Archives For elections

it’s only socialism if it involves your personal wealth

October 30, 2008 — Leave a comment

as of this writing there are less than five days left before what many people are touting as the most historic election of our lifetime. i feel strangely apathetic, i’ve documented my feelings about how the system works on more than one occasion. and i think any respect i had for either candidate went out the window with passage of the pork fest that was the bailout.

i’m a the point where i want this fiasco to be over so we can get back to business as usual. all the bitter acrimony and inability to have civilised discourse is for naught because once this election cycle is over, it’s back to business as usual. the rich will continue to get rich and find creative ways to not pay for shit, the poor will continue to be poor and all the while the middle class will continue pay for it and try to make sure they don’t end up poor.
the divisiveness fascinates me. what happens on november 5, when you candidate doesn’t win? are you going to leave the country? are you going to stop talking to your neighbours? co-workers? are you going to arrest or inter all the people that didn’t vote for your candidate? is your mortgage miraculously going to be paid? is your dollar all of a sudden going to go further?
november 5, although it’s really january 21, is going to be a day just like any other and you’re going to go to work and try to make ends meet just like you’re doing today and like you’re going to have to do next day and the next day. this is a system run by the people with money, ‘we the people’ is a pipe dream,
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quick thought

August 29, 2008 — 1 Comment

why would you spend close to or over $2B, that’s $2,000,000,000 for a job that pays $200,000. there is a fundamental flaw in logic there plus if you think about it for too long you realise at some point, that various makers that make up that money will come due.

these are the thoughts that prevent me from getting to excited this election cycle.

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and now back to our regularly scheduled cynicism

November 4, 2004 — Leave a comment

i don`t know why so many people are surprised and upset about the results of this election. actually i know why they are, but honestly, in a nation where `more people get their news from Fox`, what did you really think was going to happen?

am i disappointed? not really no, to be disappointed you have to have expectations. and my expectations of this country and the majority of the populace to do the right thing, usually vary between slim to none. most of the populace here has no historical or global perspective on how the US exists with the rest of the world.

when i cynically said last week that the election result had already been decided in a boardroom, i was branded a liberal; as if liberal is a bad word. i dislike labels but when it comes to governance, i am a cynic. i don`t think any government as it exist currently is about the good of the people, it`s about the good of their financial backers.

the individual is just a consumer and on Tuesday you had a choice between brand `A` and brand `B`, and fundamentally there is little difference between them, because at the end of it all you`re selecting which of the brands were better advertised and packaged to you.

when an election campaign costs a combined total of $4 billion, your pittance of a contribution to it doesn`t give you an ounce of say, much less for your actual vote; your voting for the brand and what the advertisers tell you to. the organisations who are contributing the millions and hundreds of millions are the real policy decision makers and they shape the message you brand sells to you.

what was really voted on Tuesday were marketing campaigns and we were all consumed.

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it’s business as usual

November 3, 2004 — Leave a comment

what are you going to do now that your candidate hasn`t won or lost?

is it really going to make that much of a difference in your personal life? is it going to pay your bills, put gas in your car? are you so upset about the result you`re ready to leave the country? is the name calling and finger pointing going to end?

i can answer all those questions in order; no, no, no and no.

nothing is going to change to any major extent, no matter who wins/won. i said this before the election and i stand by it, elections of this magnitude are decided in boardrooms. the money for all that campaigning had to come from somewhere and you don`t get something for nothing.

the price of gas and healthcare is going to continue to rise, people are going to struggle to find the jobs they want, certain sectors of the populace are going to pay to maintain the lifestyle that certain other sectors of the population are accustomed to.

personal freedoms are going to continue to disappear, whether for security or commercial reasons and the `moral` pendulum is going to continue to swing back and forth because are based on society`s acceptance.

at the end of the day, there will be no epiphanies, no massive changes, just business as usual.

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don’t read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly

August 11, 2004 — Leave a comment

i`ve noticed a lot of people getting their panties in a bunch over the election observers here in November, i find that tremendously amusing. there is a delicious irony to this.

for years in developing countries around the world the US has sent `observers` to monitor elections, in too many cases to mention there have been direct interventions in the politics of sovereign nations. not as spectacular or direct as an invasion in some cases, but attempted coups, strong arm tactics; both on a individual and national level, all of these are in the repertoire of US administrations in the developing word.

so having election observers here is an appropriate case of the chickens coming home to roost. whether people here care to admit it or not the US believes itself to be the police force of the world, although in truth it`s  more like a security guard service; because the police would be beholden to respond to all complaints, security guards only respond to complaints related to the interests they are hired to protect.

to take the security guard analogy a step further, this particular firm believes itself to be above the law. this is a subject that is near and dear to me, the most recent former president of Trinidad is one of the people who helped conceive and create the International Criminal Court. it`s bad enough the US refused to be one of the signatories, because it would mean any US forces on `peace-keeping` duties accused of crimes could be tried in a court outside the US,  but a number of developing countries were threatened with sanctions if they signed.

this an either or scenario, either the US wants to embrace it`s role as the guardian of the planet with all the associated pitfalls or adopt an insular policy and let the world deal with it`s problems on it`s own. i mean you can`t just stop with Iraq, if the freedom of the Iraqi people was the primary concern, what about the peoples of the Sudan, Korea or any other country on the planet where a dictator is oppressing their people, a precedent has been set here, the job has to be finished right?

this is not a criticism of this administration, this is criticism of the inconsistencies and vagaries of American foreign policy. i can talk about this with some clarity and accuracy, i`ve lived on the other side of the fence, i`ve seen it at work.

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how quickly we forget

July 12, 2004 — Leave a comment

in September 2001, two weeks to the day after the World Trade Centre attacks, NY continued the democratic process to elect a new mayor.

He [Pataki] also wanted to send a message that democracy could not be derailed by acts of terrorism, his aides said yesterday. Announcing that the primaries would go ahead, the governor described Mr Giuliani as “a great mayor”. But he added: “The election is going to go forward. I tell you, if I were a resident of New York City, I would write him in.”

sourced from here

it would do well for everyone involved to remember that.

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welcome to the police state

July 11, 2004 — Leave a comment

American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call “alarming” intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack, NEWSWEEK has learned.

read the rest

the line is bold is my highlight, if that doesn`t worry you, then you`re obviously not living in the real world.

joining the long line of groups that are determined to see the current administration out of office are the librarians against bush; who according to their website are; a group of politically active librarians who are concerned about the Bush administration`s policies and their effects on civil liberties, privacy, and intellectual freedom.

taking an approach that`s a little different but with the same objective is axis of eve. axis believes that effective political action can be irreverent and exciting, and have launched a campaign of flashing at specific events including the RNC involving their line of protest panties; which include:

and men`s boxers that feature:

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