The 2012 US Election
psst, vison, babies are cute but I vaguely remember them being lots of work. I say we go with the Hobbit obsession option.
“Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” E. B. White, who must have had vison in mind. There's a reason why we kept putting the extra i in her name in our minds!
No, actually it doesn't, because I was not referring specifically to the alleged Romney involvement. If it were true, it would generate too much scrutiny.Voronwë the Faithful wrote:Did you read the link that I posted to? As Snopes quotes the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
I think that answers both of your questions.But elections officials in Ohio's Hamilton and Williams counties -- the only two of Ohio's 88 counties that use equipment made by Hart InterCivic -- as well as company representatives say there's no way such meddling could occur.
Both counties use a paper balloting system in which results are tallied by scanners made by Hart InterCivic. All programming of the machines, diagnostic testing, and vote tabulation is done by elections staff in each county and no vote tabulation is done over the Internet, county election board representatives say. The paper ballots are there as backup and can be recounted with Democratic and Republican party representatives on hand.
"There is no truth to the idea that anyone could get into our system and tamper with the results," said Hamilton County elections board deputy director Sally Krisel.
I am not too concerned with paper ballot/optical scan machines such as the article describes. That's what my county uses, and they leave a paper trail that permits a recount. The model that generate the most concern are the direct-recording devices.
I don't have time to go into the details right now, but check out the Wiki page for Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold) for a list of security concerns. The design flaws permit tampering in favor of either party, although it is worth noting that it's former CEO O'Dell was a major fund raiser for Bush. I wold stress that such tampering does not require some widespread conspiracy.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Voronwë the Faithful wrote:I guess you got your attorney to do it.yovargas wrote:You'll notice that while I was the one who called for facts and evidence, I was far, far too lazy to actually go looking for them.
True, that. Attorneys can be useful creatures, I must say...
"What do you fear, lady?" Aragorn asked.
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
- Voronwë the Faithful
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Ah, I thought that you were referring to the specific isssue that we were discussing. There certainly are some questions about some of the systems, particularly those of Diebold (which no long exists, having been bought out by Dominion Voting Systems). However, there has never been any evidence of actual hacking of votes in any U.S. elections. Is it possible that it has happened, or will happen? Sure. But based on the available evidence, I doubt it. (Here's a recent article at the Huff Post on the subject.)Frelga wrote:No, actually it doesn't, because I was not referring specifically to the alleged Romney involvement.
In other news, Nate Silver's overnight update to his calculations showed a surprisingly sharp increase in his estimate of President Obama's chances of reelection, from 72.9% to 77.4%, the highest it has been since October 7 (4 days after the first debate). He hasn't posted his daily blog post yet, so I don't know what the reasons are. I'm curious to see what caused the sharp uptick (the only larger single day change was from Oct. 11 to Oct 12 when it went from 66.1% to 61,1%, the lowest that it had been since June 5, when it was at 59.9%). I suspect it must relate to positive (for the president) polling in Ohio.
Edited to add: Wampus, that picture is insanely cute.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
- Voronwë the Faithful
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Ah, thanks! (I don't know why twitter is the one bastion of social media that I have avoided altogether. It just seems like it has the ability to suck one in.)
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Gov.Christe is a HERO, and the reaction to his praise of Pres makes me sick. He iis demonstrating what could be: bipartisanship in the name of America, These insane Gop and other rightwingers are almost calling him a traitor.
If you guys knew how difficult it is for me to type on this Machine of Mordor, you would be impressed.
If you guys knew how difficult it is for me to type on this Machine of Mordor, you would be impressed.
- Dave_LF
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Christe may be bipartisan, but he may also just be shrewd (or both, naturally). He's got a good chance of running for president himself in 2016, but not if Romney wins next week. And in the other direction, if Obama wins this year but is succeeded by a Republican in 2016 (as seems likely given the turn-taking mentality out there), I'd imagine he'd rather it be Christie than someone like Ryan. Each has incentive to help the other.
(This is from Voronwë's link on the previous page about Romney campaigning anyway.)His event Tuesday, touted as a "storm relief" effort, did not mention politics at all. "We have heavy hearts, as you know, with all of the suffering going on in a major part of our country," he said at an appearance near Dayton, Ohio, before collecting and boxing donations to be sent to New Jersey. He spent slightly under an hour on the effort.
This is the event Freddy worked yesterday. It was in Kettering, Ohio where he is a police officer.
Romney did not mention politics during that brief stop. (Didn't feel brief to Freddy who stood outside for 5+ hours in the bitter cold, rain, and wind!)
I don't know. What's he supposed to do? He doesn't have the advantage of the incumbency where he can still look and be important even when not out in front of the public. He can't exactly go into New York or New Jersey and help during the midst of the storm. That would make him a burden rather than a help.
I guess I'm not willing to castigate the man for doing something, however small it may be.
Oh, and I love kittens!
of course Christie is shrewd. but he,s shrewd in the right way and I admire his gumption. IMHO what Romney should have sid would be something like; the president and i don't agree on politics but be assured we are100% behind efforts to fix this mess. As far as i know he just went into some weird mindset and s eemed to hope it will all just go away.
had he been pres, what would he have done? I just watched him dance off a plane and call Jeb Bush a hero. Why is Jeb Bush a hero?
had he been pres, what would he have done? I just watched him dance off a plane and call Jeb Bush a hero. Why is Jeb Bush a hero?
- Dave_LF
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I was the same way until a week ago, when I signed up to follow a bunch of pollsters and election bloggers. My phone has been buzzing constantly since then. Not sure if I'll keep using it after this thing is over.Voronwë the Faithful wrote:Ah, thanks! (I don't know why twitter is the one bastion of social media that I have avoided altogether. It just seems like it has the ability to suck one in.)
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It had all the trapping of a campaign event, including the biographical video touting Gov. Romney's candidacy, the country music performer, the cheering supporters, and yes, criticism of the president. Don't say it isn't campaigning when it clearly is. And the donations of boxes of food that he was generating at this event were despite the fact that the Red Cross discourages donations of canned goods and requests money or blood instead. I'm sorry but it is impossible for me to see this as him doing what he can to help. It is him trying to appear like he is doing what he can to help, when he is actually just campaigning. It defines Gov. Romney for me because it is a perfect example of his trying to be both sides of the coin.Lalaith wrote:Romney did not mention politics during that brief stop.
And then there are his new ads about Chrysler and GM shipping jobs to China. Even within the metrics of this campaign they take credibility to a new level.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
- Voronwë the Faithful
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Christie's canny enough he had to know there'd be backlash and spoke up anyway. So I suspect he decided it was better for him in general if he appeared to be on the side of New Jersey rather than on the side of the pundits.
What I find utterly hilarious is the guy who headed FEMA when Katrina hit criticizing the Sandy response as too fast. And while I admit ti did seem weird to declare a federal disaster zone before the storm made landfall, doing so meant that local governments could start tapping into the federal system the instant they needed to. Which, incidentally, is why Christie is so happy with Obama right now.
What I find utterly hilarious is the guy who headed FEMA when Katrina hit criticizing the Sandy response as too fast. And while I admit ti did seem weird to declare a federal disaster zone before the storm made landfall, doing so meant that local governments could start tapping into the federal system the instant they needed to. Which, incidentally, is why Christie is so happy with Obama right now.
When you can do nothing what can you do?
- Primula Baggins
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I use Twitter on the Web (don't have a smartphone anyway). It's only there when I go look at it and doesn't interrupt my work. But I do like it for breaking news, and for the earliest possible notification that Nate Silver has updated.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
- Dave_LF
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The polls just released at noon ET show Ohio slipping father away from him at a time when he desperately needs it to be moving in the other direction, so those ads may not have been the best call. But he had to do something.Voronwë the Faithful wrote:And then there are his new ads about Chrysler and GM shipping jobs to China. Even within the metrics of this campaign they take credibility to a new level.