Guard Dog

I have never cared for Corona. I like it even less when I founf out it wan't even made in Mexico anymore. It's made in El Paso now. Well, I guess there isn't much differencce any more. The best Mexican beer is Dos Equis and Nocha Buena. That second one is hard to come by, it's not for export.

This is too funny. This I have to see! Marlins to Create All Male Plus Size Cheerleaders

Hayes and DC 2000 immediately come to mind, stupid facts. Luckily failing your poli sci course means winning at life. The popular vote of the STATE the electors came from. Read the entire thread, context matters!

I tried that a few years back but I never could get it right. It was always way over carbonated and tasted like beer flavored champagne. I never could get the hang of it. My favorite brands are Sam Adams, Guiness, and Spanish Peaks but when cash is tight a plain old Budweiser will do.

I drank beer, played with the dogs, and posted on internet forums all day. Mainly political forums plus traded posts with a few here. I just lit the charcoal on the grill for two center cut pork chops I have marinating in cranberry juice and apple brandy and some vegtable ke-bobs. Then I'm going to watch the Panthers blow another game against the Flyers on TV.

To that point I will counter by posing the same challenge to you as I did to Sand: Write one letter to your State Senator and another to one of your US Senators and see which one responds to you. The answer there should be self evident. The legislators and bureaucrats elected from the smallest voter pools will be most in tune with the needs and issues facing the people from those pools. I have no argument with that concerning issues like pollution and transportation where more than one state is affected. However when it comes to Education, Health Care, social issues, etc, what is good for the New York Goose does not work for the California Gander. For example Florida raises money through property tax and sales tax. The Department of Education Organization Act of 1980 then requires the state to pay part of that to Uncle Sam to fund the Department of Education which turns around and pays that money back to the States to fund education programs. Really is just feeds a bureaucratic machine who's appetite for money knows no limit. Now the DOE has the ability to withhold money (that the state raised in taxes) from the state if the State Secretary of Education (who is elected) does something the US Sec Education (who is NOT elected) does not like. Now with the No Child Left Behind act it is even worse. Now the DOE can target a single school in a single school district for a funding cut. Enoch, the local school board whose members were all locally elected has been effectively neutered buy a Washington Bureaucrat who is not elected therefore accountable to no one. I realize you are a Washington guy but as a lawyer, as an educated American, can you not see how someone would have a problem with that? To make matters worse, the US Constitution does not mention the word "Education" or allude to ANYTHING that can be construed as Education, so where does the Federal Government get this power? From nowhere, it takes it and what can one do? Nothing, really especially since five of the nine wise souls on 1st ST in DC have no heartburn with the Federal Government exceeding Constitutional limitations. That is just one example, I have many others. I know Libertarian ideology leaves you scratching your head but you need to separate Libertarian ideals from the Libertarian party because believe me they are no longer the same thing. Much like Conservative ideals and the Republican party.

Sand.... do you know what Federalism even is? Let me explain. Political power within any political entity is a zero sum game. Every one has equal share (anarchy) or one person has it all (autocracy) or it is somewhere in between. In the Federalist system the majority of power is supposed to remain at the lowest level, therefore closest to the voter so the voter has more political control over the issues that impact them directly. You live in Iowa, the government with the most power over Iowa should be in Des Moines where the people understand Iowa and it's needs, not in Washington where they do not. If you want to try a little experiment, write a letter to your State Senator and to one of your US Senators and see who gets back to you. The US constitution spells out EXACTLY what the role of the Federal government should be, the 10th Amendment then says all power not assigned to the federal government belongs to the states. Remember a while back I pointed out adamantly that is a single state chose to provide free health coverage to it's citizens I would have no problem with it, but if the Federal Government tries to do it I would fight against it, donate against it, vote against it at every turn? That was whay I was getting at.

Enoch you just summed up in a single sentence why I dislike and will not vote for democrats. Ever since FDR they have been working actively to erode the 10th amendment and have not even paid lip service to the concept of Federalisim. Granted the Post-Reagan republicans have been little better but when I must choose between fast decline and slow decline I must opt for the lesser of the two and vote for slow decline.

Here is a little news that on the surface does not seem like much. It might even seem a little boring. But it is important and I'll explain why. FEC chair: McCain can't drop out of public financing system McCain is the co-author of the current campaign finance system. It's whole purpose was to get "special interest" money out of politics. So since he requested public financing for his campaign he must abide by the caps and controls of the FEC (Note the very thing HE CREATED!). Well the FEC says "Thou shalt not spend more than $X in the primary elections". That means the amount whatever it is must last a candidate from exploratory committee to convention. McCain is now running out of money under the cap, and the convention is in September. So he goes back to the FEC and tells them "I want to drop out of the Public Financing System" And since he never actually USED the public money he should be able to do so. But..... it turns out he used the promise of the public financing money to secure a loan to his campaign a few months ago. Under the law (THAT HE WROTE!) that is de facto use of Public Campaign Finance money. Well now he is in a real pickle. He can either stop campaigning all together when he runs out of money (that means from May-September you will hear nothing from him), or he can hire a bus load of lawyers to try to get him around the law that HE WROTE! If he opts for the path of hypocrisy he will have painted an enormous bulls-eye on his back for the general election. If he plays it straight he will have no shot what so ever to win in November. I remember reading this some where in the Baldur's Gate games "Never call up what you can not put down". Does that ever fit here. Just think, his campaign for the White House is about to be sunk by the very law that made him a viable candidate to begin with. Irony is DEFINITELY my favorite form of humor.

Actually money has nothing to do with it. Lucas Arts owns the game and the intellectual property behind it. Obsidian was contracted to make the game for LA but LA owns it and has complete control over what is done with it. Obsidian could not go back an retro patch it even if they really wanted to and they certainly could not sell the result in any case. Take this example, you own a business and hire an really good sign company to make window sign for your business. But, because you put a lot of restrictions on their design process and rushed them through it, it did not turn out that well. The sign company is not going to go back four years later and redesign your sign because they know it did not turn out right. You got what you paid for. Ditto with Obsidian, LA got what they contracted for.

No, there has NEVER been an incident where a "faithless elector" has changed an election, and in all of US history only 150 some odd times has an elector not voted as pledged (the electors are pledged to vote for the state winner). More than half of those were the result of a VP candidate dying before taking office, the rest involved Martin Van Buren and Civil War politics and was addressed by the passage of the 14th Amendment (among other things). In most states (GA, WY, AK, come to mind) the electors are required by law to vote as pledged. In some (like Michigan) the state has to power to override the vote of a faithless elector. The Constitution orders the states to appoint a number of electors equal to the number of Congressional Reps in such a way as the state may direct. All 50 states and 4 voting territories select electors from the political party whose candidate won the election. These are not a group of political elites, the are all Republicans or Democrats depending on who won. Everyone stamps their feet and makes a stink about how undemocratic the EC is but that is hardly the case and it exists for a very good reason. Furthermore it is provided for by the Constitution so to get rid of it would require the amendment process. That means asking the smaller states to vote against the constitutional provision that protects them from the populous states. It simply will not happen.

Not much news happening around the Grapefruit League yet but the rest of the players are reporting to camp now and the first split squad games are next week. I'm definitely doing up to Vero Beach next Friday to watch the Rays split game against the Marlins, then to Orlando on Saturday to watch the Braves inter-squad scrimmage. Should be fun. Since there is no real news yet read this article if you can get through it without laughing: Ex Minor Leaguers may Sue MLB Over Steroids

Ok, here is how I see the dem primary finishing up. Obama will pick up 2/3 of the remaining pledged delegates which will send him into the convention without enough to win unless he gets at least 350 of the uncommitted super delegates at minimum. If he does not and Hillary gets the rest of the supers she will win the nomination without winning the vote. Katie bar the door if that happens. The legions of voters who turned out for Obama will feel disenfranchised and will not support Hillary (remember she has positioned herself as a moderate and has alienated the far left, they were the big Obama backers). Where will they go then? Not to McCain certainly. Nader now gives them a place to vote to show their displeasure at DNC perfidy. Nader only needs to peel off enough votes to make a different in 1-2 states to turn the election. In 2000 if 1801 Nader votes had gone to Gore, George W Bush would be no more than a historical footnote. The other scenario goes this way. Obama wins the nomination but the spread it less than 400 delegates. The total delegates disallowed from Florida and Michigan are 486. Hillary won both states big and both are winner-take-all. So if the spread is close enough (and it is really looking that way) Hillary will likely sue the DNC to seat those delegates. After all, the Republicans seated theirs and FL and MI were completely lawful in changing primary dates. If she wins the suit and the delegates are seated she wins the nomination and the Obama people will look at her as a sore loser that had to go to court to take what she could not win. You get the above scenario all over again. If she loses it will create a big problem for the Dems in MI and FL because their votes did not count. MI is solidly blue but Florida is a swing state that could go either way. That would likely swing Florida red because McCain is popular with the Dems here and Nader will be on the ballot too. Of course if Obama wins big in the next 5 primaries none of the above can happen and Nader will make no difference. Ditto is either candidate wins big in the general election. But I think this election will be a lot closer than many of you seem to want to believe. Yes Obama is charismatic and energetic all but he is a dyed in the wool liberal and there are a lot of people (like me) who simply do no want another liberal in the White House. The last one (Jimmy Carter) was a complete disaster . Thats my reasoning on why Nader MAY be significant.

Absolutely correct Arkan! You get a B+ (the + for the Lincoln comparison). Now, there is one more thing you are omitting about this election that will make a Nader entry significant. Care to take a shot at what that is? Your B+ could become an A+. There is one more piece to this puzzle.

Are you still here? You failed my class. But seriously, I'm not about to engage in a meaningless debate over the electoral college with you that will accomplish nothing, feed your rampant cynicsim, and derail this thread, taking away from an important point I'm trying to make that you are not seeing.

So your answer is that Naders 2000 candidacy had no impact on the outcome of the 2000 election? I'm sorry but if it is, you fail Guard Dogs Political Science class. Now where the heck is Pop? I bet HE can answer correctly.

Actually the Electorial College, at least in my state, can vote any way they feel like. The popular vote can go to the Republicans but the Electorial College can go Democrat, for example. Popular vote is meaningless. (Sigh) Ok, but in the history of the US, it has ALWAYS followed the popular vote because that was what is was meant to do. Now, back to my original point. I'm trying to see if anyone here (besides me) understands why an insignificant third party candidate entering this election is important. There is a historical precedent here. C'mon people I should not have to connect these dots for you!

Those were all tounge in cheek comments. Now the part about his 2000 campaign changing history I was serious about that.

Yes Sand, the national popular vote does not decide the election. However, the STATE popular vote decides who gets ALL of the electors of the state. Now consider this, in 2000 Bush won Florida by 1800 or so votes. So do you want to take another shot at my question?

Of course he won't win, or even come close. But think about this, in Florida in 2000 he received around 19,800 out of about 3M votes. Would I be wrong in suggesting those 19K votes changed the course of world history?

It's on the site of the Orange Bowl. There is a reason why the Dolphins, Hurricanes, heck even the FedEx Orange Bowl wanted to get out of the Orange Bowl, the area sucks. Limited freeway access, all two lane surface streets, and very high crime. Just watch the show "The First 48" on A&E and you will see that area all the time. They say having the new stadium there will rejuvenate the area. Well having the OB there didn't help so I'm not sure where they got THAT idea.

I HAVE NEWS! BIG BIG BIG NEWS! HERE IT IS: Ralph Nader Planning Another Presidential Run YESSSS!!!!!! My favorite candidate of all is getting back on that political horse and is going to ride it for all it's worth. Good Luck and Godspeed Ralph. I wish you all the best! Now you get in there and you fight for those liberal votes. Not even Barak can out liberal Nader. If you hate corporate greed WITHTEETH, Nader is your guy. If you want planned economics Pop, vote for Ralph. Sand if you want health care and want me to pay for it Go Green baby, Mr. Nader is your man.

Re-reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I haven't read it since college and it makes so much more sense to me now.

That just will not happen for a number of reasons. They are both Senators, that combo has not won in over 100 years. They are both from states the democrats are going to win anyway so nothing would be gained by having each other. They are both lawyers with no previous business experience and both very liberal. When you pick a VP you need to employ a little strategy. Pick a popular politician from a state whose vote is in play. Or you pick a political icon not in politics. If you are young, pick someone older, if you are older pick someone young. If you are moderate, pick a liberal that will appeal to the left of you party. The VP choice really is not made based on how qualified a candidate is of how good a President they would make, it is all about what they would bring to the campaign. And the other thing is Hillary will not be second chair to anybody.

It is still better than Halo vs Star Wars! I don't spam your threads.