a little unnecessary.
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
The NY Times article does mention this passing in RI, the article does not mention provisional ballots/access to free IDs.
I think there is equal (if not greater) possibilities of fraud with paper ballots, (they can go missing) and flat out human error. I know when I vote via machine, it shows you who/what you voted for at the end, gives a chance to correct, and prints you out a receipt at the end. I suppose it can be rigged, but I do think it reduces voter error and errors in the count (not to mention it can tabulate results quicker).
I think there is equal (if not greater) possibilities of fraud with paper ballots, (they can go missing) and flat out human error. I know when I vote via machine, it shows you who/what you voted for at the end, gives a chance to correct, and prints you out a receipt at the end. I suppose it can be rigged, but I do think it reduces voter error and errors in the count (not to mention it can tabulate results quicker).
See, I'm of the opposite opinion. Machine counts are easy to alter. An error in code could end up with tons of votes being lost. What if the hard drive crashes the day of the election? Paper ballots can get lost, but it's pretty easy to have them secure.
In Canada, all paper ballots are placed into a pre-sealed box. These boxes are only opened with scrutineers handy, and each district only opens their boxes once all are recovered. Slow? Maybe. Human error? Of course, but that's why recounts are automatic within a certain margin of error. Voter fraud? Never.
In Canada, all paper ballots are placed into a pre-sealed box. These boxes are only opened with scrutineers handy, and each district only opens their boxes once all are recovered. Slow? Maybe. Human error? Of course, but that's why recounts are automatic within a certain margin of error. Voter fraud? Never.
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
Honestly, I am not sure and the way the US does elections, how the machines work will be different from state to state (and even different within some states). I would assume there is some redundancy in the hardware to prevent a single (or even multiple) drive failures from causing a data loss and adequate testing of the software should prevent errors, in reality it is not really all that complex of a task, ordering a product on Amazon is far more complex than registering a vote.
Some (if not all) states do offer a paper or machine option as well if voters have a preference and obviously all mail in is paper. Some states have paper ballot that is scanned into the machine and counted there, but the paper is there for backup, that might actually be the best system as they have a backup and they count the paper to ensure it matches the machine counts as a post-election check to verify the machines counted correctly.
Of course, the big push for machines came from the 2000 election and the Florida hanging chads/butterfly ballots, etc.
Supreme Court Term opens up today, there are huge issues this term
1) The AZ and/or AL immigration will come to the court to decide if immigration power is solely with the Feds or not
2) The Health Care Law and the individual mandate is sure to hit the court, though the court can punt on this for now since the mandate does not kick in to 2014 and rule no one has standing yet.
3) There is a big affirmitive action case from the University of Texas (2 white students and an asian denied admission in favor of lesser qualified (other) minorities
4) Some interesting privcacy cases around police using GPS to track people and determine if there is a right to privacy while on a public street
5) Seems fair to say some gay marriage (Prop 8 from CA most likely) will come to the court.
Also possible there will be medical marijuana cases where federal and state laws conflict.
Some (if not all) states do offer a paper or machine option as well if voters have a preference and obviously all mail in is paper. Some states have paper ballot that is scanned into the machine and counted there, but the paper is there for backup, that might actually be the best system as they have a backup and they count the paper to ensure it matches the machine counts as a post-election check to verify the machines counted correctly.
Of course, the big push for machines came from the 2000 election and the Florida hanging chads/butterfly ballots, etc.
Supreme Court Term opens up today, there are huge issues this term
1) The AZ and/or AL immigration will come to the court to decide if immigration power is solely with the Feds or not
2) The Health Care Law and the individual mandate is sure to hit the court, though the court can punt on this for now since the mandate does not kick in to 2014 and rule no one has standing yet.
3) There is a big affirmitive action case from the University of Texas (2 white students and an asian denied admission in favor of lesser qualified (other) minorities
4) Some interesting privcacy cases around police using GPS to track people and determine if there is a right to privacy while on a public street
5) Seems fair to say some gay marriage (Prop 8 from CA most likely) will come to the court.
Also possible there will be medical marijuana cases where federal and state laws conflict.
I'm going to guess the following:
1. Yes 7-2 majority w/Scalia & Thomas dissenting.
2. Individual mandate is constitutional 6-3 w/Alito, Scalia & Thomas dissenting
3. This affirmative action was unconstititonal 5-4 cons vs. pros.
4. No idea how this is going to break down but I bet it'll be ruled they're allowed to track people.
5. Anti-gay marriage amendments are unconstitutional 5-4 Alito Thomas Scalia and Roberts dissenting.
1. Yes 7-2 majority w/Scalia & Thomas dissenting.
2. Individual mandate is constitutional 6-3 w/Alito, Scalia & Thomas dissenting
3. This affirmative action was unconstititonal 5-4 cons vs. pros.
4. No idea how this is going to break down but I bet it'll be ruled they're allowed to track people.
5. Anti-gay marriage amendments are unconstitutional 5-4 Alito Thomas Scalia and Roberts dissenting.
D
Deleted member 7164
Guest
The whole digital voting software platform should be open-sourced and peer reviewed; it's authenticity backed up by TPMs (trusted platform module). The voting boxes should be off-line. Voting results should be manually reported to central and voting computer's persistent storage returned as evidence.
I don't support whole on-line voting cause fraud can happen anywhere on the network. But we should avoid paper because of additional man-labour and ecological issues.
Really, digital voting is so fucking simple. I could engineer a perfectly secure solution in a matter of few days on the voting room level. Make a million of those and there you go.
I don't support whole on-line voting cause fraud can happen anywhere on the network. But we should avoid paper because of additional man-labour and ecological issues.
Really, digital voting is so fucking simple. I could engineer a perfectly secure solution in a matter of few days on the voting room level. Make a million of those and there you go.
D
Deleted member 7164
Guest
It's not a whole voting system. Think of a webpage that has two buttons and the entered choice gets written to file.
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
Looks like Christie will announce today that he is not running, which is too bad, I think he could have been really good. That combined with Perry being disappointing in the debates and losing Tea Party support over immigration pretty much makes this Romney's race to lose.