Fatty, I was as optimistic as any Democrat around here, and outside the BBS, as well, and I didn't think my party would do this well. It was truly a massive rejection by the American people of the current leadership, and a desire for change... to give "the other guys a chance." It's more complicated than that, obviously, and wins and loses had reasons that varied depending on the race, but the thrust was a massive rejection of where the country has been headed the last few years. A huge factor in that was Iraq, obviously, but interestingly enough, the #1 issue, according to exit polls, was corruption in government. It wasn't #1 by much, but it was a big factor. The public got the sense that the Bush Administration and the GOP Congress were selling pork to the highest bidder at a record pace, and they weren't wrong. A wild election, and one of the great turning points in American political history. Keep D&D Civil.
Wall Street Journal joins the call for Allen to give it up! http://opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110009215
I think other people have answered your questions to me quite well but maybe one thing I can add is to point out that low income people spend a very large percentage of their income on food and housing, and that is obviously almost always spent locally. Even when they buy Chinese made clothing, for example, they generally buy it at a local store that pays local rent, employs local people, hires American truckers to bring the goods to the store, hires American advertisers to do their ad campaigns, etc. A very small percentage will go the manufacturer in China, but even from that the company will pay an employee who may well go out and buy a Yao Ming jersey with it. Right now that jersey is probably a knock off and none of that money is coming back to the NBA and the Rockets, which is a problem, but it’s a different problem. In an ideal free market system each country, region, and individual produces what they are best at, and they sell their surplus to others for things that they are best at producing. This is an efficient way to produce goods and everyone ends up with more this way as a result. The first world can’t compete with the third world in terms of cheap labour and according to free market theory it shouldn’t even try. It should do what it’s best at which is to use its advantage in having a better educated workforce and better technology and infrastructure, for example.
Oh well! Can't win em' all... OH-02: Wulsin Concedes To "Mean Jean" Schmidt So "Mean Jean" has pulled it out, after all, putting an end to one of the last undecided House races of 2006. Dem candidate Victoria Wulsin has conceded the race to GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt, local 9 News TV is reporting. Wulsin's concession ends what was a protracted and surprisingly tight 51-49 race in a usually solid GOP district. "Wulsin has called a noon news conference at her medical office in Walnut Hills," according to 9 News. http://www.wcpo.com/news/2006/local/11/28/wulsin.html
Whatever happened to the Florida House race that was showing the GOP candidate ahead by about 300 votes, for Harris's old seat, and a heavily Democratic precinct had a difference of 17,000 votes between votes for other offices, and votes for that one race. A difference that clearly shows something is terribly wrong, and one that could have easily given the victory to the Democrat. Anyone know? Of course, they were using the imminently hackable electronic voting machines. D&D. Your Place for Wild and Crazy Idiocy!
FL-13: Audit Run Brings "Intriguing" Results By Paul Kiel - November 29, 2006, 11:23 AM Yesterday, Florida's Division of Elections began its audit of the election results in Florida's Sarasota County. The results? "Intriguing," according to Democrat Christine Jennings' lawyer Kendall Coffey. All day yesterday, election workers sat in glass booths and voted accorded to a predetermined script designed to mimic the voting on Election Day. The entire process was videotaped and monitored by the campaigns and the press. The tests, performed on backup machines, didn't really turn out the way anyone expected. "Of the 251 ballots cast" in the audit, "five additional votes were counted for Jennings, including three extra votes in one precinct," according to The Herald Tribune. Jennings has contested the official election results, of course, because the electronic machines didn't register votes in the congressional race for more than 18,000 Sarasota County voters, about fifteen percent, an abnormally high rate. But yesterday's results didn't register an unexpectedly high "undervote" rate. Instead, the tests seemed to give a few extra votes to Jennings. But an incorrect result is an incorrect result, and so Coffey, who has denounced the audit for being insufficiently rigorous, said in a prepared statement that "the discrepancies are intriguing." The spokesperson for the Division of Elections, meanwhile, was quick to attribute the discrepancies to "human error." Today, the audit team will doublecheck their math and monitor the video of yesterday's mock election to see if that's the case. On Friday, the second round of the audit will involve similar tests on machines actually used on Election Day. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002051.php
Security of Electronic Voting Is Condemned "Paperless electronic voting machines used throughout the Washington region and much of the country 'cannot be made secure,' according to draft recommendations issued this week by a federal agency that advises the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. "The assessment by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, one of the government's premier research centers, is the most sweeping condemnation of such voting systems by a federal agency. "In a report hailed by critics of electronic voting, NIST said that voting systems should allow election officials to recount ballots independently from a voting machine's software. The recommendations endorse 'optical-scan' systems in which voters mark paper ballots that are read by a computer and electronic systems that print a paper summary of each ballot, which voters review and elections officials save for recounts." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113001637.html?nav=rss_nation
It's an ugly rumor, but it's spreading like wildfire: Karl Rove has lost his touch. In an amazing betrayal within a family where top political aide Rove is royalty, Bushies have been sneering at his pre-election happy talk that the gop would keep the Senate and take a slight hit in the House, both soon to be run by Democrats. And now we learn that President Bush really believed the GOP was safe, too. On the day before the elections, he asked embattled House gop leader Dennis Hastert to run for speaker again so he could guide the White House's agenda in Congress. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/washingtonwhispers/061210/has_king_karl_lost_his_magic_t.htm How out of touch is W?
well add 1 more http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4398329.html Ciro Rodriguez returning to D.C. after defeating 7-term incumbent
Democrats now have 233 seats in the 110th congress, more than Republicans have had since 1952. The Republican "revolution" never secured this large a majority in the House. Via Kos
not sure what Via Kos is, but this was a thorough beating. hah, and i thought the republicans were going to maintain both houses. woops
