When Obama entered his first press conference earlier this week, did you notice how the media took their seats ever so quietly and in unison? Has there ever been a more profound moment on television illustrating the reverence mainstream media awards ultra liberal politicians? Made me fucking sick. They looked like a bunch of clones serving their creator. And with all the talk about bringing back the "Fairness Doctrine," one has to wonder about the double-standard on glorious display when Ed Schultz receives a front row seat!! And now it has come to light that Obama preselected reporters for that press conference. You fuckers in DC think we don't notice that crap. It was obvious that all the questions were nothing short of softball pitches and segues for the King Messiah himself. Barf! Hannity hit the nail on the head when he declared the "death of journalism" in 2008.
Yesterday, The Grouchy Old Cripple posted a video of his Congressman reporting from outside the Office of the Speaker of the House. The Republicans were locked out of the conference meant to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate "Spendulus" bills. Yet, Senators Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins will vote with the Democrats on the final Senate vote. Now! If the Republicans are locked out of conference, one must wonder why these three GOP Senators would vote with the Democrats. They have obviously been awarded behemoth sized slabs of fatty pork for their constituents. And, in my humble opinion, they might as well switch their Party affiliation right the fuck now!! You voters in Maine and Pennsylvania need to remove these sorry losers next election cycle. But you may not be able to.
Why?
Very little media attention has been given to Obama's recent decision to shift the 2010 Census from committee to the White House. And most voters probably have no idea as to the significance of such a political power play and the obvious abuse of Executive power. For those of you here who don't quite grasp its significance, please allow me to provide you with a very simple illustration.
Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is defined as "a form of redistricting in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are manipulated for electoral advantage..." This method of drawing electoral district boundaries dates back to 1812, and there is a wealth of information online. I took the picture below from Wikipedia. While I discourage Wikipedia as a primary source for research, the site does provide a really good gerrymander illustration.
The overall square represents the population. The bold lines represent the electoral districts, and the dots represent the voters. So here we go:Ballot measure: "Charles Schumer is a douchebag. Approve or Disapprove."
The voter count: Greens = 37 (He is a douchebag), Magenta = 27 (He is not a douchebag)
So Schumer's a douchebag? BZZZZZZZZZ!!! Wrong!!! The douchebag actually wins by 3:1. Look closely, three of the electoral districts have a majority of Magenta voters while the fourth district has a majority of Green voters. The people be damned. This is how House Representatives and Senators are elected; it is not a simple or even a supermajority of voters but a majority of electoral districts.
The district lines drawn have everything to do with maximizing the number of constituents per district. Gerrymandering is the process used to accomplish this task (this is why district lines zig zag all over the fucking place). And even though a majority of the population may agree that Schumer is a douchebag, the electoral district voting count reelects him. So Schumer walks away and continues to legislate like a douchebag.
As many of you may know by now, incumbents have a competitive advantage over challengers. Why? Because the Census allows districts to be redefined every ten years. And since a Representative has a 6-year term, it only takes one reelection to provide the incumbent with access to the Census. Is this right? Is this fair? If not, what are the solutions? Term limits come to mind, immediately. And my post could go on for hours, but I'll end it here out of fear of being called a douchebag (but feel free to call me one anyway. I'm tough!) :D
On a final note, should it be any surprise to any of you as to why Obama wants to move the Census to the White House? So much for transparency.
7 comments:
let me be the first to say...you're a douchebag.
"Term limits come to mind, immediately."
that was my thought too when i first read about this latest piece of bullshitery.
I would have to agree. Schumer is not a douchbag.
He is a colostomy bag.
Good post this mother fucker of a president is just about garnering the demorats power for the next 40 years just like FDR did. Plain and simple. He talks of bi-partisanship out of one side of his mouth and passes completely partisan bills with his pen.
Excellent post, Paul ... especially the explanatory graphic image. Yes, I thought "gerrymandering" when I read that the White House was overseeing the census. I remember the drawing from a political cartoon in a middle school history book - a big salamander looking caricature of Elbridge Gerry.
I think a similar thing goes on with school redistricting (and who knows what other nefarious applications). It makes no sense to the people whose kids attend schools to have such wonky boundaries, but by redrawing district lines schools can effectively change the composition of their student bodies and net government $$$.
Fuck dude, I can't take it any more. This scumbag joke of a POTUS is flushing this country down the toilet and it fucking makes me sick. I am at a loss for words...
um, it's transparenceh, and it means something different, something to come, down the road we'll see it, but for now, you just take it.
Just a note, the rips serve two year term, So they need to get reelected several times to have an impact on hte redistricting. The key though is who is in the white house.
After the 2000 census, there were several court cases regarding the redistricting. The state of Texas had quite a few as I recall, in the end, the courts decided many of the issues not the elected rips.
as our courts move ever left we will continue to be painted into tighter corners.
Labcat, insterad of term limits, a better solution would be to take away their retirement and their ability to vote themselves raises.
Ammend the constitution so ythat any retirement is paid by the state, and that it must be voted on by the voters. I would also make it that the retirement be suspendable during budget problem years.
As for the raises, make it that a raise cannot go into effect until another person assumes the seat.
If congress votes themselves a raise, none of them can get it until after the 2010 election, and only new incoming freshmen congress critters would receive it.
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