US Presidental Elections, Economic Disasters, Gaming and a basket of rats

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If it couldn't get any worse for the Republicans, the inquiry into Palin has revealed that she did abuse her power in the "troopergate" affair - interesting to note that the Alaskan legislature voted unanimously to make the report public. I'm going out on a bit of a limb here as a psephologist and make the claim that the McCain/Palin pretty much can't win. The RCP Electoral College map shows that even if they win all the states that are in doubt, they will still lose - and that would be reversing a trend which is currently 77-26 in favour of Obama in the "toss up" states. This lead is likely to increase as Obama is intending to spend big on the last weeks of the election. Given that the Republicans are largely sunk, there is some sense in Libertarians who normally vote Republican to vote for their favoured third-party; I normally don't make such recommendations given the way that the US electoral system works (first-past-the-post, winner-takes-all), which effectively limits voting choice to the least disliked of two options. But in this case, given that the Republican cannot win, Libertarians should take the opportunity to give the anti-secular moral conservatives a swift kick to the rear.

Last week the Dow fell 18% as emergency G-20 summits are called. National debt in the United States is now $11 trillion and the clock runs out of digits; competing in orders of magnitude, Zimbabwe's inflation rate is 231 million percent. The British strategy is to punish top executives and to purchase preferential shares. Would anyone be terribly surprised if it I pointed out that housingestate prices are falling at record rates?.

Usual D&D 3.x Fantasy Australia game on Thursday. Played a great game of Middle Earth Role Playing on Friday night (thank you Michael) and on Saturday wrote an alternative Fourth Age article for Other Minds entitled "White Hand Rising" (go on, guess what that's about). On Sunday played imajica_lj's Call of Cthulhu game. Thank you for all your very kind comments on Scoundrel's departure. Our household couldn't remain ratless for long and on Saturday, courtesy of a lovely lass named Sarah we picked up three new boys, born on the 14th of August. Welcome to (top-down) Mischief, Calamity and Trouble.

Comments

[cluebyfour.livejournal.com]

Please accept my belated sympathies on Scoundrel's passing, and congrats on the new ratties.

The Palin story is interesting. Apparently her high approval rating among Alaskan voters didn't resonate with the state legislature; their report is what we would call throwing someone under the bus.

Of course even if Palin wasn't pulling down the Republican ticket, McCain's performances in the debates would be enough to sink him. Unless he turns in an absolutely mesmerizing performance at the next debate (and it will be critical, with its focus on economic issues) I think the GOP is toast. And his campaign ads have grown more stridently negative, another sign of the Republicans' desperation.

As for Libertarians going third-party, the problem is that many of them can't stand their own party nominee. If Bob Barr had made any attempt to reach out to the legion of Ron Paul supporters, he might have had a real impact on the election. He certainly would have given McCain fits in the swing states. But he blew Paul off when Paul got together with Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney and Chuck Baldwin and encouraged voters to go third-party, thus ensuring the LP is once again rendered irrelevant.

This, among other reasons, is why I'm staying home this election. As you pointed out, the U. S. system is rigged by design to ensure the major parties remain in power, and as an anarchist I can't bring myself to play that game. I'm under no illusion that I'm not still making a choice by not voting, but unless there's a fundamental change in the electoral process or a "None of the Above" option appears on the ballot, I see no point in wasting my time at the polls.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Please accept my belated sympathies on Scoundrel's passing, and congrats on the new ratties.

Thanks. I'll pass on some scritches.

It's a real shame that Barr didn't try to make some sort outreach to Ron Paul, Nader, McKinney etc. Sure, it would make some pretty strange politics, but as some have pointed out there is a yin-yang dynamic (not saying who is who) between the Greens and the Libertarians.

US Third Party Debates

[castleclear.livejournal.com]

Well, there is this: http://www.thirdpartyticket.com/

Thanks for the link to http://geolib.pair.com/essays/sullivan.dan/greenlibertarians.html