On 2024-02-10, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
> On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 07:20:28 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>
>> On 2024-02-09, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> Unfortunately, allowing last-minute registration does delay the count.
>>> Here it added three weeks to the time before the final count could be
>>> announced.
>>
>> Don't allow last minute registrations, which is just begging for voter
>> fraud.
>
> We don’t see that. We don’t demand photo ID, instead we send out simple
> “EasyVote” cards in the post, and even they are not mandatory. Voter-fraud
> cases are still vanishingly rare.

Maybe in New Zealand, but not in the big cities of the United States.

> And yes, we do catch them if/when they occur. We spot them during the
> count.

And who oversees the vote count? Corrupt political parties. And if
affidavits attesting to voter fraud are filed, who ignores them? Corrupt,
Democrat judges.

> In short, like all the good democracies, we know how to encourage people
> to vote, while preserving the integrity of the vote, and without putting
> unnecessary (and politically-driven) obstacles in their way.

You have to have an ID to do just about anything in the United States, but
somehow it's just too "burdensome" to require one for voting. I don't buy
into that bullshit argument. The reason the Democrats don't want to require
IDs is because it would curtail their wholesale vote fraud.

BTW, if you send a ballot in the mail, how do you know the person you sent
it to actually filled it out and sent it back? Where's the chain of custody?

--
"Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good."
-- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

On 2024-02-10, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
> On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 07:13:33 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:
>
>> The Senate gives disproportionate representation to low-population
>> states.
>
> If it’s not to give more power to low-population states, then why have a
> second chamber in Congress at all?

It's one of the checks and balances built into the Constitution, which is
more and more ignored by the dictators who pull our senile president's
strings.

Laws made in the legislative branch overridden by executive decisions.

Decisions made in the judicial branch in opposition to laws made in the
legislative branch.

Funding bills that are supposed to be initiated in the House, more and more
are being initiated in the Senate.

Rights reserved to the states are more and more usurped by the Federal
government, via extortion, blackmail or even by unlawful dictatorial fiat.

The built-in checks and balances are being completely ignored. As during
the decline of the Roman Empire, those elected are becoming less and less
relevant.

--
"Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good."
-- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 05:16:28 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> I think it would work out better if our government went back to what it
> was originally supposed to be — power from the bottom up instead of top
> down.

You mean, from the middle out. Remember, most of your Founding Fathers
were slave owners. They did not envisage power coming from the bottom of
the heap, where the slaves were.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 04:52:52 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> At least the "k00k" didn't get us into wars, unlike the senile Biden's
> handlers.

You think he should lean on Israel to stop it?

On 2024-02-10, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
> On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 04:52:52 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>
>> At least the "k00k" didn't get us into wars, unlike the senile Biden's
>> handlers.
>
> You think he should lean on Israel to stop it?

I think he should warn Israel that genocide is a war crime.

But I was also speaking of Ukraine.

--
"Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good."
-- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

On 2024-02-10, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
> On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 05:16:28 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>
>> I think it would work out better if our government went back to what it
>> was originally supposed to be — power from the bottom up instead of top
>> down.
>
> You mean, from the middle out. Remember, most of your Founding Fathers
> were slave owners. They did not envisage power coming from the bottom of
> the heap, where the slaves were.

I mean from communities, to counties, to states, to the Federal government.
Each more distant with less power to control day to day life of the citizen.
Decisions should mostly be made locally. You claim you want democracy, but
democracy starts in the community — if "democracy" is forced on you from the
Federal government (controlled by the population in the huge cities) it's
not democracy, it's centralized dictatorship.

--
"Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good."
-- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

On 2024-02-10 12:16 a.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-02-09, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
>> On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 07:04:50 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>>
>>> This whole subthread was started because I said that we shouldn't have
>>> political parties at all — each candidate should stand on their own,
>>> instead of getting knee-jerk votes because they are in one party or the
>>> other.
>>> That's partisanship and mob rule, not democracy. (And the U.S. is not a
>>> democracy, it's a republic — or it's supposed to be.)
>>
>> It can be messy but I'd prefer the parliamentarian system used in some
>> European countries.
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Denmark
>>
>> Forming a government usually requires a coalition which gives the smaller
>> parties a bargaining chip. 'Borg' is a Danish series which while fictional
>> does closely mimic the actual Danish parties.
>
> I think it would work out better if our government went back to what it was
> originally supposed to be — power from the bottom up instead of top down.
> The Federal government was supposed to have a very limited role in how people
> lived their daily lives. Basically it was there to provide national defense,
> control tariffs between states, provide a postal service, etc. It was never
> supposed to control states using tax money to extort policy decisions from
> these sovereign states. The Federal income tax, for example, was supposed to
> apply to corporations, not to individuals.

+1. I see things the exact same way. You would enjoy The David Knight
Show. He thinks like us.

--
RabidPedagog
Catholic paleoconservative

RonB wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

> At least the "k00k" didn't get us into wars, unlike the senile Biden's
> handlers.

Trump accelerating existing wars, betrayed the Kurds, and killed far more
people with drones than Obama did. And hid the numbers.

--
Extreme fear can neither fight nor fly.
-- William Shakespeare, "The Rape of Lucrece"

rbowman wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

> On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 15:36:53 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:
>
>> The big states provide a lot of tax money that goes to the smaller
>> states.
>> Moocher states.
>>
>> And the tail wags the dog.
>
> Right, okay. We'll keep our beef, chicken, grain, oil, coal, and so
> forth. When you big city libs are cold and starving, give us a ring so we
> can tell you to go fuck yourself.

Heh heh. We still got California and its 400+ commodity crops. And Illinois
with its corn, soybeans, hogs... and some coal. Not to mention New York.

Although nobody's coal is going to last forever.

--
"Speak, thou vast and venerable head," muttered Ahab, ...

RonB wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

> On 2024-02-10, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>> On 10 Feb 2024 00:38:56 GMT, rbowman wrote:
>>
>>> Right, okay. We'll keep our beef, chicken, grain, oil, coal, and so
>>> forth. When you big city libs are cold and starving, give us a ring so
>>> we can tell you to go fuck yourself.
>>
>> The thing with commodities is, nobody has a monopoly on providing them.
>
> Whatever. Tell the cities to power themselves and feed themselves if they
> think they can stand on their own. We'll see how that works out for you.
>
>> If all you can offer are primary commodities, then you are basically a
>> third-world economy.
>
> The only third world cities I've seen in the United States are contained in
> Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and other pathetically run,
> Democrat ruled cities — where thugs, thieves and rapists are allowed to run
> rampant and people crap and shoot up on the streets (with city provided
> needles).

:-D You need to visit Chicago some day. It's a great city. Like all big cities,
it has its sore spots, of course.

And the countryside has its own sore spots, too, if you get off the interstate.

--
A long-forgotten loved one will appear soon.
Buy the negatives at any price.

RonB wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

> On 2024-02-09, Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> wrote:
>> RonB wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>>
>>> On 2024-02-09, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>>>> Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>So if not Trump or Biden for President, then who?
>>>>
>>>> Should have been DeSantis. The Trump lovers just can't get see past
>>>> him.
>>>
>>> DeSantis proved he wasn't ready for prime time.
>>
>> Sometimes just being a dick does not work out :-D
>
> It seems to be working out pretty well for senile Biden and his corrupt
> cohorts.

:-D

--
You can create your own opportunities this week. Blackmail a senior executive.

On 2024-02-10, RabidPedagog <rabid@pedag.og> wrote:
> On 2024-02-10 12:16 a.m., RonB wrote:
>> On 2024-02-09, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
>>> On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 07:04:50 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>>>
>>>> This whole subthread was started because I said that we shouldn't have
>>>> political parties at all — each candidate should stand on their own,
>>>> instead of getting knee-jerk votes because they are in one party or the
>>>> other.
>>>> That's partisanship and mob rule, not democracy. (And the U.S. is not a
>>>> democracy, it's a republic — or it's supposed to be.)
>>>
>>> It can be messy but I'd prefer the parliamentarian system used in some
>>> European countries.
>>>
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Denmark
>>>
>>> Forming a government usually requires a coalition which gives the smaller
>>> parties a bargaining chip. 'Borg' is a Danish series which while fictional
>>> does closely mimic the actual Danish parties.
>>
>> I think it would work out better if our government went back to what it was
>> originally supposed to be — power from the bottom up instead of top down.
>> The Federal government was supposed to have a very limited role in how people
>> lived their daily lives. Basically it was there to provide national defense,
>> control tariffs between states, provide a postal service, etc. It was never
>> supposed to control states using tax money to extort policy decisions from
>> these sovereign states. The Federal income tax, for example, was supposed to
>> apply to corporations, not to individuals.
>
> +1. I see things the exact same way. You would enjoy The David Knight
> Show. He thinks like us.

I'll have to look him up. First time I've heard his name — unless I've
forgotten.

--
"Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good."
-- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

On 2024-02-10, Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> wrote:
> RonB wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>
>> At least the "k00k" didn't get us into wars, unlike the senile Biden's
>> handlers.
>
> Trump accelerating existing wars, betrayed the Kurds, and killed far more
> people with drones than Obama did. And hid the numbers.

I would be interested in what Biden's string pullers have done and are
doing, rather than what Trump did. Unless you want to claim that Biden
hasn't sent many more billion$ to Ukraine than Trump did. At least Trump
tried to get us out of Syria. Biden's Deep State handlers want more troops
on the ground there. And why are the Kurds our business in the first place?
Should Syria be allowed to send weapons to support Texans should feckless
Biden actually try to start a civil war with Texas? The Kurds, with the help
of the U.S., are stealing Syrian oil and sending it to Israel via Turkey.

We need to mind our own business and quit trying to rule the world. We NEVER
leave countries in a better condition than where we found them.

--
"Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good."
-- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

On 2024-02-10, Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> wrote:
> rbowman wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>
>> On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 15:36:53 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:
>>
>>> The big states provide a lot of tax money that goes to the smaller
>>> states.
>>> Moocher states.
>>>
>>> And the tail wags the dog.
>>
>> Right, okay. We'll keep our beef, chicken, grain, oil, coal, and so
>> forth. When you big city libs are cold and starving, give us a ring so we
>> can tell you to go fuck yourself.
>
> Heh heh. We still got California and its 400+ commodity crops. And Illinois
> with its corn, soybeans, hogs... and some coal. Not to mention New York.
>
> Although nobody's coal is going to last forever.

And if you check the farming communities in California, you'll find they're
not in the cities (surprisingly?). Nor do their citizens vote the same way as
Californians on the coast. As a matter of fact, the morons who run
California are doing their damnest to destroy California farming.
Shortsighted idiots that they are.

--
"Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good."
-- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 08:40:04 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

> Heh heh. We still got California and its 400+ commodity crops. And
> Illinois with its corn, soybeans, hogs... and some coal. Not to mention
> New York.

Live on aragula... New York? You like cabbage and cottage cheese, maybe
with an apple or two?

The fly-over designation is too simplistic anyway. Southern Illinois may
decide it's better aligned with Iowa and Indiana. I grew up in upstate NY.
We really loved Sodom on the Hudson; we would have loved it more had it
drifted out to sea. NYS is an excellent example of dictatorship by big
cities. Gillebrand won her races upstate by running to the right; after
she moved up to Clinton's still warm chair she turned into Hillary Jr.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 14:25:58 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> And if you check the farming communities in California, you'll find
> they're not in the cities (surprisingly?). Nor do their citizens vote
> the same way as Californians on the coast. As a matter of fact, the
> morons who run California are doing their damnest to destroy California
> farming. Shortsighted idiots that they are.

Maybe there needs to be thousands of tractors descending on Sacramento
like the European farmers are doing as their politicians try to screw
them.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 05:16:28 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> I think it would work out better if our government went back to what it
> was originally supposed to be — power from the bottom up instead of top
> down. The Federal government was supposed to have a very limited role in
> how people lived their daily lives. Basically it was there to provide
> national defense, control tariffs between states, provide a postal
> service, etc. It was never supposed to control states using tax money to
> extort policy decisions from these sovereign states. The Federal income
> tax, for example, was supposed to apply to corporations, not to
> individuals.

The Federalists, including Hamilton, always wanted a strong national
government, preferably with a nation bank, and if Hamilton had his way, a
monarch. The Federalists, as a party, didn't last long but managed to
appoint Marshall to the Supreme Court. He had three decades to make their
dreams come true.

The die was cast when the original mission to refine the Articles of
Confederation became an entirely different project. The Tea Party types
with their copies of the Constitution always amused me with their
ignorance of how it facilitated where we are now. Lysander Spooner's
observation still holds true. Either it was so poorly written as to
prevent what happened or it was designed exactly to create what we have
now. I'll go with the latter since the convention was heavy on lawyers and
merchants.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 04:57:21 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> Easy solution to that. Scale down the Federal government to where it's
> supposed to be, keep the tax money in the states (as originally
> intended) so the Federal government can't blackmail the states into
> implementing their agenda. Decentralize government.

My favorite was when New Hampshire did not ratify the 55 mph national
speed limit. The Feds threatened to withhold highway funding and the state
said 'We already have enough damn roads.'

They held out against the Martin Lucifer King holiday until a Democratic
woman managed to become governor.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 08:42:14 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

> :-D You need to visit Chicago some day. It's a great city. Like all big
> cities,
> it has its sore spots, of course.

The first time I was in Chicago as I checked into the hotel the clerk said
"Enjoy your stay in Chicago. Just don't go south of Roosevelt."
Considering the hotel was on Halstead and Monroe I wondered what
constituted the 'bad' part. From the map it looks like the area has been
gentrified but in the early '70s Monroe was lined with SRO flophouses and
the bar across from the hotel sold cigarettes one by one.

I did head south to see a friend at the U. It was, um, interesting.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 08:42:14 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

> :-D You need to visit Chicago some day. It's a great city. Like all big
> cities,
> it has its sore spots, of course.

Big cities are environmental disasters. In 'Bright Green Lies' Jensen
describes the widespread destruction needed to support a big city, 'green'
or not. It's all out of site out of mind from the people saving the planet
by tooling around in their Teslas.

It's always been so. Chaco Canyon was a thriving Anasazi center before
they used up all the resources within 50 miles. Fortunately they didn't
have horses and hadn't figured out the practical uses of the wheel or it
would even have been worse. No one knows what happened to them after their
society collapsed.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 02:55:52 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 07:13:33 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:
>
>> The Senate gives disproportionate representation to low-population
>> states.
>
> If it’s not to give more power to low-population states, then why have a
> second chamber in Congress at all?

If you had a grasp of history you would know the Senate, with it's 6 year
terms, was supposed to be the calm, deliberate chamber to keep the
populist hotheads of the the House in check. The Lords, and Commons, do
you know. Unfortunately it didn't work out well.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 05:22:46 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> BTW, if you send a ballot in the mail, how do you know the person you
> sent it to actually filled it out and sent it back? Where's the chain of
> custody?

I can't speak for other states but in this state the ballot in enclosed in
an inner envelope. The outer envelope is signed and dated. I once was
questioned because my scrawl didn't match the scrawl they had on record
close enough.

Sure, somebody could have forged my signature which I apparently can't do
too well. If I don't submit a ballot for two consecutive Federal elections
the mail in option expires and I have to re-register.

Of course with less than 500,000 votes cast in the 2022 election for the
entire state the election officials aren't trying to process a few million
mail in ballots on the day of the election.

On 2024-02-10 9:14 a.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-02-10, RabidPedagog <rabid@pedag.og> wrote:
>> On 2024-02-10 12:16 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>> On 2024-02-09, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
>>>> On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 07:04:50 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> This whole subthread was started because I said that we shouldn't have
>>>>> political parties at all — each candidate should stand on their own,
>>>>> instead of getting knee-jerk votes because they are in one party or the
>>>>> other.
>>>>> That's partisanship and mob rule, not democracy. (And the U.S. is not a
>>>>> democracy, it's a republic — or it's supposed to be.)
>>>>
>>>> It can be messy but I'd prefer the parliamentarian system used in some
>>>> European countries.
>>>>
>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Denmark
>>>>
>>>> Forming a government usually requires a coalition which gives the smaller
>>>> parties a bargaining chip. 'Borg' is a Danish series which while fictional
>>>> does closely mimic the actual Danish parties.
>>>
>>> I think it would work out better if our government went back to what it was
>>> originally supposed to be — power from the bottom up instead of top down.
>>> The Federal government was supposed to have a very limited role in how people
>>> lived their daily lives. Basically it was there to provide national defense,
>>> control tariffs between states, provide a postal service, etc. It was never
>>> supposed to control states using tax money to extort policy decisions from
>>> these sovereign states. The Federal income tax, for example, was supposed to
>>> apply to corporations, not to individuals.
>>
>> +1. I see things the exact same way. You would enjoy The David Knight
>> Show. He thinks like us.
>
> I'll have to look him up. First time I've heard his name — unless I've
> forgotten.

He used to work for Alex Jones but got fired but not toeing the line in
regards to how awesome Trump is. He also warned people that January 6th
was going to be a trap right before his dismissal.

--
RabidPedagog
Catholic paleoconservative

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 05:51:51 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> On 2024-02-10, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>> On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 05:16:28 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>>
>>> I think it would work out better if our government went back to what
>>> it was originally supposed to be — power from the bottom up instead of
>>> top down.
>>
>> You mean, from the middle out. Remember, most of your Founding Fathers
>> were slave owners. They did not envisage power coming from the bottom
>> of the heap, where the slaves were.
>
> I mean from communities, to counties, to states, to the Federal
> government.

But still, from the slave owners, not from their slaves.

> if "democracy" is forced on you from the Federal government (controlled
> by the population in the huge cities) it's not democracy, it's
> centralized dictatorship.

You seem to think that people who live in areas of high population should
not have their votes count for as much as those who live in rural areas.
What happened to everybody being “created equal”?

On Sat, 10 Feb 2024 05:22:46 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> On 2024-02-10, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>> On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 07:20:28 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>>
>>> Don't allow last minute registrations, which is just begging for voter
>>> fraud.
>>
>> We don’t see that. We don’t demand photo ID, instead we send out simple
>> “EasyVote” cards in the post, and even they are not mandatory.
>> Voter-fraud cases are still vanishingly rare.
>
> Maybe in New Zealand, but not in the big cities of the United States.

You are supposed to be richer than we are, with more resources, even when
measured per capita. How come we can manage something you can’t?

>> And yes, we do catch them if/when they occur. We spot them during the
>> count.
>
> And who oversees the vote count? Corrupt political parties.

No, we have an independent Electoral Commission. They set electoral
boundaries, and oversee the vote count. All the setup of electorates is
done in an open, transparent fashion, with submissions accepted from the
public. All the reasoning, based on census data, is laid out for anyone to
understand. Anybody trying to exert political pressure would be called out
on it.

That’s also one of the benefits of having a Free Press.

> You have to have an ID to do just about anything in the United States,
> but somehow it's just too "burdensome" to require one for voting.

Perhaps because voting is a right, not a privilege. Most of those other
things you need to do are not rights that need to be safeguarded.

> I don't buy into that bullshit argument.

You have been conditioned to accept your undemocratic institutions as
somehow the norm, with no hope of changing them. Democracy is better.

> BTW, if you send a ballot in the mail, how do you know the person you
> sent it to actually filled it out and sent it back? Where's the chain of
> custody?

Same as with anything else you send through the post that requires a
signature.