Categories
Open Thread

Electoral Fraud: Can Diebold do it again?

Team Obama appear to have the grass/netroots organisation, numbers and smarts to be able to deal with any Rove-stlye GOP electoral interference on Nov. 4. Considering the depths to which the GOP have previously descended in order to cling to power and thereby maintain their access to the Federal Trough, worst case scenarios should be fully prepared for, indeed, expected.

In the 2004 US Presidential Election G. W. Bush gained 286 Electoral College Votes (ECVs); John Kerry, 252. To become POTUS a Party’s Nominee must gain 270 ECVs. Each state has a number of electors equal to the number of its Senators and Representatives in the United States Congress which is proportional to the population as determined through a census taken every 10 years. CA for example has 55 ECVs, Nth Dakota, 3. Each State awards its ECVs on a winner take all basis of the popular vote except Maine and Nebraska which have minor idiosyncratic variations. To hardcore Bludgers, these things are “known knowns”.

State Governors have the executive power (which is an inordinate amount of clout) to determine how the popular vote is tallied in their States, eg, CO (Democratic Governor) now has all pencil and paper ballots, while FL (GOP Gov.) has widespread (ab)use of poorly scrutinised Diebold receiptless computer-touchscreen voting machines.

Diebold incidentally, make ATMs which produce receipts upon request but they just haven’t been able to employ that good ‘ol American know-how to manufacture a voting machine that would likewise supply a paper trail. Funny about that. Paper trails come in mighty handy in the event of disputed returns. As things stand, the word of the computer programmers is final. Verifiable democracy, it would seem, can take a hike! Diebold Corporation are major donors to the GOP, but that’s probably just a coincidence. Diebold computers tallied the vote in OHIO 2004 and the State was ruled by GOP Goveror, Bob Taft (ref. 20 Amazing Facts About Elections).

Had Kerry won OHIO’s 20 ECVs in 2004, he would have become POTUS.

Karl Rove has recently been subject to a surge of mentorial pride. Mr. Rove is former W.H. Deputy CoS and “architect” of President G.W. Bush’s electoral success. He presently is an artful dodger of Congressional subpoenas concerning the “letting go of” Federal Judges who, in Karl’s opinion, were not onside with his former master’s aims and objectives regarding the practicalities of maintaining the upper hand in matters of day to day rule.

Karl’s understudy, Steve “Schmuckens” Schmidt, has displayed prodigious talent already as a “draughtsman”. Mr.Schmidt has recently become prospective GOP Nominee John McCain’s chief campaign advisor. It would not be unreasonable to assume that Mr. Schmidt would be willing to employ all the wiles of his mentor in order to have Senator McCain “elected” POTUS.

Not unreasonably, with respect of the abovementioned developments, there are some amongst us who smell a rat and I am unabashedly one of those people. However, the political landscape has altered rather dramatically since 2004. Latest polling suggests that while the GOP is not likely to gain ANY States in Nov. 2008, Dems have excellent prospects in CO IN IA MT NM OH and VA (ref. electoral-vote.com). Of these States, all except Indiana have Democratic Governors, therefore the prospects of Schmidt & Co pulling an “OHIO 04” in those States are somewhat diminished (ref. Wikipedia: US Governors Map).

Despite the obvious fraud potential in Diebolds’ systems (ref. Lou Dobs on Dibold), the Democratic Leadership Council in its wisdom persisted in having the Dodgies from Diebold tally the N.H. primary which, contrary to all pre and exit polls, produced a stunning campaign-sustaining victory for “Beltway to her Bootstraps” HRC, and not the upstart Junior Senator from Illinois, BHO.

Just another coincidence, I guess.

There are many other methods of rorting US elections such as compulsory carrying of ID for voters in Indiana, and the methods addressed in the Wikipedia: 2004 US Presidential election controversy notes. In preparing this post I read literally scores of articles but had to stand in awe of the jounalistic and research skills of Maureen Farrell. For Bludgers interested in the subject, her work: “Another Rigged Election, The Elephant in the Booth”, is outstanding. Finally, despite the unfairness in our electoral system such as disproportionate Senate representation, our way of electing our representatives by the straightforward marking of paper ballots with a pencil seems to be comparatively tamper-proof.

371 replies on “Electoral Fraud: Can Diebold do it again?”

“Germaine” (noun), An attention-seeking windbag; an author paid to be unpleasant or pointlessly provocative; a person with a comically high self-regard; a ridiculous figure from the past, notably in pompous Australian media circles; a flake.

blindi – sadly, I have to agree. In her day she was a formidible woman and she certainky helped feminism get up and running in Aus.
But I felt the same disappointment with a number of notable feminists throughout Hillary’s bid. They lost sight of the bigger picture and got stuck on gender issues.

hi jen. I used to think she was great, but she seems to take pleasure – or at least be happy to get paid a lot – to dish out the disdain. It’d be ok if she was at least funny, but her genre doesn’t allow comedy. Terrible shame.

Jen,

Off topic, you may be interested that 1000 totally electric cars are being manufactured here in country Victoria,plan to be available by the end of the year,120kms range,totally sustainable if solar panel’s used but otherwise green electricity plug-in,Hyundai Getz body,etc. ….

http://www.bev.com.au/Blade-Electric-Car.aspx

Saw the original prototype in action a couple of years ago and am impressed that Ross has until now been funding this all by himself.

201,

Oh, and I have no vested interest,Jen.

Just so admire people who follow their dreams in making a

difference,putting their money where their mouths are and

especially when it hits them hard in their pockets.

Thanks megan-
I want one!
and thanks for your earlier words- am still trying to have a sensible discussion re the climate change issues on PB, but once again have been stymied. *sigh* -you’d think I’d learn!

In Iraq, Affection for Obama … but His Proposal?

A tough Iraqi general, a former special operations officer with a baritone voice and a barrel chest, melted into smiles when asked about Senator Barack Obama.

“Everyone in Iraq likes him,” said the general, Nassir al-Hiti. “I like him. He’s young. Very active. We would be very happy if he was elected president.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/world/middleeast/17voices.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

Obama to kick off 5-nation tour.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee will try to boost his résumé next week with a five-country European and Middle East tour that threatens to turn into Obamapalooza.

In contrast to the low-key coverage of Republican John McCain’s European and Middle East trip in March, Obama will be accompanied by a campaign plane of reporters and trailed by three network broadcast anchors. McCain got some headlines, but did not have a traveling press corps.

Obama is “going to be a rock star,” said James Thurber, an American University political scientist who recently taught a course in Brussels. “Expectations are high,” agreed Christian Hacke, a retired professor of foreign policy at the University of Bonn. “I think too high.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-07-16-Obama_N.htm

With $47.1 million in the bank and facing the best political landscape, save that in 2006, in recent memory, national Democrats made big news last week by reserving millions of dollars’ worth of television ad space in 31 congressional districts. But those reservations won’t actually turn into advertisements for months, unless the party feels compelled to jump on top of a particular race.

http://politicker.com/dems-good-position-still-playing-defense

U.S. Jews were heavily leaning towards Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential elections. Sixty-two percent described themselves as likely to vote for Obama, versus 32 percent for his opponent, Senator John McCain.

However, support for Israel was not particularly high on the priority list of respondents. Only 8 percent described Israel as one of the two most important issues for them in the upcoming election, placing it seventh on the list of issues; far more important were the economy (55 percent) and the war in Iraq (33 percent).

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43213

Swing Lowe. Have a play with the map in #209 set it for race religion and sex, voting as per 2006, Florida falls every time. Things have got much worse for the Repugs since then.

This is so much FUN!!!

201 megan

50k for a small car is a big ask megan, even if it ran on water.

At the upper end of electricity costs (as at this time, note), say $2.50/100km that makes it roughly a quarter of the energy input costs versus petrol (based on 6l/100k, which the Getz is probably close to, and $1.70/ petrol for round numbers).

By my back of the envelope (well, front of the monitor actually! LOL) calculations, to just break even on the extra 30k it costs to fit this basically 20k car (round figures) you’d have to drive it for 400,000 km.

That’s 3,333 recharges @ 120km urban driving. Now I’ll lay money that NO battery system will last that number of charges before some serious performance degradation (probably cactus WELL before that number), yet there’s no mention of battery life on the site. I’ll check elsewhere, but this is the Achilles heel of battery cars…the battery. I’d guess you need at least one replacement set in the 400k period. i’m even going to speculate on how much wear and tear the rest of the car’s transmission would take, but 400k kilometres sounds unlikely to me.

OK, wanna drive a Getz into the ground just to break even over 400,000km????

Fleets would save on the energy costs most likely, so at half price it’s looking more reasonable(just), but anyone buying ‘green power’ would be acting altruistically in my opinion.

As I suspected, for lithium iron phosphate cells:

80% Cycle life = 2000 (Number of Cycles using 80% of rated capacity)

The power storage system would be cactus well before 3k recharges.

Using the Demographic map in #209 if there is a 10% increase in the black vote and a 3% increase in the Latino vote. Without anything else changing whatsoever. Obliteration!!! Including Texas.

213 Chris B

how will you contain your excitement until November? LOL

214 jen

Geez Jen, whaddya want, rose coloured glasses again? LOL

The reality is that until a whacking great impost is put on emitted CO2 there is no way that we will do the ‘right thing’.

And Rudd will not take us there yet, coz he wants to still be with us after the next election.

So we’ve got a watery set of commitments to do something, but hey, not just yet.

Don’t shoot the messenger, but when the medicine arrives, you won’t like that either, I’ll bet on it.

Kirri- I wouldn’t shoot you ever.
Youre absolutely right. I have no idea how we are meant to reduce carbon emissions as quickly as we need to ( and that still won’t be quickly enough) without the cost to every individual being prohibitive .Just makes me even more pissed off that we had all those wasted years here and in the US when all the warnings were there and totally ignored by the govt’s of the day.
What’s incredible is that these idiots (and the libs here) are still denying and lying about the harsh reality of what we face.
As I’ve said before WTF would Obama want the job???

227 jen

Ha! Or, you could have the nose-clips instead…take ya pick!

Look, I think the public is better over this issue than the pollies want to think for one reason: big business is lobbying hard for concessions so they don’t have to pass on hurtful price rises to their consumers, but the reality is simply one where NOTHING gets to change much until it works that way.

Consumer behaviour must be changed with mandated emission costs, pure and simple. The whole ‘trading’ thing is an add on to make it seem like there’s some magic market force making it happen.

There ain’t. The trading is moving the pain around with money.

The tough call is putting a price on a tonne of CO2, and the rest will happen.

Sure, we all know it’s cod liver oil, but we just WILL NOT change without it.

The Valiums kicked in. Can I come back now?

If the reported polling for black voters, latino, young, Jewish and female voters are used in the demographic map. It will turn blue everywhere.

229 Chris B

just keep taking the chill pills CB! LOL

It is, I gotta confess, an exciting notion that Obama might wipe out the Republicans in November, but even if he squeaks it in, I’ll be happy.

Perspective, gotta keep one.

Arvo Bludgers,

Delighted to announce that the inaugural PB-US Election (2008) Bludgerfest will take place at a venue Between Brisbane City and BNE Airport on November 5. For attendees from interstate NOW is the time to begin searching for the best priced plane tickets.
The event will commence 8:30~9 A.M EST(tallys will be coming in by then) at a venue as yet undecided, however I’ll be in BrisVegas next week to scout out the best venue from a shortlist and will let everyone know as soon as the arrangements are nailed.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

These are our “minimum requirements” for a successful assembly:

1) Three monitors linked to live feeds from MSNBC, CNN and to remain “fair and balanced” as well as to watch the bastards squirm, Fox.

2) WiFi access for internet and “live blogging”.

3) Enough space for a few dozen people. There will always be “late acceptors” as the buzz builds ahead of the event.

4) Access to espresso coffee (instant is an insult to discerning and wannabe pseph-heads),
-nutritious, inexpensive cafe-type food,
-and as as the yard arm approaches its zenith, there will no doubt be those amongst us who would appreciate a cleansing ale or perhaps even a tipple of a more exotic fermentuous or spirituous beverage:)

The craic and sizzle will of course be provided by the disparate band of misfits in attendance.

Kirribilli Removals has given his “imprimatur” and health willing, will be there “with bells on”. Other acceptors are jen, Ferny Grover, Possum Commitatus, jaundiced view, Classified and me. So what about the rest of ye motely crew, that’s right,

“I’m talkin’ to you YOU!!”

Catrina

megan

blindoptimist

Optimist

Chris B

Diogenes

codger

Al

Max

Swing Lowe

Progressive

Pancho

Gaffhook

dogb

HusseinWorm

YoHoHo

Scotty

Adam Carr

Rain

Andrew

roxanna

GhostWhoVotes

Flaneur

(apologies if I’ve omitted any current or former regulars)

And all, especially William, from PB Oz are most welcome.

Need to get an idea of numbers asap, so would the above mentioned RSVP.

Why wake up on NOV. 6 and mumble, “Geez, I shoulda been there with the gang” as one of the defining moments in 21st Century History and Politics will have passed. Be a bit too bloody late then, won’t it??

Yours, EC.

World Economics with cows

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away…

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income

SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons

AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows.
No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.

FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called ‘Cowkimon’ and market it worldwide.

GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don’t know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb the crap out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy…

AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive . . .

232 blindoptimist

Thanks for the update! LOL

Loved the Enron model…and just remember, after he had been flying around in Ken Lay’s private jet, when Enron finally collapsed, George Bush was asked about his relationship with him.

His answer?

“Ken who?”

Enron was the disaster that just kept on giving. Wasn’t it?

Kirri@217,
He is hoping to have the 1000 new electric cars sell for $35,000 by 2009 -it is the retro-fitted cars that cost $49,000 or whereabouts as I understand it.
And ,as he states in an interview elsewhere,if councils and govt depts would start setting an example,the price could come down to $25,000.
Must admit I uhm’d and ah’d, having seen him years ago driving his prototype around Wahroonga . Was mightily impressed and have been following his one-man crusade with interest.
The battery life has been my chief concern also as I investigated the Prius threads before settling for my fuel-efficient little Honda.
But will definitely consider retrofitting it when the warranty is up -if possible- instead of buying a new car. Am attached to it,love the design and handling,and like a comfortable pair of shoes,will happily pay a bit more to keep it and know I am making a difference.

Glen Greenwald, as lucidly as usual, slams Tom Friedman for his immoral war cheering and his subsequent complaint that the world no longer loves the United States of America:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/16/friedman/

…and if you watch the video of Friedman justifying the attack on Iraq “because we could”, or simply a show of force to the regions hostile players, take a vomit bag.

It is, truly, revolting.

Terrific, dogb. Perhaps your spouse wishes to suss the Bludgers with whom you have been “wasting so much of your valuable time” 🙂

Yep, Kirri, Kenny Boy Lay and The Imbecile go waaaay back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1T4GFG0ZLE
————
Very funny, BoBo. Multiple belly laughs. Might I add….

VATICAN CORPORATION

Your church has multiple cows under it’s control.
A papal bull bans all forms of herd control because senior stockmen have developed an irrepressible taste for veal.

235 megan

Don’t get me wrong Megan, I think electric vehicles for urban commuters should be MANDATED! lol

But can you seriously see that happening anytime soon?

Not while the pollies play pussyfoot under the table with the big emitters and refuse to actually whack a hefty price on CO2 less the sky fall in. (It will if they don’t, however)

The major shifts must be in transport and lighting and household efficiencies as far as we are concerned and the industrial polluters MUST be forced to pay and take their lumps in the market place.

No choices. But no party will do this coz the outrage will guarantee their instant demise.

Like St Augustine, everyone wants to be chaste, but not just yet.

So we’re off on a slow track, gradual, let’s hope nobody squeals too much, softly softly path to not very much change, when of course the science is almost universally agreed that we need to hit brakes hard, and hit them NOW, not years down the track.

We either pay up front, or we bequeath a massive burden upon the future.

Take ya pick, as they say.

237 Enemy Combatant

Classic! LOL Mr Horowitz can not only hold a tune, but does a tasty bit of barbed satire into the bargain.

Good career move for Kenny to shuffle off the mortal coil, one would have to think.

As for the Vatican rag you bulled, the “taste for veal” is bordering on sordidly accurate. I thought a good T-shirt for the cult-fest going on in Sydders at the moment would read:

“Altared Boyz”

But I’d probably be arrested! LOL

I’m a lifelong conservative activist and I’m backing Barack Obama.

I’m a lifelong Republican – a supply-side conservative. I worked in the Reagan White House. I was the chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for five years. In 1994, I helped write the Republican Contract with America. I served on Bob Dole’s presidential campaign team and was chief economist for Jack Kemp’s Empower America.

This November, I’m voting for Barack Obama.

Now that’s the sort of thing we like to hear.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/07/16/2008-07-16_im_a_lifelong_conservative_activist_and_.html

Ecky@231,

yes,well,uhm……look I REALLY want to come but have agreed to a holiday overseas at that time.

Not often that I hope people will change their minds but on this occasion I really do hope it falls through as I would love to join you in Brizzie.

So,with any luck,I’ll be one of the late confirmers 🙂

With at least 10 national unions giving their formal endorsements to Democratic Senator Barack Obama in his quest for the presidency, Republican rival John McCain finds himself lagging badly in the battle for labour’s support in the November election.

Another 12 unions that endorsed Obama’s former arch-enemy for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, are also expected to transfer their endorsements to Obama. If this happens, it will bring him millions more votes.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43197

241 Chris B

Another Republican who’s so disgusted by the cabal that hijacked his party he’s openly in revolt.

I’ll bet there are hordes of them who don’t have his profile and will never be seen in print about it, but they’ll be there in November to kill off the party to ultimately save it.

Good to see it so well articulated.

Now we can see what was behind McCain’s hand, the face of someone who knew what his party was doing:

Bush weighs in on family planning. The Bush Administration isn’t worried about making any new friends as it heads out of office — now it’s trying to redefine contraception as abortion. The New York Times reports that the Department of Health and Human Services is drafting a rule that would place new restrictions on domestic family planning programs. Current law allows health care providers to refuse to provide abortions based on their religious beliefs – now this provision would also allow them to refuse to provide birth control. The Gavel blog says the law would threaten the funding of organisations and health facilities if they do not hire people who would refuse to provide birth control and defines abortion so broadly that it would include many types of birth control, including oral contraception.

Crikey

…so there ya go, the last ditch pandering to the religiously insane and papal doctrine so bizarre that not even Catholics pay it much heed when they have a civil enough society that allows them to. God help the rest, and he doesn’t seem much concerned by their plight.

General Note on Spam Machinery

So far the default spam catcher has captured 36 messages. Of those 36, just 1 message was actually a spam message. The other 35 were messages from regular contributors. Gerally speaking that sucks because every time I release the non-spam spam we end up buggering the number sequence here. So, I’m now looking into options (because it’s starting to annoy me).

Hey gang, you’ll be pleased to know Ron and The Finnegans are bashing us over on the original Poll Bludger.
A little sour grapes from the anti-Obama trolls, methinks!
LOL

Chris: let’s turn the whole frigging map blue, even Texas
I want McCain to be feeling BLUE LOL

This is a worry …

The New York Times reports that the Bush Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services is drafting a rule that would place new restrictions on domestic family planning programs. While current law allows health care providers and professionals to refuse to provide abortions based on their religious beliefs, this provision would threaten the funding of organizations and health facilities if they do not hire people who would refuse to provide birth control and defines abortion so broadly that it would include many types of birth control, including oral contraception.

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1441

254 Catrina It will get the women’s vote hugely offside. Just move that women’s slider 2% towards the Democrats and see the country turn blue. I think Bush is trying to destroy the Repugs. It’s the only logic I can see.

Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneris will have an absolute ball with this one. If they don’t get their constituents out in the droves I’ll eat my hat.

I thought you’d like the Enron prospectus, KR. Personally, my favorite is Surrealism. It is so in keeping with the times.

Never mind, megan:( Still, should circumstances change, be wonderful if you’d join us come november.

Jen at 195 and bo-bo at 202. Indeed, the thing about Germs is: a sense of entitlement; absolutely, a sense of humour; fargeddaboudit! Unless of course she’s frollicking in bed with a young Adonis on telly for the flogging of her latest book purposes. But of couse that’s ok isn’t it because it’s making a statement on behalf of Feminism?
Max Gillies toured Oz about 7 years ago when El Rodente was at his power peak. He spared her not with satire so corruscating that many of theatre’s patrons were barely maintaining control of their autonomic bodily functions. Geez he was good! Havn’t seen anyone capture her sense of disdain for her perceived intellectual inferiors so well.

And if one may be so bold to be bit Rabelaisianly rambunctious for a mo’ (hardcore Feminists please avert your eyes) ChrisB, that Boston.com chart’s a bloody ball tearer!

258 blindoptimist

Agree,though I’m partial to the Japanese one. It’s spot on.

And as for the NZ one….:)

260 Ecky,

Used to be a Germ fan,then went right off her these past years.
However,I was at the Adelaide Writer’s Festival earlier this year where she was on a panel and my scathing attitude melted as she explained the background of some of her past denunciations.
At the end, I stood along with most of the large audience,giving her a standing ovation.
Can’t say I agree with what she says but at least understand where she is coming from, in that she challenges people to “think” and not regurgitate(my description).

Oh,and Ecky,

Germs is much more attractive in real life, has sensational skin,and photos do her an injustice.

Can understand why she is a hit with her toyboys 🙂

EC at 276
My cunning plan is coming undone. I’ve just unleashed your comment at 276, but please note that it had to Yahoo links so I figure it doesn’t count.

278 megan

I kind of like her in an iconoclastic sort of way. Even when she’s tilting at windmills, she does it with zeal, intellectual provocation and a Medusa like fierceness that’s pretty hard to ignore! LOL

She’s actually a bit of an icon herself, and if younger ‘feminists’ (do they call themselves such these days???) find her confronting well, tough.

We need more people with the calibre of Germs, just to be prodded out of our incessant comfort zones.

Thanks Bobo and Kirri, I’m but the humble selector, however one endeavours to maintain the highest satire standards at all times.

megan re Germaine Greer. Vaguely remember reading a review of that Adelaide scribefest gig of hers at LP or maybe at Pavlov’s Cat. Can’t be too hard on anybody who encourges thinking and the full and frank exchange of ideas. Certainly GG is a suberb agent of intellectual provocation. She got a very hard time from The Blokes in The Push when she came up from Melbourne in her early years.
But point taken, great thinkers are multi-nuanced and never homogeneous. Some days they soar, on others they can be complete turkeys.

“There were limits, however, to the Push potential for personal liberation. Women’s equality was illusory — men took the lead in intellectual matters and frequently relied on their female partner to bring in an income and do the domestic work.

Not only were women not treated equally, but they were “sexually hoodwinked” — “free sex was not always good sex” from the woman’s perspective. The male orgasm was what mattered, and it was not until the women’s liberation movement in the ’70s that Push women began to explore their own sexuality. Many Push men refused to use condoms, believing that they denied sexual pleasure to men and were too “working class”. The Push women were left with the trials of illegal abortion.”

Sex and Anarchy: The Life and Death of the Sydney Push By Anne Coombs (Viking)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon

Wasn’t long after that that her revolutionary feminist tome “The Female Eunuch” was published.

276 Enemy Combatant

That cover was masterful PR, if average drawing, and it got knees jerking everywhere…as was intended.

KR, I just can’t help seeing GG as someone who is paid an indecent amount to be provocative. She’s another opinionista for sale. I’m sick of em. I want news, information, ideas, follow-up, discussion, not ego-hackery…..sorry.

286 blindoptimist

Nup, she’s not paid to be a provocateur by anyone I know about.

I think you must have her confused with someone else? LOL

I don’t take everything she says seriously, but she’s incredibly entertaining if you allow yourself to consider what she says no matter how outside your comfort zone it is.

Nup, we need more people like that, because we are inundated daily with mediocre yes/men/women who’ve never had an original thought in their entire lives, and yet collectively they dominate our media and our minds. And even when they appear smart, like Tom Friedman, they can adhere to some damn ugly, even vile, opinions, and help others to ignore the immorality of it.

You could say she’s a windbag, but NEVER an apologist for a travesty on the scale of something like the Iraq war.

Put her in that context and she’s actually a gem.

I have to admit I am fond of Germaine. In fact – to be honest I am in awe of her. Look at that she did in the context of the times and – What A Woman.
However I am also disappointed at times by her. Whatever – like any good relationship it has it’s moments of passion and the rest is pretty much ordinary, or tiresome even at times.

Catrina- my fear is that you end up being tto busy letting all the comments out of their cages that you lose the opportunity of just plain old blogging.
It must be taking all the fun out of it for you.

290 Catrina

Would single URL’s per post fix it, or what is the exact problem…I’m not sure why he’s being sin binned.

jen at 291
Yep – it’s getting to be a distraction.

KR at 292

Config is setup to allow 7 urls per post. But that’s the core spam trap stuff (but that’s not the problem). While under WordPress governance we are stuck with a supplementary spam recognition system called Akismet Spam and its catching lots of our messages. For the moment (aside from EC’s yahoo content) the only thing in common is gmail and yahoo email addresses and I’m working on solutions to that as we speak. But initial analysis is not showing anything positive.

293 Catrina

OK, got it, it’s third party algorithms crunching away in off-site.

Are you submitting the false positives? They reckon their system learns from them…but it may take a day or so.

Surely a list of posters to be exempt would be a nice addition to their system as long as the moderator could delete anyone who went feral! LOL

289 Enemy Combatant

The first one, with the years clicking over is ominous and spooky, but rather too close to the truth. Even if it doesn’t go into global disaster, it’s an awfully close call, and no one can tell you for certain where this tornado goes next.

Votemaster, the swings are still going.

After Barack Obama’s narrow win over Hillary Clinton in the primary, some Clinton supporters were very disappointed and said they would vote for John McCain over their former nemesis, Obama. They resisted calls for party unity under the banner of being PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) voters. However, upon futher inspection of the what the alternatives were (a candidate who opposes almost everything Clinton stands for or not voting), most of them have grudgingly reconsidered. A California Field Poll shows that 80% of the former Clinton supporters in California are now on board for Obama and 8% are for McCain. California women support Obama 2 to 1.

http://www.electoral-vote.com

Abso-bloomin’-lutely, megan. Cat’s work in the engine room is inspirational.
Hope the gremlins get sorted soon, Cat, so you can get back to “The Joys of Blogging”.

Obama raised $52 mln in June.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised $52 million in June, his campaign said on Thursday, a jump from last month and more than double the $22 million raised by his Republican rival John McCain.

In an e-mail to supporters, campaign manager David Plouffe said the Obama campaign raised the funds with an average donation of $68. The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee have a combined total of $72 million in the bank, Plouffe said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1720548620080717

Comments are closed.