Monday, November 3, 2008

Vote!



Vote, Tuesday November 4th 2008

I don't think that I ever voted for a president that I was really happy with. I have voted in a few local elections that I have been totally happy with, and the candidate that I supported won and did a good job.
Unfortunately when someone is running for President of the United States, they feel that winning is so important that they will tell you anything just to get your vote. I guess you just have to decide who is the worse liar and vote for the other guy. I think that even the most astute student of politics must realize that what the candidates say, just can't happen, so they hold their nose and vote for who they think might be the better of the two evils. Do I sound Cynical? Good! I wish that enough people were cynical, so that we would band together and clean up what is wrong with our electoral system.

Hardly anybody wanted to bailout Wall Street. It was something like 82% against the bailout, but “Big Money” demanded a bailout, and got it. In about a year we will be right back here talking about another bailout. I’m not above saying that I told you so, so look forward to it. Even the politicians know that America needs an economic base to survive, and I don’t see the politicians bringing that many jobs back to America to stimulate the economy that fast. So, next year will be bailout II, look for it.

Did government do anything to help the family farmer? No they let the big corporate farmers take them over. After all of the farms were in the hands of the stockholders they came up with a ridiculous plan to grow corn to make ethanol to fuel cars. The corporate farms are doing great now that the families have been pushed out. If you don’t know what is wrong with ethanol, you haven’t been paying attention. Hint: cost of production is twice that of gasoline, and the fermentation process releases the dread CO2 into the atmosphere.

But I digress. The next thing that they did to the American worker is take his job away from him and give it to a twelve year old Chinese peasant girl, that is willing to work twelve hour days for practically nothing. Instead of insisting on enforcing balance-of-trade laws, our politicians threw them out the window and told us to deal with it, “We live in a World economy now!”. That means that the wall street investors and company CEO’s are making millions on cutting you out of your old job.

Then the politicians decided to give the young and the unfortunate people a chance to buy housing. They made sub-prime (Meaning “Not the best”) loans to people with marginal incomes. They made buying a house sound great. They told them that they would be paying rent anyway, so they might as well be paying for a house. They let them in the door with low payments, and told them that when the higher interest rates kicked-in in a couple of years, that their house would be worth way more that they had paid for it, and they could use the equity that they had built in their home to parlay a new “low interest, fixed rate loan”. It sounded great to the people that had no other choices anyway, they needed a place to live. Unfortunately (I use that word a lot) what really happened is the fat cats were making so much money selling housing to sub-prime buyers that they over built the market, and housing prices dropped instead of increasing. So instead if renegotiating the loans to reflect the new value, they took people homes away, and paid managing companies to maintain the foreclosed houses. Many of which were destroyed by the former owners on their way out. After all they had nothing to lose, they already lost their house and investment.

What is worse, is that the corporate companies that sold the homes to sub-prime home owners, turned around and sold those loans to Fanny May and Freddie Mac. So, the rats that sold the homes to people that couldn’t afford them had nothing to lose, and the wall street investors pocketed the profits off the home sales. Beginning to smell a rat?

Then the final straw was when all of the wealth had been drawn away from Wall Street, because there is nothing “real” left to invest in, wall street started to collapse. Instead of letting it collapse, our politicians decide to bail them out.

You know who is going to pay Wall Street don’t you? It will be those farmers that lost their farms to the corporations, It will be the people who lost their houses to the corporations, it will be the factory workers whose jobs were sold overseas, it will be all the people trying to get by, while the Wall Street raiders are busy figuring out how to put that $700,000,000,000.00 in their pocket. But, because we have no real economy in the United states anymore, and we have no real product to sell off-shore our “bleed” will keep draining our country dry. And the wall street fat cats will get their skim.

They will have it all pocketed in less that a year, and we be back here to hear me say “I told you so!”

So, go ahead, hold your nose and vote, It may be the last thing that we have any control over. Now, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to decide for ourselves who we might like as candidates, without mainstream media and big money telling us who we “need”?

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

isn't it actually the electoral college which elects the president, and our voting is merely a straw poll for them to use. I imagine as a resident of a blue state, I am voting for Obama no matter which box I check tomorrow.

oh the second district supervisor position is on the ballot, and as long as Clif Clendeadend doesn't win I will be satisfied,

Joel Mielke said...

This may be the first time I cast a vote for a presidential candidate who actually wins.

Ernie Branscomb said...

In the last post "Anonymous" posted that he/she thought that the Polio post was going nowhere and he wanted to talk politics instead.

I think a few of my fans thought that he/she was being mean. I really don't think so. I think "Anon" was just being clumsy. My experience with “Anon”, at least with the one that likes to be mean, starts of with many lies, foul names, and he/she likes to put words in my mouth that I didn’t say, and they taste bad.

I think that this Anon was just being clumsy, and attempted and explanation with; “I am dead end indie. And going down hill I think so don't cuss at me. It was just a suggestion.”

Which really meant; “That was me that was at the dead end, and I wanted to talk about politics, don’t be mad at me”

As I’ve told you before, most of what I know came from some of the smartest people in the world. Most without formal educations, or people that didn’t write for a living. People that knew how to split a rail or carve a post or build a homestead out of the wilderness. My kind of people, and I have a seventh sense about who is mean and who isn’t. My nature is to talk to people that seem to want to say something awhile, and strangely as soon as you show a genuine interest in who they are, and what they know, they lose that clumsy way of talking and start to speak their own language. A language that I understand well because they speak from their hearts. It is one of the easiest languages to understand for those who listen.

The only anon that I will discourage are those that just want to take a crap and leave. If someone has something genuine to say I will always listen…

So anon, tell me about this virus that you want to talk about. Don’t use your name. Somebody will pick on you. I guarantee it!

Anonymous said...

You bring up a beautiful memory of Nov 3, 1992. Every person and proposition I voted for won. From Bill Clinton to Roy Heider. It was a wonderful day and I put a big sign in the window of the Blue Moon Gift Shop saying "Thank You California" Everything 1/2 price today! We sold a ton of stuff and had a great day. Hopefully tomorrow brings the same to me one more time. Go Obama, Go Estelle, go Nancy Wilson & David Kirby too. If it comes down that way we will have that sale again!

Ernie Branscomb said...

As long as Clif or Johanna don't win I will be ecstatic. Actually Both Clif and Johanna are well qualified for the job of supervisor and will do a great job if elected. They would just do the job differently than I prefer them to do it.

I have made no secret that I support, and have worked hard with Estelle Fennell for Supervisor. I know that she is intelligent and a hard worker and she will represent us well. She is not shy about going after what she wants for our county and district, yet she is polite and a pleasure to be around. She is entirely the kind of person that anyone would be proud to call a friend. My hopes and wishes are that she can represent us.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Anon mentioned that the electoral college actually determines who will be our president. That is true, and the strategy of the candidates focus on getting those electoral votes, even if sometimes it means that they will lose the popular vote, so only a fool would ignore the electoral vote and go after the popular vote.

I've heard many people say bitterly that George Bush did not win the popular vote. Ol' George played the game well, he ended up as President, and that was the goal. So pay attention!

Nobody really campaigned in California, because all of the votes are going to Obama. Period. Why bother with California. It makes me wish that my vote counted, but it really doesn’t. I might as well vote for Nader again, just as a protest. God help me if he wins though!

Bunny, I’m glad you are my friend! According to all the surveys you’d better get that sale ready! I would do things differently than you, but I would think that your choices would be acceptable to me.

Anonymous said...

I also live in a blue state, but my vote is for MaCain / Palin. I think a lot of people are voting for Obama on issues like abortion and gay rights which is their right. However there is a lot more at stake here here that will affect this country in a negative way. Taxes and national security hits up there with me along with gun rights.

Another thing that goes against my grain is Obama's participation in flag burnings and his radical associations.

One other point here, how is it that someone running for the highest office in the nation is not made to prove his eligibility. His birth certificates are sealed, all of them and yes there is more than one. At least two from Hawaii and from two different hospitals as I understand. If these were made available we might be talking about a different democratic candidate. Someone not so radical as Obama, like Nancy Polosi.

Oregon

Anonymous said...

I am so excited about today. America comes of age.

Oregon, we are not voting for Obama because of abortion or gay rights. Not one bit. That's silly. We are against the goddamn so called war in Iraq and the lives that have been lost for what?! Bin Laden was not in Iraq but lots of terrorists are there now. This is a vote against the party that took us there.

Incidentally, that's a load of crap about his birth certificate. More fox news silliness.

It's a great day in America....so far... it's not even 7am yet. You all, you too Oregon, go have a wonderful day and celebrate the Change that will come. Don't worry, it'll all be fine. Love you Ernie.

Ernie Branscomb said...

I’m a man without a party. I’m probably not alone, I’m sure that most people don’t agree with everything that is put forth by the Democrats or the Republicans.

I believe that you have a right to believe what ever you want to believe, no matter how screwed up your beliefs are, and I believe that you have a right to express your beliefs and try to recruit other believers.

I believe in the right to bear arms. To protect yourself against an unreasonable government, and unlawful intruders.

I don’t believe that I should have to harbor soldiers in my house, although most of them would probably be welcome.

I believe that my house and my home are a sovereign country, and any intrusion will be considered an act of war with appropriate consequences.

I feel that I don’t have to tell you diddly about myself if I don’t want to. That includes that I don’t even have to tell you my name. (Anonymous will like that) I will be responsible for my actions, with or without a name.

When accused of a crime, I have the right to protect myself as best that I can. If I am broke, my government should give me a lawyer.

And, oh yeah, I’m going to want more than one person to decide if I’m guilty of a crime or not. Hopefully people that might think like me and share my values.

When accused of a crime, I don’t think that I should have to sit in jail while lawyers decide what to do about me, they get paid more to waste time, so I think that I should be able to post a reasonable bail while they work out their details. If I’m guilty, I don’t think that I should be beaten or tortured.

If the law doesn’t say specifically that I DON’T have a right, I do have that right, and don’t forget it!

My rights begin as an individual, nobody has the right to take them away. The right to mess with me decreases as you go up the rank of governments. My county has the most right to determine my rules, second comes the state and least of all, the federal government. But as you might know, power corrupts and those rules are little considered anymore.

Some additional thoughts:

Judges don’t have the right to form legislation, that is why we elect legislators.

All people have equal rights, and we would pass that amendment if women would vote for it. Strangely they won’t.

And most of all, all citizens of The United States of America, of reasonable age and maturity, DO have the right to vote, regardless of sex, race, or religion. Even dumb people that don’t agree with me!

Anonymous said...

Right On Ernie!

Joel Mielke said...

"Actually both...are well qualified for the job of supervisor..."

The Man Without a Party proves to be a refreshingly gracious partisan.

Joe Blow said...

Isn't this a bit contradictory? 1) "...and I believe that you have a right to express your beliefs and try to recruit other believers." And 2) "My rights begin as an individual, nobody has the right to take them away."

If you respect the rights of other individuals as individuals, what gives you the "right" to recruit other believers?

Ernie Branscomb said...

Well Joe, whether or not I could recruit you would depend entirely on you.

The reference was actually taken from the first amendment, and the freedom of the press. Whether or not you read the paper, or watch the TV, is your option. Whether or not you want to join me in my way of thinking is also in your complete control, but I have the right to put information out there for you.

Joe Blow said...

ONE: "Well Joe, whether or not I could recruit you would depend entirely on you."

Where in anything you wrote says ANYTHING about "recruiting" me to whatever you believe?

TWO: Ernie Branscomb you manifest yourself as a phony, mealy-mouthed hypocrite! Who the hell are you to intimate whether or not I read the news paper, watch the TV or know anything about the First Amendment? You take a whole lot upon yourself just because someone posts a comment or asks you a question your hypocritical BS. Besides what makes you think I give a rat *** about your way of thinking? You can put whatever it is you call "information" out there, but I'll decide, if you don't mind, what is for me and what isn't for me.

My question stands, "If you respect the rights of other individuals as individuals, what gives you the "right" to recruit other believers?"

YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION. Not unless you think God made you Jesus Christ.

Indie said...

Ernie, you are one of the interesting, genuine people I know. I love reading what you have to say.

Anonymous said...

Uh oh, Ernie... Looks like Joe Blow is your Strven. What a jerk!

Indie said...

Hey Joe Blow, if you don't give a rat's ass what Ernie thinks, there is a quick and easy cure. Stop reading his blog. It seems so obvious.

Kristabel said...

I'm just happy Joe Blow is finally not talking about himself in the third person.

spyrock said...

its called tolerance mr blowjoe. personally, i believe in individuality and what is coming from inside me. i'm not into groups. but in reality, we all live in groups with other people many whom hold different views than our own. in other words, you either respect diversity or you don't. you tolerate someones right to believe whatever they want even though its not your cup of tea. i work in a 95 per cent hispanic workplace. i live in an area that is predominently christian but there are at least 20 different interpretations of what each church means by that.
some people just like being left alone. some people like being unhappy. that's what they are used to. being vurnurable scares them too much so they basically live within a prison of their own creation. i'm perfectly fine leaving people with their own unhappiness if that's what makes them happy. i don't really care if someone agrees with me or not.
i believe that people are doing the best they can. but i will point out where i think the path goes sort of like a pathfinder. something like warning people about the cliff over there or the quick sand over there. watch out for that truck. but i don't try to talk people out of what they believe or try to stop them from their desire that everyone shares their identical vision. sometimes the best thing you can say to someone is nothing. but to understand ernie you have to realize that he has a big heart that includes most of what he sees and he knows from his ancestors that he's connected. and a connected person is the last thing you want to mess with. at least with a rattlesnake, you would get a warning.
perhaps you didn't like the outcome of the election. if so, learn from john sidney mccains example and bow out gracefully. he almost sounded like kevin costner tonight and he's demonstrated great timing in comedy. but the next leader of the free world, he is not. god chose obama.

Anonymous said...

Gee, I hope the post-election giddiness will soon subside.
Bunny, usually I credit you with quality commentary, but to read your “I am so excited about today. America comes of age.” entry at 6:53 certainly smacks of naiveté. Um, what exactly do you believe will change?? Read your history: No leader, no political party, has ever provided prescient leadership that satisfies the masses for long. And to have you dictate what THE important issue that trumps all others (Iraq over abortion/gay rights) is a bit narrow-minded on your part, yes?
We may all be receptive to change now but, soon enough, those who become disenchanted with Obama for not effecting that “change“ (however you define it) will clamor for another new direction yet again. The cycle always repeats. By nature, we are a restless and discontent people, and we demand that our leaders be our shepherds AND our servants. (Can you recall any leader who has fit that criteria??)
You imply that your vote for Obama was in protest against the decision to go to Iraq. OK, does it end there for you? What are you going to do to help Obama succeed in making his new vision for this country a reality? Please share, or was your vote just payback?
“America comes of age.” Do tell.

spyrock said...

america is a dream that people all over the world have heard about. where there is freedom and equality. today america is walking her talk or we actually are the land of opportunity. when a single mom's biracial kid can become president, then any kid can become president. there are no more excuses not to be a responsible citizen. it's not bullshistory now. its real. but if you prefer otherwise, go back to sleep maybe you are just having nightmare.

Robin Shelley said...

The kid can become president so long as the kid is rich, Spy. You left that part out.

Anonymous said...

Robin, McCaIn is the rich kid. Certainly not Obama. I'm with Bunny. It was such a thrill to realize that millions of Americans were on the streets last night celebrating the Democratic victory. The Republicans are going to have to move to the center if they wish to recover from this situation.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Joe Blow

I harbor you no ill will; indeed, I give great value to your comments here. You broaden the base of opinions greater than most other commenters.

I look for eloquence, not in what people say, but in what they feel and what they know. So, your comments stand out and elicit feelings, knowledge, and comments from others better than most. You add greatly to this blog.

In your eloquence of feelings, knowledge, and emotions you have proven my point so well that I feel little need to comment about them. But, I will.

Fortuitously, for me you have just dramatically proven my point. I didn’t break down your door, drag you into the street, and force you to agree with me. I sat here amongst literally millions of blog writers, writing my drivel, and you came in my door, read what I have to say, made up your mind about what I said, and you expressed your opinion. What makes you so sure that I haven’t “recruited” you?

Did it ever occur to you, that is what the first amendment is all about? The first amendment is about my right to warn you about danger, and inform you about the joys of the world, and most of all it protects my right, and ironically, your right to express an opinion.

Thanks for your opinion, Ernie

P. S you can say “rats ass” here, I think it adds drama and class!

Indie said...

Speaking of "rat's ass," it is entirely possible that Joe Blow IS Stephen. Over at SoHum Parlance, Stephen just submitted a diatribe using that exact term.

In addition, the two bloggers are similar in their lack of brevity and paragraphing, their words choices, and the tendency to sandwich illogic between bits of logic. Not to mention point of view and interest in SoHum politics.

Just a little discourse analysis du jour.

Cristina said...

"No leader, no political party, has ever provided prescient leadership that satisfies the masses for long."

FDR was reëlected three times. Apparently, he managed to satisfy the masses until his (literal) dying day.

Robin Shelley said...

Pay & you can play, Ben. Doesn't matter which party you're with.

spyrock said...

watching the news tonight, they showed the kids at school having their own election. they had an asian, black, white, and latino kid each say that now they know that even they could become president. so far, only 44 people have been president. i agree. you have to have money to win, because big money is against you. i don't think very many people know even a little bit of what's involved in trying to run for political office. but i never have ever told my daughter what she couldn't do. she wound up graduating from ucla and is a beautiful human being. personally, i've never had a desire to be the president or even the supervisor. i had enough of the spotlight when i was a kid. but i really believe that anyone can be anything they set their mind to. you dream your world into being.

Robin Shelley said...

Now you've peaked my curiosity (again), Spy. Why did you have enough of the spotlight when you were a kid?

Ernie Branscomb said...

I would actually like to hold a public office, and I think that I would actually like helping people. I just don’t think that I would like the feeling of people less informed than me telling me that I was wrong all the time. I don’t think that I could hold up to the public scrutiny of running for office.

I find great humor in peoples differences, and they don’t. I don’t think that people are wise enough to deal with differences yet, and I’m a little different than most.

Anonymous said...

Well said Ernie, 12;32.

Oregon

spyrock said...

my mom was born at the indian reservation hospital in covelo back in 1911. her father carried her by horseback 15 miles back to the west side of the eel a mile from spyrock where they lived. my mom and uncle delbert rode a white mule to spyrock school. they lived in a log cabin type house on the south side of shell rock creek just down the hill from the old simmerly house. from the 3rd floor of the simmerly house you could see their house. when my mom got old enough to go to high school, they moved and later my mom lived in mill valley with her aunt and rode the ferry boat to san francisco state which was downtown in those days. she became a teacher but when she got married they tried to hide the fact from everyone and got married in napa because a married woman couldn't teach in those days because of the depression. so she lost her job and got hired teaching school for kids in a hospital that had tuberculosis and rheumatic fever. i still test positive for tb. when the war started, she got a job driving a school bus and eventually got hired as a teacher again. a year after i was born she went back to teaching. a year later she was made the principal of the school.
you have to remember, this was back in the days of radio, no tv. the pta meeting was the main event in town back in those days, the whole town would show up. and every holiday there would be a christmas pagent that the whole school would participate in, a great holloween event and so on. this was back in the days of paddles and all the kids were terrified of my mom. they would litteraly run away from me when i was a kid. she had a backup 8th grade teacher nicknamed mr. goodnight who would paddle the bigger kids. so all the kids kept their distance from me when i was young. i was never referred to by my own name until i went away to college. i was always referred to as her son by everyone in town except friends my own age. after ten years of being a principal, they made her a superintendant because they built another school. she could have been the county superintendant, but she turned them down. after she retired, they named a school after her and she served on the county board of education until she was 91years old. no one would run against her. i was never comfortable with this situation. i always had to dress up and be an example for the other kids and if i didn't there was hell to pay.
but for growing up in spyrock, my mom achieved a lot more than most women did in her day. she was a trail blazer and i'm proud to be her son.

Indie said...

Spyrock, what an amazing story!

Robin Shelley said...

I remember always feeling sorry for the teacher's kid. Seemed they had to live up to higher standards & bear harsher punishments than the rest of us. A few kids I went to school with got double whammies because they had their mom as a teacher in elementary school & their dad in high school. The principal's kids at least didn't have to bear their father in the classroom.
I love your stories, Spy. You could fill a blog of your own... you know?

Robin Shelley said...

Your mom was definitely an accomplished lady & you should be proud. She went a long way from Spy Rock!

Anonymous said...

I'm just happy Joe Blow is finally not talking about himself in the third person.

LOL! Suzy totally argrees. it was a trite literary device Joe... a pretentious and offensive cliche... and really creepy -- shame shame.

but jst to show u that shes a good sport LOL! Suzy will give yuo a special writing tip straihgt from her little heart LOL for free!

its abuot yr name -- joe blow ... its a pretty good name but its a little bit flat --knowhatimean? Sorta mundane... Suzy thainks u need antother blow, Joe... to loosen up, to give urself some movement ... some gamble, some beat... more rhythm and rhyme... knowhatimsayin? thats what its allabuout ... rite?

its called a vision quest joe, when yuo go ontop of a mt and fast and take mushrmooms and peyote and pray and recieve yr new name ... its heavvy shit joe its what a writer does... some of them go there for not just a new name but 4 every fucking word! ... its a hard job yuo have undertaken when u picked up the keyboard or pen or whatever but the goodnews is, Joe, u dont have to pray or fast or take drugs or any of that Joe... cuz Suzy did it 4 yuo... LOL!

and ur new name is .... Joe Blow Blow ...

that sounds a lot better, eh? it has a cewl ryhthm going on in there and it rhymes twice as much as before!

luv and peace,
S

Anonymous said...

Dang Suzy, I like your posts. I wish you wrote here more often.

spyrock said...

mushrmooms, you mean animita mascaria. a friend of mine ate one of those and crewled around the forest for 3 days. then he thought he was miles davis for the rest of his life.
i know where you can have your vision quest. climb up spyrock and spend the night at the very top. that's what they want to do with me.

Anonymous said...

Spy, Suzy olny took amanita muscaria twice. The 1st time i was seven yrs old and i tooke it with my brtother who was 12. the next time i was about ten and i took it alone. That was all Suzy needed. im sorry abuot yr freind, who crawled aroud the woods for 3 days and 3 nights... i really am. psychedelics are not 4 everybodey. But suzy hadda good trip, both times and swa the sunrise at midnight over kings peak looking west. I will tell u that amanita is differant then sillyciben or peyote or dmt or lsd. Because on amanita u are totally in the trip, u go all the way! its not like yr imagination or whatever, its more like real LOL --yr not just imagining yr in anciant egypt or on saturn or wherever... u really are there.

but for a vision quest u can use peyote ... and then smoke some cubensis... that'll get yuo to the top of spyrock

--if thats yr true names quest to find u...
then that may be where yr path leads 2
--yuoll run run run alltheway to the top tip
and then when your there and u figure out ur true name ...
trip!!!
-- youll keep climping higher and hiegher
to the sun u will fly !
yr mouth will get dryer and dryer and
then yuo will die...

and in the end if it turns out that u r miles davis... well its not Suzys fualt i mean like whos goona take advice from a crazy blogger who cant spell mushmroom?

but in case anyones listening --stay away from datura... if its not cured right .... Suzy took it at the matell in 97... my friends found me crewling across the parking lot at the redway post office.

now where did that grilled cheeze sandwich i was eating go to? ... spaced it out again...

peaceandlove,
s