election day (United States)

[Omphalos]

I thought about a straight democrat vote this time around, but our democrat candidate for AG was kind of a nightmare. So, close, but no cigar.

And sorry Freak, but I voted "no" on pot, and "yes" on taxing pot.

[Freakzilla]

[A Thing of Eternity]

How does not-legalizing pot and taxing pot not go hand in hand? AToE is confused.

[Freakzilla]

Pot has only been illegal nationally since like 1935, before that many states had a stamp tax on it. When pot was made illegal (de-legalized) nobody repealed the stamp tax.

It's $3.50/g in Georgia.

I would advise NOT paying that.

[Omphalos]

How does not-legalizing pot and taxing pot not go hand in hand? AToE is confused.

They were separate questions on the ballot. I voted to keep it illegal. But hey, this is northern California, so I'm gonna lose. And when I do all that I can hope for is that enough people also voted to tax it, so we get at least some benefit from turning into Amsterdam.

[A Thing of Eternity]

How does not-legalizing pot and taxing pot not go hand in hand? AToE is confused.

They were separate questions on the ballot. I voted to keep it illegal. But hey, this is northern California, so I'm gonna lose. And when I do all that I can hope for is that enough people also voted to tax it, so we get at least some benefit from turning into Amsterdam.

I don't even smoke week and I think legalizing pot is one of the smartest things our Governments can do. Cut down on crime, and make money hand over first off the taxes. Where's the down side?

Plus, legalizing it will make it harder and more expensive for children to buy (ask any kid whether it's easier and cheaper to buy booze or pot and they'll all answer pot), so theoretically it could cut down on the amount smoked by kids slightly (I'm guessing just slightly though... they'd just be more broke and get caught easier).

I hope you guys get that done, might give our government the balls to do the same if they see a State do it first.

[Omphalos]

Because Im raising young kids, and I don't want recreational drugs available in my community. I've spent time and energy raising them to understand that drugs are a temptation that should be avoided. I don't want to have to deal with the added nuisance of joint ads in the Sunday supplement and in Walgreens front window. And even if they do pass it here, they will NEVER pass it in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, or any other SW states, so the drug war will go on indeed.

And yes, I wish the drunks would go away too.

[A Thing of Eternity]

Fair enough, if they legalized it up here they'd almost certainly hide it the way they hide tobacco (but in liquor stores I imagine) that means no advertisements of any kind, no displaying the product in any way, nothing.

I'm not saying there's no downside to legalizing it, just that the pros would far outweigh the cons. Kids are gonna smoke pot pretty much no matter what, I think legalizing it would actually make it harder to get.

I think if alcohol can be legal and we can teach kids to be responsable and not become alcoholics, and we can teach kids not to smoke, we can do the same for pot.

Fair enough dissagreement though of course.

[SandChigger]

Oh, did the fucker die?! Thank god!

[Freakzilla]

Oh, did the fucker die?! Thank god!

At least he has a nice jacket.

[SandRider]

he felt sick enough to die, after the Rangers tossed away the World Series ...


anyway, I managed to vote for Bill White for governor of Texas twice today;
already had one in the bag with "early voting" and got in one more on a absentee ballot ...

I was gonna tell the mexicans to vote for Bill or I'd call the INS on the whole stinking lot of them,
but then I realized there'd be no way to confirm the votes, and those fuckers can lie to me real good,
so in the end, I sent them all out to get in that last bit of cotton and took their cards to one of my
favorite barflys who was working the ballot box at the baptist church over in Blinkin Redlight, Texas;

not that it did any good, of course; Rick Perry's godfathers bought this one a looong time ago;
next stop, Pennsylvania Avenue ...

(which is okay with me, too - it was the only way we could get George W. out of Austin ...)

[Robspierre]

‎'I haven't left my house in days. I watch the news channels incessantly. All the news stories are about the election, all the commercials are for Viagra and Cialis.

Election, erection, Election, erection – Either way we're getting screwed!' --
~ Bette Midler ~

Rob

[Freakzilla]

Georgia hasn't been this Republican since Reconstruction!

[Freakzilla]

[Freakzilla]

[A Thing of Eternity]

I take it the republicans did well?

Congrats, from what I understand this means your government is officially over until the next election, as the republicans will now indiscrimenantlly cock-block whatever the Dems try to do? Or have I missed some part of the process? Your government is confusing to me at times.

[Omphalos]

I take it the republicans did well?

Congrats, from what I understand this means your government is officially over until the next election, as the republicans will now indiscrimenantlly cock-block whatever the Dems try to do? Or have I missed some part of the process? Your government is confusing to me at times.

The Republicans have the House of Representatives (think House of Commons). The Democrats have the Senate (think House of Lords). Bills on identical topics originate in both houses, so the issue will be when it comes time to reconcile House versions with Senate versions. That must happen before bills go to the President for him to weigh in. They will have to compromise if they want to get anything done. That's going to be a problem right out of the chute, but two years is a long time to mend fences.

[Freakzilla]

I take it the republicans did well?

Congrats, from what I understand this means your government is officially over until the next election, as the republicans will now indiscrimenantlly cock-block whatever the Dems try to do? Or have I missed some part of the process? Your government is confusing to me at times.

It means that the president will have to listen to what the majority wants instead of what he wants. He will actually have to compromise instead of leaving the opposition totally out of the bill writing process like has happened for the past two years.

The Republicans now have a mojority in the House of Representatives but the Democrats have a majority in the Senate by a very small majority. It's probably going to be the other way around, Obama will veto what the Republicans pass.

I think this election sent a message to Washington, not that we wanted Republicans but that we were not happy with the direction the Democrats were taking us.

I just hope the Republicans realize that.

[A Thing of Eternity]

I take it the republicans did well?

Congrats, from what I understand this means your government is officially over until the next election, as the republicans will now indiscrimenantlly cock-block whatever the Dems try to do? Or have I missed some part of the process? Your government is confusing to me at times.

The Republicans have the House of Representatives (think House of Commons). The Democrats have the Senate (think House of Lords). Bills on identical topics originate in both houses, so the issue will be when it comes time to reconcile House versions with Senate versions. That must happen before bills go to the President for him to weigh in. They will have to compromise if they want to get anything done. That's going to be a problem right out of the chute, but two years is a long time to mend fences.

Thanks, that explains a bit, not sure what the house of Lords is though (British thing?). We have the House of Commons, which is our real government, and the Senate, which does nothing and should probably just be dissolved (our Senate is appointed not elected, it's just an expensive retirement home for the gov's buddies to get paycheques in return for doing nothing).

Good luck on mending those fences (not sarcastic), if they can actually pull it off then it should actually work better than either party having a clear majority (seeing as the country seems to be about 50/50 anyways).

I personally like it when we have a situation like this up here, which we call a minority gov (like what we have now). The difference up here is that the parties actually have no choice but to compromise because if the reigning party can't get a bill passed it can force an election, which is useless and annoying to everyone unless another party actually thinks they can win. Some of our best governments have been these kind of multi-party situations.

I think this election sent a message to Washington, not that we wanted Republicans but that we were not happy with the direction the Democrats were taking us.

I just hope the Republicans realize that.

Right, the Republicans are going to realize that!

So in other words, your government can still do things without everyone vetoing everyone, but now more of the initial ideas will come from the Republicans than before?

I'm not sure about him not compromising. His "health care" reform was so slight that most of us up here don't even understand what changed. Sounds like he had to compromise quite a bit.

[Freakzilla]

I take it the republicans did well?

Congrats, from what I understand this means your government is officially over until the next election, as the republicans will now indiscrimenantlly cock-block whatever the Dems try to do? Or have I missed some part of the process? Your government is confusing to me at times.

The Republicans have the House of Representatives (think House of Commons). The Democrats have the Senate (think House of Lords). Bills on identical topics originate in both houses, so the issue will be when it comes time to reconcile House versions with Senate versions. That must happen before bills go to the President for him to weigh in. They will have to compromise if they want to get anything done. That's going to be a problem right out of the chute, but two years is a long time to mend fences.

Thanks, that explains a bit, not sure what the house of Lords is though (British thing?). We have the House of Commons, which is our real government, and the Senate, which does nothing and should probably just be dissolved (our Senate is appointed not elected, it's just an expensive retirement home for the gov's buddies to get paycheques in return for doing nothing).

Good luck on mending those fences (not sarcastic), if they can actually pull it off then it should actually work better than either party having a clear majority (seeing as the country seems to be about 50/50 anyways).

I personally like it when we have a situation like this up here, which we call a minority gov (like what we have now). The difference up here is that the parties actually have no choice but to compromise because if the reigning party can't get a bill passed it can force an election, which is useless and annoying to everyone unless another party actually thinks they can win. Some of our best governments have been these kind of multi-party situations.

I think this election sent a message to Washington, not that we wanted Republicans but that we were not happy with the direction the Democrats were taking us.

I just hope the Republicans realize that.

Right, the Republicans are going to realize that!

Hope and change, man.

So in other words, your government can still do things without everyone vetoing everyone, but now more of the initial ideas will come from the Republicans than before?

Bills can be introduced by anyone (reps, senators, president) but they must be passed by a majority of both houses (Reps and Senate) then must be signed/vetoed by the president to become law or not.

In our current political climate, if Congressmen vote along party lines the Republicans can get whatever they want through the House of Reps but must persuade a few conservative Democrats in the Senate to vote with them.

I'm not sure about him not compromising. His "health care" reform was so slight that most of us up here don't even understand what changed. Sounds like he had to compromise quite a bit.

Mandating healthcare is unconstitutional.

[Omphalos]

So in other words, your government can still do things without everyone vetoing everyone, but now more of the initial ideas will come from the Republicans than before?

Not necessarially. But both houses of congress come up with their own bills on identical topics. The House bill is now more likely to contain Republican ideas, while the Senate more likely to embody Democratic party ideas. Those still have to be rectified before a single, unanimous bill goes to the President. That is where the debate will be. The houses debate amongst themselves as to what their bill will be like, then they go into committee to reconcile the differences, then allow each house to vote on a consolidated bill. Once (if) they can agree on language to elevate, then it goes to the president for veto, or whatever he wants to do.

[SandRider]

Mandating healthcare is unconstitutional.

which constitution is this again ?

[Freakzilla]

Mandating healthcare is unconstitutional.

which constitution is this again ?

United States of America

[Eyes High]

I take it the republicans did well?

Congrats, from what I understand this means your government is officially over until the next election, as the republicans will now indiscrimenantlly cock-block whatever the Dems try to do? Or have I missed some part of the process? Your government is confusing to me at times.

It's confusing to me sometimes also (and I think even more so to the politicians)

[SandChigger]

Oh, right, I forgot, this is The Sewer!