Baby Killing Leaders
Todd Berman over on Planet GNOME (or here, if you are reading this there) recently blogged about his thoughts on the "War On Terror", and again replying to a readers comments, albeit in a slightly less calm manner. Good reads.
Given the amount of anti-Bush protests, demonstrations, people and events going on in America I don't understand how opinion polls still put Bush and Kerry at ~50/50. Something is seriously wrong over there guys, and it needs to be fixed. Sadly I think Kerry winning this election won't be enough, for two reasons: the hard-right nutters politicians will still be around and the Democrats are still pretty right-wing when compared to some other countries.
Yes, I'm a tree-hugging nut-eating hippy. The highlight of yesterday was reading the excellent The Wrap from The Guardian, in which they slated The Daily Mail (a tabloid with aspirations of intelligence, meaning serif type) for running horror stories about how "half your income goes on taxes", assuming you earn £50400 a year. I quote:
But what is so unfair about the vast majority of New Labour's tax rises is the people they punish. The hard-working, home-owning, pension-building middle classes are ruthlessly targeted again and again, while the feckless and welfare-dependent are allowed to benefit from the Government's commitment to 'social inclusion'.
Erm, yes. That was the point.
NP: Blue For You, Nina Simone
The Democrats are a bunch of wimps. They will give in to right wing demagogues on almost any issue.
Have you ever looked into the eyes of a Daily Mail reader on the train? They all look so scared and angry.
I'll check back later. If you're really interested in a contrary perspective (as opposed to calling people names), I'll give you a firsthand account that will likely tell you things you aren't seeing.
Otherwise, I might humbly suggest that you do a bit more research if you really want to understand what's going on over here.
Many reasons:
1. The Electoral College system weights many rural areas (trending towards Republicans) disproportionately high. Compare Electoral College weightings for Wyoming (least populous) and California (most populous) states.
2. Business still slightly favors Republicans, and their donations show.
3. While Bush is a terrible President, Kerry unfortunately is not a very compelling candidate.
4. The bottom line is that many US voters are hicks. I don't know how else to state it. The number of Americans who react positively to "Pro-God/Pro-Guns/Anti-Gays" as a general platform is still quite high.
5. Americans have been "scared straight" by the popular media into believing that Bush's unilateral "GloboCop" agenda is the only thing that will keep their children safe.
The bottom line is that Bush probably can't lose the election at this point - he will continue to use scare tactics right until the very end. I would be very surprised if he won less than 60% vote share.
And less and less people are buying this drivel anymore. The people outside of this country aren't used to the tactics used by the democrats in this country and therefore do not understand the polls.
Sorry (Non-Americans)... you cannot vote in this election. Thankfully!
-adam.