In response

I'm responding to a post by Steve.

First off, let me say that I agree with Steve wholeheartedly. Yes, get the fuck off your lazy asses and register to vote. You may think that it doesn't make a difference, but it does. Let me explain the electoral process for those of you who may be unfamiliar (don't worry -- a lot of people don't know how this stuff works. I took a year of poli. sci. in high school and then again in college, so I know a bit about it)

I found this here.
I shall paraphrase

You go to your polling place and vote. Phase 1 of the election is decided by the popular vote. For example, let's say that John Kerry wins the popular vote (meaning that more people voted for him than Bush). He now has to win the electoral vote. The Electoral College decides who the president will be. It's a group of electors, not some party school on the east coast :) Each state has X amount of electors. These electors usually vote the way the people of their state did. A candidate must get at least 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. When a candidate wins in a certain state, he gets all of the votes. It is not possible for a state to be split. There has to be a clear cut winner in each state.

Here is a map of the electoral votes required. Missouri has 11, which means that if John Kerry wins in Missouri, he wins 11 of 270 needed for the presidency.

So that ends your little political science lesson for today. Now on to the rest of my post in regards to Steve's.

Armageddon has come. For once, I actually agree with Steve about something. I think that it's a travesty that war is being waged in our name. Instead of fighting for freedom of another country, why don't we worry about more domestic issues. Do you know that over 50 percent of Americans, especially elderly and people in the poorer urban areas do not have health coverage? What about the thousands of homeless people forced to walk the streets each day? What about the war on drugs or the problems with other domestic issues. I do agree that Iraq was in a bad sort, but why should we be the ones to go clean up THEIR mess. Here's an analogy for you. The United States = Hizzy. Think about that for a minute. The United States can't keep their tanks and troops out of other countries business, just as I can't seem to stay out of anyone else's matters. I am the 'great satan'.

I could care less about John Kerry's service in Vietnam or Bush's "service" to the country in the Air National Guard. I don't vote for president on whether or not they can wage war. That's not the number 1 factor in determining who is getting my vote. I would like to know what is going to be done for not only me, but my parents. Let's face it, our parents are getting old. A couple of them may even retire in the next 4 years. I'd like to know that my parents won't have to struggle to get coverage with Medicare and won't have to worry about the government screwing them over on prescription drugs.

I don't like to see jobs go overseas. What about the working father here in St. Louis whose factory got shut down and the jobs were outsourced overseas. He's trying to feed his family, but can't now. He can't find a job. There are none to be had. Over 4 years of college, my parents probably shelled out quite a large sum of money for me to attend a good school. Now, I'm not saying they were hurting or anything. My dad has a good job and he has always managed money well. However, after 4 years and a lot of money, I couldn't find a job to save my life. It's pretty sad when the best way to make money in this country is to sell drugs (which I considered doing, by the way, for like 5 seconds).

Anyway, I'm off topic. I am a Democrat. I'll admit that right now. I voted for Gore, as stiff and unanimated as he was. He was Clinton's VP and I adored Bill Clinton and his policies. He balanced the budget and made our country full of wonder and freedom. Yes, freedom. I'm not talking about terrorists taking away our freedom. I'm talking about little freedoms, like being able to walk around and freely express our religious views, personal views, and political views. Over 10000 people got arrested a couple weeks ago in New York for protesting the RNC. Do you know how many people got arrested for protesting the Democratic National Convention? Like 100.

War is inevitable. If it wasn't for war, we would still be under the rule of the British throne, or at least we would have been long after 1780 If it wasn't for war, we may still have had black slaves in our houses longer than the end of the Civil War. If it wasn't for war, Hitler may have killed far more than 6 million Jewish people. He may have even come over here and started killing our Jewish people. Sometimes, people do have to sacrifice for the common good. However, the war we are currently in, which is unjust by the way. According to the US Constitution - Article 1, Sec. 8 (11) states, "Congress shall have the power . . . to declare war." The president is commander-in-chief, but he must fulfill his responsibilities within the framework established by the Constitution and subject to the control of Congress" Hmmm, the last time I checked, Congress hadn't approved any war. We went in under false pretenses, saying that it was not a war, but there was a belief that Saddam had WMDs and we were gonna go check it out. To this day, war has not officially been declared.

Osama bin Laden will be caught. I know this for a fact. Hey, we may have him already, over there at Rammstein Air Base in Germany or even at Guantanamo. He may be dead, he may be alive. There's several rumours going around -- we have him, he's dead, he's at a base with his body on ice, so he can look nice and fresh for CNN's cameras when W. announces that we killed him a mere 2 weeks before the election, he's alive, we have him detained and are going to announce that before the election. Regardless, look for Osama to be "caught" in the next 3 months. What a way to boost an approval rating. That would spell 'doom' for John Kerry and for us as well. I don't think I can take another 4 years of this shit.

Where were you on September 11th, 2001. I was in the shower, getting ready for class, when Joe informed me through the bathroom door that "a plane hit a building in New York". My mom was folding laundry and drinking coffee. Jason was sleeping. Do you want know where our President was in the minutes leading up to, during, and after the first plane hit? He was reading to school children in Florida. He continued reading, even after a Secret Service man told him that we were under attack. He continued reading for the next 7 minutes. If I were president, I'd give each kid a piece of candy, close the book and say, "Your president has to leave. I've enjoyed spending time with you. Thank you for having me in your classroom" and then I'd get my ass to New York or DC or wherever.

Anyway, I have a lot more that I want to say, but this is turning into a book. All I will say is that if you don't vote, then you have no right to bitch at how our country is going. That's why we have elections, so the people can have a voice. So, please, register. It's easy. You can do it at the library or even at the post office. Shit, MTV even has something on their site where you can sign up online. So does the Missouri government page. You can even sign up at your school. It takes like 2 seconds to vote and you don't have to get up early. I voted in the primaries at 5 in the evening, after work. It takes a short amount of time. So make a sacrifice of about 5 minutes. It's better than sacrificing the next 4 years of your life to something or someone that you hate or don't believe in. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. I know who I'm voting for. At least vote, then at least you have a right to bitch.

Respectfully,
HIZZY

MUSIC -- Bob Marley : Three Little Birds
Link of the Day -- Register to Vote (legit site, btw. It's Congress' site)