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A New Dawn

651 replies on “A New Dawn”

498
David Gould

“Weird”? In Alaska? LOL

I’m just waiting for Tina Fey to call Sarkozy and tell him just how much she loves moose hunting, and invites him over for some animal killing fun!

From a FAQ on the Minnesota Secretary of State website:

How long will the recount take?

Local election officials have until December 5 to complete their portion of the recount and to forward their results and any challenged ballots to the Office of the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State’s Office then has until the State Canvassing Board reconvenes on December 16 to assemble a consolidated report from the local election officials. The State Canvassing Board will review each challenged ballot to decide whether the voter’s intent can be determined and, if so, for whom the voter cast their vote.

The Board hopes to conclude their work by December 19, but will take as long as they need to in order to review all of the challenged ballots. When this process has been completed, the challenged ballots for which the voter’s intent could be determined are added to the appropriate candidate’s total and the candidate with the most votes will be declared the winner.

Even if the Democrats get up in the Georgia runoff election on Dec. 2, we will still have to wait two or three more weeks to see if the Democrats can officially get 60 seats in the Senate, and even then Joe Lieberman can still throw a spanner into the works.

507 GhostWhoVotes “Joe Lieberman can still throw a spanner into the works.” The only thing he votes with the Repugs on is the Iraq war. So hopefully it will remain the same.

I have just spent 5 minutes on the phone, venting at Steven Conroy’s office. I feel a little better now. The trouble is I go back to whirlpool and it starts again.

Conroy.
Electorate Office
Level 4
4 Treasury Place
Melbourne, VIC, 3002
Tel:
(03) 9650 1188

Chris – Guess who is waiting in the wings in Alaska should a vacancy arise? :
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, says she will consider serving in the Senate if God gives her the opportunity and Alaskans want her to take the job.
The state’s senior senator, Republican Ted Stevens, fell narrowly behind as the count resumed in his re-election bid.

After all, she’s already got from God the wardrobe she needs for it, so that’s a bit of an indicator He might give her the green light, meaning He would also have to cause something to happen to Ted Stevens if he’s elected.

http://news.smh.com.au/world/palin-leaves-door-open-for-us-senate-run-20081113-65z0.html

Begich now leading by over 800 according to 538. Looks like one way traffic for the “my wife signed the cheques” man and good luck to Sarah for holding her hand up for “vacancy”.

515
megan
It truly is great news Megan.
But the irony of the final line is pure Monty Python.
Or perhaps Blackadder. :mrgreen:

On 3 December, more than 100 countries, including the UK, will sign a treaty banning cluster bombs.
As a result Britain, by law, will have to destroy more than 30 million explosives.
The UK does not have the facilities, so they are being exported to Germany for disposal.

Alaska Senate Race Update:
Democrat Mark Begich’s lead has increased to 814 votes over Republican Ted Stevens. There are approximately 30,000 votes left to count, from Democratic counties, so looking good for a Democrat pickup and the 58th senate seat.

Georgia will be really interesting. Saxby will have to spell out what he is going to block. Health care education or other things? He might be snookered.

Ya can smell the fumes, as all that wealth gets torched:

NEW YORK (AP) — Hedge fund assets fell by $100 billion in October as investors withdrew their money and funds were forced to sell stock, exacerbating the severe volatility that pounded global markets during the month.

…in ONE month!!!

And of course the more investors panic and pull out, the lower it goes, and the lower it goes the more who panic and pull out…

…see a pattern? LOL

It’s the bonfire of the inanities with added rocket fuel for accelerant.

Meanwhile, the Paulson gang have decided there’s no time to sort out the stinking dog corpses from the only half dead mutts, so they’re going to just buy slabs of any bank or credit card company that turns up with the shiniest shoes and asks nicely for some cash.

Truly incredible, and interesting times.

The Sepos call it instant run off voting. We call it Preferential voting.
Looks like some Sepos want instant run off voting.
Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, Others Agree on Instant Runoff Voting:

“The Republican Party of Utah believes in majority rule. That’s why we adopted instant runoff voting for party elections and U.S. Congressional nominations. We are also looking to adopt IRV for state elections. Whenever there are more than two candidates in a race, there is a risk that the majority of voters will split among two or more appealing candidates, leaving a candidate with only narrow support as the “top vote getter.” The old “plurality winner” rules simply do not assure fair and representative winners. We took the advice of Robert’s Rules of Order, which recommends instant runoff voting (called “preferential voting”), and have been very satisfied with the result. Some people expressed concern that it sounded complicated, but we discovered that voters had no difficulty with the rank-order ballots. Not only does it appear to be fair and accurate, but saves substantial time from the old multiple-ballot system, where delegates would leave between successive ballots.” – Statement of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff

http://www.firv.org/partysupport.html

Begich is 814 votes ahead of sleazy Stevo but he may have to go to a recount. He does not have 50% of the vote but it does not look like they will have a run off like that other State, only the recount.

Should the result remain close a recount is possible. In Alaska, the losing candidate or a collection of 10 voters has three days to petition for a recount unless the vote was a tie, in which case it would be automatic.

If the difference between the candidates is 0.5 percent of the total votes cast, the state pays for the recount, to be started within three days of the recount petition. The state Elections Division has 10 days to complete the recount.

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/nov/12/alaska-senate-race-will-felon-stevens-keep-seat/

Here’s a mind worth listening to about some of the moves Barack might make on the international stage in the justice area. To summarise for those short of time, Geoffrey Robertson QC spells out how he thinks Obama’s clear commitment to ‘global justice’ can be addressed, as a starter pack:

1. Reverse Bush by supporting the International Criminal Court that he tried to bully other nations into shunning (thankfully without much success) – the US’s position can be renegotiated in 2010.
2. Close Gitmo – no problem at all – 255 prisoners left who can be either: tried in the US; or court martialled; or released to their home countries; or placed under watch.
3. Ratify the Torture Convention to begin to atone for the Abu Ghraib outrages among others.
4. No chance of removing the death penalty generally in the US states, but Obama can use international law to prevent those states like Texas from executing foreign nationals where the states have breached international law in the process, as they usually do (eg not allowing consular access).
5. Engage more with the principles of international law aiming for global uniformity in behaviour before that law, as distinct from GWB’s mob who ”regarded international law as a set of rules that applied to other countries”

Those changes would have to help the rehabilitation of the US’s world standing.

I also like this general observation by Robertson: ”Suddenly the American flag is waving not burning”

537
JV
I think I read somewhere, that there are (from memory) about 60 inmates of Gitmo who are now officially “stateless persons”.
Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I read that factoid. 🙁
But it might make closing down that horror a bit more of a legal mess.
There’s no doubt it *should* be shut down asap. But the fate of any inmates who are “stateless”, but not “guilty” of any crime, will no doubt put the legislative system of the world’s most litigious nation into a frenzy of angst.
Where the fuck can they be released to?
I’m not sure they’d be safe in the US.
Especially when you think of all those rabid right wing nutters that roam freely around the good ol’ USofA.

Hi all
As an occasional reader of this great blog thx to all for some wonderful insights and great links to this historic US presidential election.
Can anyone plse tell me what the total voter turn out was? Some pundits were predicting a massive 70% turnout while <50% seems to be the norm.

paddy @ 539

True – they might just have to be watched wherever they go around the world, if they really are a clear risk (I doubt if many are).
But if some are ‘stateless persons’ there is a good chance they would qualify as refugees, and that would give a chance to invoke some of those good old international or UN protocols to deal with them objectively onproper principles. Hopefully the new Obama administration wouldn’t release them with tattoos on their foreheads saying “Enemy Combatant” or something. (No offence intended EC!)

On the Gitmo strategy, this from the New York Post is priceless:

“Yet Obama advisers are reported to be planning to release some detainees outright and to prosecute others in the US judiciary system. These advisers speak breezily about processing Guantanamo detainees through US courts with the full constitutional rights granted American citizens.
But this may be more challenging than they realize. Given the system’s strict evidentiary requirements and the inability to maintain criminal-court standards on the battlefield, it is entirely possible that committed terrorists may be acquitted. This contingency begs the question of aftermath: Will the courts let freed detainees remain in the country?”

How frustrating it is for the Post that these suspects against whom there is insufficient evidence for a conviction in a court suitable for American citizens cannot simply be lynched.
Where do you start with views like that from a mob leader like the
Post?

543
jaundiced view
ROTF
Where would the free world be, without the sun king’s minions to protect us from the evil that lurks in the hearts of men. 🙂

One of the few joys that might yet emerge from the global economic disaster, is the decline and fall of the house of Murdoch.
All that mountain of debt he took on to buy the WSJ.

If there is a God, let’s hope she has a sense of humour and hates Rupert. :mrgreen:

542
jaundiced view

One percent of 200 million is still 2 million extra voters, most of whom were probably also donating to Obama! LOL

Hi KR [2 million extra voters] – That’s right, it’s a lot of votes and wallets isn’t it? Of course those Yankee wallets are collectively a couple of trillion smackers thinner all of a sudden!

Biden Picks Klain for Chief of Staff

Vice President-elect Biden has asked former White House staffer Ron Klain to be his chief of staff in the White House, Roll Call reports.

“Klain, who served in the same position for former Vice President Gore, also worked from 1989-1992 for Biden when Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and is known to be close to the vice president-elect.”

Chris B, we’re guessing at your post topic (censoring the internet?), and I think you can assume pretty warm support.

The grassroots campaigning through the net was the biggest factor in overcoming the rusty Democratic machine in the primaries, and in discrediting the Rovian Swiftboat style tactics in the main game.

And as Ecky has commented more than once, and JV, Kirri and Ferny have made clear, it has seriously undermined the ability of Murdoch and other media owners to control the agenda.

One of the foundations of our freedom, which I believe is in the US Declaration, or at least in early amendments, is freedom of expression, usually represented as freedom of the press. But the cost of entry in TV, print or radio has meant that over time it has become controlled by the vested money interests.

Nobody else can afford to enter. Aside from politics, we have seen that loud and clear in the way major stories on tobacco and other health and safety concerns have been restricted.

While the potentials are yet to be realised, the net offers some prospect of restoring those freedoms of expression which have been diminished over the past few decades. in comparison with other media it has low entry cost and is open to many.

The danger of government control or censorship is similar to the dangers Goebbels developed when he exercised controls in the 30s. Worse still, it arguably suits both major parties because each will feel more able to ‘control’ bad news if they have such power. Child pornography is merely a Trojan Horse.

Controls also increase the risk that money interests will be the main work-arounds to such a system. Dealing Murdoch and other moguls back into the equation should be the last thing we want

It will need a pretty solid and sustained campaign, but you can count on plenty of support here.

A couple of pretty depressing stories via Crooks and Liars.

Most shockingly, some elementary kids on a school bus were chanting “assassinate Obama”. For me, this is just so hard to think about.

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/word-about-southeastern-idaho-where-

And some prick, football jock gets kicked off Texas University’s football team for making slurs against Obama. I hope he is charged with a criminal offence. Asswipe.

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/u-texas-player-kicked-team-racially-c

I was watching something about the KKK a couple of days ago. I really don’t undertand how the KKK can exist prominently and freely in the US. Surely it should be illegal to spread racial hatred?

Spam Box @ 553 – Gee- the Rude P’s language is strong enough to knock a buzzard off a shit wagon, isn’t it?
But apart from some of the more rebarbative adjectives, you can’t argue with anything he says in that piece on Lieberman.

JV – I love good snark and the rude one does it better then most. I could imagine Paul Keating writing something similar if he’d gone into blogging instead of politics ..lol 🙂

554
JV
What’s even more impressive, is RP’s calm acceptance of the need to keep Lieberman’s vote for those important moments like judicial appointments etc.

I’m utterly sick and tired, of those infantile revenge rants, that are being sprayed around the blogosphere calling for “Joe the asshole’s” head on a pike. It’s reassuring to see there are voices on the left who actually want real change for the longer term.

Joe’s just a lame, soft target. There are plenty of real, hard issues
out there that need the chessplayer’s approach.
Go Obi! 🙂

Katielou @ 552
[Surely it should be illegal to spread racial hatred?]

I believe it is illegal in Germany these days. Here’s another one of the many dangers to the Kid, a white supremacist from West Tennessee, who would get short shrift in Germany even without an assassination plot:

“Too Many Black jurors’: Obama Plot Skinhead Wants Dismissal”
http://www.smh.com.au/news/us-election/obama-plot-skinhead-too-many-black-jurors/2008/11/14/1226318871550.html

557
jv
It’s getting hard to know who to believe these days. 🙂
The frantic rumour mill has distinct similarities to Oz after the Libs were booted out.
LOL
I’m not sure I’d place too much reliance on either the reporter or the proprietor of the WSJ right now.

Interesting times ahead. 🙂

paddy – yes, who knows really. Obama together with Michelle is apparently doing a US ’60 Minutes’ interview to be shown on Sunday over there – maybe more will be revealed then on some of the appointees. Unless it’s just a soft general introduction piece.

My Internet piece maybe a day or two longer, I want to make sure it is accurate, rather than emotional, as I have been lately. It’s no good if I put it up and it’s dismissed by the forces of evil because they can pick a couple of holes in it. 😈

Don’t fret CB, we’re adjusting the filters to redact your post if you even mention ‘censorship’ or ‘free speech’ or ‘police state’ or….you get the idea.

So scribble away, we’re in control.

Signed:

The Forces of Evil

562 Chris B
[ I want to make sure it is accurate, rather than emotional,]

Good on you Chris – That will be refreshing given the general slide from objective journalism into the blatent op-ed ‘reporting’ we get in the MSM these days. The facts, just gimme the facts …

Andrew – Good news! That will make Sarah’s desired path to the Senate rather difficult now – although she does own some big guns.

560
JV
I can’t imagine it would be anything other than a “soft intro” piece.
Everything we’ve seen from Obi so far, has been remarkably disciplined.
I suspect he’s also probably learned from the Clinton experience.
The first lady is not an elected position.
Mixing up the “role model” stuff, with policy and staffing decisions, just confuses the punters.
It also sets Michelle up as a target for the right.
Much better to stick to role model stuff.
God knows, the Obama’s are a pretty impressive family and Obi’s going to need every single popularity point in the months ahead.
The economy is going to be a bastard.

Anyway, however they do the 60 min thing, I’ll be watching. 🙂

JV, do you think Begich should wear the the lovely moose antlers that Sarah sent him for Christmas?

KR – That would be a dangerous move I reckon – although if he wears the antlers in the place Sarah probably suggested, he would look less like a moose in her gunsight!

573

Oh, no, tell me it’s not true
Obama Considering Clinton For Secretary of State: Report

Now listen here JV
You need a nice cup of tea, a bex and a good lie down.

Obama has already chosen Bill O’Reilly for that post, so you can relax……….I hope. 😆

572

Paddy, that’s utterly brilliant. I loved this:

“It turns out that in 1917, the British made exactly the same mistakes we did,” Petraeus noted. “They told the Iraqis they had come ‘not as conquerors but as liberators, to free you from generations of tyranny.’ Like us, they were surprised the Iraqis didn’t feel quite the same. The insurgency against the British started in Fallujah too, and like us, the British Prime Minister warned against leaving Iraq on the grounds that there would be civil war.”

Petraeus smiled wearily. “I guess it’s never too late to learn.”

…and just read some of the comments! WOw, it’s really got most people excited at the sheer possibility it will be the headline come July 4th 2009.

(Except for the nutzoid who’s telling ’em that the ‘surge’, remember that?, is a success and the US has already ‘won’! LOL Of course that doesn’t account for the billions they pay out each week and the casualties they are still taking.)

553
Spam Box Says:
November 14th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Remind me to never, ever get on the wrong side of the Rude one… his latest rant concerning Lieberman is brutal.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

WoW!! I wonder whathe would have said about Mal Coulston?

576
It’s certainly a gem Kirri.
There’s just so much depth to the whole thing.
The responses are a glorious mixture of clueless idiocy and wistful hope.
The best satire is always fairly close to the truth.
This one reminds me of Colbert at his best. 🙂

JV @ 564 asked – Did Penberthy go too far yesterday with his call for the NSW government to sack itself?

Big thingo about this in Crikey! today… here’s some(most) of it 😉

But Penberthy won’t be leaving the company. Late this morning, News Ltd announced that he has been appointed “to a new role as editor of a national, multi-media editorial operation for News Limited,” a venture which will “combine print, online and television content under a new brand.”
“It will be unlike anything News Limited has done before and unlike anything else in Australia,” News Ltd CEO and Chairman John Hartigan said in a press release.

Penberthy’s departure is considered to be something of a surprise. He has just overseen the first redesign of the paper in years. He was considered a favourite of News Ltd executive chairman John Hartigan, who is a former editor of the Tele and editorial boss of the group. Hartigan overlooked a number of candidates to give Penberthy the editorship in 2005.
Penberthy was supposed to bring a more youthful view to the paper in a bid to make it more appealing to younger readers. But in the past two years the fall in sales has been remorseless, like at most other titles around the country. The internet is hurting, as are rising petrol prices and the increasing commutes for drivers. Now the slumping economy is adding pressure on ad revenues as well.

Earlier this year the paper featured a front page pic of Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens and asked: “Is this the most useless man in Australia?” Stevens can afford a wry smile today.

But the audited sales figures for the September quarter tell the story. They were released overnight and showed that the Daily Telegraph saw sales slip 2.1% in the quarter, compared with the same quarter in 2007, while the Saturday paper slipped 3.4%. That wasn’t a good look for Penberthy, coming as it did on top of a 3.8% drop in Monday to Friday sales in the June quarter, and a 2.1% drop in the Saturday sales.
But it has been a long slide for the paper. In the December 2007 audit, the paper’s Monday to Friday sales were off 4.3% and more than 6% for the Saturday paper, compared with the December, 2006 quarter.

http://www.crikey.com.au/Media-Arts-and-Sports/20081114-Penberthy-moved-aside-as-Garry-Linnell-gets-the-Tele-editorship.html

Yikes!… thats way to big – sorry – if anybody with magic powers wants to edit some of that out feel free 😳

Spam B @ 579 So it wasn’t the Tele’s crusade against the NSW government after all – just the failure to improve sales. That is consistent with the Murdoch philosophy I guess. One might once have believed that a newspaper editor would be removed for a breach of one or more of the following: standards, ethics, accuracy, investigative skill, objectivity, honesty, balance or quality. Not, though at a Murdoch paper. The greatest and only sin is failing to improve the bottom line.

582
jv

ethics, accuracy, investigative skill, objectivity, honesty, balance or quality

In a Murdoch paper?????
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

paddy – too true – and sadly it’s not just Murdoch rags these days either, is it? The SMH steadily goes downhill …

I don’t have a problem with Obama offering Hillary nothing in his cabinet. The same issues are there if she were his VP. He needs people he can trust in key positions, not someone who has got their mind on a challenge in 2012, which has been widely reported.

He’s a smart guy, and his transition team are smart. I have confidence he’ll make a good choice.

Chris – be prepared

It’s a hot topic – I can think of at least 4-5 sites that handle much larger traffic then this place, and their members are poised, waiting to see what you come up with (hey, not all of that is my fault buddy – you stirred a few pots yourself mate) 😉

Get it right dude – although I’m sure you will…

might be nothing… might be a firestorm 😀

actually – make that 2-4 sites 😉 … (there, that takes away some of the stress, doesn’t it) 😉 LOL 😀

591

me too Cat 😀 – I’m looking forward to it… should provide endless hours of intense debate over something that’s actually important (I’ve been so lost the last week or so) 😉

From the NY Times alternative space/time continuum…

High-Speed Internet Hits Fast Track to Appalachia

WASHINGTON — The Internet Freedom Preservation Act has passed both houses of Congress, thanks in part to overwhelming and well-organized support of millions of Internet users. The act will ensure “net neutrality” — i.e., that all users have equal access to the Internet and that large corporations like Time Warner, AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon can no longer act as gatekeepers, determining which sites go fast and which slow.

“This law is a huge step forward for not only technology, but for the sharing of ideas,” said free speech advocate Lawrence Lessig, who is head of the new Network Communications Bureau, which will be charged with protecting the network against all surveillance including that of other government agencies.

595 GhostWhoVotes Let’s hope Kevin’s new Internet keeps pace with the one they eventually get in the USA.

Now that the election is over and the result is in, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) is about to fire up the impeachment process.

However, now it appears that Conyers will be pushing impeachment. At the “Take Back America Conference”, Conyers replied, “Yes, you have my word on that.” He then shook the hand of a questioner resolutely. The congressman was speaking in a panel, “The Republic Against the Rogue Presidency.” Conyers described what was keeping him from pursuing impeachment. He said that he wanted to wait until Obama was elected, as he feared that impeachment would become an election issue.

http://impeachforpeace.org/impeach_bush_blog/?p=5842

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