09:10 – We got more of my office books packed up yesterday. We should have the bookshelves cleared today, which is most of what needs to be done in my office. There’s still the closet, which shouldn’t take long, and my desks.
We’ve been watching the BBS Historical Farm series. We’ve finished Tudor Monastery Farm and Secrets of the Castle, and intend to watch the other four or five related series. We’re also watching the original Little House on the Prairie series with Little Joe. One season of that down, and nine more to go.
I’ve been trying to get my hands on a copy of Forstchen’s One Year After. It’s for sale on Amazon, but I simply refuse to pay $13 for a fiction ebook. Ordinarily, I’d simply have grabbed a copy from KickAss torrents, but for some reason there’s no torrent available. I’m surprised that someone hasn’t emailed me a cracked copy already. Readers frequently send me copies of various books and encourage me to take a look at them, but no one’s done that. I see that our library has that book as a downloadable ebook, so I’ll see if I can grab a copy there. Unless someone emails me a copy in the interim.
Have you read Forstchen’s One Second After? I don’t remember your having mentioned it.
Forstchen is now using one of the big publishers that won’t allow Amazon to discount their ebooks. The dead tree version of One Second After is about $3 cheaper than the ebook. Stupid.
Baen is one of the few publishers that has reasonable ebook prices. Sure, they aren’t $1.99 or $2.99 like many of the self-published ones, but I’m willing to pay a bit more because I know the book has been vetted, edited, and the authors get good royalties. From what I have read, the Baen ebooks are cheaper than the major publishers, but the authors net more from them than at the majors.
Yeah, I mentioned it. At the time, I said Forstchen was a horrible writer, which he is. After about the 200th occurrence of “should of” instead of “should have” I was about ready to drive up to Black Mountain and strangle him. But in the PA sub-genre, he’s a better writer than about 95% of them.
Here’s my original review:
http://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2014/11/28/friday-28-november-2014/
I said then that I wouldn’t bother to read the sequel, but I did download the sample from Amazon and it seems that Forstchen has finally gotten an editor. The sample was readable. Also, my expectations for PA novels have plummeted in the last year. Back then, I was judging new PA novels against books like Lucifer’s Hammer, and none of the new PA novelists can come anywhere near that. Now, I tend to judge them on the “Fun with Dick and Jane” standard. Many of them can’t pass even that low bar.
Having seen the review, I remember reading it when you wrote it. Is there any better prepper fiction written around either an EMP or large solar flare? The local library has a copy of One Second After so I may read it despite your review.
Lights Out by David Crawford is a decent EMP/CME PA title. Crawford isn’t a great writer, but he’s far better than most. Steve Konkoly isn’t too bad, either, although like most of them he’s heavily over-militarized. A. American’s Home series is also better written than most, although it’s not EMP/CME-based.
Ahmed the clockmaker is moving to Qatar to study
Betcha Texas is sorry now!
Ahmed will probably build bombs for ISIS in the near future. They won’t work, of course, since he is a fake inventor.
What has Cankles got on Biden to force him out of the Presidential race? Inquiring minds want to know.
My Weiner Dog pup hit 11 pounds this week. What a hoot! He loves to dig in the xeriscaped backyard. After the weekend rain, he looked like a mudpie. Into the shower. The male Chihuahua will knock him over, grab his ear and drag him across the floor. I don’t know how much longer the WD will allow that since he is already twice the weight of the Chihuahua.
“What has Cankles got on Biden to force him out of the Presidential race? Inquiring minds want to know.”
She might leak his medical history, which could in some quarters be considered even worse than her own. What this boils down to is one psycho outing another one. I’d think it’s too late for him to run now, but maybe the Dem nabobs are holding him in reserve in case Cankles blows up entirely. Because Sanders is to them persona non grata, just as Chumpster is on the other side. The Stupid Half will either bring Mittens back in or go ahead and run Jebster anyway, as many of them seem bound and determined to do, regardless of his single digit standing. And they will lose, whether it’s Cankles or Biden, because the Stupid Half doesn’t have the demographics anymore and they have no one to blame but themselves. Still trying to recruit Mexican votes when most Mexicans either don’t vote at all or vote 95% Dem anyway. Imbeciles.
MrAtoz should get a real dog:
http://royalgiantsenglishmastiffs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Penny-Hades-boy-Bonez.jpg
I’m not sure why anyone thinks it matters. This runaway train isn’t controllable no matter who’s in office. It’s just a question of how bad things get, and how long that takes.
“I’m not sure why anyone thinks it matters.”
Why It Matters, Bob:
1.) Hey, listen, if we don’t vote it’s all our fault when shit blows up.
2.) Any vote against Cankles is worth the hassle, man, and ANY candidate is better than her, amirite?
3.) Do your civic duty; after all, peeps in the Sandbox risked their LIVES to vote!
4.) Gotta be at least ONE of those Repubs who will save us!
5.) Your one vote could really make a big difference ya know!
What was I thinking?
Put it down to a “senior moment.” But now you’ve seen the light.
I just got done a little while ago having a phone conversation about our current politics with Princess and we are in agreement. National and state politics suck; I told her we have a “special election” coming up here, and our concerns are whether to put up the dough for a new salt shed and likewise to move the highway department from its current location right on the lake shore to a new site further inland. Both of those issues affect us directly here and we know the parties involved. I also told her that our concerns are this county, town, village, neighborhood and house, period. Everything else is a distraction. We are agreed.
A. American’s Home series is also better written than most, although it’s not EMP/CME-based.
Huh? The EMP event happens while the dude is working in Tallahassee and the dude has to walk home to south of Orlando since no cars built after 1973 will run anymore.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0147516951
I also liked this EMP based book where the dude walks home from Houston, Texas to Montana:
http://www.amazon.com/77-Days-September-Survival-Dedication/dp/1499616015/
I’m not sure why anyone thinks it matters. This runaway train isn’t controllable no matter who’s in office. It’s just a question of how bad things get, and how long that takes.
I believe that the speed approaching the singularity is controllable though. Cankles will keep the pedal against the firewall. Trump will back off about 5%. Maybe 3%, difficult to tell.
Yeah, you’re right. It’s been long enough since I read the first book in A. American’s series that I’d forgotten what the event was. I also read 77 Days, which was okay, and the sequel Daunting Days of Winter, which seemed rushed and a step down from the first book.
“The lesser of two evils is still evil”
True enough. It’s also _less_.
Perhaps I’m too young to have an opinion, but I’ll still tilt at windmills and try to make a difference. Mostly I make it locally. I have some say at the state, because my rep is a neighbor. Not so much national. But I’ll still try. Giving up certainly won’t accomplish anything. I’m still too stubborn to give up.
“Giving up certainly won’t accomplish anything. I’m still too stubborn to give up.”
Refusing to participate any longer in an obvious charade which only fools people and makes them more subservient can’t really be equated with “giving up.” Rather than giving up, many of us work at other enterprises, such as our host, or Mr. nick, and despite the old war cry of “no taxation without representation” still pay our taxes, punitive and confiscatory though they are, and obey the current laws. We work toward a day when the State won’t control our lives from womb to tomb, and that can mean anything from anarchy and anarcho-capitalism, to our original constitutional federal republic and town meeting democracy. Many of us also believe that the Murkan Empire is no longer sustainable and so big that it will inevitably fail, regardless of who sits in the White House, Congress or on the Supreme Court. It’s also clear to us that those parties and their managers and minions intend to keep running it all regardless of the cost to the rest of us, so long as they maintain control, power and wealth.
The longer they keep kicking this can down the road, the more severe and costly the final collapse, and state and national elections, parties and voting are not worth our time, attention and money any longer. The system is failing badly and is in dire need of a complete re-format and breakup into smaller, more manageable systems with updated software and hardware. Mainframes don’t cut it anymore. We need to be at the phone and tablet level now.
The Mighty Trump ™ will save us all!
Trump 2016!
Cop shoots another dog. Three times in the head. Surprised he didn’t empty and reload just to be sure. The lady should have shot the cop for trespassing. Cop is immune, of course. You gotta love the cop spokesman response:
Florida City police spokesman Ken Armenteros defended the officer’s actions, saying: ‘We don’t have the luxury of hindsight’
Translation: Shoot first, get immunity later. Fuck em’.
Worth repeating and my sentiments exactly :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
From @RBT: I’m not sure why anyone thinks it matters.
From @OFD: Why It Matters, Bob:
1.) Hey, listen, if we don’t vote it’s all our fault when shit blows up.
2.) Any vote against Cankles is worth the hassle, man, and ANY candidate is better than her, amirite?
3.) Do your civic duty; after all, peeps in the Sandbox risked their LIVES to vote!
4.) Gotta be at least ONE of those Repubs who will save us!
5.) Your one vote could really make a big difference ya know!
The longer they keep kicking this can down the road, the more severe and costly the final collapse, and state and national elections, parties and voting are not worth our time, attention and money any longer. The system is failing badly and is in dire need of a complete re-format and breakup into smaller, more manageable systems with updated software and hardware. Mainframes don’t cut it anymore. We need to be at the phone and tablet level now.
I still think that there is a 1% chance of fixing this mess XXXX nightmare. Enact a federal balanced budget constitutional amendment to start with. Then start paying down the debt.
The problem comes when they have to raise the interest rates. Doubling the interest rate on the $18 trillion debt from 3% to 6% is another $540 billion/year. I don’t even want to think about 12%. I guess that says that there will never be another interest rate rise by the Fed of any significance.
Or just repudiate the entire federal debt and tell everyone to eat it. In fact, this is probably what will happen the day before the financial end of the world as we know it.
6.) If you don’t vote, you don’t get to bitch about the result.
I suppose that’s somewhat correct, medium wave, but bitching about the corrupt system is still perfectly acceptable.
Like OFD, I don’t bother voting except at the local level. In practice I don’t even vote at the local level because my house doesn’t seem to exist. I couldn’t get any of the voter registration offices nearby to admit that we were in their jurisdiction, or even existed. If I cared more I could have pressed the issue. In the event, I didn’t bother. (I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that part of the reason no one’s pushed it is that I might be the only person in the neighborhood who’s even eligible to vote. Almost every adult is an immigrant. There’s an old couple who live nearby, but their primary residence is now Arizona or some other place out of the snow.)
There is a list of EMP apocalyptic fiction books at the bottom of this webpage before the comments:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/15-things-i-learned-from-one-second-after/
1. 77 Days in September by Ray Gorham
2. Cyber Storm by Matthew Mather
3. Dies the Fire: A Novel of the Change by S.M. Stirling
4. Grid Down Reality Bites by Bruce Hemming
5. Going Home by A. American
6. Into the Darkness by Doug Kelly
7. Land by Theresa Shaver — Watch my video review.
8. The Last Layover by Steven Bird
9. Last Light by Terri Blackstock — Christian fiction
10. Lights Out by David Crawford — One of the first books to focus on EMP and still a very good read.
11. Outage by Ellisa Barr — We reviewed this book here.
12. The Perseid Collapse by Steven Konkoly
13. Post Grid: An Arizona EMP Adventure by Tony & Nancy Martineau
14. The Wandering Highway by Ike W. Warren
She has a list of things that are important for surviving an EMP event. I agree with her #14 item very much. “Contrary to the events written about in Patriots, an EMP event would be the absolute worst case scenario, hands down.”. If an EMP blows all computer chips then civilization as we know it is dead for 20+ years. The only thing worse is an huge asteroid hitting the Earth. The rest of her list is very good also, especially on bikes and hoarding food.
Speaking of huge asteroids hitting the earth, don’t watch “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” unless you are ready to be really depressed. “SPOILER” – – I was really expecting a miracle cure until the end of the movie.
http://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Friend-World-Steve-Carell/dp/B007L6VRBM
“6.) If you don’t vote, you don’t get to bitch about the result.”
Even if the system sets up a choice of candidates not much different from the way the old Soviet Union or the current Chicoms and Norks do it??? So if we don’t vote for Tweedledum OR Tweedledee we gotta STFU about any bad chit that goes down later?
“…repudiate the entire federal debt and tell everyone to eat it. In fact, this is probably what will happen the day before the financial end of the world as we know it.”
They keep going the way they’re going and they will eventually have no choice but to do this. Other countries obviously see it coming and are taking steps accordingly.
“Translation: Shoot first, get immunity later. Fuck em’.”
This also applies to people they shoot. “He was giving me a dirty look and I feared for my life.” “He talked back to me in an excited manner and I feared for my life.” “He didn’t put his hands up high enough or hit the deck fast enough and I feared for my life.”
“So I riddled the bugger like a Swiss cheese with my .40 crunchenticker (snappy recoil on that mutha!), reloaded with my spare mag and emptied that into him, too, ’cause he was still twitching and I feared for my life. “
“…repudiate the entire federal debt and tell everyone to eat it. In fact, this is probably what will happen the day before the financial end of the world as we know it.”
They keep going the way they’re going and they will eventually have no choice but to do this. Other countries obviously see it coming and are taking steps accordingly.
I’ve mentioned this before but, I figure that the USA is cool until we hit 2X the GDP. $17 trillion x 2 = $34 trillion. That is the point to me that the financial system will collapse due to inability to make payments and general panic. Increases in the interest rates will cause the financial collapse to happen sooner.
OFD: Even if the system sets up a choice of candidates not much different from the way the old Soviet Union or the current Chicoms and Norks do it??? So if we don’t vote for Tweedledum OR Tweedledee we gotta STFU about any bad chit that goes down later?
JimL: “The lesser of two evils is still evil”
True enough. It’s also _less_.
Perhaps I’m too young to have an opinion, but I’ll still tilt at windmills and try to make a difference. … Giving up certainly won’t accomplish anything. I’m still too stubborn to give up.
Better to light a single candle, and all that. And after you’ve taken a moment to vote, you can go back to prepping.
“I’ve mentioned this before but, I figure that the USA is cool until we hit 2X the GDP. $17 trillion x 2 = $34 trillion.”
OK, I’ll buy that, for now. So we’re at what, currently? $18 trillion? $20 trillion? And these figures go higher faster, so how long do you think it will be before we actually DO hit $34 trillion? Five to ten years? I’m figuring three, maybe four, tops. Depends on if we can get World War IV going or not. We sure do try hard; keep poking Prince Vlad in the eye, keep ginning up stuff with the Chicoms, the Norks, and in the Sandbox AO’s…while our own borders are a colossal joke.
I’m guessing we here have about three or four years to get ready for a major flustercluck, and only assuming no perfect storm of events or “detonators” blow up before then.
“And after you’ve taken a moment to vote, you can go back to prepping.”
Good advice. I’ll vote in the town’s special election November 10 here (while also attending regular selectboard and planning and police oversight committee meetings) and we’ll see about a new salt shed and moving the highway department off the lake shore. After that I’ll go home and locate our Advent candles so they’re ready to go when the time comes and count that as an opportunity to stock up on lamp oil, kerosene, wicks, matches, Coleman’s fuel, batteries, chargers and FLASHLIGHTS, so I don’t end up cursing the darkness as I topple headfirst down our hobbit stairs when the Grid goes down.
The USA debt is $18 trillion.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
$200 trillion, conservatively.
After that I’ll go home and locate our Advent candles so they’re ready to go when the time comes and count that as an opportunity to stock up on lamp oil, kerosene, wicks, matches, Coleman’s fuel, batteries, chargers and FLASHLIGHTS, so I don’t end up cursing the darkness as I topple headfirst down our hobbit stairs when the Grid goes down.
I am assuming that you have lanterns and flashlights in most rooms of your house. I have six or seven Coleman LED lanterns perched all around our home.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006OW5GDE
In the office, I have six of these 8 hour LED plugins that automatically light up when the power goes out:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ETW7C24
“The USA debt is $18 trillion.” (“official” figure handed out to us serfs)
“$200 trillion, conservatively.” (actual figure calculated by generally accepted accounting principles)
So, maybe when it hits $400 trillion, we’ll have the Big Collapse. On the other hand, some of us are fairly certain the excreta has already splashed all over the fan and we’re just waiting for the shooting to start.
Any bets on whether we hit the next number up after trillions?
Anyone who’s not yet tired and disgusted with the Stupid Half’s regular and continuous betrayals can suck on this:
“She’s John McCain in drag.”
“The military-industrial-intelligence complex is the heart of the Republican party (it is well-represented among the Democrats, too). It has derived its power and funding from American interventionism since the Spanish-American war. It figures prominently in every discussion of the the shadowy deep state that rules behind the scenes regardless of who is nominally in power on Capitol Hill and the White House. Before his foreign intervention apostasy, there had been a few trial balloons floated about the establishment and Trump making peace. Today’s Journal headline, especially its placement on the front page, serves as announcement that if renegade Republicans go off the reservation and select apostate Trump, the establishment will line up for reliable interventionist Hillary Clinton.”
I’d forgotten about that angle; sure, rather than put Trump in there, they’d rather vote for Cankles, absolutely:
http://straightlinelogic.com/2015/10/21/the-fix-is-in-by-robert-gore/
[snip] If an EMP blows all computer chips then civilization as we know it is dead for 20+ years. [snip]
The only saving grace would be that such an EMP event wouldn’t erase all stored knowledge. I’ve still got my old Calculus textbook, so if all of a sudden we’re back to being well armed 11th century peasants at least we won’t have to wait for a new Newton / Leibniz.
Here’s what we got to look forward to for another eight years: the same pair of psycho chiseling war-mongering grifters we had before. This really oughta speed things up now.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/10/phillip-f-nelson/elite-deviance/
“…if all of a sudden we’re back to being well armed 11th century peasants at least we won’t have to wait for a new Newton / Leibniz.”
There is that; we got the store of knowledge now. And we’re very well armed compared to those buggers. I say we should be able to get water-powered electric stations up again and the railroads, shipping and canals. Unless things are really bad, and then we’ll be taking notes from the Hobbes notebook on how life is solitary, short, brutish and nasty, with the hand of every man raised against every other man. Let’s hope we don’t fall that fah.
“6.) If you don’t vote, you don’t get to bitch about the result.”
Baloney. This ain’t a democracy – it’s set up as a representative republic. HUGE difference. We’re a nation of laws, not men. (Though it’s tough to tell sometimes.) Gripe all you want. If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
“And after you’ve taken a moment to vote, you can go back to prepping.”
Thanks to all of you, and the discussions here, I am. That’s another choice.
Maybe elections should be determined by who gets the majority of votes of all the registered voters, not just counting those who “physically” vote. Considering that in very few cases do even 50% of registered voters turn out (38% is considered good here). Until the voting method changes to this your not voting does nothing to help the situation and you are supporting the minority and the status quo.
In WA State we are 100% vote by mail so there is no excuse for not voting (you do not even have to pay postage if you use a ballot drop box). If I don’t like a person up for a position I write in Mickey Mouse and I never vote for any tax increase or new regulation.
I will do my anarchy duty in two weeks, and vote against every incumbent on the ballot. I love helping rotation in office.
“I never vote for any tax increase or new regulation.”
That’s similar to my philosophy. With *very* rare exception, I vote against anything that will raise government expenditures, increase regulations, or raise taxes.
When voting for people, my first criteria are: no farmers (we have piles of farmers in parliament here; funny how we also have huge agricultural subsidies), and no lawyers (piles of those in parliaments everywhere, way over-represented). After that, I vote as libertarian as possible, which tends to mean centrist parties.
“…Until the voting method changes to this your not voting does nothing to help the situation and you are supporting the minority and the status quo.”
The situation is long past any remedy from voting or not voting. The demographics are against us now, and deliberately so.
funny how we also have huge agricultural subsidies
Agricultural products are cheap until you do not make them anymore and have to buy them from your neighbor. The USA will be a business case in this over the next five years as agricultural products produced in the USA drops below 50% of our usage (I wish I could find that eye opening graph).
Farmers in the USA are facing massive price increases in equipment as the emissions laws have been modified to include them. Plus operating cost increases (a tractor can probably use a gallon of DEF fluid per acre, not really sure). And, some of the states, New York state I see you, now require environmental impact statements from farmers each year before planting their crops.
All that just encourages more big business. The family farm is gone, and families still in farming around me, are creating big conglomerates in order to stay in the business. In fact, I do not know if we are the norm, but there is far more land in production around me now than there was just 5 years ago when I returned. Many farm houses and barns have been leveled and that land put into production. The equipment in the fields is new and mostly green (John Deere; International is red). Tractors are a thing of the past and trucks have replaced them for everything except roadside mowing. Big machinery plows, tills, plants, and harvests the fields.
As far as the environmental statements, around here, that is all done on computer and all that is necessary is to fill in the blanks, which takes an office clerk less than a half-day to complete and send off electronically. The seed purveyors will also assist with that chore. Farm workers do not live near the farms anymore; they live in the rural towns and drive to the big building where the massive machinery is housed and maintained, and are dispatched to the fields from there.
I drive primarily on rural roads to get to jobs, as that is much more direct than using the Interstates, and you would be hard pressed to find an inch of rural land that is not planted, except where the tree breaks are. Fences are gone—a thing of the past,—and planting reaches to within 6 feet of the roads. I would guess that around here, grain growing is pushing animal production out of business, too. With the massive decrease in crop spacing (corn is not even planted in rows anymore), I would guess that the gross increase in farm output over the last decade or two has been dramatic.
Sure would like to see info that says things are different, because that surely cannot be the case around here.
Yep, that there’s the Breadbasket of America; we’re surrounded on three sides here by many dozen square miles of flat dairy herd land and corn, mainly. The little guys are hanging on and trying to be good about their runoff to the lake, but the big industrial ass-hats don’t give a shit; we never see their cows out of the barns, either. Nothing gets done, but the political hacks make noises once or twice a year about lake cleanup. Then everyone forgets again, the U.S. of Amnesia.
“In WA State we are 100% vote by mail so there is no excuse for not voting (you do not even have to pay postage if you use a ballot drop box).”
Oh yeah? I don’t even read all of my email. Voting may by easy, but lots of people still won’t vote. Just consider some here. Me, I can’t remember the last time I didn’t vote (and I still have a good memory.) I figure not voting is truly throwing away an opportunity, even though the outcome seldom comes out the way I vote. At least I can claim I didn’t vote for the bum!
Incumbents… I say, vote the bums out, get new bums. If the situation weren’t so bad, I could really enjoy my popcorn and beer. (Would’ve said Moxie, but never tried it. Does sound interesting.)
Moxie is made in southern NH and has been around a real long time; an acquired taste; most fems don’t like it. Oh well. Sorta like Dr Pepper but bettah.
I drive primarily on rural roads to get to jobs, as that is much more direct than using the Interstates, and you would be hard pressed to find an inch of rural land that is not planted, except where the tree breaks are. Fences are gone—a thing of the past,—and planting reaches to within 6 feet of the roads. I would guess that around here, grain growing is pushing animal production out of business, too. With the massive decrease in crop spacing (corn is not even planted in rows anymore), I would guess that the gross increase in farm output over the last decade or two has been dramatic.
Sure would like to see info that says things are different, because that surely cannot be the case around here.
The article that I read said that 1/4 of the nation’s food comes from California. That has been reduced by at least 50% and will reduce more as farmers adjust to very low water situations. Texas is in the same boat for everything west of I-35. Even the farms between I-35 and I-45 are having water problems. Rice production has dropped significantly (Texas used to be #1, I doubt that we are even in top ten now).
We had an overabundance of water early in the year, but Cow College (Purdue University aggie school) says it has had only a small effect on yields this year with soybean yields up and corn down, but not down that much from normal yields.
http://www.ibj.com/articles/55378-dry-fall-weather-helps-indiana-farmers-after-summer-deluges
Unfortunately for farmers, grain prices are down this year, after record earnings the last several years. That’s because the value of the dollar is up (price of gold is down).
From everything I read, the El Niño thing is going to fix California’s drought this winter, but I have not heard or read anything about Texas. So damned humid in Texas, but no rain. Crazy. We are supposed to have a relatively snowless winter here at the center of the known universe. Dearly hope that works out. I would be in San Diego if I could afford it. Already checked on that when Jeri was still alive—we could not afford to retire to anywhere in southern California, even though both her parents are still alive and living there.
For us, snow is bettah than weeks of subzero cold, which can crack pipes and trees and knock down power lines. Plus we can go snowshoeing and x-c skiing. And touristas flock up for the downhill stuff and spend beaucoup piastres.
Our major threat remains a killer ice storm; minor and pending threats are local yokel hoodlums and druggies busting into cars, houses and stores.
So the prep stuff going on here is to address those concerns; comfortably survive weeks or months of no power during a winter deep freeze, and protect ourselves and property from goblin attacks. YMMV where you is.
“In WA State we are 100% vote by mail so there is no excuse for not voting (you do not even have to pay postage if you use a ballot drop box).”
See, I’m of the opposite persuasion. Voting should be HARD. You should have to work to register (some weeks ahead of election day) and you should have to make it to your polling place. It’s skin in the game. You should have to WANT to exercise your franchise. Especially if you’re voting on how to spend my money.
But then, that’s why we’re 50 separate states (or used to be). So each state could make its own decision on how voting works. (I do like mine, though.)
@JimL,your points on working to vote are well taken and fall along my lines of thinking. I would add to the requirements to vote: (1) Pass State and US Constitution Test with a literacy element thrown in (2) Speak, read, and write, English (3) Not be on Welfare (4) the rest I’ll keep to myself but I think you all get the drift.
WA State, like the other States that have or will be going to all mail ballots, do so so that it is easy for the voting system to be corrupted by the lazy, illiterate, and illegal.
When I was in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service it was very hard to vote (not too many post offices at >250 feet), but I never missed an election because my Mom and Dad ensured that an absentee ballot got to me and all the Captains I served under also ensured we got our ballots and that they got delivered in time. To the point we would do a night meet with a helicopter to pickup and send off the mail.
“…. it is easy for the voting system to be corrupted by the lazy, illiterate, and illegal.”
I’ll just tiresomely point out here that the system is like unto that now, PLUS it’s rigged by the usual suspects, PLUS it’s only a distinct minority of peeps who even bother to vote, PLUS the demographics are increasingly against us, i.e., those of us who don’t like the way the country has gone over the last half-century. We can light candles till Hell freezes over but none of this is likely to change; in fact, it’s getting worse. Local and county levels still more or less intact, but state and national? A corrupt mess.
I understand that normalcy bias and continuing to feel comfortable that at least part of the system still works is operative for many folks, but sooner or later will come the realization of how much a waste of time and effort and attention it is.
Meanwhile I still see guys on various boards and blogs and other sites waxing all strategic on how this primary and that party faction might or might not be the linchpin that brings us success and can we hold our noses and punch the ballot for the lesser of two evils and of course if we don’t vote at all, we’ve conceded the country to Absolute Evil and Apocalypse and it’s All Our Fault and we have No Right to Bitch. How the rulers must laugh. It’s like that fine old country sport of putting two kids blindfolded in a ring and have them batter away at each other until one or the other finally drops. Great fun! And in the end, just entertainment for the perpetrators.
The process has even gotten much more transparent in recent years; one look at how they’ve been trying to rig the Presidential campaigns and candidates should be evidence enough of what a joke it is. C’mon, Donald Trump? An old-skool socialist from Brooklyn? A washed-out old bloodthirsty hag? Barack HUSSEIN Obama? Oh wait–yeah, that guy got elected twice by the voters in this country.
I’ll also tiresomely point out again that when the Stupid Half of the Party had a guy in the WH and had majorities in Congress, they did NOTHING for us and couldn’t bend over fast enough or long enough for the Evil Half members across the aisle. Ditto all those Pee Party clowns who swarmed to Mordor and then disappeared. Tricorner hats floating in the Potomac.
Here’s the thing: they don’t LIKE us and only want our money and our children. Period.
“your points on working to vote are well taken and fall along my lines of thinking. I would add to the requirements to vote: (1) Pass State and US Constitution Test with a literacy element thrown in (2) Speak, read, and write, English (3) Not be on Welfare (4) the rest I’ll keep to myself but I think you all get the drift.”
I could get behind that. If you are going to vote, you definitely ought to have some basic understanding of what government does, and should be integrated (i.e., speaking the local language).
I’m of two minds about requiring people pay net taxes. While it makes sense that you shouldn’t be able to vote yourself largess, it could also be abused: If the 1% were to pay the government’s bills, they could then take control of it. Of course, how that is different from today, well…
No one who is on any kind of entitlement program (or, to put in plain English, on welfare) should be allowed to vote at any level from local through federal.
I used to draw outrage at parties by saying that I thought it was a huge mistake to give women the vote, have them serving on juries, and so on, but I was serious. The rot started with that, because women overall are soft on crime and skew left politically. Obviously, there are exceptions, but not enough to change the overall picture.
There’s the argument that it became a beauty pageant at that point too.
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If you do not pay taxes (property, income, or payroll) then you should not be allowed to vote. A man with no investment in something could care less about those things and will just live off the system.
One should have to have a tax receipt with you in order to vote.
Ditto, except for the “used to” part. It was a nice idea and well intended, but like most “progressive” ideas a mistake.
I think that anyone drawing a government paycheck should be barred from voting, but that can get messy. Should federal employees be allowed to vote in school board elections? What about contractors? What about part-time consultants, where government contracts are only part of their income?
“One should have to have a tax receipt with you in order to vote.”
Again, why bother? Except maybe for local and county elections.
Should womyn vote? Too late now. That hossie done left the barn long ago. A good part of the reason we got Saint Jack, Larry Klinton and his lovely wife Bruno, and Barry Soetero and his brilliant and gorgeous wife Moochelle, and soon, Bruno again, only fuglier than ever. Wife here gets “She’s a woman and finally we can get a woman in the White House so I’m voting for HER!” from peeps who bring the subject up with her.
My response is to ask that if that is the main criteria, then why not Ann Coulter, Ann Barnhardt, Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann??? Eh??
I’ll start voting again in state and national elections after the revolution/civil war.
I’ll start voting again in state and national elections after the revolution/civil war.
There won’t be any elections after the civil war. The USA will split into 13 to 15 regions, all run by a general.
Coastal states might be run admirals, young sir. The elections will be local and county, and then eventually regional. National voting is already over and won’t come back; the Empire is all but dead.