This is pretty funny – if you’re going to raise a ruckus on an airplane, you should probably make sure that the British police rugby team is not on board.

As far as I’m aware, my ballot on November 2nd will have the following candidates:

US PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT

Michael Peroutka and Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party
David Cobb and Pat Lamarche, Green Party
Michael Badnarik and Richard Campagna, Libertarian Party
(i) George W Bush and Dick Cheney, Republican Party
John F Kerry and John Edwards, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Bill Van Auken and Jim Lawrence, Socialist Equality Party
Roger Calero and Arrin Hawkins, Socialist Workers Party
Thomas Harens and Jennifer Ryan, Christian Freedom Party
Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo, Better Life Party

(State Wide)

US REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 05
Jay Pond, Green
Daniel Mathias, Republican
(i) Martin Olav Sabo, Democratic-Farmer-Labor

STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 59A
Tom Taylor, Green
Valdis Rozentals, Republican
Diane Loeffler, Democratic-Farmer-Labor

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE-SUPREME CT 6
(i) Alan Page vs Tim Tingelstad

JUDGE – COURT OF APPEALS 3
(i) David Minge vs Paul Ross

JUDGE – COURT OF APPEALS 14
(i) Jim Randall vs Daniel Griffith

(County Wide)

JUDGE – 4TH DISTRICT COURT 1
(i) Thor Anderson vs Julie Delgado O’Neil

JUDGE – 4TH DISTRICT COURT 18
Stephen Baker vs Susan Burke

JUDGE – 4TH DISTRICT COURT 27
Kevin Kolosky vs Lajune Lange

SOIL AND WATER SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 5
Gregory Bownik
Jonathan Burris
Kevin Rodewald
Michael Wyatt

(City Wide)

SCHOOL DISTRICT 1 (3 seats)
Lydia Lee, Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Peggy Flanagan, Democratic-Farmer-Labor
(i) Sharon Henry-Blythe, Democratic-Farmer-Labor
(i) Dennis Schapiro, Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Sandra Miller
David Dayhoff, GOP

The only one I’m pretty firmly decided on is Tom Taylor for 59A. I’ll be making it a point to review each of these candidates over the next few weeks. I’ll let everyone know what I find.

damn misleading campaign ads
national politics

Fact Check debunks yet another political ad that uses some of the same old distortions of truth. I’ve covered the difference between out-and-out lying and using dirty tricks to mislead, but really, should we have to tolerate either?

One thing I like about Fact Check is that they don’t just pick on Republicans. They pretty effectively trashed one of Kerry’s anti-Cheney ads as well.

I do find it pretty funny that they had to debunk the claims that Cheney made about their debunking the claims that Kerry’s ad made. They refute claims made by both VP candidates, but it appears that Cheney made more misleading claims than Edwards. *sigh*

woo hoo!
society/national politics

Hey, maybe this Scalia guy isn’t so bad:

“I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged,” Scalia said.

From this article. Ok, I don’t really like Scalia, but it sounds like this event was really entertaining.

shots fired
national politics

Just for the record, I was well west of Knoxville when someone shot at the Bush Cheney campaign headquarters there. I can’t imagine the number of ways in which that was a dumb idea.

The War Prayer
society/religion

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of2 their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”
– Mark Twain

Read the full text at WolfspiritJPH’s site.

where’s waldo?
international politics

According to this article, the US-led Iraq Survey Group is expected to release a report stating that Iraq had no illegal stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction. It is also likely to say that Saddam planned to rebuild his “WMD capability” had UN sanctions been lifted.

Is anyone out there still arguing that Iraq was an imminent threat to the United States?

makes financing a bit easier…
international politics

Kerry keeps saying the war has cost $200 billion. Both Fact Check and the RNC agree that it is more like $120 billion. $200 billion has been earmarked, but we’ve only burned $120 yet.

Cursor.org has a link to a nice way of countering that:

Pandagon’s Jesse Taylor explains the $200 billion question: “We can’t count the war as costing what it’s going to cost because the money’s been earmarked to be spent, but hasn’t been spent yet. By that standard, my car cost $622.”

win/win!
international politics

Influential American evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday that Evangelical Christians feel so deeply about Jerusalem, that if President George W. Bush were to “touch” Jerusalem, Evangelicals would abandon their traditional Republican leanings and form a third party.

This Haaretz article covered Robertson’s speech. Reducing the political influence of the evangelicals AND starting to treat the Palestinians like they have some rights to the area.

Too bad it isn’t going to happen, but wow, it is nice to dream for a moment.

culture of division
society/politics

I’ve received a lot of responses on the lawn sign theft which have varied from honestly sympathetic and outraged to somewhat condescending (eg: “You think Democrats don’t have anything better to do than go around stealing lawn signs?”)

One thing I should be clear on is that I was not implicating any specific Democrats or suggesting that the organization was behind the theft in any way. I am especially not implying that candidate Loeffler or her campaign is involved at any level.

What I am implicating are Democrats as a group. The words and socio-political environment they have contributed to creating.

I believe that the Democrats have been demonizing their opposition for far too long. Not all Democrats do this, but those who do, do so very viscously and very vocally. I do not see other Democrats respond to or criticize this behavior often enough. It is my view that silently letting this happen is tacitly lending support to it.

As Joshua Norton said in a recent web log post:

“Take ownership of your principles. Don’t let the partisanship of this election alienate you from your beliefs in basic freedoms and the rights of other human beings, no matter which side of this election they’re coming down on. Be radical about your principles, not your willingness to violate them.”
(http://www.noematic.org/mine/archives/011876.html#011876)

I know that in the past, when people have used nasty methods to support points I was making, I have sometimes tried to make a point of openly stating that I was not okay with it.

It is a natural tendency to lump all followers of a political party into one category. Everyone has some guilt in this regard, including myself. Especially myself.

However, recently it feels like more and more Democrats are taking it far past what I feel is acceptable in a mature society. Republicans become “evil”. Even though they agree on many positions, Greens are attacked with almost as much acidic hate.

These unchecked feelings and words create the environment where lawn signs get stolen, porches get burnt, offices get ransacked, and eventually, violence gets committed.

Maybe it was a drunken young adult or a angsty teen who stole the sign, but that person was fueled by something. If they were just being destructive for its own sake, it would have been broken, or peed on, or tossed in the street, or something along that lines. To completely make it go away takes a bit more effort, and implies some level of motivation.

For example, perhaps it was a teen who heard their parents or friends talking about how everything we’ve gone through for the past three and a half years is Nader’s fault and simply saw the “Green” on the sign.

In any case, I do believe that the root of motivation behind the sign disappearing was most likely fueled by the hate and anger flowing from the individual Democrats towards any who would oppose their party.

I believe the philosophies of “this is the most important election ever”, “we must do anything we can to win”, and “anyone not voting for our candidates is supporting evil” combine to create an environment where people are willing to do more and go further.

Many of us (especially angsty boys/men like me) have a natural tendency towards thuggery. By giving that thuggery a justification and a cause, you encourage it and make it acceptable.

Even if my personal lawn sign was not taken for that reason, its disappearance catalyzed the thought and analysis of the situation, the consideration of the way I’ve seen some Democrats treat those who disagree with them, and the silence on the part of their party mates when this occurs. Even if this one incident was not for these reasons, there are enough that are that it needs to be commented on.

I’ve heard of a Republican office being shot at in Knoxville, another ransacked in Florida, another invaded here in the Twin Cities. I’ve seen Dyna attack anyone who opposes endorsed DFL candidates, even if they are Democrats themselves. I’ve seen such vitriol from Andy that it made it hard for my to stomach being on the politics lists that he contributes to (I’ve heard he is a decent person in the “real world” – so why all the hate?)

Why so much hate? Why attacking without restraint?

Ends justify the means?

I’m all for civil disobedience, but part of the message is taking the consequences of the actions, and avoiding violence and hatred during the actions.

I’m open to revolution, but if we’re going to do it, lets do it, and if we’re going to do it, lets do it without forgetting ethics. The minute you start hating your opponent and reduce them from people to enemies, you start being willing to commit crimes – not crimes against the law, but crimes against ethics, against humanity.

But to bring it back to the situation at hand:

If we’re just going to cross the lines of the law a little to harass and intimidate, don’t be surprised when it simply feeds the culture of hate and mistrust, the divisions, the harsh responses and reactions, and inevitably, leads to crackdowns and oppressions as people get fed up with these things happening and give law enforcement a broader hand to prevent them.

Yes, I realize by holding all Democrats accountable, I am, to an extent, doing the same thing.

I feel my action (stating that I hold supporters of the party accountable when they do not condemn feeding the culture of division) is not over any ethical lines and is not building the divisions – just pointing out that they exist.

I saying this because it is being done in the name and in support of the Democratic party, and by not condemning your allies just as strongly as you condemn your opponents should they cross the same lines, you are somewhat condoning it. I would feel the same about anyone supporting Greens, Republicans, or whoever, doing these actions.

I know many of you would and do as well. I would just like to see a little more of that disapproval come from all sides when people do cross the lines from debate to attack.

I am also saying this because I have these tendances as well, and by opposing them in the society around me, I also attempt to discourage them within myself.