The Brad Hole

What I find incredible is how any country could manage to split inself right down the middle up to the last persentage point in an election. Heard in the news that some poll (sorry, can't be specific, politics bore me) states that Bush and Kerry both have 48% support.

I'm not a statistician, but I thought that is pretty remarkable.

Anyhow... before I put myself to sleep.

Cheers.

If every State changed it probably would be better, the problem is if your state changes and others don't it make your state even LESS important to the candidates.

Of course without the electoral college only certain states and just parts of those would be important. This system just means we have a different set of states that are important.

Would it be better if you could win 70% of the votes in the top 20 cities population wise you could win the election?

If you want to get attention from the candidates and be "important", there's one sure-fire way: turn your state into a battleground state. Vote for the other guy. If enough people do it, politicians get nervous...

A few clarifications are in order, I think. I didn't really mean to imply that I wanted candidates to pay more attention to me or Arizona. That's a secondary issue, and not really important to me. If, for example, even only a few states did this, I wouldn't really care if my state was less important to a given candidate during the run-up to the election. Most, if not all, presidential election issues are nation-wide in scope anyway.

That may mean that candidates spend more time in states where there are higher concentrations of the population as a side effect. So be it - the main effect of each citizen having their vote mean a lot more is well worth it, I think.

By the way, no state currently divides its electoral votes by a percentage of the popular vote. Both Nebraska and Maine award two electoral votes to the statewide winner and one to the winner of each congressional district, though in practice neither state has ever split its electoral votes. Colorado has a referendum on the ballot tomorrow that would make it the first state to divide its electoral votes by a percentage of the popular vote, but the measure appears likely to fail.

Electoral college notwithstanding, it is really important to get out and vote on Tuesday (if you don't live in an early voting state and so haven't voted already, as I have). It is only by our votes that our voices can be heard at levels of government that aren't necessarily at the top.

Furthermore...if people do vote and it is apparent how skewed the electoral vote is as compared to the popular vote, it may cause more states besides Colorado to reconsider their stance concerning electoral votes.

i think the electoral college should be abolished and just decide the presidency on the popular vote that way if you live in an already decided state your vote still counts.

Bush seems to be winning.

Wow, Americans seems to like making war in foreign countries. Will US become the new world dictator (or do they already think they are? hmmm I think they are already).

Now that Bush has won.

Which country will US invade next?

I hear Nigera has a lot of oil. They seem quite defenseless. US could invade them within a week. Bush can tell American they might be keeping WMD's hidden somewhere.

Next... hmmmm. Iran maybe. They seem to have nuclear abilities.

yes, Americans! Invade them. I'll get popcorn while you startinvading the world.

Idea for new MAc Game:

Bush Invades!

The game will have several expansion packs, for evey country he invades.

The game will be action (the war, bombing everything to shit, running into civilian homes, looking for "terrorists" and terrifying the shit out of children while you scream "freeze bitch") as well as strategic (making as much money out of the overtaken country as you can, by bombing it to the ground and then building it up again with US contractors, getting access to the oil thru privileged contract to companies which you are the CEO of.

Blurb on the box: "You saw in happen on telly - now play the game!"

You win the game when you laugh your head off after the US elects you for another term.

YEEHAAA!

ooh, I want in on this.

How about a game of diplomacy, where the object is to take as many bribes from murderous dictators as you can without them taking over your country. You could stab your true allies in the back to increase your coffers. And when it looks hopeless, there could be a cheat-code that would initiate the americans coming in and saving your ass.

oh, no wait...and then you could have your population come out and give the US the finger(or whatever obscene gesture is appropriate to your country).

yeah, I think that would sell...

"you could have your population come out and give the US the finger"

I am worried about the memory/cpu requirements of this game. Calculating and rendering all those fingers is going to take a super computer, as there are going to be a LOT of fingers, my friend!

If anybody thinks Iraq is better of now then before.

Please send cards to all the Iraqi children who lost theirt limbs and parents, due to the arrogance and greed of the US.

"it looks hopeless, there could be a cheat-code that would initiate the americans coming in and saving your ass"

My friend, the US is not in the business of "saving asses" - it is in the most noble business of all - making the almighty buck.

God bless America!

The last time a few people dragged the comments off-topic, I felt I was pretty clear. If you feel the urge to post inflammatory messages that are off-topic, have the balls to post your real name and a working e-mail address.

Having said that, my blog is not a political blog. If you want to rail against the current (and apparently continuing) US administration, there are many more appropriate places for that.

For fear of Bush invading my country and "saving my ass" , as you Americans say, I'm too scared to post my email adress.

Brad you are obviosly a Bush supporter.

Wasn't posting a political blog entry off-topic to begin with?

Huh????

"have the balls to post your real name and a working e-mail address"

Sorry Brad. Bush took my balls away from me after they were classified as a WMD.

Damn, if miss those balls!

*sniff*

"For fear of Bush invading my country and "saving my ass" , as you Americans say, I'm too scared to post my email adress."

You're scared to not be anonymous because you somehow feel that your comments would personally inpsire Bush to invade your country? Two comments: a) grow a pair and b) give me a fucking break.

"Brad you are obviosly a Bush supporter."

Pretty much every candidate I voted for has lost or is in the last throes of losing, John Kerry included. That doesn't mean I approve of jackasses posting inflammatory and off-topic messages to my blog. Even though I agree with most of what was said (even though it was said crudely), I don't want to read this crap in the "fortress of solitude" that is my blog.

"Wasn't posting a political blog entry off-topic to begin with?"

Since what is off-topic or not is actually determined by the entries I post, no. If you read my post again, you'll note that it has to do with the suckiness of the electoral college, not the suckiness of the US administration.