US House limits constituent e-mails!

The Hill:

The House is limiting e-mails from the public to prevent its websites from crashing due to the enormous amount of mail being submitted on the financial bailout bill.

Apparently it is not all that important that your congressional representatives hear what you think or have to say… But making sure their websites are up and pretty is top priority!

Constituents should never, for any reason, be restricted from communicating with congress or their representative in any way. Period. It is that simple.

Read it here and here.

Congressman Neil Abercrombie on why he voted No

Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D-HI):

I was able to use my Congressional web site as an information resource for Hawaii, posting summaries of the various plans, comments and news coverage. And, I asked for their opinion on the bailout. Over the last five days, nearly 1,500 people called, faxed or emailed my offices in Honolulu and Washington, DC. Eleven of those expressed support for the bailout plan.

Wow… 11/1500, that’s definitely significant. I am glad to see a politician who listens to his constituents now and than.

Read the full article here.

Allow the risk-taking financial institutions to fail

Ari J. Officer and Lawrence H. Officer in Time magazine:

Let the poorly managed, overly risk-taking financial institutions fail! Always remember that Wall Street and the real economy are not the same thing.

Read the article here.

Oil down!! Oil below $100 a barrel!

Breitbart:

Oil prices plunged over $10 a barrel Monday as a U.S. financial bailout plan failed to win legislative approval

Read it here.

BBC investigated over climate change bias

Daily Mail Online:

The BBC is being investigated by television watchdogs after a leading climate change sceptic claimed his views were deliberately misrepresented. Lord Monckton, a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, says he was made to look like a ‘potty peer’ on a TV programme that ‘was a one-sided polemic for the new religion of global warming’.

I have a solution for the debate issue!

Alright..  so, John McCain doesn’t want to debate right now, fine. But, don’t cancel the debate. A lot of time, energy, money and what not have gone into this debate. It is to late to let all of that go to waste.

My solution – the debate must go on, McCain or no McCain. Does this mean Obama should just sit, talk and answer questions all alone? Absolutely not. It is a debate after all. Here is what they should do, send an open invitation to all official presidential candidates, yes.. all of them – each and every party should be included (independents too). I know, it’s crazy, who would have ever considered having a presidential debate with all the candidates?! Shocker!

Isn’t the point of a debate to host all of the candidates and the candidate’s ideas, present them to America and allow America to decide?

All of the candidates should have been invited from the beginning, but now that the debate itself is floating in political limbo this is an excellent opportunity to make good on prior mistakes.

I say invite them all, let America hear what each contender for the office thinks – McCain or no McCain, a debate can still be a debate! In fact, even if McCain does show up every candidate should still be included.

List of potential candidates to invite:

• Bob Barr, Libertarian Party
• Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party
• Frank McEnulty, New American Independent Party
• Cynthia McKinney, Green Party
• Gloria Estela La Riva, Party for Socialism and Liberation
• Brian Moore, Socialist Party
• Ralph Nader, Independent candidate
• Gene Amondson, Prohibition Party
• Róger Calero, Socialist Workers Party
• Alan Keyes, America’s Independent Party
• Thomas Stevens, Objectivity Party
• Ted Weill, Reform Party
• Charles Jay, Boston Tea (Personal Choice) Party (Yes, it is a real political party)

‘Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone’

"Oh no no no I'm a rocket man"

The BBC is reporting that Yves Rossy, a ‘Swiss adventurer’ has become the first man to fly “solo across the English Channel using a single jet-propelled wing”. Basically, he strapped on a jet pack with wings and took of from France to England! I wonder, if this technology was available to the public, how many people would use it regularly?

See the video here.

CNN Story here.

And since I know you want to… sing along with Elton John here – Rocket Man!

What if there is a tie?!

What if the above scenario or one of the 50+ other potential ‘tie’ scenarios plays out when the electoral body meets in January? How would the president and vice president be picked? Who would have that power?

As drafted in the Constitution, under the electoral college system if the results end in a tie the decision to select a new president is passed to the House of Representatives. There is a period of time before the house gets a chance to take up the topic however. During that time electors have a chance to try and coax one another to change their votes, but such an occurrence is unlikely and would be political suicide. Also, it should be noted that many states do have laws that require their electors to vote for the candidate that won their respective state’s popular vote.

Upon no electors changing their minds the House receives the issue and must than decided the next president. Here is where it gets interesting. Each House member does not get a vote on the matter, instead each state delegation receives a vote. California gets one vote, Hawaii gets one vote, Nebraska gets one vote, and so on. Each state delegation casts one unifying vote, if a state delegation cannot pick one candidate to vote for they must forfeit their vote entirely. The question here is, would state delegations honor their state’s respective popular vote decisions or would they honor their party?

The vice president on the other hand is decided in the Senate. Yes, the two are selected separate of one another and in the end it could result in having a bi-partisan executive branch. The senate meets while the House is debating the president and picks a vice president, if there is a tie in the Senate the sitting vice president will cast the deciding vote. This is likely to eliminate a lengthy vice president selection process since a tie breaker is relatively simple. Similarly, the question here is, would the senators choose to honor their state’s respective popular vote decisions or would they honor their party?

Also, according to the Constitution if the House is unable to choose a president by March 4th, the newly Senate appointed Vice-President will become president in the same manner he/she would if a sitting president were to die or leave office for any other reason.

Interesting eh…

Russia to ban Halloween and Valentine’s Day!

USATODAY.com:

Russia is opening a new front in its battle with the West over last month’s fighting in neighboring Georgia: a move to ban the Western holidays of Halloween and Valentine’s Day as bad influences on the nation’s youth.

According to the report, Maxim Mishchenko – a member of Russia’s lower house – believes this bill is protecting the “moral and spiritual upbringing” of Russia’s ‘youth.’

Mishchenko says students should celebrate Russian holidays, not those heralded in the United States and Europe. “Why necessarily celebrate St. Valentine’s Day?” he says. “Let them celebrate Russian ones.” “If the state won’t interfere, they (Russia’s youth) will behave like little monkeys, copying what doesn’t fit with the soul of our culture,” Mishchenko says.

Doesn’t the Russian government have anything better to do?

Beyond the basic questions of freedoms, right to expression, and so on it is too bad that the Russian parliament is not trying to take advantage of the economic benefits these holidays can offer. Between the two, they offer quite a bit of capital and investment in various local business enterprises… something that might actually help the Russian people out a lot. ‘Oh well’ says the government. I guess we can see where the Russian Parliament’s priorities lie.

Quick! Arrest this man - he is in love and want's to show the world every February 14th!

The Aussies want out… out of the Commonwealth that is

Recently in Australia, a poll concluded that 52% of those surveyed support a move by Australia to become a republic. This is quite fascinating since it has been quite some time since the world have seen any ‘real’ or necessary departures away from the British Commonwealth. However, the poll results also make a lot of scene considering recent national elections.

In the most recent national election, republicans—-those who support a republic form of government—-gained leadership roles in both the government and the opposition ranks. This is the first time such an occurrence has ever taken place in Australian history.

Interestingly enough however, it is not the monarchy the Aussies are rejecting. The over all opinion of the Monarchy and of Queen Elizabeth herself is very positive. Her son Charles however is not so loved.

Separate polls have indicated that if “Prince Charles, is crowned, support for a republic with an Australian head of state would surge.”

So… will we see a Republic of Australia in the near future? It looks plausible… than again, I bet my earlier post on polls is making you rethink the valididty of opinion polling…

The trouble with opinion polls

Exactly why opinion polls can be a problem in elections today:

Bill Clinton calls for an end to attacks on Palin

CNN Political Ticker:

Bill Clinton said Monday the Democratic ticket should steer clear of launching personal attacks on Sarah Palin over her relatively thin resume, and instead acknowledge she was a “good choice” for the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket.

A curious development…

Story here.