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Amskeptic
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Vote!

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:19 am

Okey dokey, many of you who know me have warned me repeatedly, don't contaminate my professional universe with politics. Too late! From the Itinerant Air-Cooled Mission Statement:

"We are not afraid of social commentary, politics, or religion here. We are citizens first, hobbyists second. We invite you to participate using your advanced adult behavior skill set."

Now then. I know that the social media universe takes our words where they shall last for time immemorial. Fine! Publish only words that you can live with for the rest of time. I can do that!

There is an election coming up. In just days (!), we Americans have an opportunity to affect the trajectory of this country. We are but millions of leaves on a tree. Each of us is just a stupid little leaf. But we have to swallow our individual little pout . . . I am so small and insignificant, my vote doesn't matter. Yes it does. I am an artist. I painted the below picture. Every damn leaf and blade of grass, If I painted just one purple leaf, you'd see it. I know the interaction between the few and the many. Many of us are buried between the blades of grass and can't see anything but more grass, we miss the bigger picture.

There are people enmeshed in our political process who not only rely on our lousy rate of participation, but who actively try to reduce it further. Make a note of who they are, and fight back with your vote!

I have traveled this country far and wide for sixteen years in a row now. I have chatted with thousands of my fellow Americans. The common thread seems to be a feeling that there are forces larger than us conspiring to have their own way regardless of our perspective or needs. This observation is exactly right. I will not list the several examples of how the Will of the People is being thwarted this very moment. But the damndest thing is this:

If we all voted, our Will would be executed. Our laws say so. If we don't vote, you know the vacuum will be filled by those who are currently engaged in executing their much smaller views of the world. It is past time for us to perform our due diligence as citizens.
Vote.


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Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
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TrollFromDownBelow
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Re: Vote!

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:34 pm

I am depressed. Neither my wife (who is registered) or my daughter will vote tomorrow.
1976 VW Bus aka tripod
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hambone wrote: There are those out there with no other aim but to bunch panties. It's like arguing with a pretzel.
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Re: Vote!

Post by asiab3 » Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:49 pm

I know a friend who is on a work trip from Oregon slaving away all day at a desk in San Diego tomorrow… They didn't get wind of the trip early enough to vote by mail… Makes me sick… But I did get one friend registered, and he's filling out his ballot tomorrow!

Mine is filled out and will be turned in first thing in the morning, before meeting up with Stuartzickefoose and reading him the riot act for not voting either…

Robbie
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Re: Vote!

Post by BusBassist » Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:44 am

I'm on it! Heading out vote now.
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

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Re: Vote!

Post by Jivermo » Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:53 am

Three months on the road,
Absentee ballots we got,
Sent, my son and I.

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Re: Vote!

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:44 pm

asiab3 wrote:
Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:49 pm
I know a friend who is on a work trip from Oregon slaving away all day at a desk in San Diego tomorrow… They didn't get wind of the trip early enough to vote by mail… Makes me sick…

Robbie
One of the proposals on Michigan's ballot was "any reason" absentee ballot (It was actually part of add'l language to increase oppt'y to vote). I voted Yes.
1976 VW Bus aka tripod
FI ...not leaky, and not so noisy...and she runs awesome!
hambone wrote: There are those out there with no other aim but to bunch panties. It's like arguing with a pretzel.
::troll2::

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Re: Vote!

Post by hippiewannabe » Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:09 pm

Weather was somewhat crappy, but there still seemed to be a good turnout. My precinct typically does 80%+ turnout in presidential years and 60%+ in off years. We'll probably exceed that this time, even though they made us show ID. :bootyshake:

We'll see the final results tomorrow, but it seems like a pretty typical midterm; the out of power party usually wins. Not really much of a "Blue Wave". Interesting that the so-called gerrymandered House districts turned Democrat, but the 100% at-large popular vote for Senate moved more Republican.

Michigan went all blue in Senate and Governor. Does that mean we'll be invited into the Cool Kids Club? Not likely. I'm sure the coasts will still consider us fly-over country populated by slack-jawed yocals.

Big money doesn't always win. Beto O'Rourke spent $70M, almost twice as much as Ted Cruz, and lost.

We legalized marijuana. :cheers: For some reason I flashed back to high school, when my parents tried the "scared straight" routine on their stoner son. The arguments against pot were mostly centered around prison and anal sex. I had to promise to never smoke pot again, or college would not be funded. Sure mom, I promise. The Republican gubernatorial candidate was against legalization, I wonder how big of a factor that was.

The worrying development was that most of the Republican House candidates who lost were moderates. The hard-right candidates that were supported by Trump did better. The country on average is moderate. It used to be center-right, maybe trending to center or center-left now. But you'd never know it, we are getting more and more polarized. I worry.
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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Re: Vote!

Post by Jivermo » Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:11 am

Florida rewarded Rick Scott for his ruinous environmental actions by sending him to the Senate, and making another friend of Big Sugar governor, Ron DeSantis. And Ted Cruz...again?! What is wrong with this picture? I’m going back on the road...

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Re: Vote!

Post by 71whitewesty » Wed Nov 07, 2018 11:02 am

Jivermo, I’m interested in your trip. I know you came by the lab. Where’re you going basically?

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Amskeptic
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Re: Vote!

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Nov 07, 2018 2:26 pm

hippiewannabe wrote:
Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:09 pm

A)seems like a pretty typical midterm; the out of power party usually wins. Not really much of a "Blue Wave".

B) Michigan went all blue in Senate and Governor.
I'm sure the coasts will still consider us fly-over country populated by slack-jawed yocals.

C) Big money doesn't always win. Beto O'Rourke spent $70M, almost twice as much as Ted Cruz, and lost.

D) we are getting more and more polarized. I worry.

a) Naaaah. Record number of women ran and won. We now have a record diverse group of freshmen entering Congress. We have robust statehouse results and decent governor switches, all under this great economy inherited from Obama's policies (job growth has ACTUALLY slowed under Drumpf, yes, look it up).

b) Your fellow citizens are not so harsh as your imagination. Our concern for the residents of Flint and the kids of Detroit has always been real and not scornful. But Blumfield Township republicans, have they been respectful of California's middle/lower class citizens poisoned by hexavalent chromium poisoning, or New York's Love Canal brownfields? No. So the coastal citizens petitioned the government to get on it for Flint and Saginaw and Detroit, but Blumfield Township's citizens elected Trump to roll back all EPA clean up funds and stick in Betsy deVos to further torpedo this country's future. Time for you to step out of rightwing generalities, Don.

c) Don, a big big difference between Beto (and Obama) and Cruz (most all republicans) is that Beto donors were ordinary Americans. He did not take PAC money. Whore Cruz is all about PAC money and if we COULD get reports from political donors (stymied by republican congress surprise!) you would find that Cruz was well-lubricated by special interest cash far and away more alienating than Beto's intelligent and hard-fought person-to-person campaign.

d) Like how Hillary won THREE MILLION more votes than Trump in 2016 but still lost the election,
Democrats got close to FOUR MILLION more congressional votes than Republicans last night, yet only won 25 seats in the House. That's polarity right there. That's anger right there.
Back in 2010, the Republican Party hatched a scheme it called REDMAP (short for Redistricting Majority Project). It was “the most audacious political heist of modern times." Anger? Sure. Read about it in
Ratfucked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy by David Daley.
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: Vote!

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Thu Nov 08, 2018 6:24 pm

a) You both are right....one of the most diverse set of congressional freshmen (big win in my opinion...better representation of the voting base), but also a typical mid term if looking through the lens of whose in the White house, and blue vs. red wins.

b) I don't get either of your statements....Don, MI can be a swing state, so we hold some clout there, Detroit area is in total revival mode ($7,800 per mo apartments in Royal Oak...google it), and would not be surprised to see some of the autonomous vehicle R and D or manufacturing get shifted here. Besides, where do you want to live when the world's fresh water supply starts to dry up...me personally, I kinda like being close to 30% of the worlds supply of fresh water. :) And Colin - not sure if Blumfield Township is a play on Bloomfield Township, but I don't think many people in Michigan (Red or Blue) would have wanted DeVos in charge of education...the charter school system here sucks. Period. If trump really wanted someone to champion charter schools (which is the ruse as to why he chose her), he should have picked someone from a region where they have been successful. That said, the logic that voters who voted in a candidate agrees to 100% of everything the candidate believes, or even supports all of their actions once they get elected is a slippery slope. I've seen many of arguments on FB where people have made the conclusion: trump is a a racist, you voted for trump, therefore you are a racist. That is divisive language. For example, I voted for Hillary, however, there were many things I don't agree with her on.

c) Give Colin the nod here... all depends on how you measure it $$.

d) Michigan passed a ballot proposal this election where districts are drawn by a non-partisan committee, not by the party in power. This will help reduce gerrymandering and polarization, and I am hopeful that more states will pass these kinds of proposals...
1976 VW Bus aka tripod
FI ...not leaky, and not so noisy...and she runs awesome!
hambone wrote: There are those out there with no other aim but to bunch panties. It's like arguing with a pretzel.
::troll2::

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Re: Vote!

Post by hippiewannabe » Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:01 pm

TrollFromDownBelow wrote:
Thu Nov 08, 2018 6:24 pm
Amskeptic wrote:
Wed Nov 07, 2018 2:26 pm

c) Don, a big big difference between Beto (and Obama) and Cruz (most all republicans) is that Beto donors were ordinary Americans. He did not take PAC money. Whore Cruz is all about PAC money and if we COULD get reports from political donors (stymied by republican congress surprise!) you would find that Cruz was well-lubricated by special interest cash far and away more alienating than Beto's intelligent and hard-fought person-to-person campaign.
c) .. all depends on how you measure it $$.
Right. Plenty to talk about here, but let's focus on this one for the time being. Take a deep breath, purge Rachel Maddow from your brain, and remember basic mathematics.

O'Rouke rich contributors plus PACs: $38,217,158

Cruz rich contributors plus PACs: $17,864,363

Fine, the ratio of small contributors to wealthy and PAC money was better for O'Rouke, but O'Rourke had twice as much wealthy and PAC money as Cruz.

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of- ... =N00033540

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of- ... =N00033085
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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Re: Vote!

Post by asiab3 » Thu Nov 08, 2018 11:24 pm

What is the bar for $9,875,427 "Other" dollars raised on Ted Cruz's page that do not show up on O'Rourke's page?

I couldn't care less about who raises how much money from private individuals and small businesses. But ten million dollars in an "Other" category raises serious questions.

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Vote!

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Nov 13, 2018 9:43 pm

asiab3 wrote:
Thu Nov 08, 2018 11:24 pm
What is the bar for $9,875,427 "Other" dollars raised on Ted Cruz's page that do not show up on O'Rourke's page?

I couldn't care less about who raises how much money from private individuals and small businesses. But ten million dollars in an "Other" category raises serious questions.

Robbie

Thank-you, Youngster.
Colin
(interesting slow walk going on, Democratic House election results have slowly become a "wave")
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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