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More questions raised about US elections...

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Well, people have been saying it for awhile now, that the exit polls didn't match the election results, I personally have no faith in electronic voting machines, if only bcos there can be no recount........30% of votes were tallied by these machines in the last election.

Officially, Bush won the November election by 2.5%, but the exit polls showed Kerry winning by 3%, a discrepancy of around 5.5%, of course exit polls are not an exact science, but similar discrepancies were showed as proof of the invalid ukraine election (around 7%).............

now a new study has been done to statistically analyse these figures.........they show the chances of a discrepancy this size is around 1 in a million, professors who contributed to this study include:

Josh Mitteldorf, PhD - Temple University Statistics Department

Steven F. Freman, PhD - Center for Organizational Dynamics, University of Pennsylvania

Brian Joiner, PhD - Prof. of Statistics (ret) University of Wisconsin

Frank Stenger, PhD - Professor, School of Computing, University of Utah

Richard G. Seehan, PhD -Professor, Department of Finance, University of Notre Dame

Paul F. Velleman, PhD - Associate Prof., Department of Statistical Sciences, Cornell University

Victoria Lovegren, PhD - Department of Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University

Campbell B. Read, PhD - Prof. Emeritus, Department of Statistical Science, Southern Methodist University

Jonathan Simon J.D., National Ballot Integrity Project

Ron Baiman, PhD* Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago

full details of the report can be found here.........now my point is, surely this study should lead to a serious investigation of what actually happened, in reality this is unlikely..........america has the balls to go charging into iraq to bring democracy when the incompetent gits can't even get one right themselves, what chance does iraq have?......

and don't count on this report getting anywhere near the mainstream media, which a truely independent press would surely address, especially considering diebold (one of the main black box voting companies) made generous contributions to the republican party, and it has been proven these machines can be remotely hacked into........another fine example of censorship.........still, maybe this video will cheer you up......
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So what do you expect us to do about it?

    Considering that many of us dislike Bush anyway, it's not going to make much difference, and we cannot influence the US electorate...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    your right noone likes bush, yet two dodgy elections in a row means the world's largest superpower is being run by a moron for 8 years, plenty of time to drag the world down with him.........what i find more amazing is that neither gore or kerry contested the result, especially considering the dubious circumstances on both accounts............is this really democracy? it's often said that we live in a democratically elected dictatorship, but when your vote no longer means anything what is the point? if we ever get electronic voting over here that will be the end of it............

    today we hear in the news about zimbabwe's dodgy elections, so the media obviously has no qualms about questioning the democratic process elsewhere, yet america is somehow infallible? why weren't international inspectors there in november? the sheer hypocrisy and complicity is what worries me, that nobody else can see it is more worrying.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bush rules
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bush rules

    Strictly speaking he just governs
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    NQA wrote:
    Strictly speaking he just governs

    i don't think he does either really, he's surrounded by advisors who do all the thinking for him, although i don't think he's as dumb as everyone makes out............he will make the perfect scapegoat when it all goes tits up, everyone will put all america's woes on bush the simple texan.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    apollo_69 wrote:
    the sheer hypocrisy and complicity is what worries me, that nobody else can see it is more worrying.

    Pisses me off too, but there's nothing I can do about it so why worry?

    It's a wisdom moment...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    NQA wrote:
    Strictly speaking he just governs

    :lol:
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    Dr PirateDr Pirate Posts: 8,303 Legendary Poster
    Yea, I found that quite humerous aswell.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    To quote Bill Hicks:

    I love talking about the Warren Commission, I love talking about the Kennedy assasination as well. The reason I do is because I'm fascinated by it. I'm fascinated that our government could lie to us so blatantly, so obviously for so long, and we do absolutely nothing about it. I think that's interesting in what is ostensibly a democracy. Sarcasm - come on in. People say, "Bill, quit talking about Kennedy man. It was a long time ago, just let it go, alright? It's a long time ago, just forget it." I'm like, alright, then don't bring up Jesus to me. As long as we're talking shelf life here, you know.
    Relentless (stand-up comedy routine)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    apollo_69 wrote:
    your right noone likes bush, yet two dodgy elections in a row means the world's largest superpower is being run by a moron for 8 years,
    Have some respect for the world's greatest Democracy. You may not like Bush but he won so who are you to say he's a "moron" - that in itself is a cretinous remark to make!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Rich Kid wrote:
    Have some respect for the world's greatest Democracy. You may not like Bush but he won so who are you to say he's a "moron" - that in itself is a cretinous remark to make!

    oh no he's back :yeees: .....................no i don't like bush, i think he sucks, i dont think he won fairly, i think america's democracy stinks, even more than ukraine's and zimbabwe's........as for cretinous remarks, i thought this board was doing rather well before you showed up....... :yes: .........easter holidays are over, so why aren't you back at school?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Have some respect for the world's greatest Democracy

    And how are we measuring this? If in economic terms then surely is it not the worlds greatest economy that happens to be a democracy?

    Or maybe the greatest in military strength? Then isnt is a military power that happens to be a democracy?

    Or possibly the oldest? But hang on, isnt that Britain?

    Or even perhaps you mean the 'largest in size'? But hold on, isnt that India?

    How are you quantifying this?

    Rich Kid; im not gonna present a view in this debate, what i am going to do is put it to you that you are not engaging with the thrust of this thread. The point put is that Bush has another dodgy mandate... now if you wish to label the discourse as 'cretinous' should this not then be backed up with some attempt to disprove or discredit the evidence backing up the counter arguement.

    Or should we all just 'Have some respect'...just because
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    From turnout alone all western governments should have disbanded log ago. It's been a decade since any single party had enough votes to truly claim a mandate anywhere in the west.

    It's always like 45% of the turnout. Turnout is usually nothing like the total population - 59.5% of total last election

    http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2001-06-22.357.0&s=suffragettes

    So 45% of 59.5% = 26.775% of the population actually wanted the current labour government. It's nothing like democracy. It doesn't even represent an elected dictatorship.

    But that's okay, voting is just another con to legitimise the actions of your masters.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Or possibly the oldest? But hang on, isnt that Britain?

    Nope. Britain was not a democracy in todays sense until 1928.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    even less as not all people in the country can vote
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Of course not. You cant have retards, kids and criminals voting.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Of course not. You cant have retards, kids and criminals voting.
    so your out on the retards and kids bit ...and the likes of lord archer etc etc of the tosser party are out on the criminal charges?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    http://notendur.centrum.is/~vinland/fradi.htm

    The vikings had the first democracy. "The Althing". Must be something about it that makes you invade everywhere else.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Athens must be able to have some claim for the first democracy...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nope. Britain was not a democracy in todays sense until 1928

    Democracy is a fluid concept not a ridgid identity and this being the case i stand by the original statement. I acknowledge the fact that British democracy has evolved particularly with regard to the enfranchisement of groups such as women, but the basic workings of the system were in practice.
    Athens must be able to have some claim for the first democracy

    i was really talking about those states which have maintained themselves through into the modern era, in however many differing guises and through however many reforms
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Democracy is a fluid concept not a ridgid identity and this being the case i stand by the original statement.

    You mean this statement?
    Or possibly the oldest? But hang on, isnt that Britain?

    Why? Its completly wrong.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well what are your parameters for proving this conclusively, if there can never be a solid model of 'democracy' then surely this can never be conclusively proven?

    If you look at the context in which the statement was made, it is a question 'Is that not Britain?' intended to identify the ambiguity of the statement made by Rich Kid.

    By 'Fluid' i mean the concept of democracy is always changing and has differing parameters for different people, paradoxically one could argue one of its core elements is continual discourse generation.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Just out of interest, when did the US become a democracy?

    Can only have been in the last few months...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^^^^^^^^^^

    :yeees:

    somewhat sarcy illustration of what i was getting at from our Resident Glazer hater :D

    ideas about democracy are always changing, its a very loose framework applied with great variation in many different situations. What The Matador identiefied was simply symptoms of a changing political framework identified as democractic.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Just out of interest, when did the US become a democracy?

    Can only have been in the last few months...

    Or alternatively in the late eighteenth century...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    NQA wrote:
    Or alternatively in the late eighteenth century...

    Even the Americans (Greenhat, Globe) who used these boards a while ago didn't consider the US a democracy.

    And with a electoral college system, how can it be. Just having a vote for all doesn't make you a democracy. Having each vote count does.

    And yes, I know that means that the UK isn't either...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I know Greenhat's views on democracy (I'm also on mil.com), but he's wrong there and he's wrong here.

    The US is not an Atheninian Democracy (where each individual votes individually on each issue). It is a Representative Democracy (where each individual votes for someone to represent them and for that person to decide on each issue).

    All a democracy means is government by the people, it doesn't say how the people individually govern.

    You could argue that the UK isn't a democracy but a constitutional monarchy, but then I'd be getting in Klintock like logic and I'm not sure my brain could cope..
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    NQA wrote:
    All a democracy means is government by the people, it doesn't say how the people individually govern.

    ..
    so american democracy is government by the richest most powerful people only ...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    All a democracy means is government by the people, it doesn't say how the people individually govern

    You could argue that the UK isn't a democracy but a constitutional monarchy, but then I'd be getting in Klintock like logic and I'm not sure my brain could cope..

    :YES:

    couldnt have said it better, exactley what i am getting at
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    "America" is set up by it's constitution to be a republic. The exact quote for this -

    "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner."

    Actually it's a dictatorship with a good PR scheme and choice of master.

    The "Uk" has evolved (if that's the word) from a monarchy to a monarchy with a good PR scheme and choice of master. Nothings written down, which while a great source of strength for the government (they can do what they like) is also a weakness (you go to court and ask for where it's written down).

    "klintock logic" Oh dear what have I started... :wave:
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