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U.S. Elections 2008

Who will be the next US president?

  • John McCain

    Votes: 8 7.8%
  • Barack Obama

    Votes: 80 77.7%
  • Other

    Votes: 15 14.6%

  • Total voters
    103
Yes, if I had to pick one Democrate it would be Joe Biden. He has been around a while and has experience in foreign affairs -- and seems to be able to work with moderate Republicans -- thus has a better chance of working towards a concensus. Don't really like Hillary Clinton (too many terrorist from Canada comments :p), Barack seems interesting, but lacks experience. I don't trust Edwards at all.
 
Don't worry either about women and control over nuclear weapons. Margaret Thatcher controlled one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world. Israel's Golda Meir held back her (still undeclared) nuclear weaponry during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, eventhough the country was almost overrun by Arab invaders. India's PM Indira Gandhi also managed restraint with her country's nuclear weapons when at war with Pakistan and (undeclared) with China. Pakistan's PM Benazir Bhutto also managed to keep their nuclear weapons at bay during the conflicts with India.
 
I couldn't agree more. It's just so simple! That's why the seeming impossibility of fixing the problems make the whole thing seem so very dubious. They've had three elections since 2000, and they still have the same voting systems with no real paper trail in precincts all across the country. I understand that they vote for far too many people to use a simple "Mark an X" paper ballot, but the optical scan system we use for municipal elections is just as easy to count as most of the American systems, and it's pretty hard to screw up. It's a much better (and likely much cheaper) system than touch screen voting machines. Clearly they can have glitches and can be easily hacked, and even with a paper trail nobody would ever know unless a recount was ordered.

Touch screen voting machines are not so democratic in my opinion. See HBO's "Hacking Democracy", it's a stunning indictment on the USA's voting system.
 
Most of the current crop of voting machines are crap, and should never be used. If a machine is used, there should be one that reads paper (human readable form) and counts the ballots -- basically if warranted and under rules set down -- can be recounted.

If a machine is used to enter the results, it should generate a human readable form which is then inserted into another machine for counting -- everything has to have an audit trail.

Only complete recounts should be done if a recount is warranted, cherry picking favourable areas to recount is undemocratic in nature. But again all rules should be set out in advance -- not made up on the fly.

Presidential elections are especially troublesome to recount since you have to recount an entire state, since it is the entire state that is unitized (assigned seats for the electoral college voting) -- it should only be recounted in it's entirety. OR, my preferred solution would be to make the assignment of seats on a riding basis -- with one electoral vote per riding. This would allow an easier recounting system.

California has proposed moving to such a system, but Democrats are dead-set against that type of system because under the current system very populated states such as California go 100% democratic -- instead of 60/40 democratic. Which means that partisan politics works as usual, you only really like democracy when it favours your candidate (in most cases).
 
no matter who it is , nothings going to change... war is always good for business after all. Anyone remember this revised map of North America after the last election?

1535134358_6366df47a0_o.jpg
 
Anyone worried that we might see Mike Huckabee as the winner in a Huckabee-Obama race?

Ooooh, if you think the U. S. of A. couldn't sink any lower, it does...
 
Anyone worried that we might see Mike Huckabee as the winner in a Huckabee-Obama race?

Ooooh, if you think the U. S. of A. couldn't sink any lower, it does...


how low it goes? nobody knows.
 
no matter who it is , nothings going to change... war is always good for business after all. Anyone remember this revised map of North America after the last election?

1535134358_6366df47a0_o.jpg

I think the Tories outpolled the combined Liberal-NDP vote in Sask. last time.

Is someone going to write a book called "What's the Matter with Saskatchewan"? :D
 
I suspect this won't help McCain that much.

-----------------------

Former Democrat Lieberman Endorses Republican McCain for President
By VOA News
17 December 2007

Independent Senator and former Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain's presidential bid.

Lieberman said his support for the Arizona Senator is based on McCain's military career and legislative experience and their common view of U.S. foreign policy.

Both men backed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and have supported the war ever since.

Lieberman was former Vice President Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election. In the years since, the Connecticut senator distanced himself from the Democratic Party over the war in Iraq and became an independent, frequently voting with Republicans on foreign policy and national security issues.

The U.S. presidential campaign primary season is entering its final stage in the coming weeks, when voters in the states of Iowa and New Hampshire vote in early January for the candidates who will represent the Democratic and Republican parties in the November 2008 election.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.
 

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