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RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001
scratching at .8, just hopin'
#36126: Oct 31st 2012 at 7:48:53 AM

It would be nice to see electoral accountability and voting reform become a big thing in the States after the election. Mostly because they catch a cold in Parliament Hill whenever someone sneezes in Washington, and it would be nice to see serious electoral accountability ensured in Canada so we can kick Harper out.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#36127: Oct 31st 2012 at 7:50:30 AM

Electoral accountability? Like... throw people in jail for voting for the wrong person...?

RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001
scratching at .8, just hopin'
#36128: Oct 31st 2012 at 8:01:02 AM

No, throw them in jail for electoral fraud or misinforming the electorate (untrue claims about voting requirements, false voting dates, false voting locations, etc.)

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#36130: Oct 31st 2012 at 8:34:51 AM

I would certainly like to see some repercussions for doing things like publishing papers that tell Republican and Democratic voters to vote on different days. I mean seriously, there are some very basic things that are being done, and it would be very basic to implement no nonsense regulations on these sorts of things if the parties didn't benefit so well from them. (Mostly the Republicans these days.)

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#36131: Oct 31st 2012 at 8:35:27 AM

> telling Repubs and Dems to vote on different days

I heard that this was happening in Wisconsin at the time of the recall elections.

johnnyfog Actual Wrestling Legend from the Zocalo Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Actual Wrestling Legend
#36132: Oct 31st 2012 at 9:32:33 AM

I would certainly like to see some repercussions for doing things like publishing papers that tell Republican and Democratic voters to vote on different days.

Are you proposing that we infringe on freedom of speech?

I'm a skeptical squirrel
Wicked223 from Death Star in the forest Since: Apr, 2009
#36133: Oct 31st 2012 at 9:50:18 AM

Seems like the backlash against Nate Silver is starting to spread, for less-than-good reasons.

You can't even write racist abuse in excrement on somebody's car without the politically correct brigade jumping down your throat!
Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#36134: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:00:03 AM

[up]

Not really surprising. Anything that suggests liberals might win or romney wont win in a landslide is biased by conservative definition. Because republicans are the only unbiased people in the universe.

Thorn14 Gunpla is amazing! Since: Aug, 2010
Gunpla is amazing!
#36135: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:09:13 AM

Apparently some people are mad at Chris Christie for praising Obama during Sandy.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#36136: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:14:10 AM

I do wonder what will happen if Obama does win...Those who actually believe that stuff might be not inclined to believe it...

(Funny thought: A "You wanted no observation so stop complaining about cheating!" to Texas...)

edited 31st Oct '12 10:16:17 AM by 3of4

"You can reply to this Message!"
Thorn14 Gunpla is amazing! Since: Aug, 2010
Gunpla is amazing!
#36137: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:16:37 AM

Well I do remember people saying Obama wasn't legitimately president because he slightly flubbed the oath. [lol]

Linhasxoc Since: Jun, 2009
#36138: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:23:38 AM

[up] These are probably the same types of people who believe the income tax is illegal because of a minor punctuation error from when Ohio ratified the 16th amendment.

Tangent128 from Virginia Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
#36139: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:28:43 AM

Apparently my little sister isn't the only one tired of the election...

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?
Thorn14 Gunpla is amazing! Since: Aug, 2010
Gunpla is amazing!
#36140: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:31:43 AM

Ugh...

Romney is gaining ground in Michigan.

QuestionMarc Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#36141: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:31:54 AM

Boy, I so do not envy Presidents. It must be one hell of a job of administring the USA. Are there even people who get along out there? Or people that aren't petty/crazy?

[up][up] I'm a bad person, I laughed at the second top comment: "This girl's trying to guilt her mom into voting third-party. Nice try, Abby - or should I say JILL STEIN".

edited 31st Oct '12 10:32:03 AM by QuestionMarc

Kayeka (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#36142: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:34:58 AM

[up]There is a reason why the job attracts mostly mad people.

pagad Sneering Imperialist from perfidious Albion Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Sneering Imperialist
#36143: Oct 31st 2012 at 10:58:12 AM

Boy, I so do not envy Presidents.

Heh, reminds me of this.

With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.
johnnyfog Actual Wrestling Legend from the Zocalo Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Actual Wrestling Legend
#36144: Oct 31st 2012 at 1:38:02 PM

Romney relief effort was a publicity stunt, color me shocked.

I'm beginning to think Mencken was right about Americans admiring liars.

edited 31st Oct '12 1:39:02 PM by johnnyfog

I'm a skeptical squirrel
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#36145: Oct 31st 2012 at 1:46:32 PM

Okay. And someone who does this kind of crap has the gall to declare the FEMA IMMORAL? o.O

"You can reply to this Message!"
Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#36146: Oct 31st 2012 at 1:49:14 PM

[up]

Keep in mind, the sort of people who vote for him view not throwing random toilet paper and brushes at the suffering instead of money immoral, because everyone knows liberal charities like the red cross are immoral and embezzle everything unlike churches.

RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001
scratching at .8, just hopin'
#36147: Oct 31st 2012 at 1:49:50 PM

Romney Accounting: How to make more money off of using a charity's tax exempt status to lower your tax bill than you actually spend on the charity

Romney reportedly took advantage of a loophole, called a charitable remainder unitrust or CRUT, which allows someone to park money or securities in a tax-deferred trust marked for his or her favorite charity, but which often doesn’t pay out much to the nonprofit. The donor pays taxes on the fixed yearly income from the trust, but the principal remains untaxed. Congress outlawed the practice in 1997, but Romney slid in under the wire when his trust, created in June 1996, was grandfathered in.

The trust essentially lets someone “rent” the charity’s tax-exemption while not actually giving the charity much money. If done for this purpose, the trust pays out more every year to the donor than it makes in returns on its holdings, depleting the principal over time, so that when the donor dies and the trust is transferred to the charity, there’s often little left. The actual contribution “is just a throwaway,” Jonathan Blattmachr, a lawyer who set up hundreds of CRU Ts in the 1990s, told Bloomberg. “I used to structure them so the value dedicated to charity was as close to zero as possible without being zero.”

Indeed, this appears to be the case for Romney’s trust as well. Bloomberg obtained the trust’s tax returns through a Freedom of Information Request and found that Romney’s CRUT started at $750,000 in 2001 but ended 2011 with only $421,203 — over a period when the stock market grew. Romney’s trust was projected to leave less than 8 percent of the original contribution to the church (or another charity that he can designate). This, along with the trust’s poor returns — it made just $48 in 2011 — suggest the trust is not designed to grow for the LDS church but just serve as a tax-free holding pool from which annual payments can be disbursed to the Romneys.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
QuestionMarc Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#36148: Oct 31st 2012 at 1:53:19 PM

My god, how can people consider voting for Romney when hearing about this.

deathpigeon Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#36149: Oct 31st 2012 at 1:56:19 PM

Because he supports something that the voter supports, such as pro-life or anti-gun control.

johnnyfog Actual Wrestling Legend from the Zocalo Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Actual Wrestling Legend
#36150: Oct 31st 2012 at 1:58:25 PM

SNL could seriously recycle that skit with Dukakis shrugging, "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy."

And yes, I misspelled his name twice.

edited 31st Oct '12 1:58:57 PM by johnnyfog

I'm a skeptical squirrel

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