Start a blog?
I really...I really don't know. Except to offer sympathy. We might get Paladino, if that..."helps."
What the asker has described seems, like, exactly all you can do. Unless you want to completely upend your life and devote yourself to the defeat of Rand Paul, which might help, I guess, depending on your skill set. But that doesn't seem completely reasonable.
Also, I was assuming the asker wants to preserve a sense of personal dignity and ethics. This is correct, yes?
Does the asker have any pictures of Rand Paul fucking a sheep? 'Cause that's all it would take: fucking one sheep.
If it upsets you that much, move to a state where you like the Senator.
"loopy Tea Partier" s/b "wealthy right-wing extremist"
Read LGM to commiserate with Farley?
3: Now I'm thinking of a loopy buddy comedy involving a sheep sex sting and Rand Paul.
But would it really cost him the election? In Kentucky? I'm not being funny, I'm just...well, maybe I'm being an asshole.
Maybe if it was a black sheep. Or if they could prove the sheep in question was male.
A black, male sheep. Get on that! The internet solves another problem.
3: 'Cause that's all it would take: fucking one sheep.
I think the tea baggers would just say Rand Paul was fucking the black sheep.
max
['They found it at a mosque!']
Conway is only very marginally better. I guess from a pure number-of-Democratic-seats perspective it's important, but they're both right-wing nuts.
I had a strange experience in New York where I wound up in a living room with Jack Conway. Only one of us was wearing shoes.
President Obama just sent me a text message (no, seriously, I'm sure he's the one who actually sent it) message: "The 2010 elections will determine whether President Obama can continue to move our country forward. To volunteer, reply VOL & your ZIP code."
So, you know, you could do that. (Reply to my text message, that is. I mean, i probably won't.)
I'll say that it was me asking. I just don't want my state attached to my name all that easily.
It was partly an unfair question because I'm not going to move immediately and what I'm mostly working on is the foster care stuff, though I did help with a voter registration drive. As a lesbian atheist commie pacifist, I'm not expecting the locally elected government to ever support what I want. I'm just doing what I do where I am. My focus is on selfish things right now and that's probably not going to change just because the people nearby are falling for disgusting nonsense.
I've just noticed a fair number of comments lately about what to do in preparation for the election, but there hasn't been much for those of us where it feels futile. So this is that post, I guess.
And I basically agree about Conway, which is why I don't want to do anything for him particularly. Just here I'd thought things would get better when Bunning finally left and they won't.
I got *plenty* a nuthin'.
As might be expected of a fish.
We're up to like 30 opinionateds a day, and none of them ever express any opinions.
WELL, WE JUST MIGHT.
I got your opinion right here.
(I haven't done an "opinionated" things in this thread.)
THAT RAND PAUL SURE IS SOMETHIN' ISN'T HE? THANK GOD FOR VICODIN
14.last: Or even Maine for that matter--Snowe and Collins don't much more except put a quasi-reasonable face on it for the desperate bi-partisanship frauds in the media.
as a practical matter it makes no difference whether you're represented by crazy Rand Paul or senile Jim Bunning or evil incarnate Mitch McConnell. Their votes will be nearly identical
I'm not at all interested in making Thorn feel bad, but I'm feeling just trollish enough to argue with this point. KR is right only as far as the second part of his sentence is concerned. There are lots of other things that US senators have tremendous influence over, including:
- Constituent services
- Public discourse (i.e., moving the Overton Window)
- Legislation (including hiring legislative affairs staff)
- Hometown projects (and support or lack thereof)
I'm not saying that all senators with unpleasant conservative values will behave the same way on these issues -- I can't remember whether it was Jesse Helms or Strom Thermond who had legendarily great constituent-affairs staff, and in my own state we are blessed with a weakly Dem senator whose theory on staff hiring seems to be "young and cheap" rather than anybody with the experience and chops to draft thoughtful legislation.
But it does *matter* who's in office, and not merely because of the 60 votes on the bills that actually come up for a vote. Much of what US senators do for the American public is not wrapped up in those 60 votes, and we're really failing our own responsibilities as citizens if we pretend that that's the only important aspect of their work.
I've more or less given up on federal politics as hopelessly corrupted and captured in the wake of Citizens United and have refocused on municipal and county politics since there's still a chance of making any sort of difference whatsoever at that level.
I have no advice. My position for the past several years, living in the UK, has been a sort of hate-filled apathy.*
* I still go to the odd demo, write to MPs, donate small amounts of cash to single-issue groups, etc but I have no illusions that it makes the tiniest bit of fucking difference.
25 is about right. I'm seriously considering joining the Green party which is a bit more visible in Britain than America and has a left wing of sorts. But that's a counsel of desperation. But the fact remains that Lenin was right for once when he remarked that revolution can only happen when the ruling class can't go on ruling in the old way AND the masses won't let them. we may be close to the first condition, but we're nowhere near the second. And it's quite clear that some sort of revolution, even if it's not the "hang 'em from lampposts" kind is going to be necessary if we're going to save anything from this trainwreck, because there is no longer any real opposition within the system.
26.last: But ...but, but Banksy!
And it's quite clear that some sort of revolution, even if it's not the "hang 'em from lampposts" kind is going to be necessary if we're going to save anything from this trainwreck, because there is no longer any real opposition within the system.
Yes. Exactly this. If politicians no longer feel shame, or have any apparent moral stance at all other than shallow, philistine and venal self-interest for them and their class, and if all the internal mechanisms of moderation and sense of social responsibility have gone, then all that remains is that something happen to _force_ them to act differently, and that shows no signs of happening.
Since you're having legislative races as well, getting out the Dem vote is (a) not necessarily for the benefit on one particular candidate you don't care much for and (b) worth doing, because a whole lot of the real action happens at the state level anyway. (Especially given the federal gridlock on tap for 2010-12).
And who knows, maybe there's a pick-up opportunity or two: In the KY senate, Reps are defending 11 seats this year, while Dems are only defending 8. Republicans have a 3 seat majority in the chamber. Or maybe you'd rather play defense: Dems have a strong majority in the KY house, but that can be lost with low turnout.
Re: the OP, the only advice I have is to enjoy the absurdity. A plurality of the tea partiers is genuinely, literally crazy. I'm almost sad Christine O'Donnell seems to be losing, because she has been too damn hilarious. Paul may mean a competent, sane or ethical Senator, but at least he'll be funny.
I think you have to be really cynical to follow that advice, so it's not for everyone, I'm afraid. Sorry.
10: What, the entire time you were living together?
21: Heh. I'm surprised no one's done that before. (Quick googling to make sure that's true; sort of, the closest I see is "OPIATED SLOVENIAN".)
30.1: Obviously, the last sentence should be "Paul may NOT mean a competent, sane or ethical Senator, but at least he'll be funny."
And the seat is currently held by Jim Bunning who was crazy with a mean streak.
The election is only two days after Halloween, so you can look forward to still being on a sugar rush when you vote.
The (main) problem with the Greens is that they're traditionally anti-science. Publicly they've changed their tune a bit on things like, alt med, stem cells and GM, but they still clearly lean in a new agey direction.
34. I know. That's why I probably won't join them. I'm looking for a political current which i. gives climate change the priority it ought to have, and ii. recognises that capitalism will never seriously address it unless it's forced to, while iii. accepting that fantasies about returning to the middle ages do more harm than good and that a rigourously scientific approach is a good thing.
If you see such a current around, let me know. I'd try to start one, but it's a bit futile at my age.
I might start a party that accepts that we shouldn't try to return to the middle ages, but encourages people to carry swords. If enough people start carrying swords, I think it would class-up the place a bit and be at least marginally less likely to produce fatalities than the current gun culture.
Maybe, if we could give them names and nice scabbards.
36. Become a militant Sikh and proselytise. You'd be obliged to carry a sword.
Would I also be obligated to be a Sikh?
Scots are explicitly allowed to carry a knife, under UK law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgian-dubh
if you didn't want to go the trouble of converting to Sikhism.
I'm allowed to carry a sword under Pennsylvania law. I'd just feel a bit too different if I did.
http://www.yobserver.com/reports/10012207.html
It's not the knives, it's the spices.
That would make drinking much less convenient. Thought that would probably help the environment as I'm guessing that people in Yemen have a much smaller carbon footprint.
Well I think we established that a Taser would be OK as long as you stay out of Philadelphia. And I think A Taser Sword pretty close to a Light Saber. So a Light Saber it is --already established in culture.
Moby: you could tear out several pages of dictionary entries for the nineteenth letter of the alphabet and stuff 'em in your pockets. That's carrying around S words.
46 is written using Yemeni-American idioms and capitalization in order to make sense.
47: I have sex right here in my pocket.
I can't believe no one is demanding that k-sky tell us details of the shoeless escapade.
A Taser Sword pretty close to a Light Saber
I do kind of want one of these.
51: That makes no sense. Having a non-lethal shock weapon tricked out to look like a very lethal knife is just giving somebody an excuse to shoot you.
Having a non-lethal shock weapon tricked out to look like a very lethal knife is just giving somebody an excuse to shoot you.
Well I don't want it to carry around all the time. I have actual knives for that. I just think it looks cool.
For those who find electoral politics hopelessly depressing, you could also see what's going on in your area w.r.t. procedural/institutional reform campaigns. If I lived in California, this is what I'd do.
51: "The only training knife in the world capable of inducing FEAR!" "Shocknife is designed to improve tactical knife defense training in law enforcement, military, and corrections markets around the world."
Yeah, training. Right. Got it. I'm sure the target market for this is self-defense teachers with the budget for a $500 toy who find that the real problem in their class is insufficient motivation to avoid fake blades... and not weekend warriors and keyboard commandoes who just have to have a lightsaber Taser with a fraction of the usual power.
I took a few knife defense classes in Tae Kwon Do. Pretty much every lesson began with the admonition that if a guy with a knife wants to cut you the only question is where you'll be cut, and if it actually comes to a knife fight you've already proved yourself incompetent at more basic elements of self-defense like staying out of trouble. I really doubt adding a shock to the wood and rubber knives we used would have helped.
A lightning knife must look cool. If I already had one of these, I'd try to make up a Halloween costume it would be cool in. If I were into cosplay or LARPing I'd be willing to spend, hell, why not, $50 on one of these things; I'm sure there would be some setting it could be used in. Anyone who buys this product from this Web site for the stated purpose is a real moron, though.
If I were into cosplay or LARPing I'd be willing to spend, hell, why not, $50 on one of these things; I'm sure there would be some setting it could be used in. Anyone who buys this product from this Web site for the stated purpose is a real moron, though.
Yeah, training. Right. Got it. I'm sure the target market for this is self-defense teachers with the budget for a $500 toy who find that the real problem in their class is insufficient motivation to avoid fake blades... and not weekend warriors and keyboard commandoes who just have to have a lightsaber Taser with a fraction of the usual power.
My first was that "training knives" must be the taser equivalent of advertising poppers as air fresheners.
I wonder if the "training knife" concept would get the ASPCA out of my hair about the cock fighting? Does anybody know how many volts it takes to stun a rooster?
who just have to have a lightsaber Taser with a fraction of the usual power.
And to get any effectiveness with a Taser you need a decent spread distance with the barbs. When the ends of the circuit are an inch apart like on a standard stun gun you don't get the muscle incapacitation, just pain. And not incapacitating pain either. As no small number of cops have learned the hard way a typical reaction to a "drive stun" is to try to punch the other party in the head, often with success as one of the other guy's hands is tied up with a silly non effective shocker.
I think they're more like training bras.
63: Hitting somebody in the head with the stun gun would probably be effective.
We've recently been given the option to only carry two out of three of the standard less than lethal tools of Taser, baton, and OC spray on our belts. Except that we were told we couldn't drop the Taser, only the OC or baton. Bah, the Taser's the first choice to ditch for a lot of us.
I'd want to keep the baton, for the twirling.
66: be fair, gswift. You only got the two hands. Ditch the baton, then you can use the Taser and the spray simultaneously while jumping through the air.
Plus, carrying a baton is a tangible link to the first technology proto-people acquired after the monolith landed near the monkeys.
Given that the only real weapon threat they face is knives, I'd be entirely behind UK policemen carrying swords. Tricky to stab an innocent passerby by mistake. And has significant intimidatory value - a ned with a stanley knife is not going to muck around if he's facing a PC with a broadsword.
I have a vague deja vu like feeling that this cop-sword proposal has come up here before. It's true that the average ned would think twice when faced with a guy with a sabre.
If I could carry an 18'' polycarb I'd be more of a baton fan. But for some reason they don't allow fixed length for regular duty carry, only collapsible like the ASP which has all the weight concentrated in the handle.
There's guys making some pretty bad ass tomahawks these days.
re: 73
It's Scottish slang. Roughly equivalent to the English/romany word 'chav'. It doesn't seem to carry quite the same class connotations, though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk0sS4IFGXA
||
In the rare "do buy" category: greenhouse tomatoes from Eurofresh. Yeah, yeah, local, in-season, whatevs. But should you find yourself straying from that righteous path and eating tomatoes in October, the workers are paid 65% more than non-union ag workers and have fully paid health care, the company has a better health and safety record than others, and they don't use pesticides.
Sold at Safeway, Costco, Albertsons, and elsewhere.
(The subject line of the e-mail I got about this was, "You say tomato, I say awesome!", which I kind of love.)
|>
For the record, another company that doesn't suck: Morton Williams fancy-pants grocery stores in NYC.
I'm seriously considering joining the Green party
Vote for Rich Whitey!
78: Rich Whitey nearly always wins.
Tricky to stab an innocent passerby by mistake... with a broadsword.
I feel confident that a fine specimen like this isn't all alone in the ranks. They'd manage it, somehow.
Really, that was gswift's joke. I was piling on.
Speaking of faded orange, the McRib is coming back.
From the link in 78:
Whitney is misspelled "Rich Whitey" on electronic-voting machines.... The error only occurs on screens voters would see when they are reviewing their choices (Whitney's name appears correctly on the initial screens)
The nature of this problem just screams "You're Doing It Wrong." Apparently they have a set-up in which the data needed for somebody's name is entered and stored more than once. This is Bad Computer Programming 101. Instead, every piece of data - such as a candidate's name - should be stored in exactly one place in the system, and that data should be shown on both the entry and confirmation.
Doing it their way is inviting all sorts of inconsistencies, mistakes and shenanigans.
I'm kind-of wondering what other big gaping holes they have in their system. Too bad that code is a proprietary trade secret, and we can't have a look.
83: Dammit, I couild have predicted it. I learned back in the 80's that a sudden crash in the pork belly futures market causes the reintroduction of the McRib. This was the only practical lesson I learned as an econ major. Not practical in the sense of making money, just practical for impressing the kind of people who are impressed by bizarre predictions. Unfortunately I haven't been paying attention this decade. Google reveals that pork belly futures crashed in August.
Google reveals that pork belly futures crashed in August.
Because the internet went a bit nuts for bacon and then recovered?
21: Heh. I'm surprised no one's done that before. (Quick googling to make sure that's true; sort of, the closest I see is "OPIATED SLOVENIAN".)
I'LL BE HIGH ALL WEEK! WHERE'S MY SCOOTER?