Green Irony

I went to check my links on my last post only to find that the McKinney website, votetruth08.com was... utterly blank. Cracked, but not defaced? What's going on? I hit reload a couple times before checking google's cache for the site, which contained the following, which only heightened the irony...

Green Party becomes the first party to endorse the Standing For Voters pledge to defend election integrity

• Green national candidates McKinney and Clemente sign on, along with other Green candidates; Greens cite their leadership role in the 2004 Ohio and New Mexico recounts after evidence of vote theft

• Greens condemn GOP efforts to disqualify legitimate voters in the 2008 election

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the United States has become the first political party to endorse the Election Integrity Pledge promoted by Standing For Voters
(http://www.StandingForVoters.org), an internet-based group inviting candidates to pledge their commitment to fair elections. Along with the Green Party, several Green Party candidates have pledged 'no early concessions' and actions challenging election outcomes if necessary: presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney and vice presidential candidate Rosa Clemente; US Congressional candidates Carol Brouillet (Calif.-14), Rebecca Dewitt
(Ariz.-4), Harold Burbank (Conn.-5), and Mike Beilstein (Or.-4); and five candidates for state and local offices: Dan Kairis of Illinois, Richard Boyle of California, Rick
Lass of New Mexico, Allan Hancock of Minnesota, and Charles A. Pillsbury of Connecticut.

"Led by David Cobb, our 2004 presidential candidate, Greens organized the response to the 2004 vote theft. John Kerry and most of his fellow Democrats did nothing after reports and evidence of GOP election manipulation and obstruction of African American and young voters surfaced. Meanwhile, Greens filed for the recounts in Ohio and New Mexico and raised most of the money for legal expenses. It's our special obligation and privilege to be the first party to sign on to the Standing For Voters pledge," said Holly Hart, secretary of
the Green Party of the United States.

For more on Green leadership in the Ohio and New Mexico recounts, visit IWantMyVote.com (http://www.iwantmyvote.com).

In signing the pledge, Greens sharply condemned recent tactics that have been used to obstruct and discourage voters, especially African Americans in certain states, from voting. Such tactics include letters to voters falsely claiming that they've been declared ineligible to vote, foreclosure lists denying right to vote because a voter's address is "no longer valid," and vicious attacks on voter registration efforts.

"The drastic efforts to disqualify legitimate voters suggests that we'll see a repeat of Republican conspiracies to steal the national election. Will Democrats fight this time, or will they roll over again and leave it to the Green Party?" asked Sanda Everette, co-chair of the Green Party.

Labels: cracking, election 2008, green party

  ¶ 8:11 PM 2 comments

  My vote

I thought for weeks, and wrote page upon page that I am not going to get around to publishing, about McCain, Obama, Nader, McKinney, Barr, and Baldwin.

I am, on the whole, glad the primary season for the major parties went down as it did.

Ron Paul knocked out the rabid Rudy Guilani, that plastic faced Mormon car salesman excluded agnostics from his tent and went down in flames, and I forget the rest of the Republican field, thank god.

The underqualified Clinton got beat by a guy that had made it on his own. I'm happy about that, too. I loathe the idea of a hereditary aristocracy.

I was sorry that Ron Paul didn't do better. I'd like to see the federal government stripped of all but its constitutional powers by design, rather than bankruptcy.

It was good to see libertarians co-operate on his campaign. Nice change, too bad it didn't last.

When the media was betting on Guilani - Clinton as the final candidates (funny how wrong they were!), I was getting ready to emigrate and utterly fed up with the endless battle over Vietnam and Woodstock.

My generation has to clean up that worldwide mess, as do multiple generations afterwards. So shut up about it, retire already, and get on the golf course.

I've already written elsewhere about how I'd like to vote, and my unresolved issues, and here's the short version of why I voted as I just did:

McCain: Eisenhower was a successful general and a war hero. So was Andrew Jackson, and for that matter, George Washington. McCain was a flyboy with no responsibility for tens of thousands of men and a POW. Neither of these characteristics make for great leaders of men.

Palin: Although I share some of her husband's seccessionist sympathies, I can't embrace ignorance. Lately, her campaign rhetoric has been full of the "Joe the Plumber" references, trying to capture the hearts and minds of the remaining middle class - the ones who don't have to cope with H1B visas or overseas competition.

Hey Palin: What about "Eric, the engineer", "Al the Artist", "Mike the musician", and "Paul the programmer"? What about "Wendy, the writer", or "Sal, the sysadmin"?

:sound of crickets:

Obama: Great speaker, with a speech in hand. Off the cuff. His speech. Reminds me. Of. William Shatner's. Delivery. Maybe. He can. Heal. Part of. The Country. By making it. Even more. A centralized State. But the. Republicans. Have looted. The treasury. Making it impossible. For him. To cope with. New crises.

Biden: Biden is one of the poorest members of congress. Whether this is due to honesty or lack of financial acumen remains to be seen.

Nader: In 2000, Nader was the one person I felt confident that was on the side of the people. Too bad he's now too old and too marginalized, and has no military experience.

Barr: How I feel about Barr is unprintable. His oh-too-recent conversion to libertarianism, arrogance, and uncooperation with the other third parties, cost him my vote, and the LP the chance of a lifetime. His VP is an ass, too.

McKinney: I kept wondering when the popular press would evaluate McKinney vs Palin, or, for that matter, Clinton. It never happened, I guess because McKinney would have come across as so much saner and more experienced in comparison. I do look forward to seeing the 9/11 records unsealed on Jan 3rd.

Baldwin: I'm not huge on pastors as presidents. Even ones that are willing to allow agnostics in their tent. I would like more people to pay attention to him, he writes well.

After eliminating each of these choices, I finally realized that I'd already voted... with my feet.

I'd decided, 18 months ago, that I'd rather live under a weak and socialistic government than under an all-powerful one of any stripe.

I still have to pay attention to the elephant in the room, but I intend to arrange my life so that what happens in the world matters to me as little as possible.

I hope you can live with your choices. I can live with mine.

Labels: Barack Obama, chuck baldwin, democrats, election 2008, green party, hillary clinton, republicans, Ron Paul

  ¶ 10:06 AM 1 comments

  Tell the truth

This song was made in 2004 but not released until 2005.

The lyrics are a stark accusation of not just the Bush administration, but of politicians, and the military industrial complex.

I sat through a bunch of ads while watching the World Series rain out. This wasn't one of them. Would have preferred it to Hannity.

Found via the deconstruction zone.

Labels: election 2008, music, rap

  ¶ 4:45 PM 0 comments

  Tuesday's middle finger

Billy Joel isn't endorsing anyone, but his lyrics spoke volumes to one attendee at a recent press club conference. After playing some music, all Joel had to say was: "I'm not going to get up on a soapbox here. I am a piano player."

I'm a piano player, too, and I'm thinking of getting off the soapbox entirely and going back to just doing what I love. There are a few interesting opportunities opening up that I'm not going to talk about today. I think I've waited long enough.

Mark Cuban - who's life story resembles mine (except that he cashed out in July, 1999, and I crapped out in March, 2000) has made a lot of sound suggestions regarding managing your future lately. In particular he's advocating doing something about credit cards, something I talked about a month or two back. My method, however, wouldn't stimulate the economy so much as take a lot of bad money out of circulation - and drastically reduce or eliminate:

• credit card payments
• ursurious interest rates
• the profession of debt creation and collection
• foolish spending and spenders

Hey, Mark! Go, Phillies!

Lew Rockwell is advocating not voting this year.

Hey, Lew? Why should I give up my chance to give the establishment the finger?

A zillion intellectual "conservatives" are coming out for Obama, instead of slinking off and forming their own party. I'm sure their tepid and late support, will be rewarded by the die-hard Dems soon to be in power.

According the news reports, banking failures and higher interest rates have left Iceland a ghost town. I have yet to hear from an actual person living there...

Every time I get frustrated at my job and entrepreneurial opportunities I remember that there are far weirder things I could be doing...

Billy Joel closes out his concerts screaming "Don't take any shit from anybody" - to a huge audience reaction - and his is the kind of music I like to hear. The brilliant Nylon Curtain always brings me down, and an Innocent Man always cheers me up.

The National debt has increased 530B dollars in a month. It's now at:



Now, unlike some, I'm not one to extrapolate trends from the most alarming data points, but this trend, if continued, would basically beat Moores law - another doubling of debt in less than 18 months. It took BushCo 7 years to double the debt the first time.

And for all that, the first bucketloads of fresh Federal Reserve cash aren't going out to banks until next week. Jeeze, how hard is it to print and ship electrons? Or are they spending their creative hours developing 10,000 dollar notes?

I doubt that... why is it, when ATM machines first came out, back in the early 80s, service was free, the withdrawal limit was $300 dollars? 25 years has gone by, and all you can typically withdraw is $500, with service fees ranging from $2 to $7.50 (what I pay for an international transfer of $500) I've known a lot of people, desperate for the dregs of their savings accounts, willing to pay that fee for their last $20....

Labels: banking

  ¶ 12:57 PM 4 comments

  Moral Hazard

And now the Bailout feeding frenzy begins!

Far from being contained in America, the meltdown has wrecked the ruble, frozen Iceland, the Australian dollar has dropped 37% since july, South Africa's currency is down even more, and let's not talk about Zimbabwe!

Is it any wonder that China agitates for a new world monetary standard?

The yen showed the biggest gain, now at 94 to a dollar. After over a decade of stagnation, a country of small savers finally wins a little.

Ah, well, there's always the koln concert - a compelling case for over-the-ear headphones and and time to reflect.

Labels: banking, music

  ¶ 9:20 AM 3 comments